Deadlines and Dreams

What a fucking week.  Today was the first day all week that I actually left work on time.  The only reason I made it out the door by 5pm was because I had a salon appointment at 5:30.  I mentioned in my last entry that I’ve been assigned a couple of projects with impossibly close deadlines.  Well, those deadlines got pushed forward even further.

Since I’m going to Iraq in a month, my company has started putting me on projects for our overseas coordinator down in Tampa.  Over the last couple of weeks, a few coworkers have made several comments in reference to him.  "Oh, you’re working for Kyle?  That sucks."  "You’re going to have to stand up to him.  He’ll try to push you around if you don’t."  "Ooh, Kyle.  Evil Kyle."

Now, Kyle’s never been anything but nice to me, but that’s probably because I’m doing him a favor by taking a vacant spot in a war zone.  However, I’ve noticed over the last week that he is very demanding.  Every single morning, I’ve received an email from him asking how my work is coming along.  At about 1pm today, I was informed that he needed my final patch as soon as possible.  In other words, he needed it before COB today.  Keep in mind that this piece of software is one that I, as well as most of my coworkers, am completely unfamiliar with.  The original programmer was out of town on business, so I had very little support.  If that’s not bad enough, Kyle never sent me enough information about the database that I had to work with.  I can’t access the information because the classification is higher than my current security clearance.  Somehow I managed to get it done.  I am almighty.

There was a definite high point of my work week, though.  In correlation with the above mentioned project, I was forwarded a bug that’s being experienced in the field at the Naval base in Key West.  This was quite an important issue.  The office was considering reverting back to an older version of the software if it couldn’t be corrected in a timely manner.  I got a patch out to the base within a day, and it cleared up their problem.  Ken, our field engineer at the base, sent an email to all of my bosses saying, "Fixed, tested, works perfectly!  Thank you for getting this to me so quickly.  This is very big for JIATFS!"

My brother, who now runs our office in Washington DC, was formerly in Ken’s position in Key West.  Rob was copied on the email, and he’s mentioned to me how important this is for my career.  I’ve only been with the company for six months, yet I’m already being included in major projects and field issues.  He said that there are other engineers that have worked for ISS for years, and he’s never once even seen an email with their name on it.  I’m tired, I’m stressed, and I’m overworked, but damn, I feel good!

As for my hair, I didn’t do anything funky this time.  It seemed a little pointless since I’m going to leaving for Iraq one month from today.  I got it cut a little shorter than I normally would since I won’t be able to get another salon appointment until August.  My stylist is awesome.  He’s young, 22, and he’s a rock musician.  We’re going to go for drinks when I back from overseas — but only as friends.  He has a girlfriend.  Besides, I don’t think a youngster would know what to do with me.

I dreamt about David last night.  I’ve been weird and a little down all day because of it.  It was present day, and he showed up at my door.  I was floored.  We talked for hours, and I asked him why it took so long for him to respond to my letter.  That’s when he pulled out a long note of his own.  He simply said, "Because it took me that long to decide exactly what I wanted to say back."  As I read his written feelings, tears welled up in my eyes.  It was everything I wanted to hear from him. 

Suddenly, I realized that I would soon be leaving for three months — the exact amount of time for which David first told me he would be leaving to spend time with his dying father.  I cried more as I explained to him that if he had only called me sooner, I might never have agreed to go on this trip.  He just held me as he told me that he’d wait for me forever.

Then I woke up.

I swear, the dream was exactly as I’ve often fantasized.  So many times I’ve imagined David showing up at my door and telling me that he couldn’t live without me any longer.  Dreams suck.

Felina