Happy Hump Day! As I mentioned yesterday it's a blessed no meeting day. I'm taking full advantage of that, which means I'm making sure my goals happen, and if they're not work related, I don't give an f. :) I also have a very exciting date for this Saturday. Since the pandemic, I've had a dearth of activities to get dressed up for. Every time one comes around now I grab it. We're going out on a double date for dinner, drinks, and to watch some fighting. If that doesn't sound more like me than any date anyone's ever heard of, please apprise yourself of my pugilistic behavior. What I'm saying is, I've been interested in going to a fight before, but I definitely wouldn't want to go to one alone! as for the guy I'm going on a date with, I've known him a long time (which is good, it's how I prefer to date). He lives in Delaware though, which means no real future potential unless he wants to move here. Hey, he does have family here. But I'm not worried about it. Do you know how long it's been since I went on a date? It was pre-pandemic. Admittedly, I could've gone out seeking dates during the pandemic but it just didn't feel advisable. And this is still a baby date because there's really not much future cost attributed to it. But a baby date is way better than no date. And a date a guy planned, and invited me on, is like some primo level shit, ok? I'm going to wear my (NEW) russet ankle-length jumpsuit with my dark brown Calvin Klein knee high boots (real leather, of course) and I'm probably going to fucking paint my fucking nails, mother fuckers. That's right, I am not stopping at wearing makeup, we are going all the fucking way. I'M GOING TO SEE REAL PEOPLE THAT AREN'T MY FAMILY, IT WON'T BE A FUNERAL, WE WON'T BE IN A LIVING ROOM WATCHING TV, AND I AM DRESSING UP. This really is the first event like that I've had in a a year. And then if the evening goes well (which I suspect it will -- benefits of going on a date with someone you've known for years, you kinda know if you get along already or not) I'm going to ask this exceptionally good looking man (with a home gym set up to make a girl sweat --- ((smirk emoji)) ) if he still likes going camping, because I've got a camping trip already scheduled for April and it'd be nice if I wasn't a third wheel on my own damn camping trip. And hey, if we still like each other after going camping together for the first time, maybe he'll want to move to Virginia after all. }:-D I'm really having an exceptionally marvelous day so, I hope some of my energy transfers on to all of you. That's right. Woo, woo, wooooooo. :)
Baby’s getting a freshie, check back in on a few hours and there’ll be pictures of ink here apparently richmond is actually rather well known for tattoos. so i will have to come up with more ideas
Date range (and soon, actual date) set for TX interview. Six month runnaversary coming up on the 10th. I’ll lay low and report back when we get closer to either of those momentous moments. Enjoy, ‘ski.
Resolve to improve, all the time. Don’t just resolve; track and assess your progress, too. That being said, capitalize upon the new year as an additional opportunity to do so and embrace it as such. If you are repeatedly interested in self improvement, it doesn’t make sense to scorn a universally recognized opportunity to reflect and attempt to improve just because other people are also doing so. In fact, their efforts may help you! I would like to run a half marathon in 2020, among other goals. I spur of the moment signed up for a 10k on 1/5. In the best ever case scenario, it’d be cool to do that in under an hour, but I think that might be aggressive. My best 5k time is 28:25. Happy new year, hubski!
Hey ski. I’m thinking about moving to Virginia. Any of you guys live near there? Any thoughts? I wouldn’t move til May 19 or later - because I’m looking to buy and have a current lease and so on. I love it at my current bank company. There’s an opportunity coming up on my team which has been earmarked for me. Long term I want to get into audit (a very related line of work to my current job) and I think it could only help me to be able to be physically present at company HQ. also, the social scene in my current city/state has started to feel really stale. I’m a big fan of change. I’m really thinking about this seriously and leaning towards it. Housing markets around where I’d live (Richmond area) are at least as good as in DE where I am, if not more favorable to me. Man. I guess Frodo does leave the Shire eventually. Even if I’m still in love with it. :)
Don't divide the group to accommodate her. Invite everyone you want to invite. If she decides she doesn't want to go based on who'll be there, that's on her. It's unfair to your other friends to exclude them at her whim. You decide who you want to invite to your parties, end of story. You don't have to justify it to judge, jury, special snow- or bro-flakes. Whatever the reasons are, so long as they sit right in your heart, you're good. She's trying to snowflake you into inviting whoever she wants to your party. Fuck that shit. It's your party. Cry if you want to. But don't exclude your friend cuz she wants you to. end of story.
