And now, after making that last post — in which I declare that I won't be posting much about how my life is going — I'm now going to do exactly that. After all, I only said I'd not be bothering with day to day living updates. But it's been 20 months or so; plenty has happened in that time that's worth mentioning.
First of all, I no longer am on RainFurrest staff. That actually happened after the 2012 con, over a year before my last post, but I held off on posting about it because I didn't want to be a drama whore. But enough time has passed that if someone thinks I'm just trying to bash the con, maybe in hopes of getting my position back... well, they'd be idiots. Suffice it to say, for now, that I was demoted away from Programming Track Department Head — essentially, one step below Con Chair — for either bullshit reasons or no reason at all. I may devote an entire post to it at some point, but not right now.
Let's see, what else... oh. Heather dumped me. That was in June 2014. While I'm a little puzzled about it — the issues she gave seemed not worth breaking up over, especially as she never raised them as issues until the separation — I'm honestly more upset at how she not only broke up with me but essentially broke all ties. She hasn't been over for Game Night since, I think, March, and it was pretty rare before that. Her classes for nursing school account for some of it, but not the total lack of visits over the summer. And it's not like she can't bear to associate with past boyfriends, since she lives with one. So it seems to me that it's me. But even the reasons she gave for breaking up don't explain such an extreme reaction. It's somewhat distressing, really. What did I do?
In July I got a new car. My Honda didn't die, but it needed 3 or 4 thousand bucks in repairs an maintenance, and considering it was 20 years old I decided enough was enough. When a car is that old and the repair bills are that high, you might as well buy a new car, since you'd likely be spending even more next year and the year after. So I got a Hyundai Elantra — a new, 2016 model. Yes, a new new car, rather than a new used car. My dad helped. Actually, he pretty much took over the car search and price negotiations, which was a little irritating. I just wanted his help on the pricing, since he's a kick-ass price negotiator; I wanted the actual search to be all me. But I can't argue much with the results. Got a good car with a good package for something like $17,000 after taxes and other fees, which I'm sure is a lot less than I could have gotten on my own. And now I have a car loan to pay off, which is helping my credit rating.
Lastly, at least in regards to major news, my cat, Terra, died. I had to put her down a little over two weeks ago; her health had been poor but stable for several years, but it started going downhill again recently. She'd been vomiting fairly frequently for some time, but over the last few months she developed arthritis. She never jumped up on chairs or the bed any more, and she had trouble even negotiating stairs. She was losing weight, was getting dehydrated, and had other issues. RIP, Terra.
The following week, the house felt pretty empty without a second cat. I kept looking for something to pet, and correcting myself when I go upstairs to put food in the bowl. So last weekend, I got a new cat. A kitten, in fact. She's a medium-haired cat with longish black hairs and an orange undercoat; I named her Ember. If she's been male I could have named him Char. She's an active one, loving to explore and snuggle and jump and be, well, kittenish. I've never taken care of an actual kitten before, so this is a learning experience for us both.
And that catches you up on the major events over the last 20 months of my life. Now on to your regular blog posts... whatever that may entail.
First of all, I no longer am on RainFurrest staff. That actually happened after the 2012 con, over a year before my last post, but I held off on posting about it because I didn't want to be a drama whore. But enough time has passed that if someone thinks I'm just trying to bash the con, maybe in hopes of getting my position back... well, they'd be idiots. Suffice it to say, for now, that I was demoted away from Programming Track Department Head — essentially, one step below Con Chair — for either bullshit reasons or no reason at all. I may devote an entire post to it at some point, but not right now.
Let's see, what else... oh. Heather dumped me. That was in June 2014. While I'm a little puzzled about it — the issues she gave seemed not worth breaking up over, especially as she never raised them as issues until the separation — I'm honestly more upset at how she not only broke up with me but essentially broke all ties. She hasn't been over for Game Night since, I think, March, and it was pretty rare before that. Her classes for nursing school account for some of it, but not the total lack of visits over the summer. And it's not like she can't bear to associate with past boyfriends, since she lives with one. So it seems to me that it's me. But even the reasons she gave for breaking up don't explain such an extreme reaction. It's somewhat distressing, really. What did I do?
In July I got a new car. My Honda didn't die, but it needed 3 or 4 thousand bucks in repairs an maintenance, and considering it was 20 years old I decided enough was enough. When a car is that old and the repair bills are that high, you might as well buy a new car, since you'd likely be spending even more next year and the year after. So I got a Hyundai Elantra — a new, 2016 model. Yes, a new new car, rather than a new used car. My dad helped. Actually, he pretty much took over the car search and price negotiations, which was a little irritating. I just wanted his help on the pricing, since he's a kick-ass price negotiator; I wanted the actual search to be all me. But I can't argue much with the results. Got a good car with a good package for something like $17,000 after taxes and other fees, which I'm sure is a lot less than I could have gotten on my own. And now I have a car loan to pay off, which is helping my credit rating.
Lastly, at least in regards to major news, my cat, Terra, died. I had to put her down a little over two weeks ago; her health had been poor but stable for several years, but it started going downhill again recently. She'd been vomiting fairly frequently for some time, but over the last few months she developed arthritis. She never jumped up on chairs or the bed any more, and she had trouble even negotiating stairs. She was losing weight, was getting dehydrated, and had other issues. RIP, Terra.
The following week, the house felt pretty empty without a second cat. I kept looking for something to pet, and correcting myself when I go upstairs to put food in the bowl. So last weekend, I got a new cat. A kitten, in fact. She's a medium-haired cat with longish black hairs and an orange undercoat; I named her Ember. If she's been male I could have named him Char. She's an active one, loving to explore and snuggle and jump and be, well, kittenish. I've never taken care of an actual kitten before, so this is a learning experience for us both.
And that catches you up on the major events over the last 20 months of my life. Now on to your regular blog posts... whatever that may entail.