Thrihyrne

AUGH! For the second or third time since Saturday, I've spent 20 minutes applying online for various positions at various job sites, only to have their server flake out and/or not save my information and expect me to start over. NOT. I took this most recent one to mean that I was supposed to stop for now, get a snack, and go watch something fun for a little while. That said, as I checked my email again, one of the companies I applied with sent an automated email for me to continue on with the process and participate in some kind of automated 15 minute phone interview. I believe I'll do that later on today or in the early morning. But I want to be fully awake, of course. Another small minor thing was discovering that my yoga pants, sweatpants (and later I discovered my winter slippers) were wet. With cat pee. One of the cats had come into my room while I was getting coffee or something and was there (under the bed, I suspect) closed in while I went off to the DMV. Thankfully the grand-matriarch of the house was doing a load of darks, so I put my pants in so they wouldn't stink. When my room still smelled like cat pee later, I did a more thorough exploration of my closet and realized the slippers also had been hit and needed to be washed. The smell is gone now, however.

On the plus side, I was at the DMV at 7:50 this morning (and still was 8th in line!) and paid my $5 and passed the knowledge test. So I got back home and called to get a driving appointment which will be a week from today. Thankfully evannichols has kindly offered up his vehicle for me to use. I shouldn't be nervous about the driving test as it was 25 years ago when I first got my license. :P After my DMV experience I was able to go out running with a spring in my step, also a plus.

Today's highlight, though, was lunch with evannichols at BHFT. It was sunny and warm today, so we spent some time out in the parking lot after eating, but we're both pretty sun sensitive. We headed back to our usual post-lunch window locale until it was time for me to return. I really enjoy being able to get on one bus and an hour later be dropped off right outside of his building, but that can't last forever. I'm taking advantage of being between jobs, to be sure!

Probably not fair to combine all of those into one post, but so be it. I met up with my cousin Matthew for coffee and tea (tea=him, coffee=me) in the Alberta district, and it was absolutely marvelous. We're both writers, both struggling with some stuff going on in our brains that we own but can't necessarily control, and from similar (well, very similar) stock genetically. We talked about a lot of stuff and I'm hoping that we'll go for a walk around Mt. Tabor next week and that we'll keep up as the weeks go on. He's newer to this part of the country than I am, but it was just delightful to hang out with someone from my extended family who can really understand what I've been through in the past half-decade or so.

So I caught the bus back to my part of town and got off a stop too soon than I'd intended, but it allowed me to wander into Good Neighbor, the Russian market close to me that I'd been wanting to visit after realizing how close it was. I was mildly disappointed in that the staff spoke to me in English (as opposed to the other two guys in the shop). Did I look that Anglo? When I'd spent three weeks in Vladimir, USSR, I could pass for a local. But not here. I did say (in Russian) that I'd studied Russian, and the woman at the counter asked if I understood, and I said a little, and that I'd forgotten most of it. But I did say the Russian equivalent of 'see ya!' as I departed, with eggs, apple cider vinegar, and red potatoes in my bags. I really need to post on Craigslist about tutoring in English if I can get some Russian tutoring in exchange.

So I got home, put away my groceries, changed clothes, and went out running. I have a new route, and it was great, taken more at a run than a jog, as evidenced that I was home within 30 minutes. But lovely, though when I attempted to take a cool-down walk, I was being rained on, so it was a very short walk.

This evening's priorities: dinner (potatoes with some sour cream before it goes bad), knitting, talking with evannichols, some ibuprofin and using my heated rice bag on both shoulder and calves, and an early night. I applied for 5 positions this morning, and there will be more tomorrow, so I know I'm keeping up my end of the deal to the universe of seeking out what is appropriate. But I must admit that I'm so excited both to see if I can model at Hipbones studio, and then to head out to BHFT and spend the night with my beloved. Even 48 hours seems like a long time. Yes, I'm becoming a romantic and am oftentimes at a loss. ♥

I must admit I'd had a pretty good idea (99% certain) that my beloved was going to take me to Portland Opera's production of Galileo Galilei, though I didn't put two and two together until Sunday evening. But not only did he get just me a ticket, he bought two — together — and attended the opera with me. This may not sound like much, but minimalism isn't for everyone (I'll spare a brief thought to my uni roommate with whom I had to make a deal, which was never to play Philip Glass while she was in the room) and the opera genre isn't for everyone, so to combine the two and go out on a work night was a sweeping gesture for me. evannichols and I experienced the work on different levels given our different backgrounds, and I was perhaps the more enraptured of the two due to my long-time fondness for the composer. He did quite enjoy it, I'm very glad to say. I happened to be sitting next to another Glass fan (versus primarily a POA supporter) who was going to be flying to L.A. tomorrow to hear a Glass world premiere conducted by John Adams, another famous minimalist composer. What struck me perhaps the most about the evening was as evannichols and I were walking toward the theater, both of us decked out (first time I've seen him in person in coat and tie!), and I realized that technically this was our first real date for this second and lasting relationship incarnation. I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful 'beginning.'

Along those lines, I'll be with him beginning this afternoon, so probably won't be posting as often as I have been. Tomorrow I do have a conversation/interview-of-sorts with a company I'm really intrigued with and a position I'd like to have, so I'll post about how that goes. I've definitely been in serious job hunting mode, and it seems to be paying off.

( a little bit of vomiting rainbows )

To my delight I've discovered that there's a SMART Recovery meeting here in the suburb where evannichols lives, even within walking distance, were it not raining. He kindly drove me to it yesterday morning, for which I was very grateful. Both as part of our commitment to each other, and my desire for him to have more of an understanding of what struggles I've had, I asked the group about resources for him. It turns out that he can attend the meeting if he wants! No problem. So he'll probably accompany me from time to time, which means so much to me. As part of the agenda at the end of their meetings, each person states a concrete goal for the week. I had three: jog at least three times, spend seven consecutive days really without drinking anything, and spend 15 hours job hunting. I won't be talking about this topic much at all in this medium as it really is between Evan and myself, but at this initial jumping-off point, I thought I would.

And now, back to the absolute joy of coffee, an unexpectedly non-rainy morning, and my beloved.