Culture Injection
Holy Holiday Pile, Batman! I feel like a BrainDump. Pardon the ensuing diatribe.
Culture Injection
This weekend, I got a CultureInjection. Well, more specifically, some exposure to Hanukkah action. I was raised Catholic, so my usual holiday activites involve chopping down pine trees and running up electric bills. That's next weekend. This past weekend, Val took me down to LI to hang out with her mom, some friends of the family, and some bandie friends.
I have no problem hanging out with Val's mom. Dunno...I've always had a be-good-around-people's-parents mode that I autosnap into, and it doesn't stress me so much. Plus, Val's mom is cool. She made us potato latkes! The friends of the family, though...hooh. I ain't a social butterfly, and to hang out with this large group of people who don't know me, and are celebrating Hanukkah (quite seriously), was a bit of a new experience. They were exceedingly friendly and welcoming, though, and I got through the night just fine. Two things I took away from the night: 1) I am even worse than ever at holding polite conversation. Hanging around engineers, this is not necessary...but for "normal" people, I need to work on it. 2) There was a really touching closeness to the family, largely tied around celebration of their faith. This serves to remind me, that as little stock as I put into large, organized religion - there is something to be said for it. Some aspect of shared faith, belief in a common good, that can bring out the best in people. I need to do some thinking, to figure if there is some way I can better incorporate these sorts of positive aspects into my life. Any thoughts?
At the end of the night, Val and I met up with some of her HS bandie and past co-worker friends for 1/2 price appetizers at Applebee's. Yet another event that has me reflecting on my life - I've completely and totally lost touch with high school friends. Granted...there weren't meelions I was especially close to - but certainly some, that I need to drop a line to. It was cool to see Val get to catch up with some peeps from simpler times.
Next weekend, Val and I going to Berlin to hang out with my family. Hopefully, this may serve as an opportunity to also hang out with Sunshine and Laurel, and get started on some catch up!
Holiday Craziness & StressPile
When the sharpest tool in your box is Engineering, every problem starts to look like a noisy diode. ... Yeah. I find myself amidst Holiday Craziness, and my usual bout of procrastination about, well, everything - has me stressing a bit more than normal this week. There are gifts to buy and finish, and a little bit of planning outstanding. I've taken some walks around outside, thinking about how I can do what I need to, with 3.25 weeknights and most of a weekday. It is do-able, even though I am trying to plan it in less time than this (in case something comes up and I lose all or part of a night or day).
I mention engineering, because I'm managing it like an engineering project. There is a set of driving requirements, a prototyping & research phase, implementation work, etc. This makes me happy...because one of my biggest problems in life has always been lack of planning. I'm damn good at winging things, and it's how I got through school - but lately, life is teaching me a hard lesson about how that shit doesn't fly anymore. So now I plan. Hopefully, the next iteration of this will find me springing into action sooner, though. Here's hoping my implementation isn't riddled with too many bugs. At least, ones that I can't pawn off as "features" :)
Ensure prosperity via consumption of Florida Oranges.
Culture Injection
This weekend, I got a CultureInjection. Well, more specifically, some exposure to Hanukkah action. I was raised Catholic, so my usual holiday activites involve chopping down pine trees and running up electric bills. That's next weekend. This past weekend, Val took me down to LI to hang out with her mom, some friends of the family, and some bandie friends.
I have no problem hanging out with Val's mom. Dunno...I've always had a be-good-around-people's-parents mode that I autosnap into, and it doesn't stress me so much. Plus, Val's mom is cool. She made us potato latkes! The friends of the family, though...hooh. I ain't a social butterfly, and to hang out with this large group of people who don't know me, and are celebrating Hanukkah (quite seriously), was a bit of a new experience. They were exceedingly friendly and welcoming, though, and I got through the night just fine. Two things I took away from the night: 1) I am even worse than ever at holding polite conversation. Hanging around engineers, this is not necessary...but for "normal" people, I need to work on it. 2) There was a really touching closeness to the family, largely tied around celebration of their faith. This serves to remind me, that as little stock as I put into large, organized religion - there is something to be said for it. Some aspect of shared faith, belief in a common good, that can bring out the best in people. I need to do some thinking, to figure if there is some way I can better incorporate these sorts of positive aspects into my life. Any thoughts?
At the end of the night, Val and I met up with some of her HS bandie and past co-worker friends for 1/2 price appetizers at Applebee's. Yet another event that has me reflecting on my life - I've completely and totally lost touch with high school friends. Granted...there weren't meelions I was especially close to - but certainly some, that I need to drop a line to. It was cool to see Val get to catch up with some peeps from simpler times.
Next weekend, Val and I going to Berlin to hang out with my family. Hopefully, this may serve as an opportunity to also hang out with Sunshine and Laurel, and get started on some catch up!
Holiday Craziness & StressPile
When the sharpest tool in your box is Engineering, every problem starts to look like a noisy diode. ... Yeah. I find myself amidst Holiday Craziness, and my usual bout of procrastination about, well, everything - has me stressing a bit more than normal this week. There are gifts to buy and finish, and a little bit of planning outstanding. I've taken some walks around outside, thinking about how I can do what I need to, with 3.25 weeknights and most of a weekday. It is do-able, even though I am trying to plan it in less time than this (in case something comes up and I lose all or part of a night or day).
I mention engineering, because I'm managing it like an engineering project. There is a set of driving requirements, a prototyping & research phase, implementation work, etc. This makes me happy...because one of my biggest problems in life has always been lack of planning. I'm damn good at winging things, and it's how I got through school - but lately, life is teaching me a hard lesson about how that shit doesn't fly anymore. So now I plan. Hopefully, the next iteration of this will find me springing into action sooner, though. Here's hoping my implementation isn't riddled with too many bugs. At least, ones that I can't pawn off as "features" :)
Ensure prosperity via consumption of Florida Oranges.