update

So..... Yesterday I did orientation in the morning (and got a free t-shirt and mug :), but afterwards nobody was there to meet me or have lunch. :( It wasn't that bad though. When I was eventually collected, the guys that I'm working with showed me my computer and eventually got me something to work on. My computer is a little messed up (old version of Quark, some fonts missing) but I have my email, name badge/key thing, mailbox, and all that jazz. hehehe. So that's kind of neat.

I worked in Quark - it wasn't too bad. I really only had problems with the shortcuts, some of which (zoom in and zoom out) I couldn't even find. I found them today, though. Yesterday I created XPress tags for a document (don't ask) which was really boring, and I was feeling like this wasn't why I got into design. But today I finished that up, and went to a group meeting where everyone just said what they were working on, and I felt a little more like part of the team. And after that, I sat down with this other guy I pretty much work with constantly and went through all the stuff on the newsletters that I'll probably be working on, which was cool. It's really really well designed and thought out and totally anal - but I like it!

So later I started working on making corrections to the text in a supplement to one of the newsletters, and working on eliminating orphans and widows, and then later working on the rags. I don't feel confident on the rags. I couldn't tell how I was doing. Some people say there are different philosophies of ragging, some where you try to track out all the lines so they stagger just a little, and I think some so that all of the lines are very different lengths - so the rags are wider, I guess. So I don't know. Quark wasn't too bad.

And I was feeling a little better, because I do like layout, and it was little newspapers and newsletters that got me into design in the first place, so I felt a bit better, and the afternoon flew by. Which was good.

I ate lunch today and yesterday at Chipotle, which has Mexican food. I liked it a lot. Yesterday I got chicken soft tacos and today I got a chicken burrito. yum yum. :D

Last night I walked around Michigan Ave. Tonight, I think I am going to stay in the hotel and stuff. I don't know. I'm pretty tired. I was really sad this morning. I cried like three times. I have to be careful during the day, cause I'll get to the point of tears all of a sudden at really inopportune times, but I've been okay at controlling it. But I am still really sad.

When I was leaving today, the security lady said, "Smile - it's over! Doesn't that feel better?" I was glad she said something, but at that point I actually was feeling kind of good, for today. So that's kind of pathetic. This is very hard.

Tomorrow we're going to eat lunch out to welcome me and say goodbye to the interns (one of whom is a grad from CMU) and we might go to a Brazilian restaurant, which could be really cool. Oh and Thursday I get to go on a press check! Which will be cool!! We have to drive like 2 hours, but I'll survive. I hope.

Now I am going to go exercise in the exercise room of the hotel. I think. Ah, what fun. :)