(no subject)
Ok, so the last post was kind of a run-through of what has been going on for the past few months, but I'll try an elaborate here because I didn't really do justice to some things.
Most notably, my engagement. justinemorgan and I originally decided to get married back towards the end of last year. We came to a spontaneous decision one night after one of our many drives back to St. Petersburg from DeLand after visiting her family. She asked me on the ride back, only half seriously (i think?), "Benjamin Sellers, will you marry me?" and, of course, I said "Yes, yes, I will marry you!" and we laughed a little and exchanged "I Love You"'s and the conversation moved on.
Then later that evening after we returned home, I asked "Did you really mean it when you asked me to marry you?", and when she said "Yes", I replied "Good...cause I meant it when I said 'Yes'", and then after a minute or two of dawning comprehension that we were engaged, we were both smiles all around.
But alas, now we're engaged, a young couple, without even a ring to "prove" it. We decided it would be in our best interests to tell only those very close to us until we could buy a ring and make an official announcement.
A few months passed and we were able to save a little money to go and look for a ring together. We went to Kay for the ring, which I will not recommend due to their astonishingly poor customer service, though we purchased a ring there anyway. It was exactly what Justine was wanting, so I have no right to deny her that.
The ring took about 2 weeks to be sized, so I used this as an opportunity to propose a little more formally. I'll interject a little back story here so the proposal makes more sense.
After Justine and I had been dating for few months, I introduced her to the game nethack, which is a PC game, kind of similar in nature to Dungeons and Dragons. You start as a particular class of character, you have one life, and when you die, you're dead - no save games. Additionally, the game is randomly generated each time so it is guaranteed to be different every time you play. The behavior of all of the in game objects however is usually the same. Notably, you sometimes find treasure chests that contain various useful items, including rings. The game has no graphics - your character is a little @ that moves from space to space around the dungeon map. Needless to say, Justine was a little dubious at first, until she played a couple times, and died a couple times, before even managing to go down a dungeon level. The more you play nethack, the more you want to play just to prove that you can do it, but it's an incredibly challenging game - I've been playing for several years and have only reached level 13 or so. After a few games, Justine got seriously immersed in it, and then we started playing together, taking turns, as an activity. She would play a game and then when she died, I would start a game, and so on, a couple times a night. Nethack is, in a sense, an important part of our relationship.
With all that being said, I thought I proposing with a nethack reference would be original, heartfelt and appreciated. I had a small replica wooden treasure chest laying around, so in it, I put the several small, colored glass, dram bottles, a few pieces of beach glass, a round gray stone, and the ring. On the outside of the box, I put a note that said "You find a large box. Loot it? y/n". Then inside, I put another note that said, "Things here: a brown potion, a green potion, a clear gem, an orange gem, a gray stone, a diamond ring". Then inside the ring box, another note that said "Benjamin the Rogue grunts...". I gave Justine the entire assembly one night after she was getting out of work. When she finally opened the ring box and read the note inside, I said "Justine, will you marry me?" and she said "Ahhh! I love you!". I waited for a minute and then said "So I guess that means no?" and she said "You're a dick! Of course, I'll marry you". And so...that is the complete and unabridged story of our engagement.
I just got a raise at work, 1k more a year, which is promising. Still trying to determine whether or not I think it's worth sticking around for, but when it comes down to it, I don't have too much of a choice right at the moment. That's ok, though.
Our roommate, Justine's brother, is moving out. At first we were concerned that it would leave us in a bind, but now we're starting to see it as a blessing. We'll have two bedroom apartment at a very good price and in a nice neighborhood. It's the perfect size for a couple, and then rather than getting a roommate, we're going to try and go it alone, and turn the extra bedroom into a reading room and relaxation space. We're both really excited about the extra space, not to mention the extra privacy and control. Ninety percent of the troubles we've had over the past eight months have been due to disagreements with roommates. We both feel it's about time to ditch the extra baggage and try living on our own, so this will be a good opportunity, I think.
I'm in the process of getting my highschool and college transcripts, so that I can apply for school again in the fall. I'm going to finish up my AA, with a discipline change to art, and then when Justine starts looking into colleges with a poetry program, we're going to be looking for art colleges for me in the same area. I'm excited about going back to school - I feel like my life is starting to get back on track again. It feels good.
