Girl Talk

If you like songs in the form of 'mash-ups,' I'd suggest you check out the 'group' (it's really just one guy who does these) Girl Talk. The CDs are pretty impressive compilations of lots of different styles of music, from the 60's through today's popular dance music, all smashed together. It's interesting and enjoyable stuff to listen to - and you hear something new every time.

Nothing much has been going on here. It's the beginning of September, so pretty much everyone I know is back at school. Except for me - which is both exciting and frustrating at the same time. Work really wears me out, and as fall gets moving and my schedule ramps up I'm only going to get more tired - but every once and a while I get home from work and I'd like to hang out. And I don't feel like there are many people around with whom I can hang out. It happens, I guess.

But I've never been a particularly outgoing guy. I'm not really too fond of meeting new people unless I know something about them first - because as we all know, I can talk for days about stuff and not have the slightest clue that people are only paying attention in an attempt to feign politeness. Fortunately, I'm pretty good at entertaining myself. I'm a solitaire master now.

In other news, I've got a handful of auditions in the coming days. One is for an orchestra in DC about which I know almost nothing. Even if I make that one, though, I may well not commit to it - the rehearsal space isn't near any metro stop, and I don't want to work all day Thursdays only to have to drive into DC for a 3 hour rehearsal - that's just too much for me to do. I've been asked also to join the Capital City Wind Symphony, which sounds like a promising opportunity. I don't have an audition with them yet, since my basketball officials training begins tomorrow evening and conflicts with the rehearsal time. But I only train through the end of October, and then I can devote a bit more time to playing. In the meantime, I of course still have the City of Fairfax band, which is good enough for now.

Speaking of good enough for now, I think I've said enough. I'll be recruiting in Blacksburg this week, and I'm looking forward to that. Until next time. . . .

Monthly Update

Seems like I routinely forget that I have this - and consequentially, I don't really update very much. I've had a lot going on recently though, so I guess it's legitimate for me to say that I've been too busy to update. Although it's equally accurate to say that not a whole lot has happened of interest to me, so there really hasn't been much to write about.

I've been spending pretty much all my time at work, which is great because I really enjoy my job. Some guy has been calling my house pretty much every day trying to recruit me for some budget company, but I never return his calls. I guess I should call him back at some point and let him know I already have the job I want. . .

But yeah, work has been pretty cool. I don't always get to work on the glamor projects, but I'm getting a lot of diversified experience in all the different things my division does. My new boss told me the other day that suggestions I had made during a presentation led him to believe that I had been an employee for 4 or 5 years - rather than being a veritable 'new hire.' I was quite flattered by that - but it's really just another sign, I suppose, that I've found the right place to work.

Weekends have been surprisingly busy on account of a handful of trips. I went to the beach twice (once with the City of Fairfax Band as part of an 'end of the summer' concert tour), and I traveled to Blacksburg to visit Carolyn once. The trips themselves were fun, but I'm starting to really dislike driving long distances.

I went to the doctor the other day and was diagnosed with Gilbert's Syndrome, which pretty much means that I'm short an enzyme in my liver which breaks down red blood cells. It's a benign condition and not something that's treatable, but for any of you who thought I looked jaundiced at one point or another - you were probably right, despite my protests. But the joke is on all of you, because evidently people with Gilbert's Syndrome tend to have lower incidences of certain types of cancer and also tend to have stronger blood vessels.

I've started running 4 miles 5 nights a week. I hope to ratchet up the distance over the next couple weeks - I'd really like to get to the point where I could take someone's place in the Army 10 Miler with little notice. I think it's doable. . .

OK, well, I don't really have anything else to add. I'm hoping Dr. Brown emails me the second half of a proof I asked him for this afternoon - it's a proof of the limit definition of 'e.' Interesting stuff if you like math, and probably way boring if you don't like math. Fortunately, I like math, so it's interesting. And this is my blog, so you have to deal with it!

I'll try to start updating more frequently. Not that anyone ever reads this anyway!

SITREP

So, I haven't posted in a while. More than a week, in fact. I've been pretty busy, and I won't be getting less busy for the forseeable future. That precludes me from having ample time to type entries like this - but what's more, as busy as I am, I really don't have anything interesting to talk about.

So, since the last update, the following has happened:
1. I started work. Since my supervisor is retiring in a couple weeks, he hasn't been around the office too much. Consequently, it took about a week for me to actually get any real work. However, in the mean time, I had managed to complete a required online civilian education course - one of those HR deals where you learn how to work and play well with others - and complete a handful of other administrative tasks. So when my boss came back the following week, I actually received quite a bit of new work. Some of it is more interesting than the rest - but I'm just happy that my time is going to be used effectively (at least for the forseeable future).

2. I played principal with the City of Fairfax Band at the 4th of July Celebration. Nothing really of interest here, except that it became painfully obvious that I haven't been practicing enough to play principal horn by myself for an entire concert. I figure I'll start practicing more over the next few weeks, though, since I'm supposed to audition for a couple of sub lists for local orchestras. CFB is a good gig though - friendly people, moderately challenging music, and most importantly, it keeps my performance chops up and keeps me practicing daily. Hopefully my practice routine will continue - but that remains to be seen.

So yeah, that's about all that's new with me. I know it's only 2200 hours, but I have to be up early for work tomorrow and I have to ref two basketball games immediately after I get off work, so I'm gonna go to sleep now. Cheers.

