Job, day 2
So far I have organized the corporate history and the Chinese language section. Well, Chinese fiction at least. I like doing this so far. I like how I'm not sitting at a desk every day staring at the computer screen, which is funny because in my free time, that's pretty much all I do. So my legs are sore from all the sitting on the floor and getting up and hauling books, and my shoulders ache, and my arms kind of hurt because I was lugging some encyclopedias around, but my eyes are ok. They used to hurt like mad all the time at Merrill, and I hated it because when my eyes hurt, I can't do anything that entertains me -- no reading, no internet, no TV or movies, not even cross-stitching. I rather like this not being in one place all the time, although I suspect it will be much more like a desk job when I go to San Jose. Next week, though, I'll be in Mountain View because one of the owners will be on a small vacation. I read all the dust jackets for the corporate history section so I could organize them, and wow! Just, lots and lots of books out there on every possible subject. I love it.
And it's nice... I get to decide when I want to lunch break, as long as there's someone to take over, and since the store is downtown (it's a small downtown), I'm just a block or two away from the civic center/public library. Today I brought lunch from home (leftover pasta, yum) and sat on a park bench in front of the library -- it's lovely. It was sunny, and the grass was green and there were trees everywhere, and it just felt so nice to be out in the sun for an hour. I hated the Merrill office, which apparently reserved windows for executives only. Poor cubicle workers didn't get a view at all (although when I did get to see the view, it was awesome -- 17th floor looking right at the Bank of China building and HK harbor). I also dropped by the library for a few minutes and picked up some more Connie Brockway and Tad William's Otherland book 1. Also left my extra Rose Daughter copy at the local cafe for BookCrossings, which also made me happy.
It's strange how different I feel now that I have a job, something I've been worried about for about a year. It's like this great weight off my shoulders, or kind of like the niggling thing at the back of my head constantly has finally shut up. I was bored out of my mind doing nothing all summer, and I rather like this. It's nice going home after a day of work. It's also nice being able to think, yes, perhaps I have a future after all and don't have to be stuck doing finance or accounting or whatnot -- hated the thought of that. I know my mom wants me to get a graduate degree sometime, so will think about that, eventually. Maybe will take courses on small businesses or something, who knows?
Bookwise: Just finished reading Ursula K. LeGuin's Tehanu. And while it took me longer than it took for me to read The Farthest Shore and The Tombs of Atuan combined, I think I like it best. I loved Tenar when I met her in Tombs, and I still love her. I also love the sense of calmness about the book, of rediscovering the self, of finding childhood loves again. Going back to aliera9916's question about age for heroines, I find I tend to like older heroines more. I like knowing my characters have a past, that they've experienced things. I like having a sense of history to books, which is why I loved Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches. Generations of history packed in there! For that matter, I also love tortured heroines, much, much more than tortured heroes (esp. in romances). I'm rather averse to the innocent virginal girls who show up in romances and who don't know anything. I like it when they've been hurt a little, had their hearts broken maybe once or twice, have been tempered so they're not all fiery and spirited (which often means they are Too Stupid Too Live because they get in dumb situations due to their feistiness). I like the role reveresal of the tortured heroine and a loving, steadfast hero who tries to win her over. I think this may have started with LotR, now that I think of it, and the Eowyn/Faramir dynamic. Hrm, interesting. Makes it more obvious to me why the S5-6 Spike and Buffy dynamic affected me lots more than the S7 one.
And it's nice... I get to decide when I want to lunch break, as long as there's someone to take over, and since the store is downtown (it's a small downtown), I'm just a block or two away from the civic center/public library. Today I brought lunch from home (leftover pasta, yum) and sat on a park bench in front of the library -- it's lovely. It was sunny, and the grass was green and there were trees everywhere, and it just felt so nice to be out in the sun for an hour. I hated the Merrill office, which apparently reserved windows for executives only. Poor cubicle workers didn't get a view at all (although when I did get to see the view, it was awesome -- 17th floor looking right at the Bank of China building and HK harbor). I also dropped by the library for a few minutes and picked up some more Connie Brockway and Tad William's Otherland book 1. Also left my extra Rose Daughter copy at the local cafe for BookCrossings, which also made me happy.
It's strange how different I feel now that I have a job, something I've been worried about for about a year. It's like this great weight off my shoulders, or kind of like the niggling thing at the back of my head constantly has finally shut up. I was bored out of my mind doing nothing all summer, and I rather like this. It's nice going home after a day of work. It's also nice being able to think, yes, perhaps I have a future after all and don't have to be stuck doing finance or accounting or whatnot -- hated the thought of that. I know my mom wants me to get a graduate degree sometime, so will think about that, eventually. Maybe will take courses on small businesses or something, who knows?
Bookwise: Just finished reading Ursula K. LeGuin's Tehanu. And while it took me longer than it took for me to read The Farthest Shore and The Tombs of Atuan combined, I think I like it best. I loved Tenar when I met her in Tombs, and I still love her. I also love the sense of calmness about the book, of rediscovering the self, of finding childhood loves again. Going back to aliera9916's question about age for heroines, I find I tend to like older heroines more. I like knowing my characters have a past, that they've experienced things. I like having a sense of history to books, which is why I loved Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches. Generations of history packed in there! For that matter, I also love tortured heroines, much, much more than tortured heroes (esp. in romances). I'm rather averse to the innocent virginal girls who show up in romances and who don't know anything. I like it when they've been hurt a little, had their hearts broken maybe once or twice, have been tempered so they're not all fiery and spirited (which often means they are Too Stupid Too Live because they get in dumb situations due to their feistiness). I like the role reveresal of the tortured heroine and a loving, steadfast hero who tries to win her over. I think this may have started with LotR, now that I think of it, and the Eowyn/Faramir dynamic. Hrm, interesting. Makes it more obvious to me why the S5-6 Spike and Buffy dynamic affected me lots more than the S7 one.