Thursday, December 29, 2011
Time for a New Adventure
I'm writing this in the United Club at Newark Airport, having completed the first (and by far the shortest!) leg of my trip. I'm on my way to a new life in Singapore.
Wow.
OK, maybe not a "new" life, since my life has been one of constantly moving to new places. But when I look at where I was a year ago, and where I am today, things are a lot different, thats for sure. And when compared to two years ago, well, I don't even recognize my life.
But opportunities arose in Singapore, both personally and professionally, and my teaching at Georgetown wasn't quite as much fun as I thought it would be, so I decided to jump on this chance. The job sounds like exactly what I'd like to be doing on my own someday, so this is a great chance to do it while someone else is paying the bills and get some good experience. And as for the personal side, well, there's a guy named Ben whom I met three years ago, and we've long wondered what could happen if we lived in the same city, so we're about to find out. So I'm going to jump on THAT opportunity as well. :-)
My sadness in leaving DC is countered by the excitement of trying something really new. One reason i chose Singapore for my Fulbright a few years ago was that it gave me the chance to "test drive" a city where I might want to live someday. Looks like it's all working out as planned, even though i didn't know what the plan was all along.
Here we go!!!!
Wow.
OK, maybe not a "new" life, since my life has been one of constantly moving to new places. But when I look at where I was a year ago, and where I am today, things are a lot different, thats for sure. And when compared to two years ago, well, I don't even recognize my life.
But opportunities arose in Singapore, both personally and professionally, and my teaching at Georgetown wasn't quite as much fun as I thought it would be, so I decided to jump on this chance. The job sounds like exactly what I'd like to be doing on my own someday, so this is a great chance to do it while someone else is paying the bills and get some good experience. And as for the personal side, well, there's a guy named Ben whom I met three years ago, and we've long wondered what could happen if we lived in the same city, so we're about to find out. So I'm going to jump on THAT opportunity as well. :-)
My sadness in leaving DC is countered by the excitement of trying something really new. One reason i chose Singapore for my Fulbright a few years ago was that it gave me the chance to "test drive" a city where I might want to live someday. Looks like it's all working out as planned, even though i didn't know what the plan was all along.
Here we go!!!!
Labels: Life, Living in SG, Relationships, Work
Friday, December 31, 2010
It's Been the Strangest Year
Do you ever have one of those years where you end up at a very different place from what you expected at the start? Yeah, it’s like that.
At the beginning of 2010 I was getting ready to be promoted to Colonel on July 1st, and go on to teach at a military university in Washington DC. But all of that changed. In March, I got word they were planning to send me to Baghdad instead, in a job that really would not make use of my talents and education. Not wanting to waste the next 3 years of my life (1 year in Baghdad, and no idea what would come next), I decided it was time to jump, and jump I did.
I’ve returned to my first love, teaching, at a major university in DC. I am about a million times happier than I was at the start of the year. The pay is not quite what I was used to, but my job satisfaction is so much greater. I am much, much happier doing this job than I have been in a long time, and that’s worth more than money.
I also started my own consulting firm, which I haven’t dome much with yet (the transition to teaching took a lot of my focus) but I expect to do something with that in the coming year.
This year I also moved to a new apartment, which has been fun. I’m in a better neighborhood, and in the same building as my best friend, which has been great.
Running went very well this year. Despite the problems I had with the Hong Kong Marathon in February, I recovered and went on to run the Flying Pig Marathon with Ethan in May. That was my first “run for fun, not for time” marathon, and it was great, despite the rain. In November, of course, I danced at the big dance by running in the New York City Marathon. I set a new Personal Record there, and in two years of running I’ve cut half an hour off of my marathon time, and with any luck the improvements will continue.
It’s been a big year for travel, but that’s not really new. As part of the Hong Kong trip I went on to Bangkok as well, to go to Thai massage school. A couple weeks later I flew off to Lisbon with Linh, the first time we’ve travelled together, and to a new place for both of us. Once I’d made the decision to retire and had some vacation time to use, I decided to visit Honolulu and use that as a jumping off point to return to Tokyo. That was pretty much it for a few months (well, except for some New York and San Francisco travel, and a great weekend in Boston visiting with Stan), but I’ll be spending New Year’s in Singapore and will go to Cambodia for a weekend…yay for the flexibility of an academic calendar!!
There are still things I didn’t really accomplish this year. I wanted to get better at photography, and didn’t really pursue that much. I’ve been trying to get to know more friends, and that’s gone a bit slower than expected.
But all in all it’s been good. I have gotten to know a couple new people, like Julian and Xiaohan and Kris, and finally got to know some of Linh’s Vietnamese friends, like Linh and Frank. I do see the potential to get to know some folks better, and that’s good, I really wanted to expand my circle. I dated some this year, and have met a couple very nice guys, so who knows how all that may work out. And of course, I can see again now that I finally gave myself the gift of LASIK.
Despite the huge transition this summer, which was very stressful at times, I’ve got to say it’s been a great year. Though I’m at a very different place from where I expected to be, I love the place I’m at, and am really happy with the way the year has worked out. I’ve had some “first time” experiences this year that have been everything I had hoped they would be, and I’m so happy to have some very wonderful people in my life.
As for next year…well I have some ideas, but as we saw this year, anything can happen…and it probably will.
Happy New Year!!!
At the beginning of 2010 I was getting ready to be promoted to Colonel on July 1st, and go on to teach at a military university in Washington DC. But all of that changed. In March, I got word they were planning to send me to Baghdad instead, in a job that really would not make use of my talents and education. Not wanting to waste the next 3 years of my life (1 year in Baghdad, and no idea what would come next), I decided it was time to jump, and jump I did.
I’ve returned to my first love, teaching, at a major university in DC. I am about a million times happier than I was at the start of the year. The pay is not quite what I was used to, but my job satisfaction is so much greater. I am much, much happier doing this job than I have been in a long time, and that’s worth more than money.
I also started my own consulting firm, which I haven’t dome much with yet (the transition to teaching took a lot of my focus) but I expect to do something with that in the coming year.
This year I also moved to a new apartment, which has been fun. I’m in a better neighborhood, and in the same building as my best friend, which has been great.
Running went very well this year. Despite the problems I had with the Hong Kong Marathon in February, I recovered and went on to run the Flying Pig Marathon with Ethan in May. That was my first “run for fun, not for time” marathon, and it was great, despite the rain. In November, of course, I danced at the big dance by running in the New York City Marathon. I set a new Personal Record there, and in two years of running I’ve cut half an hour off of my marathon time, and with any luck the improvements will continue.
It’s been a big year for travel, but that’s not really new. As part of the Hong Kong trip I went on to Bangkok as well, to go to Thai massage school. A couple weeks later I flew off to Lisbon with Linh, the first time we’ve travelled together, and to a new place for both of us. Once I’d made the decision to retire and had some vacation time to use, I decided to visit Honolulu and use that as a jumping off point to return to Tokyo. That was pretty much it for a few months (well, except for some New York and San Francisco travel, and a great weekend in Boston visiting with Stan), but I’ll be spending New Year’s in Singapore and will go to Cambodia for a weekend…yay for the flexibility of an academic calendar!!
There are still things I didn’t really accomplish this year. I wanted to get better at photography, and didn’t really pursue that much. I’ve been trying to get to know more friends, and that’s gone a bit slower than expected.
But all in all it’s been good. I have gotten to know a couple new people, like Julian and Xiaohan and Kris, and finally got to know some of Linh’s Vietnamese friends, like Linh and Frank. I do see the potential to get to know some folks better, and that’s good, I really wanted to expand my circle. I dated some this year, and have met a couple very nice guys, so who knows how all that may work out. And of course, I can see again now that I finally gave myself the gift of LASIK.
Despite the huge transition this summer, which was very stressful at times, I’ve got to say it’s been a great year. Though I’m at a very different place from where I expected to be, I love the place I’m at, and am really happy with the way the year has worked out. I’ve had some “first time” experiences this year that have been everything I had hoped they would be, and I’m so happy to have some very wonderful people in my life.
As for next year…well I have some ideas, but as we saw this year, anything can happen…and it probably will.
Happy New Year!!!
Labels: Friends, Life, Running, Travel, Work
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Achieving My Goals for the Year
I do a lot.
Between travel, friends, running, a demanding job, self-development, and more, I have a lot that I want to accomplish. One reason for having such an active life is that I know there will come a point when I may not have the chance to do a lot of new things, so I want to take advantage of the time I have now. One thing I've learned from some friends' and family members' health problems is that that day could be decades away, or it could be tomorrow; you never know. Another reason is, there are just so many things I want to do, so many things that seem interesting, and I want to try them all.
And so, I make goals.
This helps me figure out what I want to do, prioritize what’s important and what’s not, and forces me to think about how to accomplish things so I can better overcome obstacles. It’s not so much that I sit around making lists and plans and itineraries, but I do try to have an idea of what comes next.
Back on New Year’s I didn’t have resolutions, but I did have goals for this year. I met them. In fact, I pretty much met them back in August.
New job This didn't turn out quite the way I expected. Still, I certainly managed to change jobs! I've found that I'm about 1,000,000% happier now that I'm out of the military. I'm not sure it was being in the Air Force that was the problem, as it much as it was the position I was in for the last 4 years (c'mon, I volunteered to go to Afghanistan to get out of my office!). In any case, I really enjoy my work now, and that's made a huge difference in my general happiness.
Travel with Linh This one almost didn't work out even before I tried, but his work schedule became such that we were able to head somewhere after all. The next question was deciding where to go, knowing as we did that we wanted to visit a place neither had been to before, and so we ended up with a fantastic week in Lisbon, Portugal. I've traveled alone a lot, and with a partner or boyfriend back when I had one, but traveling with friends is fairly new for me, and I like it!!
Explore emerging interests I'm slowly getting back into photography. It's fun, and I like grabbing my camera and going for a walk, though it certainly isn't second nature yet to start photographing at random. But I'm getting there. I also went to Bangkok and studied Thai massage, which some of my friends back here have appreciated a lot!
Run a marathon for fun Back in May ET and I flew off for a weekend in Cincinnati to run the Flying Pig Marathon. This was my "run for fun" race, which I really needed after running for time in Hong Kong and instead getting to know the paramedics afterwards. I tend to have a little more endurance in my legs than ET so he started fading at Mile 18 while I was still thinking we could set a new Personal Record. Rather than take off and leave him, though, we kept running together, which made for a GREAT finishing effort (never mind that he told me to shut up as I was encouraging him at the end lol).
Start a business I created a consulting firm in August. I haven't done much with it yet, as I've been settling into my teaching job, but I anticipate some cool opportunities in the next year.
