I've been traveling a lot this month; more than I ever have in my entire life as a world-savvy military brat. I was in Chicago, Houston, and Memphis for the better part of the month and have been to Denver at least seven or eight times. It's not over, either. On Thursday, I leave for a five-day trip to Key West, Florida, where I'll be spending the Labor Day holiday with my now-ex-boyfriend, Jeff.

We broke up in a relatively civil discussion over the phone, yesterday. Neither of us were very happy with the direction the relationship was taking, and it seemed to be the best decision for both of us considering our circumstances and places in life. I feel relieved. That being said, it will still be a bit awkward spending an entire weekend vacation with him as just friends, but I'm sure we'll have a good time. We always do.

Work is going really well. Sitting in front of a computer for eight hours a day is still as boring as ever, but I'm getting more important work and my decisions are bearing a little more weight. It is a sense of pride to be able to actually contribute something worthwhile to the group. The people I work with are great in the sense that they are very laid-back, intelligent, and always have something thoughtful or funny to say to brighten your day. The trip to Memphis for Alpha testing was my first time in the field and it ended up being more like a vacation than a business trip since there were no problems with the software.

Touring Memphis was a chance for me to break out on my own and really explore. One note about Graceland: the tourists are more interesting than anything Elvis ever had or did. Beale and Main Streets were exciting and colorful. Spent a few nights with Erin's ex-girlfriend, Heather, and Kena and Kena's little boy, Thor. Lots of fun times. Good people, too. After about day three or four, I was at a loss of things to do. I had toured the city, circuited the gay bars, and visited numerous coffee shops and restaurants. Ended up finding a few good, used booksellers and parked myself for a couple of days and just read. I had to buy an extra carry-on bag just to tote the books I bought while I was there.

Travelling has always been a big to-do on my list, but now that I've gotten a healthy dose of it this year, I'm valuing my time at home more and more. I enjoy sleeping in my own bed, having everything where I want it, and having access to a full kitchen and, of course, a full wardrobe. With all it's promise of adventure and new experiences, traveling is really overrated and should be done in utmost moderation. Otherwise, your roots start to break and you tend to start drifting. Perhaps for some people this works, but I have a need to stay relatively grounded right now. Traveling a lot has taught me this much.

So, life is really good. I'm in high spirits and there are so many possibilities open to me right now. I'm exploring art schools for graduate study and am making decent progress towards eliminating my debt entirely, which is responsible, in large part, for my needing to be grounded and focused. Once that's out of the way, I'll be able to fully uproot and go wherever the wind takes me. That should be fun.

Older Entries