Judith Eastman
Civilian
Grandma
Posts: 2,593 Likes: 84
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Civil Servant
Species: Human
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Post by Judith Eastman on Aug 9, 2020 23:20:15 GMT
[Cmdr. Judith Eastman(-Williams) - First Officer's Office]
Judy nodded. She understood that, from the way she presented it, it would appear that she had it good. And by many measures, she did; she herself contended that her life had never been better. "You have reasons to envy me, and I have reasons to envy you. With every age, every phase of our lives, there are benefits and drawbacks. As a young, single person, you have greater freedom, greater flexibility. As a more mature person, I have a stronger support network. And, when you consider the physicality of the aging process, the timing of each phase makes sense. Even if I had the time and freedom to party like I used to do when I was your age, I couldn't, say, dance the way I did 40 years ago without ending up in Sickbay," she advised, again drawing on lived experience, and she meant it. "There are always both pros and cons."
In her mid-60s, Judy indeed had physical limitations to go with her timetable obligations. She was a relatively fit, lively sexagenarian, but she was still not a young woman. Her joints didn't tolerate the same sharp movements, and her bones had less capacity for handling falls. So while she could still handle a strenuous hike, she couldn't scale a cliff. She could dance, but slowly, and with a cautious partner. Her health was more suited to family activities, day trips, formal events... to the things this phase of life sent her way.
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Joshua Niles
Security & Tactical
[TI22]
Posts: 649 Likes: 21
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Tactical Officer
Species: Human
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Post by Joshua Niles on Aug 10, 2020 16:13:35 GMT
[ LT (JG) Joshua Niles - First Officer's Office ]
The more time he was spending chatting with the XO, the more Joshua was realizing just how precious a resource someone like her could be. And, resource utilization was part of the leadership training would-be Starfleet officers did receive. After all, as the old saying went, the brass knows how to do things by knowing who can do it. And sometimes, the 'brass' was heavily outranked by the resource they would tap. But then again, Commander Eastman had to know she would be used as a sounding board, and a source of advice, knowledge and wisdom from time to time by her juniors, including enterprising young officers.
"And, how do you 'switch off' from work? I mean, I expect my responsibilities will increase with that pip, but just having torpedo bay officer duties on top of my Ops and Bridge tasks, and whatever else dropped in my lap, and working on my Bridge Officer's exam, I never felt like I have enough hours in a day to get everything done." What he did not say, though, was that he was wont to eat at his desk while working or studying, and while he did manage to hit the gym semi-regularly it wasn't as much as he would like, and he couldn't remember the last time he'd had a full night's sleep, let alone found time to socialize or just plain old entertainment.
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Judith Eastman
Civilian
Grandma
Posts: 2,593 Likes: 84
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Civil Servant
Species: Human
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Post by Judith Eastman on Aug 10, 2020 16:51:15 GMT
[Cmdr. Judith Eastman(-Williams) - First Officer's Office]Judy took a swig of water as she thought about this. There never did seem to be enough time, but she had learned to make time. "I've found that, however much time you permit yourself for every task, you will use that entire window of time. If I gave myself ten hours to choose new glasses, I'd use all ten. So, the key is to schedule, and to schedule intelligently. Even in my earlier years, I prepared schedules for the various tasks I had, and I usually managed to stick to them. Scheduling lets you put constraints on your time, reserve evenings for personal time and whatnot, and it gives you a chance to prune your agenda of items that really don't need doing. As you can imagine, my presence is wanted all over the place, but I manage to keep my hours manageable. It sounds almost fictitious, but it works," she explained one part of her system, and then drank some more water. "You also do need to put those constraints on your schedule. If you're not eating properly, or you're not sleeping enough, or you're not getting enough time to decompress, you become a less efficient worker, and that makes everything take longer. It's a feedback loop. Except when there's an emergency, I always take at least 45 minutes for lunch, to give my brain a break. I come home for dinner every day. And then there's the matter of days off, which are important. As a practicing Jew, I keep the Shabbat, which means I don't do any work on Saturdays unless it's what the scripture calls pikuach nefesh[fn]Wiki[/fn], an urgent matter of life or death. With these three constraints, I keep myself well-fed, well-rested, and mentally refreshed," she elaborated, on a point that she believed was key. "The mind and the body are both pieces of equipment, and if they don't get the proper maintenance, that's going to show."Judy's habits were informed variously by experience, necessity, and religious teachings, but the whole made for an effective system, even now that she was no longer permitted the large volumes of coffee she once consumed.