Sometimes, new goals will emerge…it isn’t just a New Year’s thing. For example, I made the decision to run this year’s New York City Marathon, and that turned out pretty well.
When I was a kid I was one of those pretentious little twerps who tried to organize the other kids into things. I remember my mom telling me that maybe I should just focus on having fun. She was sort of right, but I’ve found a happy medium that is allowing me to have a pretty incredible life.
So, any suggestions for next year’s goals???
Between travel, friends, running, a demanding job, self-development, and more, I have a lot that I want to accomplish. One reason for having such an active life is that I know there will come a point when I may not have the chance to do a lot of new things, so I want to take advantage of the time I have now. One thing I've learned from some friends' and family members' health problems is that that day could be decades away, or it could be tomorrow; you never know. Another reason is, there are just so many things I want to do, so many things that seem interesting, and I want to try them all.
And so, I make goals.
This helps me figure out what I want to do, prioritize what’s important and what’s not, and forces me to think about how to accomplish things so I can better overcome obstacles. It’s not so much that I sit around making lists and plans and itineraries, but I do try to have an idea of what comes next.
Back on New Year’s I didn’t have resolutions, but I did have goals for this year. I met them. In fact, I pretty much met them back in August.
New job This didn't turn out quite the way I expected. Still, I certainly managed to change jobs! I've found that I'm about 1,000,000% happier now that I'm out of the military. I'm not sure it was being in the Air Force that was the problem, as it much as it was the position I was in for the last 4 years (c'mon, I volunteered to go to Afghanistan to get out of my office!). In any case, I really enjoy my work now, and that's made a huge difference in my general happiness.
Travel with Linh This one almost didn't work out even before I tried, but his work schedule became such that we were able to head somewhere after all. The next question was deciding where to go, knowing as we did that we wanted to visit a place neither had been to before, and so we ended up with a fantastic week in Lisbon, Portugal. I've traveled alone a lot, and with a partner or boyfriend back when I had one, but traveling with friends is fairly new for me, and I like it!!
Explore emerging interests I'm slowly getting back into photography. It's fun, and I like grabbing my camera and going for a walk, though it certainly isn't second nature yet to start photographing at random. But I'm getting there. I also went to Bangkok and studied Thai massage, which some of my friends back here have appreciated a lot!
Run a marathon for fun Back in May ET and I flew off for a weekend in Cincinnati to run the Flying Pig Marathon. This was my "run for fun" race, which I really needed after running for time in Hong Kong and instead getting to know the paramedics afterwards. I tend to have a little more endurance in my legs than ET so he started fading at Mile 18 while I was still thinking we could set a new Personal Record. Rather than take off and leave him, though, we kept running together, which made for a GREAT finishing effort (never mind that he told me to shut up as I was encouraging him at the end lol).
Start a business I created a consulting firm in August. I haven't done much with it yet, as I've been settling into my teaching job, but I anticipate some cool opportunities in the next year.
Sometimes, new goals will emerge…it isn’t just a New Year’s thing. For example, I made the decision to run this year’s New York City Marathon, and that turned out pretty well.
When I was a kid I was one of those pretentious little twerps who tried to organize the other kids into things. I remember my mom telling me that maybe I should just focus on having fun. She was sort of right, but I’ve found a happy medium that is allowing me to have a pretty incredible life.
So, any suggestions for next year’s goals???
Labels: Friends, Life, Running, Travel, Work
Saturday, October 16, 2010
A Minor Career Change
A fair question. One that you might ask. One that my mother might ask. One that perhaps she did ask. (well, not in those exact words, but it sort of came up in conversation once)
So here's the story of why, as of early March, I was expecting to be promoted to Colonel on July 1st, and instead, I became a civilian on July 1st.
I had been planning for some time to retire from the military in either 2009 or 2010. But back in '09 I got word that I was probably going to be promoted to the rank of Colonel (a totally unexpected promotion, and a very big deal, considering only about 1-2% of the people in the Air Force are at that rank). By the end of June '09 it was official, and I knew the actual promotion would occur on 1 July 2010, because they take the list of people being promoted and only promote a few each month.
So I'd made the decision to stay in, because this is a big deal and because, by being promoted, there would be more opportunities for me to do something worthwhile that would really make a difference. I made a promise to myself, though, that if my next assignment would simply be a waste of my time, then I would turn down the promotion and retire rather than wasting another few years of my life. I'm glad I considered that early on and made my decision, because that's exactly what happened.
By the fall of '09 I'd arranged an assignment at a large military university in Washington DC. This was perfect; I wanted to get back into the classroom, and they needed military faculty members with PhDs, because Congress was starting to ask why their military faculty didn't seem to have enough education to be teaching a master's degree program. I was the proverbial round peg going into the round hole, and they put in a request to the Air Force to have me assigned there.
Assignments for Colonels are done based on those requests; the only way I was supposed to go anywhere else was if someone more senior requested me, and there aren't many generals more senior than the one who commands that university (at least, none who know me). So I thought I was all set and started making plans to go there, always keeping in the back of my mind the possibility that it might not work out.
And indeed it didn't. Apparently, the Air Force has an exception to the "assignment by request" rule, and that exception includes assignments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Those positions are filled by bureaucrats in the Pentagon who need to stick someone in there, rather than by requests from commanding officers. So, some bureaucrat decided to ignore the request from the university and instead assigned me to a position in Baghdad...a position very similar to one I did as a Major in Baghdad 5 years ago...a position that called for a Middle East culture expert, which I am not...a position that would make no use of my PhD...a position for which I was not needed and for which I was not qualified.
I had 7 days to make a decision, and I made it: I'm outta here.
When they assigned me to that position I don't think they considered I would turn it down. I even told them, when I got the unofficial word, that I would be turning it down and getting out once they made it official, and rather than changing their minds, they went ahead with it. Their loss. My guess is, they figure no one would turn down promotion to Colonel, but I guess they didn't know me very well.
You see, for many people, achieving a high rank was the goal of their career. But for me, all I ever wanted was to do something that mattered. Frankly, I kept taking on assignments where people didn't think I'd get promoted, because I thought they were important and needed someone really good (like me) to do them. And, I'd argue with very senior officers when I thought they were wrong, because I didn't really care if I got promoted. So when I was selected for promotion to Colonel, I'll admit it was nice to have my hard work and my abilities recognized, but it wasn't like I was achieving a career goal by doing so, nor was being a Colonel so important to me that I'd do any job, even one that wasted my time and talents, just to pin that rank onto my uniform.
So in the end, when it came time to leave (coincidentally, I retired on the same day I was supposed to have been promoted), it was still a bit tough to turn down that promotion, and say goodbye to a 21-year career, but it wasn't as horribly depressing as it would be for some people. I walked into the Pentagon on June 30th in my dress uniform with my friend Linh, gave him the tour of the Pentagon I'd been promising him for months, he watched me sign some paperwork (which is the closest thing I had to a retirement ceremony...some people get parades, I got Linh watching me fill out forms, and I think that made for the best retirement day I could imagine), and then he took me to lunch.
Leaving opened up new opportunities for me. I know that for a lot of people coming out of the military after 20+ years, they'll have a hard time starting over...but not me.
Which, of course, is how I ended up becoming the university professor that I am today. But I'll save that story.
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Looking Ahead
I always take some time at the end of the year to look back on all that's happened and try to make sense of it. As we hit these "Hallmark dates," as Linh called it, it's normal to pause and reflect (sometimes too much!). But it's important to also look forward, to get an idea of what I want to do so I can move in that direction. If 2009 was about just enjoying what I have (and that's as close as I can come to defining what last year meant to me) then 2010 will be a year of self-understanding and improvement.
Though I don't set New Year's resolutions for myself -- if something's worth doing, there's no reason to wait for a single date on the calendar to do it -- I do have some things I want to accomplish in the next year. In all cases, I'm already making plans, and I'll do what I can to make them all happen. These are the most important new things I want to take on.
New job My original plan for 2009 was a major career change, with retirement from my current line of work and a transition to something completely new. Well, those plans are on hold because I was selected for promotion (which will kick in July 1, as near as I can tell) and i saw opportunities that didn't exist before, so I've decided to stick around another couple years and see what happens. Though starting a new job isn't the most important thing to me, it's the one thing that will probably have the most profound impact in my happiness this year. Since my current job has been largely a waste of my time and talent, I'm looking forward to something new...specifically, to a teaching position for which I'm being considered. It would involve teaching at the master's degree level, which I enjoyed while in Singapore, and it would allow me to stay in DC, which is my #1 job consideration. I love teaching, and from what I've seen of the working environment at this school, it would be an enjoyable place to work. Not perfect, not somewhere i want to stay forever, but a good stepping stone to other things i want to do professionally. If the teaching gig falls through, i'll have to reconsider my retirement plans, so it'll be interesting to see where I am a year from now.
Travel with Linh I've known Linh for over 2 years, and even though we both love travel, we have yet to travel together. The closest we've come is a dinner and short adventure one evening in 2008 when I was visiting Bangkok and he was there for an internship, and a short layover for him in Singapore 363 days ago while I was living there. Those, of course, don't count, and so I've been hoping to actually take a trip together sometime. We talked about a couple ideas in 2009 after he graduated but our schedules didn't mesh. Now, we're looking at a week-long trip in March, and hopefully we can coordinate our personal and work schedules to make this happen. Though I often enjoy traveling on my own, I get a real thrill from traveling with someone important to me, as past trips with others have shown, and I would love for this to work out this year. Ideally, we'll go someplace neither one of us has been, allowing us to really get into exploration mode. We've discussed a couple options, and no, it won't be to Asia!
Explore emerging interests In the last few months there are a few things that have popped up as new or returning interests, things I want to explore more fully in 2010. For some reason, don't ask me why, I've gotten interested in massage. Perhaps because I know how good it feels to receive one, I'd like to give that good feeling to others. I've been teaching myself some basics using books and practicing on friends, and in the spring I'm planning to attend the Wat Po School in Bangkok to study traditional Thai massage. This sounds like fun, and some friends are already making requests for massages. I've also been enjoying cooking and baking a bit more lately, and with encouragement from Linh I'm going to try to take my baking to a new level, not just with the cookies and candy I make but moving on to cakes and pastries as well. I'd like to get really proficient at creating desserts, and if nothing else I get to eat the mistakes. Finally, in the last few months I've had the time to start dabbling more in photography again, an interest I sort of gave up a few years ago, for reasons i don't understand. Anyway, it's time to get serious about this again.