Sometimes on the internet I see people asking questions. They're a specific class of questions, though; they're the kind of inquiry where, simply by dint of asking, it's apparent to an uninvolved viewer that it's clear the moral conundrum isn't applicable to the party speaking. For instance, when people anonymously ask the internet if they might possibly be abusive towards their partner because they fear they may be, dollars to donuts every time that if there is a power imbalance in the relationship, it's not in favor of OP. The people who are interested enough in this line of thought are not the people who should not be painting female nudes. They're not skeevy amateur photographers with expensive cameras. They believe in art for art's sake, not for getting hot girls scantily or totally undressed in front of their horny hidden (and so abusive) gaze. It's cool people care about stuff like this enough to think about it and write this well about it. But this is not an article that will evoke change in its audience; this is an article that will appeal to those who read it because they already agree
I had the best dream last night. I was at a multi-state state fair. So was Orlando Bloom, and while Orlando was in the middle of winning some very weird aerial ropes-artist competition, he swung down onto the ground for a second and told me he thought I was cute. Then I ran into some nice middle-aged ladies and gents and we had a conversation about the difference in archaic cocktails, specifically syllabubs and flips. Yes, those words came up in my dream. No, I have not recently watched any of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. It was the kind of dream that is so good you try to fall asleep again when you wake up from it, just in case you can slip back in. Spoiler: this morning I couldn't manage that trick. Alas, Orlando. Next time.
EXCUSE ME I NOW HAVE A VALENTINES DATE WITH A GUY WHOM, WHEN I ASKED HIM IF HE MIGHT BE ABLE TO HELP ME WITH A FEW FIXIT HOUSE THINGS LAST NIGHT (I offered repayment via making him dinner or cash or whatever, he’s a friend but you gotta say thank you for this sort of stuff) RESPONDED BY ASKING FOR MY ADDRESS AND SHOWING UP TO HELP CLEAN GROATY STUFF LIKE MY SHOWER DRAIN WITHIN A HALF HOUR. I fed him short rib and we asked each other what (in life) we were afraid of. Among other things He let me pick the movie for v-day (because what I really wanted to do was have him take me shooting/teach me how to shoot - what can I say I’m quite romantic but I have a rather warped sense of what’s romance) and we finna see I Tonya which I’ve wanted to see forever and yaayyyyyyyyyy I just figured, I mean, if I didn’t see what he was doing on the 14th I knew I’d be alone. And I don’t do the chocolates and roses thing and I don’t need the fancy dinner or etc, this is after all a second date and I’m aimkng for low pressure. So I put it out there. And I’m so pleased he’s not being weird about it being Valentine’s Day and “super meaningful” or whatever. Like, it’s just Valentine’s Day. And if we didn’t hang out we’d probably both just be alone and feel it. So why not enjoy a good time together and not overthink or buy into the “significance” of the holiday, as if to go out ok Valentine’s Day indicates a level of super serious coupledom when really...we can just have a fun time while also not pointedly spending the holiday alone? Also, fam, attest to the wonder that was me, openly asking another person for help, and not trying to prove I can do everything on my own without you thankyouverymuch. I actually like “let a man be a man”, which is a ridiculous concept but I did it. See. Only 95% of guys can report finding me “emasculating” now, after this. Did anyone hear a crashing sound? I think that was that chip...that used to be in my shoulder... ;) :D
