Sights, smells, and feels

Weather: Great biking weather
Stops: Dem groceries
Encounters: Donuts

There are a few constants I enjoy riding by on my way home every night - sights and smells, mostly. First, there's a set of sprinklers that switches on a little after midnight. Unfortunately the nozzles are misaligned because a fair amount of water hits the street instead of the grass and runs downhill to a drain. I almost always pass that spot as the water is about halfway to the drain; if it's already reached it, I know I was a little late leaving work. Similarly, a bus crosses my route a few blocks down the road from the sprinklers. Rarely, I'll beat it to the intersection; usually it's just far enough ahead that the light has changed back to green by the time I get there.

The best, though, are two stores I pass: a donut shop and a Subway. Both are busy baking at that hour, and if the wind is blowing right I get a delicious blast of fresh donut/bread smell as I ride by. It's awesome, jellyman.*

As for feels: well, when you're riding a road bike there's not much in the way of shock absorption. And in fact, I've come to fear any kind of bounciness in my ride, because it's a warning sign that my tires have lost some air pressure. I spent the entire ride home today terrified that I'd hit a bump, pinch my rear tube, and get to fix another flat on the side of the road at 12:30am. No thanks.

I spoke with my boss about my future at Bungie today - only very briefly, as he was heading out for the night (which made it a little easier, frankly). It wasn't terribly encouraging, unfortunately. Contract work can be pretty demoralizing, because even though you know you have a start and an end date, there's always the hope that it'll turn into something permanent. I've been chasing that hope for seven years now. /:

In the interest of staying positive, though, tomorrow will be search-for-more-studios day. I even checked Bungie's listings, and there are several I'm going to look into - entry level design positions (raid and investment systems) and writing. And there *are* plenty of studios in the area. I'm not giving up yet.



* Almost makes up for the semi-regular trash/sewage smell as I pass a grocery store later on. Bleh.