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Post by DaveCrenshaw on Jul 2, 2003 2:27:37 GMT -5
I seem to have generated a lot of questions about my new position, so I'll try to explain a bit better than I did last time.
I have aquired a new civilian position with the Department of the Navy as a technical editor. The Naval Audit Service reviews various Navy and Marine Corps commands and then produces these huge reports on their findings; my job will be to ensure they spelled all their words correctly, and that they make sense. Also, with my years of military experience, I'll also be the guy the rest of the office turns to when they can't understand the latest Navy-ese term someone used in a document.
It won't be exactly brain-taxing work. But who cares -- it's a cushy government job! With lots of perks, like the fact that it would take an act of God and Congress to fire me. Even if the shop were to downsize or close completely, the government would then have to find me a new job at the same level.
The position is here in Washington, so I won't have to move, unless I find something I like even better elsewhere in the country -- and being that I'm in the system now, I'll always be able to move around to other positions even during hiring freezes, because I won't be a new hire.
The job does require a security clearance, which is the reason I don't start tomorrow. They have to ensure I can be trusted with sensative documents, which are mostly going to be "For Official Use Only", the lowest possible classification, if they are classified at all. I shouldn't have any trouble getting a classification since I've held a Top Secret clearance since 2000 and before that, a Secret clearance since 1985.
And as exciting as a Top Secret clearance may sound, no, I'm not Riley Finn. When I worked at the Naval Research Laboratory, everyone was required to have a Top Secret clearance just to set foot on the place, because they are the leading lab in developing naval research and technology, so some of the stuff they work on is pretty hot, sometimes because of national security concerns but mostly because of industrial espionage.
Wish I could say that I've spent a lot of time in monster labs hidden deep underneath college campuses, but no such luck. Closest I ever came to combat was sitting off the shore of Bosnia during the height of the Serbian uprisings a few years back; our Marine helicopter crews took on enemy fire as they flew missions into the area, but the rest of us remained safely in the Adriatic Sea, miles from shore. No evil scars with fascinating stories behind them, unless you count the tiny one on my .... no, we won't go there -- just leave it at no scars.
As for my regular weekend deal, I'm still active in the Naval Reserves, so that won't change. One weekend a month and two weeks a year (possibly more in the event of war), I serve as the public affairs officer for an admiral's staff in Williamsburg VA, as well as for the 14 subordinate commands under his authority. As a civilian working for the Department of the Navy and a Naval Reservist, I'll be in position to actually get two regular paychecks from the Navy. Not too shabby of a deal. And both jobs come with their perks.
Anyhow, that's the details. Sorry if anyone is dissapointed.
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Post by Alice on Jul 2, 2003 3:04:01 GMT -5
Deborah, you wrote:
Oh. However did you get permission for your extended stay? Was it difficult or have you been living *underground* all this time?
The one time I was in England I declared to customs that I intended to stay two weeks and they stamped my passport for six months. To stay longer I would have had to apply for some official, permanent resident status, I think. I have no idea what that entails in England or Ireland but I wouldn't think they make it much easier for us over there than we do for them over here.
Yes, I was an illegal alien for a few months. Then I got a real job. When you do that the company that wants to hire you has to apply to the government for a work permit. This is valid for up to 1 year, and so has to be renewed every year. A real pain in the butt. In some ways it's better as the Visa Lottery for Irish nationals wanting to come to the US is just that a lottery, only a specified amount of visas are available. In theory, there's nothing to stop you working here, if you can get the job.