Run a marathon for fun Ever since I started running in January 2007, and ran my first race that spring, I've been trying to improve. I don't compete against others in races, but I do compete against myself. I like the idea of continuous improvement in my running times, and I was pretty successful with that in 2009. But at the same time, I want to be able to step back from that, to not worry about the results but just get out there because it's fun to be part of a big race. When I go to Hong Kong for February's marathon I'm planning to push myself (though my training for that race is not going so well) but in May I'm running the Flying Pig Marathon with Ethan, and I'm just going to plan to run his pace regardless of whether that's faster or slower. I'm going there to run with him, so I plan to do the whole race with him, and if that's at a faster pace, great, but if we're slower, that's cool too. Sometimes we should forget about improvement and just focus on the doing. I'm also hoping to run the New York City Marathon in November, but haven't decided which approach to take to that one -- I think it depends on whether I'm running it alone or if Ethan is running it too.
Start a business As part of my preparation for retirement and career change, I intend to set up a business this year. The idea is to start learning about what I need to make a consulting business successful, and begin laying a foundation for when I actually do retire. Though I can't work on it full time, I've already talked with Stan and Linh about being a part of this, giving them an opportunity to put their particular talents to work, to do something a little different, and maybe to make a little extra money (which no one minds doing). With their collaboration this could be very cool. I expect this to start small and grow slowly, so not much is likely to happen with it this year, but at least I can take the first important steps. As part of this, I'm hoping to expand the exposure of my professional blog and also start generating some more income from that, so at least it pays for itself.
There are some other things I want to do this year, and later in the future too, but I'll save those for next time, as this is turning into a longer post than I planned.
Though I don't set New Year's resolutions for myself -- if something's worth doing, there's no reason to wait for a single date on the calendar to do it -- I do have some things I want to accomplish in the next year. In all cases, I'm already making plans, and I'll do what I can to make them all happen. These are the most important new things I want to take on.
New job My original plan for 2009 was a major career change, with retirement from my current line of work and a transition to something completely new. Well, those plans are on hold because I was selected for promotion (which will kick in July 1, as near as I can tell) and i saw opportunities that didn't exist before, so I've decided to stick around another couple years and see what happens. Though starting a new job isn't the most important thing to me, it's the one thing that will probably have the most profound impact in my happiness this year. Since my current job has been largely a waste of my time and talent, I'm looking forward to something new...specifically, to a teaching position for which I'm being considered. It would involve teaching at the master's degree level, which I enjoyed while in Singapore, and it would allow me to stay in DC, which is my #1 job consideration. I love teaching, and from what I've seen of the working environment at this school, it would be an enjoyable place to work. Not perfect, not somewhere i want to stay forever, but a good stepping stone to other things i want to do professionally. If the teaching gig falls through, i'll have to reconsider my retirement plans, so it'll be interesting to see where I am a year from now.
Travel with Linh I've known Linh for over 2 years, and even though we both love travel, we have yet to travel together. The closest we've come is a dinner and short adventure one evening in 2008 when I was visiting Bangkok and he was there for an internship, and a short layover for him in Singapore 363 days ago while I was living there. Those, of course, don't count, and so I've been hoping to actually take a trip together sometime. We talked about a couple ideas in 2009 after he graduated but our schedules didn't mesh. Now, we're looking at a week-long trip in March, and hopefully we can coordinate our personal and work schedules to make this happen. Though I often enjoy traveling on my own, I get a real thrill from traveling with someone important to me, as past trips with others have shown, and I would love for this to work out this year. Ideally, we'll go someplace neither one of us has been, allowing us to really get into exploration mode. We've discussed a couple options, and no, it won't be to Asia!
Explore emerging interests In the last few months there are a few things that have popped up as new or returning interests, things I want to explore more fully in 2010. For some reason, don't ask me why, I've gotten interested in massage. Perhaps because I know how good it feels to receive one, I'd like to give that good feeling to others. I've been teaching myself some basics using books and practicing on friends, and in the spring I'm planning to attend the Wat Po School in Bangkok to study traditional Thai massage. This sounds like fun, and some friends are already making requests for massages. I've also been enjoying cooking and baking a bit more lately, and with encouragement from Linh I'm going to try to take my baking to a new level, not just with the cookies and candy I make but moving on to cakes and pastries as well. I'd like to get really proficient at creating desserts, and if nothing else I get to eat the mistakes. Finally, in the last few months I've had the time to start dabbling more in photography again, an interest I sort of gave up a few years ago, for reasons i don't understand. Anyway, it's time to get serious about this again.
Run a marathon for fun Ever since I started running in January 2007, and ran my first race that spring, I've been trying to improve. I don't compete against others in races, but I do compete against myself. I like the idea of continuous improvement in my running times, and I was pretty successful with that in 2009. But at the same time, I want to be able to step back from that, to not worry about the results but just get out there because it's fun to be part of a big race. When I go to Hong Kong for February's marathon I'm planning to push myself (though my training for that race is not going so well) but in May I'm running the Flying Pig Marathon with Ethan, and I'm just going to plan to run his pace regardless of whether that's faster or slower. I'm going there to run with him, so I plan to do the whole race with him, and if that's at a faster pace, great, but if we're slower, that's cool too. Sometimes we should forget about improvement and just focus on the doing. I'm also hoping to run the New York City Marathon in November, but haven't decided which approach to take to that one -- I think it depends on whether I'm running it alone or if Ethan is running it too.
Start a business As part of my preparation for retirement and career change, I intend to set up a business this year. The idea is to start learning about what I need to make a consulting business successful, and begin laying a foundation for when I actually do retire. Though I can't work on it full time, I've already talked with Stan and Linh about being a part of this, giving them an opportunity to put their particular talents to work, to do something a little different, and maybe to make a little extra money (which no one minds doing). With their collaboration this could be very cool. I expect this to start small and grow slowly, so not much is likely to happen with it this year, but at least I can take the first important steps. As part of this, I'm hoping to expand the exposure of my professional blog and also start generating some more income from that, so at least it pays for itself.
There are some other things I want to do this year, and later in the future too, but I'll save those for next time, as this is turning into a longer post than I planned.
Labels: Friends, Life, Running, Teaching, Travel, Work
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Getting Into the Proper Zen-like State of Mind, Day 5
Today the Zen-like state was facilitated by getting out of the office.
I went to a seminar at a local university, had a nice lunch with Linh outside his office building, and went for a second interview for a teaching post I'm hoping to get next year. Even though you'd think interviews would be stressful, I found that just being away from my office made me much calmer. Last night I was pretty upset about some stuff going on there, but I let it all go today. I despise my job and have very little respect for most of the people there, so any day away from there is a good day.
If I thought I could get away with taking the whole day off Friday, I'd do that too.
I really want to run. I feel fat when I don't run. Though honestly, anything that builds up during these days of rest is totally going to get used up Sunday.
I went to a seminar at a local university, had a nice lunch with Linh outside his office building, and went for a second interview for a teaching post I'm hoping to get next year. Even though you'd think interviews would be stressful, I found that just being away from my office made me much calmer. Last night I was pretty upset about some stuff going on there, but I let it all go today. I despise my job and have very little respect for most of the people there, so any day away from there is a good day.
If I thought I could get away with taking the whole day off Friday, I'd do that too.
I really want to run. I feel fat when I don't run. Though honestly, anything that builds up during these days of rest is totally going to get used up Sunday.
Labels: Friends, Running, Work
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Promotion
I've had a few "big news" items in the last month, but I suppose the biggest one was my selection for promotion, which was news but really wasn't, but was still big.
Here's the deal: for quite some time I've been planning to retire from the military in 2009. After 20 years of service I can retire with a pension (not something I can live on completely, but every little bit helps), health care (no small thing) and some other benefits. Before I went to Singapore I'd actually submitted one job application here in the States, and I was looking around Singapore and Hong Kong at job possibilities.
Last February, all that changed. While in Singapore I got word from my office back home that the rating I'd gotten on my promotion recommendation from my big boss was almost certainly going to get me promoted when a board of officers met in March. While there was a slim chance it wouldn't happen (last year, 98.9% of the people with the same rating were selected for promotion), I had to assume it would. This created a dilemma for me. On the upside, I could move into a more senior position where I might have more of an impact than I do in my current assignment, and of course it's nicer to retire as a colonel, both in terms of money and prestige. On the downside, there's a very good chance that they'll move me into an assignment away from DC, and I really want to stay here. (or at least, I don't want to go to some of the places they might send me!) Also, it means I'll be staying in until at least 2013.
So, what to do?
The advice from friends was pretty consistent: stay in for now, take the promotion, and see where they plan to send me. If I absolutely don't want to go where they want me to go, I can retire (though at my current rank, not as a colonel), and I haven't lost anything other than a few months. If it's a good assignment, then yay me!
That's the path I chose, and at the end of June the board results were publicly announced and it was official: I've been selected for promotion to colonel. This is a big deal -- less than 2% of the people in the Air Force hold this rank. The promotion itself takes time -- they can't suddenly have a few hundred new colonels (the sudden influx of new people like that doesn't work in any organization) so it won't be until next year, possibly as late as May, before I will "pin on." Still, it's nice to know it's coming.
And as for the assignment? Well, they make assignments for all colonels in the spring, which means I probably won't know until next spring where I'm going, and I'd likely report there in the summer. There's always the chance of an "out of cycle" move, where an opening suddenly occurs and needs to be filled. That almost happened to me last week, and it would have been a great job, but in the end they were looking for someone with different qualifications. Still, the people making assignments know that I'm here, know that I want to stay in DC, and know that I'm available for a sudden move if need be.
For now, I wait. I've spent a lot of time doing that in my career, a little more won't kill me.
Here's the deal: for quite some time I've been planning to retire from the military in 2009. After 20 years of service I can retire with a pension (not something I can live on completely, but every little bit helps), health care (no small thing) and some other benefits. Before I went to Singapore I'd actually submitted one job application here in the States, and I was looking around Singapore and Hong Kong at job possibilities.
Last February, all that changed. While in Singapore I got word from my office back home that the rating I'd gotten on my promotion recommendation from my big boss was almost certainly going to get me promoted when a board of officers met in March. While there was a slim chance it wouldn't happen (last year, 98.9% of the people with the same rating were selected for promotion), I had to assume it would. This created a dilemma for me. On the upside, I could move into a more senior position where I might have more of an impact than I do in my current assignment, and of course it's nicer to retire as a colonel, both in terms of money and prestige. On the downside, there's a very good chance that they'll move me into an assignment away from DC, and I really want to stay here. (or at least, I don't want to go to some of the places they might send me!) Also, it means I'll be staying in until at least 2013.
So, what to do?
