Lincoln Cory Arnoldson.
What a badass.
Whenever I tell my family about the kind of job that I do, they always seem confused, understandably so.
The company that we work at trains AI behavior for this new humanoid robot that's supposed to be releasing in a few years, maybe sooner actually.
My job is the assistant behavioral trainer. So I collect live data, I run paired simulations, help to roleplay human interactions, andbecause I have all these different responsibilities, it means that I get to work physically close to Lincoln.
I obviously shadow him because he's way more experienced. It's like he's built for this job. I'm basically learning the job through Lincoln, something that I've grown to appreciate, and it makes me respect him even the more. Of course there are plenty of other people here like that, but I don't know. It's just something about the way that Lincoln carries himself.
It could be because we spend a lot of time together. But how can we not get closer? Lincoln is the technical backbone of the team as the behavioral modeling technician, so he's at the core of this project as well. And as his assistant, wherever he goes, I go.
This project will do well if he does well, so I have a personal investment in making sure that he stays happy and stress-free, something that obviously his wife isn't doing well at home.
I mean, maybe it's not fair to say that because I don't even know the woman, but… he always seems more tired when he comes from home.
I've seen her social media. She seems to be very sparse in what she posts.
This is gonna sound really bad, but I don't know. I guess I'm jealous of her. And the thing is, at first, in the beginning, Lincoln talked about his wife quite a bit. Well, not quite a bit, but I've heard him bring her up every now and then. And lately, he has barely brought her up at all.
Now, you can chalk it up to him being extremely busy, as we all are here at Helion. But especially when hanging around me,I noticed that he goes out of his way not to mention her at all, which is very interesting. I've noticed that we've become closer over the past few months, but he always keeps me at an arm's length.
Idotend to come on strong when I like someone. And, yeah, I'm not gonna lie. I like Lincoln, and I feel as though, to be honest, I'm his work wife. I spend more time with him than he spends with his wife. At this point, it's almost as though he and I are in a relationship more so than his actual wife. I wonder if he talks to her about me.
I wonder if she has issues, because something about the way he brought up the whole boundary thing makes me believe that she had an issue with me, but he didn't, and he brought it up just for the sake of appeasing her, which just screams insecurity, which tells me if his wife has an issue, then he is probably not as into her as shethinkshe is.
People get married all the time who aren't meant to be together. I personally never wanted to get married. I think it's too messy. I think that everyone gets divorced in the end, and it puts a whole lot of stress on people. When people or humans are told that they can't do something or that they have to one hundred percent commit, that's when they feel the greatest temptation.
For example, my mother and father, they're best friends. Never been married. I was born out of wedlock, and there's no shame in that. My mother has taken other boyfriends, but she and my father always come back to each other, and they are the best of friends. There's no nasty split, no nasty lawyers getting involved and fighting on behalf of each of my parents. There's nothing but love. Well… now there is. They were a lot…spicierwhen they were younger. Or rather, when I was.
It's very awkward when talking with other people and meeting other people and them observing the relationship that my mother and father have. But I'm also aware that my mom and dad still bone each other all the time.
As a matter of fact, I also know a friend whose parents divorced a long time ago. And the thing is, they were always fighting. And the minute they got divorced and after that was completely played out, they came back to each other and have more passion than ever.
It's almost as though that stupid piece of paper gets in the way of people just being natural.
I believe that when humans first became what we are now, we didn't have a piece of paper or a judge to tell us that we should be together no matter what. That's not realistic, and putting that kind of noose around someone's neck can't be good for their psyche.
And I can tell that it's not good for Lincoln’s. Lincoln is a man that shouldn't be milled down by a ball and chain, especially when it has nothing to do with where he's going with his life. He is instrumental here at Helion and is actually doing something that's going to contribute to the progress of society and technology for the future. I'm so very proud of him, and I think his wife doesn't have the faintest idea what his job entails.
People might wonder about that and claim that she doesn't have to know everything his job entails and vice versa, but I would argue that she probably should. If anyone's gonna understand what he's going through or what he's working towards the best, it should be someone who he's very close to, like me.
If he comes home from a hard day at work, I'm not gonna give him an earful because I know what it's like. Then again, we're working together, so it would be best. And even if I took another job with something similar, I would understand because we work in the same kind of sect.
I just feel really bad for Lincoln. I know half of the stress is probably coming from home, especially since he doesn't talk about his dear old wife. And if I'm being completely honest, I really hate her. I don't know the woman, and I know that's not fair to say, but they do feel mismatched, and it feels as though she's holding him back.
How is it that you can have a man go home as tired as he does, and then when he comes back home, whatever goes on there, it translates to him coming back into the office?
Like, going home is where you're supposed to have restful sleep. And every time he comes in, especially lately, he seems more tired, like he didn't get sleep at all.
So what exactly goes on at home that's making him so stressed out that he feels like he's not resting at all? Is she verbally abusing him or asking him to do chores that she should have done while he was at work? He mentions that she works from home, so I'm guessing that's still the case. Either way, he deserves better.
Maybe I'm biased because I like him, but I'm not gonna pretend as though I care. I wouldn't be even pushing so far for this if I didn't notice the way that Lincoln stares at me. I notice his looks linger a bit more.
His eyes find mine often. When we're standing next to each other working, he brushes his arm against mine a bit more, smiles at me a bit more. He's wearing a different cologne. I asked him about it one day, and he said he was out of the other one, so he just bought one on a whim. Doesn't seem like he's trying to impress me, but I have a feeling Lincoln's the kind of guy that wouldn't say outright that he's trying to impress someone.
He's extremely introverted unless he's in the middle of fine-tuning the robot's responsiveness and finding out it can finally do something that we've been trying to get it to do for a while. It's fun watching something that we're building come to life. I love it. I love working with him. I love seeing his face light up when he achieves something and we share a victory together in the soundproofing room.
