When I don't want to write about me
by ::G @ 2004-09-13 11:35
Well, it was a lot easier to make the last entry about my gadgets than about me. One has to be in the mood for analysis.
Friday I went to a welcome party for a desktop FI engineer who moved over to CI a couple months ago. It was at an okonomiyaki place in Shonandai called Utari, but they served up more yakitori-like stuff there than okonomiyaki. Marty was there sitting by the managers...brown-nosing?? =) I was drinking this Korean shochu, apparently a variety of Jinro, called Chamuisuru or something. Then headed off to meet Yasu and Yuki to head over to the Campari Club. Yuki was having stomach problems (from too much drinking?) and was having a medical exam the next day so she couldn't eat anything or drink booze. She had tea, I had my usual rum & coke and a pizza, while Yasu had beer and curry. Then some other folks from work showed up, and when Marty came, apparently one of those guys and he went way back, so there was quite the scene. It was really weird, and it was weirder because I wasn't exactly sober. I was talking to Nao-san a bit and wasn't doing too bad considering she usually throws hard vocab at me. Apparently Iiyama-san went along with the house party a couple weekends ago even though it was raining to beat the band; Sachie and I figured it would be cancelled due to inclement weather so we didn't go. He asked me to go to the next one they have. Marty bought me a beer, for I think the 2nd time (maybe the 1st...). Not too long after the jazz players took off, everyone else bolted and that was a day. (Don't ask about the work part.)
Saturday morning I spent getting my work intranet access up and running, as noted previously. Then Sachie and I went out to Machida. We ended up having a bunch of arguments the whole day, which all started from something stupid. It was a good thing after all because it was impetus for me to tell her that because of my situation here, I'm miserable: all work, no free time, no time alone, lots of unnecessary crap that I have to put up with. The difference in environment is probably getting to me after all. Actually, if I didn't have work to deal with too it'd probably be ok, but I'm not here as a student this time. Drinking only helps fade out the rest of the day; come morning, one can become maudlin. (Plus it kills off my already dwindling braincell resource.) Having a girlfriend who's always around doesn't help the situation either, because she's part of the foreign environment. People who come over here married bring a microcosm from home with them, so it must be easier to deal with work-life stress in a foreign country.
Perhaps everyone goes through this phase after 5 months. I'll have to ask around.
Anyway, Sachie and I had a serious discussion on the way back from Machida. I talked to Katy Sunday morning while Sachie was out at her class in Akihabara, and we discussed relationship issues, and life in general. I felt a little better about my current place in the world. Most of all, I think I just need to weather this storm and then start doing things. I need to accomplish things to make myself feel like this assignment, and this year of my life, is worthwhile.
Today was a blur mostly because I was zoning out waiting for the damn temperature chamber to acclimate every time I needed to change the settings. I finally got access at 14:30, and sat on it until 23:00, pausing only for a quick dinner. Ran to catch the last bus to the station, and once again snacked on convenience store food at the station. I have data to collate in the morning.
Hmm, still managed to avoid all the personal issues of my weekend and accentuate the boring details. Perhaps my ego is shielding me from my own overly critical analysis...? (Not sure if my id or superego is the one that does the criticizing.)
Friday I went to a welcome party for a desktop FI engineer who moved over to CI a couple months ago. It was at an okonomiyaki place in Shonandai called Utari, but they served up more yakitori-like stuff there than okonomiyaki. Marty was there sitting by the managers...brown-nosing?? =) I was drinking this Korean shochu, apparently a variety of Jinro, called Chamuisuru or something. Then headed off to meet Yasu and Yuki to head over to the Campari Club. Yuki was having stomach problems (from too much drinking?) and was having a medical exam the next day so she couldn't eat anything or drink booze. She had tea, I had my usual rum & coke and a pizza, while Yasu had beer and curry. Then some other folks from work showed up, and when Marty came, apparently one of those guys and he went way back, so there was quite the scene. It was really weird, and it was weirder because I wasn't exactly sober. I was talking to Nao-san a bit and wasn't doing too bad considering she usually throws hard vocab at me. Apparently Iiyama-san went along with the house party a couple weekends ago even though it was raining to beat the band; Sachie and I figured it would be cancelled due to inclement weather so we didn't go. He asked me to go to the next one they have. Marty bought me a beer, for I think the 2nd time (maybe the 1st...). Not too long after the jazz players took off, everyone else bolted and that was a day. (Don't ask about the work part.)
Saturday morning I spent getting my work intranet access up and running, as noted previously. Then Sachie and I went out to Machida. We ended up having a bunch of arguments the whole day, which all started from something stupid. It was a good thing after all because it was impetus for me to tell her that because of my situation here, I'm miserable: all work, no free time, no time alone, lots of unnecessary crap that I have to put up with. The difference in environment is probably getting to me after all. Actually, if I didn't have work to deal with too it'd probably be ok, but I'm not here as a student this time. Drinking only helps fade out the rest of the day; come morning, one can become maudlin. (Plus it kills off my already dwindling braincell resource.) Having a girlfriend who's always around doesn't help the situation either, because she's part of the foreign environment. People who come over here married bring a microcosm from home with them, so it must be easier to deal with work-life stress in a foreign country.
Perhaps everyone goes through this phase after 5 months. I'll have to ask around.
Anyway, Sachie and I had a serious discussion on the way back from Machida. I talked to Katy Sunday morning while Sachie was out at her class in Akihabara, and we discussed relationship issues, and life in general. I felt a little better about my current place in the world. Most of all, I think I just need to weather this storm and then start doing things. I need to accomplish things to make myself feel like this assignment, and this year of my life, is worthwhile.
Today was a blur mostly because I was zoning out waiting for the damn temperature chamber to acclimate every time I needed to change the settings. I finally got access at 14:30, and sat on it until 23:00, pausing only for a quick dinner. Ran to catch the last bus to the station, and once again snacked on convenience store food at the station. I have data to collate in the morning.
Hmm, still managed to avoid all the personal issues of my weekend and accentuate the boring details. Perhaps my ego is shielding me from my own overly critical analysis...? (Not sure if my id or superego is the one that does the criticizing.)
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