A veritable smorgasbord-orgasbord-orgasbord
Just a lot of little bitsies.
So far I've been waiting to feel even the slightest bit sad about being laid off, but it's been 99% delight so far. I texted one of my teammates a picture of my feet in ice skates with "So sad I'm not in the office today", bwahahaha. I've been skating twice, had a workday breakfast with friends from out of town, and took one of them to a local Christmas market, have been leisurely working my way through various task lists and actually finally getting the Christmas cards done. So that's nice.
I sang The Boatswain in a G&S Society concert of HMS Pinafore. It was a lot of fun! Society concerts are their own unique flavor of event, but the chance to immerse myself in that little bonbon of a show and that amazing score was just what I needed. Three of the cast members were veterans of our local professional G&S company and have performed those roles hundreds of times, and watching their amazing timing and schtick was a masterclass in How to Do It.
I'm vaguely making mental plans about how to tackle the job search, but won't actually tackle it until the first week of the new year. I am taking care of time-sensitive stuff, like making sure the benefits from the old job are wrapped up (for instance, figuring out how and when the transit deductions from the paychecks stop and when to switch the pay source for my Metrocard). Cancelling various monthly donations - that's sad, but I'll just start them up again when I'm employed.
My dad thinks that my mom is going to leave us sooner rather than later, and so it may be a good idea to just do short-term temp work for a while so I can be available as needed when Things Happen. (see PS below) I'll have to see what's out there like that.
Christmas was going to be low-key anyway. Our only guest for Xmas Eve just had a death in the family, so won't be able to make it. And we only have one guest for Xmas Day. And that's fine. There will be other years where everything isn't falling apart around us that we can go whole hawg.
What's coming up... New Year's trip down south to celebrate Mom and Dad's big wedding anniversary. Der Rosenkavalier matinee on Jan 4th at the Met - this was my big Xmas present and due to the Met's being 'helpful', the tickets were sent to me directly, so it ruined the surprise. Not that it would have been a surprise, it's what I asked for, and C and I are pretty good about sticking to the lists. But I am very much looking forward to it - I've never seen Rosenkavalier live and it's an astonishing work. I asked for the whole megillah - brunch at the Met Grand Tier restaurant and all. We'll dress up in suits, it will be lovely. And then I need to get the voice in shape for the next G&S Society concert. I'm singing Sgt. Meryll in The Yeomen of the Guard, and that's a bigger vocal lift than the Bosun. Voice has not been that responsive and while I'm sure some of that is just due to AGE, another is that allergies have been really awful this year. I'm stil sneezing my head off and it's effing December.
---
Things have been so weird I haven't been tracking media consumption as much as I'd like. We abandoned "The Crown" for a while in favor of Xmas stuff, but will pick it back up in January. Queued up: the final season of "Game of Thrones", Season 3 of "The Handmaid's Tale", whatever they've broadcast this season of "Madame Secretary", the new "Grace & Frankie", the new "Kominsky Method" and I think there may be a new "Good Fight" coming up? We'll be good for a while.
Interspersed with the classic Christmas stuff, we've also seen "The Christmas Prince: the Royal Baby" (of course!), Klaus, The Feast of Seven Fishes, and a Hallmarky movie about a magic advent calendar. (Maybe it's "The Holiday Calendar"?) Klaus in particular is really good, wouldn't mind making that an annual. Oh, yeah, the new computer-animated Grinch, which isn't bad (except for the soundtrack) and is gorgeous to look at.
I'll do a books post before the end of the year, but I've been working my way through the "Christmas Angel" series of gay romance novels. There's a magic treetop angel that helps bring men Together in Love. (of course there is). The books are all written by different people, so are variable, but some of them have been delightful.
Listening to Xmas music, of course. I really like how there's a time of year where everyone listens to popular music from all decades of the last century or so.
All right, onward. Stay tuned for year- and decade- wrap ups. Or 'warp ups', which is what I first typed.
---
PS worried that I sound somewhat callous and glib above referring to my mom and her situation. So maybe this is the place to put a couple of things out there.
I've never before had a person close to me pass away. I am new at this. My natural inclination is to keep things moving and I'll stop to ponder or cry or emote when I need to. But I will say that if I sense from anyone some sort of pressure to react or emote or be performative in the way they expect or want me to rather than the way I'm doing it, I'm going to shut that shit right down. There is no one right way to do this. Let me figure it out, and I'll ask for help when I need to. I won't be asking for feedback. Needless to say, I will be as helpful and supportive to my family and others as I can be. But if you have the impulse to share with me what I should be doing, perhaps you should refrain.
The other thing is, almost certainly, there will be times when the well overflows, and I'm going to need to have a little breakdown and cry or whatever. Who knows what it will set it off. If that happens and you're there, please just let me do it. Don't swarm in, don't say "OMG OMG what's going on", really don't say "Please don't cry." If I'm crying, it's because I need to. It's like barfing. Just give me a few minutes to do it and get it out. And then if I want to explain myself, I will - but don't insist on that either.