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Post by Alice on Jul 2, 2003 3:43:31 GMT -5
Hi, Lady Di, and congrats on having entered the exalted state of S'cubie. I don't know if I agree or disagree with the statement, but one possible interpretation would be that Spike is never gonna be a do-gooder for good's own sake and has considerable innate enjoyment of raw destruction, as in his reaction to the breaking of the Hellmouth: pure joy. Buffy doesn't take enjoyment in large things like that. She's much more focused on right and wrong. A bit of a Puritan (side note: definition of a Puritan--the uneasy suspicion that someone, somewhere, might be having fun.) She potentially has a lot of playfulness in her, but that springs from excess energy, and she hasn't really had that since her resurrection. Spike, even after his ensouling, still retains a bit more capacity for fun, as witness many of his exchanges with Andrew, his byplay with Faith, his denouncing the Scoobys and SITs (and Giles) for turning on Buffy, whereas Buffy just marched off virtually without protest. He's not nearly as emotionally bankrupt as Buffy is. So to the extent Buffy isn't gonna play wild games with him anymore (and when she did, they were largely expressions of buried rage, not joy), he might feel Buffy is never gonna "come out and play" the way he might wish she would. Just some thoughts, and by no means definitive. I'll be interested in seeing others' take on this dictum. I've always thought that Spike is (even before he got his soul) one of the most human characters in the Buffyverse.
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Post by Nan-S'cubie Mascot on Jul 2, 2003 3:45:31 GMT -5
So I'm fickle. Found this one and liked it. Moreover, charming as the bed-creep is to contemplate, I think it may distract attention--by motion, content, AND implication--from the profound and worthy thoughts expressed on this board. I suspect that for those with older machines/slower connections, it also may make the pages load slower, and I wouldn't want to get in the way of ANYBODY posting to their heart's desire.
So isn't that absolutely more than you wanted to know about my newest change of avatar? I think I'm channeling Anya.....
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Post by Nan-S'cubie Mascot on Jul 2, 2003 4:05:01 GMT -5
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Post by Nan-S'cubie Mascot on Jul 2, 2003 4:38:18 GMT -5
Probably others have been more aware than I of this aspect of various Buffy websites, but at Impish Eyes, the webmaster has quite a glorious variety of clips, episode excerpts, and music videos, one of them a series of Spike moments to "My Way" by (I think) Blondie. I collected the current set of clips--from Becoming Part 2. Including Spike's Happy Meals on legs conversation with Buffy. You need Windows Media Player, and WinZip to unzip the files--both available free for the downloading from www.microsoft.comThe URL of Impish Eyes, whose resources I've only begun to explore, is: www.impisheyes.com/home.htmlShe also has JM's discussion of Spike from the Season 4 DVD, so those like me who don't yet have the DVD can enjoy it. I'll ask her if she can get the Spike on the rooftop speech about Angel that ends up with "To the Angelmobile, away!" I don't know what episodes she has available or how hard they are to collect.
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Post by S'ewing S'cubie on Jul 2, 2003 5:33:09 GMT -5
And, now, it's time for something completely different...
SSS Part 17 SSS Part 17 Who's the reason behind the board That's made for you and me? S-P-I-K-E-T-H-E-V-A-M-P-I-R-E!
Hey, there! Hi, there! Ho, there! You're as welcome as can be! S-P-I-K-E-T-H-E-V-A-M-P-I-R-E!
Spike the Vampire! Buffy the Chosen! Spike the Vampire! Buffy the Chosen! Forever let us hold our banners high! High! High! High!
Come along and post a message And join the jamboree S-P-I-K-E-T-H-E-V-A-M-P-I-R-E! Wasn't that fun? Come on... humor me folks! Or, use this part to make fun of my awful parody skills ! At least go visit the website where the real poets/writers reside, www.soulfulspike.com. Let's see if my parody skills are any better: sung to Shaft - Theme Song (with apologies to Isaac Hayes, et al) RAENSTORM Who is the gal who’d risk it all for a Scubie Pal? (RAENSTORM!) You're damn right Who is the one who locks the door when the postin’s done? (RAENSTORM!) Can ya dig it? Who's the chick that won't cop out when there're Spike puns all about? (RAENSTORM!) Right on. Nope. They're not. Oh well.