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Joshua Niles
Security & Tactical
[TI22]
Posts: 649 Likes: 21
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Tactical Officer
Species: Human
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Post by Joshua Niles on Aug 10, 2020 20:17:11 GMT
[ LT (JG) Joshua Niles - First Officer's Office ]
Time management was an essential skill for anyone who went to the Academy. Everyone knew that. For Freshmen, it pretty much meant that one had to accept they would have no life of their own for the duration of that first year, what with the intense amount of Fleet integration that needed to be done to transform civilians into Starfleet personnel. How well he recalled the long months where civilian attire was strictly forbidden, the time confined to campus, when recreational facilities save the fitness centers were only permitted on weekends (not that one had the time nor energy to patronize them while dealing with their course load and the vagaries of room and uniform inspections, unscheduled drills, additional physical training and whatever secondary duties landed in their laps).
He had thought he'd have more time to himself after commissioning, but as it turned out, the Fleet indeed did run on paperwork, and it would seem reams of it landed in front of him for his reading and review. Or that he would have to generate plenty of it himself. And these days, the notion of a day off really meant a day he wasn't on the roster, which meant that was when he was getting caught up... or sleeping like a log for most of it. "I'll have to try to work on that," he replied. Too much work, too much studying, not enough hours in front of him. That was truly his life these days. "However, I'm almost through the study package for the Bridge Officer Exam. In a few weeks I should be able to take a few hours of work per day from my regular workload."
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Judith Eastman
Civilian
Grandma
Posts: 2,593 Likes: 84
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Civil Servant
Species: Human
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Post by Judith Eastman on Aug 10, 2020 21:45:22 GMT
[Cmdr. Judith Eastman(-Williams) - First Officer's Office]
To this day, Judy was still amazed by the hurry some youths seemed to be in... to take a night shift in that center chair. Sure, it was a natural dream of any ambitious youth to climb the ladder, but a night shift on the Bridge was as unglamorous a climb as she could conceive.
"You're in quite a hurry, aren't you?" she asked rhetorically. "I can tell you from my own experience, about when I took it, which was after the Battle of Sector 001[fn]First Contact, 2373[/fn], however many years ago that was. I had very little Bridge experience of my own, because of the types of jobs that I'd had, and that showed on the test," she reminisced.
Another sip of water went down her throat.
"I'd say, knowing what I know now, that you should take a crack at it; you've studied hard, and I need more victims for the night watches," Judy counterbalanced that anecdote, allowing herself a breathy chuckle at the last clause. "But, if it doesn't come through on the first go, don't come back to it right away. Take your time, observe the many talented officers around you, and come back to it after a few months. That center chair isn't going anywhere."
Judy grabbed another cookie, and began to enjoy it.
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Joshua Niles
Security & Tactical
[TI22]
Posts: 649 Likes: 21
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Tactical Officer
Species: Human
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Post by Joshua Niles on Aug 11, 2020 3:04:34 GMT
[ LT (JG) Joshua Niles - First Officer's Office ]
The rhetorical question posed to him made Josh look down at the table, his face set in a sheepish expression. Of course he was working fast at it. Commander Severin on the Fawkes had set him on that path over the three months of his transit to the Front Ear. He'd even stood as officer of the watch, in the center seat, a few times. Under her careful eye, that is.
And, it would seem that in her experience the extensive Bridge experience he had as Tactical officer would serve him well in that endeavour. In fact, it sounded as though she was saying he was better prepared than she had been. And she needed at least one more officer of the watch for the unpopular shifts. Well, that was where he would have to begin, for he could not really hope for the nice cherry watches normally taken by senior staff. "I... I think I'll schedule my test for a few weeks from now. I'm still a little week on the Engineering side."