The advice from friends was pretty consistent: stay in for now, take the promotion, and see where they plan to send me. If I absolutely don't want to go where they want me to go, I can retire (though at my current rank, not as a colonel), and I haven't lost anything other than a few months. If it's a good assignment, then yay me!
That's the path I chose, and at the end of June the board results were publicly announced and it was official: I've been selected for promotion to colonel. This is a big deal -- less than 2% of the people in the Air Force hold this rank. The promotion itself takes time -- they can't suddenly have a few hundred new colonels (the sudden influx of new people like that doesn't work in any organization) so it won't be until next year, possibly as late as May, before I will "pin on." Still, it's nice to know it's coming.
And as for the assignment? Well, they make assignments for all colonels in the spring, which means I probably won't know until next spring where I'm going, and I'd likely report there in the summer. There's always the chance of an "out of cycle" move, where an opening suddenly occurs and needs to be filled. That almost happened to me last week, and it would have been a great job, but in the end they were looking for someone with different qualifications. Still, the people making assignments know that I'm here, know that I want to stay in DC, and know that I'm available for a sudden move if need be.
For now, I wait. I've spent a lot of time doing that in my career, a little more won't kill me.
Labels: Work
Sunday, May 10, 2009
And Finally, It's Back
After a month of downtime, it's time to get back up and running. An explanation:
I've always drawn a thick line between my professional life and my personal life. A few months ago a woman got to know me professionally, and I didn't realize she was becoming obsessed with me. She lives a thousand miles away but was here visiting family last month and asked to meet for lunch. We did, it was fine (we went to the same secondary school, though at different times, and have mutual friends, so that's the link between us), and I thought no more of it. She, however, asked me to get together a couple more times, and I declined, thinking that this was getting a bit odd. After she returned home, she spent a few hours one night searching online for stuff about me, and through a weird series of events that linked from my professional Facebook to my professional blog to a twitter account to a friend's Twitter account t and to his blog, she found my personal blog. And spent the next 6 hours reading up on the last three years of my life. (according to my site stats)
Not only did this pose a risk to my career, it also highlighted the fact that even though I'd been careful during the almost 9 years my blog has been up (and almost 10 years for the website), the protections I'd taken neglected to account for emerging technologies like Facebook and Twitter. I'd made it easier to connect the dots and find me, not just for her, but for anyone who might be looking for info about me.
So, I had to take down my website and my blog, and try to erase about 10 years of online presence from various search engine caches and web directories. It pisses me off, because in addition to all my personal history that was reflected online (so many things have happened in all this time), I also had stuff up there to help queer youth and others trying to find their way in this world, and that's all down now (though I'm finding a way to get it all back up without any connection to me).
Another change, of course, is this blog, which will now be maintained on Blogger rather than resting on my regular domain. By hosting it on Blogger I can control access to it, which still sucks (I prefer open access) but if I'm going to have pix and talk about things going on with friends, I need to limit it to people I know, or friends of friends, or basically just to people who wish me no harm.
The URL, by the way, is based on something William and Janvier call me. It works.
The website will be back up and running, and I encourage people to keep checking that out. Also, I'll try to do a better job with this blog than I have in the last few months...focus on shorter, to-the-point entries rather than long tales, so at least I'll post stories rather than putting it off and putting it off. I love writing, and this is a good opportunity to express myself...my professional blog lets me write one way but this one lets me write from the heart (and other body parts).
What sucked the most about all of this was that my blog has been the means for meeting many great friends, such as Scooter in NYC, Azhan from Penang, the KL BFFs (plus Derek in SG, my favorite hybrid :P), and many others. Knowing those friends has opened many new opportunities for me (I doubt I would have done my academic exchange to SG without knowing all these guys first), so it pains me to have to go through these changes. Losing that means of meeting people easily is a great loss to me.
But anyway...I'm back, baby!!!!!
I've always drawn a thick line between my professional life and my personal life. A few months ago a woman got to know me professionally, and I didn't realize she was becoming obsessed with me. She lives a thousand miles away but was here visiting family last month and asked to meet for lunch. We did, it was fine (we went to the same secondary school, though at different times, and have mutual friends, so that's the link between us), and I thought no more of it. She, however, asked me to get together a couple more times, and I declined, thinking that this was getting a bit odd. After she returned home, she spent a few hours one night searching online for stuff about me, and through a weird series of events that linked from my professional Facebook to my professional blog to a twitter account to a friend's Twitter account t and to his blog, she found my personal blog. And spent the next 6 hours reading up on the last three years of my life. (according to my site stats)
Not only did this pose a risk to my career, it also highlighted the fact that even though I'd been careful during the almost 9 years my blog has been up (and almost 10 years for the website), the protections I'd taken neglected to account for emerging technologies like Facebook and Twitter. I'd made it easier to connect the dots and find me, not just for her, but for anyone who might be looking for info about me.
So, I had to take down my website and my blog, and try to erase about 10 years of online presence from various search engine caches and web directories. It pisses me off, because in addition to all my personal history that was reflected online (so many things have happened in all this time), I also had stuff up there to help queer youth and others trying to find their way in this world, and that's all down now (though I'm finding a way to get it all back up without any connection to me).
Another change, of course, is this blog, which will now be maintained on Blogger rather than resting on my regular domain. By hosting it on Blogger I can control access to it, which still sucks (I prefer open access) but if I'm going to have pix and talk about things going on with friends, I need to limit it to people I know, or friends of friends, or basically just to people who wish me no harm.
The URL, by the way, is based on something William and Janvier call me. It works.
The website will be back up and running, and I encourage people to keep checking that out. Also, I'll try to do a better job with this blog than I have in the last few months...focus on shorter, to-the-point entries rather than long tales, so at least I'll post stories rather than putting it off and putting it off. I love writing, and this is a good opportunity to express myself...my professional blog lets me write one way but this one lets me write from the heart (and other body parts).
What sucked the most about all of this was that my blog has been the means for meeting many great friends, such as Scooter in NYC, Azhan from Penang, the KL BFFs (plus Derek in SG, my favorite hybrid :P), and many others. Knowing those friends has opened many new opportunities for me (I doubt I would have done my academic exchange to SG without knowing all these guys first), so it pains me to have to go through these changes. Losing that means of meeting people easily is a great loss to me.
But anyway...I'm back, baby!!!!!
Labels: Blogging, Friends, Life, Website, Work
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Getting Used to Things Again
I've been back over a week now and things are starting to fall into place. I'm over the jet lag, though I won't stop using that as an excuse to leave work early yet.
I'm slowly getting to see people again. Yesterday I had lunch with Ethan. Saturday I met up with Linh, and will see him tonight. I'm hoping to see River next week before I take off for Chicago (yes, a little travel again, but only for a couple days, and David, can we meet up??).
Stan and I ran an 8K race Sunday. It was his first race ever. last year, this particular race was my first step toward the marathons later in the year, but Stan doesn't plan on marathoning. Actually, until he visited the doctor Monday, he wasn't sure he planned on even walking. I think I may have pushed him so hard that he hurt himself with a touch of tendonitis. Oops. But he's feeling better now. And he looks pretty cute in running clothes.
I'm missing my Singapore friends greatly, but I'll need to write about that later, as right now I'm about to miss my bus.
I'm slowly getting to see people again. Yesterday I had lunch with Ethan. Saturday I met up with Linh, and will see him tonight. I'm hoping to see River next week before I take off for Chicago (yes, a little travel again, but only for a couple days, and David, can we meet up??).
Stan and I ran an 8K race Sunday. It was his first race ever. last year, this particular race was my first step toward the marathons later in the year, but Stan doesn't plan on marathoning. Actually, until he visited the doctor Monday, he wasn't sure he planned on even walking. I think I may have pushed him so hard that he hurt himself with a touch of tendonitis. Oops. But he's feeling better now. And he looks pretty cute in running clothes.
I'm missing my Singapore friends greatly, but I'll need to write about that later, as right now I'm about to miss my bus.
Labels: Friends, Running, Travel, Work
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Year's End
Like many people I like to take time at the end of the year to look forward to what comes next, even though I shy away from making resolutions and instead try to make plans But also like most people I like to reflect on the year gone by, focusing on the good stuff but remembering, too, the bad.
The area of relationships includes both good and bad aspects. On the downside, I realized near the beginning of the year that, despite a year of resolving to work on our problems and trying to come back together, Adrian and I just couldn't seem to work things out. There's no need to get into details here, it just seemed we both had different ideas about what it would take to restart our relationship. Sadly, we had been moving in different directions, though fortunately we have been able to remain friends (a good thing, seeing as we still live together in the condo we co-own). He has been dating someone since this summer and I'm happy for him.
On the upside, however, things took a nice turn with Stan. We met at a Halloween party in 2007 and had been getting to know each other over time. In February, when he changed jobs and got a more normal schedule, we had more time to hang out and over a few months seemed to develop into "best friends." That development continued and by the time July came around we added "dating" to our description, and the word "boyfriends" entered our vocabulary this fall. So yes, I have a very nice boyfriend, and I'm very happy about that.
That has made my current work situation a little bittersweet. One of the most unique aspects of this year has been my (temporary) return to teaching. I learned at the end of April that I'd been selected for a prestigious academic exchange program. As a result I now live in Singapore, from November 2008 to March 2009, teaching a graduate school course at a major university here. It's fun, as I love teaching and I've always been interested in living in Asia, so this is great and I'm having a blast. It sucks to leave a boyfriend behind for 4 months, but fortunately he saved up his vacation time and we used a frequent flyer ticket to bring him over for 12 days, so YAY for us having an Asian adventure!!
I'm enjoying my time in Singapore and really feel like I'm fitting into the local landscape. I have some nice friends here and am very happy about that. There are still other people I want to meet, people I've known online for a long time, but I'm having trouble organizing my time well. Since I'm about halfway through my time here, I need to do better with that. I'm going to the gym regularly here and have a trainer and am feeling much better about my body, in terms of both health and appearance.
My time in Singapore has created some opportunties for travel. A couple weeks ago I was in Saigon for the first time and I just returned from a trip to Penang with Stan, my first time there as well. I'm hoping to get to Thailand for a weekend and will also be spending a weekend in Hong Kong in February, followed by four days in Tokyo on my way home in March.
There has been a LOT of travel this year. I worked in a couple trips to New York, both on my own and with Stan, and one of those was a quick hop up to see a play with just an overnight stay (I almost went without staying overnight but realized I needed at least one night in the city). I got reintroduced to Don't Tell Mama and The Web and visited a few other nice restaurants and bars, and much fun was had each time.
