(no subject)

There's good stuff to write about. So I'm going to save the work and computer frustrations for last.

I went to the Full Moon Fire and Drum Jam with jimcyl and folks last night. I had a great time watching the fire manipulation as usual. On top of that, I got to meet some interesting new people.

I was talking to Jim about my plans to go into anthropology. At the jam, he introduced me to a friend who's got an anthropology degree and is looking into grad work now. I got to talk to him about the various branches of work (I didn't know a great deal about linguistic anthropology, but it sounds absolutely fascinating). He told me about the national convention that the American Anthropological Association is having in New Orleans in November, and suggested I attend. It would be an outstanding introduction to what anthropologists go out and do in the real world and help me decide if it's for me. He said it changed his life when he went for the first time.

So I think I'm going to go. I've been talking about getting to New Orleans anyway. I could see the graveyards and the tombs and the Saint Louis Cathedral. I'd like to see Lake Pontchartrain and the French Quarter and Bourbon Street and basically have a "visit the locations from Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers" tour. And during the run of the convention, I can spend hours and hours at the convention center listening to fascinating speakers. This is sounding better and better.

It's a fifteen hour drive, which I should be able to do in a day each way if I'm careful. As for accommodations, that brings me to another bit of fortune. The anthropologist friend of Jim's I met is also one of the leaders of the local Couchsurfing group in Chicago! He brought me over to meet some of them and suggested I come to meetings, which I'm going to start doing in the near future. And when I go to New Orleans, I'll look around for someone living there who I can surf with for a week or so. My only expenses should be gas (around $130 or so for both ways), food, and convention membership. I'd leave Monday night the week after Windycon and be gone through Tuesday the next week. Maybe I'll take extra time off just so I can see more of New Orleans. I guess I've settled on my long trip for this year! I'll put the request in today.

Anybody want to come with? Gotta get my car's wheel bearing done before then.

I also got to talk to a couple of jugglers who had some wonderful props. They were balls with very bright, vivid, color-changing LEDs in them. They could also both juggle a five ball cascade seemingly effortlessly. I was impressed. They're pros; they're doing a show at the Excalibur here in Chicago right now.

Me, I decided I want to perform in the fire ring next time. I'm going to get out after work and get some practice in with my clubs and torches. I'd really like to be able to smoothly go from singe spins to double spins and back to singles. I could do that, once upon a time. I watched someone doing that and, while it's not technically complex, it looks damned good with fire. I'll be happy if I can just stand in front of a crowd and do that solidly.

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I have an employee review coming up on Friday. I'm very anxious about it and am trying not to think about it. I feel like I'm not doing a very good job, but I dont feel like that's my fault, largely.

My work laptop has a hard drive that is dying. Dell won't replace it because it was swapped out at some point in the past with a bigger one. I'm checking with the other techs at my company to see if someone can ship me one to rebuild it with tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm dealing with it crashing every fifteen to twenty minutes. I have backed up my data and will muddle on.