There aren't enough hours in the day...
It's been too long.
A lot has changed.
I'm not sure I know where to begin.
So, I've gotten a new job at a social services organization that tends to MH/MR children (and adults, but they focus on the kids). I'm a DBA working on their SQL Server databases. It is worlds different from what I was doing as a network admin / troubleshooter at the old place. There's a lot more expected of me, and I'm not entirely sure I have all the skills they are looking for, but I'm trying and it's been good to get back to thinking in SQL. I've actually done several things so far that have been really interesting (to me anyway) and there's a whole lot more to learn. It's definitely better for my resume', but it doesn't seem like it's as friendly a place as I was working. That could be because I've been there less than a month, but I just don't feel that I've "connected" with anyone. There's 3 onsite eateries for the staff to choose from and everyday at lunch, I find myself eating alone. It's very strange.
In addition to changing jobs, schooling has gotten "interesting" as well. It seems that due to lack of enrollment, the college is cancelling my major. They are committed to letting existing students finish, but that means that I have to try and take all of my remaining classes NOW! This semester, I have three classes. The workload has been very daunting. I'm 4 weeks into the semester and I haven't died yet, but I'm really starting to burn out. It is getting harder and harder to motivate myself to do the homework. I keep telling myself that I'm a quarter of the way through the semester, and it's only 11 weeks left. I can do anything for 11 weeks, right? I'm afraid that the 4.0 that I've been carrying until this point may be in jeopardy. Wish me luck.
Two weeks ago, there was a fighting event that is one of my standard events for the year. Before the tournament started, there was nobody in the lists (the fighting ring). So I armoured up and went out and stood the list basically challenging anyone there if they wanted to come and fight me before the tournament started. The Knights of our Kingdom have been complaining that the unbelts just don't show a fire to fight anymore. No one seems to be fighting pickup bouts outside of the posted tournaments, and they were really lamenting the fact that it seemed nobody cared. Well, I take this as a personal challenge. At every event I go to now, I am going to armour up early and take the field whether there's a tournament or not.
Well, I stepped out into the list to see who would come out and fight me. I looked around and three of the Knights were standing and talking on the sidelines. When one of them finally saw me standing in the list, he slapped the other two on the shoulder, pointed at me and all three of them started racing to see who could get into armour to beat me the fastest. It was a great feeling that I had motivated some Knights into action. I had three warm up bouts in all. In two of the fights I thought I was doing fine. In the third, well, not so much. The Knight I was facing was a younger Knight. He's also training for Crown Tourney in two weeks. I couldn't hit him to save my life. Worse yet, I couldn't even make him break a sweat. He could beat me at will. Effortlessly! He seemed bored fighting me. This pretty much set the tone for me for the rest of the day. Suffice to say, the day didn't get any better. I made my point by stepping into the list before anyone else, but my fighting was uninspired and I did not show well (or at least I didn't think so). To top it off, my elbows have hurt ever since that day. I'm pretty sure that it's just a case of "Tennis Elbow", but it means I haven't fought since that day. It hurts to even pick up my sword. This is bad as Crown Tourney is in two weeks, and if I can't get in the practice time, I run the risk of embarrassing myself and more importantly embarrassing my lady wife and my child. I can't stand for that. I might have to think about withdrawing from Crown, but I'm not sure I really like that idea either. I guess we'll have to see.
My wife surprised me today and painted my fighting shield with my heraldry. It's basically a graphical device that represents who you are in the Society. I've been fighting with just a basic white shield for the past year and a half. I didn't know how much I had missed having my colors displayed on my shield until I saw my shield painted again this evening. She truly does support me in all that I do (fighting, school, etc.). I'm not sure what I would do without her. We're still on completely opposite schedules and we almost never see each other. She's still working third shift so she can watch the baby during the day and we don't have to pay daycare fees. If we are lucky, we see each other for maybe an hour a day during the week. That will get better when school is done. That's another reason why this semester is killing me, and I can't wait for it to be over.
My daughter just turned one year old. She's crawling all over the place. She's feeding herself now, and she's standing on her own. I can't believe it's been a year. She has moved from being a helpless little baby, into being a little person. She amazes me every day. Somehow or another, I have to figure out how to give her a good life. She deserves to be happy, and I need to find a way to give that to her. I guess only time will tell on that one.
Well, I think I've rambled on for long enough at this point. There's a lot going on right now. New job, more classes, problems with fighting. All in all it's a good life, there's just ways that it could be better. There aren't enough hours in the day....
