Much frustration last night and again this morning, involving dial-in problems due to the new area code (650) finally becoming mandatory. This telco update caused dialing of my ISP's local number to demand (incorrectly) that I dial "1-650" first, forcing changes to the Dial-Up Networking settings which is more difficult than necessary since changing those defaults seems to be inhibited - it's unclear whether the problem's with my Monorail PC or a fault of Windows 95/Internet Explorer software. But by evening all was back to normal.

Woke up with oral pain focused on rear upper left, probably from teeth-clenching during a dream I had involving this girl from high school. In reality things should've been great with her; tragically, my shyness, ineptitude and inexperience at the time turned the whole thing into an embarrassing fiasco I regret to this day. Yes I know, I should let it go, but I guess rather than color my brain sometimes dreams in self-critical shades of "shoulda" and "if only".

At work I had to attend a crowded meeting which manifested some of the worst one encounters in that scene. Foremost, the boss who threw the affair entered bearing a big plate of cookies <1>, immediately set upon by the ravenous horde of engineers, so I was forced to endure those sounds I find so excruciatingly annoying: people eating. <2> A slow start-up was also caused by the merriment of the project old-timers' chatter, as they traded jests and smart remarks among each other (while the thought balloons above our newer folks' heads were less than charitable). And as the meeting developed it became clear someone had just attended facilitator school - an adjutant to the boss was not only busy taking notes, but also wielding a stop-watch. Comments were requested from all attendees as we "went around the table", and as time grew short the lieutenant began hurrying people along like a media interviewer approaching the top of the hour.
I like my job a lot because stuff like this is rare; unfortunately this is to be a weekly headache, but my guess is it'll move to the back-burner after about a month.

Received very painful email from D, now she's suffering wildly over G's departure (similar levels of emotion she had a few weeks ago when his intentions were made clear; I thought now she was over the worst.) Strangely enough it seems that a catalyst with G is someone he met (and has so far only met) on-line in a "Chat Room" (the Other Woman - if it is a woman). He and I do not discuss this; doubtless he'd rather avoid my skepticism. But her jealousy is furious and enormous. (Which rather mystifies me; she's been kvetching about him for years; I'd think on some level she realizes she'll be better off without him.) Fortunately I'm not being placed in a referee situation, and I fervently hope I'm not forced to choose sides.