bros i fucking bought a house

I just about finished my neon cat. It needs a few more layers of paint in a few places, but I am really happy with the way it looks. I stuck to the paint by numbers because it was fun and lovely -- well, stuck to it except for the eyes.

I think the eyes look pretty good. Or at least no worse than they would've without me messing around.

I'm trying to work on some kind of OC/ARTPOST, which will likely become an Etsy/biz?niz?owner?? post in disguise.

Temporary tattoos are strangely popular items on Etsy, or at least in my Etsy shop. I like to make temporary tattoos of tattoos I've considered getting in life.

I haven't listed this one yet, but the art 'gram reacted way more than I expected, so now I think I might have to. It's rather fun, at least, innit? It blurred a little when I put it on. That's user error though...well, mostly. (I suspect the best maximum size for temporary tattoos is not large.)

I drew the dude, but not anything else.

Busy day at work today. That's okay. We are re-integrating a business unit that used to be part of ours several years ago, was split out and now is back again. They are having a bumpy ride realizing that "just because it used to be a certain way, does not mean that way is right, good, or how we'd like to do it in this LOB." I expect many more bumps along this road over, probably, the next 6 months.

I think we all know that beer makes men(and women, and people) dehydrated. Am I alone in experiencing this, or does corona take it one step further -- and make men (and women, and people) EXTRAORDINARILY THIRSTY? Wait, don't judge me. I'm not hopelessly parched myself. This is a comment on the grade and hopelessness of men trying to hit on me.

M O V I N G

Today is box city day, where I take all the boxes and I make them into a city.

Tomorrow is moving truck day, where we take all the boxes and we put them in a truck.

Friday is VA day, where we take the truck and we drive it down south. Then we take the boxes out and we are back to box city day.

Next there will be CATURDAY, where we come back and I pack up the cats and I drive south again.

Thankfully we still have the lease until 9/30 so NO, I have not packed up 100% of my stuff. I feel like I've got a very solid 90% though. Things that are left are things like free weights, paintings on walls, spices, cutlery, some of the records. I'm planning to be back for Labor Day weekend to pack up a big carload.

IT'S MY LIFE AND IT'S EXCITING AND ONCE I MOVE TO RICHMOND I'M GETTING A BIKE AND I'M NOT GOING TO DRIVE ANYWHERE UNTIL THEY MAKE ME GO BACK TO WORK!!! (Maybe.)

I have a lot of plans for my brand new life. I am excited.

Last night I dreamed about someone whom I'd loved very much. And in my dream, he loved me back and in front of our friends.

Once I move to VA there is nothing stopping me: the Pursuit of Twue Wuv. Can't hide from it anymore...

Can you get to that?

I got a new computer today (NOT a laptop and oh my god the pleasure of a big screen!!!) and a new-to-me TV over the weekend (50”, like I’m over here in big vision land now I swear) and I’m just like. Super enjoying these.

There is more to my life than material pleasure but I just got the computer today and I haven’t used a 20” screen in years, allow me to wallow in the pleasure

So, dating.

I had one first date this past Sunday and I have 4 more lined up for this Thursday-Sunday. No double booking people -- at least not of yet. I'm approaching dating rather seriously this go round. The goal: find someone who I get along with and share a lot in common with, who I want to hang out with a lot!

It's interesting, this approach, because I've never quite tried something like this before. I'm using Hinge, thanks to the advice of several people, and it's going much, MUCH better than the playing field on OKCupid, so thank you for your recommendations. I've actually stepped a bit too far into the swimming pool as I have surplus of gentlemen who would like to meet. However, I'm absolutely refining and updating my selections for this weekend as various users seem less likely to pan out. I'm learning a great deal about some basic attributes I'm looking for in someone. For instance:

- i prefer someone who has experience in some kind of office environment mainly because if you don't you have no idea what the fuck i do and it's really hard to explain it; at least if you work in an office environment, i might be able to begin to explain it effectively

- also having a similar job = similar schedules, which is a big thing. i was awakened to the reality of this one when a bartender messaged me at 3 am hoping i kept "bartender hours." no, buddy, i'm sorry, but i almost never will message you back at 3 am. and i like to wake up at 7. most bar shifts start around the time i get off work you know?

