I got the job! Being bilingual and fully certified nationally and statewide bumped up my starting pay offer too!

I haven't stopped smiling since the interview concluded. <3

In September, my son face-planted at the bottom of a six-foot deep pool. In an effort to encourage the swimmers to dive over and out instead of belly-flopping from the platform for a racing start, his coach had been using a skinny PVC pipe wrapped in a pool noodle for the kids to dive over. Per the teams governing league and the American Red Cross, this training method needs to be done into at least 12 feet of water, twice as deep as the pool my son was in. The injury resulted in an ambulance ride, a ten-hour ER visit, and a $2.5K+ medical bill.

After a LOT of e-mails, meetings, and go-rounds, I finally got the agent at the team's liability insurance to agree that, yes, we should receive full compensation for the post-insurance bill and ambulance ride. It may take a few more weeks to get a check, but it the answer we wanted and needed.

In reply to jpetoh (msg # 772):

That's awesome. I'm so glad to hear that after having read your story elsewhere!

My wife and kids are away for a week. I spent the weekend drinking, eating, watching and playing. It's the best time I have had in a very long time!

Very minor, but bear with me:

My very favorite movie is The Last Starfighter. Now, I know it's utterly ridiculous, and I am in no way expecting it to be accurate about anything. It sounds cool, it looks cool, it does everything I want.

But one part always bugged me: in the midst of a whole bunch of ridiculous stuff, like a flying car leaving Earth and passing Saturn a few minutes later just before jumping to another solar system, a character says "Shifting into stardrive at Columba Zeta. Hold tight."

It was jarring to me because "Columba Zeta" just sounds like nonsense. It sounds like it's a stellar location, but why say it at all when it's clearly made up?

Except that it's only partially made up, and actually sort of refers to a real thing.

I didn't know until today that "Columba" is an actual constellation, the Dove, just south of Canis Major and Lupus. Now, there's no "Columba Zeta" or "Zeta Columbae" listed, and it's still a nonsense thing to say, but it's at least plausibly to do with actual outer space. I'll also note that the Dove often represents peace and the characters are headed to a league of peace-lovers who have been forced into conflict.

Made me smile.

I completed my first night of cashier training/perscription sorting! Some hiccups but pretty good for the most part. I'm tired but in a happy accomplished kind of way.

Well...at least, I hope it's good stuff.  It usually is...

I've been helping one of the high schools in my area with their spring musical production every year, since 2005, doing makeup (and, in the past few years, fabricating some specialty pieces like Ursula's wig, Flotsam and Jetsam's costumes, the Great and Powerful Oz's head...)

Just found out what next year's show is going to be.  Phantom of the Opera.  Now, as shows go, I find it a lot more spectacle than substance...but I'm looking forward to it, as a designer.  The costume designer already asked me to start working on a mask (no problem, masks are easy) and this gives me a LOT of time to come up with some really cool prosthetics for the Phantom to wear under the mask.  So, I'm looking forward to it.  It's almost certainly going to be a much simpler makeup show than the past few I've done there!  (Wizard of Oz, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Shrek...)  Need to track down a copy and watch it with an eye to what I'd do with the characters if I was responsible for how they look (because, to a certain extent, I will be...)

I really love the Phantom of the Opera!

I'm kind of excited for it...I was a percussionist in my university symphony when it was still riding high on its initial wave if fame, gotto play some of the music.  It's not the deepest story ever told on stage, by any means, but it will be a really good show, and we've got a couple of really solid guys who will be seniors next year that will make a solid base to build a cast around.  I just hope they haven't taken it for granted that they'll get specific roles, just because they were leads in this year's musical.  Their odds are really good...but auditions are still a ways off.

I'm certainly glad I'm not the one in charge of casting!

It's my RPOL birthday! My best guess is this makes it 13 years!

In reply to praguepride (msg # 780):

Thanks for being here so long and doing all that you do here! I have loved your contributions!

