1451 - Company B

I have just completed my first full week at Company B, after a five-week break following my abrupt (voluntary) departure from Company A. As you might have guessed, this is my second "real" job after university. I was quite literally thrown into the fire my first week, and I had serious reservations about whether I was cut out for the job. This week was much better, and I now believe that things will only continue to improve. I still felt like my productivity was low, but I am progressing. The projects at B are clearly larger, more complicated and more interesting than they were at A. They are also more clearly defined and documented, which is a nice change. I also feel like I am of more use at B, whereas my skills were largely going to waste at A. I do miss my friends at A, but I am hesitant to contact them because I suspect that the owner of A has badmouthed me as is the tradition there when an employee leaves. Still, I'm going to send an exploratory email to A-SH this week, if I can get her address from AN.

I suppose I should define a naming scheme so that you know a bit about who I'm talking about. I will use initials to describe my friends. A prefix of A- or B- (or others in the future) indicates a work friend from Company A, B, etc.

Anyway, apart from work, the week was fairly uneventful. I did go to JW's parents' house for dinner on Monday - it wasn't the first time but it was the first time in a while. JW's brother came, and it was like a family reunion, complete with the telling of many old stories and the incessant laughter. Of course, knowing nothing about these stories, all I could do was occasionally comment on them. The meal was perhaps the longest of my life - I believe we were at the dinner table for over three hours, between the eating, talking and waiting for JW's mother to get off the phone. I don't think dining room chairs are made for such extended use. Fortunately, I got to relax with JW in the outdoor hot tub after supper. It was really nice as I hadn't been in one in years. Her family is very nice - I don't dislike any of them (she will find that phrase amusing, for reasons not to be listed here). Her father is very quiet, at least around me. Perhaps he is uncomfortable that he is forced to wear clothes when I am around (an even longer story). Her mother is also nice, but a little verbose. She comes across as being very intelligent and she seems to be well read; she occasionally used words that I did not understand, and on at least one occasion I sensed that she was trying to gauge my understanding of the word (particularly after she learned that I am not well read). Fortunately it is not out of character for me to give short, vague answers, the purpose of which most often is to let the other person know that I do indeed exist - so I believe I escaped unscathed. Finally, her brother seems to be the most "normal" of the bunch (not to say that this is always a good thing, but in this case I think it is). He is friendly and funny, and he did most of the storytelling throughout the evening. He did not threaten my life over JW's happiness. The six-hour marathon that was a visit to JW's parents' finally ended at about 10:30, which gave us just enough time to go straight home to bed.

On Wednesday I played pool with AD, and then went over to JW's because she wasn't feeling well. On Thursday I went to JW's and we watched "Love Actually". She warned me that it was a "chick flick", but nothing could have prepared me for chaos that was to follow! The first half of the movie was actually alright - there were some mildly funny moments and the many intertwining stories moved along at a decent pace. Then, about eighty minutes into the movie, the ending began. Little did I know that the ending would take another fifty minutes! It was a relentless visual onslaught of literally hundreds of short scenes (none lasting more than a minute) as the movie quickly moved from one storyline to the next. It didn't seem like any scene was long enough to advance anything, except to remind us that the storyline existed. All of the endings (for all of the storylines) seemed to be dragged out much longer than was necessary to convey the humour and love that I thought the movie was trying to convey. I felt like the movie spun its wheels for about thirty minutes before the last twenty minutes finally brought some finality to the storylines. The thirty minutes spoiled my enjoyment of the movie, along with the sudden entrance of JW's roommates, who were completely engrossed the instant they entered the room.

Apparently I need to watch more "chick flicks", because I was completely blown away (and quite sickened) by how "perfect" the movie was, for a lack of a better way to describe it. Each scene was so perfectly romantic with such perfect comedic delivery where needed; the scenes were over the top and grandiose. At once I felt like the movie industry had set the idea of a relationship and of a man in general on such a high pedestal that no relationship or man could ever live up to the expectations of a woman buying into the movie. I was horrified to think that a woman might actually wish the world to be like the one portrayed.