Short, domestic trips for work included a weekend in Atlanta and a weekend in Portland, my first time there. I got to see one of my old students, who has turned into a much more mature and interesting young man than he was when I first knew him in Colorado (and he was pretty mature and interesting even then!). Later I spent a few days in San Francisco for an academic conference where I got to see an old friend from SF and also see my friends Carol and Giacomo, who were teaching there at the time. I didn't make it to Hawaii for work this year, which is unusual, but I'm determined to make it there next year, for vacation if nothing else. This was also my first year at Gay Disney in Orlando at the end of May, which was a pretty fun weekend with friends. Not sure if I'll do it again, and if I do it may be a bit different, but it was a fun weekend for sure.
The big trip this year was to Southeast Asia, where I spent 3 weeks for work in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore, with a couple days' stop up in Hong Kong on the way home. In Bangkok I saw Bom for the first time in a couple years, and also had an adventure with Linh from DC, who was there on an internship. In KL I got to spend time with my blogger friends and finally met DanielHenry and got the chance to know David better, and also got to spend some good times with Eddie (and introduce him to the bloggers!) and William, Alex, and Jason as well. The trip was long, and I was ready to get home when it was over. Other than New York and Rehoboth Beach, that was pretty much it for travel until heading to Singapore in November.
One reason I neeeded to get home was the running. I was training for a big race and needed to get into my routine by early July, and once I did I worked my ass off. After some friends ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 2007 they convinced me I should give it a try in 2008, so I committed myself to doing that. I only started running in January (before that, 30 minutes on the elliptical machine was my aerobic workout). By March I ran my first race, a five-miler, and in April I ran the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler, a big race in DC. But I managed to injure my knee and couldn't run for a few weeks, and then my Asia trip came up, so I didn't really start marathon training until July. I was running 3 times per week and mostly designed my own training schedule, with encouragement from Ethan and Vu. I got myself ready for the Army 10-Miler in early October and knocked more than 8 minutes off my previous 10-mile time. 3 weeks later came the Marathon, and I kicked its ass. I was thrilled that I ran the whole way, never slowing down to a walk, and I finished in what I thought was a pretty decent time for a first-timer. It was an amazing feeling to do that, especially going from not running at all to running a marathon in only 10 months. To the surprise of everyone, not the least of whom me, six weeks later I ran the Singapore Marathon, and while my time was slower, I still finished ahead of 79% of the runners, so not too bad. I'm kinda proud of myself for setting this goal and achieving it. Physical fitness has never been my strength (pun intended) so I'm very happy this all went so well.
My other physical activity was dragon boating, which I totally got into. After rowing with AQUA in the DC festival back in May I have given some thought to joining DC's dragonboat team but I'm not sure I can make the time committment right now. I've enjoyed watching dragonboating in Singapore (for all the obvious reasons) and would like to hook up with a team here, just to learn some things from them, but I'm kinda out of time in my daily schedule, so we'll see how that works out.
Thanks to all that physical activity I felt comfortable doing some modeling this year. I got to be a part of Vu's calender (last year it was al Asian men, this year it was pairs of folks) and that was fun. I also did two sessions for a professional who was looking for models, one by myself and one with a second person. That was a lot of fun, I got to exlore some interesting ideas and also learned to feel comfortable in front of a camera -- I'm not the most photogenic person in the world, so that was a nice experience.
This has been a good year for friends. In addition to gettig to know Stan better early in the year I also found my friendship with Ethan strengthening, and that has been nice. Linh and I also bonded a bit, and we may have the Spice Girls to thank for that. I formally joined AQUA in January, as one of the "token white guys," heh heh heh. Along the way I've gotten to know a couple new folks and have seen my friendships with others develop over the year. There have been some fun parties, some trips, but to be honest I'm still trying to find the solid ground underneath my relationships in DC. The situation with Adrian and I has, I think, made other relationships a bit unstable, simply because our lives have been so uncertain. Overseas, I finally got the chance to meet Azhan, whom I've known online for a couple years, as well as Derek in Singapore whom I've also known online for a long time, and I've added Jasen, Alan, Joshua, and KK to the "good friends" list as well.
I've barely mentioned "work" in any of this, and that's because work in DC is just not an important part of my life right now. I do it, and I do it well, but it bores me. My bosses have no idea what to do with me and cannot figure out how to use my skills, so my days at the office seem filled with tasks that really don't matter. That's partly why I applied for the exchange program, and that's partly why I did a research project for another agency (that's who sent me on the 3-week Asia trip this summer). I wish they wanted to use me, but they don't, so I look for other opportunties to be useful and to develop my own skills, and I spend a lot of time planning my exit from this career next year.
My concerns about wasting time in this job became very important this summer when I had a health scare. During a physical exam the doctor told me that I had symptoms of colon cancer. A long three weeks later I finally had a colonoscopy and the results were negative for cancer. That's good, and it also reminded me that things can happen and life can end suddenly, so it's best to get the most out of it now rather than waiting for a day that may never come. I emerged from that experience content with my life, realizing that while there are many things I still WANT to do, I think I have done most if not all of the things I HAVE to do in my life. It's comforting to feel I have not wasted my time on this earth.
One new "work" experience this year has been a professional blog I started. I'm not sure what sparked my interest but I began writing a blog that, if done right, can later be turned into a book and developed into a university course. It was a bit "stop and go" as I started it this spring but by the summer knew I hadn't done it quite right. I stoped, retooled it over a couple months,then restarted it in the fall. It doesn't have a lot of readers but it does give me a chance to express myself, so we'll see where it goes.
It has been an amazing year, full of changes good and bad. I look forward to 2009. What will happen then? Well, there will be a major career change late in the year, and once that happens I'll be a bit more open about some things on this website. I'm going to continue running, and in additon to the races I ran this year (except the Singapore Marathon, I think) I'm planning a couple additional ones. I'm also going to continue the gym routines and the nutrition plans I've been working on in Singapore, so I can finally feel healthy and good about my body. Stan is leaving DC for grad school at the end of the summer, and that will create a hole in my life. I'm going to work harder on my DC friendships, and perhaps cut back on the travel a bit so I can focus more on home. Having said that, I still plan a trip to Vancouver, and at least one trip to San Francisco, and there's a good chance I'll have an extended stay back in Thailand, perhaps for 3 weeks in September to go to massage school and kickboxing camp. Hey, why not? My business blog has been picked up as a column for a newspaper so I'll be writing that this year, and I look forward to doing more with the blog itself.
All in all, a very good year. 2008 reminded me that I'm one of the luckiest people on Earth, with good friends, lots of opportunities for adventures, and interesting career possibilities that are pretty much within my own control rather than someone else's. My goal when moving to DC in 2006 was to use this time to set myself up for all the fascinating things that are set to occur for me in 2009. Despite the ups and downs along the way and the interesting (and usually good) changes to my plans, I think I've succeeded in that. 2008 was good, and I'm ready for 2009.
Bring it on.
The area of relationships includes both good and bad aspects. On the downside, I realized near the beginning of the year that, despite a year of resolving to work on our problems and trying to come back together, Adrian and I just couldn't seem to work things out. There's no need to get into details here, it just seemed we both had different ideas about what it would take to restart our relationship. Sadly, we had been moving in different directions, though fortunately we have been able to remain friends (a good thing, seeing as we still live together in the condo we co-own). He has been dating someone since this summer and I'm happy for him.
On the upside, however, things took a nice turn with Stan. We met at a Halloween party in 2007 and had been getting to know each other over time. In February, when he changed jobs and got a more normal schedule, we had more time to hang out and over a few months seemed to develop into "best friends." That development continued and by the time July came around we added "dating" to our description, and the word "boyfriends" entered our vocabulary this fall. So yes, I have a very nice boyfriend, and I'm very happy about that.
That has made my current work situation a little bittersweet. One of the most unique aspects of this year has been my (temporary) return to teaching. I learned at the end of April that I'd been selected for a prestigious academic exchange program. As a result I now live in Singapore, from November 2008 to March 2009, teaching a graduate school course at a major university here. It's fun, as I love teaching and I've always been interested in living in Asia, so this is great and I'm having a blast. It sucks to leave a boyfriend behind for 4 months, but fortunately he saved up his vacation time and we used a frequent flyer ticket to bring him over for 12 days, so YAY for us having an Asian adventure!!
I'm enjoying my time in Singapore and really feel like I'm fitting into the local landscape. I have some nice friends here and am very happy about that. There are still other people I want to meet, people I've known online for a long time, but I'm having trouble organizing my time well. Since I'm about halfway through my time here, I need to do better with that. I'm going to the gym regularly here and have a trainer and am feeling much better about my body, in terms of both health and appearance.
My time in Singapore has created some opportunties for travel. A couple weeks ago I was in Saigon for the first time and I just returned from a trip to Penang with Stan, my first time there as well. I'm hoping to get to Thailand for a weekend and will also be spending a weekend in Hong Kong in February, followed by four days in Tokyo on my way home in March.
There has been a LOT of travel this year. I worked in a couple trips to New York, both on my own and with Stan, and one of those was a quick hop up to see a play with just an overnight stay (I almost went without staying overnight but realized I needed at least one night in the city). I got reintroduced to Don't Tell Mama and The Web and visited a few other nice restaurants and bars, and much fun was had each time.
Short, domestic trips for work included a weekend in Atlanta and a weekend in Portland, my first time there. I got to see one of my old students, who has turned into a much more mature and interesting young man than he was when I first knew him in Colorado (and he was pretty mature and interesting even then!). Later I spent a few days in San Francisco for an academic conference where I got to see an old friend from SF and also see my friends Carol and Giacomo, who were teaching there at the time. I didn't make it to Hawaii for work this year, which is unusual, but I'm determined to make it there next year, for vacation if nothing else. This was also my first year at Gay Disney in Orlando at the end of May, which was a pretty fun weekend with friends. Not sure if I'll do it again, and if I do it may be a bit different, but it was a fun weekend for sure.
The big trip this year was to Southeast Asia, where I spent 3 weeks for work in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore, with a couple days' stop up in Hong Kong on the way home. In Bangkok I saw Bom for the first time in a couple years, and also had an adventure with Linh from DC, who was there on an internship. In KL I got to spend time with my blogger friends and finally met DanielHenry and got the chance to know David better, and also got to spend some good times with Eddie (and introduce him to the bloggers!) and William, Alex, and Jason as well. The trip was long, and I was ready to get home when it was over. Other than New York and Rehoboth Beach, that was pretty much it for travel until heading to Singapore in November.
