I was going to start this post off with the old joke about how if you play a country record backwards you get your dog back, your job back, your wife back, etc., then realized most folks are probably too young to even know why you would want to play a record backwards in the first place. And then I felt old. Like real old. Which feels pretty fitting now that I think about it.
Anyways, 2019 was a hard year for me. I got sick, lost my job, and even my dog (RIP, Bonze). The job I sort of miss, but in retrospect don’t miss the full-time stress that went with a part-time job. It did provide for the family when it was needed, but the toll it was taking definitely wasn’t worth it. I miss the dog though. He was our first kid, training wheels for caring for a real human being to a certain degree. They tried to pass him off as a Boston terrier mix from the rescue site, but when we met him it was clear he was 50% pit.
Our first picture ever together and our last, nine years later.
And all energy. Especially those first few years. Never have I seen a dog that liked wrestling more, and he would go for hours without end. A holy terror, especially when another dog tried to hump him. And they all did, females included. Don’t know what it was about him, but everyone wanted a piece. And when he went all demon dog in response, I swear he would have taken on the world. One time I saw him not only go after a mastiff that weighed more than I did (Bonze was only 40 pounds, mind you), but rally all the other dogs in the park to take on this monster that resembled a lion more than a dog.
Weird that that’s what’s coming back to me as I think about him. He had his problems, but he was my dearly beloved dog who will be missed more than I can express. All I can say is that though he was only forty pounds, there’s a huge empty place in my life now.
I could do with missing this illness though. I’m still dealing with it almost nine months after it started. I’m better, mind you, but certainly not well by any stretch. The last time I went in for the infusion the nurse looked at me and asked if she could weigh me. She pointed out that I had gained 20 pounds since they first started administering it (I lost a lot of weight when it started by the way) and they were still mixing it with that lighter body weight in mind. Meaning I’d been getting a weaker dose than I needed. So they’ve upped it and started scheduling me for treatment every six weeks instead of eight. Here’s to hoping that will help.
But enough downer news.
While my personal world might have been crumbling, the household is doing pretty great. My wife made the jump to management and so we finally decided to put down roots in California after close to seven years by buying a house. Which has been taking up most of my time and sanity this last month. Word to the wise, if you ever buy a house, schedule all the painting and flooring work BEFORE you move in rather than after. Rookie mistake on our part, which led to almost two weeks sleeping on the living room floor as work was done on our bedroom.
There's nothing more gratifying than taking a crowbar to someone else's hard work.
And my office, which did sort of put a damper on my writing. I’m one of those curmudgeonous creatures of habit that cannot write somewhere that is not my personal writing space. Preferably with no noise or light. So the lack of a room has been a bit of a damper on my output. But my new room, complete with new desk, is up an operational, if not exactly 100% yet. So I thought I’d see how much ring rust I’ve accumulated in my writing absence. If this blog is any indicator, then not too much.
Which means I should finally get back to writing every night again tonight (knock on wood). I’m finally off the steroids (second knock on wood), which means I can finally get back to editing book four, which I finished off in early July. But before I do, I’m going to finish off the little side project on worldbuilding I was doing before the Xmas break. I’m hoping that will be done by the end of this month, which means I can bang my head on Marta et al and finally exorcise them from my life. Which means I’ll be finally free to work on another world, set of characters, focus, etc. That’s kind of daunting but also kind of exciting at the same time.
So there you go: A little update on life. Which is pretty similar to my last update. But this time in a new room…
