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.
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: 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. The white gold one is mine!
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. :-) ]
Sorry for the lack o’ posts. I’ve been busy with partying my ass off and doing PeeCee crap for D/A! I’ll tell you all about it later. For now, I’d like to reprint part of a post I made to a friend’s LJ just now. It’s good and I wanted to keep it, so here ya go:
“Find your passion! I’ve been working on it for YEARS and I’m closer, but not there yet. But I never give up because I know this is a process. You have to live the process and sometimes it just takes time to hack your way thru the brush to get to your path. Trust me, this is one thing that I know FOR SURE. There aren’t many things I know like that, but this, I do.
And YES, I do think that getting into the workaday rut kills your creativity and ultimately your soul. Everybody needs money, but only a few have the nerve to actually get out there, find their bliss and make money doing what they love.
Perhaps the real questions are: Do you have the nerve to follow your path? Are you willing to let go of the safe and sure to take a risk on floundering around and perhaps end up happy with your life?”
[Sadly, it’s 2015 and I’m still trying to find my path. I guess it’s all about the journey rather than the destination, right? Sigh. -A 5/3/15]
Well, last week was a quick one! I got rid of that shitty Rich’s job on Wednesday. Those assholes never even called me back when I asked for yet another HR appointment, so I decided: fuck it. They suck, it’s making me crazy and I’m outta there. I already miss the money, but with CCCS gone, we’ll be fine. So, now begins the stress of finding a new way of making money. I hate it.
Allen got laid off on Friday. He knew it was coming, but he thought it would be the end of May, not the beginning. At least he got a generous 7 week severance package plus the ability to claim unemployment until they get on their feet in Clearwater. This has moved up the moving timetable, however, which means less time to get stuff done before they go and less time before the goodbyes. I hope we can visit them some, but I know it’s not going to be once a month like they think it is. There is simply no way that either of us can take off that much time from work. It’s not like they are going to be 3 or 4 hours away! They are going to be about 8 hours away and that severely limits weekend trips to a minimum of 3 days. One whole day will be lost to driving. It’s going to be a loooong boring summer with no playmates!
Yesterday we cleaned out the storage space. There were a few boxes of rescued books and odds-n-ends from the fire. The wet books were covered in an interesting cotton-candy like mold. Gross! In the end, Dani decided to toss out all of it except her antique chair, some lawn chairs, a floor fan, and two small boxes of games and miscellaneous stuff. It was depressing to go through that stuff, but it has to be done before they leave. There is another pile of stuff at her mother’s that must be gone through as well. Not pleasant, but necessary. I hope the photos that were found haven’t been ruined from sitting for a month.
I talked to Andy Saturday night. His trip to San Diego went well and he’s pretty sure that he’ll get that appointment. The lab is doing very similar research to that of his Dissertation and he likes the guys. It’ll be an improvement fer sure. He may send Hobbes to me for “Summer Camp” while he moves and gets settled. He can take Hobbes back with him after Dragon*Con on Labour Day. The other job evaporated, so the San Diego gig is pretty much it. If this one doesn’t materialize, I guess he’ll be back here to tread water until something else comes up. I wouldn’t mind that at all, but his career comes first, so my feelings can’t get involved.
Today, I think I’m a bit depressed. Eh, I’ll get out in the sunshine and that should help dispel it. I need to pot my Gerber Daisies and futz with the HUGE irises. If I sit in here, the depression will just get worse, so I’m off to get outside and do something.