A lot has changed.
I'm not sure I know where to begin.
So, I've gotten a new job at a social services organization that tends to MH/MR children (and adults, but they focus on the kids). I'm a DBA working on their SQL Server databases. It is worlds different from what I was doing as a network admin / troubleshooter at the old place. There's a lot more expected of me, and I'm not entirely sure I have all the skills they are looking for, but I'm trying and it's been good to get back to thinking in SQL. I've actually done several things so far that have been really interesting (to me anyway) and there's a whole lot more to learn. It's definitely better for my resume', but it doesn't seem like it's as friendly a place as I was working. That could be because I've been there less than a month, but I just don't feel that I've "connected" with anyone. There's 3 onsite eateries for the staff to choose from and everyday at lunch, I find myself eating alone. It's very strange.
In addition to changing jobs, schooling has gotten "interesting" as well. It seems that due to lack of enrollment, the college is cancelling my major. They are committed to letting existing students finish, but that means that I have to try and take all of my remaining classes NOW! This semester, I have three classes. The workload has been very daunting. I'm 4 weeks into the semester and I haven't died yet, but I'm really starting to burn out. It is getting harder and harder to motivate myself to do the homework. I keep telling myself that I'm a quarter of the way through the semester, and it's only 11 weeks left. I can do anything for 11 weeks, right? I'm afraid that the 4.0 that I've been carrying until this point may be in jeopardy. Wish me luck.
Two weeks ago, there was a fighting event that is one of my standard events for the year. Before the tournament started, there was nobody in the lists (the fighting ring). So I armoured up and went out and stood the list basically challenging anyone there if they wanted to come and fight me before the tournament started. The Knights of our Kingdom have been complaining that the unbelts just don't show a fire to fight anymore. No one seems to be fighting pickup bouts outside of the posted tournaments, and they were really lamenting the fact that it seemed nobody cared. Well, I take this as a personal challenge. At every event I go to now, I am going to armour up early and take the field whether there's a tournament or not.
Well, I stepped out into the list to see who would come out and fight me. I looked around and three of the Knights were standing and talking on the sidelines. When one of them finally saw me standing in the list, he slapped the other two on the shoulder, pointed at me and all three of them started racing to see who could get into armour to beat me the fastest. It was a great feeling that I had motivated some Knights into action. I had three warm up bouts in all. In two of the fights I thought I was doing fine. In the third, well, not so much. The Knight I was facing was a younger Knight. He's also training for Crown Tourney in two weeks. I couldn't hit him to save my life. Worse yet, I couldn't even make him break a sweat. He could beat me at will. Effortlessly! He seemed bored fighting me. This pretty much set the tone for me for the rest of the day. Suffice to say, the day didn't get any better. I made my point by stepping into the list before anyone else, but my fighting was uninspired and I did not show well (or at least I didn't think so). To top it off, my elbows have hurt ever since that day. I'm pretty sure that it's just a case of "Tennis Elbow", but it means I haven't fought since that day. It hurts to even pick up my sword. This is bad as Crown Tourney is in two weeks, and if I can't get in the practice time, I run the risk of embarrassing myself and more importantly embarrassing my lady wife and my child. I can't stand for that. I might have to think about withdrawing from Crown, but I'm not sure I really like that idea either. I guess we'll have to see.
My wife surprised me today and painted my fighting shield with my heraldry. It's basically a graphical device that represents who you are in the Society. I've been fighting with just a basic white shield for the past year and a half. I didn't know how much I had missed having my colors displayed on my shield until I saw my shield painted again this evening. She truly does support me in all that I do (fighting, school, etc.). I'm not sure what I would do without her. We're still on completely opposite schedules and we almost never see each other. She's still working third shift so she can watch the baby during the day and we don't have to pay daycare fees. If we are lucky, we see each other for maybe an hour a day during the week. That will get better when school is done. That's another reason why this semester is killing me, and I can't wait for it to be over.
My daughter just turned one year old. She's crawling all over the place. She's feeding herself now, and she's standing on her own. I can't believe it's been a year. She has moved from being a helpless little baby, into being a little person. She amazes me every day. Somehow or another, I have to figure out how to give her a good life. She deserves to be happy, and I need to find a way to give that to her. I guess only time will tell on that one.
Well, I think I've rambled on for long enough at this point. There's a lot going on right now. New job, more classes, problems with fighting. All in all it's a good life, there's just ways that it could be better. There aren't enough hours in the day....
posted by TechSquire @ 11:08 PM
1 comments
