Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition

I guess it's been six years since I last posted here? I had honestly forgotten that Dreamwidth even existed until sholanda reminded me. (insert laughing/crying emoji)

I guess I could catch you up on what I've been up to since then, but I'll spare you and me both. Let it suffice to say that I'm in a good place, generally.

I'm into my 5th year now as a cybersecurity specialist and I'm only just now starting to feel like I'm pretty good at what I do. I've given up some unhealthy habits and picked up some newer, healthier ones. I'm spending my free time doing the things that I love. I have an amazing wife and three mediocre dogs (that I still love in spite of their general bark-iness). I want for almost nothing anymore -- largely because I'm happy with everything that life has given me. It's not a bad place to be, even though it's taken me 48 years to get here.

I'm going to try to make a concreted effort to post here a little more frequently. Honest.

So.... This week.... Not a bad week so far.

I had my Amateur Radio Club meeting (I got a ham radio license about a month ago) and I'm literally the youngest guy in the club (average age is around 70, I think).

I'm going for my annual physical today and I'm hopeful that my doctor won't chastise me -- I've dropped about 25 pounds to return to a healthy(ier) weight.

Tonight we're going to the local Halloween street fair thing and I finally get to try out the Ghostbusters costume that I spent the better part of this year assembling.

Tomorrow night we're going to see Jackson Browne with my folks. I have zero interest in Jackson Browne, but the tickets were free and I'm trying to do more things with my parents while we still can.

Next week, Carly and I have tickets to the LA Opera to see the Barber of Seville. We went to the opera for the first time last year and saw Aida and now we're both pretty hooked. We're also taking my parents (their first time at the opera) so I'm hopeful that they'll enjoy it as much as we did/do.

And that's about It for now. Hope you're all doing well!

I think it must be the weather.... It's cool and overcast here, with the promise of rain. A rarity in Southern California. All I want to do right now is go home, get comfortable, pour myself a glass of something and re-watch Twin Peaks for the umpteenth time. I've had the soundtrack playing on Spotify all day. If only there were some place around town that would deliver cherry pie.

2016 sucked for just about everyone, so I won't bother rehashing how upset I am about the election or loss of celebs that I admired. Discounting all of that, on balance, 2016 wasn't a bad year, personally. Here's a list (in no particular order) of things that happened in 2016:

I enjoy picking up new skill sets (in the past it's been stuff like lock picking, card magic classes at the Magic Castle, photography classes, and learning some advanced cryptography stuff), so I taught myself how to do some basic coding for the Arduino as well as learning how to solder. With that information I was able to cobble together some neat electronics projects. I also built an arcade game emulator out of a Raspberry Pi (no coding or real skills needed for that, though). I even learned how to do some basic computer network penetration testing using a Linux toolset (also took Linux classes). All fun stuff, and some of it with actual value. :)

Our cat, Abby, passed away in August. Carly had let her outside in the morning before work and a coyote managed to jump our backyard wall and got to her before she even knew what was happening. Thankfully, the coyote ran when Carly tried to scare it off, so we were able to recover her body and have her cremated. I was absolutely devastated, as she had been my friend and companion for almost 7 years. We now maintain a small shrine for her with her ashes and paw print upstairs.

About two months ago my boss surprised me by letting me know that the company had conducted a salary review for my position,determined that I was being underpaid, and that, effective immediately, I was to receive a 20k salary increase. We've always had a pretty good degree of financial freedom, but this increase has really opened up some nice opportunities for us. I've only been with the company for a little over 3 years now, and already I've gotten a substantial promotion and doubled what I was making with my previous employer. I couldn't be happier here.

C was thinking of leaving her position as a forensic specialist with her department and getting a job with the city. She's been unhappy with some of the conditions at work and being on-call so often. She went through four interviews with the city, passed her background check, and was ultimately about ready to accept the city's offer when her Captain at the PD offered to improve conditions for her. I think that she's much happier that she doesn't get called in for minor crimes now and I'm grateful that she didn't take a job that would have meant a significant reduction in salary and moving in to what was going to essentially be an entry-level position.

In addition to all of this, we've really settled in to our new home and neighborhood. We've become good friends with many of our neighbors and they're now our "go to" when it comes to socializing. We hang out, brew beer together, go out for drinks and dinners, host game nights at our respective homes.... A total 180 from living in Pasadena where we didn't know a single soul and *hated* the people who lived next door. It's so nice to live in and be a part of an actual community.

