Y7 D4

Ah Saturday. Sleeping in until 6, cleaning up cat puke, what a lovely way to start the weekend.

That was sarcasm for the record.

Taught all day, got through class, and got some really nice compliments from my students at the end of the day. There is something truly satisfying about my job some days. That excitement when someone has really learned something and they are excited about it. Transferring my passion about something and infusing it in someone else is immensely satisfying. That is the one thing I fear I would lose if I ever had to give up my position. As corny as it sounds.

After work, I packed a little, we had some dinner, packed some more, then B and I played Lego for a little while. Afterwards around 8 I started in on Witcher. I warned B that I would need at least 2 hours to get started and into it and I was right. Almost 90 minutes was spent on just the tutorial walkthrough. But man what a gorgeous game. Very in depth. I like that. I don't mind spending $60 on a game that will be 100 hours of play including just randomly walking around - Skyrim, Dragon Age: Origins - these are all games that I enjoy because of their immenseness. Played until about 10 and then I went to bed around 11.

Not a horribly exciting day, but that's okay. It's almost June and I know that it's going to be a crazy month. Between two road trips (6/7 - 6/11 and 6/27 - 7/3) I am not going to have a lot of time to pack or get other stuff done. I need to make the most of my time at home.

Hence why today I am planning on packing for at least two solid hours to see what I can get done. I hope that puts a small dent in some stuff. I know it won't be enough, but it should help. Tonight we have a show and it will be nice to see people.

Y7 D3

Taught. Did some packing. Played some games. Had leftovers for dinner. Went out to buy a book and some ice cream. Went to bed. Tada.

To elaborate, I had a decent class yesterday. I only have two students but they are both okay. It's one of the more straight forward topics and we should finish relatively early today as a result. One student seemed like she was going to be 'trouble' but then she later acknowledged that her organization isn't using the product as intended and that she needed to shed her preconceived thought process and realized they need to change how they are doing things. That made a difference to me in how I saw her. Up to that point I thought she was just being cranky and annoying - a "we don't do it that way" kind of person. By the end of the day it was all cool.

Packed for a little while after class. I have been sending emails to a couple of property management groups hoping to find us a house for rent instead of an apartment. Not so easy. So many of them say no pets not even cats which is weird to me. We have enough places in backup that I am not too worried, but I would like to lock something down by mid-June at the latest.

B has been hooked on Lego Marvel for the PS4 and she needed me to help her get through some spots last night. I have given up on ever playing that game again. I did get a little pissed at her yesterday because she essentially played video games all day and didn't do a damn thing around the house. I then felt bad when at six she had to go lay down because of a migraine.

That's when I went out. I have been debating getting some type of RPG for the console and was between Dragon Age: Inquisition and The Witcher III. I went to Best Buy and bought the walkthrough guide for Witcher. Got back and started the 9gb download. If it seems we are playing more games lately, yes. We both agreed the only way we would get the PS4 is if we committed to playing it. Therefore we wanted to have a moderate selection of different genres and to make sure we used it. A minimum of one hour a day at least 3 days a week. We obviously have been playing more, but at least we are getting our money's worth.

Speaking of money, I paid some bills yesterday. One more credit card with a zero balance. I also heard from the kid yesterday. She got me an early Father's Day present - all three variants of the new Fight Club 2 comic book. I can't wait to read it. Excited for that.

B woke back up around 8 and her head was a little better. I stayed up until about 10:30. One more day this week and then 5 straight next week. We have a show tomorrow. First one in 5 weeks. I am pretty apathetic about it to be honest. Let's see how it goes.

Y7 D2

Worked a lot yesterday. Didn't get done as much as I wanted but I got through a good portion. I didn't finish until almost 5:30pm which pretty much ate up my entire day. Not much left to do when your day goes that long. B made dinner - pasta with chicken. We watched two episodes of Masterchef. That prompted me to get the seasons of Top Chef I was missing (1,7,8). They are still downloading right now. Might have a Top Chef marathon soon. Also learned that Ohio is confirmed. Booked my air and car yesterday. Need to book hotel today. Also that when I go to Portland in July, I may need to stay for a client up there. That's both good and bad. B can't stay that long as someone needs to be home for the kitties and it might extend our stay 4-5 days. We will see what happens on that front. Played some video games together and I went to bed around 10:30.

