*** Work, Week 1 ***
So... I interviewed with, got an offer from, and have begun employment this week with Lockheed Martin. And didn't make a point of telling anyone. My position is "Software Engineering, Associate" and is full-time programming. Now you know. Check the archives to see what that's worth.
What a week. A sudden, major change of pace and lifestyle. Let's take a look...

NEO: New Employee Orientation, Monday from 7:30am to 2:00pm. Filled out forms and got a fat binder full of info about the company. Had speakers and videos covering the history of the company, benefits, security, etc. Had lunch with my future managers, found out I'll be working up in Palo Alto instead of Sunnyvale.

NEROP: New Engineer Rotation Orientation Program, lasts two weeks. Got another fat binder. They rotate new engineers through positions, to help them find their place in the company. Apparently we're still in the orientation phase though, no real work yet. We have a class of about 36--only about 6 girls. Ages vary, but most seem to be recent college grads. We have little icebreakers every morning. To my delight, it's not just a bunch of tech geeks. But then again, maybe I only think that because I'm one...? And unexpectedly, my former roommate Heiman/Raymond is working there too, so he's in my NEROP group. So is John Holloway, who I found out was in Brendan's Japanese video and other stuff. They are two of the few programmers I've met. Seems like a lot of mechanical engineers. I'd say they've been treating us well. We get breakfast, lunch, an afternoon snack, and all the drinks we want every day. And the food is actually good. The day (7:30am - 5:00pm) consists mainly of presentations by various employees, a lot like college lectures. They've covered all kinds of work-related information, from listening and presentation skills to a 15-hour seminar called Understanding Space. We've also gone on tours of the facilities, checking out satellites and missiles.

9/80: My schedule is 9 days, 80 hours every two weeks. So it'll be 9 hours Monday through Thursday every week, with 8 hours Friday every other week. Three day weekend half the time--pretty sweet. And strangely, I haven't had trouble getting up at 5:00 every morning. Staying awake at work is a whole other struggle... heheh I joke. Kinda. The tough thing is realizing I leave home at 6, get home at 6, and have about 3 hours of free time before I have to go to sleep again.

Security Clearance: If you didn't know, Lockheed Martin is a major defense contractor, which means they design and build products for the government (i.e. military, NASA) such as satellites, rockets, and missiles. So a lot of the work is classified, secret or even top secret. The job I was hired for requires a government security clearance, so I had to fill out a tremendous form with information on my history and people who know me, and later I'll have to take a polygraph exam. They have to make sure I'm not a foreign spy or a drug addict or any such bother. So once I start doing that stuff, I won't be able to tell any of you what I do at work. Your loss.

Bloopers: On the very first day they already had two different misspellings of my first name. I was not impressed by that. Also, we had to get photo ID badges, and for some reason just on mine the lady printing them out put my Social Security number where my Employee ID number should've been. So I had to go back the next day at 7:00am to get it redone. Shitty.

Summary: I'm feeling good about this job. It'll be a deserved and interesting challenge, and I'll see some really cool things and maybe even meet some cool people. The pay and benefits are good (my mom can finally rest since I have medical insurance again)... I plan to save almost all the money I make, although the other day I went shopping and felt the old gadget craving when I saw the home theater and computer stuff. But I know I can control myself.

*** Berkeley ***
I went to pick up my diploma and junk from the apartment, sell my books, and visit some old pals.

Thursday: I was supposed to stay with Wendy, but she got mad at me (for the first time I can recall); it had to do with her picking me up from the BART station (I decided the story's too long and unfunny to make you guys read the whole thing, so ask me later if you care about the details). So I ended up playing some DrumMania/GuitarFreaks on PS2 with Elvin, which I enjoyed thoroughly. He had some APhiO thing, so I got dinner with Hung, and ended up going out with him and his friends and crashed at his place the first night. Believe it or not, we played "spin the bottle" and "if you love me you'll give me a smile." Fun times.. and yes, there were girls there, you homophobic bastards.

