![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
I just got back from Berkeley and having lunch with Old Friends. Even though I haven't worked there since 2004, these people still represent for me the ultimate in Camaraderie and Good Times. Even the ones I don't like so much. I don't know if I'll ever have another job that comes close to it, although I would like to.
But some people go their whole lives and never experience this - those people whose work place is nothing but strident and unfulfilling. So I'll be content with what I've had and use it as a standard for future friendships.
Not that the whole thing was all good. It wasn't. There were some real assholes and the usual management bullshit, and on top of that, we were working for the U.S. government, which as you know, cannot make up its mind about anything. Except that whatever goes wrong was OUR FAULT.
But our group had our own little corner of things and people were smart and generous and funny. The group was diverse and international and well-educated, and you had to be able to follow the presentation on fluid flow in capillaries given in a Chinese accent, while getting along with the big-gut military types from Nevada who really needed to wear t-shirts under their Walmart, short-sleeve button-downs.
I hope I'll always have a chance to get together with these people, no matter how far we scatter. The Good Side of life.
I hope I'll always have a chance to get together with these people, no matter how far we scatter. The Good Side of life.
- Mood:
content