I also reached out to a realtor yesterday to see if I can find us a house instead of an apartment. Didn't hear back yet. May try again at lunch. Two days of teaching about to start. Only two students. Oh well. Should finish early each day.

Y7 D1

Wow. What a title.

Here we go into the seventh year of writing. Three more to go. 10 years will make for a good autobiography, right?

Worked ALL day yesterday but got quite a bit done and I know what remaining sections I want to add to this document. It should be one of the largest training guides we have. But we should also make some serious money from it at least in the first year. From what I understand there was a meeting this week where we have a huge client already interested in an onsite training. I'd love it if the materials were so large we had to split it into four days. That would be even better for us.

Regardless, I got quite a bit done but have more to do today. I worked on it up until about 3 something and then played some video games. Made a steak for dinner, watched some TV, packed a box, yes, just one because I was lazy, played more games with B, and went to bed around 11:30. That is my last day of going to bed late for a while as starting tomorrow I teach for the next 7 days straight.

That's about it. Nothing exciting.

Y6 D365

This is it. The end of six years of writing. Reflection day. What a year, huh? Got married. Moved. Got a raise. Ruptured my achilles.

I have come so far from where I was six years ago. Yet, at the same time, the one thing I have learned and tried to stick to is being true to myself. Not losing who I am and where I want to go and who I want to be. You know what I am most proud of in the last year? Finally get things paid off. Having less entires on this blog that start with me being hungover or pissed about spending too much money. That's the lesson I really have learned. It's too bad X2 couldn't have stuck around and helped me get to this place instead of walking out the door. But you know what? Fuck her. I needed her gone I think in order to discover all this. I needed to be at the right place and right time to meet someone like B who actually does love me for who I am, flaws and all. I have grown quite a bit. I should have done some of this growing a long time ago, but what the heck. Truly better late than never I feel. I like who I am finally. I didn't like that guy that was sitting in a bar six years ago writing his very first entry on this blog. That guy was lost, angry, confused, hurt, and a mess. I am over the anger. I am still a bit lost some days, but that's okay. I have someone to help me get where I need to be. I am no longer hurt or a mess. I get confused at times. But I have learned we all do. I have learned to stop judging myself against what others have or where they are in their life. I can be envious. Sometimes it's a good thing. It can be a good strong motivator. There's nothing wrong with some well placed envy. When it blinds you, it's a problem. When it helps point you in the right way...

So here's to you dear reader. Here's to sticking with me for six long ass years. The adventure has just begun. I think I will keep going for at least 10 years. I kind of want to see how it's all going to turn out, don't you?

I enjoyed my holiday yesterday. Ran a couple of errands, had some lunch, watched some TV, relaxed, and over all did jack shit and it was great. Went to bed around 11. Today I have more manual work to do and then I teach Thursday and Friday. Onward to a new week, a new year, and a new chapter in the never ending story.

Y6 D364

OH MY GOD. WHY WAS YESTERDAY'S POST STUCK AS A FUCKING DRAFT? UGH.

I am doing this on my laptop because apparently my normal machine has decided to go fuck itself and is stuck. I was having issues and rebooted this morning and now it is sitting spinning trying to check itself. I may have to restart it again. This is the same problem I had on the other big one at one point. Frustrating.

Happy Memorial Day. Nice day off hopefully for everyone. I personally have zero plans and don't even want to leave the house. I do want to get some packing done today. There's a couple of specific areas I would like to tackle today and if I get those done, I will feel pretty good. I gave up btw and rebooted that other machine. Fuck sticks.

Yesterday was a nice day. We relaxed during the day. Some video gaming. Some house cleaning. Errands. We met a friend for dinner and had nice time chatting. After dinner we came back and they watched GOT together. FINALLY that other machine came back up.

That was our day. Nothing exciting.

Y6 D363

Sad when 6am is sleeping in. Although I did get a good 7 hours of sleep and I will not say no to that. 

