The gig

I’ve spent a couple of days at the office now. This company is really something, there are guitars hanging on every wall and posters of musicians holding up our equipment. I even saw an autographed poster of Jimi Hendrix, although I still have to verify the hand writing on that. I sit with some other engineers and the tech support in a huge room painted entirely black. People who work here have a strong passion for music, and most are musicians themselves. Some loved the equipment so much that they started in entry level positions just to get a foot in the door. Electric guitars usually go off in the recording studio at around 4:30, I’ve been told to leave the office before 6, when the rockers at heart really go hard on the equipment.

I met up with my future roomies to sign some paperwork yesterday. Lena drove me around town to show me where to shop and dine. She kept on mentioning store chains I’ve never heard of and after a while she started explaining what every store was while we were driving by it, even Wendy’s and Subway… I felt like martian. These girls are super, they are so chatty and hyper. They come home from a long day's work and just stand around, snack and talk over each other. I was the only one sitting down for 40 minutes. They are also mature for their age, well, who knows what mature for your age really means? We’re all adults now, but there is an attitude that can only come from having to clean up your own messes and pay your own bills. They’ve all made it on their own before and are just thrilled to have each other now. I enjoy their company a lot.

Speaking of retirement savings, for all you Canadians in Canada, invest in RRSP! I’ve come to realize retire savings work pretty differently here. The government does not match your contribution, only your company; and if your employer is having a bad year, then so will you. This fund is also not a high interest savings account, but more of a mutual fund, which means, your base amount can go down if the economy is doing poorly… like… uh, now? I have to decide whether to start contributing or wait a while, I really don’t know, mutual fund is among my least favourite words. On the lighter side, America has bald eagles! I saw one today. It was trying to claw at some pigeons and it was beautiful!