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| Saturday, April 12th, 2008 | | 1:54 am |
The Life of Brian 2.0 (The Cliff's Notes Version)
It's been a heck of a while since my last entry and a whole heck of a lot has happened. As I don't want to flood my friends' pages with the detailed minutae of the last year and change, here are the important bits: Steph left home. Steph lived in Mt. Holly with me for a few months. I proposed around Christmas of 2006. She said yes. We left Mt. Holly in February. Got an apartment. Gave away a cat. Got married on 5/5/07. Got a new job. Got a new nephew. Got a dog. Looking for a newer job. Trying to overcome a terminal case of writer's block. Life's not perfect and has certainly had its share of excitement and drama since I left NJ, but for the most part life's taken a quantum leap towards the positive. So that's the state of my life in the smallest of proverbial nutshells. How's everybody else? Current Mood:  thankful | | Friday, February 2nd, 2007 | | 8:59 am |
| | Wednesday, July 26th, 2006 | | 11:53 am |
The Longest Wait...
It's never going to be Friday. It's just going to stay 11:59 PM on Thursday night for a long, loooooooong time. For as much as these past few days have plodded on, it feels like this is the week that just won't end. Plans have changed slightly, but mostly for the better. Her friend had to bail out due to work constraints so we quickly reached the conclusion that the amusement park would be too much of a distraction for the reason we'd really come: to as much time as humanly possible together in each other's company. It would seem to be all for the best anyway, as the forecast in the area is calling for thunderstorms. So much the better to be safely esconced in a hotel room together than facing the dampness and disappointment of slogging through a rainy day at an amusement park where everything is delayed or shut down due to inclement weather. As usual, since we've readjusted our lodging plans due to no longer needing an extra bed or needing to be near a major tourist spot, we're staying together an extra day. I suppose that makes up in some small way for us not being closer together geographically. Whatever cosmic power that is wants us to spend as much time together as we possibly can. Yay. :) Current Mood:  frustrated | | Tuesday, July 18th, 2006 | | 11:55 am |
Driving three hours for the sole purpose of seeing me is an act that, in and of itself, is remarkably awe-inspiring and worthy of my love and respect. Driving another three hours for the sole purpose of seeing me three days after the last time and having just had a relatively crappy day at work and arriving on my doorstep without any prior warning to my complete and utter shock and amazement? That elevates one to goddesshood in my opinion. Surprising me isn't too terribly difficult. After the weekend she had, I totally believed Steph when she told me that she was "out for a drive" just because she didn't want to deal with the problems heaped upon her by job and family. Never once did I suspect that "out for a drive" meant "on my way to New Jersey." Thus I have been pleasantly distracted for the last few days and, as such, away from the PC more than is usual. I felt bad that I had to leave her at my house yesterday morning (since I already played the "pretend to be sick to get out of work" card during her last visit), but she seemed happy to have the opportunity for a little quiet time to herself while I was at work. Still, we made the most of our time together and parting ways this morning was probably one of the most difficult things either one of us has had to endure. | | Thursday, July 13th, 2006 | | 10:27 am |
Le Swoon
She came. She saw. She conquered. Quite unlike every similar encounter I've had previous, where promising e-mail correspondence led to promising telephone correspondence and then to an utterly disasterous first meeting, the chemistry I've had with Steph remained constant throughout. The "date," such as it was for me being too cash-poor to allow for anything too extravagant, consisted of a walk around one of the local malls, dinner, some light banter, and a large number of meaningful looks. We also tripped a few times along the way, which means I don't think our next date will take place anywhere near a china shop. :) While the date itself was modest, it didn't seem to matter to her as much as spending time with me did. It was one of the few "first dates" I've had where I didn't feel like the lady involved wasn't mentally holding up scorecards. She was eager to get home ( my home, that is, not hers), and gentleman that I am, I won't go into details unless relentlessly harassed about it. I will, however, say that over the last 42 hours, I've probably kissed (and been kissed in return) more times than I have in the previous 31 years. She slept over not one night, but two and only left this morning. I started missing her before she even left. Current Mood: loved | | Tuesday, July 11th, 2006 | | 9:00 am |
Begin Primal Screaming in 3... 2...
She'll be on the road in two and a half hours. She'll be here, traffic willing, in five and a half. I'm so not ready. Cats tore up the bathroom. Dog tore through the garbage. I feel like I've been playing catch-up all morning. I'm not ready. Lord, grant me the serenity to survive the work day. Please let her see in me what she's heard in me the last week, even if I can't get things to the level of "perfect" that I want to achieve for her. Please let me get through the next five hours without my heart exploding in my chest. Current Mood:  bouncy | | Sunday, July 9th, 2006 | | 1:12 pm |
Four I Am Bid For. Do I Hear Five?