Got up yesterday around 5 and got ready for the garage sale. There was a note from B about blah blah try to wake her blah blah. Nope. Didn't even try. She would have been of no use until the time she got there around 11. I left the house at 6:20. Stopped at the store and got donuts for everyone. Then I headed to our friend's house where they were already setting up. I could bore you with the details of a garage sale, but I think you all know how they work and the kind of people who show up first thing in the morning. One thing did drive me nuts - one of the people whose house we were doing this at, her parents also were sharing space. They had NOTHING priced and the Dad was all derp derp let me spend 20 minutes explaining why you should buy my $175 camera at a garage sale. I kept having to yell at him for prices on his stuff. Annoying. Around 11:30 B texted me and they went to pick her up and bring the rest of us food. We started slowing down around 1 and started putting things away around 2. We had already decided that whatever didn't sell was going to goodwill which meant very little came back home with us which makes me happy. We finished up around 3 and headed home with a quick stop at the pet store.

In total made about $180. Not too bad for 8 hours of work. Better than minimum wage that's for sure. Got home, relaxed for a while, checked the mail which had something exciting. I won a pin off eBay which completed a series of 26 (yes, it's an alphabet series) that I have been working on for three years. That felt good to put it on the board. 

Made a hamburger helper kind of thing for dinner but used ground pork to make it a little healthier. Nice salad and made some apple muffins to finish it off. Talked with the kid, watched some TV with B, then went in the other room for a little while.

Here's irony for you - B normally takes over the TV. It's just the way it is. We now have the PS4 and was worried about taking the TV away, making her grumpy because of it, etc. It's not a big deal when she does it to me because I just come in here and have everything I need. I downloaded a game specifically for her (Ether One) and didn't know if she would like it or not. HA. She was HAPPY I was going into the other room because SHE wanted to play on the PS4. Okie dokie. I am curious about this game too if it's good enough to keep her interested.

I went to bed around 11:30 and slept well. Today I want to pack a bunch of stuff, specifically books and clothes we won't need for 2 months. 

Y6 D362

I wanted to be up earlier than this but well shit happens. I didn't mean to stay up until 12:30am but yeah. I have to be out of here in less than an hour to do the whole garage sale thing. B who SWORE she would go with me didn't go to bed until 3 so yeah. Whatever.

Yesterday was a decent day. I got through quite a bit of the training manual I am working on which felt good. But I did work up until about 5:30 with only a small break for a nap around 1. Yes, I like naps, piss off.

The people we are doing the garage sale with came over with their SUV around 5:45 to help us bring stuff over. We took everything over, chit chatted then stopped at wing stop on the way home. Our boxes came yesterday and after eating I started packing books. 11 boxes later I barely made a dent. Fuck me. B went and took a shower (because she was so sweaty after watching me pack I guess) and while she was doing that I checked out my new golf game. NICE. Played two rounds - shot an 92 on the first round on one course and then a 78 on the second. Not bad for never playing before. When that was done her and I played Lego together. I left her for bed as she was playing something I downloaded called Ether. A Myst type game. She was getting into it when I went to bed.

I hope this garage sale goes well today. I anticipate we will make about $75 but who cares. It's stuff I don't have to pack.

Y6 D361

Man so much in my head right now. One thing at a time dumb ass. Okay, the first thought that needs to be captured - I am a bit disappointed in my paycheck. It's about $400 lighter than I expected. I was supposed to get my 'bonus', plus my 'raise', PLUS the backpay from the raise to the start of the year. I don't think the company did anything wrong, I think I just got seriously fucked over in taxes. I mean like dragged over the coals and then ground into dirt fucked over. I won't actually know until tomorrow or Tuesday (no mail on Monday) when my stub arrives, but until then I am not happy. I wanted to pay some things off out of this and I can't do that any more which irks me. I can still pay some things, just not as much as I wanted.

Next thought - It's memorial day weekend. It's that fated weekend so many years ago when my life changed forever. It's the weekend the movers came. Technically the new year starts in four days, but this was the weekend I was packing, moving, etc. I remember sitting in the bar writing about day 0 like it was yesterday.  Amazing. 6 years ago. How things have changed. Both good and bad. We will ponder more on that in a few days.