- it's interesting how the pandemic has really diversified people's experiences of the past 18 months, and to be honest i'm going to have more in common with people who had similar experiences than i did. i have most in common with other people who went to full time work from home.

- obviously, i need someone with similar tattoo appreciation as I have, which i realized today when i messaged my thursday night date about tattoos and he had a decidedly lukewarm response!! something i didn't even THINK about until it happened!

- at this point, at this age, a guy with a kid or an ex wife is actually more interesting as a potential option than someone who's made it to 30 and no one has been willing to commit to yet

it's a game of quality AND quantity. there are a lot of great guys out there but once you start sorting out all the "obviously incompatible lifestyle" folks out the playing field dwindles. I am MOST excited for my date on Saturday. This person really has almost everything I am interested in...

....but now i realized i have to check about tattoos :)

We have entered Deathwatch 2020. I'm here in person, but we got mom to cancel the actual Thanksgiving -- the one where somehow, she, her mom's primary caretaker since the beginning of October, was also going to cook the same elaborate 3-day-in-the-making Thanksgiving fest she always does -- and host all her siblings and their significant others that were willing to come -- and, at least in the plans from 1-2 weeks ago, hoist our bed-bound grandmother into a wheelchair and wheel her out to the dining room to preside -- that is, sleep, or at least not be able to feed herself or recognize any of the attendees -- at the head of the table.

Glad that we got her to cancel that.

Things took a turn for the worse with Gram about a week ago. She hasn't eaten or taken in fluids since last Thursday really. I came up from VA earlier than planned so I could be here for my mom. As of yesterday my sister's been staying in the house too (to avoid some potential COVID complications that come along with careless roommates) and in a way it's kind of nice. It's as nice and as supportive as we can make it for my mom.

Gram could go today, or tomorrow. Dad's metaphorical money has been for Thursday this whole time. He's also got a pretty good history at accurately guessing what his wrapped Christmas/birthday presents are, so it would be a nice but not-immediately-mentionable feather in his prescience cap if he got this one right too. Maybe I should thank him for my generally-on-point gut predictions when same-day 15-minute "Team Update" meetings land on our calendars at work.

Mom is grieving, and this is very tough on her. Wish that made her any easier to deal with, but nope -- turns out you don't get any less bossy or controlling when you're taking care of someone you love who's dying by the minute and hasn't been conscious since Saturday or Sunday. Oh, how we can hate the things we do because of the people we love, and because or when those things are part of doing our best to love them in the way that feels best -- in the only way that felt right, reasonable, conscionable to us in the dimly lit maze of paths of adult life and "never been here before" and we had to make a decision in the moment before the path went ahead and passed us by, making the decision for us because life moves on even if we decide we are paralyzed and cannot move with doubt.

It is good to have this exposure and this experience. The death of each of your grandparents, after all, is both an inevitable and shared human experience. In this way, I can see this experience as making me less alone: I am being somewhere so many others have been before. This is something I will now have in common with many, and something that others in my life will experience in the future and having experienced it already may help me be close to them when it happens in their experiences.

Life is not all comfortable, bright, happy and kind. There is also value in being here, and in or for the discomfort that it brings. If I were not here for this I would be robbed of some of the depth and spectrum of human experience.

We must confront our realities head-on. No, it will not always be comfortable -- nor should it. No, we will not always like it -- nor should we expect that: we should not expect that every square of the quilt of our entire human life will be cut from the same cloth. That would make it worse than boring. It would make it not worth mentioning; it would make the whole thing forgettable, machine-replicable, and in a way -- because it would be facile to reproduce, because it would be uniform and no piece would have any difference -- it would make such a life lose much value.

Existence that is the same all the time is called stasis. Can stasis be considered any real existence at all?

When I was 19 I looked a metaphorical shotgun down the barrel and I decided that I was the kind of person who, when I realized there were hard things happening ahead, would confront them and deal with them. Regardless of whether I did or didn't want to and regardless of how it made me feel while I dealt with them.