Bureaucracy at Work

Nothing like starting work for the behemoth that is the Federal Government. Even subsets of that behemoth can't seem to function with any degree of great efficiency - take, for example, the Department of the Army. I was all set to start work on this coming Monday - until late last week, at which point I had still not been contacted with an official job offer. So I let the people at my office know (because generally my office works like a well-oiled machine - most of the time, at least) and they pulled some levers and I wound up with a job offer. Except, it was an offer to hire me as an intern again.

So I sent an email back and said "no, I graduated. . . .it's time to hire me as a real employee." So the people at my office pulled a few more levers and Monday morning I got an email with a corrected job title offer. Which is great - except that I woke up this morning to find out that I might STILL have to wait to start work, because they had offered me a bonus and the bonus had to 'wait in line' for approval.

Well, then they called me this afternoon to let me know that everything had been approved. Which is sweet, because it means I won't have to work at decreased intern pay anymore - I get my full salary. But my start date of Monday is still up in the air, because they keep asking for more documents. I had to sprint over to Staples just a few minutes ago to send off a picture of me so they can be sure I'm not a terrorist or something.

It's all just very frustrating. . . .and I think that the only reason I feel that way is that I'm tired of not having anything to do all day. I mean, what do I do every day? I wake up. I eat breakfast and brush my teeth. I go on a no-joke bike ride with Alexander for excercise. I come home and eat lunch and complain about how sore my legs feel all afternoon. Then I go for my evening run, take a shower, play a video game and go to sleep. There's no substance, nothing getting accomplished. That's why I love going to work so much, I think - it's a no-nonsense, fast-paced job with a steep learning curve, and every time you finish a project you feel like you've done something vastly important for the country and sometimes even for the world.

I'm tired of being bored.

Post-college trip: cancelled

So my friend Alexander returned home today, and after yet another trip to the dentist this morning, he and I hung out this afternoon. We were supposed to go on a trip together after he got home from China (he plays trumpet at Julliard, and the Julliard Orchestra traveled to China on a goodwill tour immediately after the school year ended). Unfortunately (for me), he has an audition on the 23rd so he can't just take a week off of practicing to putz around the country. I suppose I understand pretty well where he's coming from - I mean, the guy needs a job, and his training is as an orchestral trumpet player (and he's pretty good, by the way!).

But part of me feels like I'm really missing an opportunity to do something I'll never have the chance to do again. There are places I've never seen before - the Grand Canyon, the Pacific Coast, parts of Mexico and Canada, and perhaps even Alaska and Hawaii, and that doesn't even consider everywhere ABROAD I'd like to see - that require time and money, and I feel like after I start working I won't have the time to take to see these wonderful places. On the other hand, I don't really have the money to see most of them now, either. . . .

But I don't know. I feel like I've grown progressively more boring since my sophomore year, and every day I wake up now I feel like I'm wasting time because I'm not going to work. Quite honestly, I feel like my whole life is starting to revolve around work - and I haven't even started yet.

Don't get me wrong, I love my job. Passionately. Almost to the point of obsession. And that's precisely what I'm afraid of - I have a tendency to convince myself the I actually enjoy doing all the stuff I HAVE to do, because it keeps me from skipping the necessary stuff for the things I actually WANT to do. Take, for instance, auto repair. I used to hate it. Now my weekends feel empty if I don't spend them fixing my car. Why? Because when my car breaks, it needs to be fixed - and if I can tell myself that fixing my car is fun, then it makes it a DESIRABLE activity. I feel like I've made my job just such an activity - to the point where I'd rather go to work than do a lot of other things.

And that simply isn't healthy. But I feel like I'm losing direction in my life, and that outside of my job (which, as I mentioned, hasn't even started yet) there isn't really anything I wake up each morning and say "Hey, I'm sure glad I get to do [this] today." It's a scary thought, really - because one day, I'm going to wake up and not even want to go to work. And I won't know what to do.

Inaugural post

I have no idea how many people are going to read this blog, ever. But I suppose in the interest of maintaining at least some semblance of communication with all of my friends from college with whom I have been recently parted, I might as well at least give this a shot. Most of you, I'm sure, didn't care about the minutiae my life while I was in Blacksburg, so I can't see why you'd be any more interested in it now that I'm NOT in Blacksburg - but, I suppose, to each his own.

I spent today doing . . . . very little. It was still hot, but my mother decided that she wanted to steam clean the basement carpet so I went to pick up the steam cleaner for her. I spent most of the afternoon actually just sitting around, occasionally practicing my horn. Then I ate dinner, went for my usual evening run, and cleaned my room. And that brings us to right now.

In all honesty, I'm growing very tired of the monotony. I know there are a lot of things I could be doing, but I feel like I really ought to be at work. I went to a luncheon last week for a couple of the uniforms in my office who are being rotated out or retiring within the next month - and it only made me feel more like all the sitting around I've been doing on this 'break' between school and the rest of my life has been utterly worthless. I'm not the sort of person who deals well with extended vacations, and a month off without any sort of meaningful work (aside from painting my room and breaking down the tree house) is causing me to go nearly insane.

I guess I'll post more tomorrow, or certainly within the next few days. Alexander is supposed to come home tonight, so hopefully tomorrow he and I can hash out . . . . whatever our trip is going to entail, if it is even going to happen (I grow more skeptical of that by the day). I'm also eagerly awaiting the official job offer from the army. . .my office promised me that I'd be able to come on board on the 23rd, but CPOL still hasn't gotten the paperwork worked out - so right now, I'm in limbo. And the beat rolls on. . .