#365Gratitude Day 50:Bryn a very good day

On Sunday, my friend Bryn came to visit.

Bryn's a kink friend of mine, someone I know from going to Camp Crucible.  And in recent months, for whatever reason, we've gone from acquaintances to really good friends.

We both love awful puns, which we frequently share with one another online.  We're both kinky people, and we move in many of the same kink circles.

She's a nerdy techie, like myself, a pagan, a cat person, a sci-fi/fantasy novel reader, a philosophy nut, all that good stuff.

She recently got a new car (and woah, is that thing sexy), which I helped her to name, punnishly, "The Cargonzo Bean", and for which we both decided she needed a plushie chicken as a car co-pilot.  During our day together, we also realized the chicken would be named Carmilla.

Feel free to wince.

Anyhow, the whole morning was super nice.  We hung out at my house, chitchatted, went out for a lovely breakfast, then went plushie shopping.  As we did, we just talked about ourselves and one another, and our friendship, and it was super.

I remember when I was a little kid, like actually physically a little kid, and used to go on "play dates" to a friend's house.  It felt a whole lot like that.

One of the nicest parts of the day was when we were bopping around the mall.  I had talked to her at some length about how I'm dissociative, and my little, mako-kun, both is and is not quite me.  He's my brain-room-mate.  I love him, and protect him, as he's a big part of me.  

He doesn't come forward in public very often, because that's not a safe thing for him.  We, he and I, really don't want any negative attention from anyone about being this way we are.  It's one of the few big, easy weak spots we have.  We aren't crazy, and don't want to be labeled as such.  (To be honest, as open as I am in this blog, I had to take a minute to decide I was going to write about it here.)

So, we're in the Disney store, looking for a plushie chicken, like you do, when Bryn leans in and whispers to mako-kun, and asks him if he'd like one or two of these cute plushie little things called tsum-tsum.  They're a bit like Disney's answer to beanie-babies.

He popped right out, delighted, and said yes.

They walked around the store together, and he found two he very much wanted.  Heimlich, the caterpillar from A Bug's Life, and Eva, the robot from Wall-E.

When we got up to the cash register he very sagely swapped places with me, and let me hand the tsum-tsums to Bryn, who got them for us.

Afterwards, as we walked around the mall, she asked me if that was okay, her having called him to come out like that.  It was more than okay, it was delightful.  Mako-kun likes her a lot.  I like her a lot.

I'm so glad she's our friend.

#365Gratitude Day 49:There's hope for me yet

So, one of my bigger weaknesses has to do with clutter.  It's my kryptonite.  I do well when I have order around me, and I have to work hard to overcome clutter when my stuff gets cluttered.  I think what happens is that, in my head, the amount of energy and time it'll take to create order-out-of-the-chaos gets magnified, and I shy away from it.

Every so often though, when I've got some clutter going on, I can find the energy and drive to do something about it.

Case in point, the hope chest in our bedroom.

Missy and I had a plan for this thing.  It was going to be the comfy place to sit where I put my shoes on.  What it turned into was the "here's where unfolded clean clothes get dumped when you're too tired from being up too late doing things" spot.

I went out of my way on Saturday to reboot that sucker, successfully.

CLEANING WARS, EPISODE IV:A NEW HOPE... CHEST

It didn't really take too long.  About an hour of folding, hanging clothes, and being deliberate about things.  And I'm grateful for it, because the very exercise has shown me that succumbing to the clutter isn't a foregone conclusion.

It makes me want to straighten up my home office too.

I feel like such a grownup.

#365Gratitude Day 48:That's money

On Friday I was working from home when I got a mail from my boss to get in touch with him about my "annual pay increase."

I thought that was a funny, and very promising way to refer to going over my performance review.  I was right, too.

I gave him a call, and he told me about the nice raise I was getting, said I was approved for at least one, if not potentially both of the training/conference related things I wanted to do this year, and said this wonderful thing to me, about how I'm "one of the most trusted and valuable employees at the company."

Damn, that felt good.

I've been at my current gig for about two years now.  Before that, I was at a much larger company, who treated me very much like a number, or perhaps a tiny, very replaceable cog in a giant machine.

I don't talk about my day job very much here, for a number of reasons, but I sure am grateful for it.  It's terrific to work someplace where I make a difference, and am appreciated.

#365Gratitude Day 47:Ah Bagels, anyone?

This morning, while updating my blog and doing just a wee bit of random surfing, I stumbled across an amazing piece of ABDL art.  

This one:

Sick and Clingy, by Ah Bagels

In it, a guy with longish red hair, a wet diaper and a shark plushie lays in his sick bed, in his room filled with shark related things, as he's being lovingly tended to by a caregiver with a bottle.

AMAZING.

It's by an artist who goes by the name "Ah Bagels".  I found it at his tumblr.  I had a look through his tumblr, and his stuff is brilliant.  I think I'd like to commission some art from him, based on my writing.

#365Gratitude Day 46:The groove

Yesterday did not seem like it was going to be a high productivity day.

First, there was the absolutely wretched night of sleep I had had the night before.

Second, there was leaving the house late, due to dealing with cat litter maintenance nonsense, and having to stop for gas on my way.

Kinda like that

Third, there was the long lunch I took to meet up with a relative I hadn't seen in about 15 years.

But, as the day wore on, I found my groove.

Something I had been researching and tinkering with for days just sort of clicked.

Also like this

I was going to stay late anyhow, but I found my second wind, and stayed much later and got most of the feature I was working on, well, working.

I went from feeling tired to feeling determined.  At one point, I said, "well, this is a good stopping point, I can come back to the rest tomorrow."

Then I said to myself, "right... fuck that keep going."

When I got home, I was plenty tired.  But I felt good.