Rain, Escape, and Afterwards
May. 1st, 2006 10:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
willow_redFor as long as I can remember, my life has revolved around the school year. Even after I graduated, I found ways to make it remain so. Fall is for new beginnings, Spring is increasingly busy and stressful, and Summer is when I find time to recharge and re-motivate myself. The past year has been a little off, because fall was my Summer, and winter became my Fall. But now the year has caught up with itself, in time to converge on a busy, stressful, fun, angsty April.
Now it is May, and while I have a little more time on my hands, it isn't so much that I can talk about everything from last month in one entry. So, here's the Reader's Digest version, and I'll try to make time to tell some of the good stories later. If there's anything in particular you want to hear about, comment and I'll talk about that stuff first.
Starting back at the beginning of the month, the National Space Symposium was a lot of fun, as always. Unfortunately, despite my pestering of HR for the past three months, my %#$@ business cards came in one day too late for me to have them at the symposium. You'd think this wouldn't be a big deal, but I was asked for my card about twenty times or so. Naturally, they were sitting on my desk when I got back to work. *Sigh* Anyway, I came really close to getting to pick up Buzz Aldrin at the airport, and then almost became his aide for the two days he was in Colorado Springs, but alas it fell through. (Details will have to go under a separate post since I don't think this story should be publicly available over the internet.) However, I did get to meet and talk with the Chinese delegation, including the Vice Administrator for the Chinese National Space Administration. That was very cool...and it earned me a special conversation with an FBI agent, who was supposed to call me later that week, but didn't, so I probably ought to call him at some point. The Tuesday night of the symposium, I got into AGI's Casino Night, which was way fun, and made a new friend. Said friend and I went party hopping on Wednesday night. Oh my gosh, the parties! Seriously. So much money goes into these things. I mean, really. When you're skipping over prime rib to go to the other party that has sushi...yeah. My one regret there was eating dinner before, since I didn't know any better. Next year, I tell you! Also at symposium, my boss introduced me to people from some of the other companies we work with, and I got to introduce him to my old boss from NASA. It's a bizarre thing to watch your former boss chat with your current boss.
The following weekend, I went to a surprise graduation party for a friend who just got her PhD. It was mostly family, but there were a few friends there, including my friend who just had a baby back in February. This was the first time any of us got to meet the baby, so that was pretty exciting.
After that came Pesach, which is my favorite holiday of the year. As usual, I was too hassled to get ready for it, but it was good to spend that time with my parents, and they mostly behaved. As a surprise for them, I brought the newly-released 50th anniversary edition of The Ten Commandments, which included the original 1923 silent version. Now, I've seen a fair number of silent movies, mostly from going to Chatauqua with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
illyanarasputin. That should give me some credibility when I say that movie sucked. I want those two hours of my life back level of suck. If you want to know how bad it truly was, go ahead and ask, but I'm not going into it any more here.
The Saturday during Pesach was James & Kate's seder party. Alas, it's the last one they'll have in Colorado, since they're moving to California this summer. I'm really going to miss it next year, and I'll miss them long before that. A twisted thought entered my mind to host my own, but I think I should nip that particular bit of insanity in the bud before it takes root.
Let's see, that's the halfway point of the month, what else?
Pesach ended right before the anime club MST2K/Sushi night. For the second time in as many weeks, I found myself wanting that two hours of my life back. The first time was really my own fault. The second one, I get to blame onomegadog, since he was the supplier of the flaming piece of crap that we watched. Luckily, the wonderful sushi did much to wash away the bad memories. Well, the sake helped too.
That weekend continued at StarFest withnalablack. The thing I had been looking forward to most was seeing Dwight Schultz and Dirk Benedict -- two of the three living members of The A-Team. They did a very amusing bit on stage...and well, looked very old. It was strange. I did get to meet Dwight Schultz in person and shake his hand. It was an exciting thing; I've been watching him on TV and enjoying his characters since I was 5. Both of them told lots of great stories. Also got to see a little bit of Denise Crosby, as well as George Takei's hour on stage. Neat thing about George Takei: after he was done on stage, he went around the con on his own, just chatting with people. How cool is that? nalablack also introduced me to the fun of the Play Parody and the Federation Ball. Oh yes, and lilacwire took second prize in the costume contest! Congrats!
