The New Girl (since some of you asked....)

[BrenDAnn]

Many congratulations, Jester, and may this work out to be something wonderful for you for a long time to come. It's always so inspirational to see the truly good people in the world find the happiness they deserve. Have fun, and keep us updated, if you're so inclined!

[RayvenQ]

I know what you mean about some things not turning out, but ending up as setting up other good things. Like with me, me and Kisa finished (life happened, and i bear no ill will, things just don't work out sometimes is all) but, with it finishing when it did, it put me in a position where I could try and see how things went with my friend Little Bit, who I'd known for a while, but co-incidentally both our relationships ended at around the same time, so we thought we'd try with each other, since we got on so well, and you know, it worked out fantastic, even with a bit of distance, We've been together nearly 2 years now (this december 2 years), and been engaged for nearly a year (It'll happen when it happens no rush, I'm Agnostic at best, atheist at worst, and she's heathen so, yeah, we're more like "Whenever")

So yeah things can slingshot around, sometimes what seems like something bad can be a set up for something good that you totally wouldn't have seen coming.

So here's to the possibility of it all working out for you!

[MoonCat]

Re: the casual look, I can understand that, but no one seems to take pride in their appearance any more. If the woman is dressed up and the guy looks like he's been doing yard work, it's kind of jarring. But that's all besides
the point...you do what works for you!

[Jester]

Her flight lands in four hours. My alarm is set for two hours from now. Why the hell am I awake? Why can't I get back to sleep?

[Teysa]

You're excited. I hope you have a blast in Orlando and everything works out for the two of you.

[Jester]

Of course I'm excited. But 3-1/2 hours of sleep? Fuck you, body. Even I need at least five hours. Douche.

On the plus side, she and I will both be on about the same amount of sleep. Of course, mine was in a comfy bed, hers in an airplane seat. So I guess I have the advantage.

[Jester]

Wow. Just wow. And I mean that in a very, very good way.

[Jester]

So Diane is back in California and I am back in Key West. And as you might gather from my last post a few days ago, things started off well. After that......they got even better. And better. And better. And that was both of our opinions.

I had high hopes for this little getaway, but it exceeded even those high hopes, on so many levels. The upshot is that I now apparently have a girlfriend. As in, committed exclusive relationship type girlfriend.

But what about the distance? My mother raised this question, though oddly few of my friends did. And it is a fair question. NoCal and the Keys are pretty far apart. And it won't be easy. And neither one of us is rooted where we are, and we hope to at some point live in the same place. But until then, we are ready for and accepting of this challenge. Because I would rather be in a relationship with her, with her out there and me here, than bother trying to find anything else more geographically convenient. And she feels the same way about me.

And we have a lot of fun, and actually make a good team. We have a lot of similar interests, including beer, wine, food, rum, bicycling, sarcastic humor, roller coasters, cooking, music, and so on. Of course we have differences as well, but we enjoy those differences. She drinks coffee, and of course I don't. But I brought her some killer coffee from Key West, and she loved it.

I've found the girl woman I've been looking for all these years. Other than the geographical challenge, I couldn't be happier. And we're currently planning on my going out there in early December, to cheer her on in her fifth marathon, and the first one she's run in ten years. (And no, I won't be running it. I'll be drinking on the sidelines and cheering her on, then drinking with her afterwards. It will be cold, and it won't be financially easy, but she's worth it.

[Gizmo]

Glad it went well. Raising a glass to the good times continuing.

[Kittish]

Has it crossed your mind yet, Jester, how much closer to California Phoenix is than Key West?

[Jester]

Kittish, of course it has. Which is why my plans to move back to Phoenix have even more drive than before, if that were possible.

Of course--and this is getting ahead of things, to be sure--Diane is not overly thrilled with where she is now, hates the cold, loves the heat, and has enjoyed her few trips to Arizona. So there's that. And there's no guarantee that once I get back to Phoenix I'll stay there.

But first thing's first. We have to make sure this is right, that we can handle the distance, and that our visits with each other continue to work. The two of us are calmly confident about that, but we know that nothing is guaranteed, and that this will not be easy. We both feel that we're ready for the challenge.

[Victory Sabre]

I am happy that things have gone so well. I also say that you two are going about things the right way.

[Teysa]

Glad things are going so well for you. Don't let the distance scare you. Speaking from experience you may just find that you enjoy each other's company that much more.

[Jester]

We have some amusing similarities. One of them is drinking, as I may have mentioned. Now, I do drink more than she does on work days, certainly, but then, she works longer days than me. Regardless, on vacation she pretty much matched me drink for drink, and her enthusiasm for such matched mine as well. There were a couple of amusing illustrations of this in Orlando.

One morning we had this conversation...

ME: "Would you like another beer?"
HER: "That would be irresponsible."
ME: "Yep. So...would you like another beer?"
HER: "Of course!"

In a separate incident, on Sunday I introduced her to Irish Car Bombs, which she had never had. The very next day, Monday, as we're strolling through Universal with my (adult) niece, I turned to Diane and asked what she wanted to do next. Without hesitation, she said, "Car bombs!"

We got to be slightly well known at one of the bars in Universal.

[BrenDAnn]

Aw, Jester, I'm so happy for you! It sounds like you truly have met your match! I have every faith that the two of you will make this work, and then some!