#365Gratitude Day 256: Yang knows

On Sunday I was good for exactly nothing. I was so worn out from my late night (and to be honest, accumulated slept debt from this whole past week), that I mostly spent the day laying around the house. I did finish reading Wesley Chu's The Lives of Tao and listening to Peter Clines's Ex-Patriots .  (Not at the same time, that would be insane.) 

My awesome boycat Yang knew I was worn out and he gave me comfort snuggling all day.  

I mean look at that. How insanely cute is this cat?  

 (Oh and the Chu book was okay, I give it a solid 6 out of 10.  The idea is neat, but the storytelling has some big issues.  The Clines book is amazing, I've listened to it before. 9 out of 10, no doubt.)

5#365Gratitude Day 255: Good friends

Saturday was a jam packed day for connecting with friends.  

First, Saturday morning I had a good long online chat with Ms Lemon.  I used to be in service to Ms. Lemon and her husband, Rob. That was 12 years ago .

That blows my mind a little.  As I told her, the time I spent with them taught me a lot about who I was, and who I could be. It was a super important part of my life.  It was Ms. Lemon who introduced me to Dan Milman's Way of the Peaceful Warrior and who first really showed me what being in service felt like. Big, big things. 

Then I drove up to surprise my friend Peanut at a birthday party at Medieval Times. That was so super nice. She was all schmoopy over my being there and hugged me about a million times. I love Peanut to pieces. Her little is my little's best friend. We watched the show, and had really good cake.  Afterwards I really wanted to go home with her, and she really wanted me to, too.  

But I couldn't. I just had other things to do. Including stopping at my friend RS's house because I owed him a bag of diapers. I stopped there and visited with him, his awesome wife Kimby, as well as my friends Tan, Rumpus Parable, and Sandbox Phil, an American ageplayer who lives in the Middle East, who I get to see maybe once a year when he visits.  

That was so excellent. I stayed way, way too late, and drove home around 1 am. On the way, my little girl Valentalae kept me phone company which helped me stay alert on the road.  

I'm really very fortunate. I have so many good friends, friends I've had a long while, and who stick by me.  They love me, and I love them right back.  

#365Gratitude Day 254: The Cake is a Lie

Better late than never. My friend Michael got me hooked on the game Portal.  I bought it on Labor Day, then binged on it all week. ​

On Friday, I beat it. ​

Portal is a dark, sick, quirky game. It's fascinating in that it's both nonviolent and yet disturbing at the same time. You're stuck, alone, in a test lab, which you have to make your way through, one puzzle room at a time. 

While you do so, you're teased and baited by a malfunctioning, homicidal artificial intelligence named GlaDOS. ​

She promises you cake when you're finished. It's a lie. ​

#365Gratitude Day 253: Reconnection

Yesterday I reconnected with two old friends.

First, my friend Jaden.  I haven't seen her in 12 years!  She's a lovely submissive girl who enjoys being humiliated and beaten.  She's sweet, kind, funny, gentle, and nice, and really loves it when you call her a worthless cunt.  

Well, if you mean it.  Years ago, I once tried to call her that, and she sort of patted me on the head and said it was a nice try, A for effort, and all that, but that I was too sweet to actually mean it.

She found my profile on Fetlife, through a mutual friend, and sent me a mail, and we have been texting since.

So nice.

Then there's my colleague and friend, C.  We met for sushi last night.  I've worked with C. for ages, on and off, across multiple different jobs.  He's smart, and funny, and we help each other out.  Months will go by when we don't talk, and we've each got lives of our own, but we're excellent work-and-post-work friends.  I got in touch with him because of something I'm working on (using X.509 information in certificate authentication schemes, aren't you glad you asked?), and he actually will be working on it soon, too, so we got together to talk it out.  He knows all about my kink side, too.  I forget how that even came about, but it's like no big deal whatsoever.  I really appreciate my friendship with him.

It's good to reconnect with friends.

#365Gratitude Day 252: Lonely vs Alone

So Missy's been out of town since Sunday.  I was prepared for being alone to suck somewhat.

Yesterday I went to work, and had a frustrating morning, of making little headway on a project.  I decided to stay a little later, because I was coming home to just the cats anyhow, and they don't seem to clock watch me much.

The office was much quieter, and I was able to find the concentration I needed.  Suddenly, I got something to work that I hadn't been able to all day amidst the chatter and buzz of my other coworkers.

Then on my way home, I decided to stop for dinner.  I tried a Korean chicken place I've been meaning to forever.  

It was fantastic!  While I ate dinner, I got some text messages from Missy, and we talked back and forth about our days.

I came home, fiddled on the computer for a bit, and soon after got the "it's time for bed" text messages from Missy, who sent me to diaper myself and hit the sack.  (Poor sack!) 

As I drifted off to sleep, it struck me how my day really turned around when my expectations for it changed.  I turned a lonely day into an alone day.  They're very different things.

It felt good.