New Digs - Back with Haus

I spent a fair bit of the Christmas season packing & moving. It took 4 or 5 van-loads to transfer all of my stuff, furniture, clothes, etc. to Haus' place. Most of it went into the garage; my bedroom is even smaller than the room I had in Beaverton. Although in Beaverton I also had my own living room and kitchen and bathroom. At Haus's place I don't keep things anywhere other than my room or the garage. It's a house of constant clutter and mess, with cats and dogs that poop & pee everywhere. For some reason I fail to comprehend, they give their dogs stuffed animals as playtoys. I can't imagine a better way to train a dog to rip apart furniture, blankets and clothing. The dogs are understandably confused each time they're cussed out for chewing up some soft things, after being encouraged to chew up other soft things. Their punishment & rewards are almost completely arbitrary, poor critters. Same with the boys. It's a tough environment for me to be in... but I've lived through lots worse, and I feel like I make things better there, for both the dogs and the boys. Haus, too. I'm afraid Dana's not happy about me being there; I'm one thing that she can't completely control 'cause I'm an adult. I will be unsurprised if she becomes increasingly miserable. :( I'm trying to minimize my impact and cater to her whims... but they're pretty sporadic and difficult to predict, and I don't think it's actually my impact that's impacting her. We'll have to see, I suppose.

I'm working more and more hours at Rose City. I love it. I love teaching kids, from the UberCute 3 & 4's to the eager & bubbly 5 & 6's to the amazingly talented 7-12 kids. Boys are almost always more difficult to work with but I'm wonderfully experienced at working with (relatively) large pools of testosterone. Even when I have to crack down on the boys, they respond well and they dig me. I love seeing big smiles and hearing, "Teacher!" when the kids see me. Now & then I bump into students outside of work and they're obviously tickled pink and proud to see their own teacher out in the world. Aw. I get hugged now & then, and told "I love you" now & then. It's a wonderful job for me. The management is friendly and the other coaches are great. They're all younger, by far, which kinda means that they treat me like an adult instead of a peer. That's cool; I don't really feel any impact from any work politics, and I like that.

Joey and I are doing wonderfully! Partly because we seem super-compatible and partly because we live so far away, it feels like we're still going strong with the Honeymoon phase of our relationship. At some point we'll have to deal with conflict and disagreement, but so far it's been almost entirely smooth sailing. We see each other at least once a week, somehow... bus lines run to McMinnville for $2. She comes to visit me on some weekends and I visit her often as well. Sascha likes me just fine, and the boys have accepted Joey & Sascha. It's awesome. :)

And that's been the gist of my life since Christmas. I work 3-4 days a week, I Kazum a lot, alternate weekends are boypacked, and a lot of my free time is spent with Joey. Every few weeks I dress up and do a show and get to be a superstar celebrity with a gorgeous girlfriend. I'm not nearly as broke as I used to be, though I'm still making less than I'm accruing in back Child Support each month. :( My next paycheck should be garnished in half, though, so I'll be accruing a less Child Support debt each month. That'll also leave me less than $200 a month to live on, though. Ah, well. Even though I'm poor I'm living an amazing life and I'm very happy.

Ramping up to Christmas

My life is really different than it was a year ago, when I had a job and stability. Yet, despite the nearly-complete lack of money, I'm pretty darn happy.

A year ago I sat in cubicle in a big cement building. My job wasn't miserable, at all! But it wasn't often enjoyable, either. I had some friendly co-workers but they weren't really my friends. I had stability and financial security, but I spent so much time on those things.

Now I'm almost always flat broke. The biggest impact from that is that I'm not meeting child support obligations. Everything else I can get through. Both Heather & Celia are remarried and supported elsewhere ... which doesn't, of course, release me from my obligation in any way. But it affords me the luxury of not getting an utterly miserable job, like when I worked for the auto body shop. That's gotta be the worst job I've ever worked.

But even though I'm broke... I have so much time! Usually I don't utilize much of it, but in the last few weeks I've been able to spend that time beneficially. Between moving myself, moving my sister, Kazum & shows, and work... I've been really busy. It would've been horrible to be this busy with a full-time job. *shudder*

I'm really excited about the Christmas holidays with the boys. I'm planning on lots of D&D. Plus reading to them, and Guitar Hero (Haus got a PS2 for Dana's kids for Christmas). I may also spend a day or two at Jem's place... he'll be super-lonely after Tasha's vacated, and the kids love it there. So do I. He's superb with kids and they dig him, too.

I'm all giddy and a-flutter over Joey. We chat now & then on the phone, and she sends me the most delightful, long emails. She's infatuated with me, just as I am with her. Since we're both broke and confined to our relative remote corners of Oregon, we can't overdose on one another. Instead we pine and jones. When we finally get to see each other we're gonna fuse together at the face, methinks.

I hope that she can come visit for New Year's Eve. I also hope that Kazum will get a gig that I can bring Joey to. She's spectacular arm-candy (not that that's her primary draw) and I want to preen and grin and be obnoxiously pleased with my good fortune. Honestly, I'd be just as happy being locked into a room with her... but a big fun party is cool, too.

I work on Christmas Eve - odd for the gym to be open, but hey, it's hours that I desperately need. I'm hoping that we can get Tasha packed & bustled off in time for me to volunteer at a soup kitchen with Nico & Noah & some other Wanderlust folk. I used to take the boys to the soup kitchen once a month or so, but since losing stability we've not gone for a looooong time.

After volunteering I'll work from 4 to 6, and then hustle over to Emily's place for Christmas Eve dinner. Yay! I'm hoping that Doc will come along, too.

Then it's back to my (Haus's) place. Haus & Dana & the boys are spending Christmas Day with Dana's mom, so I'll have half a day to clean & tidy things to prepare for the boys' arrival. I'm nervous about their extended visit; I'm not really set up for Benjaminions. At the same time I'm excited for it.

I have a gift card for Powell's, but other than that my Christmas funds are less than $5. :( That's kind of okay; Christmas isn't about gifts. But it's really tough 'cause I don't have anything for the boys. :(

I played guitar & sang for Dana's boys last night, and had much fun doing so. I played for Haus & Eric & Dana, too. I love having folk to play for!

Okay, it's almost 2 am. Time to sleep for a few hours before the final long haul to get Tasha off on her long haul. We're all postponing the sad, but soon it has to crash home. :(