My spiritual path is unfolding too. I think the next six to nine months are going to be really good. Good things happen when you follow your spirit. Good things happens when you follow your heart.
Most notably, my engagement. justinemorgan and I originally decided to get married back towards the end of last year. We came to a spontaneous decision one night after one of our many drives back to St. Petersburg from DeLand after visiting her family. She asked me on the ride back, only half seriously (i think?), "Benjamin Sellers, will you marry me?" and, of course, I said "Yes, yes, I will marry you!" and we laughed a little and exchanged "I Love You"'s and the conversation moved on.
Then later that evening after we returned home, I asked "Did you really mean it when you asked me to marry you?", and when she said "Yes", I replied "Good...cause I meant it when I said 'Yes'", and then after a minute or two of dawning comprehension that we were engaged, we were both smiles all around.
But alas, now we're engaged, a young couple, without even a ring to "prove" it. We decided it would be in our best interests to tell only those very close to us until we could buy a ring and make an official announcement.
A few months passed and we were able to save a little money to go and look for a ring together. We went to Kay for the ring, which I will not recommend due to their astonishingly poor customer service, though we purchased a ring there anyway. It was exactly what Justine was wanting, so I have no right to deny her that.
The ring took about 2 weeks to be sized, so I used this as an opportunity to propose a little more formally. I'll interject a little back story here so the proposal makes more sense.
After Justine and I had been dating for few months, I introduced her to the game nethack, which is a PC game, kind of similar in nature to Dungeons and Dragons. You start as a particular class of character, you have one life, and when you die, you're dead - no save games. Additionally, the game is randomly generated each time so it is guaranteed to be different every time you play. The behavior of all of the in game objects however is usually the same. Notably, you sometimes find treasure chests that contain various useful items, including rings. The game has no graphics - your character is a little @ that moves from space to space around the dungeon map. Needless to say, Justine was a little dubious at first, until she played a couple times, and died a couple times, before even managing to go down a dungeon level. The more you play nethack, the more you want to play just to prove that you can do it, but it's an incredibly challenging game - I've been playing for several years and have only reached level 13 or so. After a few games, Justine got seriously immersed in it, and then we started playing together, taking turns, as an activity. She would play a game and then when she died, I would start a game, and so on, a couple times a night. Nethack is, in a sense, an important part of our relationship.
With all that being said, I thought I proposing with a nethack reference would be original, heartfelt and appreciated. I had a small replica wooden treasure chest laying around, so in it, I put the several small, colored glass, dram bottles, a few pieces of beach glass, a round gray stone, and the ring. On the outside of the box, I put a note that said "You find a large box. Loot it? y/n". Then inside, I put another note that said, "Things here: a brown potion, a green potion, a clear gem, an orange gem, a gray stone, a diamond ring". Then inside the ring box, another note that said "Benjamin the Rogue grunts...". I gave Justine the entire assembly one night after she was getting out of work. When she finally opened the ring box and read the note inside, I said "Justine, will you marry me?" and she said "Ahhh! I love you!". I waited for a minute and then said "So I guess that means no?" and she said "You're a dick! Of course, I'll marry you". And so...that is the complete and unabridged story of our engagement.
I just got a raise at work, 1k more a year, which is promising. Still trying to determine whether or not I think it's worth sticking around for, but when it comes down to it, I don't have too much of a choice right at the moment. That's ok, though.
Our roommate, Justine's brother, is moving out. At first we were concerned that it would leave us in a bind, but now we're starting to see it as a blessing. We'll have two bedroom apartment at a very good price and in a nice neighborhood. It's the perfect size for a couple, and then rather than getting a roommate, we're going to try and go it alone, and turn the extra bedroom into a reading room and relaxation space. We're both really excited about the extra space, not to mention the extra privacy and control. Ninety percent of the troubles we've had over the past eight months have been due to disagreements with roommates. We both feel it's about time to ditch the extra baggage and try living on our own, so this will be a good opportunity, I think.
I'm in the process of getting my highschool and college transcripts, so that I can apply for school again in the fall. I'm going to finish up my AA, with a discipline change to art, and then when Justine starts looking into colleges with a poetry program, we're going to be looking for art colleges for me in the same area. I'm excited about going back to school - I feel like my life is starting to get back on track again. It feels good.
My spiritual path is unfolding too. I think the next six to nine months are going to be really good. Good things happen when you follow your spirit. Good things happens when you follow your heart.