I would rather look the monster in the face and see it coming, watch it as it moves, and learn to recognize what it looks like -- than hide beneath the covers, hope this would make it disappear, and never know what it was doing or where it was headed or whether it was coming for me at all.

That doesn't mean I enjoy the looking. But I am here to grit my teeth, and do it.

Update: Deathwatch 2020 is now over. It’s a mercy. RIP

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. :)

Sleepy joe the sleeper hit.

Don’t mind me, I’ve been trying to find some kind of metaphor to fit in with the sleepy moniker for like a week now, and the next best thing I got is “sleepy joe the sniper.” Not quite as good, I’m afraid

I get fully vaccinated today bless UP

My date was successful in every way except in the way that engenders new dates. At the very end of the evening, around 1 AM or so, when we were alone together, he told me, we couldn't possibly date because of the distance, but if I wanted to hook up, you know, of course that would be fine. And I said no, I wouldn't be doing that, and I left.

I had a very fun time though, and I felt things. And the guy was super attractive to me and I think this helps me isolate some more of the traits I'm looking for in a person.

Some people who you'd definitely tag as being "on my side" (moms and friends) think that the dude could've been more careful with my feelings. If he knew he didn't want to date me because I lived in VA, he knew that before I ever came up for the weekend. And it is accurate to note that the dude is the one who pushed some escalation of the expectations of the date; he's the one that asked to call me on Thursday (and we spent 40 minutes speaking). He's the one who kind of kept bringing up relationship expectations when we hung out.

I think that's ok. I think people can be confused. I was willing to see how things could be. It turns out he doesn't have family near me like I thought, so that's a factor that changed over the course of us hanging out (just because I'd made a wrong supposition). I do have to admit this isn't the first time a guy has had me at his place at 1 AM after several, several hours of hanging out -- to only tell me then that he's unavailable for some reason. (This is the second.) I don't know.

I got to get fabulously dressed up, I even painted my toenails, and I looked amazing. I'm confident that as a date/weekend, I freakin' killed it. So, although rejected, I left the weekend really appreciative of 95% of the experience. Kahneman says that we have bad memories, and we will judge an entire experience based on the last 5 seconds or minutes of it. If that little bit of time is negative, we'll perceive the whole thing negatively, even if most of it was positive. I'm not going to do that with my weekend. I enjoyed a heck of a lot of it. :)

And then I ran 9.32 miles on Monday because fuck it, if I get rejected, I'm going to go out there and get me a win. (PS. Wasn't it a mutual rejection anyway? He rejected dating me, while I rejected having sex with him.)

Musings from adulthood ---

I don’t know the last time I Pubski’d. I think I told y’all I’ve been picking up running (my four month runnaversary is on the 10th! Stable relationships ftw, woot! I’ll take my running shoes out for a pasta dinner maybe, 😂) as of late, and that I’d signed up for a 10k in April and was on a training plan and my goal was to run it in 1 hour or less.

Well. I’ll set the scene. It was New Year’s Eve, I’d had some wine, and I was feeling nice and relaxed. I was taking a break from running for the holidays (as in, I didn’t run 12/31 or 1/1). I checked my email. Lo and behold! One of the running sites has my email and sent me something.

“Time for New Years Resolutions runs!” uh-oh, I thought. An effective clickbait subject line. They must know me.

I click in to the email.

“Save 20% with code 2020!” they said. “10k races!” they said. “Jan 5: 3rd annual memorial race for a local high school senior! $24 with discount!”

I swear the bottle of wine nearby gained sentience and took over. I couldn’t remember typing in my info or my credit card details, suddenly I was on a race confirmation page. I was running a surprise 10k in 5 days! Holy shit!

Well, guys, I ran it. I had a fantastic time(as in, at the event). My actual time wasn’t bad either: 57:09. Damn. I already beat my April goal.

