Hello, long neglected LJ.
It's been over a year since I've actually sat down and written in this. Wow.
This will probably be rambling and disjointed. You have been warned.
My two year anniversary of dating joyous_tiger is tomorrow. It's been a good two years, and shows no signs of stopping. I'm taking her to Teatro Zinzanni (the day after tomorrow, as they have no shows tomorrow) in celebration, which I think we'll both really enjoy.
I've felt pulled in a million directions lately. I think I've had a date (social and/or romantic) every night for the last 3 weeks, and it's at the point where I really can't maintain all the relationships (friend, romantic, or otherwise) that I have, and I really need to cut back. That's hard for me. Everyone I spend time with is a worthwhile person; there are just more worthwhile people than I have time for. How do you tell someone, "sorry, you didn't make the cut" and not have it be incredibly painful for them? I don't like simply not calling, and that's what's been happening, because I'm just always busy doing *something*.
I've been seeing a few new people lately. I haven't really seriously gone out and dated anyone new since the_ocelot and I parted ways about a year ago. I've seen people casually, but I think I've actually been explicitly avoiding people that I'd actually want to ally myself with on a long-term basis. I'm so funnily horrible at dating. I don't pursue people, as a general rule...I wait until life throws me together with someone, and just kind of move with the flow. There's one person I'm pursuing right now, and it's so awkward for me it's a little painful. Even though life has thrown us together over and over and over again, and we have a ton of overlapping interests and activities, it's still really awkward for me. I'll get over it.
It's funny. The reason I don't pursue people is because I have a strong belief that it's better to strive for a good, healthy relationship, as opposed to a relationship with a particular person. Even with joyous_tiger, if the relationship became detrimental or unhealthy for us (and we failed at our attempts to right its course), I'd leave. I have no sense of honor or commitment to continuing something that I've started, merely because I've started it. But, what do I do when I have a strong belief that a relationship with a particular person would be a really good, healthy one? I'm finding out, I suppose. Good, healthy relationships, or even chances at them, are damnably hard to find.
I juggle now. That wasn't really true last time I wrote in this thing. I managed my first 3-ball cascade (that would be "basic juggling", the first thing any juggler learns) on November 11th of 2008. I remember the date because I had wanted to juggle since I was in elementary school, and it just hadn't ever percolated to the top of the "things to learn" list. Once I started, though, I took off like a rocket. I'm now known among the alternative club circuit in Seattle as "that juggler guy", because my main practice is something I call "juggledancing", where I go to clubs and juggle on the dance floor as I attempt to incorporate dance into it. I'm passably good at it. The regulars have seen me go from barely being able to juggle at all to handling 4 balls with relative ease, and more tricks than most of them bother to count (it's only like 12, but it's hard to tell them apart unless you juggle yourself). There's even a (non-alcoholic) drink named after me now, called "The Juggler", because I always order the same thing: 1 part red bull, 1 part grapefruit juice.
I also contact juggle now. I started that about 8 months ago, when I met my now-great friend Rodrigo Alberquilla from Spain. He's like me, but Spanish. It was an amazing experience, having someone who apparently shares *all* of my interests. I miss him dearly now that he's back in Spain. He's coming back in July, though, to stay through to November, and I think he'll actually be renting a room in my house, which will be amazing. The language barrier is there, as his english is imperfect (very good, but not fluent) and my spanish is horrible, but it really doesn't matter. I cried when he went back to Spain.
So, he taught me a bit of contact juggling, and set me on a path to learn more, and I took off like a rocket on that, too. In the last year, the fact that I am a juggler has become a part of my self-identity. If I lost the ability to juggle, I'm not sure how I'd handle that. I'm merely an adequate toss-juggler, but in contact juggling I'm actually quite good at this point. My juggling friends say I have a knack for it. I have local magazines wanting to take my picture, have me juggle in their fashion shows, and there are a couple circus-y troupes in Seattle that want me to perform with them. I'm seriously considering joining one, as performing regularly will *really* get me to improve, and really quickly.
I'm also learning poi, and staff, and I really want to learn double-ended meteor, which is kinda like the two of them combined. Meteor is like two long poi connected together at the handle end, so you can hold it in the middle and do poi tricks, but you can also spin it from the center rather like a staff. I kind of want to learn every circus skill I can think of. How awesome would it be to learn acrobatics? I've been sculpting my body down to a point where I have enough muscle and little enough fat that it's a feasible option. I have recurring dreams of performing acrobatic moves. It will happen soon enough.
I have a new job. I started on 5 Jan, 2009, in Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom. I work from Seattle, but the company is in Reading, and I solely telecommute except for the rare times they fly me to wherever for face-to-face training or collaboration. I pretty much do the same thing I did for my old company, but for slightly more money, and all around the world now. It's neat to know that I've built systems used by multi-million dollar companies around the world: US, UK, France, Poland, Spain, Australia, and more to come in the next few months. I'm the guy who designs and implements the server setups that run mobile phone shopping applications. Kinda neat.
