Aside from all of that, LO is doing well. Her, her boyfriend, and myself celebrated her 2 year delayed undergraduate graduation a few weeks ago in New Orleans. It was a fun, needed weekend. The first time I've flown since the pandemic.

And even though the graduation ceremony itself was a bit chaotic, it was nice to visit campus, to see the city again, and to say goodbye to that part of her life.

Also, we got to throw beads at revelers on Bourbon Street. Note: I do not need to stay at a hotel on Bourbon Street ever again.   

In other news, LO is leaving her teaching assignment at the end of this school year (oh man, the fucking crazy stories she has) and is planning (last I heard) to get a job at one of the Chicago-area cultural institutions.

She likes (but not loves) living in Chicago. Her boyfriend is apparently looking for a new job, but I don't know if that means staying in Chicago or looking back out East.

Her and I are planning a trip together in mid-July to the EU. The plan is the two of us and 14 days of traveling around on the continent with no real plans.

.....

Work is...

The nicest thing I can say is that I like most of the people I work with...

But I am getting crazy tired of the inherent dysfunction. In reality, the org has a few more years of work on certain aspects before it can truly scale. And it is super obvious what is going to happen in the meantime. The org is going to be directed to spend and then when the scaling does not occur, there will be blood.

Nothing much I can do about the direction, and there's no financial reason for me to stay, so starting to interview. Career wise, the gig has helped my career growth and given me some big industry visibility, but I realized that this year would be the year I would need to evaluate. I only stayed so I could claim a few big milestones on my resume.

The only question is whether I shank a certain person who elided their startup experience once I'm ready to go out the door.

Anyway!

That's about it. Been quiet on the dating front, just haven't been excited about anyone. Have stayed out of family drama back East.

I need to move up to SF, but the travel and job plans are putting that on hold until I know more.

My main goal: I need to find a place closer to the Pacific Ocean.