Like Rats on a Sinking Ship

I saw a really good movie at the weekend, Mrs. Henderson Presents..., but I'm not going to write about that today. Other developments have presented themselves which deserve attention.

I handed in my notice on Tuesday. I would have done so on Monday, but my boss, the coolest boss on the planet because he lets me drink beer at my desk was not in that day. There was no anger, in fact when I told him that I had to speak with him he asked me if I was pregnant. Ha ha ha. There was no panic, unlike the last place I worked. I came into work one morning and saw moving men carrying away the setees and desks and computers. Automatically, and not so prematurely I dropped my lunch bag and started ripping as much copper wire out of the walls as I could carry. My boss was too busy shouting on his handphone at creditors that he didn't have time to marshall me.

This little adventure started precisely 4 months ago, and despite my glowing appraisal here, the honeymoon ended quickly. It wouldn't be so bad I guess if I knew that I had a job in two months time. But every week, another designer leaves the studio. The revolving door is a little demoralizing, and I knew I was in trouble when the boss came to me and we had the following conversation:

[Boss puts hand on my shoulder] Dax, my man. Errr, you speak Chinese right?

Me: Ummm, yeah.

Him: Okay, good. You're now in charge of the studio and Asian. I think there's capacity, and you can fill in now until we get someone new.

[end scene]

I kinda wanted to be cheeky and ask for a pay rise, but I had signed a contract to be compensated a certain amount so I didn't bother pushing the issue. And I also felt bad about it because the reason there was a vacancy in Finance is due to the personal tragedy of a former coworker. The kid from the Midwest I invited to see Los tres entierros de Melquiades Estrada had some business back home that he needed to sort out and that meant that he was quitting.

Well, its been awhile and the boss said that he was going to bring in a new fish to look after media, but there's been no sign of a new hire and I asked him about it. He said that no one has taken the job yet. Okay, the kid from the Midwest and his coworker were already overworked before he quit and in the interim, his coworker is being tasked with more. Personally, I don't think she's nearly as busy as she claims, but I'm not going to challenge it.

I can roll up my sleeves and buckle down just like anyone else, but my boss has made no mention of extending my contract, and not only do I have to think about what's good for me these days, I have to think about what's best for Ali too. So, with that in mind, my recruiter (his assistant actually) brought me to an opportunity in the resource industry like my last steady job. I'll have to take *gulp* public transit to get there, but it'll be a step up and better dosh. The truth is, I haven't exactly been happy with my own performance at the current place, and the constant turnover in the studio, aka the cool people, doesn't really lend itself to being comfortable. Sissy warned me that I was going to have to deal with a lot of prima donnas (and she would know), but I'm okay with that as long as the prima donna bitches know what the fuck they are doing. That's unfortunately too much to ask given that each one of them has their own agenda, so these individuals are getting on my nerves.

Ali is going back to Japan soon, and her sister is going with her. Her sister came for a visit a few days ago, and the two of them will go back so Ali can get her visa renewed. Her sister is a real princess, and unfortunately for me, she hasn't quite figured out that I'm not the chauffeur. I've always felt that Ali is quite a down to earth young woman, and so I was shocked to see how different her sister was. Ali explained that her little sister had a different set of rules growing up. Nothing was too expensive, nothing was too much to ask and so she grew accustomed to having a (daddy's) chauffeur available at all times. Now, I am a fairly accomplished wheel man, and I enjoy a good drive as much as the next guy but I'm no chauffeur. Bitch has two hands, she can open her own damn door. She doesn't have to challenge the routes I take - I'm not a taxi driver trying to make an extra dollar AND she's never been here before so how can she really tell? She's just naggy. You said you wanted to go to the Vuitton boutique, I'm taking you there. That's where we're going now shutthefuckup. No, you're right. This isn't Shinjuku, so why are you trying to give me directions? Ali, can you tell your sister to calm down? She's making me nervous.

The thing about the chauffeur, and the fact that Ali is a pedophile have really caused me to wonder what else she hasn't been telling me. It was a nice, slightly breezy day on Sunday so I decided that it was time to take Ali to the nude beach and let her see what all the fuss was about. We spent about twenty minutes there, and when it got too cold for Ali (19 degrees Celsius), we went back to the car. She was pretty quiet on the way home, so I asked her why she was so thoughtful. She proclaimed that she didn't want to go to the nude beach anymore, and that when her sister would arrive the next day, I was to deny all knowledge of such a place. I was confused. Ali had spent weeks talking about going to the beach and now that she had seen it she wasn't ever going back.

"Why don't you want to go back?"

"I don't want to see shabong, I want to see shikeen."

"Fair enough, we'll come back another day when there are more people."

"Where can I see young shikeen?"

"Huh? There were some fairly young guys there. What do you mean?"

"I wanna see young shikeen, maybe 17 year old guys."

"17?? Ummm. Honey, strictly speaking that's against the law and you can go to prison. Why do you want to see 17 year olds?"

"They are more kawaii."

"You mean their faces?"

"Yeah, yeah..."

"So why do we have to go to a nude beach?"

"I wanna see shikeen. Today there was only shabong. Not kawaii. I'm not going to jail. It's okay, I'm a woman. Anyway, you're the perv."

And that's how I discovered that I might be dating a pedophile.

It's been pretty busy lately. I was up until 3 a.m. this morning doing homework and I've got finals in a few weeks. That, and a new job starting soon and a house guest that must be driven everywhere. At four dollars a gallon, I think I might have to say something soon. Now if you'll excuse me I have a party to go to.