It looks like I have a new cruise partner

 

Ever since I had my dust up with my former cruise partner (FCP), I've not been in a position to cruise with anybody.  This has been good for me, as it forced me to learn how to better depend on myself instead of leaning on FCP to take care of certain things.  (In fairness to her, she always enjoyed getting a good deal.  And I hope she's continued to travel, albeit alone, meeting new people along the way.)  If we were still friends, she'd make sure that she would be driving me to the airport for my upcoming Hawaii cruise.  But there are times I'm very glad that I can make my arrangements without regard to someone else's preferences - my Hawaii cruise transportation being an issue I prefer to deal with myself.

Recently, I met someone who likes to travel, who knows about Marian and Mario, and who is willing to come along for the trip.  My new friend will pay their own expenses, and should be fun to travel with.  Unlike FCP, who'd spend most of her "At Sea" days in the casino, my new travel partner is not a gambler, and enjoys my company.  Hopefully, the trip we are looking to book comes off and that we have a good time of it.  It'd be nice to again have someone who is there to share a travel experience with me.

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Right now, I'm playing a YouTube video narrated by a fellow specializing in cruising.  He is talking about 2022 cruises (this was recorded in 2021) and the headaches of cruising with pandemic related uncertainties and pandemic related limitations.  So far, his predictions for 2022 seem to be proven true.  It's interesting to see how current reality compares with expectations we had throughout the early days of the pandemic for what might happen in its end days.

This cruise will be on a new ship for me (Norwegian Joy)..  Unlike the Norwegian Gem, this ship is more of a resort for younger people - it has a laser tag area, a go cart track, and other diversions geared for the younger generation.  But, like another new Norwegian ship, one can still have a mellow experience if one wants.  And I do want this at my age.

Unlike my last cruise, I will be traveling as Mario.  This doesn't mean I won't be traveling as Marian in the future.  It simply means that I want to find out more about the port I'm going to without getting strange looks (or worse) when I'm on foreign soil....

Cause and effect

 

The other day, I received a communication from someone who said that I betrayed her.  That word may be a little harsh, but I never meant to hurt this woman.  She then mentioned my ex-girlfriend as a comparison, and I responded - my ex betrayed me.  In short, I was saying that almost all people should get a second chance when no evil intent was intended.  Sadly, this person will likely hold her grudge forever. 

But this got me thinking a little....

One of the things this person has in common with my ex is a connection to me.  Could she have influenced the ex to do certain things?  Possibly.  In anger, people will do the strangest things and regret them later. But I was thinking in a very different direction.  What if the ex was trying to send me a signal, and it misfired in a way she couldn't expect?  When a person says they want to break up, one shouldn't expect a newly minted ex not to think about dating - even if it's the day after the breakup.

This triggered a thought about another woman I know who was separated from her husband for years. When he died, like me, she wanted to get back into the saddle as quickly as possible.  For both of us, this approach didn't lead us in the direction we expected to go.  In my case as of late, if I didn't go out in the world as Marian, I'd have had my choice of 2 different girlfriends.

As you can guess, I've been doing a lot of thinking while working.  My MP3 player can distract me only so much.  I get a lot of ideas for this blog while screen scraping or key entering data at the office.  Yet, only some of them have any value to me these days.  I don't want to include events from others' lives as I did in the past.  Yet, I must say that the chaos I saw first hand made for interesting reading for some people - especially one person who both spoke and wrote loudly.  

Lately, I don't go into as many meetups as I used to in the past.  I'm a little bit more picky now.  One group is hit and miss due to the small group size.  The other is hit and miss due to the distance to get there and to get home.  Do I miss them?  Sometimes.  But, I no longer need that many meetups to be with people. Strangely, that's a gift that my ex, this former acquaintance, and the pandemic have given to me. 

A quick and short post - I'm So Tired!

 

I would like to have fallen asleep early last night.  However, it was the first session of online Jackbox Party Game night with DS.  

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Normally, I look forward to excuses to be with people, in-person or on-line. This time, I was too tired to do so - yet, did it anyway.  It showed.  By the time RQS called afterwards, I needed sleep badly.  By the time I was ready to sleep, all the energy I had was to clean off the makeup I was wearing all day, put on my jammies, and turn off the lights.  Being tired took care of all the rest.

Hopefully, I can make it through the day at work....

An unexpected communication

 

Today, I had an unexpected communication from someone in my past.  I won't go into what was said, save that this person still hurts from the loss of a friend and is not in the mood to see if something can be recovered from the past.  It saddens me to have received this communication, as this person will always hold in the anger that eats its way out from the inside.

But enough of that....

What I originally planned to talk about was an acquaintance and a headhunter spam email that they received:

From Headhunter:

I wanted to bring this Lead Software Engineer opportunity with DTCC back to the top of your inbox. At DTCC, they recognize that their continued success is directly attributed to their talented team. Still not sure?

 

DTCC employees work at the center of the world’s financial markets, bringing both innovation and stability to the entire post-trade lifecycle. Their work environment favors openness and gives people the freedom to do their jobs well, by encouraging diverse opinions and emphasizing teamwork. When you join their team, you’ll have an opportunity to make meaningful contributions at a company that is recognized as a thought leader in both the financial services and technology industries.

 

A few awesome benefits you'll receive while working at DTCC:

• Competitive compensation, including base pay and annual incentive
• Comprehensive health and life insurance and well-being benefits, based on location
• Retirement benefits
• Paid Time Off and other leave of absence
• Flexible/Hybrid Work Arrangements
  

Let’s chat so I can tell you more about this ex-dynamic and diverse group of professionals!

My acquaintance, someone with brain cancer, posted this to their friends:

I'm currently dying of brain cancer.  How are  your work from grave policies?  Or work from afterlife?  Or, do your health benefits cover reincarnation? Leave of absence to be dead?

