Living with a Freak

You will all feel relieved to know that there is finally a star named "The Cock and Balls Star."

This came about because one of my boyfriend's friends from university has a birthday coming up, and so--I can't quite remember how this happened--but we somehow ended up doing one of those "Name a Star" gift things for him.

For Christmas, we got this same friend a pair of latex woman's breasts that you fill with shower gel, hang in the shower, and squeeze to get the shower gel/soap/whatever you've filled it with. I am horrified at this trend.

It's my boyfriend's fault. He's the freak.

I hardly ever log on to the Internet anymore, outside of work, which explains my lack of updates. I actually think this is a good thing, in a way, because it can get pretty unhealthy for some people to spend most of their lives in a kind of unreal world, and sometimes not doing it as much means you're living more of a real life.

I just quit my old job and started a new one, which is wonderful and exciting. I am starting a new software development division for a company, which means that I get to say how things are going to be done. My next few weeks will be spent getting a few basic things up and running, like a new website, and creating UML diagrams for the eventual first system. Even that is exciting--because I am in charge, and I get to decide that the way to do this properly is to put together UML diagrams first. (well, not exactly first, as I'm just finishing up a round of Requirements Analysis).

At any rate, it's a great change from my old job.

The boyfriend is also switching jobs--he's in the interview process right now, and the next week's interviews include working on a Quant system for a major bank, and a Software Development Manager position at an internationally-recognised firm that you would have heard of.

The thing that's good about it is that he really is that good. I mean, he's good enough that major firms *should* be considering him for those kinds of positions, and one of the things that is difficult about working for a soul-crushing company is that you start to doubt yourself. But he's that guy--you know the one in the department that is the one you go to because he knows everything? That's him.

He's never told me that he's doubting himself, I just kind of figure he must be, because that's how everyone ends up feeling. So in addition to this whole thing being positive in a "career path" kind of a way, I think it will be personally affirming as well.

Anyway, so I've been spending a lot of time gardening, to the extent that I fully expect to have tomatoes and CORN of all things in another month or two. The tomatoes will probably be ready sooner. There's been a heatwave, and it's been miserable, and my tomatoes have been looking like they're feeling sorry for themselves, but there are a lot of green fruits on them. Harvesting them will be a wonderful thing for me, because the boyfriend told me that I couldn't possibly expect tomatoes to grow outside of a greenhouse in England, and I am currently fantasising about all of the vindication.

Ahhh.

We've also been spending a lot of time meeting up with friends, sitting around drinking/eating/talking/smoking (everyone but me on that last one), which is also very nice. Nothing like sitting out in the garden on a hot evening with a cool beverage. Sometimes it's our garden, and sometimes it's the garden at the pub, but it's always nice.

I'm kind of happy, too, that the guy for whom we named the star might be moving closer in the near future, which will mean another friend nearby. It takes a while to establish friendships over here--it's taken longer for me here than anywhere before.

So anyway, with gardens and friends and new jobs and rabbits, I've been kind of busy.

Also, my sister isn't doing so well. I'm trying really hard to...this is hard to explain, but I have so many good things in my life right now. In a lot of ways, I've never had as many--I've never been so financially secure, etc., and it seems that in my life and the lives of my family, there is always tragedy. So I am trying hard not to let my care and concern for my sister make me not...have a happy life. I don't want to shut myself off and be callous and not care, either. So I'm trying to find some kind of a balance.

Ack.

My boyfriend just came up behind me and caught me calling him a freak, so I have to go now.