New Now

It has been awhile since I've just sat down and posted. Surprisingly, it hasn't even really been on my mind.  But, it's long overdue. If I'm not careful, my end of the year summary of events isn't going to really have anything for December.

So... hi.  It's been awhile.  And this is going to be brief.  So, it's December.  I've in the past been concerned about "missing Christmas" - lamenting that I didn't feel Christmasy, that I didn't slow down, that I didn't cast aside enough stuff to make things more about Christmas.  In some ways, this is more true than ever this year.

So, new job, into the fifth week of it.  Week one I worked from home three days and from Seattle two. Ever since then, I've been in Bellevue every day.  That means an 65 to 75 minutes to get there and 70 to I-am-never-going-to-get-home-and-might-as-well-just-die-now minutes to get home.  I've found the best results by getting up at 5:30 and getting on the road as close to 6 as possible, and leaving work by 4:30 each night.  When I'm lucky, that gets me home before it's time for one or both of the children to get started on their bedtime routine.  (Ben because that means he'll be going to bed, Rachel because it means she'll be reading quietly in her room by herself.)  I've had to set a number of things aside, had to be a lot more picky about what I can do.  It does go back to what I was saying earlier this year about "not all time being created equal."  There's a number of things I can do *while* watching Netflix (like clean up after dinner, make the children's medicine, fold laundry, clean catboxes, etc.) but a lot I can't.  Also, I've found myself playing video games in my down time instead of reading. Fortunately, I've been getting some "reading" done with audiobooks during the drive.

Means trying to get to bed earlier, praying for a good night's sleep and then making sure I have enough caffeine to make it through the next day.  I wouldn't call it a grind - quite the contrary - but it sure is packed.  I'd love to have a shorter commute, but I can't retroactively go back eight years and choose to live somewhere else (plus, right now we're comparing 20 long commutes against 8 years of really, really short commutes) and I can't convince this city's only major employer not to leave just because of what it will do to the value of this house.

So I'm sitting here longer than I'd intended, but it feels good.  It doesn't feel like I'm writing anything all that interesting, but I'm writing, and I guess I'm glad for that.  It's also interesting that I haven't had any work-related things to write about.  I may be marveling at this new environment, I may be too engrossed in all that I'm pleased with, not sure.  I've captured a few things to write about, but haven't really felt all that compelled.

Still working on my consultancy as well.  Just have the one client.  I've had to adjust some of the ways and timing of the work I've been doing for them and they've been gracious and really encouraging, sticking with me during the transition and had some nice words for me when I made my news public about the abrupt ending of the last job.   I intend to eventually write about what happened but I'm still under a gag order.  There was no specifically identified term to what I signed but I'm pretty sure they can't indefinitely quell my freedom of speech.  Don't worry, I'm not sitting on anything incendiary, there's just some things I want to process through at the keyboard in a couple of months' time.

So, we're doing well, it's not exactly a "new normal" yet, but it's kind of like when you're coming out of an earthquake.  You know it's over and you've dusted yourself and you're taking inventory.  Life is resuming, but we're not sure yet, what all is different.

Yep, way too long.  Felt good.