It is very hard for me to describe what I do for my “job”. Hour by hour it is different, but it all comes from a place of “yes”.
Just before the Newseum closed in 2019, I found myself looking for my next adventure. My friends at Capitol Communicator fired up the network and started introducing me to everyone with an overlapping interest to help me figure it out. One thing I knew for sure, I wanted to have adventures, I wanted to push the boundaries of my professional experiences and I wanted to keep working my freelance TV gigs.
I eventually found a place with the United States Space Force helping them find their voice as the newest branch of the military in 74 years. This job allowed me to reach new heights professionally and still do much of the creative production work that stimulated the other side of my brain in my off hours.
Those worlds collided when The Tech Show called and asked if I wanted to take a Zero G flight. I have dreamed of being weightless most of my life. A space nerd with none of the credentials to back it up, this was my chance and I was not about to pass it up.
The company Zero G conducts the weightless training for NASA and scientific research trips, but most of their flights are for thrill seekers and I was happy to take up a media seat.
The flight starts as a weird long taxi from your international airport and just about the time usually used for soda and peanuts, you are in dedicated airspace. My brain was competing with my body all the while I am doing my best to be telegenic. I lasted 11 of the 13 parabolic curves that gives the feeling of weightlessness in 30-second bursts. Then my system did a forced reboot and I well, booted. I floated back to my seat, working my way through prepositioned barf bags I stowed in my flight suit.
I had to harness all my experience and poise for the tarmac interviews and show stand ups. A little voice in the back of my ego whispered “how green do I look?”
A great way to mark the end a career transition, coming out of COVID restrictions and inspire me to ask “what is next in 2022?
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