Long Break, New Year

So, as you might have noticed, it's been a while since I've written anything. Mostly because 2010 grabbed me by the tail and swung me around a few times for fun.

I lost my awesome job not more than a month after I'd gotten it. One moment they were asking me if I'd be okay with coming on permanently. The next, I was apparently not to come back the next day. The good news is that it didn't take me too long before I found a new position working for an imaging company... contracted with the US Navy. While not the most glorious work - or even the most rewarding (what, I get to say "I labeled something!" at the end of the day?) - but the pay's all right, my coworkers are super-awesome, and the benefits (that I just started) are REALLY hard to beat. So while I may get grumpy from getting up at the crack of dawn, it's a good job. And really, I'm just happy to HAVE a job.

Nephew Number 2 arrived shortly after I got my new job, and it was both lovely and startling to see my eldest brother's family grow so quickly. Pictures of the girls remind me that they're growing up, and stories of Nephew Number 1 remind me that - crikey, he's a teenager already. This being the little boy I remembered who couldn't blow his own nose. Now he's getting tall and filling out and discovering girls. Where did the time go?

As I write this, aforementioned brother is approximately one month away from returning from the Middle East. Pictures and stories and the occasional holiday Skype conversation have showed changes in him too. He's thinner, quieter (if that was possible), more confident. And a lot more tan. I think he's where he's supposed to be. Job-wise, if not location-wise. I think it'd be better for him if he was home with his family, but that will come very soon. It's hard to believe he's only been away for a year. It seems like so much longer.

Other brother and his lady are growing and changing too. I wasn't the only one 2010 hit with a stick, and they've risen to the challenge with grit and determination in the face of adversity. They've taken direct hits and not just moved past them, but branched out around them into arts and paths previously unexplored. Z's crafting has developed in leaps and bounds, and she has found a career in writing. She's always rather possessed a gift for it, and it's inspiring to see her take it to the next level. A, on the other hand, took to music. His band released an entire CD's worth of damn fine music and I would be more than happy to point someone in his direction for a purchase. I've listened to it, it's good, it has my recommendation.

The folks? Well, the folks have been holding their own. Their community has suffered a series of blows that they've risen to correct with love and compassion. J and I went to visit them for Thanksgiving, and it was good to see them in their element for a while. There's something... wholesome about the land on which they live.

As for me? J and I have a new housemate living in the third bedroom. It's great to have someone here, especially as awesome as he is. He's neat, clean, quiet, respectful, funny, a good cook, and has similar interests to J and I. He fits in well. I have another four-legged friend as well, who shall only be known as Boris, and his strange toilet-paper-tube-loving nature add a bit of levity to our house. Shiko is curious, but completely unwilling to tangle with him, which relieves me a little; I'm tired of worrying that one pet might try to eat another.

But life goes on, otherwise. Much as it usually does. People are born, people die, the rains come, the rains go. Today it's sunny and warm. I think I shall make the most of this year, starting now.