Yesterday was a decent day. Got through day three of class. Then B and I started pulling things out for the garage sale tomorrow. Clothes, kitchen stuff, shoes, glasses, random knick knacks. We have a decent amount of stuff to sell. Not enough to go crazy, but we might be able to have dinner out tomorrow night. That took us a while to do. When we were done I made a pork roast for dinner. After dinner we decided to go to target to see about finding B something. We unfortunately didn't find what she wanted but at least we got out of the house for a little while. We got back home around 9:30. We then BOTH played some Lego Marvel because she was in the mood to 'Hulk Smash'. I downloaded that and a couple other games off the Playstation Store. I got a golf game I am real excited to play. Yeah, I know, but I like golf games. I find them fun. It's also the only place where I like baseball and football games so leave me be.

It was starting to get late but I wasn't sleepy so I went in the other room and watched a Warehouse 13 episode while she watched the Following. I lost interest in the show in Season 2. She has been pushing through season 3.

While I was in there I got some annoying emails. The person who uses my email address was applying for a loan in Texas. See, whenever this guy uses a certain email address, I get a copy because it is an alias to my email address. I have been dealing with it for years and cannot track down the guy. I may *finally* have a phone number to track him down. We shall see.

Went to bed around midnight. I have to continue working on documents today. I have a personal goal I would like to reach and hopefully can hit it before 3. That's the target. Once I am done with that, let the three day weekend begin. I have no commitments this weekend other than the garage sale. I may even sleep more than six hours one of these days. Yeah, right.

Y6 D360

B and I got into a discussion about our phones last night. While we both love our Notes overall, there are certain little things that piss us both off. Mostly it has to do with the availability of aftermarket cases. They all suck balls. Anything remotely fun or cute is on the iPhone and not on the Note. Both of us want Disney cases but the only ones are these bad knockoff Chinese bullshit ones. In the park it's all iPhone. Buttholes. But we both agree there's no reason to upgrade or change our phones. Nor is there anything on the market that excites either of us. The Note 4? Meh. Not really any different. The S6 Edge? REAL meh as the whole edge thing is stupid for people like us. We turned off all the notifications that that would show you anyway. Plus I don't do social media crap on my phone which again, the whole point of the edge. That's not to say I haven't looked at the i{Phone 6 Plus. I just don't get excited about it. Yes, it would be nice to have all my devices be from the same vendor for control and compatibility but, whatever. Not losing any sleep on that. The one nice thing about the Note is I don't have to have a proprietary cable. ANY USB cable will charge it. That's a small thing until you find yourself in Ohio and realize you forget everything but one cable. Anyway, no plans to change or do anything, we just were talking about it last night. Speaking of being in Ohio, I may be off there June 8th. Back to one place I have been before. A college out there. Gorgeous place in the country. I actually won't mind it. It may be the 8th, it may be the end of the month. We shall see. Either way, one more week on the road and that's a good balance. Home for a few, back out for one. I can handle that. Plus it's a nice place. Not terribly exciting, but nice.

Got through day two of my class. Tension got a little high in the afternoon because one of the students was not paying attention and got way lost and then was being a fucking idiot. I kept my cool, but even B could here the stress in my voice. This person was just being dumb. Out of the three, I have one I can see being VERY successful at this and two who probably should only do it in emergencies.

After class we went to look in the fridge to see what we had for dinner and realized the answer was nothing. Off to the grocery store for the first time in almost two weeks. We loaded up. $200 for about 3-4 weeks of groceries. Not bad. I mentioned to B that I think back to 3 or 4 years ago and how I would spend that on one night of booze and food and then throw it all up. Remember? No? Just go back and read 2009 or 2010 entries. I am sure you can find at least a dozen where I am bitching about spending way too much money and making too many bad decisions. Ah, how I have finally grown. I am still an idiot, but at least I haven't puked in a long time.

In other news, I won an eBay auction yesterday. A pin I have been wanting. $8. Whoo. Look at me. But it completes a collection I have been working on for years. Small victories.

Last day of class, then I can take a break. Four day weekend essentially. Going to be having a garage sale and packing, but it will be worth it.