*slowly emerges from the depths of Twitter*
Hi. How are you?
Tonight I had to log into Livejournal to browse through some of Marcus's old entries. I was feeling nostalgic and sappy, with just a dash of stalker-y. Figured I'd also send something into the void while I was at it.
Allow me to summarize a few notable things that have happened since my last entry. In no particular chronological order:
1.) Marcus and I got married.
On October 20, 2014, which would have otherwise been our seventh dating anniversary. In Norwalk, because October 20, 2014 was a Monday, and only Norwalk was open for ceremonies on Mondays. With only his parents in attendance, because we both hate weddings and so do my parents (they were even out of the country), but his parents insisted.
We're already coming up on one year of marriage, but sometimes it *still* feels weird calling him my husband (and hearing him call me his wife).
I actually kept it quiet for a long time afterward - only let it slip on Twitter just a few weeks back, when my mother- and sister-in-law were getting annoyed with me for not taking on Marcus's last name. If you're reading this, chances are you know me well enough to remember that I'm not much for large amounts of attention focused on me all at once. But on the off chance you hadn't heard, now you have! Please don't keep asking me why we didn't have a huge dumb party.
2.) Marcus got an amazing job and has been climbing that corporate ladder like nobody's business.
I'd rather he be the one to tell you all about it, but long story short, back in May of 2012, an acquaintance/connection of his from school made him an offer. He applied, interviewed, and landed himself a job at a place where he is much, *much* happier. When he told me the news, I jumped up from my desk at work and ran cheering through the (at that hour, mercifully empty) office hallways. Over three years later, he's gotten raises and a promotion to the lead position of his team. In general, Marcus is in a way better place, career-wise, than he was before. Hooray!
3.) Meanwhile, my career kind of imploded.
Funny how things turn out, isn't it? People used to think I was going to be the successful one. After I went on hiatus from grad school back at the end of 2011, I had to focus my efforts on fighting back some crippling depression and anxiety while desperately searching for a job to pay the rent until school began again. I did manage to land a secretary position that lasted from January to July of 2012. In September I returned to UCLA feeling recharged and ready to face the challenges of grad school again - terrific, right?
Unfortunately, shit still went south. Maybe UCLA just wasn't the right place for me. Maybe I gradually realized that academia just wasn't my cup of tea. Whatever the case, I began struggling yet again. By December the faculty was worried, and several professors met with me one day to tell me exactly what I was afraid to hear: That perhaps, just perhaps, they had made a mistake, and this simply wasn't my path.
So I left. For good this time. And I inadvertently burned some bridges along the way, but that's a tale for another time.
4.) Marcus and I live together now.
Well, this really should be obvious, I guess. We found a great place in an area of LA that we both really like, and we've been here since December of 2012. A second cat, a tortoiseshell, found her way into Marcus's parents' yard and eventually to us, so we now have two cute kitties to come home to. Last summer, one of Marcus's friends moved into one of the apartments above ours, so now we even have a cool neighbor to hang out with on occasion. Naturally, some of Marcus's friends and coworkers stop by a lot too. I feel like I finally have an IRL social life again, which is pretty sweet.
Not to mention the fact that after years and years of pining for each other during weeks that felt like six eternities and a day long...it's nice to be together this way, at long last.
5.) I'm just now starting to recover from my career implosion.
Really, just now. It took almost three friggin' years, and during that time I was an administrative temp, a minimum-wage drone at a store that sells anime goods, and an extremely reluctant housewife.
Okay, the store wasn't so bad, at least in terms of my coworkers. Definitely the best coworkers I've ever had, and I highly doubt I'll ever have a better group of folks to slave away with. The peanuts for pay, complete lack of benefits, and dead-endedness of it all, though...at just over a year, I actually outlasted a lot of their former employees. Every weeb dreams of working in an anime store, but do yourself a favor and steer clear.
To make another long story short, signing up with the AppleOne employment agency was one of my better moves - after countless rejections from other companies, AppleOne landed me an interview with a nonprofit organization that happens to be under UCLA Health. Go figure. I'll be going from temporary to permanent within the next couple of weeks, and that'll come with a substantial pay boost as well as plenty of benefits.
To be honest, I still don't feel like I'm doing what I really want to do. Maybe I never will. But in the meantime, I can pay the rent, I can pay the bills, and I can pay for my half of the check at dinner. I'm assuaging my guilt if nothing else, and my newfound financial freedom means I can join in the effort to save up for a house.
Someday. Someday, we'll have one.
That about sums up the major life events. There's been some traveling (Japan! China!), some navel-gazing introspection, and some health issues here and there, but all of that is for other entries. Assuming I write them. Tonight, at least, I had an intense urge to write *something*, and even with this done I still feel the need to put pen to paper. I have at least one idea. Maybe I'll be able to work on it during downtime today.
And because this is LiveJournal, here's my latest "favorite" album, Steven Wilson's Hand. Cannot. Erase. The Deluxe Edition is something else, I gotta say. Well worth the cost, if you can find it.
