I'm not quite sure how over a month has gone by since the last post. They say time flies when you're having fun... not that I was having loads of fun from late October until now. (Although I did have SOME fun.) So what has kept me from this blog so long? Hmmm...
At first, I was reluctant to blog so close to the election. Just didn't seem prudent to open up THAT can of worms. I would like to say this though... to all the Republicans who pledged to make it their mission to see to it that Obama was a one-term president: your juvenile plan failed. So now will all of you... BOTH parties... stop acting like a bunch of schoolyard idiots and work together to resolve some of our country's issues? Please?? Can ya do that?? Riiiiiight... I'll be here holding my breath. And just so ya know, if I gotta hear the phrase "fiscal cliff" one more time I'm gonna lose it. Seriously... do your effin' job!!
Employment here in the monkey cage has been a mixed bag. My job status is shaky... our company is facing a major financial drop due to a huge cut in our clients' advertising budgets. We're working hard to generate new business, but we just don't know what the future holds. I'm trying to stay positive, but I may be out of work myself in a few months. Fortunately, Mr. Remarkable Monkey is tentatively scheduled to start a new job next week! Wooohooo! He's just waiting on the official paperwork. Of course, neither of us will be able to really relax until it's a done deal. As long as one of us has a steady full time gig, we'll be okay. But the past couple of months or so have been a bit stressful to say the least, leaving me mostly just wanting to veg out in the little bit of down time I have.
We celebrated Mr. RM's birthday a couple weeks ago which was fun. But then a few days later, we suddenly and unexpectedly lost a good friend and former hockey teammate. It was quite a shock, as we had just seen him at the party. He was a great guy... the guy we all wanted to be like when we grew up. He was older than most of our group of pals, but you'd never guess it, and we expected he'd outlast us all. It's hard to believe that he's gone. We hadn't seen him in a few months, and we're so thankful that we had that last chance to enjoy his company at the party. You always think there's plenty of time... and then suddenly you realize that anything could happen in no time at all.
I was reminded of that again this week, on what would have been my father's birthday. Another example of time that slipped away... he ran out of time before I managed to make my way out to Hawaii to see him after so many years. Mr. RM and I raised a glass of Glenfiddich and toasted his memory. (I still haven't acquired a taste for scotch... that bottle will undoubtedly last me for years!)
And so I find myself hoping that I can pay more attention to making good use of my time moving forward. It's easy to put things off... life has a habit of getting in the way and screwing up your priorities. Don't get me wrong, vegging out is still a necessary exercise from time to time. But I hope I can be a bit more mindful of the important things and make more time to spend on them: friends, family, learning new things, professional pursuits, even simple pleasures like reading! I can't remember the last time I did a crossword puzzle. I've been meaning to learn how to really use my sewing machine for a couple years. And I still haven't finished knitting the baby blanket I started for my grandniece last year.
Where DID the time go? I guess I just don't manage it well. I don't know if I'll really be able to get a better handle on it, but I'm going to try. And all that lost time? Maybe someday soon I'll find it. Wish me luck!