Friday: I had one of my old favorites, nachos grande, at the Golden Bear Cafe on campus, and since I was eating it at Sproul Plaza, ended up talking to a couple Christian Crusaders or whatever for a long time. We exchanged philosophies (funny how seemingly sensible people don't always end up agreeing with me) and I got a flyer fo free fo sho SCORE. Anyways I headed over to the bookstores to finally unload my damn texts, but found out that I can get a lot more for them if I wait until finals time. Great. Well, you never know when you might need a little extra chedda (knahmsayn?), so I said I'd come back later. I figure it'll give me an extra reason to head back up some time for sure. So the second night I meet up with a less-pissed Wendy, we get dinner at a good Italian place (she treated for my bday), and hang out at her apartment the rest of the night.

Saturday: I was gonna shoot some pool with Elvin, but before we left he asked if I wanted to "jam" first... Not being one to resist a good jam session, he and Kaho (his roommate) and I played some more DrumMania and GuitarFreaks. Kaho broke one of his drumsticks... shame. Afterwards Elvin and I played pool, and he dropped me off at BART. I headed down to the Oakland house for their Halloween party, where much fun and revelry ensued. I had planned on heading home that night, but was not quite in driving condition, so I enjoyed some instant ramen with Dave and Ryan while they played some online poker, and crashed on the couch. I left the next day upon waking.

*** Tennis class ***
No more lessons... all we're doing from now til the end of class is play matches. But I guess that's okay, I can learn from experience and try to apply what I read about in Visual Tennis (and what little I got from the class itself). Also, at the last class the coach asked if I wanted to be on the tennis team. I told him I might be interested. I guess that's accurate but misleading, since it's incredibly unlikely I'd be able to fit that into my now-very-full schedule. Oh well...

*** TV ***
I haven't seen Girls Club, so I guess I won't miss it when it's gone. I still watch Friends, although it doesn't seem to be as funny as the last few seasons. And now I watch Scrubs (right after Friends), it's good times. After about four episodes I'm convinced it's the only new sitcom worth my time. I don't have much time for Seinfeld reruns anymore, and can't stay up for Cosby classics. Pity the fool.

*** Video Games ***
Borrowed the BLuckyDay N64...

Pokemon Puzzle League: This is just Tetris Attack reinvented with less charming characters but more levels and challenge--I like it. I found out there's an S-HARD difficulty level, and it is ridiculous. I have yet to complete it (it doesn't help that you have to beat the Puzzle Master on your first try--lose and you get kicked back to the punk kid before him.)

Dr. Mario 64: Let me say this is an excellent puzzle game. It's innovative, challenging, has cool storyline graphics, and of course great Nintendo characters. But it is bitchy as hell. The simplest, smallest damn error screws you over for so long. And if your opponent does combos then you get screwed even worse, and with an annoying little jingle. Every time I hear it, I throw the controller on the floor, and stomp on it, thrice (heh just jokin Bre). Anyways, you can tell I'm not that good at it yet. I am still trying to finish Normal mode without continuing.

*** Girls ***
At some point, we all wonder if we'll end up alone. The thought is forced to the front of our minds when we are rejected, when we break up, when we graduate from college. Being the only one who's been through all of these, believe me when I say I feel it as much as any of you. I have no idea where I'll find a girl that will interest me... even harder, one who feels the same for me. But that's life. Remember how important it is to not know what's next. You never know what might happen, where you'll go, who you'll meet. I figured my chances of finding a girl in high school were bad--and I was right (sob). After a while in college I figured the same thing was gonna happen. But by a chance situation I got to know Lan and ended up with her for over a year. Who's to say when something like that might happen again? It helps to be out in the world and making some effort to meet new people, but sometimes you can only wait and see. Just think of it like a movie... do you want to be told the ending half an hour into it? Of course not, that will ruin the suspense and the experience. The same goes for life. Don't be too eager to get to the end of the story. Wonder. Hope. Anticipate. Let life be an exciting adventure.