In big career news, I started my new job on Monday. I am no longer a lowly intern. Now, I'm a lowly entry-level application engineer. My work is in a totally different group than where I was interning, so it's been tough, having to start over again from scratch, in terms of learning systems and people, but it'll be fun. It's going to be a pretty interesting job, I'm excited to get my feet on the ground and start kicking ass.
Monday I went through the 'new employee orientation,' which was old hat to me. We filled out paperwork (that I had already done through the internship program), went over my benefits (which are totally awesome, by the way) and took a tour of campus (which I already know like the back of my hand). During the tour, one of the 15 new employees starting that week came over and asked me about my watch. Kim got it for me as a graduation gift. He asked me how I liked it, I responded 'I love it, but I wish it had a nightlight on it.' He responded 'yeah, i wanted to put one in, but it would have been way to expensive to fabricate on a large scale. Turns out he was one of Nixon's lead designers. He had a part in desiging two of the four watches that I own. Neat.
My roommates left last weekend, which makes me sad. Good people. I've never enjoyed living with anyone so much. Truly.
I've also been to some pretty amazing concerts as of late. A week or so ago, I went with Ms. Kim, coreysprague and Jack to see A Silver Mount Zion at the Doug Fir Lounge, which was totally amazing. It was so wonderful to see such a talented, tight band in person. I'm so fucking sick of all these bands that sound amazing on their recordings but sound like total shit in a live setting. I value album production, but you should be able to recreate at least a fraction of it live. You know?
Last weekend, Kim and I went and saw Cat Power at the Aladin. She was going solo, so it was just her and a guitar / her and a piano for the entire night. It was a solid 2.5 hours of pure smiles. She's incredibly fucking talented and totally fucking cute, in every sense of the word. She took two smoke breaks and just talked to the crowd, telling some really wonderful stories. In between songs, one guy yelled a song request and she said no, so he yelled another one, which she also said no to. Then, someone elese yelled one, which started off a chain reaction. I sat up in my seat, waiting for it to happen. After about 7 people yelling things, it happened: someone yelled 'FREEBIRD' and I burst into laughter. People are so fucking predictable.
What happened next, however, surprised me. She twirled around, grabbed her guitar and played 3 or four verses from the song. It was wonderful.
Before the Cat Power show, I spent most of the day in the Colombia Gorge at the yearly family reunion. It was really fucking hot and there was no source of fresh water to be found, so I drank lukewarm Coronas for most of the day. That's really the highlight of it all, lukewarm Coronas. Sad.
The shoe giant gave me Friday off and allowed me to leave at noon on Thursday. I hopped in my car and drove down to the valley. It's kind of nice to visit. I'm currently in my parent's house, which is a mini oasis from the heat. It's fucking beautiful here. I love my parents.
On thursday night I went and saw Little Miss Sunshine. I don't really have too much to say about it, but it's the first movie I've seen in a long time that I really, really, really enjoyed. I didn't want it to end. By the end, the characters were so totally lovable. It was nice.
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On Sunday, the woman an I climed the fabled Pilot rock. I haven't done it in years and it was a lot more difficult than I remember, but was fun, nonetheless. I think I'm going to take some rockclimbing classes as I think I have some natural ability. I'm like a fucking monkey when it comes to climbing.
Beyond that, things are wonderful. I love you all.
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