Clodjee's Safe-House: June in review

June seemed like a very nice month (as good as May usually is) although we had a few days of heavy rain (my garage was flooded a couple of time: on the third, on the thirteen, but the worse was on the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth). Despite all this, I was able to finish repairing and painting the garage door. The garden also started to blossom in many colours. The Mom alley-cat that took up residence in the garden's shed (and who gave us Caramel last year) gave birth to another litter of kittens but was later chased from the shed by an invasion of raccoons!

I've complained many time to the city (using the official info and complain phone line) about the sidewalk's defect that cause the rain water to go to my driveway instead of the sewage's gutter and therefore flooding my garage. In three years nothing was done. Taking advantage of some errands near the borough Hall, I decided to pay a visit to my elected official. He was not there but I spoke with his assistant and explained the problem. She suggested that I email them pictures (which I did right away) and, to my great surprise, less than a week later there was city workers making markings on the sidewalk to prepare it for the repair!! Another week later some workers came back to cut the concrete. I expect the repair to be done soon… Now I know what to do to get results.

In june I also started working in a new location. I felt right away that the adaptation to this new work place would take some time. I have to learn a new routine and every place has its own particularities. However, a month into this new job, I must admit that I am quite disappointed. I remembered the place as very well organized, operating smoothly and quietly. Either I remembered wrong or something changed (well, a rapid succession of changes in management can fuck up the best of organization). I like the team, the place is indeed much more quieter and I now save between fifteen and thirty minutes on my commute, but so far I haven't been given any specific tasks, the work flow is extremely disorganized and chaotic and the reduced staff and budget means that we are always running to keep up with what needs to be done. Not much time to relax, so it is even more stressful and tiring that the previous place! I am not sure I made the right move… I still have time to adapt, but as soon as it's possible (I can't move for another year) I will start applying to other jobs in the hope of finding the dream job or at least something even closer to home.

The end of june and early july brought a heat wave with temperature around 30'C (going over 40' with the humidex)! We had many weeks without any rain, but it ended today. Hopefully, the rain won't last too long. I took another couple of weeks of vacation to travel a little, do some work around the house and catch up with my writing (if I ever can!). My first day off, I was so tired that I slept for nearly twelve hours! I haven't done that in a long time. I started updating my “Essential anime and manga references” moving it from the Protoculture website to my blog and adding more titles to this bibliography. I am planning on posting reviews for all those references (either updating the reviews that were previously published in PA, using some texts that had never been published before [like for the Dico Manga] or simply write new ones). I also wrote comments on the second volumes of Joséphine Impératrice and Le guide du mauvais père (both in french). It feels great! I hope to be able to keep that pace all summer.

Before the rain, I experienced a few of those perfect days of july. It reminded me of my childhood: a slight breeze in the trees, the songs of unseen birds, the distant shouts of children playing in the neighbourhood, the sun reflecting on the water. It brings back a feeling of deep quietness and idleness. Something that the europeans call farniente, I think. Unfortunately, in this busy life, it is only a fleeting sensation…

Not much happened in the news, but I nevertheless gathered a few worthy links that I gladly share with you after the jump:

Anime & Manga related, Japan, Popular Culture

Apple, apps and mobile devices news