Damn, I love this! Thanks to a friend we have landed a small web gig that will earn us $500 towards our Dragon*Con money! I can’t express my appreciation enough! :-)
I have that, plus a Mac upgrade gig this week that will earn me about $200, so we’re pretty much set for the Con. I’m so excited! The Brocade Corset will be MINE next week!
They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, but I’m not so sure about that. I think that it could, if you’re really fond of the person or thing, but not if it’s just that you like it. In the last couple of months, since I’ve been absent from writing Rants, there have been a couple of times I was gonna write but just didn’t. There were obstacles such as me trying to not be bitter about some stuff or trying to get this site wrangled by Movable Type or trying to stave off depression or just being used to being absent.
Had lunch with an old friend today. I was a little suspicious about his motives, but it was fine. Just like old times! We had Thai, we chatted about family and got caught up. This is the same guy that I was bitching about a while back – the one who IMed me out of the blue. He’s the one who got involved with this psycho bitch who proceeded to force him to choose between her and his friends. He made a mistake and he chose her, rather than try to work it out with all of us. There has been a lot of resentment towards him from the rest of us since then. But, he truly has offered the Olive Branch and he has realised that his wife did cause much of the drama and strife that happened in his life back then. And he regrets it. So, in the effort to reconcile and all that, I offered him good behaviour on my part if he decides to put me and his wife in the same room. It’s certainly more than she deserves for the way she treated me. So. We’ll see if he ever tries to consolidate his life into one whole or if he slinks around and sees his old friends on the sly forever.
[That lasted less than a year. The psycho wife found out he was hanging around w/ me and put a stop to it. Whatever. He was always too vague for me in the first place. -A 2015]
The smog in Atlanta has been at Code Red stage for the last couple of days. I was out in it all day yesterday, hauling around a friend who had to see the doctor and stuff. I had a headache all afternoon and last night, but until this morning, I didn’t associate it with pollution. Bleh. I must get out of this nasty ass region.
Eh, what else? Oh, my mother, June, has once again done a complete 180 turn around. Now, she is all about new clothes, makeup, working out and taking care of herself. I kid you not. That woman has gone from being a grumpy old woman to being a health conscious older lady in the blink of an eye. Damn. I’ll never understand Taureans. Ever. I have to say, though, that I’m really happy for her change of heart. I can’t wait to see her new clothes and new attitude when I go up there this weekend. I’m going up to spend a little time with my old friend Rhonda, who has some health issues and is facing surgery. She lives in NJ and is visiting her family in Tazwell, TN, so I figured I’d drive up to Knoxville and we could hang out for a couple of days. It’ll be good to see her. I’ve not seen her in about 3 years.
That’s all the news that’s fit to print. :-)
After the fire and the memorials, Allen found out that his gig was ending a month sooner than expected. The company cut him loose with a nice severance package and with that, the move to Florida was accelerated. We had many parties and went out a lot for the next few weeks.
During this same period, Nick had a job change. The certifiable psycho that had been the IT guy at his workplace finally got sacked, so Nick stepped up to take over the IT duties in addition to his normal pre-press duties. Sounds real nice, but as of today he still has gotten no raise for all his extra work. The nutbag left the whole infrastructure of that place in a terrible mess which Nick cleaned up toute suite. If they don’t cough up a chunk of change pretty soon, however, there is gonna be a problem. So, although it’s a great opportunity and a real bonus to Nick’s resume, it’s also very stressful because Nick is working his ass off with nothing to show for it.
Last week, D/A finally got their shit together and got moved. They asked me to go with them (for some unknown reason), so I did. I got them into their small duplex. Allen and I drove back Thursday in pouring rain and I’m glad it’s all over. I’ll miss their company, yes, but they have people from here following them and I doubt we’ll hear much from them this summer. It’s ok.
While in FL, I called Nick daily to check in. On the Wednesday check in, I find out that the Bertha problem is solved. Bertha is his 1987 Chevy Celebrity that we’ve been nursing along for 2 years trying to avoid spending a large chunk of money for another car. One of his bosses had a 1995 Ford Contour sitting around that he decided to sell, so he hands Nick the title and says “anything over $500 you can keep”. Voilà ! We have a 1995 Ford Contour:
It’s in great condition for $500. Bertha problem solved. Schweet!
On Saturday, we volunteered at our Decatur Arts Festival which is always a pleasure. This year we found a really cool ring that Nick is getting for me (finally!) to wear all-the-time. It’s a peacock Topaz from Brazil set in white gold. Hold on, I just did a check and it’s actually called mystic topaz and it comes in many colors. The one I’m getting has deep colors that’s called Imperial Blue. Heh, I like that! They make the Topaz multicolored by firing it in a kiln with titanium which gives it various colours. Cool! It also has a very interesting cut. It’s rectangular with square facets all over the top surface called a checkerboard cut.
There is so much flux and change right now. I’m having a hard time keeping up, honestly. This is probably the first time in my life though that I am feeling the changes but not getting swept away by them. I don’t know if I’ve reached the place where I can have the blissful detachment that the gurus speak of or if I’m just deferring the chaos for later. I want to believe that it’s the former rather than the latter, but I just can’t tell. What I’m feeling right now is focus. I am focused on getting my online presence straightened out and attempting to make some money from the internet. I am focused on reclaiming my life and doing the things I want to do, such as seeing my friends in New York and San Diego this year – as well as getting Nick up to Detroit to visit his family. I’m not afraid, but I keep thinking that I should be.
Is this the wisdom that comes with age? If so, baby, gimme more of that shit, because it sure beats the hell out of constantly reacting to events rather than observing them or foreseeing them in the first place! Maybe Oprah is right again: life just gets richer and better as you go along. Isn’t that a reassuring thought? Works for me.
[added 5/24/09: Just fixed the pic links and I wanted to add that YES, this is the wisdom that comes with age. It takes a LOT more to rattle me now than it used to – like when this was written 6 years ago. :-) ]
