This has been an eventful month for me: I graduated from college with 2 Associates degrees, and I started a new job (which was a conversion from an independent contractor gig I lined up in May) and it was my birthday the other day – I turned 42 (hence the title of this entry).
So, the graduation went well – until I was set to cross over and get my diploma (cover). The dean of the Physical Sciences, Mathematics & Engineering Division apparently failed to say my name or mention my honors. This displeased my wife and our contingent of friends and family – as they didn’t have their cue to whoop it up, and by the time they’d realized I’d been up I was gone. My wife says that along with showing up for the final naked, not having your name called at graduation is one of those nightmares soon to be graduates have. Oddly enough, it didn’t bother me. I have since dubbed my self as The Unknown Graduate.
Getting proper employment was also a great step, even if it is only part time. Discussions had actually been going on since before my graduation, but my new employers have a really crammed summer schedule – which made it difficult to meet with them. While I’ve only been employed by them for a little over a week, I did start doing project for them in May when they needed someone with Joomla experience to deal with their website. I think it also helps that the Wife and I have been dedicated patrons of their business since they opened, and have taken the time to get to know the staff (definitely much easier to settle in to a new job when you know everyone…) My primary roll is dealing with their Social Media presence, but I also handle some of their other online mentions and will do some occasional customer facing work.
And, finally, it was my 42nd birthday. As a geek, I consider this to be one of my milestone birthdays – since Douglas Adams claimed that 42 is the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything (just that we don’t actually know what the questions is…) Although, I’ve recently discovered that Graham Chapman may have been responsible for picking the number when Adams rang him and asked what the “Answer” is (Adams denied this claim). But this diverges a little from my day, which was part of a fairly busy weekend. On the actual day, I was sang to by 38 kids (all budding actors) at my work, followed by a monthly gathering of friends (one of which had a birthday earlier in the week, so cards were exchanged – but the Wife and I tend to make more of a production out of it…) Then the next day is was – what will probably be – the highlight of the Summer: Airplane! the Quote Along Experience. Twenty of us, all in the first two seats off both sides of the aisle at our favorite local theatre (some of us in costumes – Krisnas, pilots and tower crew) to see one of the funniest films of all time in an environment that encourages audience participation.
All this points to 42 being a good age for me…