Awkward questions
Feb. 23rd, 2019 11:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
endotoxinCONTENT WARNING: DRUGS, HEAD INJURY AHEAD.
So I spend a fair amount of time at work forgetting to do the thing before doing the other thing.
It's not bad, I'm not completely incompetent, but for the complexity of administering the software I run (And this is absolutely a problem with the software that should be addressed by my vendor), it's easy to make mistakes or miss steps.
I also earned a modest concussion recently.
The last time I was on methylphenidate I was learning not to mix white and brown liquors. Somewhere along the way it occurred to me that I could be a bad mofo and wean myself off drugs for the impending apocalypse.
I was 24 and a flaming idiot.
Now I'm back and enjoying a new burst of productive energy and focus! Migod!
But there's a problem when you do what I do and you do it for someone who requires you to have a security clearance.
You aren't the only one to know you have a security clearance.
If you live and work in Langley Virginia or Berkeley California or Amarillo Texas or Los Alamos New Mexico you can assume that your name is in a document somewhere on another continent, and your life has been analyzed by someone who's job is to use people to get to other people. It's no big deal, you don't have to have a false tooth or an umbrella rifle or special weaponless combat training, you just...
Don't think about it too much, and get on with your life.
Except when you are undergoing psychiatric evaluation for the first time in close to two decades and the very nice midlevel who's half your age is going through a general screening turns a page and asks, "Do you feel like you're being watched?"
I had to laugh. And I had to explain that I do things for a living that do, yes, in fact, have LOTS of people watching me. And really, I'm kinda fine with that because I've been trained to deal with that sort of thing and I have lots of people I can rely on to call if things go pear-shaped, and no I don't feel in any sort of danger, well, no, that's not correct really as I am in danger every day, and so is anyone who calls me a friend, but really we're all perfectly happy with our lives regardless!
She's nice, and she's lived in the state for a while so she kinda gets it. But I was her first highly-cleared patient and so we had to have a brief discussion as to how that works, and why I'm not really a person who makes new friends easily. She suggested I do that.
So yeah, that's how my week went. How was y'alls?
So I spend a fair amount of time at work forgetting to do the thing before doing the other thing.
It's not bad, I'm not completely incompetent, but for the complexity of administering the software I run (And this is absolutely a problem with the software that should be addressed by my vendor), it's easy to make mistakes or miss steps.
I also earned a modest concussion recently.
The last time I was on methylphenidate I was learning not to mix white and brown liquors. Somewhere along the way it occurred to me that I could be a bad mofo and wean myself off drugs for the impending apocalypse.
I was 24 and a flaming idiot.
Now I'm back and enjoying a new burst of productive energy and focus! Migod!
But there's a problem when you do what I do and you do it for someone who requires you to have a security clearance.
You aren't the only one to know you have a security clearance.
If you live and work in Langley Virginia or Berkeley California or Amarillo Texas or Los Alamos New Mexico you can assume that your name is in a document somewhere on another continent, and your life has been analyzed by someone who's job is to use people to get to other people. It's no big deal, you don't have to have a false tooth or an umbrella rifle or special weaponless combat training, you just...
Don't think about it too much, and get on with your life.
Except when you are undergoing psychiatric evaluation for the first time in close to two decades and the very nice midlevel who's half your age is going through a general screening turns a page and asks, "Do you feel like you're being watched?"
I had to laugh. And I had to explain that I do things for a living that do, yes, in fact, have LOTS of people watching me. And really, I'm kinda fine with that because I've been trained to deal with that sort of thing and I have lots of people I can rely on to call if things go pear-shaped, and no I don't feel in any sort of danger, well, no, that's not correct really as I am in danger every day, and so is anyone who calls me a friend, but really we're all perfectly happy with our lives regardless!
She's nice, and she's lived in the state for a while so she kinda gets it. But I was her first highly-cleared patient and so we had to have a brief discussion as to how that works, and why I'm not really a person who makes new friends easily. She suggested I do that.
So yeah, that's how my week went. How was y'alls?
no subject
Date: 2019-02-27 02:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-02-27 11:31 pm (UTC)