I don't need to walk around in circles...
Walk around in circles,
Walk around in circles,
Walk around in....
Note: I wrote this at work on Monday, January 5th, at about 5:30 pm Pacific. I only waited this long before posting it now because I've been really busy.
Right. Another update after a long absence. It seems like every time I write in this journal, I have to catch everyone up on months of activities. Anyone who wants to ask where the hell I've been is welcome to do so -- I have no real excuses.
Well... maybe one. It seems that as much as I love talking about myself, I really don't like writing about myself; it just takes so much time and effort, and I'm rarely in the mood. My most active LJ phases seem to occur when I can post from work, which as we all know is a period of time where one wants to do anything but what one is being paid to do at the time. I should be a better employee.
First things first: I lost my old job as a press release writer. I deserved to be canned, so no real surprises. I have since taken a job writing online cell phone manuals, which is hardly fulfilling (but it pays the bills). I work with my friend Steve again (in different departments), and it's not all bad. You live, you know? It's not really worth writing much about, and I do actually kind of miss the old job.
Also, I moved out of my one bedroom apartment in Lynnwood and into the spare bedroom at the Shire. When Corwin moved out, that left a spare room for Steve & Dima to rent out, and that room went to me. I've been living there since October, and honestly, it's pretty awesome. Sharing expenses helps a lot, there are a lot of comforts I've simply done without for years (cable, heat, companionship) that are built in to the place. I thought it would be hard to get used to having roommates again, but it's been remarkably easy. I remain as of yet still partially packed, with a bunch of boxes of books and whatnot in the garage; I'm sure it'll remain this way indefinitely.
Back in September I embarked on a new diet with my father. We had attended a funeral for his uncle Davis, at which we saw his cousin Bob. Bob had lost a bunch of weight and looked great, and he said the secret was the MediFast diet he'd begun months prior. My dad and I resolved to do the diet together, and have been at it for months now. My dad has lost about 60 lbs and is looking pretty good; he says he has 30 lbs to go before his goal weight, and keeps me posted on his weight loss weekly. For my part, I have lost an astonishing 95 lbs (I know, right?), and will soon be going to the doctor for a physical and a bone & muscle density test to figure out what my actual goal weight is. My guess is that I'll end up around 240 lbs, with all of my hard-earned muscle finally out on display. It's pretty rad to be losing weight in this fashion, and I've had the support of friends and family throughout the process. I'm sleeping better, I feel better, I move better. I'm less tired and less easily exhausted, and I've got tons more energy to expend during my day. It's pretty sweet.
The final and most surprising big announcement I have to make is that after about 4 years of being single (by choice), I actually have a girlfriend. After fending off the advances of many a dumb and dull female (why is it always the dumb girls who get crushes on me?), I sort of tripped and fell into a relationship with a wonderful girl named Grace. We met when I gave a speech to her training class at my new job and my arrogance and ridiculous sense of humor caught her attention, and we spoke a few times before she came over to my house to hang out (Steve was her supervisor, and she came over to chill without realizing I lived there). One thing led to another, and now we've been seeing each other for about a month. Grace is very cool and very fun, and not only gets my sense of humor but takes my jibes and mocking in good spirits, so we work well together. She has a 3-year-old daughter named Morgan who is cute but somewhat poorly-behaved (as 3-year-olds are wont to be), and Morgan and I are getting to know each other and learning how to get used to each other. Dating a single mom takes getting used to, and the extra responsibilities and last-minute alterations to plans are a lot to carry, but we're making that work out as best we can. The important part is that I really like this girl, so I'm willing to put in the effort. I said I'd likely remain single for the rest of my life, and I totally meant it, but I wasn't really given a choice in the matter and I have a feeling that's just the way Fate wanted it. "Left to your own devices, Jess, you'd just have stayed a bachelor, and we can't have that," says Fate, and I believe her.
In other news, Steve and I performed as Death Star for the first time at the Mars Bar in Seattle to a packed house. We invited a bunch of friends and our goal was just to have a good time and make people laugh. What ended up happening is we brought the fucking house down and set the crowd on fire. Friends who had heard us practice were astonished by how good we were on stage, and people who had never heard us before were blown away. My family had the time of their lives, and I'm fairly certain that if we'd had another hour of material to do, the crowd would have demanded we stay on stage. I'm not normally shy about self-promotion, but I was completely amazed by the response, and I'm very proud of how well we did. We were asked to play this year's Penny Arcade Expo (no lie), and a club promoter asked if we'd be interested in playing Nectar and the Showbox. This was our first show, and those are the offers we got -- apparently we're awesome. We're currently working with a producer to swap out some of our cheesier beats for something a little more solid, and we're working on new material to round out our shows. I'll make sure to post up next time we have a show so you Seattle-area folks can attend.
Nothing else really comes to mind at present, but hey, that's the update. I'll try to post a bit more about specific stuff in the coming days (I'm just writing this all out in Notepad and emailing it home to post), and hopefully I'll be more frequent with the jibba-jabba.
Happy New Year to you all. I hope you're all doing well, too.