I talked with JW after the movie and she was able to calm me down a bit. She compared the movie to the countless action movies that I have seen, pointing out that they are often as unrealistic. Looking back now, I think I was most concerned about the impact that the movie has on the viewer - after watching an action flick, I am not going to get in my car and go on a rampage through the city, running people down in the streets and other cars off the road. That does not seem realistic to me. However, I could completely see "Love Actually" affecting the way women approach relationships. I could see them wishing for a relationship that very few men could possibly provide. Then again, maybe women see it as being as fake as I see the average action movie being. Maybe they see it as an escape, after which they have no trouble returning to reality.

Anyway, I have decided that I need to watch a few more "chick flicks". I'm not sure if I've even seen another "real" one. I saw 50 First Dates (on a date, as it turns out), and I thought that it was good. Every woman seems to love "The Princess Bride", but so do I in that case. Maybe I accepted that movie because it is further removed from our current reality. I clearly know very little about the female psyche, so my negative response to "Love Actually" is probably completely unjustified. I suppose you can see now the strength of the response, as I have spent the bulk of my first real stimulator entry talking about it.

Okay, so on Friday JW and I went to eat at our favourite restaurant. It is an authentic Chinese restaurant and we both absolutely love the food there. We had one of our favourite dishes, along with the orange beef, which we both agreed was the best we'd ever had by far. It was a truly excellent meal, complete with our lettuce wrap staple and a bowl of hot and sour soup for me. We went to her place afterward to watch "The Wedding Crashers", which was far different than I had expected. I thought there would be more weddings crashed, and I thought a funnier movie could've been had out of that, but instead the movie was more a drama and it took a more serious tone at times as the wedding crashers fell into real relationships with real complications. It turned out to be good, but in an unexpected way. I think my false expectations were built on trailers I had seen on TV (AN shared my expectations).

On Saturday we got up and I rushed JW to a meeting about volunteering. I went home and tried to get some more sleep - I think I got fifteen minutes before JW's phone call woke me up again. I picked her up at home and we went down to an upscale craft/art show at Pier 23. There were some nice things there, but not much of interest to me. There were a few pictures that I really liked, but I am still not to a point in my life where I feel I can pay $125 for a photograph. The pictures were of nature scenes mainly. Overall, the show was quite boring - I would've had a terrible time except that I was with JW. After the show, she convinced me not to drive to Burnside to use a couple of gift certificates to get free submarine sandwiches; instead we went to the Economy Shoe Shop, which I used to resent because it seemed to be a hip place to go. Now I really like the place, especially the unique decorations and the many plants. JW also likes it, and we proceded to have our second excellent meal in as many days. We split the club wrap, which was really superb, and then dared to try a thai main course dish, that turned out to be very good. We drove back to her place to relax for a while after the meal, where we both agreed that we'd had a great day. I had been greatly anticipating hanging out with the guys later on in the evening, but JW somehow managed to quell that anticipation. I eventually tore myself away from her and walked over to TA's.

When I arrived, AN and AD were already there. We watched child molesters get busted by "Dateline" until CA arrived, and after a brief stint watching "Keeping Up Appearances", we returned to "Dateline". The plan for the evening was to watch the UFC pay-per-view at the Peel Pub. We left for the event around 10:00pm, only to find a large line at the Peel Pub. The Oasis had no line, but it seemed to be as crowded inside, and they were charging a $5 cover. So, we waited in line for about 30 minutes at the Peel Pub, eventually getting in on an error by one of the waitresses, who didn't have a table for us as it turned out. So we stood around waiting for a table to free up - luckily a large group got up across the bar, and Toni was able to worm his way through the crowd to secure a table.

The event was mediocre at first, but the last two matches were excellent (right after AN and AD left). The last match pitted a Canadian against a long-time American champion, and the crowd was clearly stoked. The match was fairly short, and it was dominated by the Canadian until he decisively won in the second round - the place went bananas, and even I yelled and cheered with delight, having been completely absorbed by the crowd. I was very proud to be a Canadian, as I often am, and it was a very special moment.

I didn't get home until 3am, and I didn't get up today until 11:40am. It's time to go to my parents' now - I have to pick up the car at JW's first. I don't feel particularly creative today, so I think that this entry will read rather drab - hopefully I'll do better in the future (for my own sake).

It is cloudy and cool. I am currently listening to "Conquistador Part 2" from "Labyrinth" by Juno Reactor.

Movies watched this week: "Love Actually", "The Wedding Crashers"