And, thinking of that particular test, and how she had called him on his ambition earlier on, he managed another smile. "Ma'am, I won't lie to you, I want my own command. I hear they're running low on full Captains, so smaller ships sometimes go to Commanders and Lieutenant-Commanders. I'd love to have a chance at one of them. Maybe... work up my way to a ship like the Mac some day, you know?"
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Judith Eastman
Civilian
Grandma
Posts: 2,593 Likes: 84
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Civil Servant
Species: Human
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Post by Judith Eastman on Aug 11, 2020 4:05:49 GMT
[Cmdr. Judith Eastman(-Williams) - First Officer's Office]
Judy was now unsure whether her earlier evisceration of then-Ensign Niles had been understood as the bit of humor that it was. Having finished her cookie, she supposed it would do to clarify.
"There's nothing wrong with that. Ambition can be a splendid motivator," she reassured. "It's good to have a goal in mind, and it's good to think big."
She leaned slightly back in her chair again. There was a caveat to deliver.
"However, you have to keep your eye on the horizon, too. Consider life as a trail, 15 kilometers long, in the mountains. If you take it running, you're going to cover the first 1, 2, 3 kilometers nice and quick, but chances are, you're not going to reach the end at all. Conversely, if you take the trail at a more measured pace, you're going to go slower, but you'll cover the whole distance without collapsing. Not to mention, if you walk, you can enjoy the scenery, maybe pick some blackberries, have a nice picnic. Having your own command before you hit 30 is splendid, but not if you're burned out at 40. There will always be chairs, and for so long as there are chairs, there will be a need for butts to fill them, so there's no rush," she delivered that caveat with an extended analogy.
Judy had nothing against talented young officers being promoted fast; her slow-and-steady path wasn't everyone's path. However, she did feel a need to caution against rocketing too fast up the ladder.
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Joshua Niles
Security & Tactical
[TI22]
Posts: 649 Likes: 21
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Tactical Officer
Species: Human
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Post by Joshua Niles on Aug 11, 2020 19:29:17 GMT
[ LT (JG) Joshua Niles - First Officer's Office ]
Listening to the Commander, Joshua nodded. Yes, he was ambitious all right. He knew he was good at what he'd taken as his preferred career stream, and so far he'd been at least adequate at what just so happened to fall out of his primary field of expertise. Well, at least he'd yet to screw up at any of the secondary duties he'd been assigned to or had taken upon himself. However, his career was young and he was bound to make a complete ass of himself at least once, and hopefully it would be before he would have some truly serious responsibilities, and that it wouldn't cost the mission, or lives.
And while he now recognized the prank the Commander had pulled on him, there certainly was a degree of truth to her mock-accusation, and her analogy to going on a hike resonated in his mind for a few moments. Perhaps, indeed, slowing down a little wouldn't hurt him. Certainly he'd neglected pretty much everything in favour of his duties, and his immediate professional development. No real social ties, very little entertainment, and now that she'd mentioned he might want to slow down and smell the roses, so to speak, he did indeed realize he was headed towards a similar path he'd walked at the Academy: all work and no play made Josh a very dull, or homicidal, boy.
"I think I'll be slowing down a little after I take my first crack at the Exam. And while I would love a command, well... I'm young and still bound to do something stupid at some point, but not so arrogant as to expect I'll know better than the more experienced officers around me as to when I'll be ready for a big chair of my own. And honestly, I'd really want some experience at least as a department head and maybe in a Number One slot before I get there. Crawl, walk, run, you know?"
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Judith Eastman
Civilian
Grandma
Posts: 2,593 Likes: 84
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Civil Servant
Species: Human
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Post by Judith Eastman on Aug 11, 2020 23:24:03 GMT
[Cmdr. Judith Eastman(-Williams) - First Officer's Office]
Judy nodded in affirmation. This was, indeed, a wise perspective, a sign that her words were resonating.