I've taken up tango again, too, about two months ago. I had taken a year off because my dance partner (joyous_tiger again) was starting her own business, and we really just didn't have the time for it anymore. It's not worth paying for lessons when we can't even practice. But, her business is swimming along, now, and actually cashflow positive, and doesn't require quite the same eternal scrambling for time that it did at the start. It's really nice to be back into a social partner dance. Joyous_tiger has been dancing tango longer than I have, but I think I'm now at the same skill level she's at, and we're now learning new things together, instead of her patiently waiting for me to catch up. :-) We've had a lot of communication issues surrounding our tango dancing, largely because both of us get into an emotionally devoid headspace when learning something new, but it's been a great experience for us working through those issues, and our communication on a whole has improved a lot for it.
I still really like communication. I read through my old LJ entries a couple months ago. It's neat to see snapshots of myself from 4 years ago, and realize that I've changed quite a bit. I still believe nearly everything I did then, but I would state it in a much different way. I don't think I'll ever be one to shy from confrontation, but my general communication style has toned waaaaaaay down and is much less confrontational in nature. Instead of trying to beat people over the head with my ideas, I invite them to join me in exploring them together, and this works much, much better. Whodathunk.
I want kids. This has been on my mind lately.
I think I might learn to ride horses next. It seems like something I should know. You know, how to pitch a tent, survive in the wilderness, tie knots, swing a sword, shoot a gun, ride a horse. It just kinda fits with the rest. I'm generally good with animals, so I don't expect it to be hugely challenging to become at least adequately proficient, but I need to actually get myself up on a horse and make all the silly new rider mistakes so I can get there. I also want to learn to pilot a plane and to fly a helicopter, but those will probably be later in life, when I have that kind of money to throw around.
I've been working out for the last year, too, and it shows. I've typically been stronger than I look, but now I actually look strong. I think I'm less strong than I look now, actually, though I'm significantly stronger than I was a year ago, by any (physical) metric you'd care to name. I'm essentially following the super-slow protocol. I've been gaining weight, but my waist has been shrinking at the same time, so I'm not particularly sweating it.
I've also cut out a lot of sugar from my diet, specifically fructose (and therefore sucrose, maple syrup, honey, molasses, and most other things we use as sweeteners). I had no idea how hard that would be. It's not mentally challenging -- I've never had a strong sweet tooth -- but sugar is in *everything*! Corn syrup (of the zero-fructose variety), xylitol, and brown rice syrup are my friends. Although, something that tastes decent in tea is still eluding me. Xylitol is acceptable.
That's pretty much it for my life at the moment. Juggling, dancing, dating, job, health. I think I covered all the bases.
This will probably be rambling and disjointed. You have been warned.
My two year anniversary of dating joyous_tiger is tomorrow. It's been a good two years, and shows no signs of stopping. I'm taking her to Teatro Zinzanni (the day after tomorrow, as they have no shows tomorrow) in celebration, which I think we'll both really enjoy.
I've felt pulled in a million directions lately. I think I've had a date (social and/or romantic) every night for the last 3 weeks, and it's at the point where I really can't maintain all the relationships (friend, romantic, or otherwise) that I have, and I really need to cut back. That's hard for me. Everyone I spend time with is a worthwhile person; there are just more worthwhile people than I have time for. How do you tell someone, "sorry, you didn't make the cut" and not have it be incredibly painful for them? I don't like simply not calling, and that's what's been happening, because I'm just always busy doing *something*.
I've been seeing a few new people lately. I haven't really seriously gone out and dated anyone new since the_ocelot and I parted ways about a year ago. I've seen people casually, but I think I've actually been explicitly avoiding people that I'd actually want to ally myself with on a long-term basis. I'm so funnily horrible at dating. I don't pursue people, as a general rule...I wait until life throws me together with someone, and just kind of move with the flow. There's one person I'm pursuing right now, and it's so awkward for me it's a little painful. Even though life has thrown us together over and over and over again, and we have a ton of overlapping interests and activities, it's still really awkward for me. I'll get over it.
It's funny. The reason I don't pursue people is because I have a strong belief that it's better to strive for a good, healthy relationship, as opposed to a relationship with a particular person. Even with joyous_tiger, if the relationship became detrimental or unhealthy for us (and we failed at our attempts to right its course), I'd leave. I have no sense of honor or commitment to continuing something that I've started, merely because I've started it. But, what do I do when I have a strong belief that a relationship with a particular person would be a really good, healthy one? I'm finding out, I suppose. Good, healthy relationships, or even chances at them, are damnably hard to find.
I juggle now. That wasn't really true last time I wrote in this thing. I managed my first 3-ball cascade (that would be "basic juggling", the first thing any juggler learns) on November 11th of 2008. I remember the date because I had wanted to juggle since I was in elementary school, and it just hadn't ever percolated to the top of the "things to learn" list. Once I started, though, I took off like a rocket. I'm now known among the alternative club circuit in Seattle as "that juggler guy", because my main practice is something I call "juggledancing", where I go to clubs and juggle on the dance floor as I attempt to incorporate dance into it. I'm passably good at it. The regulars have seen me go from barely being able to juggle at all to handling 4 balls with relative ease, and more tricks than most of them bother to count (it's only like 12, but it's hard to tell them apart unless you juggle yourself). There's even a (non-alcoholic) drink named after me now, called "The Juggler", because I always order the same thing: 1 part red bull, 1 part grapefruit juice.
