February 21st, 2011 •
Life
My weekend, in a short:
We saw two good bands at Sherlock’s Friday night: Otis and Black Lung Choir.
Little Man stayed with us most of last week and this weekend.
It’s always good having him home with us.
My poor guy has been sick all week and he seems to be getting worse, not better. Wish he’d shake whatever bug he’s managed to pick up.
We were supposed to go see a drag show (as in drag queens — *squee*!!) Sunday night, but then this happened …
(Mike took this photo earlier today and I blatantly stole it for my blog — thanks, honey!)
Sunday morning the roads were bare; it started snowing around 4:45 in the afternoon and by evening we were in full-blown blizzard mode. Mike decided it was too bad to go to the drag show {sigh, perhaps next time} so we stayed in.
(Turns out, The Zone has drag shows on the third Sunday of every month, so maybe we’ll make it next time – yay!)
And this morning there was a FOOT of snow in the driveway. Yes, we went from grassy, snow-free yards to 12″ of snow in less than 24 hours. Yuck. Damn Phil and your false hope!!
I got a few shots of Mike before his band, Casting Shadows, played at the Crooked I tonight.
Yup, that’s my guy! ;)
It was a great show; even my mom came out to listen to the guys play.
There was also a professional videographer there tonight who shot video of one of their songs. I’m anxious to see the results of that.
But right now … I’m going to bed!
I keep sitting down to write an update, but fail miserably at it. It’s not that I don’t have anything to say; I’ve been busy and there’s plenty to write about. It’s almost a case of the exact opposite: life is so busy that I’m to exhausted to put a coherent thought together. Forgive me if this post is nonsensical. I thought I’d make an attempt to post something…
I’ve been back in Erie for just over a month now. I’ve gotten to experience everything from 80-degree weather and sunshine to freezing temperatures and snow flurries. In other words: it has been a typical spring in northwestern Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, I’d forgotten what “typical” weather in this part of the country entails, so I’m getting used to the bipolar temperatures all over again. I’ve refused, however, to unpack a coat, so I’ve compromised with wearing hoodies when it gets cold. (And shhh, don’t tell, but I’ve borrowed my mom’s jacket off the coat rack a couple times when I had to take Gracie outside in the middle of the night.)
Speaking of Gracie — she’s adjusting to her new home pretty well. She’s trying very hard to make friends with my parents’ dog (a 12-year-old Akita/German Shepherd mix named Kodi). She likes to lay down next to him and attempt to snuggle, but he just jumps up and walks away, startled. She always steals his treats from him too (little brat!) but he’s a gracious old gentleman and lets her have them without the slightest grumble or growl.
My new job is making me happy. It has me exhausted and I love every moment of it. Even when everything else seems to be going wrong, the one thing that cheers me up is the satisfaction I get from my work. Finally learning C# has been so fun and it’s made me want to delve into all sorts of other projects. I find myself writing code for 8 hours at work and then coming home and putting in another 2-3 hours some nights. I’m learning to appreciate the wonders of jQuery and next I’m hoping to dive into some Objective-C so I can work on some iPhone apps.
Yes, I realize that my geek is showing. HARDCORE.
Random other stuff:
… After seeing this advertisement for Tawapa jewelry in the latest issue of Inked magazine, I decided to start stretching my lowest ear piercings. (Random and crazy, I know.) I have 14 gauge tension hoops in now (which hurt like heck, I might add). I’m not sure if I’ll stay at 14 or go to a 12 gauge. I have no plans to stretch further than that, though. (So don’t freak out mom! Ha ha.) Those lovely Seraphin earrings come in gauges as small as 14g, so I’m all set.
… I’ve been driving the 300ZX almost every day. I don’t know why, but I never felt totally comfortable driving it in Nashville. I guess because I knew if I got lost in the Element, I had a built-in GPS system, but in the Z, I’d be crap out of luck. (Not that I ever really got lost? But whatever.) Anyway, she’s getting some mileage put on her now and I’m enjoying it immensely.
… I’m still a-knittin’. On evenings when I’m not working or out, mom and I sit and watch TV and knit together. I have a sweater-vest almost done for Benny and I finished a pair of socks for myself. Unfortunately I must have spaced out when knitting the second sock because it’s about an inch longer than the first sock so I need to tear it back and fix it. (Duhhh.)
… I am home sick for Nashville almost every day. I’m happy here and I love being with my friends and family, but I miss my “family” in Tennessee too. I’m stuck living with family till the house in Tennessee sells, so I’m in this strange state of limbo where I feel like I don’t actually belong anywhere. I feel like some sort of homeless nomad, which would theoretically be really cool except that I can’t actually embrace the nomadic nature of my situation because of the mortgage and utilities that I’m solely responsible for, again, till the #@$% house sells. (Yes, I know I was stupid for allowing myself to get stuck with that in the divorce — I’ve had dozens of people tell me as much — but what’s done is done, so leave it be.) I think once I finally find a place to BE, I’m going to feel a lot more settled. In the meantime, my loved ones have been doing their best to make me feel at home, and I couldn’t be more grateful.
It’s good to be surrounded by friends and family again, and it’s good to be loved. <3
Hello? Is anyone out there? Sorry to have abandoned you for so long, readers. I’ve missed you. I’ve missed blogging. Life has just been entirely too crazy to write up till now.
The move from Nashville to Erie was stressful; thank God I had friends and family keeping me sane through the whole process. I left Nashville on Friday, April 9th, and started my new job the following Monday. So it was a whirlwind to get packed, moved, unpacked, and settled in enough to start work all in the matter of a few days. Again, thanks to my loved-ones, I managed to pull it off.
I’ve been homesick for Hendersonville and Nashville from time to time. It’s not so much the place as it is my friends and coworkers. I miss them so much. Thank goodness for the Internet/email to keep in touch.
Since I’ve been back in Erie, things have been go-go-go.
My new job is challenging (in a very good way). I’m still doing web development, but I’ve switched gears from Visual Basic.NET to C# … and I’m loving it. Though VB.NET and C# are similar, the syntax is different enough to be interesting, and I’ve been enjoying learning something new.
Family “stuff” has been keeping me busy as well. On April 15th, my grandfather was moved from the hospital to a special Alzheimer’s unit at a local nursing home. I don’t really even know what to say about it, as my grandfather and I never had an extremely close relationship. Regardless, it is a difficult situation for everyone involved. Alzheimer’s disease has to be one of the most heartbreaking conditions for a family to deal with and I’d never wish it on even my worst enemy.
On a happier note, I’ve been spending lots of time with my parents and my grandmother. It’s nice being home with them. It’s exactly the safe, comforting environment I was needing in order to get ready for a fresh start.
I’ve been seeing quite a lot of Mike too. This past weekend, I saw his band perform two nights at the Avalon Hotel for the Provocative Art Show (which, for the record, was quite an experience — burlesque, painted ladies, rock music, and art).
We also went to the zoo this past weekend and I got to see their baby orangutan, which is just too precious for words!
It seems that at the end of every day, I find myself absolutely CRASHING, mentally and physically exhausted. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I still have so many people to see and so many things to do. It feels great to be always on the go or always working on something. I have a notebook full of ideas and projects that I want to pursue. The possibilities are endless right now, and I intend to run with them…
