Dinner with a good friend about dating and my ex

On Friday night, I had dinner with a good friend. She asked me about the dating scene. I let her know that the ex had reached out to me.

I decided to write back to the ex on Thursday. I asked him how he was going to make this dinner that he had hoped for pleasant for me. After all, I'd be sitting across from a man who broke my heart, caused me so much anxiety, emotional pain, and depression for a year. I do not want to relapse.

He hasn't responded.

I let my friend know that I wasn't ready to date. I know that I am not ready.

She said the nicest thing towards the end of our time together over dinner. She said that I have the kindest heart and will eventually find the right person who will deserve my heart. She's equally as deserving of that special someone. We are in similar situations.

I don't think that my ex has changed since we last saw each other over three years ago. In his message to me, he said that we "always have a good time." No, we don't. I feel like he is delusional and is only thinking about the good times that we've had. He is omitting how poorly he treated me at the end of our relationship.

Good people on a plane

When I flew down to Minneapolis, an older woman sat next to me. She had a tough time finding one part of her seatbelt. I managed to scoop it up between our seats. We ended up chatting here and there throughout our flight.

The sun was shining through the window directly in her face. I asked if she wanted me to draw the small blind down. She liked the sunshine and was okay.

"Do you have family in Minneapolis?" she asked me.

"I used to live in Rochester, just south of it. I'm returning after nearly two years," I replied.

"I'm seeing my son and his family," she shared.

"That's so nice. My mom used to visit me when I lived in Minnesota," I replied.

Towards the end of our flight, I wished her happy times reuniting with her son and grandchildren. It has been ages since anyone has gingerly held my arm as a token of affection. She did just that, which was sweet. She thanked me and was thrilled to finally see them.

Travel seems scary during a pandemic, but there are still stories to tell and good people out there.

Friends from grade 7 have found love

I found out through a friend that she has found new love. It's nice.

We all know one another. We all met in grade 7. She is dating a guy from our class.

It's interesting how life unfolds. We all got married. We all got divorced. We all carry on.

I am thrilled that they have found each other. They haven't made it official. She quietly shared the news with me. It's saying a lot, for she is like an open book, in general. They are being cautious for the time being, but are definitely together and enjoying being in love.

It's sweet seeing budding love.

A colleague saying hi and sending a virtual hug

On Friday, a colleague whom I haven't chatted with for a few months pinged me on Teams. She said hi, wanted to know that I was good, and sent me a hug from afar. It was so sweet of her.

On the whole, our working relationship has been decent. I've been at this company for nearly eleven years and she was there when I started.

We had some rough waters when she transitioned from a quality assurance team lead to a program manager on my team. She was so stressed out that she took some of that out on me and I wouldn't have it.

Eventually, another colleague took over my role on those two teams as I moved over to reviewing everyone's work on our writing team. When this colleague resigned, I had to step back in and complete the work that she hadn't done. That's when the program manager realized how valuable my contributions were and our working relationship went back to what it was before. I completed everything that the previous person had left behind and the program manager was thankful.

Late last year, she was involved in a serious car crash. My manager let me know about it because he knew that we had worked closely together. I sent her e-mails of encouragement and let her know that I was pulling for her.

It's great when you have a lovely chat with someone on a Friday afternoon. She is doing much better these days, which is wonderful news.

Weekend reflections

Blink and just like that, the weekend is over.

I got two free bubble tea drinks on Saturday. I cooked and baked on Sunday. I also trimmed my bangs and can see again. It was been nice, relaxing weekend.

The spot on my arm where I got my vaccine injection is a tad sore. It's not horrible. I can sleep on it just fine. I only notice it now and again.

My friend and colleague checked up on me after I got my shot. She's sweet that way.

Have a great week, everyone!

Christmas

My Christmas was quiet, but nice. I spent three hours cooking. I spent the rest of the day relaxing.

I roasted a turkey. I love my convection oven. It does a great job crisping the skin and keeping the turkey juicy.

I made mashed potatoes with ghee. It was a first and it turned out nicely.

