Eagle Three to tower: HELP PLEASE

[constance]

Our company, this week, has been attending team-building flight school in groups of ten, and one thing we as a team have been able to agree on is that life-sized flight simulators are pretty freaking awesome. No one's really had much interest in talking about anything else all week, or, for that matter, working; we're just comparing experiences and agreeing that we need to go flying once a month.

I don't think I really learned anything about myself in our session, but some things were reinforced: I'm not a leader and freak out when given too much responsibility; I make an excellent copilot and a conscientious but anxious pilot; I'm no risk-taker and require time to get used to a thing before I can make myself relax into it; my navigational skills are totally up to par, but my motor skills kind of suck.

Things I learned about my coworkers: all participating women agreed that their male partners (we all had male partners, and we switched up at being pilot and copilot) were better pilots and they were better copilots; some people get really cranky when they get cold; no one can land on the first try.

A very productive week, no?

:::

On a completely unrelated note, I have a question for the mothers on my friendslist. Okay. Say you had a son and were planning his ninth birthday party. And say Captain Morgan brand rum, in your city, was offering to host a free-open-bar party in your home if you let the bartenders decide what drinks to make you (using only Captain Morgan rum, obviously). Would it occur to you to combine the two and invite seventy people to the subsequent blowout?

In other words, do your birthday parties involve equal numbers of overexcited kids and hammered adults? This doesn't seem like a smart mixture to me, but I'm clearly out of touch with the current children's-birthday-party climate: when I was nine, the pinnacle of birthday-party glamour was a slumber party with six or seven friends, light-as-a-feather in the dark and red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and above-the-legal-limit giggling, and a mother on hand to supervise from a (probably) sober distance. I mean, what do I know?

Comments

[aubrem.livejournal.com]

uh, no. We had mixed drinks at Daniel's fifth bday party but it wasn't anything like that. It *was* an all ages full family event rather than a little kids party but it was still family-friendly and kiddy games. I cannot imagine having professional bartenders and 70 people there. Also, nine year olds pretty much want to plan their own party, don't they? Would a Captain Morgan rum bar be on the list?

[gmth.livejournal.com]

Would it occur to you to combine the two and invite seventy people to the subsequent blowout?

Eek. No way.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Also, nine year olds pretty much want to plan their own party, don't they? Would a Captain Morgan rum bar be on the list?

I know I wanted to plan my ninth birthday party, and my plans really didn't include rum, not even with my parents doing all the drinking. :D

There's a big difference between enjoying a drink or two with friends at a children's birthday party and inviting a liquor company in to get you drunk at a children's birthday party, IMO. I'm glad you agree!

[tofty.livejournal.com]

*thumbs up!*

[laurelwood.livejournal.com]

I am very envious of the team-building flight school experience. (Truly, at this point, I'm so starved for coworkers that I'd be happy with "light as a feather, stiff as a board" team-building, but flight simulators are just the finest cream cheese icing on the cake.) What a rush that must have been! I can see how nobody would want to be talking about anything else.

As for the party, I feel ill-equipped to answer because not only am I not what you'd call a drinker, but I don't think I even KNOW 70 whole people. Seriously, though, WTF? I've gone along with those boozefest "1st Birthday" parties some people have, because, hey, I guess the parents deserve to celebrate surviving their child's infancy by throwing a kegger if they want to, but by the time a kid gets to the age of nine, aren't they aware enough of the "it's MY special day" factor to be a little miffed that their birthday party has been hijacked by rum-wielding bartenders and aforementioned hammered adults?

Mmmmm, red velvet cake. I tongue-in-cheekedly shake my fist at you for reviving my craving for one of those cakes.

[octoberstory.livejournal.com]

equal numbers of overexcited kids and hammered adults? This doesn't seem like a smart mixture to me

*surreptitiously adjusts next week's lesson plans*

[tofty.livejournal.com]

As for the party, I feel ill-equipped to answer because not only am I not what you'd call a drinker, but I don't think I even KNOW 70 whole people

Yeah, I'm in the same boat (and I know I don't know 70 whole people); when you factor that into my childlessness, I'm thinking I'm one of the top 10 last people in the world to judge, and yet. Here I am.

I'd think any nine-year-old would really resent the lack of focus on THE MOST IMPORTANT EVENT IN THE WORLD -- but then, my experience of nine-year-olds is sort of limited, so I thought I'd ask.

And one day I will feed you red velvet cake, and I promise you that you'll like it. :D And also: suddenly I am thinking it'd be fun to play Light As A Feather with a bunch of construction superintendents. Like, epically fun. Maybe I'll suggest that as our next team-building exercise.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Hey, I said parents, not big sisters. I mean, I think the vital importance of blowout drunken bashes in place of Pin the Tail on the Donkey games is actually written into the Older Sibling Charter. So your lesson plans are safe!

[octoberstory.livejournal.com]

Ahahahahaha, those Big Brothers and Sisters are a bunch of drunk beeyotches. At the Boys & Girls Club we know how to kick it old school...WITH APPLE JUICE. B-)

[xanthophyllippa.livejournal.com]

I would flee from such an event so fast that I'd leave behind a little cartoon cloud of dust behind me.

[xanthophyllippa.livejournal.com]

I only know 70 half people.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

*embarassed at having spoiled own lame-ass joke* :(

[tofty.livejournal.com]

ahahahaha, yeah, the idea of getting drunk with 70 people makes me want to lock myself in my bedroom and never come out.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

top half or bottom half?

[octoberstory.livejournal.com]

Not at all, my love. Almost every single person I've told about the job has made that mix-up since July. Indeed, the two were virtually interchangeable in my own mind before I got the interview. ♥

omg, i love you so goddamn much.

[octoberstory.livejournal.com]

**dies** THAT EXPLAINS THE NEW ORLEANS YEARS

Re: omg, i love you so goddamn much.

[octoberstory.livejournal.com]

Er--I think that came out wrong. >_< I just meant, that was the drunkest-ass town I ever saw, and I certainly get why you never were part of the whole debauched nightlife deal.

Re: omg, i love you so goddamn much.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I had my share of debauchery in college, but by the time I lived there as an adult, I was over it. I used to get the WHY WILL YOU NOT COME OUT WITH US AND VOMIT ON THE STREETS OUTSIDE THE R BAR question all the time.

[xanthophyllippa.livejournal.com]

Bottom, judging from their interpersonal skills.

[xanthophyllippa.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes. So much yesness.