What in the hell …

A list, bulletpointed. Not exhaustive.

* Celebrated two year wedding anniversary.
We’ve been together for 9 years (since I was 19), married for two. My wife is the awesomest. Had dinner at a nice restaurant with fancy salads. We have what we consider an anniversary season, because we had a private ceremony with a friend who is a pastor (which counted as the legal ceremony, but was more than that) and a public ceremony with many friends. It’s nice, means we have several anniversary celebrating days, in which we played a lot of Boggle among other things. (We are now post- anniversary, but tonite I got the word “gander” which is three points.)

* Had a discussion about when to start “trying”
My wife and I want kids. If it wasn’t for job and economic factors, we’d have at least one already, probly 3 yrs ago or so, minus gestation time. We went over our finances and my projected completion time etc etc for university. I think the plan is to start “trying” in about 2 years. For a long time I didn’t want kids. My mind changed suddenly or at least it felt that way. I realized my mind had changed while working in Missouri organizing home healthcare workers. I housecalled a woman who was unemployed at the time but planning to go back into the industry. She had had a baby 7 or 9 days prior. I did the standard housevisist - asking questions, listening, responding, asking more questions, etc but the whole time I was hyponotized by her baby. (Lucky for me feigning interest is my middle name.) I kept having to remind myself that it wasn’t appropriate to the task at hand to touch or ask to hold the baby. It was hard to pay attention to what she had to say. That nite or the next on the phone from the hotel room I told my partner that I definitely, definitely wanted kids and did she still want kids? Been waiting ever since.

* Bought some plane tickets
I’m going to three weddings in June, two for friends of mine and one a friend of my wife’s. I’m into weddings, and I’m into travel. Two are about 2 hours outside Chicago in different corners. The latter of these is in the town that my friend Colin M will be returning to soon, he’s been in Germany. Talked to him on the phone tonite, first time in a long time, excited to see him again in person. He’s one of my best philosophy friends and my most longstanding one, of a sort that keeps me sharper than I’d otherwise be because I really have to work to keep up with him. The third wedding, actually the first that’s happening, is in a tiny town out east, a friend I used to play in bands with among other things.

*Went to an out of town training with the union
It was a training I’d been to before, I helped facilitate this time. Several members of our local branch came along, members a bit younger than me and who have in recent times stepped up in a major way and who are so much smarter and capabler than I was at their ages (and often than I am now). Saw several dear friends who I never see and rarely talk to, and drank too much while singing songs after the first day ended.

*Had my first piece published in the Industrial Worker
It’s a column in the June (I think) issue. That’s exciting. Perhaps of less interest to people not involved in workplace organizing stuff, but I’m happy to see it there.

* Finished school for the summer.
Happily. My semester more crashed than coasted to a halt. There was some unpleasant and saddening difficulty in the lives of some of my extended family right toward the end which made it harder to focus and care. My need for a summer job and my fear of jobhunting checks the relief from school ending. My last rounds of jobhunting pre- return to university were very hard. Getting (and keeping) a job that paid enough money to make ends meet while being able to be home when my partner was home was really, really hard. (I did, however, have a glorious autumn collecting sweet, sweet unemployment checks.) The difficulty of that time compounded and was compounded by a very trying time in my relationship with my partner. The memory of said trying time is welded to the memory of said difficulty re: job stuff such that the thought of jobhunting really freaks me out to an unnecessary degree.

* Went to the gym for the first time since January or February
I overdid it slightly with weights but it felt good to be working out again. Back again tomorrow, rekindling ye olde habite ofe workinge oute.

* Went to the local farmers’ market for the first time despite have lived hear for two years or so
Got four or six big bags of delicious produce for 13 bucks. As always, I want to cook more. That’s one of the summer goals. Had a nice dinner of fried plantain and beans tonite. I’ll probably go back tomorrow, plan is to go once a week.

* Bought tickets to see Propagandhi
I’ve been a fan for 11 or 12 years, never seen them. The newest record is fantastically fantastic. I’m excitedly excited, in an unstately state. Show is Friday. Huzzah! A friend of a friend is dating one of them, which no one cares about unless they’re lame like me. I bonded with one of the friends from the union that went with to the out of town training over our mutual affection for Propagandhi. And Quicksand. The rental van had a really good stereo, we played a few tunes at high volume. I had forgotten how great music can sound in a vehicle, not having had a car since mine transmogrified into a paperweight via fuel pump loss last September. I had also forgotten how much fun driving can occasionally be.