A New Start

I like my new job, but I know it is only a matter of time before I don't, so I may as well start complaining now: For starters, I think the office should be five or six stories higher. I could get better photographs from the 15th floor, I would think.

As it is, this (above) is the view from the hallway outside my new file room. Ironically, I can see the balcony of the old 2000 Census office from here. Back in 2000, I was still living the hard life and I had a like-minded work-girlfriend who liked to get wasted with me on the Census balcony during my midnight shifts.   I wonder if people in this building were watching?

Way off in the distance, I think I can see the roof of the old schoolhouse that serves as the local 2010 Census HQ.  I wonder if the work world looks  rosy because it has been so unrelentingly bleak and harsh for so long. 

My next pissy point is the coffee:

 There are only 19 varieties to choose from. There should be 20, but the first drawer is full of sweetener packets. I guess I shouldn't complain too much- after all it is free.

Hell, I'm kidding. I can't believe that I'm lucky enough to work somewhere with free, unlimited coffee. Today, the office had a  "going away" party for the woman who I am replacing. There was plenty of good food...I get the impression that this office is accustomed to living well, a real contrast with the impoverished aesthetic of the Bureau. My Census 'desk' was a stackable chair at a plastic folding table...I have an expansive and ergonomically correct cubicle at my new job. You can tell that I have been living in the wilderness for too long when I start gushing about my awesome cubicle...I feel like a barbarian suddenly forced to mingle with aristocracy...at today's buffet, I barely remembered how to eat with utensils. I am so accustomed to working in an office with almost no amenities-including hot water -that I almost scalded myself washing my hands yesterday- I had forgotten that you don't need to turn the hot water on full blast in order to get barely lukewarm water.

I stood at the sink for a second going "ow! ow! what the fuck?" when it dawned on me that I could  add cold water to the mix. Problem solved.

 The new place has a long, semi-circular break room that spans roughly one-fifth of the floor, featuring a full kitchen, including  two institutional refrigerators, five microwaves and a dishwasher.  And a really nice view of the city.

This is the old break room (below).

The main lobby for my new job:

The old job:

Yeah, I know it is only a matter of time before I start bitching, but for now things are improving. There is music to be made and played, my brother is coming for a visit and I have a three-day weekend including a paid holiday off. My first weekend is a three-day one!

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BBC news on...reports coming in from Haiti. I suddenly feel very small and very lucky.