I Cannot Possibly Be That/This Old

It started innocently enough, like most things do.  I showed up one Thursday night to teach my room full of future forensic accountants that pleasures of a good fraud story.  Timing  of the class was great, as Bernie Madoff gave us fresh fodder weekly and tales of such greed that they are hard to imagine.  

One of the earlier nights, I happened to make a name connection with a young woman in the class.  Her last name was a bit uncommon, so I asked "are you P & M's daughter by any chance?"  She looked a bit surprised and answered "yes."  That was the first step in my aging process. 

Since I waited a bit late in life to have Diva, I forget that people near my age have kids who are now in graduate school.  Yikes!  I worked with P from 1986-1989 when I first relocated to NH.  I had seen him once in the intervening years, but it has been awhile.  

A couple of weeks later in comes my student with a note from her father.  There is going to be a big retirement party at the place we worked together all those years ago.  Four people who were retiring, all of whom worked there many moons ago with me.  So I delightedly RSVP'd and counted the days until I could see all of my old friends and former coworkers.  

Last night was the party.  When I walked into the room, there were probably 70 people there.  I expected to know maybe the four retirees and six other people.  

Surprise #1 -- I knew roughly half the people there.  Many people, like me, had returned to wish these four well in their new adventure as retirees.  Good thing the shindig lasted four hours, because there was a lot of catching up to be done.

Surprise #2 -- when you have not seen someone for 20 years, you miss the gradual aging and instead all of a sudden "wow!  these people look a lot different!"  and "oh x*&^, do I look that old?

Surprise #3 -- lots of people recognized me - and remembered my name.  That's really embarrassing, because some of them I couldn't recall ever seeing before in my life.  Crap, there goes my memory along with other things....  now where was I?

Surprise #4 -- people I didn't consciously remember would walk up to me and say 'hi' and I would remember random things.  I could remember one man's name, but nothing else - not where he worked, what he did - nada.  I could remember another's face, but not the name that went with the face.  Then there was the one who I could clearly remember going on a business trip with, remembering we watched the Stanley Cup together in a bar in Bangor ME, but once again nothing else.  

Surprise #5 -- there were at least five people in the room who time passed by.  They had not changed a bit in 20 years.  I guess I should have asked for the name of their plastic surgeon:)

I took a lot of pictures last night, and I really need to download these photos off my camera.  But for a just a few more days, I think I'll look at the pictures from the 1988 bowling banquet and the golf tournament, and remember the way we were.....

Fun Monday - Careers

I've been out of town (and then trying to catch up from being out of town) the last couple weeks, and have missed playing along on Fun Monday. I'm finally caught up beyond caring about being behind, I just wanna have some fun.

This weeks hostess is Dungareesablaze at the Irish Coffee House and here's a great topic for those of us who like to use our blog as a way of remembering things...

Careers- Then and Now

THEN: As a child day dreaming of what your future would hold for you, what did you want to be when you grew up? Did you ever pursue or achieve it?

NOW: If you could be trained and placed in any career beginning tomorrow, what would it be?

WAY BACK THEN:

My destiny was clear in my mind from second grade onward - I was going to be a veterinarian. That is, until my senior year in high school, when I met my first love. I just couldn't bear to be separated from him by going away to college. Unfortunately, he didn't tell me not to give up on my dreams, that he would wait for me, we would make it work; the way I now understand that true love does. So I changed my dreams for him. The relationship didn't last, but by the time it was over I was too far into my degree (and student loans) to change majors.

I majored in accounting, because I was good at math. Not exactly the best way to choose a career. I ended up with an internship at a really big company my senior year of college, and this led to my relocating from KY to NH.

THEN, NOT QUITE SO FAR BACK:

A few years later I was still in NH, independent and financially successful, but not really happy in my career (or other areas, but that's a story for another day.) Someone said to me - "why don't you do something else if you are so unhappy?" I decided to look into vet school. I visited the nearest vet school, and they told me the first thing I needed to do was arrange to work with a local vet. I went to the nearest vet's office, and he scheduled me to work with him weekends for a month.

Among those who have influenced me, I have to rank him among the most positive of influences. He took the time to make me really think about what I wanted to do, and to understand what would be required to make this career change. He let me fully observe the activities at his veterinary hospital and realize what really is involved in veterinary medicine. And he told me "You don't do this because you love animals. If you love animals, there are plenty of other ways to be around them and help them. You do this because you love the science of veterinary medicine."

In the end, I understood that I would have to go to school for 4-6 years, incur massive student debt, and when I graduated I would make less than I was making in my current job. And being a vet didn't look quite as glamorous as it did when I had no experience in the field beyond taking my own animals to the vet. I realized that my dream was more of a fantasy - an idea I had created based on a love of animals without adequate consideration of what the career involved. Instead of changing careers, I looked for a new job. Preferably one with lots of opportunities for travel, which was the one part of my current job that I actually liked.

I found a great job, got a huge pay increase, traveled extensively, and while on the road, met Kilowatt.

NOW:

I'm happily married to Kilowatt, with a wonderful daughter who teaches me something new every day.

I explored a few other career options along the way. I considered teaching high school math (shudder), I've been (and still am) a travel consultant, and I've taught computer and accounting classes.

This fall, I'm starting a PhD program in accounting, so I can teach and do research in my favorite areas of accounting: forensic accounting and accounting systems. So I think this answers the 2nd question.

And while I reflect back over how I got to where I am today, I am reminded of the Garth Brooks song Unanswered Prayers: "I guess the Lord knows what he's doin' after all"

Bristol, CT Pictures

The previous post talks in more detail about where these were taken.... I finally took the time to pull some photos off of my camera.

