Okay, so I think I've sobered up enough to start telling some of the stories of the “rest week" spent over at Captain Worley’s, mixing the Gyuh-Hot Scientists from the Fusion Project with the lovely ladies from the Automotive Aerodynamics Research Lab, as was so ordered by the Illustrious Potentate. In his tremendous wisdom, he recognized that we were putting work before play a little too much, even though to me it all seems like play since I truly love my job, but he ordered us to take a break. Let me just say, we went through a LOT of tequila over at CW’s and had a good time “relaxing”, but now we are hard back at work “Getting Our Fusion On” as we like to jokingly say around here when it’s time to get down to business. It’s kind of like our motto.
So the black Humvees dropped us off at the airport, right on the tarmac next to Air Force One, so we just breezed right on. Let me tell you that plane is lush and we started the dancing right away – wall-to-wall plush carpet, nitrogen cooled full bar, margarita machine – “If the jet is a rockin’, don’t bother knockin’” is what it has stenciled on the door. Nice touch there Dleg.
So we get to CW’s, and I hit the bar next to the wind tunnel, and all of the sudden I’ve got a big problem on my hands. See, one of the GHS girls, that I must admit I’ve been interested in in an unprofessional way, and one of the AAR girls it turns out were sorority sisters from way back when, and they fired up a conversation, chatting, giggling, and laughing just like they were back at the sorority house. I started to feel like the third wheel, but then all of the sudden one of them grabbed my knee under the table, and then suddenly the other one also grabbed my other knee, and I started to fear that I was going to have to choose between them, since it seemed like they were both interested. They were still chatting about how much fun they used to have and how they used to do everything together, and then all of the sudden one says, “Hey remember that thing we talked about doing together but never got around to? We should do THAT,” and then they both looked straight at me.
Well, I panicked a little - you know exactly what I was thinking THAT meant - but then I thought, NO WAY, they can’t be thinking THAT, and then I tried to figure out what it was they were really talking about, maybe Scrabble or table tennis or something. So I jumped up and said, “I have to go check on The Captain.”
So I consulted with The Captain and he says, “Heck yeah, THAT’S what they were talking about! Bro’, you need to go for The Belt.” Of course I said, “What’s the Belt?” He explained about how he and a buddy once had a bet that whoever could pull THAT off - and you know what I’m talking about - would be the winner of The Belt, and he even went so far as to have a belt made. He brought it out and it looked like a WCW championship wrestling belt. He said he was once in the running for The Belt, but at the last minute, the pressure of the glory of achieving Belt Status got to him and he had to abort the mission.
So then I start thinking about the pressure of the glory of achieving Belt Status myself and I started to freak out even worse. Visions of The Belt were floating through my head. What if it doesn’t work? What if there’s a system failure? What if the third wheel is outside the design parameters? What if Fusion and Aerodynamics don’t need Management? So much pressure! But CW slapped me across the face and said, “Go for The Belt bro’!” I fixed my hair (it took a few minutes) and out I went to wrestle for The Belt.
The girls were gone.
But just then, I noticed across the way a door to a side room near the wind tunnel slightly ajar, so I went over and peeked inside. What happened next – well, I’d tell you, but stenciled over the AAR Lab it says, “What happens at The Lab, stays at The Lab.” Nice touch, CW.