Dashing back from StarFest that Sunday, Tau Beta Pi did our spring initiation, which went very well. We have 10 new members (though really kind of 13, since 3 people agreed to postpone and be initiated at Convention in October). This was followed by one of the best officer elections I've seen in years, later in the week. All the offices got filled, and a couple were even contested! I think things are looking good for the next year. At least, I hope so.
During the last week in April, all of our senior people were either on vacation or at conferences, so that's when they announced the big contract we've been waiting months to hear about. Alas, we did not win. All is not lost, however! Instead, they awarded us a longer-term contract which is less money for now, but will probably be better for us in the long run. I don't fully understand how this works. I'm hoping my boss explains this to us when he gets back from vacation next week.
Another work development! Today, I got officially switched to "full-time" from my part-time employee status, where I've been since December. "Full-time" is purposely in quotes, though. I don't actually get 40 hours per week, but we're all going to pretend so I can get benefits. (This is just as well, since I still haven't found anyone to look after Akito during the day. ) They decided that I've been patient long enough, and it's kind of their fault we don't have enough work to keep people at full time, so now I can get health insurance again. It's really very nice of them to bend the regulations like that.
Um, there were more things that happened, including the anime club marathon, and a lot of angst about things that ended up not happening, but I have to be up early tomorrow, so I'll sign off now.
Just wanted to let everyone know that I made it though, and I'm still breathing. 101 in 1001 update coming soon.
Now it is May, and while I have a little more time on my hands, it isn't so much that I can talk about everything from last month in one entry. So, here's the Reader's Digest version, and I'll try to make time to tell some of the good stories later. If there's anything in particular you want to hear about, comment and I'll talk about that stuff first.
Starting back at the beginning of the month, the National Space Symposium was a lot of fun, as always. Unfortunately, despite my pestering of HR for the past three months, my %#$@ business cards came in one day too late for me to have them at the symposium. You'd think this wouldn't be a big deal, but I was asked for my card about twenty times or so. Naturally, they were sitting on my desk when I got back to work. *Sigh* Anyway, I came really close to getting to pick up Buzz Aldrin at the airport, and then almost became his aide for the two days he was in Colorado Springs, but alas it fell through. (Details will have to go under a separate post since I don't think this story should be publicly available over the internet.) However, I did get to meet and talk with the Chinese delegation, including the Vice Administrator for the Chinese National Space Administration. That was very cool...and it earned me a special conversation with an FBI agent, who was supposed to call me later that week, but didn't, so I probably ought to call him at some point. The Tuesday night of the symposium, I got into AGI's Casino Night, which was way fun, and made a new friend. Said friend and I went party hopping on Wednesday night. Oh my gosh, the parties! Seriously. So much money goes into these things. I mean, really. When you're skipping over prime rib to go to the other party that has sushi...yeah. My one regret there was eating dinner before, since I didn't know any better. Next year, I tell you! Also at symposium, my boss introduced me to people from some of the other companies we work with, and I got to introduce him to my old boss from NASA. It's a bizarre thing to watch your former boss chat with your current boss.
The following weekend, I went to a surprise graduation party for a friend who just got her PhD. It was mostly family, but there were a few friends there, including my friend who just had a baby back in February. This was the first time any of us got to meet the baby, so that was pretty exciting.
After that came Pesach, which is my favorite holiday of the year. As usual, I was too hassled to get ready for it, but it was good to spend that time with my parents, and they mostly behaved. As a surprise for them, I brought the newly-released 50th anniversary edition of The Ten Commandments, which included the original 1923 silent version. Now, I've seen a fair number of silent movies, mostly from going to Chatauqua with
illyanarasputin. That should give me some credibility when I say that movie sucked. I want those two hours of my life back level of suck. If you want to know how bad it truly was, go ahead and ask, but I'm not going into it any more here.The Saturday during Pesach was James & Kate's seder party. Alas, it's the last one they'll have in Colorado, since they're moving to California this summer. I'm really going to miss it next year, and I'll miss them long before that. A twisted thought entered my mind to host my own, but I think I should nip that particular bit of insanity in the bud before it takes root.