One reason I neeeded to get home was the running. I was training for a big race and needed to get into my routine by early July, and once I did I worked my ass off. After some friends ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 2007 they convinced me I should give it a try in 2008, so I committed myself to doing that. I only started running in January (before that, 30 minutes on the elliptical machine was my aerobic workout). By March I ran my first race, a five-miler, and in April I ran the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler, a big race in DC. But I managed to injure my knee and couldn't run for a few weeks, and then my Asia trip came up, so I didn't really start marathon training until July. I was running 3 times per week and mostly designed my own training schedule, with encouragement from Ethan and Vu. I got myself ready for the Army 10-Miler in early October and knocked more than 8 minutes off my previous 10-mile time. 3 weeks later came the Marathon, and I kicked its ass. I was thrilled that I ran the whole way, never slowing down to a walk, and I finished in what I thought was a pretty decent time for a first-timer. It was an amazing feeling to do that, especially going from not running at all to running a marathon in only 10 months. To the surprise of everyone, not the least of whom me, six weeks later I ran the Singapore Marathon, and while my time was slower, I still finished ahead of 79% of the runners, so not too bad. I'm kinda proud of myself for setting this goal and achieving it. Physical fitness has never been my strength (pun intended) so I'm very happy this all went so well.
My other physical activity was dragon boating, which I totally got into. After rowing with AQUA in the DC festival back in May I have given some thought to joining DC's dragonboat team but I'm not sure I can make the time committment right now. I've enjoyed watching dragonboating in Singapore (for all the obvious reasons) and would like to hook up with a team here, just to learn some things from them, but I'm kinda out of time in my daily schedule, so we'll see how that works out.
Thanks to all that physical activity I felt comfortable doing some modeling this year. I got to be a part of Vu's calender (last year it was al Asian men, this year it was pairs of folks) and that was fun. I also did two sessions for a professional who was looking for models, one by myself and one with a second person. That was a lot of fun, I got to exlore some interesting ideas and also learned to feel comfortable in front of a camera -- I'm not the most photogenic person in the world, so that was a nice experience.
This has been a good year for friends. In addition to gettig to know Stan better early in the year I also found my friendship with Ethan strengthening, and that has been nice. Linh and I also bonded a bit, and we may have the Spice Girls to thank for that. I formally joined AQUA in January, as one of the "token white guys," heh heh heh. Along the way I've gotten to know a couple new folks and have seen my friendships with others develop over the year. There have been some fun parties, some trips, but to be honest I'm still trying to find the solid ground underneath my relationships in DC. The situation with Adrian and I has, I think, made other relationships a bit unstable, simply because our lives have been so uncertain. Overseas, I finally got the chance to meet Azhan, whom I've known online for a couple years, as well as Derek in Singapore whom I've also known online for a long time, and I've added Jasen, Alan, Joshua, and KK to the "good friends" list as well.
I've barely mentioned "work" in any of this, and that's because work in DC is just not an important part of my life right now. I do it, and I do it well, but it bores me. My bosses have no idea what to do with me and cannot figure out how to use my skills, so my days at the office seem filled with tasks that really don't matter. That's partly why I applied for the exchange program, and that's partly why I did a research project for another agency (that's who sent me on the 3-week Asia trip this summer). I wish they wanted to use me, but they don't, so I look for other opportunties to be useful and to develop my own skills, and I spend a lot of time planning my exit from this career next year.
My concerns about wasting time in this job became very important this summer when I had a health scare. During a physical exam the doctor told me that I had symptoms of colon cancer. A long three weeks later I finally had a colonoscopy and the results were negative for cancer. That's good, and it also reminded me that things can happen and life can end suddenly, so it's best to get the most out of it now rather than waiting for a day that may never come. I emerged from that experience content with my life, realizing that while there are many things I still WANT to do, I think I have done most if not all of the things I HAVE to do in my life. It's comforting to feel I have not wasted my time on this earth.
One new "work" experience this year has been a professional blog I started. I'm not sure what sparked my interest but I began writing a blog that, if done right, can later be turned into a book and developed into a university course. It was a bit "stop and go" as I started it this spring but by the summer knew I hadn't done it quite right. I stoped, retooled it over a couple months,then restarted it in the fall. It doesn't have a lot of readers but it does give me a chance to express myself, so we'll see where it goes.
It has been an amazing year, full of changes good and bad. I look forward to 2009. What will happen then? Well, there will be a major career change late in the year, and once that happens I'll be a bit more open about some things on this website. I'm going to continue running, and in additon to the races I ran this year (except the Singapore Marathon, I think) I'm planning a couple additional ones. I'm also going to continue the gym routines and the nutrition plans I've been working on in Singapore, so I can finally feel healthy and good about my body. Stan is leaving DC for grad school at the end of the summer, and that will create a hole in my life. I'm going to work harder on my DC friendships, and perhaps cut back on the travel a bit so I can focus more on home. Having said that, I still plan a trip to Vancouver, and at least one trip to San Francisco, and there's a good chance I'll have an extended stay back in Thailand, perhaps for 3 weeks in September to go to massage school and kickboxing camp. Hey, why not? My business blog has been picked up as a column for a newspaper so I'll be writing that this year, and I look forward to doing more with the blog itself.
All in all, a very good year. 2008 reminded me that I'm one of the luckiest people on Earth, with good friends, lots of opportunities for adventures, and interesting career possibilities that are pretty much within my own control rather than someone else's. My goal when moving to DC in 2006 was to use this time to set myself up for all the fascinating things that are set to occur for me in 2009. Despite the ups and downs along the way and the interesting (and usually good) changes to my plans, I think I've succeeded in that. 2008 was good, and I'm ready for 2009.
Bring it on.
Labels: Friends, Health, Living in SG, Relationships, Running, Teaching, Travel, Web, Work
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Weekend Update
Well, I'm here. Now what?
I got in late Thursday night and hit the hotel about 1am. Thank goodness for late checkout because this boy was going nowhere before noon.
Got to my apartment about 3pm. It is a cute little place and in a GREAT location. 5-minute walk to the subway and also 5 minutes to the bars. Scarily convenient, though I will say that I was a pretty good boy this weekend as far as mixing bar-hoping and jet lag.
Actually, jet lag has been the story of this weekend. Friday evening I met up with my friend Luke who showed me around a bit then took me to dinner. (in the "small world" category, I got an e-mail from a Fridae friend that said "nice to finally see you in person" -- he'd seen me and Luke while we were out) I was headed home by 10:30 but wasn't tired, so once I realized my friend Allan was going out primarily to see me, I figured I should go out too. I thought I'd only go out for one drink, but I got to the club at midnight and was there until 3, so I had more than one drink.
Naturally, sleep didn't really kick in until about 7am, and instead of getting up and getting stuff done I climbed out of bed at noon, ate a little something, then promptly went back to bed. It was 2:30 before i woke again and I said "screw it," and went back to bed, just making sure I got up in time to meet Clev for dinner (Clev is one of the guys who checked out apartments for me and helped me find this one - even though we'd never met before. What a great guy!). He showed me an area near City Hall that I hadn't visited before and we grabbed dinner there. By 10:30 he was telling me "you look tired," which is never a good sign. This time, though, I said "not tonight" when the Bad Idea Bears came a'calling, and crashed by midnight with the help of a sleeping pill. I still woke up every hour (due in part to a fabulous thunderstorm) but got some pretty good sleep and only got up about an hour later than expected.
I managed to run my errands today and get stuff ready for work tomorrow, with one exception: I went to inquire about membership at a nearby gym and they said they only have 12-, 24-, and 36-month memberships. Nothing for 4 months. So, instead of getting my money for 4 months, they get nothing. Why they prefer that is a mystery to me.
It'll be a while before I get into my habits so for now I'm taking everything slow. I'm curious to see how the commute goes (it looks like an hour each way) and what the working situation is like at school. I also want to check out the gym there to see if that might be preferable to going to a gym in town. But I will be going to a gym somewhere!
For now, though, I'm off to bed.
I got in late Thursday night and hit the hotel about 1am. Thank goodness for late checkout because this boy was going nowhere before noon.
Got to my apartment about 3pm. It is a cute little place and in a GREAT location. 5-minute walk to the subway and also 5 minutes to the bars. Scarily convenient, though I will say that I was a pretty good boy this weekend as far as mixing bar-hoping and jet lag.
Actually, jet lag has been the story of this weekend. Friday evening I met up with my friend Luke who showed me around a bit then took me to dinner. (in the "small world" category, I got an e-mail from a Fridae friend that said "nice to finally see you in person" -- he'd seen me and Luke while we were out) I was headed home by 10:30 but wasn't tired, so once I realized my friend Allan was going out primarily to see me, I figured I should go out too. I thought I'd only go out for one drink, but I got to the club at midnight and was there until 3, so I had more than one drink.
Naturally, sleep didn't really kick in until about 7am, and instead of getting up and getting stuff done I climbed out of bed at noon, ate a little something, then promptly went back to bed. It was 2:30 before i woke again and I said "screw it," and went back to bed, just making sure I got up in time to meet Clev for dinner (Clev is one of the guys who checked out apartments for me and helped me find this one - even though we'd never met before. What a great guy!). He showed me an area near City Hall that I hadn't visited before and we grabbed dinner there. By 10:30 he was telling me "you look tired," which is never a good sign. This time, though, I said "not tonight" when the Bad Idea Bears came a'calling, and crashed by midnight with the help of a sleeping pill. I still woke up every hour (due in part to a fabulous thunderstorm) but got some pretty good sleep and only got up about an hour later than expected.
I managed to run my errands today and get stuff ready for work tomorrow, with one exception: I went to inquire about membership at a nearby gym and they said they only have 12-, 24-, and 36-month memberships. Nothing for 4 months. So, instead of getting my money for 4 months, they get nothing. Why they prefer that is a mystery to me.
It'll be a while before I get into my habits so for now I'm taking everything slow. I'm curious to see how the commute goes (it looks like an hour each way) and what the working situation is like at school. I also want to check out the gym there to see if that might be preferable to going to a gym in town. But I will be going to a gym somewhere!
For now, though, I'm off to bed.
Labels: Friends, Living in SG, Work
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
What Was THAT All About?
By midafternoon today I was feeling pretty poopy at work -- headache so bad I felt nauseous, kinda dizzy, that sort of thing. I ended up leaving a little early. My 45-minute commute home was not a lot of fun. I got home, took Tylenol, and crawled under the covers about 5:15, just to rest a little. Next thing I know, it's 8:30. Most unusual. Anyway, after eating a little something I'm feeling a bit better now. I just hope I'm not sick...the Marathon is in just 5 days.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Burgers and Shakes
Stan and I went to Good Stuff Eatery today, the gourmet burger place owned by Spike Mendelsohn (from Top Chef). I had chatted with him briefly on the phone Sunday and he suggested the "5-Napkin" burger and the Toasted Marshmallow shake. We saw him at the restaurant and talked with him for a couple minutes, very nice guy. Anyway, the burgers were pretty tasty, and he's not kidding about needing 5 napkins, they were very juicy and have his own sauce on them which makes the brioche buns pretty wet. I totally loved the shakes, I haven't had a milkshake that good in years. I want to try the other burgers on the menu, they all look really good. The restaurant is on Capitol Hill along a nice walking street with a stretch of restaurants and bars. He's surrounded by competition but based on how busy they were i think he'll do all right.
