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I wasn’t sure I was going to make it at first, but I’ve finished my first month of work (long and hard) and received my first paycheck (monetary awesomeness). Looking back at my last post you can tell how addled I was becoming at work. Things are hectic, yes, but a lot of it is just managing the hours. As I was lamenting in my last post, the hours are long. I’m at work roughly 12-14 hours with another hour of commute per day (30 minutes door-to-door each way). This doesn’t leave me a whole lot of time in between to get other things done during the week. I’ve managed to get through the first month intact. From here it’s just a matter of refining my morning and evening routine so I can get seven-ish hours of sleep per night, plus a real dinner and some time to relax. Things like whether you have breakfast at home or at the office, do you shower at night or in the morning, is everything for the next day set out the night before can actually make a significant difference to your time and how smooth your day runs. Let’s go a bit more into detail.

Saint wakes up at 6am. Shit, shower, and shave (the three morning S’s that we all know and love) and it’s 6:30am. Saint makes himself an actual breakfast (with proteins and everything!) because breakfast is important to him. He makes a quick cup of coffee because coffee is also important to him. Eat, dress, and Saint is out the door by 7 (:05 usually).

Saint briskly walks to the train station at manages to catch the 7:15am train on a good day (7:19am on a not-so-good day). The train starts at his station so he typically has the option to sit down, but chooses not to because he’s in a chair all freaking day. No sitting.

7:30am and Saint is in his chair, turning on his computer(s) and opening the blinds because the view kicks ass. Saint starts his work as his other coworkers trickle into the office.

It’s 8:30am and the woman who sits farther away from the windows goes up to close the blinds, complaining that it’s too bright (notice the ironic seating arrangement). Saint glowers. Saint rues the woman and promises that he will talk to the woman tomorrow and see if they can’t reach some more favorable compromise, like having the blinds not shut (Saint makes this promise to himself every day).

Saint looks up and it’s 9:45am, time to hop down to the convenience store for second breakfast because breakfast is important to him (see above).

Lunchtime falls pretty close to 12pm, but no one is able to leave their desks to go to lunch. One person takes orders, buys food and brings it back for the team. Saint doesn’t really have any tasks during this time, so he usually goes with just to get outside. God help him when he learns what tasks they do during lunchtime.

The Japanese market closes at 3pm and all hell breaks loose. Saint transforms into his alter-ego, an excel ninja that imbues the Microsoft Office knowledge of Bill Gates with the badass-ness of Samuel L. Jackson (hey, it’s my story). He loses grip with reality and when he comes to, it’s after 5.

Things have calmed down at the office, but there is usually enough work to keep Saint there until 8 or 9pm. With an ¡È¤ªÈè¤ì¤µ¤Þ¤Ç¤¹,¡É Saint bounds out of his chair, rediscovers the use of his legs and dashes out of the office.

Saint arrives home variably around 8:30-9:30pm, and by that time his ladyfriend is already back and has started dinner. They eat while watching on his laptop (lately, Firefly) and after dishes and a shower, it is time for him to sleep.

And there you have it. My day in a nutshell (and in third-person, no less). This is the quasi-routine that I’m on at the financial company that I work in.

One anecdote that I found funny lately is my boss (who sits beside me) often says ¤²¤Ã¡ªvery loudly whenever she hits a problem spot. In Japanese, this is just a standard exclamation of surprise. When I first heard this, I thought she actually said ¡ÈGay!¡É and I almost broke. Everytime she says this now, I can’t but help she’s saying ¡Ègay!¡É

It’s little things like this that add brightness to your day.

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