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Photo courtesy of my friend, JH
That’s me on the right, preparing to lay that jammer out in my 2nd (EVER) bout of my life on Sunday.
It was a little place in the middle of a town (a small town – the kind you could miss passing through if you blinked too long). When we walked into the bar, a few heads turned to observe us, and I immediately took a quick sweep with my eyes, confirming that yes, it really was lesbian night. The name of the place has the word “Café” in the title, but it’s not a café at all. It was a little run down and tired inside, dimly lit with a neon Budweiser sign hanging on the far wall. To the right against the wall was a bar, all of its seats filled with patrons. To the left of the bar were a few high tables scattered about, and behind them towards the back wall was the pool table. I didn’t notice the cozy sectional couch and table against the front wall until later. It sounds like it would be out of place, but it worked in there.
B’s friend greeted us after a few seconds of us standing there and looking around, and we began heading to one of the tables. That’s when I saw her, leaning over the pool table with a stick in her hand, concentrating on the move she was able to make. Her hair was closely cut – maybe a one on the sides and a two or three on top. She had a plain white t-shirt on with cuffed sleeves, a pair of jeans that ended over a pair of heavy boots. “Damn, she is HOT.” I said to B, motioning my eyes in the direction of the pool table. FINALLY, my type of eye candy, something I could ogle at for once. She was pure butch. Oozing butch. My heart was happy to see it.
My heart was happy to be in the presence of a whole room of lesbians, most of them local to the new town that I moved to 5 and a half months ago. Where have they all been? We have hardly seen much of a lesbian community here at all, hence my surprise and delight at the pool-playing-butch. I was beginning to think B was the only one in town. And even though it turns out pool-playing-butch is a hard-core player and general all around a-hole (so they say), I still won’t let it ruin my delight in the existence of her in this town. Anyway, it turns out the lesbian community is here and thriving, specifically on Wednesday and Friday nights a this café, the lesbian book club, and of course, the gay club that’s 10 minutes outside of town.
I’m looking forward, especially with the coming of beautiful spring weather, to getting to know the local gays. Finding a community, starting over in a new place is no easy task. It took us long enough, but I think we’re off to a good start.
And that’s just one of many things that’s been going right for me lately. I am not a religious person in any sense of the word, and I’m not sure if I’m even spiritual, but I’d still use the word “blessed” to describe how I’m feeling nowadays. It seems to be the adjective that works.
A little over a month ago I got everything that I needed that I was waiting for at my job. This, in and of itself, was truly wonderful news. This happening means that I’m basically now able to work at 100%. So, 5 months after I started, I’m now allowed to do my job completely. It is a huge relief. Not to mention I’m excited to finally be challenged and deeply involved in my career again. My days have been extremely fulfilling. I am grateful.
I’ve also met quite a great group of people throughout the company who I have become good friends with, or as good of friends as one can be when knowing someone for this short of a period. And I’ve signed up for the company softball team, which is basically an excuse to go out for drinks afterwards, so I’m looking forward to getting to know more people outside of work this way too. I’m grateful for the existence of these like-minded, funny, down-to-earth new people in my life.
We have an amazing home here, thank goodness. We both feel so comfortable and, well, at home in this place. And amazingly enough, our 73-year-old landlady, who is also our immediate next-door neighbor (we live in a duplex), is wonderfully fabulous and magnificent. We’ve really made this place our own, and it’s truly like a haven for me. Can’t get much better than that, especially when living far way from my [previous] home.
Which, speaking of my previous home, I’ve luckily gotten to visit quite often. Or people have come out to visit me. Or I’ve gotten to FaceTime or Skype with some of them. This is the advantage of living away, but not too far. I’m loving it.
B is in a trade school right now, something she’s always wanted to do, in an all-women program. She is loving it, and so very happy with everything about it. She’s made some great friends (a few lesbians even!) and really, it’s one of the best things that’s happened to her since we moved here. I’m so happy for her and for this opportunity. I hope it pans out into something she loves and is happy with. So far, so good.
And life with an animal back in the house is a good one. He is sweet when he sleeps, but mostly, he is “attack kitty,” and that’s usually fun, minus the bites and scratches. He is getting big so quick. He rules this house and he knows it.