I felt justified in having a burger and shake because I ran 13 miles this morning, at a 10 minute, 45 second pace. Considering that's half the length of the marathon (in just 5 weeks!) I think that's a good sign. I felt good when I was finished, not totally wasted like I was last weekend after only 7 miles, so I feel better about my fitness.
Getting home today I checked the mail and what do you know, I had a paper accepted for the Association for Asian Studies conference next spring in Chicago (yay, I get to go study Asians!!). The paper is the one I was working on this year, the one that took me to Thailand and Singapore and Malaysia and Hong Kong. I was writing it for the government but it's nice to know it'll get some academic exposure, too. The conference is in Chicago, just a couple weeks after I return from Singapore, and there's a chance the office won't pay to send me since I'll have just been gone for 4 months, but if that's the case i'll just pay for it myself.
Good day so far, and there's still tonight yet to come!!!
I felt justified in having a burger and shake because I ran 13 miles this morning, at a 10 minute, 45 second pace. Considering that's half the length of the marathon (in just 5 weeks!) I think that's a good sign. I felt good when I was finished, not totally wasted like I was last weekend after only 7 miles, so I feel better about my fitness.
Getting home today I checked the mail and what do you know, I had a paper accepted for the Association for Asian Studies conference next spring in Chicago (yay, I get to go study Asians!!). The paper is the one I was working on this year, the one that took me to Thailand and Singapore and Malaysia and Hong Kong. I was writing it for the government but it's nice to know it'll get some academic exposure, too. The conference is in Chicago, just a couple weeks after I return from Singapore, and there's a chance the office won't pay to send me since I'll have just been gone for 4 months, but if that's the case i'll just pay for it myself.
Good day so far, and there's still tonight yet to come!!!
Labels: Friends, Life, Running, Work
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
The Weekend
Wednesday may seem a little late to be posting about the weekend, but seeing as I'm already a week late on writing about my trip, what's a couple days here and there?
Anyway, I went to work Thursday (bad idea) and then spent Thursday night at home, resting up a bit and unpacking my suitcase, though not even starting the mountain of laundry that needed to get done. Bear in mind that after getting home from the Disney trip I was only here 36 hours before heading off to Asia, so there was Disney laundry plus pre-Disney laundry stacked up. Since Mickey Mouse wasn't here to do it for me I needed to tackle it myself, but Thursday night I was just a wee bit tired, so that didn't happen.
Friday the 4th I met up with Stan for lunch, then we headed into the District to the National Gallery of Art. I wouldn't normally go into DC on the 4th of July -- it's kind of a madhouse -- but we figured we'd be out well before the nighttime festivities, so no big deal. As it turns out there were plenty of tourists already heading into the city, but that's OK, we moved pretty quickly past them in their confused daze.
At the National Gallery we saw an exhibition from the National Museum of Afghanistan, featuring pieces from older cities there that were a few thousand years old. After seeing the mix of styles I realized how much that country had really been controlled by others throughout its entire history, giving me a better idea why everyone I met there looked so different and spoke different languages. And yes, the symbolism of this event was not lost on me...last 4th of July, of course, I was actually in Afghanistan, though I didn't see as much gold there as I saw in this exhibit.
Afterwards we headed back out to Virginia and went to see Wall-E, which was a cute little Pixar film that was a bit different from other movies they've done (not a whole lot of speaking, for instance). It was cute and had a charming little love story to it, but it took a little while for me to get into it.
We came back to my place to make dinner and wait for the fireworks show. From my balcony you can see the fireworks not only in the District on the National Mall (the big show that gets featured on TV) but also all the smaller shows in the towns around here. Unfortunately, there were clouds and lots of humidity this night, and that combined with the smoke from the show managed to obscure all the National Mall fireworks from view, at least from here. At least we could see the smaller shows around the area. Plus, the beer and bratwursts were good.
Saturday I took a tour of the White House in the morning (one of the people in my office does some part-time work there and was taking a family on a tour, and had an extra spot for me) and then came home to watch the Wimbledon women's final. Good match. Later in the evening, after a jet-lagged induced nap, I met up with Kevin at a restaurant in a kind of sketchy part of the District (Kevin revels in sketchy parts of town!). Stan met up with us and the three of us went to a club that features carnival sideshow acts...in this case, your basic geek (swallowing balloons, hammering a nail into his head, that sort of thing) and his burlesque-dancing wife. Interesting, fun, and a little bit different.
Still not sleeping so well I managed to sleep in until about 9am Sunday then got up to watch the Wimbledon men's final. After a few hours of rain delay, not to mention the longest (and best, in my opinion) final match in Wimbledon history, it was about 4pm. Hmmmmm. Adrian and i went to see Hancock, which frankly left me a little disappointed. Guess I expected something a little funnier, and the story took an odd twist that wasn't really resolved, in my most humble opinion.
Afterwards, when we got home, we got a bad phone call: Adrian's dad had been taken to the hospital with what looked like a second stroke. We raced over there only to find some confusions, and after a less-than-stellar performance by the hospital staff (and, in my opinion, Adrian's siblings) we finally found his dad. He didn't look to bad, and a CT scan showed no problems, but they were keeping him to run some more tests. As it turns out, he did have another stroke, so the family needs to keep a close eye on him from here on out. Here's the thing: we have the ability in this country to treat people who are at risk for a stroke (and he's now had two) and allow them to enjoy a good quality of life, but it takes a little bit of effort, and I personally think the family -- including his dad -- needs to put that little bit of effort into it. Just my 2 baht worth.
Monday I was back in the office (bleh) but after work Stan and I had dinner (and ice cream!) then went downtown to see a screening of a show about the US and China for the Discovery Channel. We felt very intellectual.
And now life is back to normal. Other than waking up at least once in the middle of the night every night, I'm getting back to normal. Oh, and I started running again Tuesday, YAY!
And the laundry is getting done.
Anyway, I went to work Thursday (bad idea) and then spent Thursday night at home, resting up a bit and unpacking my suitcase, though not even starting the mountain of laundry that needed to get done. Bear in mind that after getting home from the Disney trip I was only here 36 hours before heading off to Asia, so there was Disney laundry plus pre-Disney laundry stacked up. Since Mickey Mouse wasn't here to do it for me I needed to tackle it myself, but Thursday night I was just a wee bit tired, so that didn't happen.
Friday the 4th I met up with Stan for lunch, then we headed into the District to the National Gallery of Art. I wouldn't normally go into DC on the 4th of July -- it's kind of a madhouse -- but we figured we'd be out well before the nighttime festivities, so no big deal. As it turns out there were plenty of tourists already heading into the city, but that's OK, we moved pretty quickly past them in their confused daze.
At the National Gallery we saw an exhibition from the National Museum of Afghanistan, featuring pieces from older cities there that were a few thousand years old. After seeing the mix of styles I realized how much that country had really been controlled by others throughout its entire history, giving me a better idea why everyone I met there looked so different and spoke different languages. And yes, the symbolism of this event was not lost on me...last 4th of July, of course, I was actually in Afghanistan, though I didn't see as much gold there as I saw in this exhibit.
Afterwards we headed back out to Virginia and went to see Wall-E, which was a cute little Pixar film that was a bit different from other movies they've done (not a whole lot of speaking, for instance). It was cute and had a charming little love story to it, but it took a little while for me to get into it.
We came back to my place to make dinner and wait for the fireworks show. From my balcony you can see the fireworks not only in the District on the National Mall (the big show that gets featured on TV) but also all the smaller shows in the towns around here. Unfortunately, there were clouds and lots of humidity this night, and that combined with the smoke from the show managed to obscure all the National Mall fireworks from view, at least from here. At least we could see the smaller shows around the area. Plus, the beer and bratwursts were good.
Saturday I took a tour of the White House in the morning (one of the people in my office does some part-time work there and was taking a family on a tour, and had an extra spot for me) and then came home to watch the Wimbledon women's final. Good match. Later in the evening, after a jet-lagged induced nap, I met up with Kevin at a restaurant in a kind of sketchy part of the District (Kevin revels in sketchy parts of town!). Stan met up with us and the three of us went to a club that features carnival sideshow acts...in this case, your basic geek (swallowing balloons, hammering a nail into his head, that sort of thing) and his burlesque-dancing wife. Interesting, fun, and a little bit different.
Still not sleeping so well I managed to sleep in until about 9am Sunday then got up to watch the Wimbledon men's final. After a few hours of rain delay, not to mention the longest (and best, in my opinion) final match in Wimbledon history, it was about 4pm. Hmmmmm. Adrian and i went to see Hancock, which frankly left me a little disappointed. Guess I expected something a little funnier, and the story took an odd twist that wasn't really resolved, in my most humble opinion.
Afterwards, when we got home, we got a bad phone call: Adrian's dad had been taken to the hospital with what looked like a second stroke. We raced over there only to find some confusions, and after a less-than-stellar performance by the hospital staff (and, in my opinion, Adrian's siblings) we finally found his dad. He didn't look to bad, and a CT scan showed no problems, but they were keeping him to run some more tests. As it turns out, he did have another stroke, so the family needs to keep a close eye on him from here on out. Here's the thing: we have the ability in this country to treat people who are at risk for a stroke (and he's now had two) and allow them to enjoy a good quality of life, but it takes a little bit of effort, and I personally think the family -- including his dad -- needs to put that little bit of effort into it. Just my 2 baht worth.
Monday I was back in the office (bleh) but after work Stan and I had dinner (and ice cream!) then went downtown to see a screening of a show about the US and China for the Discovery Channel. We felt very intellectual.
And now life is back to normal. Other than waking up at least once in the middle of the night every night, I'm getting back to normal. Oh, and I started running again Tuesday, YAY!
And the laundry is getting done.
Labels: Friends, Running, Work
Saturday, March 29, 2008
So Much For That
So last night, after writing that I was about to go out and was very excited about that, I laid down for just a minute...and woke up 20 minutes later, just after 11pm. I figured I still needed to get ready, then take the train to the Castro, and of course, I had to be up by 7 this morning...so, it just didn't happen. I realized if I was that tired, that I was already falling asleep, that perhaps I should stay in so that on Saturday I could be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for work...which of course is the reason I'm here.
