Separate and disconnected

It's interesting how disconnected from reality I feel here at Moonbase Bravo. The strange shifts, the dark room, and the different backgrounds and attitudes of the people here all make life a little strange. The "permanent jet-lag" schedule we work effectively cuts me off from most of the people I saw on the weekends when I was planet-side, so I don't get to talk stuff out with them (not that I did that very much - I think it relieved me to just be with them). We stare at nav-screens all day that bombard us with constantly-updated information, so the control room here is kept dim. This is OK, but wears on me at times and makes me appreciate the time I get to spend in the sun room here at the base.

And the people! They have come from many different parts of the planet, and have many different backgrounds, which makes conversations and interactions interesting and sometimes volitile. It keeps things interesting, and will probably keep me on my toes. We'll see...

Away from the base

Well, it's nice to have a break from moon life for a few days - I'm on holiday leave! It's interesting how my coworkers reacted to my taking leave - some were especially irritated, most were indifferent and uncaring, and a few actually encouraged me to take the leave "while you still can". Oh, well, I knew when I took this job that it would be differnt from my planetside staff job :-)

After being a "staff weenie" for 5 years taking a job as a supervisor on the front line of our system looked like a bad move to a lot of my friends. But since I reported back to Moonbase Bravo I've been re-training to re-certify as a controller. Once I get recertified I' get a few weeks' training in the day-to-day supervision of our space traffic control operation and then I'll be turned loose as a supervisor - woohoo!

It's funny how controlling traffic has come back to me - in some ways it's like I haven't been gone for 7 years, but in other ways I still don't understand some of the things we're doing now. Take the new "regional" ships that are flying in and out of Earth's atmosphere - they're smaller than the big ships that have plowed through the sky for so long, but they're also slower so they get in the way. The new display and interface equipment still throws me, and coordinating things via the data stream instead of verbally just feels wrong. But I'm adapting to the changes and am confident that I'll be fine after I'm turned loose.

I'll post more when I get back from leave - Moonbase life is never boring and usually extremely interesting, so I'll have plenty to post about.

Moon Base Bravo up and running

Here at Moon Base Bravo life is a little different.