Latchkey Besties

 Another Thanksgiving has come and gone.   I'm currently in the Detroit area visiting my sisters.   I'm staying with Trina and Donovan.    On the outside they seem to be back to normal after their drama.   We spent Thanksgiving at one of their friend's new home.     But when waking up early due to an unexpected two, I saw that Donovan was sleeping on the couch.   So no doubt they still are working through some issues.

I had originally planned to stay till Sunday but there's supposedly a wintry mess traveling through the area that plans to hit around that time.    So I'll opt to leave for Saturday instead.

I plan to visit Tasha before leaving.   She was expecting us to visit on Thanksgiving along with Abe's family.   But some of Abe's family can be a bit annoying so Trina and I weren't particularly looking forward to it.   I know the annoying elements of his family must've been bugging Tasha and probably were hounding her on why Trina and I weren't there.   The same one that annoyed Trina and I years back by repeatedly asking why our parents didn't attend Tasha and Abe's wedding.   Subsequently Tasha messaged us both separately wondering of our whereabouts.

I told her where I was and that I will see her sometime before I leave Saturday.

So Hemingway the reason for today's entry is related to two new-ish acquaintances that have come in my life.   Both ladies I met while participating in the Pathfinder program.   The first lady Ming is the kindest lady.   But there was a period where she would constantly text me to tell me about mundane things going on.   At the time I was thinking we really don't know each other like that.    She would send rapid fire texts, like four or five at a time.   I would then reply and then receive another round of texts.   I found it to be exhausting and to slow it down I would wait a few days before replying again.

We actually wound up meeting in person in early July when I last visited Detroit and she was there working for Rocket Mortgage as a Salesforce Intern.    She lives in San Francisco and did find a brief role work at Deloitte after completing the program but was let go less than six months into the job and was struggling to find a new role.   I totally get it and have been there.   I was so happy when she announced the internship and since she knew I was from Detroit, she wanted to meet me in person.

She really is a nice person.   She talked a mile a minute initially but we eventually found a groove.   We were going to have breakfast at a newer breakfast spot but the wait was going to be 30 minutes and she needed to be somewhere in another hour so didn't want to wait, which was understandable.   We both found out we love Indian food so opted to eat at a local Indian dive.    We were the only customers for a time until lunch time came and a few other folks (all Indian) came to eat.

We parted ways after the lunch and walking her back to her apartment which was at the Wayne State University campus.    She's been taking a lot of development classes and I do hope she soon finds a permanent role.    We haven't been texting as much lately which is fine with me.

The second lady Lupita started messaging me after we both participated in Deloitte's consultant program along with a third guy Leo in hopes of landing a role with Deloitte.    Leo got the offer along with a few other folks that included another Pathfinder but Lupita and I didn't which I kinda figured in my case wouldn't happen.   This of course was two months prior to landing my current role.

Lupita and I commiserated over being rejected.   Lupita confessed to being quite shy and not easily befriending people which made her talking to me all the more interesting.   Somehow I must've gotten past her normal defenses.   She too is a very nice person.   Her family originates from Africa and she relocated in Texas where she was working in a real estate job she hated until stumbling onto Pathfinder.

Thankfully she found her new role at a Salesforce Consulting firm as a Business Analyst about two weeks before I started my role.    But it's been a roller coaster ride for her dealing with the various projects going on.   She's been striving at it and was recently promoted to Senior Business Analyst.   But the company has been going through some recent turmoil, much like my job, and a number of folks, including her boss's boss were laid off.   

The one thing that irks me was that she keeps calling me her "bestie".   I'm thinking how could that be and how did she wind up latching onto me...*LOL*.   I don't like the word "bestie".   I do know the intention isn't bad when she uses it though.   Just like Ming, she really is a sweet lady.   She gotten to know me as well.    We continue to message regularly even asking me about Thanksgiving plans.   In fact she'll send a quick message if we haven't chatted in awhile.

It is funny how some folks come into your life when you least expect it.    I wasn't looking specifically for any connections but they found me.   That is refreshing actually since usually I'm the one that has to chase to try and befriend folks.   We shall see if Ming and Lupita continue to be in my life.

Your Perspective

 Dom has been making an extra effort to try and go in to work everyday this week and last week.   With everything that's been going on with him health-wise, he unfortunately has used up all his sick days again (same thing happened last school year) so he does not get paid when he doesn't make it in.    His last paycheck was only for 3 days of work so it was quite low.   Definitely not enough to keep up with his doll habit.   But that's another tale for another post.   

So after coming home from work today, he was complaining about how his kids never listen to what he says and how they are unruly constantly.    It is unfortunately true and it's been rougher for him since he's been dealing with his own health woes.   He complained of his ankle aching for almost two weeks.   In fact he may actually take a day off tomorrow to try and heal it up a bit.   Plus I have to travel to Indianapolis (ugh) tomorrow for work so he wanted to stay back in case some packages come through.

As he was complaining I was thinking about how I've complained about him not listening to my advice about trying to save more.   I continue to get frustrated with him since I pretty much am the responsible one for paying the majority of the household bills.    He does pay for groceries sometimes at least.    But I marvel how he is always on top of the latest doll stuff that comes on sale and he ignores his own personal bills (hospital and even owing on doll stuff).   With everything that's happened to him and his not working as much, I've been giving his doll enabler $100 a month to cover his $4000 bill that they were asking for, so far I've given $2400.    So I guess I'm paying for it after all.    But I know that we're married so his debt is our debt I guess.     I took a look at some of the hospital bills that he's ignored and so far it's added up to more than $2000 so I know at some point I may have to deal with that too.