Happy Opening Day everyone!  Good luck to all 30 teams.  Well, except to the Yankees.  They have a duo who might hit 100 home runs between themselves.  They don't need luck.  :P

In reply to praguepride (msg # 780):

Was surprised to realise that this coming June my RPoL account will be 16 years old.  About time it started looking for a job...

As of an hour (and a little change) ago, I've been on this world for half a century.  I can remember when 50 seemed ancient, to me...and while I'd be lying if I said I still feel like I'm 25, I definitely don't feel like what I expected fifty to be (most of the time...there are some days at work that definitely remind me I'm middle-aged...)  In good health, with a decent job...my life is by no means perfect, but I'm pretty content with where I'm at.
This message was last edited by the user at 17:54, Fri 30 Mar 2018.

All the best!

In a long-standing practice of recognizing the good along with the bad, I heard something from the guy who came to help resolve our system FUBAR yesterday...he was talking to me about upgrading some physical components in our setup, and I just grined and shrugged, and said, "That's not my call to make, you need to talk to Lisa about that."  (Lisa's my boss...THE boss, everyone answers to her.)  The service guy (the one who actually knew what he was doing and fixed our system, rather than screwing it up) gave me a confused look, and answered, "I just don't understand how things work here, I guess...every time I talk to Lisa, she makes it sound like you're her go-to miracle worker...she's always saying you keep the place running..."

I do a lot, there...but I'd never describe it in those terms.  It's a good feeling, though, to hear that what I do is appreciated.  Stuff like that is one of the reasons I was willing to spend eleven and a half hours there, getting everything in our system back as close as possible to normal.  I don't generally interact much with most of the staff, there...almost all my work is behind the scenes, entirely, so I'm in my own quite often...but it's gratifying to hear, from someone outside, that my work is appreciated so deeply.

I started looking for new housing last winter, given my current residence fell well below standard with the failure of the A/C last summer and no running water for the last 8 months. (It is, however, still better than trying to live in my truck, which doesn't have running water, either, and A/C is limited to when I'm driving; I cope.)

I could find houses within my budget, and have an excellent credit rating -- but I have no real downpayment available. And as it turns out, none of the loan companies I've tried to date offer loans as low as I need. (Given my objective is to pay off the loan, getting one that doesn't permit that isn't acceptable.)

Today, I was offered a solution, and the property is literally right around the corner from one of my best friends. I'll have to buy a travel trailer to live in for a while, as the house needs major work, but the price is low enough I should be able to pay it off in ~15 years.

So, the hunt is on for a suitable used travel trailer. Meantime, I'm going to start packing this weekend! :D

Ringwormy IT Guy has been kicked out of my office! And I got to tell a bunch of people I Told You So.

Wormy still works for us, but he's been suspended for 1 week (he may return with a doctor's note giving him the OK) and received a scathing reprimand. He is also not allowed within ten feet of my office space, which is a pretty large area. If we have any network issues, his department must send another technician. A plus for his team: more IT workers are getting the training/permissions previously bogarted by Wormy.

My complaint was finally taken seriously when, unfortunately, one of the kids visiting our workspace caught ringworm. One of our seniors is moving on and we had a little ceremony and after party for him. His family attended. Not too long after, they noticed the ringworm on their kid's hand. A few other people had it, too. Lots of grumbling around the office. Some people thought the kid came to the party with it and spread it around. I reminded them that not only has this Filthy Dude had ringworm for days, but I've been filing a complaint against him every day I saw him at work and they still let him serve the cake at the going away party.

Wormy filed a complaint against me, saying that I was singling him out for a genetic skin condition, but that's going over like a lead balloon.

In reply to Eggy (msg # 788):

He's trying to say he has genetic ringworm??  Wow!

A new pho restaurant opened up close to work and the food is delicious!

In reply to Eggy (msg # 788):

Belated! But good for you! People exploit prejudicial laws far too often, and want to get away with being unsafe. Sure, going to the doctor ain't cheap, fine, live with ring worm! BUT then that stops when it affects other people.

