Quick Observations
- Whenever someone is about to leave my job, myself included it seems, things suddenly get much better.*
- I found a much better way to get to work.
- A much nicer, easier, and even more fuel efficient ride. I'm presently on course for 29 mpg out of a 255 horsepower engine, for a full tank.
- My old boss has finally relaxed, and refused to be intimated by the first shift boss' bullying.
- My new boss seems totally awesome.
- In the past, whenever this happened, it was immediately after I become good friends with the person about to leave. Argh. Same with my coworker right now, we're good friends by now, and suddenly, I'm gone.
- Most movies I've seen lately have had moments that simply make me feel uncomfortable and annoyed. I have to endure them, and move on. But not all.. Some examples:
- X-Men 3 was filled with fan service, that even if I was a fan, I wouldn't have appreciated. I'm sure the effects were beautiful, but.. I.. just didn't end up caring. Worth just its one watch.
- Superman Returns was overwrought in most scenes, save for those with Lex, really. Now, the effects were beautiful throughout, as I adored especially the Daily Planet's layout, and Luthor's boat. Oddly, thats what I took most of all from the movie. I think I'll forget the rest, really.
- The Exception - The Devil Wears Prada is the most wonderful exception to this I've seen in a long while. I did not feel uncomfortable, in many situations that would have had me gagging if handled wrong. This movie deserves a whole post, even.. I was so utterly surprisingly taken by all of it, whereas I expected a lot of squirming awkwardness. Yes, the design was beautiful, of almost everything, but there was little reliance upon it. Superman and X-Men were built on a structure of pretty visuals, cheap lines. The Devil Wears Prada was built on vivid, believable personalities, characters whose names I remember after the film.
Anyhow, in other news, I have a wedding to attend on the weekend. And much talking to do with parents and grandparents about moving plans. My dad especially seems enthusiastic about the idea of me moving to some place so nice. My parents would love to move, as the cost of living in Northern New Jersey is absolutely absurd. The property tax on a house in Nutley, New Jersey, a middle of the range neghborhood which is statistically almost identical to Bothell, Washington, is about five times as burdensome, so far as I can tell. (Say, 9K/year versus 1.5K/year, for similar plots of land..) Yet, income levels are only higher by a few thousand, in Nutley.
And they do need to move. They simply don't earn enough to live there. I don't know how my grandparents manage, either. I hardly know how anyone does, anyone who doesn't have enough spare income to support that brand new BMW or Land Rover in their newly paved driveway. Going home to New Jersey is a marvel, simply for all the absurd cars, the occasional Bugatti, but more noticeably to me the plethora of German luxury, with the occasional Lexus thrown in for spice. Anyhow, I don't feel out of place with my car, but that wasn't the point of it - space and comfort and value, not competition.
And, its off to work, as these often end..!
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* Actually, work is in total crisis mode, and my leaving will make it a disaster. But I'm getting along well in comparison to other hard times, and otherwise.. I don't care about the welfare of this place anymore, as they would not care about mine, outside of my immediate boss. In fact, my boss advised me to tell noone else that I will be leaving eventually, as they're likely to, in this knowledge, abuse me or try to get me to leave earlier so I can't collect my unused sick/vacation/personal time.