I HAVE A JOB

PROS:
-- it's a help desk analyst position, which is a technology job, which is theoretically what i was looking for
-- it pays $17 an hour to start, which totals more than $35,000 a year
-- after a three month probationary period, i'll get full health insurance and a retirement plan
-- i don't need to wear business suits to work

CONS:
-- i feel like i have no idea what i'm doing -- it's way beyond my level of experience/knowledge, dealing with database programming and sql and other things with which i'm unfamiliar
-- it'll take a while for me to learn things well enough to start feeling comfortable; according to the people who hired me, it'll be three months before i feel really secure
-- they gauge our productivity by monitoring the number of problems we solve per day and month, and i will be fairly slow for a while

so i guess it's good that i'm making money (and a lot of it, i guess), but i'm uncomfortable thinking about going to work tomorrow -- i like to know what i'm doing in my job, and when i don't, i get a little anxious. i'm going to press on tomorrow, and hopefully i'll pick up some more details tomorrow by being ambitious and trying to be less concerned about asking questions. i can tell it's going to be very difficult.

on the plus side, the office premiere is tomorrow! score. if you do not watch that show, you should start -- it is hilarious, for example: "i hope the war goes on forever and ryan gets drafted," by dwight schrute. ...it's funnier when you watch it.

i will try to not be miserable about work, in exchange for nice weather on saturday for the farmer's market (like there's a chance it'll be gross outside anyway) and a chance to see across the universe very soon.

IT'S RAINING!

the rain is pounding on the side of our apartment as i type this, and it's a very strange sound because i know it doesn't happen often. this is the first measurable amount of rain in los angeles in five months -- insane. the la times called it a "winter storm", which is hilarious, but also a good illustration of the normal (beautiful) weather around here. there are definitely fewer cars out tonight than usual, probably because people are afraid to drive in it -- that's just my guess, but it seems like people in la are not accustomed to wet roads at night. joe was making fun of them earlier, since they probably don't know how to operate their windshield wipers. mean, but possibly true. people here are terrible drivers, i would not be surprised.

if it's still raining tomorrow, maybe i'll even take a few pictures to document the wetness of the sidewalks and the dirt that has washed out of people's flowerbeds. a lot of homes in our neighborhood are built into the hillside, and i can see how that would be a problem for all of the gardens and plants that are dug into the slope.

i wonder how the cacti feel about all of this.

STRESSED LIKE NOBODY'S BUSINESS

i am still looking for a job, and this is stressful for two major reasons: i have to pay october's rent and our gas bill this week. i saved money for those two things, since i didn't expect to be receiving a paycheck before october, but it kind of sucks to not even have one in sight -- my bank account will be very, very low, and that is kind of nerve-wracking.

i had two job interviews this week, one for an "assistant to the manager" kind of role at a vintage clothing store called buffalo exchange. it went really well (i spoke with the manager, amy, for more than an hour) and she told me she would be calling me for a second interview. problem: she found out that the job requires a car and driver's license. so that's kind of a no go, which was disappointing, because i really liked the store and she was very nice.

the second was a phone interview for an it help desk position. funnily enough, it was at the temp agency that i visited to try to find work; they were kind of weird and made me uncomfortable, but this job would be okay. it's in the field that i'm experienced with, is an easy commute, and pays $17-18 an hour. i don't think i'm qualified, but they called me back for a second interview anyway, which i'll have on monday afternoon. hopefully i can prepare myself enough to sound like i know what i'm talking about, because that's a pretty high pay rate and i really, really need to be employed.

as a backup, i've been emailing my resume everywhere -- one store that i love, lush, is hiring in beverly hills. i'm going to call them tomorrow, since i sent a cover letter/resume yesterday. i've been contacting a pretty large number of places, but am not having a proportionate number of responses. so boo. someone needs to hire me -- i actually like working and i'm good at it, and i'm smart and stuff. they should get the hint.

WE HAVE FURNITURE!

yes, it is true -- we finally sucked it up, spent some money, and got things on which we can sit and eat. i uploaded all of the pictures to picasa, complete with wordy descriptions of their appearance and function. i must say, it feels very nice to own a couch and dining table. in between yard sales and thrift stores, rachel and i painted some furniture a lovely shade of glossy aqua.

we rented a uhaul pick-up with which to take our furniture home; we drove to a thrift store named st. vincent de paul's, which is basically a warehouse filled with furniture of all kinds. we picked out a couch, coffee table, and four dining chairs. however, it took a few minutes before we realized that our couch was too long to fit in the truck. the men at the loading dock told us how to get to home depot, to buy rope, so we drove there at about ten miles per hour with the tailgate down. we managed to use the whole fifty feet of rope on the truck, by which time it kind of resembled a lanyard you'd make at summer camp.

we took the freeway home and were fine, until we exited onto this street called duane st. it is honestly the biggest hill i have ever ridden on, without being pulled up by a chain in a roller coaster car. we made it to the top -- apex avenue, appropriately enough -- and it was immediately very scary. we could not see the road directly in front of us, that's how steep it was in this pick-up. i was afraid both for our couch and our lives, and had visions of us tumbling back over front into the dog park at the bottom. it took some squealing and moaning and driving at five miles an hour, but we did indeed survive. i'll have to take a picture to describe it, because i don't think words work well enough.

needless to say, all of our furniture is unloaded and functional now. we need some paint for the walls, desperately, but i'll need to be making some money before we can buy that. curtains, paint, rugs -- all of these things will be lovely, but things are functional enough for now.

