The Newest Journey

I've been away from this blog for a little more than four years, owing mostly to my last job which had some level of Fight Club Rules 1 & 2 about it. While there was plenty of content to discuss, I didn't feel that I could reliably do so without endangering my contract.  I avoided writing at all to ensure that I wasn't at odds with the job. I'm still bound by a contract, but I have other things on my mind.

A lot happens in four years. When I last wrote, I'd returned home to New Jersey after working in California for 2+ years. I was in the midst of an in-between job that entailed gift-wrapping goods from a small local overpriced boutique (and you can head over to Head2Desk if you really want to know how thrilling that role was).

In October, I was hired by a company in St. Louis, Missouri to be a specialized on-site consultant at a company in Connecticut. I did two weeks of "training" in St. Louis (where I found that I adored this "Gateway to the West" and the people were just about the friendliest you could hope for, and the food was fantastic). I moved to Connecticut and consulted for 10 months before the host company decided I was a good fit and I was hired there as a full time employee.

 

St. Louis: Home of the friendliest people, the best barbecue, and the worst sushi

 

I worked first as Help Desk support, then eventually as a process engineer in 2012-2013. And to be honest, I kind of loved it there. It was stressful and hard to get things done, but I relished working in an environment where my ideas mattered and my coworkers were willing to challenge me. And somewhere in there we had this test.

On the scale of soft-skills acceptance, I'm probably somewhere in the middle. I accept things like the MBTI and discussions about gently coaxing your staff to do what you want like a 10-week-old puppy with general understanding and a few grains of salt. I 'get' it, but I also think people should challenge these "tools" and "scientific schema" because accepting blindly isn't really how science works and it's not how I like to approach the world anyway.

So, this test. A lot of the new-agey stuff about how you are thinking about your work and your role and, ok, yes, yourself. This was a real opportunity to truly consider what what made me happy and was I 'working toward' that happy goal? If not, why not? What was I doing, not working toward being happy?

So there I was, in the middle of this mandated self-reflection having a little bit of an identity crisis. What do I love to do? Lots of things. I have a hobby-problem. Too many of them. But I like baking. And I like feeding people. And I like making other people happy. And it's hard to be unhappy when you're being fed. I've always kind of thought about opening a bakery or a tea shop. Well, why the heck not?!


But here's the thing. I don't have any experience running a business. I don't know about supply chain, or really managing people. I don't know about negotiating contracts or doing the books. I don't know about tax law. Man, there's a whole wealth of things I don't know, and Wikipedia can only get me so far.

The answer to life, the universe, and everything you wanted to know about 30% of life on earth. 

For the other 70% you'll need to conduct your own research.

My mother had been talking about me going back to school for years. Well, for Biology, but still. As the first person in my family to graduate from college, I thought I was already doing ok, and frankly, getting more (and more expensive) education wasn't high on my list of things to do to achieve success in science... it just doesn't pay off at this point in American society. But Business School is probably exactly what I need if I'm going to start . . . well, a business.

And so I began the harrowing process of applying to schools. A lot of them. Cornell, UNC, UofWashington, UofArizona, Penn State, Georgia Tech, UofIllinois. And school visits. God, that was exhausting. And interviews, and resume writing, and talking with a smile and a twinkle in my eye, like I know they want me to. As a pretty hardcore introvert, this process was daunting and terrifying and so unlike anything I wanted to do. I wanted the knowledge, but not the process. But that's not how the world works.

I'll probably relate a little bit more about the admissions process some other time. A lot goes into it and I'm already teetering on the edge of long-winded here. But the end result, is that some schools received my resume and did not immediately assume I was a know-nothing poser or incapable of completing the work. And some schools even offered me excellent encouragement to attend their particular institution.  And that is how I wound up at Penn State.

 

Hope you like mountain lions. They're obsessed with them here.

You're going to be seeing a lot more of this guy. 

And I moved into an apartment that I currently don't share with anyone (though that might change), and I get treated to beautiful views like this at sunset.

The aftermath of a sudden thunderstorm lights up Happy Valley. 

Taken from my back porch.

What remains now is the rest of the journey. I've got 2 years of Business School ahead of me, and 6 years of real-world experience behind me. I'll be giving a little bit of first-hand account of women-in-the-workplace discussions and more importantly, personal anecdotes of my experiences. Not just business-related but life experiences too. Let's take a meander together, shall we?

Cult Classics

Even though I felt traumatized by Rocky Horror Picture Show from an early age, I've always been drawn towards what society calls "Cult Classics". I remember wandering around video stores to the Cult section and wondering if there was something implicit in making a cult movie. Did you watch a film the first time around and just know? I've seen my share of cult hits, and I know they can range from irrevocably awful (Tank Girl) to bizarrely quirky (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) to just plain awesome (Office Space).

Wikipedia claims that a "Cult Classic" is a film that develops a strong, obsessive following after an initial failed release, and I'm sure that quotability must be one of those facets which yields obsession. But there must be more than this, or the entire James Bond series would be considered cult films. And it can't be based solely on the inital flop, because some things I consider cult films simply didn't do all that poorly to begin with.

Mostly, I'm thinking of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog which has three episodes totaling 45 minutes in length when strung together. Originally released directly to web, it has just made its first appearance on the DVD and BlueRay shelves, and when I saw that, I snagged a copy, ASAP.

The Dr. Horrible cast wants you to know that
writers' strikes can't be held accountable for poor media.
Got a strike? Go out and write it yourself.

When I first watched this online, I knew, INSTANTLY that DHSAB was going to be a cult classic. People would simply be unable to ignore the draw of Dr. Horrible's fantastic music and witty dialogue. Dr. Horrible is expertly played by Neil Patrick Harris, who was completely able to translate Billy's quiet, bumbling, unhappiness to the screen. This is certainly a film where the viewer is intended to firmly side with the 'villain'. Biggest complaint, as worded by my mother: "Wait, that's it?? Where's the rest of it?" (which, frankly, is how I felt about RHPS)

While it's true that DHSAB ends on a low note (not to mention somewhat out-of-the-blue), I don't feel it's unfair for the director Joss Whedon to ask his audience to stretch their minds a little bit and realize that DHSAB is a bit like life and you don't always get what you hoped for. And in this case, it's a good thing.

And anyway, the music is FANTASTIC. I have the soundtrack in my car and I listen to it pretty much constantly.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog can be viewed online for free at Hulu. Just follow the link. (NOTE: You must have the latest version of Adobe Flash Player to view the video)

New Beginnings and a statement of intent

I think this new blog has started out on a critical note and leads me to wonder, "what makes a geek". More specifically, is a female geek all that different from her male counterparts? Can a geek be interested in objects and activities aside from those that include science fiction, fantasy, gaming or electronics? I think the answer here is yes. However, in the meantime, I've spent very nearly 4 hours trying to get the html coding on this blog just so, and I STILL can't seem to find the code for those hideous teal bars to replace them.

Perfectionism aside, I'd like to use this space to share with the world my passions and endeavors to learn more about the things that make me geek out. As a basic starting list, I love:
Long words, well-written plays, taking photos, shrinkydinks, sewing, baking, card-making, painting, water and anything that lives in it, video games, computers, sleeping, sci-fi/fantasy, manga, the color blue, shoes, the color purple, stickers, a capella music, and a large variety of other things.

Keep your eyes glued to this space to learn more about all these things and maybe dig a little deeper into ourselves to discover what it really means to geek out.