But I was thinking of the irony of him complaining about the students not listening to him when I feel like he doesn't listen to me.   On the flipside he's complained that I don't listen to him either.    Sometimes he'll say something and I'll forget about it later when he brings it up again.

I guess it puts things in perspective.   Depending on the point of view, things can be seen in a different light.

Health Matters

 Dom is continuing to try and recover from all his health issues that have taken place this year.   The insulin has helped him manage his diabetes.    He's continuing to take blood thinners following his pulmonary embolism that was discovered a week after his prostate surgery.   His pee has been bloody but part of it is the side effects form the thinners.

Unfortunately Dom has been experiencing issues with his balance and lightheadedness that his doctors have been unable to diagnose.   He's done MRI and Cat Scans and even went to the ER once more to get to the bottom of things.   But the initial conclusion was that he was suffering from sinuses.

Dom and his primary doctor however does not believe the ER diagnosis and wants Dom to visit a neurologist and urologist to perform more tests.   He viewed the MRI results and was concerned about Dom's prostate once more and said that he had fatty liver and pancreas.    He is a candidate for cirrhosis of the liver which could be caused by viruses and even diabetes.   He has appointments set though one of them isn't until January 2024.

There is a fear that he could possibly have cancer which would be very devastating.   He's already said if it is cancer, he does not want chemotherapy or radiation.   There is a possible therapy for prostate cancer called Proton Therapy that he would be interested in.   The main benefit of proton therapy is that the treatment is tailored to target more of the bad cancer cells and less damage to the good cells.   The hope of course is that there is no cancer.   But we may not know anything till next year.   Gotta love modern medicine and how much they care for their patients.

So Dom's missed more work due to his symptoms and he's concerned that he may not finish the school year.   As a result we decided it would be best to add him to my insurance starting in 2024.   Of course doing so will put a hurting on my paycheck but I'm hoping since they typically use pre-tax dollars to deduct healthcare expenses that it may be a slightly less painful reduction.   I definitely need to get some kind of raise next year.  I pray too that I can hold on to my job because it'll also affect his health insurance if I lose it.   Time to kiss some butt...LOL.

Speaking of kissing butt, tomorrow is the Friendsgiving event at my job.  I am a bit nervous about going.   Also my plan to have the new person that was supposed to be in Chicago hang out with me has gone south.   I haven't seen the person online at all and he was a no-show on Tuesday.   I'm not expecting to see him tomorrow either.   So I have to attend the event alone.   I am hoping I can get over my nerves and try to chat with folks.

Apparently now I have to go to Indianapolis next Thursday to meet all four of the new hires that were placed under my wing and then take them to lunch.   I will say they seemed to hire some sharp folks.   There is a concern that they're hiring a lot of extra people and will there be enough work.   It may be a battle of the fittest to see who can hang on to their job in 2024.   My manager seems to like me even confiding in me about others she doesn't like (without naming names though I already suspect who).   But will that be enough to stay on.  Stay tuned.

Parking Garage Fun

 I wound up going to the Chicago office twice this week on Tuesday and Thursday.    My company had three new hires that were slated to do orientation training at the Chicago headquarters for the week before going back to their homebase in Indianapolis. 

So of course none of the folks that were supposed to be in Chicago showed up.   So it was a wasted trip to go on Tuesday.   Of course it chose Tuesday to have Chicagoland's first snow event.   It was also in the 20's temperature-wise so I needed to bundle up extra while catching the train.    The Halloween folks would have a rough day trick or treating.

I perused a social networking site looking for my own trick and found a guy that was less than 500 feet from me that was physically appealing.   I reached out to him and an hour later we chatted and exchanged photos.   We talked about possibly meeting after work for fun though where that would take place was the 100,000 question.   We both were in town for work and didn't have a hotel room.    The weather though was looking grim with the snow coming down fast (though in the end it wound up being less than an inch).    I was planning to be back in Chicago on Thursday so I told Bob maybe we could meet then.

I honestly was ready for Bob to not log in on Thursday or completely ignore me.    As I said my track record hasn't been great with trying to connect with guys.   But to my surprise he was online Thursday and he did reply to me.   We decided to meet outside the parking garage where his car was after 4pm.   We both liked what we saw but didn't know where to go so he suggested going to his car to fool around.

It was definitely risqué and of course I was worried about getting caught.    But what a fun way to end the work day.    He was a wonderful kisser as we pawed each other.    There was one person that went to their car on the opposite side.   But thankfully there weren't any other folks that came, including whoever was parked next to him.   Bob wound up sucking me off and it wasn't long before I had my release.   I felt a light pain in my lower abdomen as I ejaculated but I'm thinking it was due to being in the back seat of his car and not being in a comfortable position.  

 Interestingly enough that person who we saw go to the car was still parked in their car and hadn't left.  I'm hoping that person wasn't trying to get a show of his own.    I believe having sex in a public area and getting caught could get you fined.   Bob was nice enough to drive me to the train station as well after we were done.

My moment made me think about a story Sally shared with me many years ago when she was coming home one evening after a long work day and had parked her car in the outside lot near her home.   As she got out of her car, she heard a lady moaning "Oooh, papi!  Oooh, papi!" and the source of the sound came from a jeep that was also shaking.   It wasn't long before Sally realized that she caught two people in coitus.   When she closed her door, the party momentarily stopped.   She laughed as she walked away and moments later she heard the "Oooh, papi!" once more.

So my sex drought is officially over again.   I'd love to meet Bob again though we may have to figure something else out as it was rather bold to make out in his parking garage.  I don't know if doing it there is sustainable without risking being caught.   Though I guess that's part of the excitement as well.    I can now add parking garage to the list of crazy places I've had sex.   Super freak indeed.