Looks like I need a new goal for the April 10k! I’m so glad I did the run last weekend. It went to a good cause and I ran faster than I thought I could! (This is a side effect, partially, of being directly AT the starting line when the gun went off — for some reason everyone was being shy about being right at the front. I ran my first mile in 8:59 as I was surrounded by all these faster people passing me. :D)

According to r/running a lot of people seem to pick up running and jump into marathons right away. I do want to do a marathon and am confident in my ability to complete one, when I get there. However, I really like what I’m currently doing; I ran 2 5ks in fall 2019; looks like I’ll run 2 10ks in early 2020; I have plans for my first half marathon in the mid to late fall. I like this accidental concept of running two of each kind of race before progressing onward.

Anyway, it’s clearly my newest addiction — but it makes me feel great, and it gives me a good challenge that gets me out of the house. I was considering posting a race report here after the 10k, but figured I’d wait for Pubski. I don’t know how many runners we have in our ranks - a few, at least, I know.

Anyway. It just feels good to share. More than anything, I just want to make sure I stick with it this time. My approach and my feelings about running this go-round have been really different in a positive way compared to basically every other time I’ve laced up my shoes and decided to make a go of it, so I’m optimistic. More than optimistic, however, I’m at the point where I really embrace the fact that the only way to be sure that running is going to stick with me is by doing it. Every day. And the big picture will take care of itself.

Happy Wednesday, hubski! I hope whatever your current endeavor or obsession is, that it is treating you just as well.

it can only do so much. the desire of the site has skewed notably towards link posts. discussion (#askhubski) and OC-sharing posts used to be extremely common. this used to feel like a place where people were asked and invited to share of themselves.

now it's a somewhat lofty but no better than well-sifted reddit link aggregator, minus a few recurring threads that help bring it together (pubskis, music threads, etc)

this is really not a place where people feel comfortable opening the floor with sharing themselves or their content anymore and that used to be very, very common.

Well THIS BITCH ran eleventy-eleven point eleventy-eleven miles today, which is pretty dang cool. That is a personal distance PR/PB for me.

I signed up for another 5k. At this point I'm ready to call a 5k a fun run. What I like about the local 5ks that I'm signing up for is that nearly all of them have the money go to benefit some cause or something. So I'm having fun running "competitively," at least getting experience with racing, and my dollars are going to causes I like to support in my local community! This new 5k will be in May (after my upcoming 10k) and it supports my local SPCA. Guess what they're calling it.

Go on, guess.

Ahahaha. OK, you guys give up? They're calling it...the fast and the furriest 5k.

Seriously guys, how could a gal say no to that??

Also, here are some stamps I've been carving.

I've been doing a lot of research into printing, as in carved-print-printing, and it's pretty cool. But also a little too serious. I like my stamps. I think I'm going to continue artistically experimenting with a healthy mixture of both approaches.

Now excuse me, while I go eat a pizza.

We should totally reboot grubski. I've been cooking my ass off. We celebrated taco tuesday yesterday.

A while ago I made pizza and would've posted a #breadwatch, except I ate most of the better-looking one (the first) before I thought of it.

I’m reading a very good book called “Trick Mirror” by Jia Tolentino. It’s a collection of essays that essentially swirl around both internet culture and feminism. It’s very smart. I wanted to recommend it to the hub.

Packing for my big move has begun. I’ve warned my closest circle that I anticipate panic to kick in around Aug 1 — that will be two weeks out from the move date.

My sister appears to finally have found a roommate to replace me in the apartment — her third try. The flakiness of my sister’s friends is a fact. My brother asked me on the phone today if I think either the new roomie or my sister will clean the place. Scoffing, I said no.

I started running again this week. I am easing back into it. I’ve been waking up at 5 am to get outside before the heat gets too awful. It is an extremely valuable endeavor for my well being and my soul.

My resting heart rate is trending high and has all year. I suspect my blood pressure too. I hope I can bring it down/manage it through exercise and good eating. There’s a family history though.

All any of us can do is our best. I have hope for all if you, hubski. Be safe. Be well.

