The Gang's All Here

     My Friday afternoon was truly a Friday afternoon and I needed a beer, badly. After an exhausting 2-day ordeal Erin had finally arrived in Queenstown yesterday morning, almost missing every connection from New Hampshire to Chicago to SFO to Auckland to Queenstown! Then she had to go up to Coronet to get all her work issues sorted. Looks like she needed a beer as well!

     We met up at Monty's, where they have a $5 beer of the day, which to my great pleasure is their black beer on Fridays. Erin ordered a Celtic Red, probably my second choice. After a lengthy discussion of her flights and the downfalls of academia we trundled over to Tandoori Palace for dinner. I finally found the perfect dish! (I know I said that last time!) The Lamb Biryani has lamb in a spicy sauce, mixed with basmati rice and veggies with some roasted almond bits as well. I ordered it “extremely hot” and it was finally at my threshold of what I really enjoy when I ask for spicy. It was hot enough to enjoy without saturating my mouth with heat which may have interrupted the enjoyment of the flavors of the food.

     Finally all of my friends have arrived, though I'll have to wait another week or two to be able to see them very much, or possibly longer to be able to ski with them. They offered to keep me on as the receptionist at Good Group for another month, and I made the mistake of expressing my distaste at working during the day. I should have just said yes unconditionally and then asked questions later. I suggested maybe doing part time but they said they needed someone every day. I felt distressed after the conversation, both at the prospect of losing my freedom to ski and take video during the day time, and at the possibility of having expressed a distaste for the job and thus losing the job security I had worked so hard to develop. After thinking about it I realized that if I do work a full 4 weeks I would have made enough money to pay for my housing costs for July and August, and if I work 6 full weeks it would pretty much cover my rent for the season. I could still ski on the weekends, which won't be as busy after school holidays, and I'd have a steady pay and be able to go out for beers afterwards, which I'm sure I'll need if I keep doing office work!

     If I am going to stay in the office for a few more weeks I am going to have to change the way I go about it – I will have to take a change of clothes or something to be able to go for a jog during lunch time, and have to go in at 8:30am and leave at 5:30pm to have a full hour for exercise and doing what I need to do, which isn't a problem at all since I'm up early and don't mind staying later especially if I'm going to meet up for drinks after work. I am still planning on buying free weights – it's a shame but I'm not going to join the gym to swim at all – if I didn't make it out there when I had a car I probably won't make it out often during the season.