Living in the limelight, the universal dream

Veronica arrived home from  ten day trip Kripalu last Sunday feeling under the weather. Things rapidly went downhill from there. She ended up in bed for the next several days. I left work on Wednesday and took her to the doctor. Diagnosis: the flu. Well, actually, we're not totally sure, seeing how the results still haven't come back. Anyhow, if it was the flu, it wasn't the full on assault like the type I'm used to; no coughing or sore throat but every other symptom.

So that sucked, but she got better by the weekend and we took the opportunity to take it easy. We skipped out on her extended family's holiday party and lounged around like a pair of house cats. We read, napped, fooled around, watched movies (weird ones: Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg & Careful, the crazy Japanese psyschedelic haunted house story aptly titled House, and Neal Breen's Double Down, an unintentionally hilarious and strangely dreamy B movie). I worked on some music, she studied Ayurveda. It was our first weekend in a while that we were together or didn't have social commitments. The only time we went out was Saturday night. We went to Porter Sq. for some groceries and walked over to Christopher's for dinner.

I'm excited to see the new Star Wars movie, but getting tickets has been nearly impossible. I had hoped to see it with Spira, but she didn't want to accommodate Veronica's schedule and went by herself. Oh, well, I understand. It's a big event. Maybe V and I will go this week. Might be tough with Christmas rapidly approaching.

We'll stay at her parent's place on Christmas eve and then head to my grandmother's and then to my mom's on Christmas. It'll be a busy day, but I'm excited to spend it with her; it's our first Christmas together and thus it'll be special, I expect.

We're having our Christmas party at work today. It'll be my last; kind of sad, but I'm ready to move on. Only a  couple of more weeks.

Ok, I'm out. Hope to be back soon.

When love was the means and you were the end

A little over a week ago I was sitting at my desk at work ruminating whether it was time for me to move on. We'd been slow since before Thanksgiving; I had plenty of time to ruminate. Well before that, though, the thought of leaving had taken seed. As much as I appreciated the healthy work environment, I was feeling more and more stagnant, restless. There is zero upward mobility at my job and, despite receiving a slightly more than modest raise last year, the pay is too low. And the work had become rote, bordering on tedious; it had become increasingly difficult to be enthusiastic. So, I sat there thinking about these things. And then I got a text from Foley.

He wanted to meet up and discuss a job offer. I knew he had taken on his father's pension appraisal company a year or two ago and that it was starting to really take off. I met with him over coffee last Saturday and he offered me a job doing appraisals at close to double the pay I'm making now. I'd first need to come by their new office space in Woburn to meet with his father, who's soon to retire, but he made it clear the job was mine. His sister Mary, who I've lost touched with, but was close with in the past, and our friend Ken had been on board for awhile; I was looking forward to seeing them again.

I left work early yesterday and interviewed with Foley's dad for a bit. He formally offered me the job and I accepted gladly. I left feeling grateful for the gifts that have come my way. I'll be working with at least two of my closest friends in a small scale work environment and making a lot more money; I'll be carpooling with Foley (he lives a couple of blocks away) and won't have to worry about my car so much; I'm recently engaged. Life is good.

All of this happened while Veronica was away (she comes home tomorrow), but she's been so supportive (she's supportive no matter what I'm doing) and happy for me. Our life together is starting off well. With more financial security between my new job and her teaching, which is starting to boom, we've been discussing things like getting a dog (we're going to get a greyhound thanks to Missy D just about ruining us for all other dogs) and saving money for a new place (we'll stay here as long as we can because of the location and low rent). It'll be such a relief not having to stress about money all the time.

Yesterday marked the three year anniversary of my dad's passing; it was nice having something joyous to discuss with my mother on an otherwise somber day for her. She knows it hasn't always been easy for me in this life. Her joy was palpable.

I'm grateful for the positive changes in my life but I do not chalk them up to mere luck. No, I manifested these changes willfully. Leading up to meeting Veronica, I tweaked a few things about myself that were holding me back from getting what I've always wanted in life and after that, everything fell into the place. We create our realities, magic is real. I know this from experience and honestly don't give a single shit whether you think otherwise.

Well, I should wrap this up. Going to practice yoga for a bit and then maybe finish watching Bergman's The Magician. I'll probably also read from a collection of Susan Sontag essays I just purchased. Or maybe I'll wonder about the Mandela effect and whether it really used to be the Berenstein Bears and not the Berenstain Bears like it is now. Look it up. For the record, I think we can chalk a lot of what constitutes the the Mandela Effect up to the infallibility of the human mind. Look it up and decide for yourself.

Bye, bitches.

You walk, surrounded by the stars, for many days

Veronica's been away since the end of last week. She's teaching at Kripalu until Sunday. The separation has been  slightly more difficult for her than for me, I think, and that, I surmise, is because I'm at home and still immersed in the comfort of my usual routines while she's sleeping in a bunk bed away from hers. Still, being apart is a drag, particularly because we are recently engaged and are coming off a nice mini vacation.

Engaged? Well, look, I've been away from this blog for a spell and a bunch has happened, including getting engaged to Veronica. The best I can offer is some back story here and there, but it can't happen all at once. This bonnie lad does not have the time for that.

Our story, how we came to be engaged, has been told by us, together and apart, briefly and at length to a lot of people. It's been a trip and, consequently, I've been preoccupied with the whole thing, the changes that have come about. Without doubt, I have found my soul mate. We both knew it right away, before we met in person. Hell, we knew something was up before our first phone call! Afterward, I stood in my mother's bathroom for about twenty minutes in a dopey haze, wondering what had just happened.And days before we met I ended a post in this blog that conveyed I was on the precipice of some positive changes.

It was in the air.

Because our union took form so quickly and cohesively, it has had a surreal cast to it. We weren't sure how people would react, whether they'd think we were insane. Thankfully, most everyone has been supportive and happy for us (there's one sour apple, which is a bummer,but I'm not dwelling on it). In fact, a lot of people have nodded their heads and said things to the effect of "when it's right, things fall together quickly and effortlessly". Overall, it doesn't matter what anyone thinks, but it's nice when what they think is favorable.

Alright, freaks, I've got an agenda for the night and it involves less blogging.

See ya!