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.

[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*

[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.