So life has been going quite nicely, overall. It’s not without it’s difficulties but the good is so very good right now, so I’m not complaining about anything. Not even the $1,000 I spent on getting new tires and brakes and rotors and an alignment, and the $400 I’m spending to get my car transferred and registered in Maryland. I’m not even going to complain!
We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have. – Frederick Keonig
Ollie says hello. It's a tough life. Really.
I spent a lot of time in my home office this weekend, continuing to perfect the space. It’s not perfect, but really, it is a little slice of heaven for me.
I love offices and/or libraries in homes. Some people may think it’s a waste of space or outdated, as e-readers replace actual books and laptops can be used in any room. But not me. I already have an idea in my head of what my dream Office/Library room will look like, once I eventually purchase a home again. Built-in bookshelves, a big enough workspace for my iMac and a place to craft, warm colors, a comfortable chair, hardwood floors with a fluffy throw rug, and wall space to hang enough of my pictures to make me feel cozy. Even though I also have a laptop, and a Nook, a space like this is still important to me. It makes me feel inspired and creative. It relaxes me. It represents a place I can go that is my own, without other distractions. It contains almost all of the activities that I love to do: reading, photography, writing, and crafting. It is my equivalent to a man-cave, only better, of course.
In the house that we are renting, we have 3 bedrooms. An extremely large master, a decent sized second bedroom that functions as our guest bedroom, and a third, smaller bedroom in the back of the house. We’ve made this third bedroom into the office, a perfect size space for such a room.
View of the office on move-in day. We took the air conditioner out and moved the wardrobe (which came with the house). The door leads to the balcony.
Another view of the office. The door on the far left leads to the balcony. The door on the right side of the window is the closet.
We live in an old house so there’s a lot of unique characteristics throughout the space. In this third bedroom there is a door that goes outside, opening onto a very generous sized balcony. All of the decks and balconies throughout the house are beautiful – they have been restored expertly with mahogany wood, and are such a pleasure to the eye that you cannot help but feel happy when looking at them (even in the stone-cold winter, when you know you will not be spending anytime on them for months and months). The balcony on the second floor is no different, and thus, I’ve had small fantasies of sitting out there on a spring or summer morning, at a little bistro table that I am not yet in possession of, sipping my tea and reading a book. Or writing. Or daydreaming. Whatever I want. Never mind the unfortunate reality that we live in a city, and therefore our balcony overlooks other people’s unkempt and un-landscaped yards. And then there’s the position of the neighbor’s balcony, which sits almost directly across from ours, except they have a screen hung up to keep the bugs out. Close enough that if I was feeling adventurous, or if there was a house fire, I could leap across mine onto theirs. It really takes the romanticism out of the balcony, if I really think about it. But perhaps there is something creative that can be done so my fantasies of this space can become more of a reality? A spring project, perhaps. The balcony is truly a bonus touch on this cute space.
Standing on one side of the narrow balcony, with the door leading back into the office on the right.
Standing on the other side of the balcony, looking towards the yard. Notice it's shot in portrait so you can't see the neighbors : )
I think I’ve done a great job with the rest of the room, as small of a room as it is. There is a closet door, plus the door that leads to the balcony, plus two windows – that does not leave a lot of wall space. Once the room is completely finished, I’ll post some after-pictures. This weekend was exciting because I got a new desk. I was using this little white IKEA desk where a table slab sat on a set of drawers and was supported on the other end by two poles. The slab was secured onto the set of drawers by Velcro. Not the most secure piece of furniture, holding very expensive equipment. And it was very tiny. So I found an amazing deal on a beautiful desk made of (mostly) wood, so I bought it. B put it together for me, despite the few problems she encountered. And so this weekend I transferred things from the old desk to new, re-organized, printed new pictures for the wall, and labeled. It’s coming along quite wonderfully. And in keeping up with my theme of living in the now, it’s as dreamy as any dream office space could be.
Now, if I could just convince B to move her desk to a new location so we can get a comfy lounge chair in there. Hmmm.
The Others Have Spoken