As you know, I started my new job Monday. The commute has turned out to be worse than anticipated– not intolerable but definitely an intense journey. Luckily, I live right by the San Mateo bridge (one of two bridges that crosses over to East Bay from the peninsula). The crappy thing is, the interstate ramp after the bridge bottlenecks thanks to a traffic flow control light that only allows one car to get onto I-880 at a time. Sure, they have similar devices in DC too on I-66, but here, the intervals are so much longer. Whereas in DC, a car got the green light every fourth or fifth second, here it’s more like the seventh or eighth second. Doesn’t sound like a big difference, but when you have an entire lane of cars backed up, it’s a huge deal. My other complaint concerns the HOV lane. The hours are like 5AM-9AM and 3PM-7PM, so basically, unless I find a rideshare (I’m working on it), I’m SOL. I know, what’s my hurry. I don’t know– driving is just such a waste of time: I can’t use it for anything productive. Even if I tune into the news, I can’t fully concentrate and absorb the information. The traffic still requires some minimal attention. Oh well, minor gripes.
The job itself is good. I really like the other people– all really smart, young, energetic, and multicultural. I already found my dude from China with whom I can practice Mandarin. Awesome. The client seems nice too. Still early to tell, though.
I’m a little bummed that they’re a manufacturing plant, meaning I can pretty much forget about updating my wardrobe and struting around in my new tall boots (which, by the way, took me three years to finally buy). You see, I found these really nice (i.e. affordable) microfiber boots at Target. I wore them around the house for a few days before I finally built up the confidence to wear them in public (I have issues!). Their first public appearance was that Mandarin meetup. My friend Josh says he doesn’t like boots, because they are vampy. He suspects there’s a connection between the creepy guy incident and my boots. Anyway, I like the look of boots with knee-length skirts or dresses or long skirts, and I was all psyched about starting work so I could dress nicely in business casual. Well, forget that!
Day one I wore khakis, a dress shirt, a sweater vest, and heels. I didn’t know this was on the agenda, but we went to the manufacturing plant, and jesus, I might as well have walked around with a big sign around my neck saying “Ivory Tower Prissy Pants.” Factories are like landfills. You don’t get any street cred prancing around in pretty clothes and shiny shoes. So day two, I toned my shit down: dark blue jeans, ankle boots (I got rid of my other closed-toe shoes), and a button-down shirt. Better but then I had to walk all over the damn site (over 100,000 sf) in heeled shoes. I’m the queen of bad timing: I threw out my steel-toe workboots a few months ago, thinking I wouldn’t need them anymore. For this job, I don’t really need steel-toe, but I definitely need something that’s leather and comfortable for walking. Ugh. I’m picturing those nasty-ass orthopedic shoes. God. Like nurses shoes. As style ignorant as I am, even I know those things are butt-ugly. Oh the sacrifice! Now I’m chugging down fossil fuels (putting 50 miles on my car), paying a damn $3 bridge toll, and cramping up my style (on purpose). But I have a new computer, a new phone, and a job. Happy as a button.