Toodles.
Tonight I had to log into Livejournal to browse through some of Marcus's old entries. I was feeling nostalgic and sappy, with just a dash of stalker-y. Figured I'd also send something into the void while I was at it.
Allow me to summarize a few notable things that have happened since my last entry. In no particular chronological order:
1.) Marcus and I got married.
On October 20, 2014, which would have otherwise been our seventh dating anniversary. In Norwalk, because October 20, 2014 was a Monday, and only Norwalk was open for ceremonies on Mondays. With only his parents in attendance, because we both hate weddings and so do my parents (they were even out of the country), but his parents insisted.
We're already coming up on one year of marriage, but sometimes it *still* feels weird calling him my husband (and hearing him call me his wife).
I actually kept it quiet for a long time afterward - only let it slip on Twitter just a few weeks back, when my mother- and sister-in-law were getting annoyed with me for not taking on Marcus's last name. If you're reading this, chances are you know me well enough to remember that I'm not much for large amounts of attention focused on me all at once. But on the off chance you hadn't heard, now you have! Please don't keep asking me why we didn't have a huge dumb party.
2.) Marcus got an amazing job and has been climbing that corporate ladder like nobody's business.
I'd rather he be the one to tell you all about it, but long story short, back in May of 2012, an acquaintance/connection of his from school made him an offer. He applied, interviewed, and landed himself a job at a place where he is much, *much* happier. When he told me the news, I jumped up from my desk at work and ran cheering through the (at that hour, mercifully empty) office hallways. Over three years later, he's gotten raises and a promotion to the lead position of his team. In general, Marcus is in a way better place, career-wise, than he was before. Hooray!
3.) Meanwhile, my career kind of imploded.
Funny how things turn out, isn't it? People used to think I was going to be the successful one. After I went on hiatus from grad school back at the end of 2011, I had to focus my efforts on fighting back some crippling depression and anxiety while desperately searching for a job to pay the rent until school began again. I did manage to land a secretary position that lasted from January to July of 2012. In September I returned to UCLA feeling recharged and ready to face the challenges of grad school again - terrific, right?
Unfortunately, shit still went south. Maybe UCLA just wasn't the right place for me. Maybe I gradually realized that academia just wasn't my cup of tea. Whatever the case, I began struggling yet again. By December the faculty was worried, and several professors met with me one day to tell me exactly what I was afraid to hear: That perhaps, just perhaps, they had made a mistake, and this simply wasn't my path.
So I left. For good this time. And I inadvertently burned some bridges along the way, but that's a tale for another time.
4.) Marcus and I live together now.
Well, this really should be obvious, I guess. We found a great place in an area of LA that we both really like, and we've been here since December of 2012. A second cat, a tortoiseshell, found her way into Marcus's parents' yard and eventually to us, so we now have two cute kitties to come home to. Last summer, one of Marcus's friends moved into one of the apartments above ours, so now we even have a cool neighbor to hang out with on occasion. Naturally, some of Marcus's friends and coworkers stop by a lot too. I feel like I finally have an IRL social life again, which is pretty sweet.
Not to mention the fact that after years and years of pining for each other during weeks that felt like six eternities and a day long...it's nice to be together this way, at long last.
5.) I'm just now starting to recover from my career implosion.
Really, just now. It took almost three friggin' years, and during that time I was an administrative temp, a minimum-wage drone at a store that sells anime goods, and an extremely reluctant housewife.
Okay, the store wasn't so bad, at least in terms of my coworkers. Definitely the best coworkers I've ever had, and I highly doubt I'll ever have a better group of folks to slave away with. The peanuts for pay, complete lack of benefits, and dead-endedness of it all, though...at just over a year, I actually outlasted a lot of their former employees. Every weeb dreams of working in an anime store, but do yourself a favor and steer clear.
To make another long story short, signing up with the AppleOne employment agency was one of my better moves - after countless rejections from other companies, AppleOne landed me an interview with a nonprofit organization that happens to be under UCLA Health. Go figure. I'll be going from temporary to permanent within the next couple of weeks, and that'll come with a substantial pay boost as well as plenty of benefits.
To be honest, I still don't feel like I'm doing what I really want to do. Maybe I never will. But in the meantime, I can pay the rent, I can pay the bills, and I can pay for my half of the check at dinner. I'm assuaging my guilt if nothing else, and my newfound financial freedom means I can join in the effort to save up for a house.
Someday. Someday, we'll have one.
That about sums up the major life events. There's been some traveling (Japan! China!), some navel-gazing introspection, and some health issues here and there, but all of that is for other entries. Assuming I write them. Tonight, at least, I had an intense urge to write *something*, and even with this done I still feel the need to put pen to paper. I have at least one idea. Maybe I'll be able to work on it during downtime today.
And because this is LiveJournal, here's my latest "favorite" album, Steven Wilson's Hand. Cannot. Erase. The Deluxe Edition is something else, I gotta say. Well worth the cost, if you can find it.
Toodles.
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