#newencounters

New Encounters

Now that Jellal was freed, he was allowed to come up to the bridge of the ship."

So, who is this Erza you speak of? Can you please explain a little bit about her? " Prince Lotor asked.

Jellal turned to face the Galran Prince, "She is known as 'Tatania' Queen of the Fairies, but we simply call her Erza."Lotor listened intently.

"She has many armors she can choose from, all at the tips of her fingers, thanks to her Requip-Magic." Jellal explained.

"Requip-Magic?" Lotor questioned.

"Yes, it's what allows her to rapidly swap her armors and equip herself with dangerous weapons, mostly swords."

"Wow, I wish I had that kind of power." Zethrid butted in.

"I'll tell you this, she is one of a kind."Jellal sighed and turned to look back at the stars."Her magic also allows her to swap into regular clothes without even having to touch them." Jellal added.

"Hm, very interesting," Axca commented."She will also threaten anyone who threatens her guildmates." The bluenette said once more.Jellal continued explaining about his badass girlfriend, while Lotor and his generals listened eagerly. Then there was a rumble and the ship lurched to one side.

"Pull up the cameras from outside on the screen." The Prince ordered, and Zethrid immediately put it up on the screen, eager to see what was attacking the ship.

Jellal gasped when he saw what was on the screen, "We need to leave now!"

"Why, we can just blast a hole in it with the ship's weapons." Zethrid said.

"No," Jellal said in a firm voice, "This thing is a hell of a lot more powerful than you will ever begin to imagine!"

He activated one of his many spells, bypassing the ship's safety mechanisms and opened a wormhole. Then the ship was struck with some sort of weaponized light beam.

"No, it knocked out most of our weapon systems and it's knocked off one of the stabilizers." Ezor said, panic lacing her voice.

"NGH! I don't think so you beast." Jellal muttered to himself before he looked over to the Prince and signaled him.

"Prince Lotor, I need you and your generals to keep the ship steady. I'm gonna distract that thing and give us time to escape." He said.

"Hey," Jellal turned around in response to the Prince's voice, "Be careful,"Jellal nodded to the Prince, and rushed down to the cargo bay Area of the ship.

          Went to the GEO Balboa Beach Party today.   At first, it was just Pitts, Beeken, Josh, and Viv, but afterwards there were car loads of people.   Few I recognized amongst the crowd and a lot I didn’t.   But that was fine.   I think I got to meet around 3-4 more individuals after today.   I had more fun towards the end of the day though.   When I heard that Tim and Sarah were coming, initially, I thought it wasn’t a good sign, but it turned out to be alright.   Sad that they couldn’t come, but relieved by the same token.   Saw Noah though - and it was his birthday too.   It wasn’t the most beautiful day, but it was definitely worth a trip there.   I’m glad that GEO is exactly the same as I had left it.   Different people, but same set up.   

          Went to UCLA today, with Kristie, Vincent, Joe, and Misa.   I didn’t know Joe and Misa before the trip, but after today, I feel like I’ve really bonded with these people a lot.   I love Berkeley people.   I wouldn’t have imagined myself to ever hang out with these type of people - they just carry such a different vibe and personality to the table that contrasts with my introverted-ness.   It was sorta strange.   I’m just glad that Vincent and Kristie were there.   So I drove to Kristie’s house and Vincent drove us to UCLA.   It was a pretty busy day, I’d say. 

          We met up with Andrew, after he finished his midterm and then went to eat at Feast - which is their Asian-inspired dining commons.   It was amazing trying out their food.   Not only that, but the plating and presentation of the self-service bars were amazing and gorgeous.   Berkeley needs to step up its game on our dining commons.   We happened to run into Shelly and Michael there too, which was an odd pairing to encounter.   I mean, sure high school might be over and all our high school angst might be set aside, but I can still say, the people I hated in high school are still people I continue to hate now.   So seeing them together was a really odd experience. 

          Afterwards, we just ventured around campus, first heading to Fowler’s Museum, which was a treat.   There were so many historical artifacts and so many exhibits to look at and the photography was stunning.   I loved that museum, and the layout of the whole place too.   Simply amazing.   And I also liked the courtyard placed in the middle of the museum.   Personally, I wish it was bigger, but other than that, it was a nice visit.   There were some artifacts that reminded me of BAMPFA, but not a ton.

          And then we headed to the statue gardens after that and met up with Tiff!!!   To be honest, I didn’t think that she would have wanted to meet up with me.   I mean, we were alright in high school.   I don’t think we were close, but we were on good terms.   I’m so glad that she did meet up with us though.   I miss her humor and everything in between.   It feels nice to have a group meet up rather than a one-to-one meet-up sometimes. 

Most of us work at least 40 hours a week, and if you're in an incredibly fast paced city like NY, SF, Seattle, Chicago, London etc..., you may feel even more pressure from societal norms to think, behave, work, and communicate in a certain way. Take for example San Francisco: a youthful, motivated, and hard working city populated with individuals working in highly competitive markets and often times, prone to take risks. 

Work becomes a huge part of our week, and when you're around highly motivated and intelligent people, it's hard not to feel passionate about something.  

The amount of weight your career has on who you are as a person, is solely up to you. 

Think about the last few instances you've had when you met someone new. What does the conversation start off with? Work? Probably - they've already told you what they do, or are at least somewhat elusive about it. 

I don't know about you guys,but this makes it hard for me to get to know someone, and begin to develop a genuine friendship. 

Sometimes, I want to know what you do, but most times, I want to know you. Work talk is fine, it will come up and it should given how much time we invest in work, but what if we changed it up a bit at the beginning? Let's try skipping the work talk and see what happens. 

Try these questions the next time you meet someone new: 

How was your weekend? - Broad question, gives you an opportunity to see what type of activities the person likes and perhaps find something in common. 

Do you have any fun plans this weekend? - I tend to dislike closed ended questions, so only use this if you have suggestions. 

What are your favorite restaurants in the area? 

Any suggestions on a good movie out in the theater? 

Any thoughts on a good weekend getaway? 

By asking some of these open ended questions, you have the opportunity to get to know someone on a deeper level. You can begin to form meaningful conversations and even determine if you have anything in common, thus facilitating either a continuation of your conversation or a halt. 

Estel crept away from the dining hall with a piece of bread clasped tightly in his hand.  It wasn't dinnertime yet, but he was just so hungry.  He couldn't wait another hour.  He was a growing six year old who needed snacks to keep his boundless energy up.

Something special was going on.  He'd heard about at least one guest coming, so he was curious.  Maybe it was just another elf passing through, but from the mummers he managed to hear a bit of, it was some other kind of being.  Hm, now that he had a snack, he may as well explore and try to find the guest.  It would be a fun adventure before dinner.

He ripped into his bread with his little teeth and set off towards the guest rooms, hoping Elrond or anyone else wouldn't come looking for him.  They'd probably be upset and go tell him to wash up and apologize for taking the snack.  He sighed a bit and plodded on until he reached a closed door.