Hello! I'm here. I check in weekly or so or if I get a good article. I stop by weekly for Pubskis. Chat is fun. I come through when I get call-outs. I actually even got a new computer that's primary use and have Hubski saved on it sooo, yeah, theoretically I could be around here more even. But I enjoy my low key life.

Things are going really, really well actually. I signed up for a second half-marathon today! ::crying laughing emoji:: My first will be in September and this next one will be in November. I've never even run 13.1 miles yet!

But I will tell you that yesterday I ran 9.32 in a slow 1h50 min. I have a while before I settle onto a training plan for my first half marathon. I think for a while, I might just commit to two hour runs every other week until hopefully I can get closer to 13 miles done in that time. I'd like to do the half in 2:15 or less. I've been speed training on the side too, so really, I should be getting faster. I just definitely wasn't trying to do anything fast for my first time running 9 miles in about a year!

Other things are going well. I'm focusing on self care and having fun and balance and running. And fitness. And all the running. But also lots of reading. And podcasts. And cooking 90% of my food at home. And not drinking. I think it's uh....I think it's healthy? I think it's good for me :)

Also, getting pumped for future HOT GIRL SUMMER because in addition to all the above did I mention I've also been crosstraining 2-3x weekly with my BFF down the street? we are phenomssss and I just spend a couple hundred dollars on exercise gear

Being healthy is my boyfriend

You know what's going to change?

F'n dating.

I have a no meeting day tomorrow. It's beautiful. I'm planning to luxuriate in it. I even figured out how to set the delay timer on the coffee. If I'm lucky, I'll wake to the smell of coffee brewing.

Thing about a no meeting day is it can be thrown off, yes. But we already had an emergency "can you do this today" pull up on Monday, so I can't imagine my boss is going to sign the team up for another one on Wednesday. And today was a big deadline day, as was this past Friday, which means there is truly nothing that could be going on tomorrow that is going to raise my blood pressure up. I have so many plans. It will be glorious

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

i'm disputing a fraudulent transaction with Chase, they have already incorrectly denied it once, i got mad tonight and i escalated with the CFPB because FUCK YOU, this bih DIDN'T receive any $757 order from vistaprint nor did she make one

Y'all, if shit ever goes wonky with your bank, a) dispute dispute dispute, b) escalate to your regulator, c) loop this bih in and I'll fight for you. This is literally the kind of shit that I spend years validating was performed correctly for my own bank, and what Chase is doing is exactly what I would've flagged in a deep dive as (as the kids call it) "inappropro" behavior.

i m mad

that's all just wanted to vent thanks for listening

I am putting my head down, reading Atomic Habits, journaling, running, creating art daily, eating clean, drinking lots of water. These are my goals, day to day. (That and working.) It is working for me.

I will be going back home to DE for the next two weekends in a row, it looks like. Then I have some friends from DE coming to visit me and the local breweries here! I have a nice number of things on the short term horizon to look forward to.

Yes, my grandmother is dying. This is an event that will be more about my mom, and aunts and uncle, than me. I am trying to be there for them, now and when it happens. It is not so sad for me -- and also, I feel like this need to live life with health and balance -- is probably a part of it. But it is certainly helping me mentally to feel I am living healthily and well.

37 miles ran so far this September :)

Bitch they’re gonna fly me to TX for the next round of interviewsssss

I applied for a job.

I will keep you posted.

I would like to get it!

I had a wonderful weekend hanging out with very good friends. It's funny. You don't realize how much of a narrow echo chamber you may have become ensnared into until you hang out with people from outside. It's so good to be reminded of the variety of opinions and the variety of people that can know you, and know you well, when you step outside of it.

I have been setting boundaries with my Nosey Neighbor and it has been going well!

I have begun Zee Online Dating. I tried OKC briefly, not much luck, am moving on to Hinge. Here's to hopefully meeting new people in person soon.

I drew some more badass tattoo inspired art. Hope y'all like it, Hubski !! --

today was a day of pajamas and trash tv watching, it was perfect

Y’know, I always really liked Lord of the Rings.