But I just got in and I AM going to dinner in a little while, and I am determined to go out tonight and catch a bit of this town's spirit. I've been cooped up with a bunch of professors this week (thank goodness for Carol and Giacomo...we could rag on other professors over lunch, something I can't do with too many other people). Anyway, it's OK to stay out tonight even though I'm up at 7 tomorrow...after all, I'm not the one flying the plane.
My panel discussion today on couterterrorism went really well. The other speakers have done some very interesting research and we got a good discussion going after all the presentations. Everyone in the audience and on the panel seemed to have a good time, which suggest I'd be a good party planner if I ever need a job. I was a little nervous about it as I was supposed to comment on their work and some of what they're doing is a little beyond me, but it all worked out really well and they seemed to appreciate my comments, so yay.
And as I was going to lunch, aiming for the place Carol told me about, I ran into Carol and Giacomo (yay!!). Turns out they were already at the place she'd told me about...I'd misunderstood where it was and would have walked right past, becoming hopelessly lost. Fortunately they were sitting outside and yelled very loudly...twice. I should really pay attention when someone yells my name, but of course I always assume it's the paparazzi.
It's been a good week work-wise, but I could use a few days off here to just enjoy the city. I do like San Francisco and I forgot that when I go to conferences like this, the conference is about all I get to do. Good grief, I've been to 4 conferences in Chicago and have seen almost nothing beyond the hotels! But I do need to get back to work next week so I'll just need to schedule some off-work time out here sometime.
This is my second trip to the west coast in a couple weeks and I have to say I'm liking it more and more. Portland was so laid back, San Francisco has such a nice energy...as I sat in the restaurant on the 46th floor of the hotel this morning and looked out at the Golden Gate Bridge rising up through the mist covering the bay I thought "yeah, I could live here."
But I just got in and I AM going to dinner in a little while, and I am determined to go out tonight and catch a bit of this town's spirit. I've been cooped up with a bunch of professors this week (thank goodness for Carol and Giacomo...we could rag on other professors over lunch, something I can't do with too many other people). Anyway, it's OK to stay out tonight even though I'm up at 7 tomorrow...after all, I'm not the one flying the plane.
My panel discussion today on couterterrorism went really well. The other speakers have done some very interesting research and we got a good discussion going after all the presentations. Everyone in the audience and on the panel seemed to have a good time, which suggest I'd be a good party planner if I ever need a job. I was a little nervous about it as I was supposed to comment on their work and some of what they're doing is a little beyond me, but it all worked out really well and they seemed to appreciate my comments, so yay.
And as I was going to lunch, aiming for the place Carol told me about, I ran into Carol and Giacomo (yay!!). Turns out they were already at the place she'd told me about...I'd misunderstood where it was and would have walked right past, becoming hopelessly lost. Fortunately they were sitting outside and yelled very loudly...twice. I should really pay attention when someone yells my name, but of course I always assume it's the paparazzi.
It's been a good week work-wise, but I could use a few days off here to just enjoy the city. I do like San Francisco and I forgot that when I go to conferences like this, the conference is about all I get to do. Good grief, I've been to 4 conferences in Chicago and have seen almost nothing beyond the hotels! But I do need to get back to work next week so I'll just need to schedule some off-work time out here sometime.
This is my second trip to the west coast in a couple weeks and I have to say I'm liking it more and more. Portland was so laid back, San Francisco has such a nice energy...as I sat in the restaurant on the 46th floor of the hotel this morning and looked out at the Golden Gate Bridge rising up through the mist covering the bay I thought "yeah, I could live here."
Friday, March 28, 2008
Quick Trip Update
San Francisco is going very well. It is mostly about work...I am in the conference from 8:30 - 5:30 each day and then have had work-related meetings most evenings, either over dinner or something like that. Tonight I had a really interesting dinner with some professors from Singapore.
Best part has been seeing Carol over lunch Wednesday, and she looks FABULOUS. (oh, and she's smarter than me, too)
Tonight I'm going to venture out to a club for a little dancing and Saturday night I am hoping to as well, before flying home Sunday. Oh, and I am finally speaking at this conference Saturday afternoon.
I realized today that I've seen very little of this city this week. Other than a couple hours down in the Haight-Ashbury area after arriving Tuesday, I haven't been away from Union Square. Fortunately, that will change in about 40 minutes.
Best part has been seeing Carol over lunch Wednesday, and she looks FABULOUS. (oh, and she's smarter than me, too)
Tonight I'm going to venture out to a club for a little dancing and Saturday night I am hoping to as well, before flying home Sunday. Oh, and I am finally speaking at this conference Saturday afternoon.
I realized today that I've seen very little of this city this week. Other than a couple hours down in the Haight-Ashbury area after arriving Tuesday, I haven't been away from Union Square. Fortunately, that will change in about 40 minutes.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
I Can Hang
Went out with my former student yesterday after arriving, and that was very cool. We grabbed a couple beers and got caught up on all we've done since we last saw each other nearly 2 years ago. I came back to the hotel and did some work while he ran errands, then we got together with his girlfriend for dinner...after that the three of us met up with some of his friends and we went to shoot pool and have some excellent Portland beers. A good time was had by all, especially by me when his friends thought I was a student, too. heh heh heh
This morning I had a minor problem with my alarm clock...somehow it was turned off, I don't know if I did that or not. Anyway, I woke up 10 minutes before my first meeting. I'm proud to report I made it on time AND i looked sharp!
This morning I had a minor problem with my alarm clock...somehow it was turned off, I don't know if I did that or not. Anyway, I woke up 10 minutes before my first meeting. I'm proud to report I made it on time AND i looked sharp!
Friday, March 14, 2008
Off to Portland
I am heading to Portland, Oregon, for a quick business trip. I have a meeting all day Saturday and will come home Sunday. I feel like I will spend more time on airplanes than i will spend awake in Portland.
This is my first time there and I'm excited to visit. Also, one of my former students -- who left our school in Colorado and transferred to a university in Portland -- is going to hang out with me. We've been talking online the last few months and it sounds like he's doing well -- I'm excited to see him and get to know him outside the classroom!
Stan came over last night for dinner and Lost. Then there was a new episode of South Park. We were going to follow that with a movie I'd gotten but Stan, being the mature one, said he should probably go home and let me go to bed, seeing as I had to get up at 5am to fly out. I'm glad he did, I kinda needed the sleep!
This is my first time there and I'm excited to visit. Also, one of my former students -- who left our school in Colorado and transferred to a university in Portland -- is going to hang out with me. We've been talking online the last few months and it sounds like he's doing well -- I'm excited to see him and get to know him outside the classroom!
Stan came over last night for dinner and Lost. Then there was a new episode of South Park. We were going to follow that with a movie I'd gotten but Stan, being the mature one, said he should probably go home and let me go to bed, seeing as I had to get up at 5am to fly out. I'm glad he did, I kinda needed the sleep!
Labels: Teaching, Travel, Work
Friday, March 07, 2008
Contrast
Last night Stan and I went to a discussion at a major think tank. We heard an author discussing a new book about changing relationships in Asia, about the nature of agreements between countries there, about the role of the United States and China in Southeast Asia, how India and Russia fit into all this. Very interesting stuff that ties in nicely with a research study I'm currently doing. The audience, as is common in Washington DC, was made up of professors, retired diplomats, senior government officials, and some other very smart people.
Afterwards, we went to a bar where, if you take your shirt off, you get free drinks.
Afterwards, we went to a bar where, if you take your shirt off, you get free drinks.
Labels: Bars, Friends, Life, Work
Thursday, February 14, 2008
First Day Back
I've been out sick for a couple days. Everyone else seemed to be getting sick at work last week, guess it was my turn. I really wasn't that bad off...my body is pretty good at fighting off sickness, it just makes me really tired when it does. But since I didn't have anything really urgent at work I felt comfortable taking a couple days to try to feel better. Glad I did...we had a bad ice storm Tuesday that messed up the commute home for lots of people, and a lot of our folks didn't even make it into work Wednesday as a result. So if I was going to be out, these were the days to do it.
A bunch of people suggested today that I shouldn't be there...whether because I looked really sick or because they didn't want me infecting them, I don't know. But I needed to go in and will go back Friday as well, I have some stuff which does need to get done now. I'll just try to avoid sneezing on anyone.
Here's a question on office etiquette: when you see someone in the boss' office, would you walk in on their conversation? I never do, unless there is something very urgent the boss needs to know about, and that is pretty rare. So how come today, whenever I went in to see one of the senior folks, people felt compelled to come in and either interrupt or just sit down and start contributing their thoughts to our meeting? One guy stuck his head in the door and said "am I interrupting anything?" Um, yeah. If there was nothing going on, I wouldn't be here, I'd be back at my desk working. I told him to let us finish, and he took off. Later, I was trying to fill one of the directors in on what happened at the Atlanta meeting last week and 2 other people came in and joined the meeting, turning it from 15 minutes (which is all I thought it would take) into nearly 2 hours! Plus, 2 other people stopped in just to ask a question about something that could have waited. Come on!! Didn't these people learn manners as a kid? I guess it's too late for me to fix their behavior -- if their mother didn't do it, it's probably too late for me to change it -- but I will let them know they're annoying and embarrass them in the process if they're too dumb to get the hint.
Am I surrounded by idiots, or is it really just something wrong with me?
A bunch of people suggested today that I shouldn't be there...whether because I looked really sick or because they didn't want me infecting them, I don't know. But I needed to go in and will go back Friday as well, I have some stuff which does need to get done now. I'll just try to avoid sneezing on anyone.
Here's a question on office etiquette: when you see someone in the boss' office, would you walk in on their conversation? I never do, unless there is something very urgent the boss needs to know about, and that is pretty rare. So how come today, whenever I went in to see one of the senior folks, people felt compelled to come in and either interrupt or just sit down and start contributing their thoughts to our meeting? One guy stuck his head in the door and said "am I interrupting anything?" Um, yeah. If there was nothing going on, I wouldn't be here, I'd be back at my desk working. I told him to let us finish, and he took off. Later, I was trying to fill one of the directors in on what happened at the Atlanta meeting last week and 2 other people came in and joined the meeting, turning it from 15 minutes (which is all I thought it would take) into nearly 2 hours! Plus, 2 other people stopped in just to ask a question about something that could have waited. Come on!! Didn't these people learn manners as a kid? I guess it's too late for me to fix their behavior -- if their mother didn't do it, it's probably too late for me to change it -- but I will let them know they're annoying and embarrass them in the process if they're too dumb to get the hint.
Am I surrounded by idiots, or is it really just something wrong with me?
