Taking Flight

Ughhhh. I am so stupidly stressed out by work.

I went to my primary care doctor a couple of weeks ago to deal with my depression/anxiety post dying but she recommended exercise and I basically sideeyed her and haven't made it back to check up since. UGHHH. I feel like I need drugs to get rid of this vice around my chest.

Today I am stressing out about python code instead of getting anything done and it is AWFUL.

First customer announced, so that's exciting!

More and more work is getting dumped on my plate as we sign up more customers.

I went out to Colorado last week on a 24hr turn around to talk to our spacecraft manufacturer. It was a really great experience. They started at about the same time as we did at previous-space-startup, but instead of squandering their resources trying to manage multiple expensive offices around the world, they focused all their manufacturing in one location and have built out a fantastic microsat facility. I was suuuuuuper jelly of their vacuum chamber which looked much nicer than the one I designed/built at previous-space-startup.

We've signed a number of customers, and I am the payload manager for all of them which is stressing me out. So much communication with so many people. I feel like I have a permanent headache.

Our launch in Q1 2020 is a go. WHich is just.... just stupid crazy. We're trying to shorten every aspect of the spacecraft building timeline to 13months and it's going to be intense. I'm the master of the schedule and I'm already freaking out about how we are going to hit milestones (and how am I going to fit comic con and rollercon vacations in during the peak assembly months)

But despite all the stress this is the most excited I've been about space projects since the early days of previous-space-startup: working 100 hr weeks in the clean room. Best part about this job: no clean room and no 100 weeks! Well, for now. Both of those things may change when we hit assembly and need all hands on deck. And as the only person on the team with actual assembly and AIT experience that means MY hands on deck. It'll be really weird to have to where a management hat and also possibly an AIT tech hat at the same time.

People will be trickling out of the office starting tomorrow, but I'm probably going to stick around til Friday and try to build a robust schedule for 2019. Then I get a week to myself to work on some cosplay. Time to knock out the Tattoine Poncho. I've got most of the embroidery files ready to go, just need to dye the fabric and test out the machine tension.

My last week in Vegas has been nothing but crazy packing and purging of stuff I've held on to for too long, and becoming really good friends with the Goodwill guys at the donation center around the corner (sooo many donation receipts. YASssssss. So many things to itemise!)

Shee-face is flying in tomorrow morning, we'll finish packing and then hit an evening pool party. Sunday movers come to move everything into the uhaul, and we'll get to sleep early because we're getting up at 3am to hit the road, with the hope we'll be in SF by 1pm for movers to unload and shlep stuff into my new apartment. We'll probably then collapse and sleep and then do unpacking and sorting on Wednesday.

Sunday is my evaluation with Bay Area Derby. I'm a little worried I won't pass because I'm so bad at my 27 and 5s but whatever, it's better to find that out now so if I have to up the cardio for the next two months before there main season starts I can.

And then another week of wandering about and then work starts the 10th! I'll probably just go lay on the beach for a couple days or something =)

At 3am (while I was supposed to be writing my essay) got the inexplicable urge to use my most awesome fandom present from thene =D appropriate icon is appropriate.



Picture text: "Wherein Vanyel angsts for a hundred pages, gets his rocks off for eighty, and then spends the remainder in self-flagellation and wangsting over his dead abusive boyfriend while wandering morosely about a treehouse."

Thatʻs a ridiculously long subject line =)

So as some people have seen (and many have tweeted/emailed/texted me) my epic Twisp and Catsby recreation in Minecraft made the front page of penny-arcade.com *girlish squeals of delight!*

And I was going to postpone posting this till I had finished my pset but I guess thatʻs not happening till I get this out of my head. I basically spent this ENTIRE PAX sitting in BYOC first crafting Twisp and Catsby then crafting my masterpiece. Iʻve got pictures of both and video of the second so have a gander =) OH, and I won a bunch of computer parts for the Twisp and Catsby (along with a medal!) so I guess Iʻm building myself a custom gaming rig this summer, and with a 1200W powersupply itʻs gonna be epic!

So yes, behold my obsession:

( Twisp and Catsby )

( A Minecraft replica of the ISS )

So yes, two days at a LAN party and I spend the whole time playing Minecraft =) I was atleast able to rope a couple people into my insanity, and Iʻm inordinately pleased with what I produced in a short amount of time with absolutely no forethought.