weekend update

• on work: not much to say here. i started a new rotation when i got back to NYC. it's in the consumer bank (i.e. credit cards, mortgages, personal loans, etc), not the investment bank, which is where my three previous rotations had been. the hours are much better. the work is moderately interesting. the people are not offensive. after this rotation's up in August, i'll have to pick which area of the bank i want to settle into for at least two years. i haven't yet made up my mind where that will be, but if it ends up being consumer banking, it'll be poetic in a "full circle to find the truth" way. my first job at a bank was in the fall of 1998. it was retail, consumer, "let me open a chequing account for you" style banking. who knew i'd still be here, over ten years later.

• on vacation: the gf and i took our annual Spring Break for Grown-Ups™ trip in March. this year's destination: the great state of Texas. we spent two days in Houston before heading out to Austin for the South by Southwest Music Conference. at some point, i'll recap the trip, but the highlights were (obviously) the barbecue, the beer, and the bands. it was a good week away, a good experience to cross off the list. but you know you're borderline too-old-for-this-shit when you bust out the earplugs at an afternoon concert and think about how you might like to attend the nerdy, learning type Interactive Conference the next time around.

• on entertainment: since coming home to NYC, i've been awash in forms of entertainment and have been working hard at catching up on everything i put on pause six months ago. i finally finished the backlog of The Economist that had been piling up. i watched most of the Supernatural and Life episodes that were on the DVR. and i finally, finally finished watching Battlestar Galactica's last season.

• on freedom: this is the first spring since forever where i haven't had to study for an exam, academic or professional. it's a wonderful feeling to actually have a life in April and May and early June instead of reading about how to value cross-currency swaps, or working through stochastic calculus, or memorizing the assumptions of the CAPM. instead, i can pick up new tv shows (Southland is in the rotation, Kings is probably not), or a new/old comic i've been meaning to read all the way through for years (Queen & Country) because i know i'll have time to stick with it. i can actually hang out with the Bizarre Love Rhombus™ when they're in town instead of making excuses for why i have to stay at home. i can wake up at 8a on a Sunday and read the paper, and have coffee, and write. the gf and i have a busy social calendar over the next eight weeks - plenty of brunches, and concerts, and Yankee games, and after-work drinks, and possibly even a bbq or two at our place. all in all, this whole not studying thing? totally made of win.