I'm glad that my acquaintance has a sense of gallows humor.  Maybe, this is why they have lasted longer than expected....

This is the one time my doctor might recommend for me to have a donut.

DAMN!!!!

I woke up thinking I'd still have air in my tire, and found that I need to find my "Donut" and hope for the best.  There went plans to go to work today - after I got all made up and dressed as Marian.  Now it was time to switch back to Mario mode....

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After waiting a while (I needed to breathe a little), I called AAA around 10.  They said the truck would arrive before 11:55.  It arrived around 11 am, just as I was starting to drink my 2nd cup of coffee.  Leaving that cup sitting by my computer, I rushed downstairs to meet the tow truck operator.  His compressor wouldn't work off of my car's socket, so we tried his truck's socket - with success.  But we didn't fill up the bad tire.  We filled up the donut (being safe) and mounted it on the car.  The old tire and rim had 2 potential problems- there was a small nail in the tire, and there was a deformation on the inner rim of the wheel hub. The old tire and wheel hub was put in the trunk, and the car was ready to be driven.

After tipping the man, it was off to Mavis. The fellow at the desk was polite, and he was able to take the tire out of my trunk and tell me that it should be ready in 2 hours.  Either the nail or the deformed hub was likely causing the leak, and he said that if I needed a new tire (highly unlikely) I would get a call.  It was off to the bookstore to kill some time, when I got my call - the tire only needed to be patched (I hope he's right in the long term), and that the repair would only cost me $25.00.  (I was prepared to pay much more!)  But this also confirmed my suspicions - the shop wanted to close early last Thursday, and they didn't want to keep it open for just me.  (If a repair took only an hour and it proved to be minor, why couldn't they have done this before they closed on Thursday night? Closing up shop early was the only answer that came to my mind.)

Something I realized today - I felt more awake not having to go to work, than if I had gone in as planned.  I mentioned this to the woman sitting next to me when I described my job, and her reaction indicated that I should leave the job for my health.  She may be right.  

Odds and Ends for the month so far

 

Jack Benny.  There is an old joke about him getting mugged.  The mugger says: "Your money or your life," waits a long time for a response from Jack.  The mugger says "Well?" and Jack says: "I'm thinking!  I'm thinking!"  Well, I've been thinking about a lot of things lately, and want to get some off my chest.

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I find it amazing that shortly after I sensed that I had processed much of the grief over losing a relationship with XGFJ, that I started to sense grief welling up from the loss of FCP as a friend.  Yet, this grief was easier to manage, as I didn't have to process other grief at the same time.  There is only so much deep loss a person is equipped to deal with, and I had too much hit me in too short a time.

Things are going well with RQS.  She's far from the type of person I'd seek out.  She's not tall, she doesn't have blond hair, and she lives in an area where car ownership can be a big liability.  So seeing her becomes a scheduling issue - for my car.  Things weren't as bad for me when I dated Ex-GF-M, as her area was less densely populated.

Due to scheduling issues, I've again had to cancel going to some meetups.  Work, Co-Op board issues, and dating have gotten in the way of going to meetups - and I don't mind this too much.

I'm still ambivalent about quitting my job.  I like having new money come into my bank account, as I don't want to drain my savings accounts if I don't have to do so.  Yet, because of issues with my car, I have decided that I must soon start looking for a new car.  I hate doing this now.  But with a car that has 180k miles on the odometer, it's time to do so.  (My issues with the slow leak are the tip of the iceberg in this area.)

Assuming that I quit my job soon, I'm looking at taking a short Bermuda cruise.  Until I make a decision on employment, I won't schedule this cruise.

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As Jack would say: "I'm Thinking...."

Marry Me!

 

Last night, I saw a nice piece of fluff on the big screen.  "Marry Me" is a typical Rom-Com with an interesting twist on the Cinderella story - the woman is already a princess, and the man is reluctantly dragged into being a prince.  If you watch it for the story, you'll enjoy the movie.  But, if you watch it for the music, you'll be sorely disappointed.  For me, going into Manhattan to see this film was an exercise in sticker shock - 2 senior tickets cost us a little more than $40.00!  I've gotten spoiled by suburban prices, and I would look to see movies in suburbia the next time I'm out to see a new flick.

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RQS and I have discussed the "elephant in the room" several times: How she will reacct when she sees me as Marian for the first time?  And I think that she's getting a little more comfortable with the idea. But I'm not going to rush her into this.

Getting to RQS's place is not the easiest thing to do.  Often there is a traffic jam on the Jackie Robinson (formerly: Interboro) Parkway.  So I have to bail out and travel on local streets.  Yesterday, there was a snow squall that threatened to reduce visibility to zero on the most troublesome part of my trip - getting into her neighborhood and finding a parking spot.  Luckily, after 1 trip around the block, I found a spot in front of her front door.

Shortly after I arrived, we went into the city to watch the aforementioned movie. Afterwards, we went to several stores looking for the MTA's new OMNY card - without success.  Neither of us are happy with the MTA's old Metrocard payment system, and we would have bought the cards if they were available at the stores indicated by the MTA website.

When I eventually left RQS's place, I found that I needed to fill my tire with air again.  (I can't wait until I can get the car to Mavis and get a resolution to my issue.)  Although I drove 20 miles or so on an underinflated tire, I felt more comfortable looking for an air pump in suburbia than inside NYC limits. In Westchester, it's hard to find an area without several competing gas stations within a 5 minute drive.  In Central Queens, it can take longer, depending on the route one takes.  And I didn't want to risk time hunting for a station in an area I don't know that well anymore.

It's too bad that when I was on Long Island proper, that I wasn't able to take time to say hello to my brother.  Hopefully, I'll be able to do so the next time I'm out there....