Most of you will understand what I’m talking about when you remember our college days, and how after each year at school you felt like you lived through a decade. All those stories, all those experiences, and only a small set of people really understood what you were talking about half of the time. Then came graduation, and it didn’t seem real that we were all going our separate ways.
Well, I’m there again. All those months behind me, many more to come, but in three weeks I graduate. I don’t know what to say. I never thought I would come to appreciate these 21 people as much as I do at this point. We never would have met on the street, or in a bar, or anywhere else (I guess that has as much to do with location as anything else – the people in my class come from as far as California and the Phillipines) – but we all came together at the same point in our lives to take part in the whole wide wonderful world of Diplomatic Security training.
I must say that it has been more frustration than anything else, working for the government. Most days we feel like we’re working against the government, and that the government pushes back just as hard against us – however, we’ve made it this far and it is such an accomplishment. I still don’t know what I was thinking to sign up for this long strange trip (and I am sure Vince is still hoping I’ll change my mind), but I do know that I’m willing to wait it out and see.
Even now it sounds exciting to know that I have the potential to be sent overseas to be in charge of an embassy; to experience new cultures and meet new people; maybe even get in some language training along the way… These are the main reasons why I initially applied to this job, and the gun was just another added bonus to make me look cool while traveling.
It has just been so hard to do this without Vincent, and without my usual network of support. All my closest friends are always too far away to be around for those midnight drinking sessions, and Vince is stuck in New York starting a new job and settling in to a new place. The crowd of men with whom I work are just as likely to get me in trouble as not, and if I decide to make a career out of this I am going to have to watch what I do around them. After all, many of them are former military, uptight Republican types who all seem to condemn any kind of behavior I have and will dive into. So I am more of an oddity than anything else – not that my old comrades don’t find me odd, but at least they acknowledge their oddness too. Well, whatever. I don’t mean to discredit their character or complain about the people with whom I work. They really are a good bunch of guys, but a few sour grapes can ruin the whole bunch, and we cannot yet tell who are the friendlies and who is running to tell on us at every moment. Which wouldn’t normally matter, except that every little thing that goes onto your record ruins your chances of promotion…
Anyway, what am I babbling about??? I wanted to get a little somethin’-somethin’ out there for you guys to remind you that I am still alive and breathing. So yes, I am. Doing both.
Important dates for you guys: 11 April 2003, Ryan’s official swearing-in ceremony (to the foreign service); 24 April 2003, Ryan’s graduation from Basic Special Agent Training Class 72; 26 April 2003, Ryan officially moves to New York!!! And 28 April 2003, Ryan’s first day as a Special Agent… yay…!
Well, that’s all, folks! Gotta love me…
