The Last Full Day At Work, And I DO Mean "Full"
Work was busy, as you might imagine on this last full day of the job. It began in the 7 o'clock hour, as I bicycled my last time up Vineville Avenue. Instead of turning in to the Museum, I kept going up Wimbish Drive, and over to Riverside, to claim my rental truck. Then I drove in to work.
Did a school show for a group of forty from Butts County, then docented a tour of the Beyond exhibit, making sure another Museum staff member watched and took notes, so they can know something about the subject matter after I am gone.
For lunch, we went to Mandarin. There were about twenty of us in the banquet room. When prodded for words, I said, "Of the Museum, I will say this: never has so much been done by so few, with so little, for so few others, for so long, for so little in return."
I did the exit interview with the H.R. director, and spent some of the rest of the afternoon trying to think of things to tell Jim, my successor. They brought Georgia (my favorite Moluccan Cockatoo) to my office, so we could say goodbye.
We didn't have time to do a group photo, like we'd hoped to do around 3:50. I had the 4 p.m. show that had to be done. Others had various projects that had to be done. I felt like the episode of M*A*S*H, where Radar goes home, but instead of everyone saying goodbye the way they wanted to, they had to take care of work.
The Director was out today, and we did not get to see each other. She did have touching comments in the goodbye card that everyone signed.
Mom came to drop off some boxes that need to go to my sister in Colorado. We went to Downtown Grill for dinner, a long-running hotspot for Macon's elite, although this was my first time there. Still full from lunch, I had a Caesar salad. This will probably be the last time I see her before I go.
I gave my last public show this evening, from 8 p.m. to 8:30. It was the weekly Sky Over Macon, presented to an audience of fifteen.
Lead-in music: Jonn Serrie, And the Stars Go with You
Sunset: BT, "All That Makes Us Human Continues"
Sunrise: Brian Eno, "An Ending (Ascent)"
Lead-out: Orbital, "Halcyon + On + On"
SeeqPod - Playable Search
At the end of the show, I said, "On a personal note, after six and a half years as curator of Mark Smith Planetarium, I am leaving as of this weekend, to pursue an opportunity in the Denver, Colorado area. It has been my honor and pleasure to serve the Planetarium, the Museum of Arts and Sciences, and the Macon community. Thank you and good night!"
After the audience filtered out to the Observatory, I stayed behind and wept bitterly.
They sent me off with the 40x40 print of the Hubble view of the Helix Nebula, that's been sitting in my office for years. There's supposed to be another surprise for me, which I'll show in a pictures entry if it materializes.
Saturday evening, I will present a show to a group of Girl Scouts, take them to the telescopes if the sky is clear, and then I'll turn in my keys and go home.