Stuffing is a must. I no longer stuff the turkey with it. Instead, I make it on the stovetop and it's so much easier. I live for stuffing.

I did something different and made salted caramel quick bread at the same time that the turkey was roasting. It turned out well for my first try. It was nice to have dessert.

I also roasted sweet potatoes. The key is to poke a ton of holes with a fork before they go into the oven, so the sweet potatoes don't explode.

I fed my parents. They seemed to enjoy the food. They took a nap afterwards.

Oddly, I couldn't nap. I slept well last night, though. I'm happy that they had a great meal.

Waving

On Wednesday night, I visited my local post office to pick up some parcels. I was waiting in line. There was a mother-daughter duo ahead of me.

The daughter turned around and looked at me. I looked at her. It's tough to gauge others with masks on.

My hands were a bit full. I still managed to shift whatever I was holding in my left hand over to my right. I waved at her. She waved right back.

Humans are cool, especially young ones.

End of my vacation and a Starbucks birthday memory

In a few hours, I head back to work. I am working from home till the end of this year.

This staycation has been nice. I have enjoyed being stress-free for over a week. I am relaxed. I am sad to see my vacation end, but it eventually had to.

I will share a nice memory of this vacation. At Starbucks, if you are a part of the rewards program, you get a free beverage or food item on your birthday.

I visit my local Starbucks often, which is roughly twice a week during this pandemic. I am and have been a regular customer for several years.

On my birthday, when I went to pick up my beverage, the barista over the drive-thru speaker wished me a happy birthday. I returned the following day and two baristas wished me a belated birthday.

It was such a sweet gesture. They made me feel special. 

Surprise text full of honest, sweet thoughts

The man in my life is sweet and mushy. He poured his heart out in a text last night to me. It was poignant.

He had said that he can't write a novel. He proved himself wrong. It was nice and I woke up wiht a smile on my face reading it.

It's nice to feel loved again. To feel like someone out there cares and is genuinely sweet.

Getting rid of dry roses

When it was almost Valentine's Day nearly a decade ago, my ex-guy brought me a dozen roses. I loved the sweet gesture. I had the roses dried. They remained in a nice vase, on my desk, ever since.

A few days ago, I threw them away. It was time. It felt good.

I never got fresh flowers from him. It was a one-time deal. I suppose that's why I kept the roses for so long. I wanted to hold on to that special time.

I decided to let that special time go. The memories are fond, but they need to stay that way.

New love - pacing it

I have been chatting with a guy online for three weeks. It has been great getting to know each other.

He told me that he is falling in love with me. That's sweet. It's nice to feel loved again. The feeling is mutual.

We are taking things slow. We are similar in that we got our hearts broken. It's a question of trusting that we can love and find love again. So far, we are doing great.

Reviews, my pet fish, and the aftermath of travelling

I have had a productive Sunday. I wrote a few reviews for various businesses as my side gig. All is going well there.

I cleaned my betta fish's tank. He is the sweetest fish I have ever had as a pet. He constantly shows his excitement whenever I walk into the room, swishing his tail from side to side, and coming right up to the tank to greet me.

The travel that I have done recently, both on my vacation and for work, has made me take it easy this weekend. I feel like I need some rest!

Speaking of rest, I should get some.

Birthday highlights and pedal boating coming up

My birthday was wonderful. I got to meet a friend in person after establishing an online friendship for a few years.

We had lunch together at a Vietnamese restaurant. She got me a birthday gift, which was so thoughtful of her. We walked around Chinatown. She gave me tons of suggestions and recommendations on places to go and restaurants to try out. She's great.

I took in a movie. Yesterday was great. I cried at the end. I haven't cried in a while. It felt good.

I had dinner at a Thai restaurant. The green curry that I had was fantastic.

Through my friend, I signed up for pedal boating later on today. At least I'm getting a decent workout during my vacation!

Purple sunglasses

I experienced a touching, thoughtful moment at work on Thursday. I came into the office and noticed a pair of company-branded sunglasses on my desk. They were purple.

