funny for so many reasons

last hired

Inertia is a bitch. I'm alright with a stick shift, but suck getting out of first. I can't remember to do stuff (watering the plants, jogging/exercising) that isn't in my usual routine. Plus the whole "Newton's 1st Law of Motion" thing, which is completely overrated in my book.

Changing jobs is no easy thing to do, either.

Today was my first day at a new company. It's like the first day of school for grownups, that strange mixture of excitement, dread, and self loathing for being excited over something so "lame". But the people seem great, the company seems awesome. Pets roam the place freely, and they ordered from Lulu's for lunch, one of my favorite restaurants in LA.

But the hardest thing to deal with is the feeling of being the odd one out. Everyone already knows each other. Pretty much the only thing keeping me at my old job was the fact that it felt so comfortable there; I knew everyone, and no longer felt like I had to prove myself to anyone. Now, especially since I am only freelance, if I slip up too much or don't live up to expectations, I get fired.

No good.

I feel the need to walk on eggshells, which only adds to the ackwardness.

Still, there's a certain amount of exhiliration at throwing yourself into an uncomfortable situation, or at the very least, a new situation. On top of being at a new company, I have to deal with the learning curve of a new editing system (Final Cut Pro) AND working on my first real studio trailer. To top it off, my new office lacks windows and I got a parking ticket.

I would usually end it with something like a "blaah" or something, but I have to admit that I haven't been this awake and/or excited to get to work on a Monday in a long time.

mile high club?

It's monday and I don't really feel like thinking too hard, but I just don't know what to make of these headlines:

Dashbored.

So my work computer crashed last week, and I got it back on Monday with Apple's latest OS, Tiger. It's been slow here, so part of the way I've been killing time is playing with the widgets. Most of them are kind of pointless (another stickies? an itunes controller? lame.), but the translator widget is pretty fun.

I remember back in the day trying to use babelfish to try to cheat my french homework, without a lot of success. I'm sure the answers I handed in to Madame Chan made even engrish pale in comparison.

I figured that in the past 8 years or so translation technology made some impressive strides. So I tried it out for a bit. Half the time I just wanted to see what jibberish sentences looked like in, say, Dutch. But I also wanted to see whether the translation actually kept the original meaning... Exhibit A:


Not bad, considering I don't know German. But it looks pretty authentic, right? So I tried to put it through the other way, and it ended up like this:


Nice try Apple... nice try.

Also, seeing that I'm all geeky today, I noticed that the newest G5 Powermacs can come with 16 Gig of ram and 1 TB (terabyte, or 1000 gigs) of storage. This is exactly 1000 times more than what came with my first computer, an original Pentium 90mhz, with a whopping 16 megs Ram and an amazing 1 gig HD. Mark this as the first time I'm officially amazed at the pace of technological progress. 1000 times more in about 11 years... not too shabby.

eyes, ears, and other sensory organs.

taste
I fasted this past week. I fasted on yom kippur like a good jew, but that wasn't the reason why i did. mostly it was shea challenging me to it. i think of my office as a kind of microcosm, where food and drinks are readily available whenever you want, whether or not you're actually hungry. Often I wander into the kitchen to grab a (usually junkfood based) snack not because I'm hungry, but rather out of boredom. The point is that to me there was no religious basis in the fast. It was more of a "take something you take for granted out of your life for a day" experiment. And anyways, if these little guys can go without food for months, I can cut out the snacks for a few hours. Besides, it really makes that first bite of food taste that much better.

sight
If you're bored in LA and would rather not starve yourself, check out this exhibit. Some of the stuff is your run of the mill "I'm on drugs" artwork, but there are a few truly unbelievable installations in there.

This is the key to making me laugh.

Lightning out your window when your curled up under the covers next to a girl you love is an unbelievable.

sound
Ditto for the thunder, and the accompanying rain. Bonus points if said rain hits against your window.

Track 2 of the new Sigur Ros album. The new(ish) Supergrass album. Broken Social Scene, even if I'm the only one besides pitchfork to like them.

Cars driving down a wet road.

The new ipod that Clauson owes me.

touch
What belongs here is none of your business.

smell
Seriously, what is that smell in my apt?