Today's Lyrics: Soul Coughing, "Circles"
Walk around in circles,
Walk around in....
Note: I wrote this at work on Monday, January 5th, at about 5:30 pm Pacific. I only waited this long before posting it now because I've been really busy.
Right. Another update after a long absence. It seems like every time I write in this journal, I have to catch everyone up on months of activities. Anyone who wants to ask where the hell I've been is welcome to do so -- I have no real excuses.
Well... maybe one. It seems that as much as I love talking about myself, I really don't like writing about myself; it just takes so much time and effort, and I'm rarely in the mood. My most active LJ phases seem to occur when I can post from work, which as we all know is a period of time where one wants to do anything but what one is being paid to do at the time. I should be a better employee.
First things first: I lost my old job as a press release writer. I deserved to be canned, so no real surprises. I have since taken a job writing online cell phone manuals, which is hardly fulfilling (but it pays the bills). I work with my friend Steve again (in different departments), and it's not all bad. You live, you know? It's not really worth writing much about, and I do actually kind of miss the old job.
Also, I moved out of my one bedroom apartment in Lynnwood and into the spare bedroom at the Shire. When Corwin moved out, that left a spare room for Steve & Dima to rent out, and that room went to me. I've been living there since October, and honestly, it's pretty awesome. Sharing expenses helps a lot, there are a lot of comforts I've simply done without for years (cable, heat, companionship) that are built in to the place. I thought it would be hard to get used to having roommates again, but it's been remarkably easy. I remain as of yet still partially packed, with a bunch of boxes of books and whatnot in the garage; I'm sure it'll remain this way indefinitely.
Back in September I embarked on a new diet with my father. We had attended a funeral for his uncle Davis, at which we saw his cousin Bob. Bob had lost a bunch of weight and looked great, and he said the secret was the MediFast diet he'd begun months prior. My dad and I resolved to do the diet together, and have been at it for months now. My dad has lost about 60 lbs and is looking pretty good; he says he has 30 lbs to go before his goal weight, and keeps me posted on his weight loss weekly. For my part, I have lost an astonishing 95 lbs (I know, right?), and will soon be going to the doctor for a physical and a bone & muscle density test to figure out what my actual goal weight is. My guess is that I'll end up around 240 lbs, with all of my hard-earned muscle finally out on display. It's pretty rad to be losing weight in this fashion, and I've had the support of friends and family throughout the process. I'm sleeping better, I feel better, I move better. I'm less tired and less easily exhausted, and I've got tons more energy to expend during my day. It's pretty sweet.
The final and most surprising big announcement I have to make is that after about 4 years of being single (by choice), I actually have a girlfriend. After fending off the advances of many a dumb and dull female (why is it always the dumb girls who get crushes on me?), I sort of tripped and fell into a relationship with a wonderful girl named Grace. We met when I gave a speech to her training class at my new job and my arrogance and ridiculous sense of humor caught her attention, and we spoke a few times before she came over to my house to hang out (Steve was her supervisor, and she came over to chill without realizing I lived there). One thing led to another, and now we've been seeing each other for about a month. Grace is very cool and very fun, and not only gets my sense of humor but takes my jibes and mocking in good spirits, so we work well together. She has a 3-year-old daughter named Morgan who is cute but somewhat poorly-behaved (as 3-year-olds are wont to be), and Morgan and I are getting to know each other and learning how to get used to each other. Dating a single mom takes getting used to, and the extra responsibilities and last-minute alterations to plans are a lot to carry, but we're making that work out as best we can. The important part is that I really like this girl, so I'm willing to put in the effort. I said I'd likely remain single for the rest of my life, and I totally meant it, but I wasn't really given a choice in the matter and I have a feeling that's just the way Fate wanted it. "Left to your own devices, Jess, you'd just have stayed a bachelor, and we can't have that," says Fate, and I believe her.
In other news, Steve and I performed as Death Star for the first time at the Mars Bar in Seattle to a packed house. We invited a bunch of friends and our goal was just to have a good time and make people laugh. What ended up happening is we brought the fucking house down and set the crowd on fire. Friends who had heard us practice were astonished by how good we were on stage, and people who had never heard us before were blown away. My family had the time of their lives, and I'm fairly certain that if we'd had another hour of material to do, the crowd would have demanded we stay on stage. I'm not normally shy about self-promotion, but I was completely amazed by the response, and I'm very proud of how well we did. We were asked to play this year's Penny Arcade Expo (no lie), and a club promoter asked if we'd be interested in playing Nectar and the Showbox. This was our first show, and those are the offers we got -- apparently we're awesome. We're currently working with a producer to swap out some of our cheesier beats for something a little more solid, and we're working on new material to round out our shows. I'll make sure to post up next time we have a show so you Seattle-area folks can attend.
Nothing else really comes to mind at present, but hey, that's the update. I'll try to post a bit more about specific stuff in the coming days (I'm just writing this all out in Notepad and emailing it home to post), and hopefully I'll be more frequent with the jibba-jabba.
Happy New Year to you all. I hope you're all doing well, too.
Today's Lyrics: Soul Coughing, "Circles"