"Yes, absolutely," she said. "You can learn something from every position you fill, just like you can learn from every person you come across. As a leader of any tier, you're responsible for the whole organization under your purview, so the more you can acquaint yourself with whatever parts of it in advance, the better off you'll be. So definitely, take your time going up the ladder, because Starfleet knows this too."
Taking another deep breath, Judy revisited an earlier thread of conversation.
"As for mistakes, as you've mentioned, you will make them; that's inevitable. If you don't want to make too many of them, you have to of course learn from your own mistakes, but also learn from other people's mistakes as you observe them. Which, again, is just one more reason it's good to take your time. The more you observe the people above you, the more pitfalls you'll see that you can then avoid when you do reach the top," she extolled.
"Don't get me wrong, it's okay to get it wrong sometimes. It's natural, everyone does it. However, if you can make sure that as many of your mistakes as possible are original mistakes, as opposed to secondhand mistakes, then that's excellent. Same goes for your position right now - no one is expecting you to get every call 100% right."
It had been Judy's enduring assessment that anyone who claimed to not make mistakes was fudging the paperwork. Of course, she had the benefit of experience to help her understand that, and live with her own missteps.
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Joshua Niles
Security & Tactical
[TI22]
Posts: 649 Likes: 21
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Tactical Officer
Species: Human
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Post by Joshua Niles on Aug 13, 2020 18:33:33 GMT
[ LT (JG) Joshua Niles - First Officer's Office ]
First-hand mistakes. That was a very interesting way for Commander Eastman to put things all right, and it could mean so many things. Of course the obvious was to not make the same mistake twice, and so far Joshua had yet to do that. Another was to not make a mistake he'd witnessed another person making, and that could be a little bit more vague. And of course there was making a documented previous mistake... which could be a little bit harder to avoid as he could not be expected to review every single report ever written.
But the point remained: eyes and ears open, try not to screw up but accept it'll happen at some point, and just hope it won't be in too epic a fashion, and that it won't cost lives at the end of the day.
However, as much as he was enjoying this session with the Commander, there was still some time-sensitive work he had to get done both in terms of the immediacy of the requirement, and some things he actually had to get filed in by the end of the watch. And, given this was his very last watch with an Ensign's workload, he had the clear feeling that additional responsibilities would come down his way, and he could not really afford things getting backed up too much just yet.
"Ma'am, I'd like to thank you for your vote of confidence and taking the time to talk to me. However, if you would excuse me, I probably should get back to work before I wind up having to take too much home with me at the end of the watch."
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Judith Eastman
Civilian
Grandma
Posts: 2,593 Likes: 84
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Civil Servant
Species: Human
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Post by Judith Eastman on Aug 13, 2020 19:01:14 GMT
[Cmdr. Judith Eastman(-Williams) - First Officer's Office]
Josh's tone was less deferential than before, less reverent towards the awesome power of the XO. This was an improvement.
"Yes, you should get back to work, and so should I," she said, as she herself stood up. She covered the plate of cookies with tinfoil once again, and picked it up.
"Good luck, young man. I believe in you."
Judy put the cookies away and returned to her desk. Even for someone as efficient as she was, there was a hefty volume of paperwork to work through, always.
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Joshua Niles
Security & Tactical
[TI22]
Posts: 649 Likes: 21
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Tactical Officer
Species: Human
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Post by Joshua Niles on Aug 13, 2020 21:37:58 GMT
[ LT (JG) Joshua Niles - First Officer's Office ]
As the XO rose, so did the newly-minted Junior-Grade Lieutenant, and with her parting words, and despite that he had just now allowed himself to relax in her presence, he briefly brought himself to attention before her. "Thank you, and a good day, Ma'am," he stated semi-formally before turning on his heel to head back to Ops where he still had plenty of work to do.
As he returned to his console, he found himself thinking that this particular evening, he would take a day off from his studies and the additional paperwork he had to deal with. One evening to actually throw on some civilian clothes and head out either to the bar or the officers' mess, he hadn't decided yet, and take some time to relax.
And maybe go to bed early, for a change...
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