The starting line

Posted on 2007/05/25 00:16:04 (May 2007).

[Thursday 25th May]

Tonight, a bit unusual for the group as we normally see each other on Tuesdays, we met to play RPG (or Role Playing Games).

The evening was pleasant and helped me taking my head away from the pressing problems that I will have to face in the not so distant future.

Going back home I realized that RPGs always marked the "beginning" of a trip for me, by that I mean those three days before the actual trip takes place, the three days where you start thinking of what to take with you, what to leave behind, cleaning the house, throw away things that are not "already walking" but might be inclined in doing so if left too long loitering in the fridge, doing all those things that a good traveller does before leaving.

It's a funny feeling, usually I start getting more nervous and irritable, a sort of "meditation" that I have to do as during the trip it's going to be just me by myself and the rest of the world needs to shut down a little...

In a way RPG night marks the end of the "kid Lorenzo" and welcomes me, as a starting line, to the "must be grown up and responsible" version of me.

I also cut my hairs today, need to be presentable to my Japanese employers, especially as we are going to argue again about the contract, the job, the money and everything else.

In a typical Lorenzo' style I have been playing in my head the movie of me storming out of the office upset and screaming, the images of me accepting everything, the images of me winning the bout, the images of me simply doing nothing in the big open space office that I will occupy next week.

Needless to say that the situation is grotesque. The person that got me into this mess is a complete idiot, he doesn't have a clue of what to do with me apart from being pedantic and generally obnoxious.
I could go to see the bosses above him, but they are the people that have never been convinced of me working for them, any complaint will mean an automatic end of the relationship.

Not that I want to continue, mind you, but I'd like to leave the job with my back a bit "covered" and not unemployed and having to pay for a bigger house that I rented because I needed the extra space for them.
The economics behind starting this business are feasible only with a certain level of income, which is quite high compared to other jobs that I could do "off the street". For example working in a shop in the centre of Florence would probably not be enough to pay the full rent of the house, not to mention car, utilities, garage and food.

This makes moving to a different sector quite hard as well.

I am a bit lost at the moment, I just wish that this race that I have officially started today doesn't turn out to be too hard to complete...

Ah, but in any race all you have to do is "nobble" the other competitors!! ;)

Posted by Nigel at 2007/05/25 08:50:00.

Hi Lox. A gentle correction! Having had Italian neighbours for about 20 years, I am quite used to the way Itala uses the English language, sometimes it makes me smile to myself. The one that always had me biting my tongue was "I'm going to wash my hairs" Then to see you use the same word made me laugh outloud, particularly as you couldn't hear me. The plural is "hair". xx

Posted by Mad Mumsie at 2007/05/25 11:11:34.

MM: DOH!! Good call!! :D My english is going pear shaped! That is a red error in school, or at least it used to be, probably the fact that is was past midnight did not help (actually past 1 am too) but it's no excuse... I shall improve! :P Didn't know that you had Italian neighbours, Rob never mentioned it...

Posted by Lox at 2007/05/25 13:32:03.

In a similar vein, Japanese people often ask me "did you cut your hair?" to which I generally reply "no, someone else did it".

...or maybe it just looked really bad, and they were genuinely asking if I had done it myself!

Posted by John at 2007/05/25 23:04:04.

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