Enjoyment of Tranquility

Hello everyone. I'm having a very pleasant second week here. Although I still find myself having to root around for things whose locations I thought I knew, my competence with that sort of thing is approaching the point of subconscious mastery. I find I don't always have to take the time to pre-assemble, for instance, items used for a meal before I start preparing it. I just know where things are and can have them in hand without having to look in several places. The same holds true for items outside the kitchen. However, things aren't set in stone yet. I've recently moved my boombox from its former place on the counter to a portable table I had brought but wasn't previously using. This morning, I tried my new toaster on a couple of poptarts which thankfully came out in splendid fashion.

I've been delighted to get to know Sandy further over the last while. We've shared a number of dinners. Guyanese food is certainly very spicy and interesting. He does amazingly well with elements but I think he would definitely benefit from a microwave like mine. Getting him online could make all the difference in the world to this solitary man. I'm more convinced of that than ever. John Morgan is coming out to see the two of us on saturday. I'll be showing him System Access and the Samnet network. Together, these two Serotek products make for the most intuitive and jentle learning curve I've ever encountered. I showed him yesterday morning how easy it is to scan a document. Teaching him how to type is definitely going to take a while. However, I think teaching him the basic keys he'll need to operate System Access and Samnet will be quite easy. It'll certainly give him lots to explore as he masters the keyboard. Getting him online poses a somewhat more financial challenge. Thank God John is stepping into the role of financeer. As much as I would have wanted to, I couldn't pay for an Internet connection and Samnet access for both him and I. It should be a pretty interesting weekend for Sandy with John's visit on saturday and his first time at my church on sunday. He certainly seems cheered at the prospect.

Yesterday, I vacuumed and mopped the apartment. Things seemed to go pretty well and neither chore takes very long at all. Granted, I may have missed areas. I won't know for certain until someone sighted visits soon after I've done these things. However, keeping this place sanitary ought not to take up tons of time. I'll have to start working on my next Grocery Gateway order. It'll definitely be less costly than my initial order as it builds upon what I still have left from the initial order. Since I've paid for a year access to Samnet in order to be ready to help Sandy as well as to participate in the community there for my own personal interest, I'll skirt the lower end of where I want to be financially for the next month or so. No big deal as there's a healthy margin for error. I ought to have a proper sense of that whole aspect of things by the time Summer arrives.

One piece of kit I'll be wanting to upgrade before Summer is my router. I'm finding that it's a lot less problematic to just plug my netbook directly into the router than try to keep a good wireless connection in this apartment. I have no idea why I'm having so much trouble compared to how things were at home but I suppose that the walls in here must hinder things somewhat. Good thing these new N-capable wireless routers aren't very expensive at all. That little N adapter will definitely be getting some use on my balcony over the Summer. That's for certain. Other than that, everything is working like a charm.

Things have such a different feel to them now. This week has been nearly as solitary as ones I slogged through last Summer. Sandy has been the only guest I've had over. I've gone out one evening to a church-related men's group. I've also participated in a couple of evenings of online chat with other members of the Samnet service. Other than that, I've been alone here. However, this doesn't get me down at all. Unlike those long empty Summer weeks, I have things on the go socially speaking. There are definite boundaries to these stretches of solitary time. That makes all the difference. There's this weekend's plans. It certainly isn't going to feel empty at all. Presuming I can eventually put together some more visits and outings from friends who are actually present in the flesh rather than online, I believe I can live quite happily as a single man. I got off to a cracking good start with that last week meeting Shane and his family. They seem eager to do things with me. I found myself in the rare position of turning down such an offer due to prior commitments. That kind of thing hasn't happened in ages. As far as more serious relationships go, I certainly still would be thrilled with one. This time around though, it'll have to grow from friendship into something more. Should I be honoured and lucky enough to eventually have a female friend want to take things farther, I won't say no categorically. However, I'll approach that prospect from the stance that I would indeed be giving up the tranquil simplicity of life as things stand for me here. Sandy certainly seems quite content to remain single and thinks I'll feel that way when I reach his age. That's nearly thirty years away. However, the possibility exists that he'll still be alive and kicking. It would be very interesting to discuss that contention with him at that point. Despite being able to find peace and happiness as a single man, I would far rather be in a steady stable long-term loving relationship of some sort.

Over the next while, my priorities won't be seeking out such a relationship. My profile on Plenty of Fish will, however, be receiving some much-needed attention. I'm fairly settled in here now. Financially, I want to reach a point where the balance goes up each month rather than down. I've got to bring expenses in line with my new income. That's far easier to do when you're single. Presuming nothing major breaks down, that ought to happen relatively painlessly in a couple of months. I should be in good shape to enjoy my first Spring and Summer here. I still await the emergeance of the upcoming enhancement to my Trekker Breeze as well as the opening of the Blio Reader bookstore. Meanwhile, I have a lot to explore with this Samnet network. There's quite a lot of content but I believe I'll get more out of the people who I chat with over the evenings.

Over the next week, I feel like it's time I tried to continue working on Enchantment's Twilight again. I don't really have any terrific new insights for the project other than looking at creating a smaller cast of characters with more optional episodes in their past to be chosen from. I think that this approach may perhaps work better than my old one of coming up with a large number of potential characters to choose from. We'll soon see how that goes. Once again, the island so long in my mind's eye is beginning to call to me. It wants to be realised in words and eventually, in sound and code. Perhaps, at long last, I'm ready to continue that process. We'll soon find out.