Sailing last night was tons of fun. I am back to racing little boats. Little boats (unlike Byron's "big" boat) can capsize. Especially when the winds exceed 20 kts. Which is precisely what happened to many boats we raced last night. We managed to stay upright through great effort (and a now aching right arm -- before I figured out why I was sore, I had dreams of getting shot in the arm repeatedly last night, and sore legs).

The race course was more fun than usual too. Our usual venue, a beach club, is being knocked down to make room for another money-losing eye-sore high-rise condo. Since they used to host the race, though, the courses were long to bring the boats in front of the spectators. Without having to sail past the club, they can make the race course short, and make us do more laps. Instead of going long stretches before turning from windward to leeward, we did it many times in short stretches. Since rounding the mark and changing directions is the most fun, this made the course far more interesting...

However, despite staying upright (through several close calls), I was splashed repeatedly by cold lake water (probably the only time of the year the water is cold) and drenched thoroughly.

Let's flash back to Australia a moment. An inner/outer dialog in the SCUBA shop with Emily who is trying to discourage me from conspicuous consumption because she is good and I am a spender: "I really don't like wearing the wet suits they are providing us. So many weights needed to stay neutrally buyont. Plus they are so warm, and the water is so warm. All our divemasters are diving in board shorts and a sharkskin. Maybe I should get one. But oh oh oh, they are so expensive at over $100. But I could use this again! I could use it to sail or jet ski. It will be perfect. Oh, the shark skin is mine!" And I whip out the credit card.

Did I even think to wear the shark skin last night? No. T-shirt and a fleece. Both drenched thoroughly and a chill that didn't leave my body all night. Stupid me.

Work has been, shall we say, interesting.

A couple months ago, I realized I was really bored. I had finished my training (de facto) months ago and have been sitting around ever since awaiting my final evaluation - the schedule keeps slipping indefinitely to the point where the absurdity has overwhelmed me (they attempted to start scheduling my evaluation in December. How many months ago was that?).

I had been slightly bored during my training too, but accepted that as the unfortunate way our office trains people - keeping them off major projects so it doesn't interfere. Honestly, I thought I had years more of training to go, as I expected to move into the more exhaustive ascent/entry flow almost immediately. However, due to the return of a more senior coworker, I am no longer pursuing my original goal of becoming an entry person. So my next training flow is rendezvous so I can lead a mission. But that is a long way off, there is someone in front of me in line, and though I can get started on a few things (which I intend to), the heart of it is many months away. There aren't even any missions scheduled for basically the whole summer to occupy me in the interim.

So, what's a girl to do? I've spent the last three years training and working missions. Now I don't really have either of that on my plate. I suddenly found myself without a niche and desperate to find one. Thus, EXPLORATION! I got the green light and encouragement from management to pursue whatever projects exploration needed of me, but no direction on where I was needed. I was a little out of sorts at first, since no one seemed to need me, despite repeated assertions of how desperate exploration was for people.

Then I had the good sense/bad luck to mention my frustration in trying to find exploration work to my old friends in the descent analysis office, who have been frankly overwhelmed with this work... and now, in addition to other interesting side projects, I find myself, ironically, working on a project very related to what I used to work on before I threw up my hands and left analysis for flight control. I find myself with mixed feelings, on one hand looking forward to doing something exciting and useful for the next vehicle rather than just attending endless meeting after meeting, which was really the only other option I was given. But I am also worried that I am jumping back into a job that I didn't really like. But did I not like it because I didn't like the work or because it was irrelevant at the time and just felt like make-work with no definitive end result? We'll see, because I'm back in it now and will have to perform, but this time the results will actually be useful instead of hypothetical. At least I will be useful and that makes me happy.