Let's see, that's the halfway point of the month, what else?
Pesach ended right before the anime club MST2K/Sushi night. For the second time in as many weeks, I found myself wanting that two hours of my life back. The first time was really my own fault. The second one, I get to blame on
omegadog, since he was the supplier of the flaming piece of crap that we watched. Luckily, the wonderful sushi did much to wash away the bad memories. Well, the sake helped too.That weekend continued at StarFest with
nalablack. The thing I had been looking forward to most was seeing Dwight Schultz and Dirk Benedict -- two of the three living members of The A-Team. They did a very amusing bit on stage...and well, looked very old. It was strange. I did get to meet Dwight Schultz in person and shake his hand. It was an exciting thing; I've been watching him on TV and enjoying his characters since I was 5. Both of them told lots of great stories. Also got to see a little bit of Denise Crosby, as well as George Takei's hour on stage. Neat thing about George Takei: after he was done on stage, he went around the con on his own, just chatting with people. How cool is that? nalablack also introduced me to the fun of the Play Parody and the Federation Ball. Oh yes, and lilacwire took second prize in the costume contest! Congrats!Dashing back from StarFest that Sunday, Tau Beta Pi did our spring initiation, which went very well. We have 10 new members (though really kind of 13, since 3 people agreed to postpone and be initiated at Convention in October). This was followed by one of the best officer elections I've seen in years, later in the week. All the offices got filled, and a couple were even contested! I think things are looking good for the next year. At least, I hope so.
During the last week in April, all of our senior people were either on vacation or at conferences, so that's when they announced the big contract we've been waiting months to hear about. Alas, we did not win. All is not lost, however! Instead, they awarded us a longer-term contract which is less money for now, but will probably be better for us in the long run. I don't fully understand how this works. I'm hoping my boss explains this to us when he gets back from vacation next week.
Another work development! Today, I got officially switched to "full-time" from my part-time employee status, where I've been since December. "Full-time" is purposely in quotes, though. I don't actually get 40 hours per week, but we're all going to pretend so I can get benefits. (This is just as well, since I still haven't found anyone to look after Akito during the day. ) They decided that I've been patient long enough, and it's kind of their fault we don't have enough work to keep people at full time, so now I can get health insurance again. It's really very nice of them to bend the regulations like that.
Um, there were more things that happened, including the anime club marathon, and a lot of angst about things that ended up not happening, but I have to be up early tomorrow, so I'll sign off now.
Just wanted to let everyone know that I made it though, and I'm still breathing. 101 in 1001 update coming soon.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-05-02 06:39 am (UTC)... now I kinda understand why Kate is after my head.
...
Well, that aside for now -- it was awesome to meet up and hang out with the both of ya, during the rather-few and rather-late hours I managed to make of StarFest. And allow me to also pass my congrats to
And though issues of work still seem to be somewhat unclear for ya, here's hoping that things clear up and work out in your favor. It's at least awesome that the benefits deal works out well.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-02 12:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-02 03:39 pm (UTC)Shame about James and Kate leaving, but I guess it's for the best for them. How are they doing? I really should say hi before they leave for Cali. How's the anime club doing? I've always been curious to see and have wanted to drop by sometime I come up (I'm sure I'll get around to it one of these days). Hope things are going well. I can only imagine they've moved away from dragging in vhs tapes to the club. I'm guessing someone brings their laptop in?
I think the last ST con I was at was the one with Patrick Stewart? Or maybe Jonathan Frakes. The time frame is muddled in my head. Still, I've missed out on many since and seeing George Takei, Broccoli, or Dirk Benedict would have been awesome.
Anyway, sounds like you're doing great. Good to hear. Take care.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-02 04:57 pm (UTC)