so i survived my first week of real work. it was okay, not the best situation to be in, but it pays decent money and i don't feel useless anymore. i guess i'll have to tell you a little about my job. what happened was, i spent a little over 40 hours reading sewer as-built plans, separated them according to which areas within the city (norwalk) they belong, filled out this spreadsheet with info about all the pipes, manholes, clean-outs, etc described on the plans. i also got to order my own calculator and scale and this fancy-looking mechanical pencils. anyway, i just thought it was cool that they let me buy anything i wanted off that Staples catalog. they also got me this cool-looking phone, which i still have to learn how to use. haha. i know, it's pretty shallow, but that's pretty much all the cool things that happened at work. oh yeah, on tuesday, my main boss and my supervisor took me out to lunch at this super fancy place in Tustin (?...dunno, i have to double check this) called Newport 17. the food was super awesome and fancy-looking too. anyway, i liked it. and then we went to this pump station to check on the progress of its construction. it was cool because it was the fourth pump station i've seen in my entire life.

[okay, time for a little side story. when i was an intern in Seal Beach, my supervisor would sometimes take me to his project sites (but most of the time, he would just tell me to go over there and take lots of cool pictures), and his projects happened to be mostly pump stations and sewer-related. anyway, the first pump station i saw was pretty exciting. it's right next to the San Gabriel River and there's a bike trail on one side of the fence and then surrounded by these weird trailer homes. just go pay this fancy trailer park a visit to fully understand what i mean because i don't really feel like writing about trailer homes right now. the second one was at the end of Seal Beach Blvd. the cool thing about this pump station is that you can go down the basement of the structure and look at all the mechanical equipment that actually runs the sewer pumps. i got to go down this basement a couple of times. the third one is by far my most favorite. it's inside the U.S. Navy Base! so when i went with my boss to check it out (it was undergoing some repairs), we had to go through security and we got these badges so we could go in. it's really pretty inside the Base, like a huge park with lots of trees and lots of space for like, camping, etc. and now my fourth pump station. nothing special about it, really, except that the outside structure has fake windows so when it's finished, it'll look very similar to its neighboring houses. so that's my little side story.]

other than that little field trip to Tustin, all i did was that sewer stuff for norwalk. also, i kept going in early to work, always at least 20 minutes before 8, and leaving a few minutes after 5. except monday, i was there from 9 to 6ish. anyway, the reason why i keep going in early is because it only takes about 40 minutes to get to irvine and i always leave my house before 7am. i'm afraid some random accident will happen and i'll be late to work and then i'll look like i don't put any importance onto my job. but that's probably overthinking it. i'm a little too obsessive when it comes to being on time. i know, it's very un-filipino of me.

but friday, i left work at exactly 5. it was camping weekend! woot! the weekend was fun. got wasted friday night, hiked up this mountain to this lake saturday morning, cranium domination by my Team Party Tent (a.k.a. tent of the wasted people on friday night) the rest of the day, then some weird winking game and sitting around the fire all night. it was good to hang out with almost everyone and it was too much fun. yay for good times! i really hope we keep doing it every summer from now on. but sadly, it was also some sort of a going-away party for the Major Instigator because she's leaving soon for grad school (mind you, in Michigan!!) and we won't see her again until mucho later. :( but the thought of her leaving hasn't kicked in yet. maybe because it still feels like summer and maybe in the back of my head, i'm still thinking she's not leaving yet and that we're going back to UCI in september and sit through the same classes and go out to lunch/dinner with the rest of the CE kids while waiting for our next class.

i think i'm borderline setting myself up for massive sadness when september rolls in and then i'll find myself sitting in my cubicle doing some kind of work called engineering. but that's not until next month so we'll see what happens. geez, i'm being a downer again. but that's just how i feel. the weekend was fun and i guess it should be remembered for all its fun-ness.

and to top this fun-ness off, some of the CE kids and i went to see Pineapple Express. super awesome movie! and if you're a CE, you'll understand what i mean.

oh yeah, one thing i learned this weekend: hangover plus hiking equals no bueno.