Hi there. I almost forgot I had a blog. Glad to see it’s still here.
To update: I am still employed at the aforementioned “new” job, after a year and a half, I suppose it no longer qualifies as new. I am still in the new department, whose business entails the nuts and bolts of gathering the kind of information useful to engineers, primarily of the mechanically focused variety. One of the nice things about this is that I can learn about most projects on site, interesting and varied as they are, and get to interact with a large portion of the people employed there as a direct result.
Not that I am much of a people person, in fact, most who know me might say the opposite is true, if they were in an especially impolite mood. I don’t do well in crowds either. Or speaking to people I don’t know well. Or presenting myself to an audience, especially from a stage, or from behind a podium. This is slated to change, however! I intend to conquer this beast, this mindless demon who points from the crowd, laughing in his manic delight. Unfortunately, when I am in groups no one else can see him, and so I get strange looks, and even the occasional poorly hidden snigger. He is to be given a sound thrashing before long, as I have discovered the local toastmasters group is still active, and when and where they meet. That is, he will be soundly thrashed if I can muster the gumption to face an entire group of people who will immediately know my reason for attending. Of course, given the purpose of the meeting, more than a few may have spotted my impish adversary themselves, and so not present faces upturned and tilted in curious befuddlement.
Enough about public speaking! I already have the urge to curl in a ball under the desk, and am only writing about it. As for my other goals, I have accomplished very little. I haven’t had time to write at all. Scratch that. I have chosen to use my time in other pursuits. Erm. Right. I mean, I have wasted precious hours of my life in pursuit of mindless entertainment. I have discovered TV shows.
3rd Rock From the Sun. Top Gear. The Addams Family. The Munsters. Futurama. Eureka! And so on. And so forth. I added up the time I had wasted on 3rd Rock alone, and simply stopped adding after 150 half-hour episodes…
I could have finished the larger part of my first book idea with that time. Why didn’t I? I could have mastered introductory calculus. Or built the propane forge I’ve been wanting for literally YEARS now.
I justify the wasted hours of mindlessly watching TV as investigating the years of exposure to popular culture I was denied as a child. Yeah, that’s it. “Research” into an academically classifiable field of study, useful in the aforementioned difficulty in conversation with new people, obtained by osmosis. Even osmosis takes time. New knowledge is worth something right? Right!?
You guessed it. I can rationalize anything under the sun. I can connect dots that weren’t even there before I drew the lines. That’s it! I DRAW THE LINE! No more idiotic TV shows for me! No sirree! Except for Top Gear. That is useful because my field is related to the auto industry. And Futurama. I simply can’t give up that. Hilarious social commentary in animated form cannot be dismissed so easily. But, the Addams Family! I simply love Mortisha’s style! And Gomez’ exploding trains! And Wednesday’s love of spiders! The aesthetic of the entire family is so endearing! And Lurch! It was Ted Cassidy’s defining role. We can’t forget Uncle Fester and his glowing light bulbs!
Oh yeah, I was going to mention education. I got accepted to school, and will major ME/EE. My studies will be primarily online, with trips to the School over summers for lab classes. Perhaps in six years or so, I will obtain that sacred shred of parchment. I have taken the gamble, mortgaging my financial future in hopes of great return. I may be broke, and middle aged, but I’ll be educated. Officially. Woot. Or something.
Fortunately my professional interest, chosen major, and current career (gasp! I must have grown up some. I, I have a career?! Preposterous.) all mesh up, so I might actually accomplish something worthwhile jobwise by the time I’m fortyish. Maybe. if I don’t get distracted. Good thing the Addams Family went off the air in the 60′s.
Catch you on the Flip Side…