The grand and glorious meeting has grown in scale since my last post. A single Saturday quickly became Friday into Saturday, to insure that we are well-rested for the Saturday at Hershey Park. Friday and Saturday became Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, since because we were staying at the park for most of Saturday, it made sense to get an extra night's sleep before our respective long trips home. Three days in her company. It seemed too heavenly to contemplate without grinning like a fool and speaking in sentences composed entirely of the letter "e". Then this morning, she hits me with another bombshell. She has two consecutive days off coming up, so one of her co-workers told her, "Why wait?" Thus it has come to pass that 20 days became 19 days and 19 days became one-and-a-half days. She's coming here. On Tuesday. This Tuesday. She's using some of her rarely-obtained time off to drive three hours for the sole purpose of seeing me. I could implode from the excitement right now (although not explode, because exploding is much messier). | | Friday, July 7th, 2006 | | 9:23 am |
Zom-Bee-Fied!
It's been four days since I have gone to sleep at a remotely sensible time. Even when we try to end our telephone conversations early, we take forever just to say goodbye. Then we stay there awake for a long while afterwards just thinking about each other and fighting the urge to call right back. I should graft my cell phone to my ear for all the time I'm spending on it lately, particularly since the awkward silences have stopped being awkward and started being as special as the words that pass between us. We're planning to meet up at Hershey Park at the end of the month, since it's sort of a "halfway point". Geographically speaking, though, it's more a "two-thirds point" for me and a "one-third point" for her. Still, I'd travel the whole distance on my belly across broken glass if she was at the end of my journey (although I'd be hoping she had the foresight to bring along a few boxes of band-aids and some disinfectant). These will be the longest 22 days in my life. Current Mood: loved | | Thursday, July 6th, 2006 | | 12:49 pm |
| | Thursday, June 8th, 2006 | | 12:46 pm |
Living in the 21st Century
My brother has often accused me of being something of a Luddite since I won't take the plunge and sign up for direct deposit for my paychecks. There's a part of me that likes taking my physical check down to the physical bank and talk to a real, actual person in order put my money into my bank account. Similarly, I felt a little upset when the local Wawas installed a touch-screen computer interface for people to order their sandwiches. Once again, it seemed, modern technology had devised a way to keep us from interacting with each other. For the sake of convenience (and the fact that I make the occasional online purchase), I recently bit the bullet and obtained a check/debit card from my bank. After testing the waters a bit, Amazon.com has become my new best friend. With a few button clicks, I save having to buy money orders to pay for online purchases, the gas and time of a visit to Best Buy or Wal-Mart, I don't get gouged on shipping like I do on eBay, and a lot of what I'm looking for is available used/almost new for obscenely cheap. While my inner "hunter-gatherer" might rail against the simplicity of it all, this is one "modern convenience" that seems right up my alley. | | 9:41 am |
Everything I Needed To Know In Life I Learned From My Cats
I'm sure someone else has copyrighted the above phrase and made their own requisite obscene bundle of cash because of it, but it's one of those life's simple truths. As I've said in previous posts, things have been a little hectic on the homefront lately. Given that it's scarcely stopped raining since Monday (and the grass that needs mowing gets longer and longer while the heavens won't allow me the solid hour or two needed to get the lawn taken care of), my mood has not improved overmuch. Still, in sitting with the kitties who live in our bathroom for awhile, I was able to get a fresh, feline perspective on things. Loki and Paladin are just shy of two years old and thus are still full of kittenish wonder and energy. I spent several minutes watching them chase a small moth around the room, looking high and low for the little fluttery thing, jumping on the bathroom sink, attempting to climb on top of the medicine cabinet, they would have moved heaven and earth to catch a remarkably unremarkable insect. The whole scene seemed like nature's reminder that even though the larger things in life might not have worked themselves out yet, that joy can be found in the smaller things. Even though there were larger concerns in their feline existence, for those few lovely minutes, that moth was the center of their world... Then Pally caught it and ate it. | | Monday, June 5th, 2006 | | 9:35 am |
Have to Admit it's Getting Better
As an update on the previous entry, it seems that Ken merely flew off the handle again, since things are back on track. Fortunately, the fellow in Schwenksville who wants to sell us his house is willing to hold onto it for us until October (and I have a sneaking suspicion that that's what calmed things down in Kensville). We have a new realtor after having given the old one ye olde boot so, hopefully, there'll be more success this time around (and hopefully this realtor will treat his profession as a job rather than a hobby). I apologize to those who would normally online last night (as well as my absence of posts on certain RP boards that I'm owing), but my afternoon was spent helping haul up large portions of an old hot oil heater out of the basement with nothing but muscle and rope. There was some serious ache-age afterwards, particularly in my fingers (so "typing" was about as high on my list of recreational activities as "playing the 1812 Overture on my toes with a hammer"). I'll try to log on some time tonight, and will definitely clock in some serious PC time tomorrow. | | Thursday, June 1st, 2006 | | 9:50 am |
From Bad to Worse to...
