It's happening.

My new job is going really well. I didn't want to jinx it and write some big rave review of the place in the first week only to have everything go to shit in the second week and have to retract it, so I held out until I'd completed two full weeks of employment with Large Unnamed Global Entity, hereby known as LUGE. It has a better ring to it than LUNLF, and far better than MUOLF (Mid-sized Unnamed Offshore Law Firm). Talk about lowered expectations.

Anyways, two full weeks at LUGE and I'm in LUGE love. It's all very different, which means that it's actually interesting, which I haven't experienced with work in a very long time. I'm still getting used to the structure, which is very different from anywhere I've worked before, but I'm enjoying the fact that I'm already being handed projects and such, meaning that I'm suddenly very busy. I went from 0 to 120 in about 5 minutes on my first day. It was awesome.

Enough about work. In short, good times.

Business is NOT as usual in the P-H Compound, otherwise known as our apartment, which is currently lingering at a comfortable 80 degrees thanks to the A/C. It has gotten really, really hot here. You start sweating the second you step outside and the (hot) little breezes from the ocean really only amplify the situation. It's unpleasant, but there is some solace in knowing that every single other person is just as uncomfortable as you are. Except the tourists, that is. They tumble off the cruise ships each week in some of the most appalling excuses for "summer wear" that I have ever seen. I have seen more ass in the last two weeks than anyone should ever see, unless you were in some sort of line of business where frequent ass viewings were the norm. It's not hard to spot them (the tourists, that is, though the asses are right behind them)....they move around in large confused-looking herds, carrying the standard-issue blue and white striped cruise ship beach towels and asking which way the pink sand is.

The population of the Rock spikes when the ships are in town (sometimes two or more at once), and the roads suddenly become even more dangerous than they were before, with hundreds of tourists wobbling around on their rented scooters, trying to simultaneously sight-see and stay on the left side of the road, while taking photos and carrying on conversations with the scooter behind them. What a shitshow. At least they all seem to be enjoying themselves, which I suppose is the important thing. And we all enjoy ourselves on those rare nights when the ships are gone and you can actually get from Point A to Point B without having to shove your way through crowds on the already crowded sidewalks.

After our three weeks away, we came back feeling pretty blah so we (I) decided that our kitchen needed an overhaul (again) and we needed to get back into cooking healthy meals for ourselves, instead of cooking easier but decidedly less healthy meals just because we are lazy by nature. So far, so good. Again, I don't want to jinx it, but we had a phenomenal week last week, food-wise. We did not buy one meal. We brought a healthy lunch to work each day, complete with morning and afternoon snacks AND (and this is the impressive part) we dragged ourselves to the gym bright and early every. single. morning. Even Friday. And again this morning (Sunday). Astounding. I'd kind of been missing the morning runs but it is just far too damn hot to be out there pounding it out on the pavement, even early in the morning. So, we're finally taking advantage of a sweet deal Kurt gets through work on a gym membership and it's been great. We pretty much have it to ourselves each morning, so we can run or do our weights and get in and out of there with time to spare before having to be at work (which, incidentally, is right across the road...for both of us). Even after just a week, I'm already feeling much better. It's amazing what watching what's in your food can do for you.

Tonight's dinner was barracuda filets, steamed in parchment paper with fennel, carrots, orange juice, garlic, salt and pepper. Very easy...very delicious. For dessert? Frozen grapes. They have nearly replaced my beloved Minstrels as my favorite evening treat.

True to form, I'm already getting antsy about our next trip off the Rock and having a very hard time swallowing the fact that there simply won't be one for the rest of this year. I'm going to be clawing my eyes out by the end of September, so this should be interesting. However, the bank accounts are more important right now and I really don't think that the airlines need any more help from us this year, thank you very much. I'm already looking into booking our Easter NYC trip and thinking about that...as it very well could be our first trip off the Rock, meaning that we could potentially be staring down the barrel of an EIGHT MONTH stretch of island fever. Awesome! I know at least one person is rolling their eyes at the thought of me complaining about spending time here and so, once again, I want to reiterate the fact that it's not the Rock that's the problem. It's the whole being cut off from the rest of the world thing that gets to me. You really do forget that it's out there, especially if you avoid the news for a week or so. It's a really weird feeling.

Anyways, this weekend is coming to a close pretty quickly now. Laundry is done, lunches are made, book is finished (David Sedaris - When You Are Engulfed in Flames) and new book is waiting (Stephanie Meyer - Twilight - yes...I am jumping on that train, and if this is just the new Harry Potter, which was bitterly disappointing to me, I'm going to be...bitterly disappointed), so it's time for bed.

Night, y'all.