Is This Thing On?

We had a “Welcome to the team” lunch for our newest colleague and I was in charge of the icebreakers per usual. One of the questions I asked was, “What’s your dream job?” The caveat is you can’t pick your current job. That’s just a suckup move anyway.

Two people answered they wanted to work with horses (ugh), one said police officer, two said chefs of some sort, another said electrical engineer and one said the answer I had prepared.

Writer.

Which is laughable in a way because the only writing I’ve done is for our newsletter and (small) pearls of wisdom emails from the President (that’s me) of Parrot Heads in Paradise.

I started thinking about what was stopping me from doing any real writing. I couldn’t come up with any good reasons. Oh, I had reasons, of course, but not good ones. Can you legitimately say you want to be a writer when you don’t actually write? I might have well have said I wanted to be an Olympic athlete. Both seem just as likely when you’re making zero effort.

I also got curious when I last wrote on this blog. It was January - over 11 months ago. And, it was sporadic going before that.

It’s not that I haven’t thought about posting. On more than one occasion, I would think “this would be a good post” and some of those times I actually started mentally composing which is step one in my writing process. Then I would feel tired or get squirreled and my topic no longer felt relevant so I did nothing. It also felt strange to just drop some random story in when I’d been silent for so long.

So, here’s the catchup so I can get started again without it feeling so out of the blue (and also can’t use randomness as an excuse).

Since I last wrote in this blog I:

• Sold my condo.
• Bought a house a mile from my local pizza place (20 miles from my condo). It was only the second house I looked at and it’s 98% perfect. I owe it all to my great real estate agent.
• Packed, moved, unpacked. Except for about a foot of stuff in the bottom of a wardrobe box that’s all Christmas related so it didn’t seem important until now.
• Started a moving trend as two families in my “other” friends group moved as well. Though, not close enough.
• Had a roommate for a few weeks which was fun and Starbuck actually got friendly with her.
• Finished a year at my new job.
• Went to Pensacola for a long weekend of work and play.
• Went to St. John for a week with friends. 
• Went to Tucson for a wine tasting tour and introduced a friend to the joy that is Old Style (bus beers). A convert has been made.
• Went to WE Fest in Detroit Lakes, MN. Favorite act this year was Chris Jansen. He’s no Brett Eldredge though. But, who could be?
• Went to Coronado for my friends’ wedding during a sunset cruise. I only got a little dust in my eye but the groom’s Dad had a lot of it. So sweet.
• Saw Jimmy Buffett in Vegas with friends and didn’t lose all of my money gambling. Only because we now spend our Saturday day in the sports bar instead of at the Blackjack table.
• Went to Key West for a week for Meeting of The Minds, the annual Parrot Head Convention. So. Freaking. Hot.

Got a picture with my favorite Muppet.

• Decided to step down as President of Parrot Heads in Paradise and will complete four years in office as of December 31.
• Got talked into still being involved in the Parrot Head organization. I clearly can’t quit it.
• Walked in three 5Ks and got heat stroke from one of them. Never again in September in the Valley.
• Signed up for two 5Ks in 2020. Both in January so I will get hypothermia instead of heat stroke.
• Drafted in two Fantasy Football Leagues and took Antonio Brown in both. Currently, 11-1 in one of them and 5-7 in the other so I only half recovered from that misstep.
• Had cataract surgery. I’m extraordinarily young to need it but it still made me feel old.
• Cut the cable cord and went to Hulu.
• Added Disney+ because, damn them. #babyyoda
• Saw all of the superhero blockbusters. #teamcap
• Read 113 books.
• Drank a lot of wine.
• Stopped consistently exercising.
• Gained back 30 of the 50 pounds I lost thanks mostly to the last three items. A fact for which I cannot forgive myself.
• Restarted tracking my food with the  iTrackBites app two weeks ago and am pleased with my progress so far.
• Cut off another 8 inches of my hair and learned that the curls I’d been actively fighting for the last decade actually look pretty good without any effort.
• Got called Roseanne Roseannadanna which made me doubt the attractiveness of my curls but choose to blame it on Key West humidity and my friend’s sense of humor. And his potential death wish.
• Bought a bunch of board and card games.
• Enjoyed countless evenings of fun in my new hood with my hood friends.
• Hosted events and guests in my new house and am thrilled every time that I now have the space to comfortably do so.

If you got this far, you’re all caught up. Stay tuned for regular posts. I’m committing to averaging at least one a week. Unless I’ve done nothing of interest. Or, I get lethargic. Or, squirrel!