It's just pipes

Apparently, people actually were reading this - thank you, by the way - and so I have been remiss in failing to post for the last month. Well, it has, indeed, been busy. In case anyone in the ether is wondering how I am, I am ok. The move to DC was successful, although to be honest, I still feel like it is my first weekend, because of how busy I have been. This is definitely a good thing, as I was worried initially that I would have exactly the opposite problem. Let me explain.

College ending is undoubtedly a "suck's ass" phenomenon, and apparently not just for me, but for everyone (yes, every single one) of my graduating class. At least we can sympathize with each other. The most frightening and painful part of college ending is the fact that you are very much alone - relatively speaking at least. College is this incredible network of interesting, profoundly intelligent and party-capable people, and you are all stuck in the same place with nothing to to but learn and drink beer. I mean, c'mon. So upon my move to DC, the most pressing issue for me was ensuring I had at least soem measure of a social life.

Well, that was second to making sure I did well at my job. Which I have, so far, for the first three weeks. The work is amazing, I am getting insane amounts of exposure to both i) advanced financial theory-in-practice and ii) international development. Keep your fingers crossed for me out there, but I am hoping that a trip to Thailand and Mexico will soon be in the works. Other than that, I have been putting in a lot of hours, but that was to be expected, and I definitely feel as though I am getting more out of it than I am putting in. My colleagues are great too, and have not only helped me settle into my job, but have also aided me in reconstructing a social life - from which I digressed a paragraph ago - my apologies.

So, my "mentor" was a german called Christoph, who is now in India, and most of whose projects I have taken over. Now, an analyst called Vera is helping me out. Both of them, are cool, and together with the other analysts I have already been to a few nights out, both at bars and house parties, so it really has been a smooth transition. Thursday was the most recent session, at a hookah bar, which was great.

Aside from that, I have aggressively broken into the Irish scene here. It's fantastic. At least once a week I am going to a session at a place called Nanny O'Brien's which gives me a chance to play some fiddle socially and, of course, to drink some Guinness. I am also very excited about starting a new instrument, and one I have been looking to begin for a long time - the Uilleann Pipes. Just this weekend, I was at a Tionol (gathering) where I got to try out a bunch, play some fiddle music, and, again, drink Guinness. To make a long story short, I am hoping to start lessons within the next month with a piper extraordinaire from DC (Mark Hillmann). This instrument is a beast, so I am no doubt going to have my hands full while impressing my neighbours with what will sound like the cries of a castrated animal.

What else have I been doing for kicks - well, I am lucky enough that Philadelphia is nearby, so I was down there two weeks ago and had a place, old-school. Also, hoping to fly up and visit Whan in Syracuse over the next couple of weeks, which will be good times, obviously. Hockey season is going to be starting soon (thank God), and so I need to start hunting down a pub that shows Flames games.

So all in all, things are going well. Miss all you guys, btu vists will be frequent and happy. Honestly, I am now hungry and tired, so need to go to Safeway and get some dinner/coffee. Ah, the working life. And I promise I will be better about posting on this thing.