It Wouldn't Hurt, Would It?

Things have been getting busier and busier lately, and just when you expect things to quiet down a bit, more stuff gets added to the plate. Since New Year's, I've stuffed myself like a pig a few times over which is fitting because I happen to live in a sty right now. After work, the decision-making process goes a little like this: clean house or go out? Well, its a rather unfair choice because I'd pick going out every time which explains why the flat is like a sty.

I went back to the dessert place that has a 30 minute time limit, but it was completely different during the week. Empty, no worries about overstaying our welcome. Ayako and I took 2 zucotti which translates into English as crown, as in the top of one's head. It was good. Chocolate icing on chocolate cake with hazelnut cream stuffed in the centre of the cake which is done in the shape of a bowl, hence the skull. I was trying to be spontaneous and I think I pulled it off. The place was completely different than the last time we went. The only bad part about the evening was that a group of six crammed around a table fit for two and it must have been the first time they'd ever seen cake because they shit themselves with excitement. They had to whip out their digital cameras and take a zillion pictures, and when a piece of cake toppled on its side they acted like it was a freaking catastrophe. The place is back lit and the tables have little cabaret lamps to create an ambiance for groups looking for a place to wind down after a great night out to dinner or the theatre, but this group couldn't be quiet for a second. I almost said something, but I was having too much fun with Ayako.

We went out for dessert again last night to a different place on the condition that we share one piece. I didn't tell Ayako that each piece of cake at this place is about 3 times the size of a normal piece of cake. We had a lemon cake, and listened to Blue Monday by Blue Order, or at least the bass notes because the place was so loud. I tried to explain the history of New Order and Joy Division to Ayako, as well as give her a brief introduction to Public Enemy all the while trying to read through her Japanese phrase book, but I have a tendency to overload information. I'll have to explain the importance of Public Enemy another time, but I'm pretty sure Ayako understood the part about Ian Curtis.

I got my giftee from Lola earlier this week. The Great Switcheroo by Roald Dahl. I haven't read it yet but it is "a decidedly adult fable" according to the summary on the reverse side of the jacket. Expectations.

So my New Year's was good, but I had the wrong idea. For some reason, I thought that K-Bear had arranged tickets for a private party, but it was actually his girlfriend, Trapeze Girl who did the arranging and we ended up doing something completely different. We ended up at a dessert cafe, what a coincidence! It was good to see them, but the movie is off again. Now K-Bear wants me to put Trapeze Girl in the film before he'll sign the contract, and there's always the question of financing.

I left the job at the engineering firm and took the position at the ad firm. I really didn't want to leave the other place, but the new place offered me a bigger piece of pie and I managed to interest someone new in Layer Cake so it was a net positive in the end. It's so refreshing to work in a creative environment. This is the place where the receptionist was walking around with bare feet when I showed up for my interview. When I showed up for work on Monday, I was blinded by a sea of earthtone turtlenecks and power frames. They figured I was an auditor because I was dressed in a suit. Nothing special, collezione Zegna 1997, but when I clean up I clean up. I can't do anything about the pasty complexion, but that will be sorted soon enough. The sudden change was only momentary as I realized how great it felt to be part of a corporate culture that embraces the soul patch. Among other perks, Kraftwerk is broadcast throughout the top three floors of the building, and all the company officers drive Audis. It is a sight to behold watching them pull into the garage in the morning with the faint trance of The Robots or Aero Dynamik off in the distance.

There is a window, its not right in front of me, but all I have to do is turn my head 90 degrees to see outside. I haven't been able to do that in 6 years. I work with identical twins who have their own language. It's English, but nobody understands them. One of them is training me, and she goes about 90 miles an hour. I asked her if she drinks Red Bull, but she said no, so I guess she eats pep pills by the bowlful in the morning. A lot of f-bombs get dropped in the office and there are a lot of introverts in the creative department, but I've never worked in a place with so much eye candy, which makes lunch hour fun. My department co-workers spend lunch playing cards for money, so I slink off to the kitchen and watch Oprah. I haven't seen my soaps in about three weeks. I tried watching one yesterday on lunch but the story lines had changed so drastically, that it hurt to watch.

The boss flew in from Montreal for a departmental meeting, and since I was the new guy I had to sing. My go to song is Brass in Pocket by The Pretenders, but I quickly realized that this probably wasn't the right time for Chrissy Hind, and perhaps a little too abstract considering that my new boss and I had only just met and there was no context. Brass in Pocket really only works when you've drawn the short straw at the company karaoke function, and out of spite you decide to expand your homophobic boss' mind. A word with the compere, and before your boss, who thinks you're gay anyway, can figure out what is happening, you're prancing around the bar with a microphone pointing at him, explaining how you're going to make him see that you're special, so special. But that was so last year. Instead, I went with Michael Sembello's Maniac. It seemed fitting at the time seeing as how I was wearing leg warmers and there was just too much room on the frosted glass tabletop. Afterall, I work at a creative firm now and the worst that could happen would be a few raised eyebrows, and they did tell me I had to sing. It wouldn't hurt to be more specific now and then, would it?