I’m talking about like taught-myself-elvish, the-poem-I-recited-because-of-a-mandatory-English-requirement-in-eighth-grade-was-TheLayOfLethian, my first TWO email addresses were elvish references, my first online internet friend was from Lotr role playing forums, that’s how much I liked LOTR, liked LOTR sorta person.

Everyone here so far as I can see is kind of focusing on books that changed who they were on some fundamentalist, Ayn Rand sort of libertarian level.

Nah I ain’t got that. I haven’t read a book that singlehandedly shaped me politically or changed how I related to my peers. On that note, Holden Caulfield is kind of a piece of shit.

But was I gifted Sméagol/Gollum posters almost every secret Santa we had in high school? And could I write in Dwarven characters if I was pressed?

You bet your god damn ass on both counts I can, and for that, and the Lay of Luthien which I can still at least begin to recite —

the leaves were long, the grass was green

The hemlock umbels tall and fair

And in the glade a light was seen

Tinuviel was dancing there

The light of stars was in her hair

And in her raiment, shimmering...

Aye, yeah, those books changed my life. And my early internet friendships, through LOTR role playing forums, brought me here. I wouldn’t be half so accepting (and loving) of your took-fools if it weren’t for that. Ay, me. Memory lane, and it smells all of Kings-foil.

Hello.

I am the Broganator.

My current location is homegrown. I describe myself as a homegrown girl.

I check hubski about once a week. Sometimes more frequently. It actually surprises me that nowaypablo had a point when he posted about screentime having an effect on phone usage.

I am inspired by continual improvement.

I have previously been preoccupied by being so preoccupied with mundane things it allowed me to not notice the big picture.

Now I am preoccupied with continual improvement I guess. But also very happy with myself. I think the key is to always be trying to get better but understand some days you need to fail as well.

Lol what the fuck do I know?

I guess I am also preoccupied with my next set of 5 year plans. I used to write down lists of 5 year plans in my early 20s. It turns out I am about to turn 30 (“about” means “in 9 months” means “truly I’m getting old to measure about so imprecisely”) and lo and behold. I had achieved all my 5 year goals. So for a goal driven person for a while I was in this unfortunate place of having had goals, and having achieved them...aka not having any more goals to help steer me anymore.

So I’ve been thinking up new goals! Good news; I seem to be coming to them. I believe in the power of writing 5 year goals down. Hey —- it worked the first time!!

Serious about that meet up —

Refugee

A decade's a nice unit. Big one. I also have to say it's nice to have my birthday right before the EOY, it gives me nice round numbers to work with.

10 years ago I was 20 and midway through my last year of college. I was majoring in English literature I did have a job, telemarketing, although I was soon to lose it -- it was a small, 3rd party telemarketing 'firm' I guess and it shut down. I had two tattoos. I had a lot of friends and did a lot of partying. I was on very bad terms with my parents. I LARPed. I smoked cigarettes (Marlboro Smooths, at the time). I experimented with LSD and shrooms that winter. I had lazy eye wink many lovahhhs. 10 years ago this New Year's would be the New Year's I agreed to go with my on-and-off-boyfriend to Philadelphia (or maybe it was even New York -- who knew, it was never going to happen) and instead I ghosted on him two days before NYE and went to Philadelphia with a guy I'd met off OKC like, three days earlier. Look -- I'm not saying that 10-years-ago-me was a lot of fun, but she certainly had a lot of fun, and that's all I can say about that. In April I would become engaged -- to someone else. Someone I met while LARPing.

Fastforward 10 years! Interesting things happen! I move a lot. Believe it or not, eventually, my life actually settles down. I get my first professional job at a bank and then skip around to a few more banks. I get two wonderful fat cats! 16 more tattoos! Many concert experiences later, I no longer LARP and don't frequently party. I have picked up running as a very recent end-of-the-decade addiction. I am both a much nicer person, and a much happier person, than I was 10 years ago. I am also a much more stable person.

What did this past decade teach me?

It taught me a lot about myself. I would say that at 20, I didn't know myself at all. I guess what I'm saying is that "knowing thyself" is also the value. You can't really move forward, in my opinion, if you don't know yourself and who you are.