it's that special?

yes, with all the church lady cat-scratch sarcasm (or biting or whatever it is she puts into it, though without the holy judgments)... i wander off from this relatively constant writing record of life for a bit (referencing the past month where august saw the fewest entries in years and this month has started out even slower) and all hell breaks loose in all different directions in this living space (of course i don't mean the world, but the war mongers out there seem to be building and selling yet another reason to bomb another country... when will be ever learn)... i refer to what this blog is mostly about, the daily life i experience mostly daily...

my stuff is much more positive than jackson's, alas, as she is facing the potential end of a relationship with sanford (my gut is telling me it is for the best even though sanford is nice... i've come to the conclusion that i don't think sanford is the right person for jackson... but i will support whatever she (and they, wherein may be my reasoning as decisions appear to be quite one way as is sometimes the case when there is a large age gap and very different developmental responsibility set between two people as sanford has grown children and a teen at home, a house, seniority in a career, and more and jackson is just starting out her career without any of those responsibilities or major life experiences) decide... i wish she was not hurting so much... she deserves so much better...

as if that was not enough, her thankless job is pressuring her to do even more (because that is how the human services field works and why so many capable professionals burn out or just leave the field... except for the lucky (and highly skilled) few who have the business and clinical skills to become successful independent practitioners (and jackson's not there yet and hates the business side), like teachers, the constant pressure to do more is always on while the pay sucks (like half of what teachers make and teachers do not get a fair wage for the time and energy and value they provide, but that's another story)... i think she should seriously consider finding another job, but again, whatever she decides will have my full (and by full, i include financial for as long as i am able) support as it always has...

which brings me to my stuff breaking loose (the financial connection)... covering almost all of the home bills including lots of food the past year and a half while not having any job income has been quite a drain on savings and i am past the imaginary red line i drew for myself last year so the job search is almost ready to start becoming a daily job in and of itself (which was expected around this time, this time being after the summer this year)... i sent out a couple of resumes and i am in the second stage process for one of the positions (icf administrator) as i await a phone interview with their recruiter/hr today and have another series of interviews with top management on thursday (and a haircut scheduled for tomorrow evening, for those of you who have seen how while my hair grows)... the first interview with the vp went well with lots of interactive conversation, eye contact, and smiles and it lasted just over two and a half hours, which is always a good sign... i was also her last first round interview which leaves me fresh at the top of her memory... and within 24 hours (or less) the call came to set up the second series of interviews for this week... only a few usually get the call back, don't get too hopeful, only one person gets chose for these higher pay administrator positions and lots apply... but it's still better than not getting a call back...

and softball is looking up... going into last week i was not sure if i would have any softball other than the two sunday leagues but the wednesday team was confirmed at the last minute (the league started last week so we will have a make-up double header somewhere along the way) and just today a new thursday team contacted me and we start this thursday... the friday two-leagues seem to still be in hiatus, but maybe there will be a last minute resurrection (it is a church league, after all)... but at least i will have four teams so a minimum of four games each week for the next few months... add that new job and this might be a wonderfully challenging and busy (and financially much more comfortable) fall season...

the sunday morning league, fresh off our world series week (if i have not mentioned it much during this pause in daily blogging, maybe some catch up will happen eventually), started off with a bang... while it was not without the usual frustrations of some laziness, lack of effort, and sloppy play, we won our first two games yesterday... a double header starting with last year's champs and we won 10-1 (and should have shut them out)... the second game we won even bigger, 19-3 going into the last inning and sloppy goofing off play let them get a bunch of runs, but it was still a big win... we are the favorites to win the championship now and hopefully these kids can handle that pressure...

i pitched well, but was not hitting well... a few rbi on sac flies and a bases clearing double with bases loaded, but all in all not a good hitting day... that carried over into the afternoon league game against the champs from the past two or three seasons (they've gone undefeated the last few seasons and should really be in a more competitive league, though they appear to have lost some of their better players and are beatable now)... unfortunately, the rest of the team hit almost as poorly and we lost 8-5... not sure what is going on with the afternoon team, everybody seems to be playing way under their skill level... i think it's lack of practice, most have families and play only once (a few twice) a week and they don't get to batting cages or practice... i was drained from the first two games, it was near 90 degrees and the sun baked me, so i was not putting energy into motivating and cheering but i can't always be the one and it was a blah dugout most of the game... anyway, we will hopefully snap out of it and have more energy and more fun next week...

overall though, it's a end of summer full of changes around here and while some of the changes hurt, changes are always opportunity for learning and potential excitement for something new and beautiful and so, the excitement continues to build (and who remembers that old reference, aye?) and life continues to be anything but boring...

and that's the catch up entry and hopefully the mood to write will return more often as the seasons slowly change (still weeks away here though, but memories of changing colors and falling leaves are still beautiful)... time to take a quick walk with happiness before the phone interview... make your day and week and month and season beautiful and fun, no matter what :)