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today i felt it, i felt my summer coming to an end. i got up this morning to go down to squid country safari to talk about the details of a freelance director lingo project they wanted me to do. i know SCS through my old job, screen house, and not so much anymore, but i used to hang out with the squid folks a lot, whether it's a trip to vermont to see the lake champlain monster or their annual halloween costume party. my high school friend adam also works there, their primary developer. many moons ago they even offered me a job right after my first layoff. i didn't take the offer because i didn't want to work with people i knew, not wanting to mix friends and work. now fast forward three years later, with the economy the way it is, i have no qualms about working for friends now, and in fact, most of the freelance jobs i've had the past year were through friends of friends, so there was at most 2 degrees of separation.

going down to their office lets me do something that i really miss, which is commute on the t. i took the red line all the way to south station then got off.

oh, before i forget, before i did anything else this morning, i got dressed and rode the motorcycle back to belmont, where my cellphone was still in the camry. i realized this last night when i tried to find my cellphone to set the alarm clock. when you don't have a traditional land line, that cellphone becomes your life line to the outside world. lost, not only can you not call anyone, but nobody can call you either, a communication blackout. once i found it (underneath the seat), i quickly came back home, preparing for my meeting with SCS.

i met with alex, katrinka, and adam. all those guys still looked the same (the last time i saw them was last winter, katrinka's birthday party), except for alex, who was more tanned and very skinny, i think i called him "svelte." turns out he's been doing a lot of running with his girlfriend, 3-4 times a week, something like 4 miles per run. they gave me an overview of the project, then showed me some mock-ups. afterwards, katrinka and alex took me to a private room to iron out the details of how much it was going to cost.

the plan is for the next week or so, i'll work at their office, which makes it easier to communicate any directions versus over the phone or through e-mail/instant messaging, especially in the early phase of the programming, where getting things right is crucial, otherwise it's hard to correct mistakes when you're too far along in the code. still, it's not set in stone, my hours will be flexible, and i joked that on good days i might skip coming in so i can go to the beach.

that's why i feel like my summer is over. there were already signs, i've been getting pinged with work, which is good, because mortgage payments can be made, but bad because within the past year i've grown used to my casual virtually work free life. i probably wasn't feeling it because i've been working from home, but when you work in an office, it's all about work.

and i met tom from SRM! when he showed up for work, i thought i was dreeaming, but then it really turned out to be him! we didn't talk very much, he seemed busy, so i'm not quite sure what the story is (does he work there now? or is he himself working offsite for another company?), but since i'll be working at SCS all this week, i'm sure i'll find out.

i left SCS and went to mei tung supermarket to buy some groceries. i planned on just going home, but i felt hungry, and i thought i deserved a good lunch to make up for yesterday's marathon drive out of long island, so i got some vietnamese food, vermicelli with grilled chicken ($5.50), very tasty. i recognized two of the waitresses as old to chau waitresses. the place was crowded, 2/3 asian, the rest businessmen, with a token asian person in their group so they don't feel scared when they order something they don't understand.

chinatown is fast becoming a very hip place. i know it was lunch time, but the place was packed, especially with a large population of young hipsters waiting around for the chinatown buses to take them to new york city. it looked more like a bus depot than a chinatown, with people walking around with large backpacks or pulling suitcases.

when i got home (bumping into sam's girlfriend in porter exchange, i see her all the time), i was coding, and when i wasn't doing that, i was trying to negotiate my refinances, a possible snaggle in when i can close on the new mortgage, but it's still tentatively scheduled for this wednesday. my father came by briefly to deliver a computer desk for the small bedroom, in exchange taking the spare 17" monitor that's been lying in my kitchen unused. i had to ride down to the cafe to fax some mortgage documents, then i came back home and went out for a rush hour run, not coming back home until 6:30pm. there's definitely more people that run after work, and it's not has hot as running in the middle of the day, but i still took off my t-shirt when it got too hot. i'm going to have to get used to it if my days are spent in the office.

and finally, my new roommate is supposed to move in today, but i don't have his telephone number (did he e-mail it to me at some point? i don't remember), so all i could do is write him an e-mail. he ended up not showing up, and i have no idea when he's going to move in, but all his stuff is in my basement and one of his mails has already arrived.

dinner, ramen. dessert, more coding. it's going to be a long night.