Sorry I've been away in Going public

I’m sorry I’ve been away. It’s due to a few things. First, I don’t feel particularly comfortable writing entries on my work computers (paranoid). Second, my personal (non-work) laptop’s charger is wonky, so it can be tricky to get it to take a charge (I just ordered a new charger). Lastly, I have more close friends and confidants than ever, so most of what I would write here I can spew to my IRL friends. I think in the past, particularly when I started this journal and for a long time after, I didn’t have that, or didn’t feel as comfortable being vulnerable with the people I did have.

But I miss you all. And I still read everyday, even if I don’t always note.

Rather than trying to catch up all at once, I think I’ll do so slowly, and start writing about the present.

Yes, let’s start there. Or rather, here. Now.

We ended our mask mandate several weeks ago (though I bet it’s coming back soon) and slowly but consistently my social life has ramped up. The past week or two I’ve had something scheduled almost every day and it feels good. Yesterday I went kayaking and brunch-ing with some former work friends (I’m at the same company, they left) and it was a gorgeous day. I’ve always been iffy about staying in this area in the long term, but now I’m wondering if it makes any sense to leave considering how idyllic the weather is here. Seattle summers are just mild and easy. Mid 70’s to mid 80s, not humid, not rainy, no real bugs, green, lush, and blackberries grow like weeds almost anywhere you go. I truly don’t think there’s anywhere else in the country that has as good of weather as the PNW. We had a crazy and record-setting heat wave at the end of June, but I’m one of the lucky few with a/c so I did fine. Fire season is a bitch, but we haven’t had any smoky days yet this year.

Today I’m going to a cat cafe with a newish friend. I met her after she posted on a neighborhood fb group asking for a walking buddy in my neighborhood (downtown), and I took her up on it. I had zero information about her other than her photo, but she ended up being extremely cool and we get along great! She’s from the Caribbean, well educated, and an extremely dynamic person. She’s always doing classes (athletic stuff, woodworking, etc), exploring new restaurants, and seeking new experiences. I think she’s the only person I know who does more of that kind of thing than I do! We’re doing a SUP class next month. I tried SUP before and majorly sucked at it, but I felt inspired to give it another try, even though I’m nervous I’ll fail again.

I met another random girl off of fb who wanted a tennis partner, but it was kind of a fail, hah. She was fairly awful at tennis, which is fine. I had no expectations, and it can sometimes be fun to play with someone bad because it means I get more of a workout chasing down the ball. But what bugged me is that she was l a z y on the court and had very poor etiquette. We were just hitting (no games), but it was like she expected me to do all the work as far as feeding balls. And as far as etiquette, usually how it works is that everyone shares the burden of picking up balls, but she would pick up like, ONE, and ignore all others near her. And if she did pick up a ball, she would toss it to me… except she’d not even look where I was and would just throw it on my side of the court, so I had to chase all the balls down anyway. BUT! There was a silver lining, which is that she told me about a tennis meetup group that has events pretty much everyday, some of which are open to all levels (I haven’t taken lessons in years, so I’m rusty). I’m pretty excited about that and am attending my first event next week.

Gotta go get ready to see some kitties, see you all soon <3