On an interpersonal level...I don't think there is a such thing as "fair" in relationships, not the way you're quantifying it. Really a good relationship is one in which both partners are happy with everything the other brings to the table. So long as those two are happy, I kind of feel like it's not on me to judge (much). It might not be the kind of relationship that's right for me, and I'd certain say that if I was talking about it, but if the people are healthy and happy then being in it...it's kind of up to them. There are some people - probably more than some people - that don't want balanced relationships. There are people who want to be the head of the household or are happy being house-spouses. There are way more extreme cases of that spectrum, too. And again...it's up to each person to decide what's important and how it is to them. Dating is/should be all about preference. What do you prefer in a partner? What do you like? What makes you feel confident about that person as a partner? To me, having a stable living situation and health insurance is ... well, the first is mandatory and the second strongly preferred but not a make-or-break. I don't think these qualities can all be ranked linearly...but I think a given person can kind of rank them in bands. For instance, in my "most important" band, I have: having a job, having a stable living situation, be in reasonable physical shape, live their life on about the same sort of schedule I do (I'm a morning person who works 7 a - 5ish; I go to bed at 9. Someone who likes being out til two - that's not going to work for me long term), turn me on, be pretty intelligent, pro-choice, pro-tattoos, like cats. I could go on. And that's just my top tier. Bottom tier stuff I don't care so much about: whether you like exactly the same bands i like. what you dress like so long as you look reasonably clean etc. what your job is (much more important to just have a job and a good one). whether or not you went to college, whether or not you graduated. if your dick is circumsized. how you put toilet paper on the roll. whether you're close with your family or not. etc etc. Some people are gonna care about what I don't. And some people aren't going to care about what I do. It's not about fair, it's about what's right for you. I tend to make more money than the guys I date. I'm used to it/kind of assume it's the case most of the time. I try not to talk about money. I try to split dates (I think that's fair). It's interesting to see when people bring money up and how. it can tell you a lot about a person
Fun fact: in the past 8ish years I've had 9 addresses. Of those, 3 had the street numbers: 37; 137; and 1370. I am p sure a total of 5 had street numbers which consisted only of some variation of 0, 1, 3 and 7. Ain't life funny? Or at least, ain't our pattern-recognizing lizard brains? Impromptattoo. Dat fresh ink. QWEAN
I wrote a kickass memo for work. It's kickass because it says badass, cunt-punt-y things like and and This is like draft 4.5. It's pretty close to final. I'm handing it in by EOD, EOW at the latest. I've crossed all my T's and dotted my i's and printed out my most updated copy for a physical review of last needed fixes. I filled out my back-up test results sheet which is driving the memo and I even added quiet little italicized, right-aligned "See Sample #XX" under the paragraphs where I call out specific findings/types of findings. I'm pretty proud of it. Drafts 1 and 2 lacked some vigor. I also feel like I realized things, Important Things that Needed to Be Said, over the course of my attempting, and editing, and think-think-thinking over, and revisiting this memo again. It's nerdy and yeah, mostly no one appreciates it, but I feel the work I'm doing is important, salient, impactful, and insightful. And that's really what you need to make work work, now, innit? As an internal control established to reduce risk, the process is so ineffective that management's limited resources might as well be focused elsewhere entirely.
the regulatory implications here cannot be overstated.
A focus on associate metrics over quality has probably contributed to the observed phenomenon.
In which we... Use the royal we, for no real reason. - ... marbelize things. ... make stamps. ... cut, fold, and glue flowers. In non-art we... ...do 3x8 diamond pushups 3 or more days a week, mostly ....have logged every day in MFP for 153 days ...and have lost 15 pounds in the past 4 months. Not to mention, ...have a now-established boyfriend (going on three months - first date story ) What else is there to mention?