So good for you Eggy. It's sad your plight only gained ground too little too late, but I guess it could be worse. /:

Good for you holding ground and sparing the poor innocent kid shame of being the plaguebearer. Good for you! I'm also glad you helped get some IT guys a chance, and that wormy won't step foot near your office of the doorway. But watch out! That guy is now gunning for you (if he comes back), so be ready. *nods confidently*

So MY good news is that my girlfriend came by. We've been on good terms and she has been "faithful" still considering me her boyfriend, but we've been separated for over a decade! She lives about three or four hours from me, and so it was best for both of us to maintain a distant relationship...but over the years it's cooled. And it's sad...BUT she heard about my situation (see vents) and drove out to see me. So I spent some time with her. It was really nice. One because I had help, but moreover to see her again. I seriously left her alone, thinking she was better off with me. Thinking I was a burden. Or that I somehow guilted her into remaining "tied" to me. It really made me glad to SEE her, not just hear her occasional voice, to see how much she still cares and misses me too. I contemplated breaking it off many times, I thought what's the point, but now I'm glad I didn't. For love or money, and she somehow chose both, but knew that money could come now and love wouldn't give up. It really...it just got my heart racing. Bittersweet to see her go, but now I know to pursue it as an active relationship. She works very hard, which is why she moved, for her career, but she's still very interested in me, and that really just made me happy....and guilty.

I'm really happy though, really happy. Sort of sad that I let my relationship with her wither, while unknowing she very much was torn. So I'll make the point to call her...although right now he phone is off...or I have the wrong number.

It's just this humbling and happy cry feeling that someone you gave up on, because you thought they gave up on you, still loves you, even after years of separation. I mean something to someone else...that's huge. A reminder that silence does not always been indifference. Quite the opposite in this case. :)

Yay! I get to go back to work today!

I could afford the days off (I have ample leave days banked), but the uncertainty was stressful. The last week was definitely a learning experience, but I'm glad it's over.

Getting back to talking with an absent friend that I feared might be gone for good, got 7 of my 24 requested events from GenCon (I overbooked intentionally, and assumed I wouldn't get more than four), did some nice editing for the game I'm helping run there, and got invited to write for a charity short story anthology.
Oh, and I played some D&D over google chat.

Not a bad morning after having an awful few days!

I'm a few days late posting this one, but...

I got the rare chance to re-visit a show I've designed twice and done makeup for once, and got to add some new nuances to my design.  It was for a junior high, so the actors were VERY green (experience-wise...only a couple were green due to makeup), but they did a solid job.  Got to tweak some things I wanted to do differently last time I did the show, got to try a few new things, enough of the old 'tricks' worked to keep it from being a tremendous undertaking (considering what I charged them for the week was less than a standard makeup artist's day rate for a production, that was a serious consideration for me), and got to create or refine some ideas that I never had to worry about either of the last two times I designed it.

Everyone was happy with how it turned out...even me.  Just enough new stuff to it to keep me from feeling bored about doing it again.  And I might just have set up a new regular patron for my services, depending on how her shows go and what kind of production budget she has going into future shows.

My roommate and best friend is awesome! I won't bore everyone with this story or that, but I'm just so proud of her! Taking it all in stride, improving herself, having positive disposition, encouraging me to do the same, handling stuff my PTSD makes difficulty, but helping me get better to do it myself when I can.

The latest thing is that she is cleaning the heck out of the home, which a disaster, through little (but some) fault of our own).

I've often told people I'd marry her if there was any romance, any real attraction beyond platonic, but she's my best friend, and we would be financially poorer for it. Still, we've "taken" those oaths without even meaning it. I've been sick, she's been sick, we've gotten slowly better, and she's been homeless, I've been near homeless, I've bought us a car when the other PoS broke down, and she's supported me by working two jobs doing events that she got paid for to cover her student loans (which she was paying already). She talks very highly of us seeing each other in an afterlife, and I often tell her that's not how eternity works. Even after a hundred years though, even after three hundred, maybe there would still be something to explore, or just feel comfortable retreading fond memories. IT makes me bitter sweet happy, because I enjoy it, NOW when I can, and take mental photographs of the good and bad, because who knows when circumstances will separate us. She really is wonderful, and I can't imagine losing her.