I also contact juggle now. I started that about 8 months ago, when I met my now-great friend Rodrigo Alberquilla from Spain. He's like me, but Spanish. It was an amazing experience, having someone who apparently shares *all* of my interests. I miss him dearly now that he's back in Spain. He's coming back in July, though, to stay through to November, and I think he'll actually be renting a room in my house, which will be amazing. The language barrier is there, as his english is imperfect (very good, but not fluent) and my spanish is horrible, but it really doesn't matter. I cried when he went back to Spain.
So, he taught me a bit of contact juggling, and set me on a path to learn more, and I took off like a rocket on that, too. In the last year, the fact that I am a juggler has become a part of my self-identity. If I lost the ability to juggle, I'm not sure how I'd handle that. I'm merely an adequate toss-juggler, but in contact juggling I'm actually quite good at this point. My juggling friends say I have a knack for it. I have local magazines wanting to take my picture, have me juggle in their fashion shows, and there are a couple circus-y troupes in Seattle that want me to perform with them. I'm seriously considering joining one, as performing regularly will *really* get me to improve, and really quickly.
I'm also learning poi, and staff, and I really want to learn double-ended meteor, which is kinda like the two of them combined. Meteor is like two long poi connected together at the handle end, so you can hold it in the middle and do poi tricks, but you can also spin it from the center rather like a staff. I kind of want to learn every circus skill I can think of. How awesome would it be to learn acrobatics? I've been sculpting my body down to a point where I have enough muscle and little enough fat that it's a feasible option. I have recurring dreams of performing acrobatic moves. It will happen soon enough.
I have a new job. I started on 5 Jan, 2009, in Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom. I work from Seattle, but the company is in Reading, and I solely telecommute except for the rare times they fly me to wherever for face-to-face training or collaboration. I pretty much do the same thing I did for my old company, but for slightly more money, and all around the world now. It's neat to know that I've built systems used by multi-million dollar companies around the world: US, UK, France, Poland, Spain, Australia, and more to come in the next few months. I'm the guy who designs and implements the server setups that run mobile phone shopping applications. Kinda neat.
I've taken up tango again, too, about two months ago. I had taken a year off because my dance partner (joyous_tiger again) was starting her own business, and we really just didn't have the time for it anymore. It's not worth paying for lessons when we can't even practice. But, her business is swimming along, now, and actually cashflow positive, and doesn't require quite the same eternal scrambling for time that it did at the start. It's really nice to be back into a social partner dance. Joyous_tiger has been dancing tango longer than I have, but I think I'm now at the same skill level she's at, and we're now learning new things together, instead of her patiently waiting for me to catch up. :-) We've had a lot of communication issues surrounding our tango dancing, largely because both of us get into an emotionally devoid headspace when learning something new, but it's been a great experience for us working through those issues, and our communication on a whole has improved a lot for it.
I still really like communication. I read through my old LJ entries a couple months ago. It's neat to see snapshots of myself from 4 years ago, and realize that I've changed quite a bit. I still believe nearly everything I did then, but I would state it in a much different way. I don't think I'll ever be one to shy from confrontation, but my general communication style has toned waaaaaaay down and is much less confrontational in nature. Instead of trying to beat people over the head with my ideas, I invite them to join me in exploring them together, and this works much, much better. Whodathunk.
I want kids. This has been on my mind lately.
I think I might learn to ride horses next. It seems like something I should know. You know, how to pitch a tent, survive in the wilderness, tie knots, swing a sword, shoot a gun, ride a horse. It just kinda fits with the rest. I'm generally good with animals, so I don't expect it to be hugely challenging to become at least adequately proficient, but I need to actually get myself up on a horse and make all the silly new rider mistakes so I can get there. I also want to learn to pilot a plane and to fly a helicopter, but those will probably be later in life, when I have that kind of money to throw around.
I've been working out for the last year, too, and it shows. I've typically been stronger than I look, but now I actually look strong. I think I'm less strong than I look now, actually, though I'm significantly stronger than I was a year ago, by any (physical) metric you'd care to name. I'm essentially following the super-slow protocol. I've been gaining weight, but my waist has been shrinking at the same time, so I'm not particularly sweating it.
I've also cut out a lot of sugar from my diet, specifically fructose (and therefore sucrose, maple syrup, honey, molasses, and most other things we use as sweeteners). I had no idea how hard that would be. It's not mentally challenging -- I've never had a strong sweet tooth -- but sugar is in *everything*! Corn syrup (of the zero-fructose variety), xylitol, and brown rice syrup are my friends. Although, something that tastes decent in tea is still eluding me. Xylitol is acceptable.
That's pretty much it for my life at the moment. Juggling, dancing, dating, job, health. I think I covered all the bases.