I get the impression that someone is toying with me on the cosmic level. For the sake of completeness of record, I'll probably be repeating things I've told several of you already. A few weeks ago, my mom and stepdad looked like they were finally going to sell the house that we've been in since 1978 and were poised and ready to move to a nice new place in Pennsylvania later this summer. Two weeks ago the buyers' realtor sent a housing inspector who, after looking over the house, came up with a huge list of "things that needed fixing," about 70% of which was complete and utter bullshit with the order to fix what needs to be fixed by the end of June or there would be no sale. We have since had a plumber and a structural engineer come through the house to fix what could be quickly fixed, formally refute what was BS, and tell us how to fix what would require more intensive work. Ken started busting his butt to get the house up to spec while our realtor sent their realtor a letter giving them three days to either formally back out of the sale or accept the repairs in good faith that we could accomplish in the brief span of time they gave us. On Tuesday, the buyers backed out. From the sound of things, their realtor found them a cheaper house and they were just making us jump through hoops so they could back out on us at the end anyway. The plan from there was to take the house off of the market for a week, then start fresh with a new and more aggressive realtor. Okay. Cool. We can deal. Right? Right? Yesterday, Ken got back on the "We're gonna split the money from the house and go our separate ways" kick again. Naturally, Mom's devastated (again). I'm feeling that it's somehow all my fault (again). I'm treading on eggshells, knowing that everything I do is going to be wrong (again). I'm utterly stuck, because I feel like I've overstayed my welcome. I don't think I've had much choice in the matter, however, since Mom's been working herself way too hard and Ken's been off working in Skippack until recently. I haven't been searching for alternate employment as seriously as I'd like because, for the last three years, I've had to live with the possibility that tomorrow I might be moving an at least an hour and a half from wherever the new job would be. Likewise, Mom has not proven to be the most stable of people when she's alone. With Ken out of state until a few weeks ago, I've pretty much been her only human contact outside of work a lot of the time. On the other hand, even when Ken goes off the deep end and Mom tells me repeatedly and emphatically that it's nothing I did, I can't help but feel that I'm committing a crime merely by existing. Am I a live preserver or a millstone? Am I helping hold things up or am I the one pulling them down? | | Wednesday, April 12th, 2006 | | 2:17 pm |
| | Monday, March 13th, 2006 | | 9:17 am |
| | Wednesday, March 1st, 2006 | | 12:10 pm |
Random Thoughts of the Day 3.0 and 4.0
Well, I've already blabbed to most of the people who read this thing about my utterly crappy Monday which I shant memorialize here except to say that it was utterly crappy. Instead, I'll regale you with a few meaningless mental meanderings that popped into my head today. Lately, there's been this SUV parking in front of me at home with one of those "magnet ribbon" things that have sprung up like daisies in May since 9/11 on the back of it. In a typically patriotic display, the ribbon is red, white, and blue and proudly exclaims: "These Colors Don't Run." Well, France's flag has red, white, and blue in it too. Not that I have anything against the French, really. It's just one of those thoughts that pop into one's head pre-breakfast and based on popular (if politically incorrect) opinion of a certain nationality. I happen to be mostly Dutch, Irish, and Welsh, so anyone who is offended by the preceding may feel free to retaliate with any combination of jokes involving wooden shoes, tulips, elm disease, potato famine, Lucky Charms, and intimate relations with sheep. While entering application upon application into the database at work is usually a tedious job, sometimes it provides a bit of odd humor in the form of the names that end up on the application. This one name that someone put down as their emergency contact is one of those that seems too unintentionally funny to be true: "Mammie Graham" I kid you not. | | Thursday, December 15th, 2005 | | 1:40 pm |
27 Questions
