I had my skip level with Mark today. It was a great meeting, and I left there feeling very good about work.
When I got to my car to head to Nathan’s, I noticed my orange gas light on and the needle well below the E mark. I wondered how long it had been like that. I called Nathan to tell him that I’d be a bit late.
My meeting with him was a good one. My net worth has passed the half-million mark (yippee), and everything is well on track for “retirement.” We talked some more about “next steps” as within the next couple of months, I will achieve our goal of my “middle layer of money” being where it needs to be. We talked some more about the idea of starting up “The John Martin Foundation,” which may offer scholarships to out GLBT kids in high school — something like that.
Class was fun tonight. I made the whole class crack up at the very end of the class. I asked why the author of the book we’re reading did something a certain way as we had been talking about “design elements” all class long. He explained that she probably wanted to do it differently, but that she was trying to get tenure while writing that book. “And, as it turned out, she ended up not getting tenure before it was done, and she is a little critical of that toward the back of the book. It’s probably not the best tactic, to criticize the people from whom you’re trying to get tenure.”
I retorted, “Bitter is not a good design element.” The class fell out.
Dancing was a blast. We learned a new, rather difficult dance, I thought. It’s done to the song Rose Garden, and I think that’s the name of the dance, too. It requires significant concentration… no “drifting off” during this one. At least not yet, anyhow.
Adam had asked Van to make me a CD of Jeanie C. Riley’s greatest hits, which they gave to me. How sweet!
Today, someone posted in the EAGLE discussion database about a few moments he had taken today to think about what “little” (daily type) things make him happy, and then asked others to post what makes them happy. I posted:
Today, the little things that are making me happy are:
- During my “skip level interview,” my 2nd line manager told me that “it’s obvious to all of the managers in the area that you have passion for the work you do” — my vocation.
- I had the bestest ever pimento cheese sandwich for lunch at Piper’s in the Park today. And Piper’s is a lesbian-owned business, which makes me smile even more.
- Tonight is “dance night” — I’ll be two-stepping and line-dancing my heart out — my avocation.
- I called the person I’ve been having a non-relationship with (for coming up on two years in April) at lunch time, and he said, “How sweet of you to call me.” He grounds me.
- I’ve started collecting “obituary euphemisms” and the two I have make me smile, especially the first one:
- Eric was promoted to glory on January 26, 2004. (What could be better than getting a promotion on the way out?)
- Mary entered from life to reward on January 26, 2004. (The GrammarLady in me really wants to work on that phrase.)
Since I’m being cremated, and I’d like to get my obit written up ahead of time (why not, the cremation’s already paid for and the ceremony all laid out), I’m thinking about, “John Martin was burnt to a crisp on July 25, 2031.” <-- date derived from www.deathclock.com