First, from the Watch and Clock Museum, one of my favorites:


Next, from the Carousel Museum, one of the most interesting animals. Not the metal handle on the horses withers - this is where the rider held on for dear life as the horse flew down the track.




Finally, a view of Lake Compounce....


and the fabulous Boulder Dash...

Quick Update

Summer is a time for creating new memories.  I am amazed at how different each summer is.  Even though we are doing the same things, they are different as Diva matures into a "tween" and Kilowatt and I just mature.  

The family held a surprise 75th birthday party for my Father-in-law, so we took a July 4 road trip to New York state.  On the way we decided to take a mini-vacation, so I pulled out my "Reader's Digest Guide to Off the Beaten Path Attractions."  This led us to Bristol, CT, home of ESPN.  

No one in my family is a sports fan, so we looked with only mild interest at the satellites in the parking lot of the home of "Sports Center."  Our destinations were much more interesting.

First, we visited the American Watch and Clock Museum.   I promise to post some pics after I get them off my camera.  Imagine a room filled with grandfather clocks.  Imagine 11 o'clock in a room filled with grandfather clocks.  Mechanically inclined Kilowatt loved the clock mechanisms.  I loved the section dedicated to Disney character watches and clocks.  Diva loved the sound of numerous clocks chiming 11 times.  

Our travels led us next to the New England Carousel Museum.  I have a thing for carousels, and have wanted to visit this museum for many years.  The collection includes some fascinating carousel animals (did you know there was once a horse race ride where you zipped along at 40 miles per hour secured only by two metal handles on the side of a wooden horse?)  There is also an old Wurlitzer carousel organ that plays the lovely (and very loud) music that accompanies riders on traditional carousels.  Diva loved the carousel organ (see a trend here?)

Our final stop on our tour of Bristol attractions led us to Lake Compounce, America's oldest continuously operating amusement park.  We were a bit hesitant to spend the admission price when we only had five or six hours to enjoy the park, but the lure of an old wooden roller coaster was too much to resist.  Little did we know what treat was in store for us....

Let me digress a bit by explaining that in my younger days, I was quite the roller coaster connoisseur.  A group of friends and I once drove four hours just to ride a wooden roller coaster that Money Magazine had listed in it's Top Ten roller coasters list.  There was a time when I would ride any coaster in the country.  As steel coasters have become more extreme, and I've become less daring, I now limit my coasters to wooden coasters (which will always be my favorite) and those with minimal inversions and average size drops.  

Anyway, back to Lake Compounce.  They have a wooden roller coaster called Boulder Dash that is built into the side of a mountain.  This coaster was worth the price of admission, and there were virtually no lines to ride.  I have to rank this among the best coasters I've ever ridden, and well worth a visit to CT.  Even for non-coaster fans this is an excellent park, most notable is how clean and well-maintained the park is.  

Once I've recovered from the trip I'll post pictures!

Wardrobe Malfunctions

While I was avoiding work by exploring my favorite blogs, I found Hulagirl telling a great story that triggered some old memories, which led to more than one stress-busting belly laugh.  You know, the kind of laugh that supposedly makes you healthier.  

Why Denim is now blended with Spandex:

Back in my high school days, my cousin really liked one of my best friends.  So much so that he decided to buy a horse in order to impress her.  A friend of his was conveniently selling a horse, so we went out to his farm to take a look.  I was quite impressed with my cousin's friend...

When invited to hop on the horse behind my cousin's friend, I didn't need a second invitation.  I agilely jumped on just like Tonto would.  Unfortunately, my jeans were just a wee bit too tight for that sort of jump, and announced that fact with a loud "Rip."  And kids, that's why it's important to wear clean underwear without holes, and to always bring a jacket along (to tie around your waist.)  And that's why I love Spandex.  

Why Elastic is Evil:

A few years later I was a college girl, and working in a retail store selling pianos.  That was when retail store clerks still dressed up to go to work.  For me, this often involved wearing panty hose - one of mankind's most terrible inventions.  I've always hated to have anything tight around my waist, and so I developed this unconscious habit of constantly adjusting the hose to a more comfortable position.  I wasn't really aware of this, or the audible "Snap" that accompanied the adjustment, until my musically inclined boss wrote a poem for me at Christmas that year about my habit!  I'm sure I still have it somewhere, I'll have to post it if I can find it.

I saw the light:

A few more years passed, and I was a working girl (no, not that kind of working girl.)  I was teaching a class on auditing computers.  This was when instructors still dressed up to teach.  Because the class was in Atlanta, and it was 90 degrees in the classroom, and I was wearing a very long black skirt, I opted to skip the evil panty hose and almost equally uncomfortable slip. 

What I neglected to notice was that directly behind the projection screen was a full length window, which provided excellent back-lighting for myself and my co-instructor.  The black skirt was no match for the midday sunshine.  My co-instructor calls me "Lady Di" to this day, and says I have great legs.  

Stunning Swimsuits:

I was in the YMCA pool with my daughter when suddenly my one piece tank became very, very loose.  I decided I'd best get out of the water to see what was going on.  Lucky for me our big towel was right next to the pool, and we were pretty much in a corner by ourselves.  A quick trip to the ladies changing room revealed that the fabric (Lycra I think) had just given up, and was now 1) very large and 2) very transparent.  Time to go home!

I honestly can't believe how many wardrobe malfunctions I've experienced in my life, and we won't even go into wet, white shirts.   So -- am I the only one, or do you have a wardrobe malfunction to share?