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you will know that purple is my favourite colour. Someone deliberately got me a pair of purple sunglasses. I was happy.

Later on in the day, I found out from a colleague, who is also my friend, that our boss and my student both said to our office administrator that I would like the purple pair. The sunglasses were distributed on Wednesday. I was working from home that day.

Ah, they all know me well. It may seem like a small gesture, but it meant a lot to me.

Wedding proposal and groping butts

Ah, a fun wedding proposal! I like how all the guys didn't seem to mind getting their butts groped. I like how the woman knew exactly what her guy's butt felt like.

The proposal video is cute. Go watch it!

Some things never change with my guy

My guy is at the office for the next two weeks. It means that I get to see him more often.

On Monday, he picked me up in his stick-shift 70's car. It was my first time seeing and riding in it. The muffler was loud.

After lunch, I teased him, as usual.

"Do you know where you parked?" I asked him.
"Over there," he said, pointing at the general vicinity of the parking lot.
"Some things never change," I pointed out.
"Yes, for sure," he replied.
"Can I drive your car?" I asked him.
"Nope. Some things never change," he smiled.

It was nice spending a bit of time with him.

7 Habits of Highly Effective people and spanking

The weekend went flying by. I am pleased that I got to sleep in.

This week, I get to go back to my regularly scheduled program of working from home for a couple of days. Here's hoping that I can get some quiet work done.

My guy is teaching a course based on The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, written by Franklin Covey. I read this book in my mid-twenties. It's nice that my guy is applying it to engineering and the Information Technology fields.

We had a fun talk the other day about it:

"Do you think you could apply it to spanking me?" I asked him.
"Sure. The first habit is being proactive. I'd be proactive spanking you daily," he said.
"That sounds good. Habit two is beginning with the end in mind. You begin spanking my end," I said.
"Yes, that's for sure," he laughed.

I like when we are funny.

Dreaming about my guy and being together

When I miss my guy, I dream about him. It happened to me last night.

I don't recall all the details. I just remember him saying that he loves me and lovingly holding me. I woke up happy and loved.

He's doing well. He's spending a ton of time on a new project. It's like my trying to figure out how new applications work. We simply need to find some time to see each other.

Coming around and getting a spanking

For years, my manager has deemed me his go-to person for all important tasks. I got annoyed at how I ended up doing all the work and my colleagues just sat around and did little.

I realized why. He trusts me to get the job done. He doesn't have much confidence in the rest of my colleagues. It's a bad sign.

For the last few years, I have told him that I can't be the person who has all the knowledge. It has to be spread around.

Recently, he asked about how to handle the shortage of folks on my team for various reasons. I told him that there should be cross-training across our entire team. My tiny team does everything. The rest of the team has no idea how to do half the tasks that we do.

He liked that idea. He has come around.

This week, he wants our team to write three different proposals. He didn't assign any of these tasks to me. He gave them to three other colleagues. Nice!

I told my guy about this good news.

"It's about time," he said. "You do so much. It's your turn to take a breather."
"Yes, it's nice," I replied.
"Of course, you still need to do what I say. Otherwise, you go over my knee for a hard spanking," he threatened.
"Maybe," I teased.

I like being his bad girl.

Vaccines and dating criteria

I had my doctor's appointment yesterday. My blood and urine reports were good.

I was asked whether I got my diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine recently. I said that I haven't had it since I was a kid.

Apparently, you are supposed to get it every ten years. Who knew? I got mine done. It's better safe than sorry.

I also got a leaflet from my doctor on the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. Apparently, it's open to any adult who is sexually active where I live.

My guy and I talked about our health and partners that we've had when we first started dating.

"I have only had sex with one other person in my life," he admitted.
"Same here," I replied.
"That's good. We won't get any weird viruses," he stated.
"So, that's how you choose who you want to date. Attractive? Yes. No sexually transmitted diseases? Good. I'm horny. Let's go!"

He's sweet. I'm glad that we have been together, and we have been healthy and happy every since.