The year of not my problem

[AJM]

LOL. I was just coming here to journal about the sit. Just quickly: turns out tax time is here. We have a choice - file married but sep, and we both pay. File joint, and we both get money back. Who knew? :0)

The rest of my life is pretty good. And yes, I am dating - cautiously and without expectations or comittments. I don't think now is the time in my life for deep comittments ya know?
I really like people. I've been making all KINDS of new friends. That was something I put off to focus more on my family the past few years of my marriage. I missed that the most. I am a people person who works in a technical field. I work in an IT department as a lead engineer/architect/consultant/chief cook and bottle washer. I'm hoping to start a new job in the next few weeks. I've been at this company in the same position with very little changes for 5 years this Easter. I am focusing at the moment on about 7,000 different things, and as my boss jokes, all my assignments are priority 1. Just that they are priority 1a, 1b, 1c, etc. I'm the guy they throw in when tact, decorum, and sanity need to be restored. I am also the guy that does a lot of international interaction work with other IT shops in our company. Years ago I specialized in Microsoft messaging technologies, but these days I'm a master of all trades (as far as the customers know). I took on the additional responsibilities two weeks ago for the new position prior to officially getting it. That makes me busier these days than I have been. But I enjoy the challenge, and like I said, I really do like people.
I've been running for the past 2 years. I had stopped for a long time, again, to focus more on the family and job. I originally took this particular job as a way to stay closer to home and have a more flexible schedule so I could take care of the kids while she went back to Dental school to be a dentist v.s the hygienist she already was. It was her life-long dream to become a doctor. Seemed a good fit and I'm sure she'll be a good one. I left a good job with international travel (love that too) to take this one. Hated this one for a while, but that's more to do with the global market as a whole. It's gotten much better in the past year. I work in a division that is heavily impacted by the US housing market
I get my kids half the time. It's a joint custody thing. They are with me every other weekend and Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Tuesdays because I take my son to and help teach his confirmation class. Middle schoolers are so much fun.... Lately my daughter is not coming over at all. She is unhappy with me. To be more precise, I think she is unhappy and taking it out on me, but perspective is what it is. She will be 16 on Easter this year. My son is 13 going to be 14 in August. I've had the pleasure of raising them mostly by myself and I don't regret taking this job for that reason. Now that the job is getting better and I have broken in my boss, I'm ready for that next challenge. It helps that my kids are older and I don't have to worry so much about them when they get home from school or when they want to stay at a friends house etc.
What do we do together? All kinds of things. When the weather is better, I like to get out and about. When it's not, we might just laze around or do things around the house or whatever. Not terribly important to me to have structured things to do. During the better and warmer weather last year, I took them all over the place to area happenings. I throw parties at the house and they invite their friends over or go to friends houses as well. My son and I will likely play some golf this year. There are many many courses here in North Carolina to choose from. Not that I'm a big golfer (shoulder injury and subsequent surgery changed the swing too much and made it painful; I still play) but I figure it's fun. We've talked about surfing this year now that he's big enough and a strong enough swimmer. I also take them to outdoor plays, running events (son runs too. Daughter is a rower). Pretty much whatever I do outside of a club or bar, they come along and do as well.

Monday throug Wednesday of every week is taken up already for me. With the new duties, Tuesdays are a bear and very late night.
Monday - run club. We have a great local run club that meets at a bar. We run, we drink beer. Can't be much better than that.
Tuesday - confirmation class and conf calls
Wed - downtime with the kids
Thursday - catch up with friends
Friday - whatever
Saturday - yardwork/housework/playtime with the kids when they are there
Sunday - church, playtime/nap?
Rinse and repeat each week until June. In June the confirmation class stops. Tuesdays become less fun and less time consuming. Middle schoolers are a lot of fun. Have I mentioned that?

By and large, I keep a very busy life now. It took a while to pick myself up and rebuild where once there was a crater. One step at a time, I rebuilt it. I tried different things and some stuck and some haven't. I am not given to drinking much. I'm not good at it. I don't care for the strip clubs. I am not a drug addict nor do I partake. Those things are still the same for me. I am a Christian man. I have been for a very long time; was even president of my church years ago. I'm not terribly smart, but I'm not stupid either. I like people. I like to be alone sometimes but I really like being in a crowd of people the most. I get a charge out of that. I like dogs and cats, and I do miss my dogs. I have a very wide variety of interests including travel and academic interests although I have not yet finished my college degree. I prefer to play rather than watch sports. I've considered acting in local theatrical presentations although I don't sing well. I'm good with mechanical things, my hands, and my organizational skills when I put my mind to it. Next Saturday is my 40th birthday.

Oh. And I dislike painting my house although cleaning it is not a big deal. I do need to pain the inside though if I can keep it. I may do it anyway cause it's needed.

What else about me? I spent almost 6 years in the Marine Corps. I am originally from Los Angeles. I am considered a disabled veteran from a legal standpoint (I dislike that considering the injury, but it is what it is.) I have a sister and brother in law in Los Angeles. He works in the business. I have two nephews and now a niece. They are a lot of fun. My brother in law (her brother) just recently had a new son. That's technically still my nephew as well although I may never have occasion to meet him. Hard to say, but they seem very happy and I'm happy for them. They are the ones that lost their son to suicide a few years ago. We still keep in touch, so who knows right?
Last thing about me for now? I am and almost always have been a very positive person. I am a technical person, so I can't say glass is half full kind of guy. I would still wonder if the glass was over engineered if the question came up

My fingers are tired and my phone is ringing so I'm back to work. What about you? What can you tell me about you?

AJ