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Post by S'ewing S'cubie on Jul 2, 2003 5:36:18 GMT -5
Alice, I'm catching up on the posts and came on your interesting catch too late to do anything with it as that part had already been locked. You said: As a connected thought, I've just been writing Spike's comments to Dawn answering her question about what makes Angel so nasty (to Spike in particular): “Well, part of it’s me. I don’t deny it. But part is that he hates his demon. I expect that when he got that soul, it went to war with his demon and he sided against the demon and has never made peace with it since. Dunno, actually: I wasn’t there. Didn’t learn about it till afterward. Calls his demon by a different name. Pretends it’s got nothing to do with him, with Angel. Shuts it out, as best he can. Maybe it’s the kind of soul he got, I dunno. The curse, so he’s either all one, or all the other. Me and my demon get on fine, most of the time. It’s reasonable. I let it have what it needs and it doesn’t give me much grief, by and large, so long as I give it due respect. Soul trying to horn in now, take over the whole doings, but I won’t agree to that. So I expect because I done different, didn’t settle down to a menu of rats and moping for a hundred years before finding a Slayer I wanted to dance with, he figures I’m like his demon. Needing to be put down hard and kept down. Don’t like his demon much myself. They’re both mean, cruel bastards, only Angelus enjoys it more." Anybody have any thoughts about this? Not the writing, but the idea behind it: that Angel hates his demon and has suppressed it, whereas Spike is on much better terms with his demon, by contrast? This isn't canon--it's an inference I've made from how the two of them behave. This is, incidentally, followed by an exchange between (relatively) young vampire Mike (who looks a lot like Riley Finn) and Spike, that I can't resist quoting just for fun: Mike said, “This Angel. Angelus. He’s my sire, right?” “Seems so. Wouldn’t bring it up to him if I were you, though. Might make him try to think up a third expression an’ die of the strain.” TeeHee! I think it's an excellent explanation of the dramatic difference between the two personalities.
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Post by S'ewing S'cubie on Jul 2, 2003 5:45:22 GMT -5
Congrats, new scubie! I am a fairly new scubie, too. But this new board is a little intimidating to me. I feel kind of wierd posting on it. And also...they were talking about Hitler last week and it totally gave me the wiggins! So I've been a little hesitant to post any opinions about anything now! Especially since some of these people are so prolific when stating their beliefs, and I usually just end up sounding like some kind of moron. With my luck I would come out sounding PRO-HITLER or something horrible like that and would get banned for life from the boards! Anyway, I digress. Enjoy your newfound scubie status! BetsyB. Anti-Hitler Poster! Don't worry about that one. I don't know of anyone except a few psychos who is PRO... All that brou-ha-ha last week was a matter of debate over interpretation. We debate a lot here. Sometimes it even makes sense.
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Post by raenstorm on Jul 2, 2003 5:54:59 GMT -5
Let's see if my parody skills are any better: sung to Shaft - Theme Song (with apologies to Isaac Hayes, et al) RAENSTORM Who is the gal who’d risk it all for a Scubie Pal? (RAENSTORM!) You're damn right Who is the one who locks the door when the postin’s done? (RAENSTORM!) Can ya dig it? Who's the chick that won't cop out when there're Spike puns all about? (RAENSTORM!) Right on. Nope. They're not. Oh well. Well, I don't know... I dug it. Of course, I'd dig any song dedicated to me and repeats my name over and over again!
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Post by S'ewing S'cubie on Jul 2, 2003 5:56:59 GMT -5
Hi, Lady Di, and congrats on having entered the exalted state of S'cubie. I don't know if I agree or disagree with the statement, but one possible interpretation would be that Spike is never gonna be a do-gooder for good's own sake and has considerable innate enjoyment of raw destruction, as in his reaction to the breaking of the Hellmouth: pure joy. Buffy doesn't take enjoyment in large things like that. She's much more focused on right and wrong. A bit of a Puritan (side note: definition of a Puritan--the uneasy suspicion that someone, somewhere, might be having fun.) She potentially has a lot of playfulness in her, but that springs from excess energy, and she hasn't really had that since her resurrection. Spike, even after his ensouling, still retains a bit more capacity for fun, as witness many of his exchanges with Andrew, his byplay with Faith, his denouncing the Scoobys and SITs (and Giles) for turning on Buffy, whereas Buffy just marched off virtually without protest. He's not nearly as emotionally bankrupt as Buffy is. So to the extent Buffy isn't gonna play wild games with him anymore (and when she did, they were largely expressions of buried rage, not joy), he might feel Buffy is never gonna "come out and play" the way he might wish she would. Just some thoughts, and by no means definitive. I'll be interested in seeing others' take on this dictum. Ok. I'll bite (goes gameface) Alternate definitionof Puritan: someone who is shocked to find out he was born in bed with a naked woman. Yes, Buffy does have that streak. Whether she inherited it from Angel or it's a residue of her resurrection, she seems anti-fun even when she's having it. Buffy always seems to be waiting for the second shoe to fall. Spike, in contrast, is the hedonist. He enjoys everything. He enjoyed being evil, he enjoys being good. He enjoys a good fight, a good kill, naked Buffy, not-naked Dawn...he enjoys everything. So much so that he doesn't even mind getting beaten to a pulp because of it. He doesn't care if the second shoe falls or not. Angel, because of the precarious nature of his soul and what happens to him if he loses it, IS the second shoe. Buffy, who is not a very analytical person, understands Angel better because Angel is a fairly simple person despite his complex situation. In contrast Spike, whose situation is not nearly as complicated, is a very complex person, and quite difficult for Buffy--or any of the other Scoobies (except possibly Dawn) to figure out.
