where you been? it's been crazy hectic around here. by "around here" i mean work. it's hard to call what i do "work" because really, it's more like hanging out for me. a full seventy-five percent of my friends from san diego work with me and that in itself is tremendously energizing. plus, the nature of my job is such that i'm always busy, which makes the day fly by. i've never had a job where i'm literally not tired at all. and i'm sometimes working from 7am until 7pm. yes, i'm in to work by 7am sometimes. rejoice people, rejoice.

i'm so busy at times that i barely even have time to pee. i brought this up with hong one time and we're both like, "yeah, just hold it." note that the bathroom is three second down the hall. note that we are close enough to talk about the frequency of our bathroom visits, or lack thereof.

i've done these sort of hours before. the video game industry is notorious for long hours. fifteen hour shifts were nothing. my company wasn't even that bad, as far as requiring their grunt level workers to be there all the time. i've heard horror stories about other companies where 100+ hour weeks were de rigeur. people would be going an entire month without a day off, just to be more macho than everyone else in the room. the way to make an impression at these places was to put in ridiculous hours. a room full of young men all dying to get to the next level by keeping long work days equals a "let's see how long you can stay here before you have to go home" type of attitude.

of course, i said early on "fuck it, i don't think i want it that bad." so i had 60-70 hour weeks. which were weak by comparison. then again, since i had no life, i volunteered readily for staying until 2am or taking the friday and saturday night shifts. i mean, really, what could i possibly be doing on a friday night that would preclude me from gathering overtime pay?

now i find myself in a similar position; working crazy hours. but the big difference is that i don't mind it. i haven't had a job since last september. it's time to get my butt in gear isn't it? time to pull on that dusty, tattered work ethic and take it for a spin. how many almost 28 year olds do you know that have held maybe three real jobs (none longer than a year in duration) in their lives? i'm blessed beyond belief. and spoiled too, there's always that.

anyway. this work schedule will only continue for so long. so maybe that's the difference. it's easy to push the pedal to the metal when there's an end in sight. were there no end in sight and these kind of days could possibly stretch toward infinity? i would probably just roll up into a ball and give up. but for now, with work going hardcore, and the book stuff right around the corner, i'm perfectly content to let the days melt seamlessly into nights and flow swiftly into mornings.

my social time with friends -- the 25% not working with me -- is taking a huge hit though. and i haven't had any chances to go to the beach, or to engage in any of the summer activities that i usually pursue. but really, having all of your friends around for ten hours a day can make anything seem like a vacation. so that's where i am: on a paid summer vacation.