Goings On

Well, the new job has been interesting. The worst that's happened to me so far is that I've been slapped by a kid and another kid peed her pants to avoid doing what I was asking her to do. Nothing, really, in the scheme of things. I'm sure I'll probably experience worse. Brendan, a guy I work with, told me a story about how one kid he worked with dug poop out of his ass and then tried to slap him with the poop. I'm sure that experience was much worse.

On Wednesday, I suddenly had this bout with homesickness. It came from out of nowhere. I cried to Jake about missing my friends and family. I think the stress of figuring all this new job stuff out got to me.

I need to go and get a physical for work. My health insurance doesn't kick in until I've been employed for 90 days though...so I'm afraid I'm going to really get screwed and have to pay a lot of money once I go.

I went out for a bit with some of my new co-workers on Friday to happy hour. They all seem friendly and I think things will go well with them.

I went to the Maryland Rennaisance Festival with Jake and some of the patent office people. We drank a lot, saw people in crazy costumes, watched some shows, and ate a lot of food. One highlight for me was trying a "beesting" which is a combination of cider and honey mead. I was exhausted by the end of the day and when we got home (at 8pm), I promptly fell asleep.

People from the patent office seem to always be planning some kind of get-together. On Thursday this week, they are going out to dinner and then taking a Ghost Tour of Alexandria. Jake and I might go. A week ago, some of the Work-Life people (who plan all of this stuff) were trying to convince Jake and I to go on this dinner boat cruise on the Potomac. They had dinner and dancing on a cruise ship. We were told that it would be romantic. Jake and I passed on going because it was kind of expensive. We're glad we did, because later about 40 people from the patent office who went on the trip got sick. Tonia (a patent office employee) told me about how she had to take a sample of her own stool, divide it up, and make sure that it got sent to Richmond to the Health Department. The people who got sick are filing a complaint.

I called Daine today and I think next weekend Jake and I will try to take a drive down to Charlotesville to visit him. We're hoping that the Blue Ridge Parkway will have some nice fall colors.