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Post by S'ewing S'cubie on Jul 2, 2003 6:01:19 GMT -5
You know what frightens me more than this discussion of the Apolloinian vs. Dionysian nature of Spike?
The fact that I understand it!
I SO need a life...
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Post by S'ewing S'cubie on Jul 2, 2003 6:12:09 GMT -5
(BetsyAB) Congrats, new scubie! I am a fairly new scubie, too. But this new board is a little intimidating to me. I feel kind of wierd posting on it. And also...they were talking about Hitler last week and it totally gave me the wiggins! So I've been a little hesitant to post any opinions about anything now! Especially since some of these people are so prolific when stating their beliefs, and I usually just end up sounding like some kind of moron. With my luck I would come out sounding PRO-HITLER or something horrible like that and would get banned for life from the boards! Anyway, I digress. Enjoy your newfound scubie status! BetsyB. Anti-Hitler Poster! (Kerrie) Ummm, sorry if I was one of the posters who intimidated you. All I can say is that I am an inconsiderate fool who cannot walk away from an argument no matter how many people I offend. I keep hoping and trying to improve, but so far I've only improved enough to walk away three-quarters of the way into an argument when I realise, too late, what I have done. Sorry. I wish people would IM me when I walk into an unwinnable argument like the Hitler one so that I can step away before I get carried away, but I suspect that may be asking too much. Hard on ourselves much? C'mon, Kerrie, that debate was the most fun I've gotten my teeth into since...um. Well never mind since. Let's just say I think I got an idea why Spike likes a good fight so much. I hardly think we were intimidating since we were only debating each other. If we were offensive, I'm sure that one of our good friends here would have mentioned it to us on board or by PM. And Betsy, don't worry about it. This is a friendly place. If you're worried about getting out of line, ask James about Steve Martin's dog.
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Post by Nan-S'cubie Mascot on Jul 2, 2003 6:14:32 GMT -5
You know what frightens me more than this discussion of the Apolloinian vs. Dionysian nature of Spike? The fact that I understand it! I SO need a life... Well, Diane, I'm a Blakean to the bone. To the degree that I believe religiously in something that's not religion, I believe in Blake's view of the dynamics of all creative energies...including the destructive ones. And the notion that pulling things apart is nasty and wrong is a notion that the other William (Blake) wouldn't have tolerated for a second and has said many pithy and pointed things about. Cisterns contain; Fountains overflow. You never know what is enough until you know what is too much. One Law for the Lion and the Ox is oppression. Sounds a bit like our William, doesn' t it?
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Post by S'ewing S'cubie on Jul 2, 2003 6:16:13 GMT -5
I kinda love that I'm a legend in my own time....even if I do sound like the carrier of some dread disease... ;D Pattitis: that dreaded infection that causes someone to post long, uninterrupted strings of replies to the board. It's usually accompanied by an itchy rash in unmentionable places due to long periods of sitting in front of a computer, a desire for blooming onions and the overwhelming need for lengthy discussions of a certain naked vampire. Cure? None at this time. Nobody seems to want one.
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