out the contents. It’s a bunch of miniature fantasy fighters. As she’s explaining the rules a couple of typical gamer type guys in their twenties come over to our table. Without much eye contact they look at her set up. They’re both medium height, medium weight, with the physique and skin tone of someone who sits in front of a computer and never goes outside. One guys is wearing an Intel shirt while the other’s T-shirt has a Cisco logo on it.
The Intel guy asks, “You playing?”
Kristi looks up and with a game face says, “sure.”
The guys set up their side of the table. Kristi plays one round, then has me play another round.
The Intel guy says, “two out of three?”
Kristi nods, and then introduces us while the guys introduce themselves as Brian and Tim.
Kristi tells them, “Be easy on Hita, she’s a newbie.”
By the end of the next game I think I understand the strategies it takes to win. During the game no one talks about work or really anything other than mumbling to their partner, I assume about strategies.
As we drive back home, I reflect about my tendency to get caught up on living online. In college the princesses pulled me out, made me more social. I think Kristi is good for me; she is pulling me out too.
Kristi breaks my thoughts as she asks, “What do you think?”
I give her a thumbs up. “This was fun. Playing with people sitting in front of you really adds another dimension of challenge to a game. When I’m in front of my computer, I don’t need to guard my facial expressions and emotions. Brian and Tim had some interesting tells. After a while I started figuring out their strategy by watching their body language. We should play against each other to see what tells we’re broadcasting. I bet the better players are really good at reading body language.”
“Yeah, it’s kind of like poker.”
“But without all that cigar smoke.”
“Do they really smoke cigars at poker games?”
“They do in the movies.”
Chapter 11 – Work
At work Mark, Avery, and Chris get busy on a project with the “math guys.” I’m not sure who the math guys are, but those guys spend a lot of time in a conference room on the other side of the building working on some crazy complicated algorithms.
Since Mark, Avery, and Chris are doing something different during the day, I use the opportunity to join Kami and Caroline for lunch. They’re both nice and friendly; they’re also twenty-three and this is their first job too. Lunch with them is a lot more enjoyable than listening to all the baseball trivia.
Kami and Caroline work for Sherry, the other woman in Engineering and the only female engineering manager. They both have great things to say about her. I have very few things to say about Roger, since he’s either in his office or in meetings. It feels like Mark is more my boss.
As we eat, I look a few tables down and see a group of women. They all look older than us, maybe in their late twenties. They’re also all dressed casual but much nicer jeans, fancier shoes, designer tops, more styled hair and makeup.
I ask, “Do you know who those women are?”
Kami looks over, “I don’t know them personally, but they’re in marketing. More than a third of the employees in marketing are women. It’s a lot different than engineering.
Chapter 12 – Princesses
After work on Friday, my college friend and fellow princess Jennifer picks me up; the two of us head to happy hour at Xhan, a high style Vietnamese restaurant. Jennifer is always dressed cute. Today she’s wearing a bright sun dress with matching little flat shoes, and a really interesting necklace I’m sure she made herself. My mother would love it if I looked so sweet, feminine, and put together. I always feel so lame in a skirt or dress.
As she drives, Jennifer tells me, “My new guy is meeting us there. His name’s Carter.”
“Let me guess. Is he a lawyer or a newly minted MBA?”
“Both,” she tells me with a squeal, “he’s a lawyer with an MBA working for a VC.”
“You hit the trifecta this time, Jennifer. Where’d you meet him?”
“At an Alumni function, we were on the same croquet team. I was terrible at it. But Carter was so nice. He got me a beer and told me I had a nice swing.”
“I bet he wasn’t looking at the club when he made that remark.”