Thanks!
So far I've been waiting to feel even the slightest bit sad about being laid off, but it's been 99% delight so far. I texted one of my teammates a picture of my feet in ice skates with "So sad I'm not in the office today", bwahahaha. I've been skating twice, had a workday breakfast with friends from out of town, and took one of them to a local Christmas market, have been leisurely working my way through various task lists and actually finally getting the Christmas cards done. So that's nice.
I sang The Boatswain in a G&S Society concert of HMS Pinafore. It was a lot of fun! Society concerts are their own unique flavor of event, but the chance to immerse myself in that little bonbon of a show and that amazing score was just what I needed. Three of the cast members were veterans of our local professional G&S company and have performed those roles hundreds of times, and watching their amazing timing and schtick was a masterclass in How to Do It.
I'm vaguely making mental plans about how to tackle the job search, but won't actually tackle it until the first week of the new year. I am taking care of time-sensitive stuff, like making sure the benefits from the old job are wrapped up (for instance, figuring out how and when the transit deductions from the paychecks stop and when to switch the pay source for my Metrocard). Cancelling various monthly donations - that's sad, but I'll just start them up again when I'm employed.
My dad thinks that my mom is going to leave us sooner rather than later, and so it may be a good idea to just do short-term temp work for a while so I can be available as needed when Things Happen. (see PS below) I'll have to see what's out there like that.
Christmas was going to be low-key anyway. Our only guest for Xmas Eve just had a death in the family, so won't be able to make it. And we only have one guest for Xmas Day. And that's fine. There will be other years where everything isn't falling apart around us that we can go whole hawg.
What's coming up... New Year's trip down south to celebrate Mom and Dad's big wedding anniversary. Der Rosenkavalier matinee on Jan 4th at the Met - this was my big Xmas present and due to the Met's being 'helpful', the tickets were sent to me directly, so it ruined the surprise. Not that it would have been a surprise, it's what I asked for, and C and I are pretty good about sticking to the lists. But I am very much looking forward to it - I've never seen Rosenkavalier live and it's an astonishing work. I asked for the whole megillah - brunch at the Met Grand Tier restaurant and all. We'll dress up in suits, it will be lovely. And then I need to get the voice in shape for the next G&S Society concert. I'm singing Sgt. Meryll in The Yeomen of the Guard, and that's a bigger vocal lift than the Bosun. Voice has not been that responsive and while I'm sure some of that is just due to AGE, another is that allergies have been really awful this year. I'm stil sneezing my head off and it's effing December.
---
Things have been so weird I haven't been tracking media consumption as much as I'd like. We abandoned "The Crown" for a while in favor of Xmas stuff, but will pick it back up in January. Queued up: the final season of "Game of Thrones", Season 3 of "The Handmaid's Tale", whatever they've broadcast this season of "Madame Secretary", the new "Grace & Frankie", the new "Kominsky Method" and I think there may be a new "Good Fight" coming up? We'll be good for a while.
Interspersed with the classic Christmas stuff, we've also seen "The Christmas Prince: the Royal Baby" (of course!), Klaus, The Feast of Seven Fishes, and a Hallmarky movie about a magic advent calendar. (Maybe it's "The Holiday Calendar"?) Klaus in particular is really good, wouldn't mind making that an annual. Oh, yeah, the new computer-animated Grinch, which isn't bad (except for the soundtrack) and is gorgeous to look at.
I'll do a books post before the end of the year, but I've been working my way through the "Christmas Angel" series of gay romance novels. There's a magic treetop angel that helps bring men Together in Love. (of course there is). The books are all written by different people, so are variable, but some of them have been delightful.
Listening to Xmas music, of course. I really like how there's a time of year where everyone listens to popular music from all decades of the last century or so.
All right, onward. Stay tuned for year- and decade- wrap ups. Or 'warp ups', which is what I first typed.
---
PS worried that I sound somewhat callous and glib above referring to my mom and her situation. So maybe this is the place to put a couple of things out there.
I've never before had a person close to me pass away. I am new at this. My natural inclination is to keep things moving and I'll stop to ponder or cry or emote when I need to. But I will say that if I sense from anyone some sort of pressure to react or emote or be performative in the way they expect or want me to rather than the way I'm doing it, I'm going to shut that shit right down. There is no one right way to do this. Let me figure it out, and I'll ask for help when I need to. I won't be asking for feedback. Needless to say, I will be as helpful and supportive to my family and others as I can be. But if you have the impulse to share with me what I should be doing, perhaps you should refrain.
The other thing is, almost certainly, there will be times when the well overflows, and I'm going to need to have a little breakdown and cry or whatever. Who knows what it will set it off. If that happens and you're there, please just let me do it. Don't swarm in, don't say "OMG OMG what's going on", really don't say "Please don't cry." If I'm crying, it's because I need to. It's like barfing. Just give me a few minutes to do it and get it out. And then if I want to explain myself, I will - but don't insist on that either.
Thanks!