Interfuse and Aftermath
So I headed out to Interfuse a day early, on Wednesday, to help with setup, and so that I would be there to cover a Parking Wrangler shift on Thursday. Nothing overly interesting happened to me Wednesday, though a lot of the setup had to be put on hold because Zay, the Midwest Burners bigwig was bringing components of a bunch of camps, and had gotten held up. The truck that was supposed to be hauling the trailer full of junk out to Interfuse turned out to not be butch enough to handle it. So they had to rent a truck, transfer stuff from the other truck, and who knows what else to make them about five hours later than the other people who left KC at the same time.
So Thursday morning, I helped get a few of the delayed camps set up, including my first geodesic dome. That was interesting. It mainly consisted of me giving orders to people who had done it before (because they were drunk, and weren’t good for much aside from holding things up), and laying things out so that the drunk and clueless wouldn’t screw things up.
That dome was designated for the Rangers (specifically the InterRangers, at Interfuse), which is the closest thing the burners have to police. They’re the public safety, medics, facilitators, mediators, and liaisons to any other emergency personnel who might have to be brought in. Last October, at HullbalU, the midwest Afterburn, it was pointed out to me that I’ve been acting the role of the ranger all along (without realizing it), to the point that people had thought I’d actually been a ranger. So this time was my first time doing it officially, and it was another coming-home feeling.
I had a similar impression when I first joined the burners, that it was where I’d belonged all along, and that I was just now discovering the community that I’d always been intended for. And again now, finally becoming a ranger, I realized just how much I’ve always filled the role, that it really is who I am, it’s just that it’s official now, and I’ve got the t-shirt to go with it.
Thursday night I met Stephanie, who was extremely dissatisfied with her life in general, and was on the verge of leaving her husband. It wasn’t that I convinced her to do it, it was that I validated her feelings, and her personally, to the point that she was excited on Saturday when she scrawled her husband’s name on the effigy and nailed her ring to it. She’s got pictures, a close-up of the name and ring, a context shot, and the effigy engulfed in flames Saturday night.
Late Sunday afternoon I finally left Interfuse, unloaded the car at home, did laundry, packed, and reloaded the car with boxes. As it turned out, The Elephant Sanctuary, which Trish had applied to, and already done a phone interview with, wanted her to come in for a trial work-day. So some quick reshuffling and telephone tag brought Trish down here to Tennessee with me. (Between Sunday and Tuesday, I drove nearly 1200 miles, and spent more time driving than I did sleeping between Saturday and Monday nights.) I dropped her off yesterday morning, before my interviews, she hung around town for the rest of the day, and is doing the work day today. I talked to her during her lunch break, and everything was going really well at that point.
I went to my first interview, which had requested a 10-15 minute presentation, for which I chopped up the evolution talk I do every year in my friend’s high school biology class in Virginia. From what they said at the time, that was a winner in and of itself. After that, we went to the direct Q&A between myself and the five people assembled to grill me, some other bio professors and at least one admin. They were very open and candid, and I was my normal, conversational, irreverent self, which everyone seemed to respond well to.
At the second interview, I headed for the bathroom when I entered the building, and on my way out ran into the guy I was supposed to be meeting, as he was going in. When he saw me, he addressed me by name, and we proceeded to the coffee house two buildings over, and chatted for a while.
At this point, I give it a 95% chance of getting each of the job offers, especially since the first one said they were in the market for 7-8 new hires. Which I’ll admit, does ring some alarm bells, but I don’t plan on staying there long-term, just long enough to collect some money and get myself (and everyone else I’ll collect between now and then) set up.
I really should start talking more explicitly about my plans for the future, rather than just the little allusions like that, and I will, but that really deserves its own post, and is likely to be a time-consuming one to write, so I keep putting it off. Oh well. Stay tuned.
So Thursday morning, I helped get a few of the delayed camps set up, including my first geodesic dome. That was interesting. It mainly consisted of me giving orders to people who had done it before (because they were drunk, and weren’t good for much aside from holding things up), and laying things out so that the drunk and clueless wouldn’t screw things up.
That dome was designated for the Rangers (specifically the InterRangers, at Interfuse), which is the closest thing the burners have to police. They’re the public safety, medics, facilitators, mediators, and liaisons to any other emergency personnel who might have to be brought in. Last October, at HullbalU, the midwest Afterburn, it was pointed out to me that I’ve been acting the role of the ranger all along (without realizing it), to the point that people had thought I’d actually been a ranger. So this time was my first time doing it officially, and it was another coming-home feeling.
I had a similar impression when I first joined the burners, that it was where I’d belonged all along, and that I was just now discovering the community that I’d always been intended for. And again now, finally becoming a ranger, I realized just how much I’ve always filled the role, that it really is who I am, it’s just that it’s official now, and I’ve got the t-shirt to go with it.
Thursday night I met Stephanie, who was extremely dissatisfied with her life in general, and was on the verge of leaving her husband. It wasn’t that I convinced her to do it, it was that I validated her feelings, and her personally, to the point that she was excited on Saturday when she scrawled her husband’s name on the effigy and nailed her ring to it. She’s got pictures, a close-up of the name and ring, a context shot, and the effigy engulfed in flames Saturday night.
Late Sunday afternoon I finally left Interfuse, unloaded the car at home, did laundry, packed, and reloaded the car with boxes. As it turned out, The Elephant Sanctuary, which Trish had applied to, and already done a phone interview with, wanted her to come in for a trial work-day. So some quick reshuffling and telephone tag brought Trish down here to Tennessee with me. (Between Sunday and Tuesday, I drove nearly 1200 miles, and spent more time driving than I did sleeping between Saturday and Monday nights.) I dropped her off yesterday morning, before my interviews, she hung around town for the rest of the day, and is doing the work day today. I talked to her during her lunch break, and everything was going really well at that point.
I went to my first interview, which had requested a 10-15 minute presentation, for which I chopped up the evolution talk I do every year in my friend’s high school biology class in Virginia. From what they said at the time, that was a winner in and of itself. After that, we went to the direct Q&A between myself and the five people assembled to grill me, some other bio professors and at least one admin. They were very open and candid, and I was my normal, conversational, irreverent self, which everyone seemed to respond well to.
At the second interview, I headed for the bathroom when I entered the building, and on my way out ran into the guy I was supposed to be meeting, as he was going in. When he saw me, he addressed me by name, and we proceeded to the coffee house two buildings over, and chatted for a while.
At this point, I give it a 95% chance of getting each of the job offers, especially since the first one said they were in the market for 7-8 new hires. Which I’ll admit, does ring some alarm bells, but I don’t plan on staying there long-term, just long enough to collect some money and get myself (and everyone else I’ll collect between now and then) set up.
I really should start talking more explicitly about my plans for the future, rather than just the little allusions like that, and I will, but that really deserves its own post, and is likely to be a time-consuming one to write, so I keep putting it off. Oh well. Stay tuned.