MY NEW OFFICE

As I currently have no desk or chair in my room and don’t enjoy working from bed, I dedicated last Sunday to finding myself an office. As you know, I don’t technically need an office because I make most of my money freelancing, but it’s nice to pretend I need to be somewhere once in a while. (Plus, that way my roommates won’t think I’m an unemployed, antisocial American who spends all her time locked in her room).

Well, I’m happy to report that I’ve found myself an elegantly-appointed 15 x 15 office with excellent amenities and very attentive, hard-working employees in a most historic and prestigious sector just a few blocks from my apartment. And I don’t even have to pay any monthly fees, unless you count the coffees and teas I ask one of the empoyees to bring me every morning.

My office is called Café del Sol, and it is a rather atmospheric place, frequented by students university and government employees. There’s always calming -- if dated -- music playing softly in the background (think 1960s Latin pop, 1940s American jazz), and plenty of pastries and coffee drinks to choose from.

However, despite the romantic aspects of my new office, there are practical reasons for choosing Café del Sol. Upon entering the café, two small salons are visible. However, if one looks a little further, there is another, larger and dimmer salon that no one seems to know about. Naturally, I headed to the hidden salon because it has a three pronged outlet and I can spread myself out as if it were my actual office. In addition, there is free wifi, the Internet being essential to a canine cataracts writer/researcher such as myself.

So I’ve been going to work very happily every morning from 9am to 1pm, because a canine cataracts writer/researcher can afford shorter workdays. It’s taken me a long time, but I finally feel like I’m living my life exactly as I always envisioned it.