Transitions in a Small World

I have completed my week long training at 2K Games. Today was my first real day of work in QA Testing. My transition period is finally at an end. Quite a profound place to be at the moment...

It's exciting to be at the first steps of a new journey. Makes me hopeful for the future. I have some big plans for myself and I plan on bringing them to fruition.

Work was really good today. I was expecting to be given a few days to get used to my project, but apparently that wasn't what my lead had in mind. We jumped right into the fire and it was exhilarating. I like my team, I like my lead, they like me. We seem to be working well together.

I've already done some good work, my lead made sure to note that he noticed. Feels good to be appreciated and acknowledged for your efforts. I think I'm going to like it here.

Small World Anecdote:

So Friday was Lisha's birthday party. Due to its proximity to Halloween, she requested it be a costume party. I dressed as Walter Sobchak from the Big Lebowski, successfully.

Anyway, so I'm mingling, drinking, etc. Meeting all sorts of cool people and just basically being social among friends. At some point in the night I end up chilling out in a chair for a while, just to enjoy the night air. Anyway, nearby two ladies are in the midst of conversation and in my boredom I ended up eavesdropping. One of the ladies was facing toward me, she I recognized as Emerson's sister. The other had her back toward me and I couldn't see her face; although, something was familiar about her voice...

As I was contemplating where I'd heard her voice before, she turned her head to the side and I caught site of her profile. That's when the bells went off. My brain started shouting at me, telling me that I knew this person but not sure why.

So I turned to my memory, "Well, what've you got?"
Memory shrugs and says, "Uh... shit... we got nothing so far. But we're looking!"
"Splendid. Emotion, how about you? Got anything?"
"All we got is a sense of 'missing,' like she was there for a time, then left."
I blink. "..."
Emotion clears it's throat, "So... yeah."
"Okay. Thank you, Emotion."
"Sure, boss."

This goes on for a while, me stuck at a stalemate with who this person is. At which point I got up and had to ask her:

"Excuse me, who are you?"
"Hi! My name's Noelle." We shake hands. Memory takes over.
"I knew your name was Noelle!"
"Really? Weird. You look familiar too, what's your name?"
"Ophir." Recognition shows on her face.
"I knew your name was Ophir." It's not just me, perfect.
"Shit. This is going to drive me nuts. Where do I know you from?"
"I don't know. Where did you go to school?"
"Calabasas. You?"
"Oh, I didn't go here, I was in New York for High School."
Fuck. I've never been to New York.
"Fuck. I've never been to New York."
"Yeah, I've only been here for 5 years." 5 years!? Perfect! Now I have parameters! Memory, go!
"5 years, okay, that gives me something to work with."
"Haha, okay."
"Did you go to college or school while you were here?" Could be from school.
"No, sorry."
"No, that's good! 3/4 of the past 5 years for me was school and sleep, we just narrowed it down a bunch."

At that point, Memory came back with the answer and took over:
"Did you work while you were here?"
"Yes."
"Did you work at Tony Romas?" Her eyes go wide, a smile creeping on her face.
"Yes!"
"I worked with you at Tony Romas!" YES! SWEET HOLY JESUS YES!
"YES!"

We hug for a while and end up talking for a long time, catching up. Turns out she worked with me for several months in 2003. We were really chill and she ended up leaving because they wouldn't give her time to go to Bonaroo. I missed her. It was good to see her. What are the random odds she'd be at this party. Small world.

Perfect Walls

The walls themselves will be plain, flat white.

Hanging on those walls, framed in medium thickness black-stained wood are the following posters:

The Big Lebowski
Back to the Future, Part II
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
Demolition Man
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Nirvana - Smiley Face
Queen - Classic
Muse - 2007 Limited Edition Melbourne Music Festival
Mastodon - Blood Mountain

Hmm... I'm going to need some pretty big walls.

From the realm between dream and sleep.

Destination Unknown

What a week.

Jewish high holidays started this week, beginning with the New Year. But like all Jewish holidays, the day before, the day of and sometimes, the day after are also celebrated. Lots of family, lots of food... busy, busy, busy.

I went and saw Rancid with Orry today. We had an extra ticket (Tahl ended up flaking out) that we ended up selling to a scalper for $9. We met up with Jeffy and his friend Tony at the show just before it started.

The first band was this terrible group called Societies Parasites (or something along those lines, it had "society" and "parasites" in the title.) They were on the 1/2 an hour and left without complaint. Listen, I don't expect much from an opening band... just a beat that I can nod my head too... and I couldn't even get that.

Next was Manic Hispanic. I like those guys a lot. This is the 2nd time I've seen them, the first being when they opened for Offspring. They're a cholo punk cover band that just sings the songs they cover in spanish. Good fun, very entertaining.

Finally came Rancid. Lots of energy, fairly basic setup: 3 guys in front, drummer in back, huge screen on which generic rancid videos are playing. Apparently they ended up playing 32 songs (30 +2 encore) which was awesome, that's punk music for you. After about the first third I went into the pit. I moshed to some random song I didn't know and then Maxwell Murder came on (one of my favorites) so I had to continue. I ended up shooting out of the pit in places I didn't like, so I kept going back in until I got to a spot I liked.

I ended up at the front border of the pit next to Tony. He and I ended up rocking out together for the remainder of the show. At Time Bomb I boosted him to start crowd surfing, which was fun.

Only two downers of the show were the following: At some point some guy from the pit spun into me and elbowed me at the base of my spine, just above the hips. I freaked out because everything below my waist got tingly, but I recovered. Another time was this guy next to me asked for a boost so he could crowd surf, to which I was happy to oblige. So he's standing facing me, I bend down and put my hands in a cradle to support him. He puts his left foot on my hands, I boost him; and just as he is coming up, his right leg kicks out and hits me square in the balls. My god did that hurt. I had to put my arm across the back of the guy in front of me so I could recover. All in all, not bad.

In the end I was sore, (very) sweaty and slightly deaf. Very friendly put, lots of friendly people and all-in-all a really great show. I had a lot of fun and was happy to lose some frequencies in my hearing in exchange for the good times I had.

As tradition dictates we met up at Denny's after the show (we decided on the one at Sepulveda and Burbank), grubbed up and went our separate ways. I peeled the sweaty clothes off myself as I got home and jumped into the shower. A perfect ending to a very full day.

Tomorrow I run errands with Jeffy and play D&D. Looking forward to both... hopefully I get some good sleep tonight. I'm pretty sure I will, I'm exhausted.

Goodnight Neverland!