Work and moving

First day at work today and I was late. Jetlag reared its ugly head and I woke up at 4am with my body telling me it was midday. Stayed up for an hour or so before falling back to sleep, then wake up late and rushed to a diner for breakfast – I’m a grouchy sod without food in my belly in the morning.

The first day at work is like the first day at school, slightly nerve-wracking to say the least. At least I’ve been here before so knew where the toilets were and who was who. It’s a very different atmosphere from the UK office – none of the other journalists talk much so N and I nattered away in near silence.

There’s also a cultural difference. No-one swears over here and I can be a tad foul mouthed at times. The last time I was over here the departing editor told me in a joking manner that he’d arranged an uninterruptible power supply review for me – the room 101 of a tech journalist. I told him, with a grin we both understood, to go f*** himself with a chainsaw. We laughed, but some of the more prissy US hacks didn’t get the joke.

Still in all a great start. Got my office systems set up, arranged a few meetings, got a fair amount of copy out and I feel N and I can have a good working relationship.

Plus I introduced him to a great Vietnamese restaurant within walking distance of the office. Our locale is not known for its great cuisine, catering as it does mainly to the city’s homeless population. But this place is fantastic – I’m going to be eating a lot of pho in the coming months. Now if I could just find a good pizza place…

I’ve also started looking for a place to live. It’s the first time I’ve done this in over a decade and had forgotten what it was like. In a tight market like this the temptation is to sell yourself but, as I’ve found with jobs and relationships, it’s not right. Be who you are and if folks like you then so much the better, but try and fit in to what you think they want and even if you get it you’ll end up with a situation you’re not comfortable with – and home should be comfortable.

I visited a great place within walking distance of work (so no getting pressed up on public transport with someone without any deodorant) and really nice people. The apartment itself is a Victorian, with great dark wood floors, a kitchen with a dishwasher (nothing causes more arguments in a shared house than the washing up, except maybe bills and noisy sex) and a bedroom which is perfect.

There was a comic moment when I arrived on the doorstep and found someone else there. He too had come to check the place out and we bonded over attempts to access the internet to check we'd got the time right. By coincidence he was a hack too, so we swapped anecdotes about the trade and bonded over a mutual loathing of management inertia.

Anyway, I liked the place and the area, but time will tell. Now I must be off to bed, I intend to be early tomorrow – just to show I’m not a laggard.