They took out my grandmother's tumor and now she doesn't have cancer anymore. To compensate, my mom totaled her car (now bringing the number of my immediate family members who have totaled 2+ cars up to 3) and my one cousin who's my age and has had a serious on and off heroin problem since before I started smoking pot has been disappeared for two months. Don't worry, cops are on it. I mean, if I'm going to go to a funeral that's not my grandmothers, I can admit one for the long-time heroin addict with a criminal record who used to rob her family for drug money because she knew they wouldn't call the cops on her is, well...at least a predictable option.
Well, here's a weird story. My brother, home for the holidays from Portland, and I went to our local Goodwill donation site to drop stuff off for our family. We've done this frequently over the years, though him obviously less so since, you know, Portland. He's two years older than me. We're both in our twenties. There were two guys there at the site to help us unload. They were large, and about as appealing as you'd expect of them, them being humans employed by Goodwill to perform menial labor, not really talk to people, and certainly not to count out change accurately or show you where housewares are with a smile. It went basically fine until the end. OK, it went basically fine if I ignore how every time I tried to pick up anything and take it to the shed they took it out of my hands before I got three steps out, while mostly letting my brother lift and walk any things he pleased. Don't you know that women can't carry things? Including pillows. But hey, not having to carry things is not something one usually gripes over. But then as we walked back to my car, the larger, more sadly-straggly-bearded lump asked me: "'Zzat your dad, helping?" I was puzzled. Quite, in fact. I scoped the whole parking lot for some man anywhere who might be mistaken for my dad. My first thought was that there must be some brown-haired, older man in a car just down the lot or something who I hadn't seen, who looked vaguely like me. "What?" I asked. "Is he your dad?" the troll said. This time he gestured towards my brother. "You know, your dad, or, or, or something?" "Uuhhh, that's my brother," I said to him. He had a gap in his front teeth and his eyes were cinched in the middle by his cheekfat. And, at 300 pounds, employed at Goodwill, and (I did the mental math) quite probably living in his parents' basement, trying to hit on me. __________ My bro and I talked about it as we drove off. We agreed it was weird, gross, yuck, just inappropriate. The funny thing was that I had kind of shrugged it off by the time we got around the block. Because gross men hit on woman all the time. Because I've been asked that before, repeatedly. Because "it just happens." My brother went home, got drunk, peeved, and then he emailed the head of HR for our area Goodwill. That head's a she, by the way, which encouraged him as well. At least when you tell a woman about a guy hitting on you she doesn't try to say you're being too sensitive, or that you're arrogant. She got back to him at 6 am the next day. And now he's talking to someone in their Risk Management this week. He's keeping me posted and I'm at least curious. Could be a lawsuit, I guess. I bet all it'd take to get a lawyer interested in a story like this would be Goodwill, ignoring that email. (Not that I'd go to one. I told you. I'd written it off.) _________________ It's weird. I'm interested to see how it progresses and also agree that that employee shouldn't be hitting on chicks half his age while he's on the clock at his job. But I can't help but notice, and think it's funny, that this is happening because my brother saw and got pissed off and escalated the situation - so in a way, I'm weirdly voiceless, and a guy's standing up for me because another guy was disgusting, and while this is about women and gender and stuff like that, our MCs so far are 3/4 men. And certainly, I guess, is the hero. _____________ Hey, don't they say that if you're white and see a black person get discriminated against it's your job to speak up because you have the power, because you're the majority, because you have the privilege? That could be the angle here. That probably is. But still. It's weird. At least he's not getting me kicked out of bars for calling the bartender pregnant anymore, I guess.
Hey man, 1) you were rude, 2) you're now saying it was OK to be rude because you're still right, because oh by the way 3) you still think you're more of an expert on someone's body than the person who lives within it. This isn't a world where you have to choose between being right, or being liked, not usually at least, for sure, but in this moment, with your words, you are seriously narrowing your options. In a website built around community, are you sure the choice you're making is the best one for you - the one you wanna make? Also, there's this thing known as a public apology. You know. For shit done in public. But if you were going to apologize, what would you even say? Because this is you buckling down. Nothing else.