I’d love to say I have some kind of well thought out, eloquent post in me. I do not. My sad, neglected blog is likely to remain just that for the foreseeable future, and this post won’t break that trend. This is just a thought dump. A “what’s going on with me” that most of you will likely gloss over if you even bother to read it in the first place.

Man, that sure sounded emo.

So as I’m writing this I’m sitting in the airport waiting to fly to Atlanta for Dragon Con. For the first time in many years, I’m going solo. Lisa was originally going to go with me, but due to work commitments she had to back out. I wish I was more excited about the fact that I was going to the convention, but to be perfectly frank the excitement factor is pretty much gone these days. I’m sure I’ll enjoy myself, but this is the 10th time I’ve gone to Dragon Con over the last 12 years. There is very little in the way of “new and exciting” for me to experience, and it’s really become more of an excuse to get together with a group of people who I only see once a year. I do get a great deal of satisfaction out of the work I do for the Video Game track, but the amount of money I spend to attend kind of dampens that enjoyment as well.

All of the above certainly sounds awfully whiny and “first world problem”-ish, doesn’t it? I’m certainly grateful that I have the means to attend. It just doesn’t quite hold the magic for me that it used to. It’s very much like the Renaissance Festival for me in that regard. I’ve been going so long that, at this point, the actual event itself is rather uninteresting to me. I go because of the people I know who work there, and I’m usually ready to bail shortly after I arrive.

As predicted in my last post, I have retired my Netbook and replaced it with a shiny 13″ MacBook Air. This is my first foray into the Mac world, and so far I have to say I’m incredibly impressed. I got a program called Parallels that lets my run my Windows software in MacOS, and it’s kind of amazing. As many, many people have said in the past the MacBook just works, and it works well. The learning curve was minimal, and most of the questions I’ve had have been on how I can tweak things more to my liking (as opposed to simply not being able to do what I want to).

My biggest problem with the Air so far has been figuring out what kind of decal to get for it.

THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT DECISION.

Oh, yeah…I guess I should talk about the whole college graduation thing, considering the fact that I was holding off on doing anything with my NetBook until that was taken care of. My degree is going to be conferred on August 30th, and I will be graduating Magna Cum Laude with a 3.9 GPA. Yes, I’m very proud of myself. The month or so that has passed since I finished my course work has been interesting, though. In some unpleasant ways. I’ve been pursuing this degree, on and off, since 1990. The last four years in particular have been very intensive, and being a student has been a major part of my identity. I kind of don’t know what to do with myself. As of this point, I’ve been spending a lot of time just catching up on things. Sleep. Chores around the house. Socializing. But I still feel like I need to be doing…more. I feel a bit direction-less. I have a few side projects I’d like to work on, and there are always things to do around the house, so I’m sure this feeling will pass soon.

I just kind of feel like I crossed a finish line and suddenly realized I had no idea what the race was about.

It will be great for my career, to the point where I’m seriously considering going back in a few months and getting and MBA/MS in Information Technology. I mean, why bother paying back those student loans? Let’s just take out more!

My health is…Not so great. On the plus side we’ve been eating so well (real ingredients, lots of vegetables, etc..) that my weight isn’t going up, but it’s not going down either. Physical activity is fairly non-existent. I tried hitting the treadmill at work on Monday for the first time in months, but that seems to have aggravated my back (which I threw out about a month ago). Blood sugar is a wee bit higher than it should be, and my cholesterol and blood pressure is a bit off as well. I took one of those age-evaluating things for work the other day, and it put my “health” age at 56. Which is bad in and of itself, but when you figure that I took the same assessment last year and got 36 it’s pretty startling.

Blah blah, commitment to change, yadda yadda.

It’s funny, but I’m looking back over this post and I realize that it sounds like I’m awfully down about my life and that’s so far from the truth. Lisa and I have been together for 2 1/2 years now, and having her in my life has been absolutely amazing. Whether we are simply watching TV together, getting on yet another cruise, seeing a show, or simply going to the grocery store we simply have fun. We laugh all the time. We hold hands. We finish each others sentences and have the same twisted sense of humor. In terms of having a partner, I’ve never in my life felt like I had someone who fit so well. Where things were easy. Where it didn’t feel like a struggle simply to be happy with each other.

It’s kind of the best feeling in the world.

Her encouragement and support got me through the last push of school (after taking a significant break that threatened to become a permanent one). While I did shows and filled my weekends with homework she kept me fed, made sure my clothes were cleaned, and that I ate something before I went out the door for work in the morning. When I would look at her and proclaim that there was no possible way I was going to be able to pass a class she would calmly look at me, smile, and remind me that I had said that last time (and when I got my final grade for the class she wouldn’t spend too much energy on the “I told you so’s”). She is my confidant and my friend.

If you had asked me in early 2012 if I would ever get married again the answer would have been a resounding “No!” In fact, at that point, I didn’t even want to co-habitate ever again? Now? I can’t imagine living without her.

Well, I’ve arrived at the convention and have gotten settled into my room. Time to see what kind of trouble I can get into this year.