Summer Musings and Some Photos

Monterey Scottish Games and Celtic Festival 2012

It's a curious thing, getting older. Especially when it comes to things like the passing of the seasons. I remember when I was a kid, summers -- or any season, for that matter -- seemed positively endless. Now that I'm older, I get what my parents and the adults I knew in general meant when they talked about the way things would change as I aged. "One day, time will just start spinning by and you won't have a clue what happened."

Me as I looked on July 7th of this year.

OK, yes. I get it now. I'll be 37 years old on my next birthday  and at this point weeks, months, or even years fly by like they're on speed or something. It's easy for me to lose track of time, especially since I am so terribly busy these days. I've never sought to be a busy person, per se, as I've always preferred it when life moves at a leisurely pace. However, I suppose this is something else that just happens when you're an adult.

Somehow, I did find myself with a serious relationship, a family, and something that really does look an awful lot like a career the way that everyone else did. I love it despite the fact that it still feels as if I'm a child who is merely playing at being an adult... but it keeps me busy and it keeps outside of my own head a lot. I'm not sure that's always the best thing for me as a writer and an artist, but it is what it is. I'm still very much in the process of making adjustments there.

Fish and Chips

Seth and I did wind up going to the Monterey Scottish Games and Celtic Festival last month as I mentioned we might (which you may already know if you follow me on Facebook). That's actually where these pictures came from. We got there late in the day and we didn't participate in a whole lot of activities or anything, but we had a wonderful time.

Seth (sometimes better known as "Wolfie").

I am so lucky to have met someone like Seth. Going places with him is never a clusterfuck or a snore like it almost always is with other people. He's bright and alert, the sort of person who loves to be part of things and to have fun. However, he's not one of those antsy people I can't stand who can never find it within themselves to just be. He likes to do what I like to do at events like this -- enjoy some delicious food and drink, listen to music, people watch, and talk.

Ironically, working as a freelance writer on a full-time basis also keeps me locked inside of my own head in other ways. I'm always thinking, reasoning, and writing for my clients. Remembering to take enough time away from that and pushing myself to leave the house for the purpose of having fun is something I've been working on. I'm not totally sure how good a job I've really been doing, because I haven't done as many things as I'd hoped to, but I've tried for sure.

At the festival, we shared a batch of fish and chips, as well as several very good Irish beers. We listened to bagpipes and some very nice traditional Irish music. We watched other people just being people and then grabbed a take and bake pizza from Papa Murphy's on the way home to enjoy for dinner. We do this sort of thing a lot and we love that -- just chill, eat, drink, and enjoy one another's company.

The Monterey County Fair will be coming up by the end of this month. I'm thinking that we'll definitely want to hit that as well, since we haven't been to a fair together since that one in Montana after which he got so sick -- the one where we saw Bret Michaels in concert and I milked a goat.

Another thing I've noticed as I get older is that I don't take or share enough pictures of myself or of us together, which is one reason I wanted to make sure to share some of these here before they just got ridiculously old... or I wound up with another batch or two that needs sharing. One day, this will have been something that went down "a long time ago" and I will have no other way of remembering what the experience of it was like without my recorded thoughts and photos -- really the whole reason for me keeping blogs in the first place.

Guinness

In other news, I'm ridiculously tired of my looks right now. I'm tired of most of most of my clothes and I'm definitely tired of my hair, which isn't helping me want to pose for the camera more often. The next time I dye it, I'm going to bleach it out and dye it bright, screaming, candy apple red. My parents will probably hate it, as they've never cared for my messing with my natural hair color very much. Seth will love it though and I myself will definitely welcome the change, as I've never done anything truly "fun" to my hair the way a lot of people have.

This is why I love Seth and why I ultimately chose him to spend my life with. He supports and encourages me to change, evolve, and experiment with myself as the mood takes me... both inside and out. Really, he always has for the entire going-on-8-years that we've been together and that is something I sorely needed in my life and never really had before him. I'm also realizing that that's what a truly meant-to-be relationship (with any other human, not just a partner) is all about. It's been helping me grow and expand the boundaries of my life in all the right ways and I am excited to see how that continues into the future.