Let Me Sum Up
I’ve been in an entirely unwritey mood lately. Pretty much since the gallbladder surgery last month. Not sure if that was the source of my muse, lol, but anyway…
Some random, unimportant-in-the-scheme-of-things has happened since I last wrote.
I found out, seven days after the fact, that my mother was in the hospital following a motorcycle accident. Yeah, she’s retired and riding a motorcycle around. Well, not now, seems that she broke her hip following a spill. I was disturbed that my family took so long to tell me what had happened. That would probably explain why she hadn’t responded to my emails of late, huh.
The druid and I are doing as well as ever. I wished him a late happy eighth month “handiversary” (the date of the first time we held hands) when I had sufficiently recovered from the surgery to realize what day it was. We’re now not far from our ninth. I’ve now experienced a portion of all four seasons in his company. We fell in the fall, easily and comfortably; during the winter nights, I stayed overnight at his place of employment while he worked, and when there were no customers, we sat shoulder to shoulder, hand-in-hand, and babbled about everything; the spring brought security, new situations, and more closeness; and now the summer, wherein we collectively bleh at the heat, and enjoy the novelty of skin touching skin in public with fewer clothing layers between us. We get along so easily and constructively that it freaks us out on occasion. That doesn’t stop us from forging through life together still, though.
My friend, the dreamer, and I, have been interacting heavily of late. His holy grail, the windmill he’s been whacking at for over six years, not just a dream but a life’s goal and one he’s absolutely serious in attaining, involves making a website through which he can maintain and operate a business for himself. Specifically, he’s wanted to prove himself to a well-to-do uncle; he feels that his family as a whole doesn’t take him particularly seriously, and he’s wanted to impress them with something big. Through one of his employers, the dreamer has come up with a scheme for doing just this, and his uncle has provided some of the capital needed to get the idea off the ground. In addition, his mom gave him permission to make a website for her existing business. Because this involves website making, he’s been asking me to do relatively small tasks while he sends the big stuff, the design, to actual companies who do that for a living. July 10 was a particularly auspicious day for us, as I had the unenviable assignment of putting things in motion that would increase pagerank. It proved to be slower than we’d anticipated as many of these SEO tasks require up-front costs that the dreamer can’t quite afford right now. Nonetheless, it was a particularly productive day. That evening after he’d gotten home from work, we made even more work for me to do. My own dream of working from home (or for myself) is coming true, in small fits and starts. I’m still not 100% from my surgery so I’ve been a little lazy about looking for employment. This little gig with the dreamer keeps me in groceries, which is spiffy enough for now.
Hearing what I was doing for my friend, my roommate suggested I interface with her employer, CEO of an expensive website design company, to take on the lesser assignments that he chooses not to accept from potential clients who inquire. I’m a little leery about accepting that arrangement, as I don’t have very many demonstrative skills about what I can do, no formal education for such (I code by hand), and I’m doubtful about how beneficial such an arrangement with an actual website design/development firm can be, for them. Yeah, my self-confidence is not the best on that one–I am an amateur. Perhaps I’m hiding behind that label but still…
Portland experienced a surge of warm, nay, hot weather during the latter weeks of June. It’s been nicely colder and cloudier which suits the druid and me just fine (we’re nostalgic for our childhood homes). The vaguely cloudy skies continued this morning though they’ve burnt off in the late afternoon and evening. I think summer is back, and I think very shortly the roommate and I will have to figure out how to rig the air conditioner in the living room window again.
After ignoring the website for several months, I’ve mildly gotten back into playing pandora.com radio again. The premise of the site is unique; you input an artist/band or particular song that draws you, and they build a “radio station” around it, taking note of those things that are unique to that song or that artist, and presenting you with further artists and songs with similar components. I’m pleased that they’ve kept the inevitable commercialization to a minimum as they have; the ads are not invasive, which is pretty much all I ask. I mention the website because I built a radio station around an artist I’d never heard before, Lydia Denker. They decided that other bands like Hurt, Staind, Leaves’ Eyes, Plumb, and Alanis Morissette are very similar, and they enjoy a large portion of the playlist presented to me. I love using pandora.com, they often introduce me to obscure bands and songs I’d never been exposed to before. Good times.
Once in a while, I’ll poke at petfinder.org, drooling at dogs and cats I can ill afford without an income. That matters not, the want for a pet is very strong. I recently found a new site to obsess over for such things, the community Pets section of craigslist.org. The ads for free kittens, with photos, are what get me. WANT!
I’m getting a handle on what my body can and cannot tolerate, now that I have no gallbladder. Last week, I fried up the leanest hamburger I can find, along with an entire bulb of garlic, and then fried up some shells in veggie oil to make tacoes with. The taco meat and cheese went down a treat, but the fried shells gave me the worst stomach ache since the surgery. I’ve avoided frying the shells since, and have enjoyed no further complications from that. Quite yummy. Every day I try to experiment with some new food or another just to see what happens. Until I’m sure what the reaction is, I nibble only a small bit, so that any unfortunate side-effects are mild and terse. I can once again sip alcohol without worrying, and while I’m careful about what I put in my gaping maw, I’m not overly concerned. I still try to be near a bathroom when I eat, still, just because. I’m slowly getting back to normal. Well, normal for me.
I’m apparently very babbly tonight. I guess that’s bound to happen after a couple weeks of silence and things building up to talk about. I’m hoping I get back into the swing of things, regarding blogging and interacting with the online world.
Whee! Ooh, that reminds me, the druid asked me the other night what the origin of the word “woot” was from. The Urban Dictionary offers a couple unlikely scenarios. I only care about its vernacular.
There, I try to edumucate my readers as they read my drivel.
Hi there and nice to meet you. I’m here from Netchicks site. I found your post quite interesting. Just a few little points:
Isn’t new love wonderful?
The Dreamers plan sounds like it just might work ~ I need to do something myself as well ~ just need that brilliant idea first!
Not to sound ignorant, but what exactly does the gallbladder do? I didn’t realize you’d have to have a special diet.
I enjoyed the visit. Keep in touch if you’d like.
Chrissie´s last blog ..Silence