Back-from-vacation update

Pious Mighigan defiled by Seattle Grease

I was looking forward to writing, "Earlier today, I was in Michigan. Tomorrow I won't be able to say the same thing," and throwing it out on the internet.

But getting off a plane, having a booster seat lost by the airline, having my wife and kids wait on one side of the airport while I dealt with a customer service guy on the other, Megan's feet burning from bug bites, and my kids just wanting to get the eff out of the airport and go home, and then the unpacking and making of food really quick, and having to do a quick grocery shop, eeeeehhhh I was just a liiiiittle bit tired. So a simple social media update was not going to happen.

Anyway, yesterday I was in Michigan. It had been five years. Lucy's first birthday was so long ago!



Many of my family members had not even met Beatrix yet! But now they have. Family time achieved. Palate cleansed. Seattle is once again new to me.

I'm about to go to work for a long shift today, being thrown right back into the routine. It's actually an exciting thought to be around my good work buddies again, throwing food and drinks at customers.

The kitchen's gonna be filthy. Watch. Just watch. My absence for two weeks will have left a film of grease and leftover food over everything. I'm going to come in to one of those disgusting kitchens in which you don't want to work.

I wouldn't go so far as to say they need me over there, but they don't have cleanliness in mind as much as would be sanitary. I mean shit, there's still a guy working there who puts containers on the floor, then right up on the cutting board reserved for ready-to-eat food. But, whatever.

Andrew, my Freezemate, took care of our apartment while we were gone, and drove my four-person family to and from Sea-Tac. Metal. He got to stay in our sweet place and avoid his new, small apartment without a good parking situation. Gonna have to throw some bones that guy's way, he really helped us out. He's been such a good friend to have over these past few years.

He recently quit playing drums, in order to stop his arms from falling off. So we're going to start programming drums, the intention being live shows with two guitars and drums, instead of just me on guitar and Andrew on drums. The Freeze sound will actually be enhanced by his instrument change, because now there will be two guitars to duel against one another, putting rhythm under the solos and vice-versa. I've missed that extra element in our sound that we had before Andrew switched to drums, when we were a two-guitar-project.

I won't say it was time wasted, because Andrew figured out what kind of drumming works with our songs, and vicariously I did too. We basically need a black metal Lars Ulrich. Or Joey Jordison, one or the other.

Or a clown-masked keg drummer. Okay, enough Slipknot jokes.

Back to vacation talk. It was great. Two weeks away from Seattle, engaging with family and enveloping myself and my family in the great state of Michigan has left me feeling light, happy, open, like the world is my oyster once again. The only thing to do now is reach out and grab it.

Megan is feeling burned out at her job, and needs me to find something before she goes insane. And who could blame her? She's never been able to be the mommy, as she's been the breadwinner for us for as long as we've had kids. Before that, my part-time cooking jobs were enough to split the bills down the middle. No more. I still have part-time cooking jobs, and with kids the responsibilities at home are greater, and somehow I've got to put effort into doing other things.

Lucy starts school this Wednesday, 1st grade. Just the Trixer and I, home alone again, for one more year. We can do this. We will do this. This is the way it is. When I find a better job and we can do some rearranging of the living situation, that will be good. Somehow we have to find cheaper rent and not take a spatial cut. Most likely that means moving farther outside Seattle.

Before the Michigan trip, the idea of commuting to work was pretty horrid. Seattle's traffic situation is gummy at best. In Michigan, however, you have to drive to get anywhere. There's no public transit. Everyone relies on their cars and they gain weight. In such an outdoorsy state, it's surprising little people actually go out and explore it. Perhaps it's just that if you've lived there your whole life, nothing about the woods is surprising anymore. Perhaps everyone's different.

Now I'm not so averse to having a longer commute to work, if it means finally joining the professional world. Megan wants me to look for copywriting work. I've still got my heart set on PR. It all means there's lots of options for me, and my priority going forward is to find a big-kid job. I've been saying that for so many years that it sounds kid-like to say, but that's where I am, still a kid among grown-ups.

I can't wait to update my wardrobe from t-shirts to button-down shirts, from ripped jeans to nice pants, from non-slip kitchen shoes to shiny ones.