I saw the writing on the wall. They were hiring an Assistant GM. The piles of work I had dried up. I hadn’t had a raise since 2010.
But, I foolishly believed it would be different. I gave them three years (probably 4 if you count all the overtime I put in), almost wound up in a psych ward because I was afraid to let them down, and kept the company together during some of the worse bullshit I’ve ever seen.
I’m so glad I started looking for a job a few weeks ago, I’m so glad they gave me a severance package, and I’m so glad to be the fuck out of there.
I haven’t been happy for a long time, but I stuck through the crap because I thought it would be worth it…
On the left is my current Facebook profile pic. (That’s important.) On the right is this year’s Red Nose Day David Tennant pic.
Let’s talk, shall we?
I’ve mentioned before (In a few places) that the opening credits of “Sherlock” make me a bit homesick. I can’t explain why, except for the fact that London always calls to me. It doesn’t matter how many times I want to go somewhere else, I wind up in London. It’s like home to me in many of the same ways that Boston is.
Suddenly the joke that I’m moving to London to open a platypus farm has not become a joke. (Well, the platypus farm is questionable, but the move is apparently going to happen.) This year’s theme seems to be that anything I put out into the universe is going to come back to me in spades. It’s kind of scary actually.
The one person I would have expected to talk me out of it is FOR it. Yeah. Instead of telling me how fucking insane that idea is, he’s all in.
What. The. Everloving. Fuck. Is. Going. On. Here.
Oh, yeah. We’re planning to move. TO LONDON.
I don’t have a time frame other than there’s some stuff I need to do in the States before this can become real, but that seems to be the path my life is taking.
I’m both excited, and scared shitless, but I’m going along for the ride.
It’s meant to be. Especially when weird ass coincidences like this one show up on Facebook:
M:L went to London on business Wednesday and brought noses home for all the kids… Love Red Nose Day!
M:Here he is with one of this year’s noses (there are three different dinosaur-themed ones this year - he is wearing T-Spex)
Me:That’s beautiful!
Me:Wait. Red Nose Day is a thing? I LOVE the UK!!
M:Oh yeah it is!!! It is Comic Relief - “Do Something Funny For Money” - March 15th is THE day this year, but there are also all sorts of events leading up to it. In the even years they do Sports Relief, where all the celebs do crazy physical challenges (David Walliams swimming the Thames or Eddie Izzard running 43 marathons in 52 days). But Red Nose/Comic Relief is in the odd years - one of my FAVORITE nights of television since moving to Europe!!! Here is the link to the trailer:
M:I think I like it even better though that you didn’t know it was a thing, and just liked having a picture of ten with a clown nose. And happened to put it up at exactly the right time of year…
Me:See? I am MEANT to move overseas!!! It’s a sign from a very cute Time Lord!!
Then, there was a conversation on FB about this becoming real, and Mark said how he and Wendy take an organic view of things - fling something out there and see if it sticks. (It worked in their case - they met online, got married, and now she’s in the UK with him.)
It should be no surprise to anyone that my new thing is *FLINGS STUFF*, because the more I put out into the universe, the more it’s going to come back to me. I’m going to be flinging stuff like a madwoman. Something will stick and we’ll be packing up our lives in the States. Eventually.
—-
In other news, I’m going to Connecticon this summer with a girl I met through GISHWHES. I’m going to cosplay! I have no idea as to what Connecticon actually is, or who I’m going to dress up as, but hey! I’m only going to live once and well… FRIENDS is one of this year’s three words. After the way Team Fancypants bonded, K is definitely a friend.
Make new friends and toss the old… well, some of them. Others are worth keeping around.
I ended up adding a RADIO RUCK to my GORUCK collection. As much as I love my GR1, it’s a little too long for me to wear comfortably for a long time. The bottom hits my tailbone weird and I can’t imagine wearing it all day loaded with bricks and a bladder. So, after talking to GORUCK’s amazing customer service people, I decided to down size to the RADIO RUCK.
I put the Challenge required four bricks in it and brought it to work. The idea was to bring it to my workout tonight. We’re planning to start with two bricks, but I wanted to see if I could fit the four in there and still carry the bag.
HOLY MOTHER OF CRAP. FOUR BRICKS ARE RIDICULOUSLY HEAVY.
I can see you all out there… “Duh, Nelson. What did you expect? You’re doing something called the GORUCK Challenge. Did you think it - even the ‘light’ version - was going to be easy?”
Well, no, but the reality of what I’m embarking upon finally hit me like a ton of bricks. Literally.
I can do this…
I’m just going to continue to question my sanity while I work towards the June 8th Challenge in Boston.
It’s been YEARS since I last saw him in person, but it didn’t feel like it.
It was energizing to hear him speak, to see the passion that I know he brings to whatever he’s doing.
And, as he does so well, he planted a seed.
I’ve been noodling on this idea for a while - not going into music - but something else. As always, I have to listen to the bipolar, to my brain, and to my heart… the bipolar is telling me something. My brain agrees. My heart is confused.
And that’s OK.
It kind of comes back - full circle - to his idea of the three words.
Today hit on all three of them:
SELF: This change, if I make it, would definitely be huge. It’d be a return to what makes me me.
FAMILY: I got to spend some time with someone I never get to see, but who I adore.
CREATE: It lit a fire under my ass to get back to doing something I used to really love.
I’m not sure what path I want to take, or where it’s going to lead, but it’s nice to know I have choices…
