Nothing says springtime like forsythia

Somehow my lazy, waltz in at 11am part-time job has suddenly turned into a 4 days a week, practically full-time, stuck-to-my-desk-all-day job. The design/web person left mysteriously, and the new German/Belgian interns are overloaded with work, so they asked me for help:

GERMAN GIRL: I COLLAPSED. On the SUBWAY.
GERMAN BOSS: *pointed look* Would you like to work a few extra hours?
ME: Well, yes, if you put it that way.
GERMAN BOSS: Great! I'm off to Laos.

At this point, saying no would have been churlish and mean and awful! It would have been saying to A., "Yes, by all means, do collapse from overwork again!"

(But I'd also really like to tell A., J., and N. that collapsing is what happens when you live off fruit, salads, and Diet Coke. A. eats apples and mangoes, J. eats bananas and cookies, not sure what N. specializes in. According to A., at least, this is the sum of their lunch and dinner. A. is also under the impression that China will make her fat, because according to a fellow German, that's what happens to Europeans upon coming to China. I told her she has nothing to worry about.)

So, part of my new job description includes getting A.&Co. to eat, but I also get to play with Macromedia Flash MX and Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver is more of a bitch than anything, but Flash MX = crazy hard. Took me hours to make this flash animation.

I like it, but I'm afraid that it will get sued for copyright infringement (I'm not sure where the photograph is from; I found it in the Temporary Internet Files folder. I think it comes from The New York Times, if for no other reason than that it's a good photo - does anyone know if they ran an article on Tibet recently?).

Other reasons why I come to work: the coffee. It's not very good coffee, certainly, but it's free and plentiful. I'm probably also the most willing coffee brewer in the office, and when we're out of coffee, I mope from cubicle to cubicle until I find the Chosen One who knows where the lovely extra coffee is stored. My coffee is also somewhat notorious.

COWORKER: *sips* ... You made this, didn't you. *grimaces*
ME: Yes, I did! *beams, is ridiculously happy to share the joys of coffee with the world*
COWORKER: *runs for water cooler*

I'm convinced, really, that it's not my taste that's skewed, but other people's. The best moment of my coffee-making career was when a fellow caffeine-hound complimented me on my coffee.