I have broadband again, look look look, I have broadband again I have broadband again look!!!

Ahem. Hello again. Glad to be back. Independence Day indeed. I greatly appreciated the broadband from over the road courtesy of my friend, in the meanwhile, but having the box here is so, so, so much better.

In other news...

I have a job. A temp job, yes, but a nice one, and within ten minutes of me walking into a temp agency, so I'm fairly confident that I'll be able to find further temp work from this agency. Or I could even stay at the place I'm working, if they have any vacancies - they seemed quite keen to have me.

I am finding it hard to adjust to the pace, though. "We're so busy!" they claimed. "We're rushed off our feet!" But they clearly have another definition of the phrase, one which involves less of the rushing and the feet and the off, and more of the leaving on time every day, spending most of the time chatting with co-workers or making cups of tea, and having so little to do that I was able to spend my free time putting together a guide to basic Welsh pronunciation for one of my colleagues. ("Dd" is pronounced "th", you know. And "f" is generally pronounced "v". It's a really tongue-twister of a language - that I don't actually speak, aside from a few phrases I learnt from my mum, and from re-reading Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series.) Still, I don't say I'm not entirely willing to get used to this version. Plus my journey to work passes through beautiful Oxford architecture, rivers, meadows... (okay, and ends up at an industrial estate. *g*)

I just finished reading 'Jarhead', omg. And just after reading 'Bravo Two Zero', too. Iesu mawr. Both so, so bleak, and intelligent, and from such a different perspective than mine (I can't imagine wanting to become a soldier), and Christ that was, and is, a screwed-up situation for all concerned. I'm sort of startled about how much the people there could hate the situation, and yet still stay, still follow their orders - it's simultaneously awe-inspiring and frightening. I'd recommend them both, although 'Jarhead' is definitely the superior from a literary point of view. If you've ever read 'The Stranger', by Camus, you'll have a good idea of what that one is like. Now I feel I need to balance it by reading something from the opposite side. Anyone got any recommendations for that?

I'm now reading 'Other People's Daughters: The Life And Times Of The Governess' (thank you, er...
beanpot? Was it you who recommended that?), and it's excellent, and fascinating, and I've only just started it today but I'm sure I'll have more to say about that when I've finished it.

And I have a terribly strong urge to buy the special edition of Spaceballs, purely to listen to the commentary by the Dinks.