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A Short Time That Feels A Lot Longer

I've only known her since January, but it feels like it's been many months, not just mere weeks that I've known her and have fallen for her so much. She's seen me weak and vulnerable, tended to me gently during those times, and has seen me strong. She puts a smile in my heart and has rocked my world. I have so many swirling, wonderful things inside of me, and she's right there and a huge part of all that. If I'm not with her, I'm thinking about her, daydreaming of her. And when I am with her, I hope I'm showing her how much I ... (well, she knows that last part).

I told my parents about her this past weekend. They're quite happy for me. I'm happy for K and myself. I'm amazed.

Messages

The last two days, I've been left messages from someone expecting a return call. The first one, yesterday, the person stated a name and then garbled the return number.

Today, the person called back and sounded irritated that I hadn't returned their call. Paraphrasing, the person said, "I called you yesterday, you didn't call me back." Again, the person gave a name and a number, this time ungarbled. However, in both instances, the person did not state a reason for the call.

I have a firm policy about returning calls from people I don't know when they fail to state their business:

I don't.

Resolving To Have Resolve

Following up on my post about following-through, I'm putting down what I'd like to accomplish in 2006 and beyond.

It seems resolutions are selfish by nature, but then again, isn't a weblog about myself self-indulgent as well. Those things are supposed to be. With that, I do hope I'll be less self-absorbed, or at least, if I am, that it'll help in being less self-absorbed in the future, if any of that made any sense.

Before the jump, another blog link--the Creative Writing Corner. As you may have noticed besides the new colors and postcard at the top, I've changed some of the sidebar content as well. The new link is a part of that in an effort to find more decent blogs to read.

Mom And Dad Dating

My parents loaned to me some of their photos to start scanning and preserving. Here's one of my parents when they were dating in Spain, which would be 1963, perhaps early 1964 prior to when they got married that April.

He must have been hiding his Spanish/English dictionary.

I don't plan on posting too many of these photos, but among those they gave me in the first batch are a couple of my dad when he was 5 years old, which includes one with his grandmother. I have my very first picture with Santa Claus, taken with my two older sisters when I was 7 months old, and another baby picture of me when I was just a few months old. Those last two I may show. I haven't really gone through all of them yet, though, so who knows?

I got a chance to flip through other pictures I left behind, photos that span over 40-50 years. In the case of the two I brought home of my dad, those photos are 60 years old. The above photo is just 42-43 years old.

A Good Christmas

It poured Christmas day as I drove to my sister's house.

All in all, a good day though. She went to a lot of trouble, especially considering that only a few days prior, her decorated tree crashed in the early morning hours and she had to put it back together and clean the glass from the ornaments that fell. She had it tied up so it wouldn't fall.

Why Soaps Are So Unnecessary

My mom loves to watch soaps; it's partly how she learned English when she first came to the US almost 40 years ago.

But as bizarre as those things can be, and are, there's enough in real life for sustenance. Soaps are hardly a reality escape anyway.

In The Shadow Of Prosperity

I'm in the shadow of prosperity
Poking holes in the dark
From destitution to comfort is contested territory
A mixed product of bad choices and misfortune hit their mark

Poking holes in the dark
The shade still takes prominence
A mixed product of bad choices and misfortune hit their mark
With blinding glimpses of extravagance

The shade still takes prominence
I have bills I can scarcely afford
With blinding glimpses of extravagance
I make cuts and the rich get more

I have bills I can scarcely afford
From destitution to comfort is contested territory
I make cuts and the rich get more
I'm in the shadows of prosperity

* I got source material from two places for this poem--the book, The Working Poor, by David K. Shipler (shadows of prosperity, destitution to comfort...) and part of a sermon I heard yesterday (the part about poking holes in the dark).

Gusty Gobblin'

Some notes from Thanksgiving:

• Brother-in-law (husband of my oldest sister) gave me 8 of his dress shirts (they were dry cleaned, he said).
• Overheard my sister and her husband saying that a neighbor of theirs may need to be put in a nursing home soon, with them saying this woman is coming to this realization.
• Of my parents, older (but not oldest) sister and me, guess who showed up first? Me, by a half-hour no less.
• Nephew, contrary to what I thought, hasn't seen Goblet of Fire, but was quizzing me about that and Half-Blood Prince.  Same nephew, in 5th grade now and a regular honor roll student, got his first report card back--straight A's.

The Team Championship Picture

The photo of my soccer team after we won the championship game in the playoffs.

Counting the regular season, playoffs and our league's tournament (a random draw of teams in two different divisions--two divisions have their own tourney, the other two have theirs), we finished 8-3-1 this year. This past spring we finished 10-0-2, winning another division championship, and last fall we lost in the championship in double overtime, 1-0, after going 10-4-0 (I think that was the record). So, in my team's past three seasons, we have a record of 28-7-3. Not too bad...

Anyway, I think you can tell which one is me. I'm the one not wearing blue.

Beautiful Letdown

I don't know how it is for others when they're either spending a few days with someone, or having someone over for a few days, and then have to deal with the parting.

I've been moody the last few days dealing with that. I go from relative silence, to having great conversation and company--even when not talking--and then back to silence.

Then the emotional crash.

It hit somewhere Friday, and I really noticed it a bit Saturday. True, the natural emotion from the movie I saw that day did it to me, but it was like walking on an island with a bunch of people around, but you couldn't communicate with any of them no matter how you tried.

And then Sunday, I watched the team I follow play horribly.

Even if no words were spoken, I think sometimes it's better to have someone around. It's like someone opening the blinds to your room a little different; more light comes in; more life comes into the place, even if everything else is the same and you hear no other sound other than their breathing.

Someone understanding--conversations in silence, silly words, deep thoughts. That's the best part about good friends, good people.

They bring light.