Goodbye

In the path of life people cross your path, share it, and sometimes make your path their own. Leaving one’s path is something that might cause anger, jealousy, and bitterness. It may also leave hope, understanding, and compassion. Only time will tell. The ultimate definition will be based on where those two paths end, and whether the crossing of those paths was a benefit or a detriment to those on their paths.

I know that ultimately this crossing was a benefit for my path. I am a better person because of the things I have learned, both positive and negative, because of the experiences I have had because of our paths crossing. I am the one that asked that there be no further relationship, that our paths no longer cross, and you have not only acknowledged this, but accepted it with grace. For this, I thank you. In all honesty I expected less, but this really tells me that in some way I might have had an impact on you as you did me. In some way that makes it more worth while.

I will never regret the time we had.

Goodbye.

Curtain Call

Well, they play has now come and gone. 7 performances later, I find myself without rehearsals to go to, and I don’t know what to make of it. I met some really great people doing this play, and I know that I’ll get to work with them again, but this cast was really tightly knit. We had our cast party at Bucca di Beppo, and at the end we all gave speeches, and there were some tears shed over the heartfelt comments. Yes, I got a little misty eyed.

Closing night left me with bittersweet feelings. We had a great show, and several friends came that had a great time, and other friends that had already seen it that came for a second helping. However, there were a good many people that said they would come, and didn’t end up showing at all. Granted, I sent the invitation to a lot of people, and didn’t expect most of them to come. The people I did expect to come, however, were people that specifically said they’d be there and asked for information about the show, and there were a lot of these people that didn’t come.

If this were just one person, I’d say that they flaked out and might give them some grief about it before chuckling over it, but this wasn’t just one person. This extended to coworkers, old friends, new friends, etc. I know people had other arrangements, prior engagements, etc. I’m not bitter. I just couldn’t help but be a little let down. For example, of the dozens and dozens of coworkers that said they’d come, only one showed up for any of the 7 performances. I’d look through the cracks of the set at the audience before each showing to see who I knew in the audience, each show telling myself, “Oh, they’re proabably waiting for the last show/day.” The last show came and went, and I couldn’t help but be a little let down.

I feel moderately awkward posting about this. The primary people that read this are my friends, and some of these friends didn’t come to the show. This is not in any way a jab or attack aimed at any of you. This is just me venting my feelings, which at the time are bittersweet. In all honesty, this was probably the best production I’d ever been in, and I really wanted to share that with the people I know and love. Can’t help but be a little bummed if I am denied that opportunity.

“So it’s not just a clever name?”

Hell week is over. The play opened Friday, and it went very well. We had two more shows Saturday which went even better for me. Some of the other actors thought their performances weren’t as good, but I think I just have the rare opportunity of being in a play with actors that are humble.

Seriously, the play is awesome. If you didn’t make it this weekend (I’m not bitter if you couldn’t), you should come out this coming weekend (I’ll be bitter if you don’t). Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8pm. 2pm matinée on Saturday, too.

Info from previous post

QA

This new position is awesome. I’m free to do as I like, just so long as I get my shit done. The micromanaging leash of yesterday is not so tight today. I’m enjoying the new digs, especially since I have an actual desk rather than a cubicle.

The new boss is awesome. He plays video games, studied theater, and is a Monty Python aficionado. I know what you’re saying, “But Chris, you hate all of those things, how are the two of you going to ever get along?” It will surely be a challenge, but we’ll surpass it.

I’m actually giddy to work. This is freakin’ sweet.

I’m a Machine

I woke up yesterday at about six. Six in the morning is dark, cold, and makes you really feel the need to be in a bed. Having recently left one, this yearning brought with it a certain bitterness. I had an interview for a position in the Quality Assurance department at work, which handles how customer service handles customers assures that quality is maintained. So, I got some spiffy clothes from the closet, which meant turning on a light because it was still dark, of course, and went to work.

I knew the interview was with the head of that department, and had a good idea that the manager would be there too. What I didn’t figure in to the equation was that I would be interviewing with my old supervisor, my new supervisor, and the supervisor for the tech/photo department. So, 4 supervisors and a manager on one side of the table, just me on the other side. I mean, I knew that each of them got an email about the interview, but then a few people got emails about my other interviews too, and they didn’t show. Everyone attended this party, apparently, and I was the guest of honor.

Once firmly planted in the hot seat I answered a good number of the standard questions. I went to a good many of my standard “go to” answers, and even coined a few new phrases. Seriously, on the fly, I described the ideal QA department as “The R&D for the front lines in Customer Service.” Having made my nose properly brown, and singing my praises, and making awesome impressions, I proceeded to go over a phone call and an email giving constructive criticisms, and making standard corrections.

Everyone smiled afterwards, shook my hand, and left the room feeling like I had given the best interview of my life. Sure, there were moments when I was fumbling words a little, but seeing as how I was in front of ALL THE BRASS, I did extremely well, and that’s saying something as I don’t tend to get nervous in those situations.

After class, I grabbed a bite to eat, then went to school an hour early to learn my monologue for my theater class. I am doing the scene from Amadeus when Salieri denounces his alliegence to God, and swears to destroy his incarnation on Earth (Mozart). This is a heavy scene, and a long monolgue. I had 3 sentences commited to memory at the beginning, and by the beginning of class had it almost 100% down. I only left out one small bit, but nothing was lost. The teacher had some really good notes for me, and helped me along. When you take a community college course, it’s a crap shoot as to whether or not you’ll get something from the class in any way, but I have to say this teacher rocks. I am giving her outstanding marks.

After giving this performance, I was completely shaken. The emotions of anger and bitterness were coursing through me, and it took me a moment to collect myself and calm myself down. On top of that, I then had rehearsal, which meant going back in to “laid back funny guy” mode. Rehearsal went really well, even if we did go over some sections dozens of times before getting it down.

So, at 10pm I leave class, listen to Loveline which is no longer co hosted by Adam. I have mixed feelings on it, but I say good for him. I get home, have a club soda, then go to bed, exhausted and fulfilled.

This morning I woke up at 6:30. I figured I earned that 30 minutes, and slept away. I kissed Milca goodbye, several times in the off chance that the first few kisses didn’t stick, or were defective, and went to Starbucks. The holiday season allows me to stray from my usual order and have eggnog instead of my standard soy milk. Sweet, sweet eggnog.

I’m sitting at my desk just wrapping up a call and see the supervisor for QA who asks to talk to me for a couple minutes. They always smile when they ask for this, regardless of whether they take you or not, so the first sign of any kind of an answer is that first word when you get in to the office with the door closed.

His first word was “Congratulations.”