So, while 2016 didn't exactly redeem itself it wasn't entirely awful, either. I'm looking forward to seeing what 2017 brings.

I'm feeling all nostalgic today for the LJ that used to be. Way back in 1999/2000, just after Six Degrees went bust.... I remember the thrill of meeting LJ friends IRL for the first time. How great it was adding people whose journals were fun and interesting and having new people add you because a comment that you wrote on someone else's journal struck a chord. I remember going to parties with LJers, flying across the country to meet folks, and having folks fly across the country to visit *me* and showing them around Los Angeles. And drama.... SO much drama. Sure, most of my LJ friends are on my Facebook now, but it's not even close to the same. I kind of wish that I had a little of that back.

I can't believe how quickly time flies these days. So, the yard is done and it's absolutely beautiful. We now have a patio with stamped concrete, some lawn for dog business, a winding path made of decomposed granite, lots of grasses and wildflowers, a beautiful olive tree, and a space for C's garden. Not to mention all of the lighting, irrigation, etc. We couldn't be happier with it. Our house is finally complete and now we're living in a bona fide home. These past few months have been relentless, but now we're finally able to relax and enjoy it all.

We also took a bit of a step back in November and adopted another dog. We hadn't planned on it, but we took Jack to a local animal fair and absolutely fell in love with a tiny stray who had been stuck in the local shelter for the past month. She's 2 years old but super tiny and the folks at the shelter had named her Olive. Given that we had just planted an olive tree it seemed like a sign. She was shy and a little stand-offish at first but now she scarcely leaves my side and she likes to cuddle up next to me on the couch. And the best part is that Jack finally has someone to keep him company when C and I are at work. I'm really happy with our little family.

All in all, things are swell. C and I are happier than we've ever been -- we've been together for five years now and things are still wonderful between us. I love my job. We're now closer to our friends and family and see them more frequently as a result. I feel really lucky. I know that things won't always be like this, but I'm enjoying and appreciating it all while it lasts.

I'm still processing all of this and I'm not quite sure what to say at this point. But the world is a much duller place for having lost sparklydevil. Sarah's personalty shone with such intensity and exuberance. She was funny, brazen, crude, crass, and wonderful. She'll be missed by so very many.

An article from the Huffington Post on Sarah's death, for those who want further details: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/27/burlesque-performer-killed-party-bus-crash_n_3342524.html

I have 45 minutes left until I head home from work, so allow me to kill a little time.

Awesome things that Carly and I have done last month / this month:

1. Went to Ren Faire
2. Stopped off at the Stone Company Store to refill my growler
3. Spent a few weekends having friends over for barbecue, beer, and game nights (Munchkin and Cards Against Humanity)
4. Started our first AD&D campaign (she had never played before)
5. Planted new garden stuffs
6. Bought a new Dyson ball vacuum cleaner -- which is amazing!
7. Continued my classes at the Magic Castle
8. Started taking magic lessons with Aaron Fisher
9. Went to the drive-in theatre for the world's worst double-feature (Oblivion and G.I. Joe)
10. Attended the college's end of the semester dinner
11. Went to my first SFV roller derby game (Carly didn't play, but she will soon, I'm sure)
12. Attended WonderCon
13. Saw the Disney D23 exhibit with our friends, Mike and Summer

Aaaaand now I have 30 minutes left to kill....

Wow. It sure has been a while since I posted on here. I still lurk from time to time, but you know how it is... TwitFace is pretty much the only means of online communicating I do these days. Which...is nice. But frankly, it's not very satisfying. I've been thinking about coming back to LJ (or maybe Wordpress) but then I remember that there's just no more audience here anymore. Would anyone even read anything that I wrote? But man, do I miss LJ. Maybe it's just creeping nostalgia, but this thing used to be so much *fun*. Or at least, that's how I half-remember it.

We'll see how I feel about all of this, come the weekend.

Edit: Aaaand I just bought a paid account. Only two months, though. Let's see how this goes before I make a longer commitment.

Also, I've been re-reading a lot of my older entries and I scarcely recognize myself in them. It's a little unnerving.