And now I’m home…

So I mentioned two posts ago that I wanted to write about game stores.  The return to blogging and the start of my new job postponed that a bit, but now seemed like a good time.

Last Thursday night, I endeavored to the local game store (only like 2 miles away!) to see if there were any people to play board games with.  I talked about said “nerd games” in a previous post, and I really miss playing them since I moved away from all my friends.  I was fully aware that many of the people that convene weekly (or more often than that) at these games stores can be a little…odd.  This store is actually really cool, though, as I went in a few times the past few weeks to check it out.  I was very nervous going in, since I have only ever played games with people I was already friends with.  It turned out to be very relaxed and welcoming, with only a small portion of creepy old guys (well, smaller than expected).  Also, one of my friends had a similar experience when she started playing at a new game store, and she assured me that being 1) cool and 2) female would probably end up encouraging some cooler people to attend weekly as well.

I was immediately welcomed into a game of Vasco de Gama, which I had never heard of, and I had a blast.  Three of the four of us had never played, so we were all learning.  I did decently well, which I usually don’t the first time through these games.  We then played two quick games of Jungle Speed, which was pretty ridiculous, and ventured on to Pandemic.  I’ve been meaning to play Pandemic for a long time now, I just never got around to it.  I’ve only heard that it’s extremely hard to win (it’s a cooperative game, everyone loses or wins together), so I was pretty excited.  We got so close to winning, but didn’t quite make it.

Still, it was insanely nice to get back out and have some fun with people again.  In the past two weeks, I’ve been downtown twice to see a friend from undergrad who is going to medical school in Chicago, but it was a very different experience.  I needed to be a nerd again.  Work only allows for so much nerdiness, since most of my coworkers are older and not scientists or engineers.  At one point during the evening, I looked around and noticed that in a big gaming room of about 25-30 people, I was the only girl.  I was probably one of the least nerdy people there, so I got to just have fun.

No, these are not people I really see myself befriending further than playing games every week or so.  But it still feels nice to know I have my own little geek haven whenever I let it build up for too long.

Paul & Storm – Frogger! The Frogger Musical

Why don’t you get a job?

This Monday, I started my very first real, professional job.  In college, I took two semesters off to work full time for Bridgestone’s Research facility, but it wasn’t quite the same.  I am now officially a full time employee, with an office, business cards, and a work laptop and cell phone.  Okay, so my phone doesn’t work yet, the business cards haven’t been delivered, and the request has been put in for the cell phone, but it’s way more than I’ve ever experienced.

These first few days have been bizarre.  American Gasket & Rubber has ridiculously low turnover and very rarely hires anyone new, especially someone as young as me.  Add to that the fact that my position was created for me (rather than me replacing someone who left), and I am definitely the novelty of the office.  Essentially nothing was ready for me Monday morning, as I had no computer, no phone, barely a desk, and very little to do.  It’s steadily coming together, though.  My boss is much less busy next week as well, so he’ll have time to start teaching me things, rather than handing me books on rubber processing (which he did, and I read).

It's true

It’s fascinating to me to compare the two work environments, though.  Both AGR and Bridgestone are what I consider relatively laid-back.  I got that feeling on the interview, so I assumed they would be pretty similar.  Not so much.

At Bridgestone, 75 % of the people in the building have a PhD.  Considering the fact that it’s the research sector of the company, it makes sense that 90% of their employees are scientists.  It’s the complete opposite at AGR.  I am one of maybe 4 scientists out of the 40-50 total employees.  Most of them have been making gaskets for 20+ years, so they know what they’re doing.  They just have no scientific background whatsoever.  Among those 4 scientists, I am the most educated in chemistry with a Bachelor’s Degree, but by far the least experienced.

The differences in coworkers are interesting as well.  I got so used to being around a ton of Japanese people since Bridgestone is based in Japan, it’s almost weird to be in an office where the majority of employees are American.  AGR is also way more chill about hours for salaried employees.  They seriously don’t care when or how long you work, as long as you accomplish things.  Hell, I could come in at 6 if I wanted, take a 2-hour lunch, whatever, as long as my work gets done.  It’s a little ridiculous.  I think Bridgestone often has problems with some slacker employees, so they have to be a little harsh on attendance.  For those of us that did good work, they turned a bit of a blind eye when we took long lunches, but hours were still reasonably set.

I’ve only been here three days, but I think I’m going to like this job once it really gets going.  Everyone is very excited about me, and they all seem to think I’m going to be a great addition.  The only problem I foresee is the severe lack of younger people around.  I have no problem socializing with older people, but when they’re all married with kids, it becomes difficult to really be friends.  I guess we’ll just see.

P.S. I’m already planning a trip back to Cleveland 4^th of July weekend.  I miss it too much!

The Offspring – Why Don’t You Get a Job?

I’m back!

I promise I am.  These past few weeks have been completely ridiculous and so busy, but things are finally dying down, and I’m willing to write again.

I wanted to take my next entry to talk about game stores, but I thought I would take a breath to update on what I’ve been doing for the past few weeks.

The last few days before graduation were full of packing.  I did fun things every night, but I spent all day getting everything moderately organized into boxes.  Sunday morning was graduation, complete with Katie Couric as our commencement speaker.  Kind of a random decision, but at least she was entertaining.  I spent the rest of the day with my family at our Chemical Engineering reception with most of my friends and professors, finishing the majority of the packing, and then off to a friend’s graduation party.  That was a rough night on me.  My family left to go back to their hotel, leaving in the morning.  My apartment was essentially empty, except for a ton of boxes and random pieces of furniture.  I went to sleep feeling very upset about leaving.  I was excited as hell for my new apartment and job, but terrified of going somewhere I know no one and having big expectations to live up to at work.

Finally graduated!

Monday left no time for being upset.  The movers came at 9:00am, were gone by noon, and I was out by 4:00pm.  The drive to Illinois was not fun, with construction, traffic, and horrible rain, but I hit Chicago as the rain let up and the sun was just setting.  Seeing the city like that made me feel quite a bit better.  At least I know a few people living downtown, and Chicago is an amazing city.  The movers got to my new apartment by 8:00am the next day to move everything in.  I spent the next few days doing some preliminary unpacking, but I was missing some key furniture, so not much could be done.  The following weekend, I went home for a few days to get some last minute appointments in (before my own health insurance kicks in up here) and got to see some friends again.  It was very nice, but leaving everyone was even harder knowing I wouldn’t get to see them again for a very long time.

I got back to Illinois on Tuesday afternoon and proceeded to buy the rest of the furniture I still needed.  That was all delivered on Wednesday morning (all before noon!), which meant a very long day of assembling furniture.  I will take pictures of my accomplishments at some point, but I still have quite a mess of boxes around me.  Other than that, it’s just been unpacking and attempting to relax for a few days before I officially start work in a week.

And I promise I’ll start writing every week again.