bbq 2: electric boogaloo

at last, the weekend. still no mac.

while not exactly one of the great levellers, office bbqs do help bring people towards the median, and for that i was grateful. i've been feeling a little stupid since starting this new job -- particularly when people start talking about physics and statistics and math. the only academic environments i've been in thusfar have been full of people who are paid to build you up, to tolerate incompetence for the grander purpose of learning, and it turns out that in the real world there are incorrect answers and stupid questions and bad data and just plain pressing the wrong bloody button.

anyway, bbq. the highlight was a three foot salmon marinaded with lemon, salt absolut and very little else. surprisingly, it was perfect. also: steak, lamb shank, three-month old crab sticks (largely untouched), portobello mushrooms, various peppers, potato salad, mixed-leaf salad, vegetarian fried rice. marshmallows, but only for the non-vegetarians, because they apparently have gelatin in them (au revoir, numinousness). the best part, though, was that everyone was so full of sake that (a) it didn't matter to me that other people occasionally talked about work, and (b) other people were able to feign interest when i didn't. therein lay the levelling.