Well, I’ve got a job.  Didn’t want to say anything until I was sure - so waited until today - my second day at work.  Figured that if I still had my job today - after turning up for my first day ridiculously hungover - it’s pretty much a certainty.  Managed to make it a little not so certain though, by turning up late on my second day - due to bloody tube-trouble.

So… it all happened pretty bloody quickly.  Turns out the chaps could overlook my apparent over-seriousness.  Got offered the job on Thursday - for a Monday start.  Sweet - can do.  Bought champagne.  Then, had a social weekend.  Saturday afternoon a few beers at the pub while watching some football game.  Some cup final - but it must have been a shitty cup, coz it was too shitty teams.  Then - off to Chook’s for a party.  Mixed my drinks up real good, and got intoxicated.  Mostly champagne.  And then up in the morning to go to Dom’n'Caro’s for a barbeque.  I turned into an absolute mess on the way there.  Lack of sleep, plus a fair bit of booze piled up on top of what was still lurking in my system from last night… and I was a messy mess.  Don’t think I did or said anything too silly.  Except staying a bit longer than sensible.  So - got back to Stratford, Sunday evening - unable to unlock the front door.  12 hours to get myself together for first day at work.

 12 hours - not really enough.  Turned up at 10:30, barely able to think, talk, or stay awake.  And the fun begins.

 Anyway - details for my job.  Not gonna give you any, cause it’s all boring.  A small company which is a ’managed service provider’, which of course does consultancy as well.  So - what one used to call an IT outsourcing company - before that became a bad word.  I do like wanky business jargon.  When a “silo of knowledge” is bad, but a “tower of excellence” is good.  I guess I’m going to have to learn all the terms which have been invented over the last year.  I’ve already picked up “bespoke”.  Not happy about it, but I know it.

Oh well - back to work.  Need to get some money so I can get a place to stay much much closer.  No more tube.

Still unemployed.  My busy week of interviews led to just the one offer - which I turned down.  Work with an arsetralian?  I don’t think so.  Unfortunately, after turning this one down - the job I wanted turned me down.  D’oh.  And my delaying of making a decision for the second role outside of London may have put them off - and I haven’t heard back for a while.  But - yesterday, managed to organise a phone interview.  Did the phone interview, and it seemed to go fine.  No nerd questions - the guy just wanted to get to know me, I gathered.  Lots of questions about my travels - which, of course, I was only too happy to answer.  He did complain about me seeming too serious though.  (Pause while you get yourselves back together.)  Anyway - had a call from the agent about an hour later asking if I could do a 2nd phone interview - for nerdy questions - in ten minutes time.  Sure - did that.  That ended in organising a face-to-face interview for noon the next day.  Sweet - going well.  Except that the agent had mentioned to me that a face-to-face interview with these guys usually ends with an invitation for a beer.  Sure - no problem with that, bloody excellent in fact.  But - noon timeslot, I suddenly realised I might be missing out on the beer.  Dumb.  As most of you know, my charming true self usually only shows itself in a pub environment.  Sure enough, I went to the face-to-face today - and left them with an impression of a very serious-minded boring nerd.  One of the chaps kept accusing me of being too serious - but perhaps the english wit is too dry for me.  I should have exchanged my continuous wry smiles/smirks for some fist-pumping “Awesome!  Yeah!” - to convince him that I was ‘excited by the role/company’ - as he wanted me to be.  Anyway - the job did sound awesome, “Yeah!” - and I hope that they trusted my dead-pan assertions that I am not really that serious or boring.

In other news - it seems like I may be allergic to London water.  Or something.  Seriously - it is a real possibility that it is the water here.  Awesome!  Yeah!  Without going into disgusting details - I have self-diagnosed a rare form of eczema on my left foot.  Luckily for those I live with - non-contagious.  Luckily for me - “can cause extreme stress and pain”.  Awesome!  Yeah!  And everything irritates it.

And, my shopping list of stuff to buy once I get a job is steadily growing.  The normal stuff, of course - champagne, icecream, pay off visa, Aotearoa music.  But the electronics/appliances list is getting out of hand.  Ran out of disk space for all the music that was released while I was away.  So - also got a growing list of music to download, on top of the CDs I’ll be ordering from Real Groovy.  Need some kind of monster external hard drive for that.  A sewing machine - as it is high time I made myself another suit.  Blender - for fruit juices.  Motorbike with sidecar, or a convertible.  Some yerba mate - so I can look like a wanker who’s recently travelled (extensively) throughout South America.  Oh - and a place to live.  Did I mention champagne - I’m gonna drink a helluva lot of champagne.

Well - that’s me for now.  Was hoping to receive a phone call tonight asking me to start work tomorrow.  But, it seems my inability to show excitement has sunk me yet again.  No matter - I’ve got an agent chasing me for a job in Dubai.  Just as long as it comes with a licence to buy booze.