Given that there's a lack of lists on my journal here, I'll post this list of 27 questions that I found on a friend's LJ, which are apparently questions that few people think of to ask (actually, there are 26 questions. The 27th is: "Where the heck did question #12 go?"). 1. When you look at yourself in the mirror, what's the first thing you think? I usually think that I need a shave... and then I shave. Novel idea, no? 2. How much cash do you have on you? $8.49 3. What's a word that rhymes with "TEST"? Pest 4. Favorite planet? Uranus, just because of the comedic applications. 5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell? I recently cleared out my lists so there's only three numbers on that list. 6. What is your main ring tone on your phone? The Imperial March, by John Williams 7.What are you wearing right now? A light brown sweater and dark brown slacks. 8. Do you "label" yourself? Not really. 9. Name the brand of your shoes you're currently wearing? They're some off-brand Payless dress shoe. 10. Bright or Dark Room? Dark unless I'm reading. 11. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you? Trin is awesome. The bee's knees. 5h3 r0xx0rz z3 b0xx0rz. She puts up with my incessant ramblings which is a talent in and of itself. 13. What were you doing at midnight last night? I was surfing the web. 14. What did your last text message you received on your cell phone say? The last text message I received was from Cingular telling me I could win $10,000 if I texted something stupid to somewhere stupid. 15. Are you short? No. I am counter-short. 16. What's a saying that you say a lot? "Sweet mother of a monkey." It's one of those things that I say when, by all rights, I should be cursing. 17. Who told you they loved you last? My mom. 18. Last furry thing you touched? My cat, Bubba. 19. How many drugs have you done in the past 3 days? None. 20. How many rolls of film do you need to get developed? None. 21. Favorite age you have been so far? 25 was kind of nice. 22. Your worst enemy? Ace, my ex-girlfriend's unboyfriend. I'm not interested in Eileen in a relationship context anymore, but my loathing for the guy is eternal. And WTF kind of name is "Ace," anyway? 23. What is your current desktop picture? My current desktop picture is of my niece on her sliding board in my brother's backyard. 24. What was the last thing you said to someone on your cell? "Take care." 25. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to change a major regret? The money, man. The past is the past, but a million dollars can be so many other things. :) 26. Do you like someone? I'm not really entertaining prospects at the moment, no. 27. The last song you listened to? Silent Night - Elvis Presley (It's playing on the office stereo. I have little choice in the matter) | | Tuesday, November 22nd, 2005 | | 3:07 pm |
Holy Weekend, Batman!
Life is full of little surprises. Sometimes, every one in a great while, those surprises can be good ones... Like "eight hours extra of unexpected paid free time" good. In fact, that's exactly the sort of good I found myself up dealing with today. In the mad dash to get The Stupid Transcript of Death done, I had completely forgotten that the College's Thanksgiving break starts a day earlier than I expected. When I found that out, the rest of the day was an attempt to get all of my mailing out before the early afternoon mail pick-up. Anyway, it's 3:15 with an hour left in my work-week, and I'm sitting pretty. The Stupid Transcript of Death is finished (at least until they hold more hearings... The final page count was 233 pages!), I got my mailing done, and on Monday I'll be able to get back into the rhythm of tending to my regular duties on a more timely basis instead of watching the piles of work grow by leaps and bounds while I sit with a pair of dippy headphones in my ears listening to Sir Objects-A-Lot. I'll see if I can sweet-talk Mom into seeing GoF tomorrow. Frankly, I think she's nuts for wanting to see it on Black Friday at the theater that's right across the street from the local shopping mall. Current Mood: bouncy | | Thursday, November 17th, 2005 | | 11:01 am |
Bleeding Heart, Hemorrhaging Wallet
At the risk of being told "I told you so" for the gabillionth time: I'm having grave misgivings about this dating service thing. They sent me my first referral in the mail on Monday. While in the propoganda material they provide me, they insist on the strategy of calling "NOW!NOW!NOW!" I decided to wait 24 hours because A) I was nervous, and B) I needed to catch a little post-work nap. Anyway, I called her on Tuesday and had a very nice heart-to-heart with her answering machine. I didn't say anything that didn't strike me as a "deal breaker". I just gave my name, let her know that I was a referral from the dating service, let her know that I'd really like to talk to her, and left my number and a pretty generous span of time in which to call me. I called again on Wednesday night and got her machine again. I left a shorter but just-as-enthusiastic message. While this might not seem like I'm showing enough initiative in this, I'm of a school of thought that says that one phone message a night to a near-complete stranger is polite and straightforward enough. More than that and you run the risk of coming off as desperate, obsessive-compulsive, and/or just a creepy stalker guy. Still, usually I get to talk to a woman one or two (or more) times before they start ignoring me. Current Mood:  blah | | Thursday, November 3rd, 2005 | | 1:13 pm |
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