OH SWEET SLEEP

i took a picture of our bed -- i figured it was difficult enough to put together (i cut my finger) to warrant some fanfare.



i'm going to stain it with a dark, maybe black color -- i got new sheets today too, which are very nice and soft and minty green (from target, bamboo-cotton for $40, a deal). i'm very excited to go to sleep in a little while; it will probably be overwhelming.

p.s. that table cost $15 dollars at ikea, and has clear hollow legs that can be filled with things. i am thinking candy corn for october, and then i'll need suggestions for november. turkey feathers? help.

THINGS HAVE HAPPENED!

-- we have internet access! thanks at&t. this almost kind of makes up for my crappy cell phone service a few years ago.

-- our gas service is fully functional, which means we have hot water with which to bathe and wash dishes (as of yesterday afternoon).

-- we got a bed today! and a table and lamp, and other assorted civilizing things from ikea. it was kind of a mess to put together, since it required screwing things without pre-drilled holes and guessing about where certain bars belonged, but it's all set now. it didn't even break when we sat on it. score!

-- all seven kitchen boxes arrived, along with some pots and pans that have already been put to good use. it feels nice to have a citrus juicer and some lemon placemats, along with every essential thing known to humans. thanks mom!

-- we're planning to go on a massive furniture run on saturday morning, where we can hopefully score a few of these things: a sofa, dining table and chairs, a coffee table, some bookshelves, a cheap used tv, maybe even a desk or writing table. if we have to rent a uhaul, fine.

-- a pest control company is coming on tuesday to take care of our various insect problems, and is apparently going to be making monthly "check-up" appearances.

-- we also got a home phone line, but we don't currently have a phone hooked up and i don't remember our number anyway.

an update on the job hunt: it sucks. i've applied to a bunch of places, mostly with technology openings like help desk support or other customer service positions. as far as more immediate things go, i decided to apply for jobs at stores for which i'd like a discount, like the body shop. i'm getting paranoid about not being employed, because i have no idea when i'll get a paycheck for the first time. stressful. a good thing is, since our apartment is slowly becoming more livable, i can devote less time to problems around here and more to finding employment.

our landlord is a bit hilarious. he goes by yossie, which is his hebrew name -- sounds like yoshi, the nintendo kid. he's about fifty years old, i'd guess, and a complete hippy. he teaches at a jewish kindergarten, is a counselor at a holistic drug rehabilitation center, and goes surfing almost every morning in santa monica. yesterday, he called me to talk about the pest control guy, and said, "you're tech savvy, aren't you?" i said yes, because i am arrogant, and he told me he had the pest control number in his phone but didn't know how to get it. basically, he needed me to tell him how to access his recent calls list, while talking to me and driving down the freeway at the same time. after we got the number, he said, "wow. it's so nice to learn something new each day. if i don't learn something every day, i feel kind of like a part of me has died." what can you say to that, other than smothered laughter and "yes, i know what you mean"? nothing, is the answer.

in a little while, joe and i are going to do some more job research. hopefully someone wants to hire me soon -- they should. i know things! come on, bosses. for now, i'm going to search for cheap furniture on craigslist and price sheet sets at target (new sheets!).

SUNSHINE = SUNBURNT

so, we went to santa monica this morning/afternoon, which was nice. however, it was very windy, which deluded me into thinking that the sun was not that powerful, and i ended up with a very bad sunburn on only the back side of my body. i kind of fell asleep in the sun for 10-15 minutes. it was chilly, but i have no excuse for not wearing sunscreen.

something that's helpful in this case -- we do not have hot water. at least, not till wednesday. our gas line is not working, so that means no stove/oven/hot water. at least now we have power.

we didn't have power for a few days, p.s. we forgot to switch the bill over to our names, and make a new account, so we had two nights with candles and my almost-dead flashlight. still. at least we didn't realize we had fleas, since we couldn't see them in the dark.

california is bizarre -- palm trees became normal very quickly, as did the warm weather since it's only the begnning of september. however, the whole city's strip mall atmosphere is bizarre. most of the shops and restaurants look kind of rundown, and they all try to out-advertise each other. if that means shaping your restaurant to look like a giant wooden barrel, or having a huge blow-up gorilla in a swimsuit above your car dealership, so be it.

i've taken a few photos, but i can't upload them immediately. i'll do it shortly, as well as update this with more information about our place/la in general.

WE MADE IT

hi, we're here. we currently have no internet access, and no one around from whom we can steal wireless signals, so i'm sitting in a gelateria with my laptop to write this little message.

i posted some preliminary pictures from our apartment on picasa -- it's a very shoddy photo tour, and we have no furniture so it looks pretty pathetic. p.s. we have fleas in the apartment, and it smells like cat pee. thanks, previous tenants. we've been deodorizing and using bug bombs to take care of these problems, and they're almost manageable. the apartment is actually great -- it's big and we have tons of storage space, it's in a great location, and i do like it. we just have some minor details to settle.

when we were moving into our place, a cat just wandered in and started meowing at us -- it plopped itself down in the hall and we had to shoo it out with a notebook.

next stop is finding jobs. i understand why everyone around here uses cars -- it's hard to find a job when you have to consider its accessibility via bikes or walking or nearby bus routes. we're working on it, and i'll post updates when things happen. (i did have a job interview, but it was for an incredibly trendy company. there was a tiny yappy dog running around the office, and the woman who interviewed me was wearing $300 jeans and had a nosering. yuck.)

during our first weekend, we went to malibu with susan and phil, who went to school with boston and with whom we stayed for three or four days. sitting around on a pretty beach (called zuma), with ocean water that doesn't cause pins-and-needles legs like new hampshire or massachusetts, was very nice.



i'm going to finish this now, but i'll keep updating as things arise and wireless signals are to be had.