My Newly Unchanged Life

People like to ask you questions about things. Different people often ask the same question about the same subject. They are genuinely interested in your interests. They want details. This is why people always ask about tattoos "Did it hurt?" They know it hurt. That's not what they want to know. But that is a gateway to talking about the experience as a whole.

I didn't expect to feel different after getting engaged but I did. I still do. I feel awesome. Feeling awesome for nearly an entire week is, in my opinion, a pretty good indicator I'm doing something right. But the question people have asked me most consistently is, what's changed? What's different? Anything? The other question everyone asks is "When's the wedding?" and the answer to that is "We don't know and did not realize you'd be asking that question, I guess, because we are completely unprepared with an answer."

But the conceit of this blog post is that my life has or has not changed due to getting engaged and/or turning 35 and, hey, maybe I could say what's different and what's not and maybe it'll be entertaining. Maybe. So, without further ado, a window into my life as a newly engaged man...

Work is pretty much the same. I'm a software application designer which sounds pretty cut and dry but it entails so much more than you might expect. When I come in to the office each day I check two things, bridge and rocketship. This week, both remained more or less static.

There IS a rocketship in this picture.

This week was Oracle Open World. The software I design for is an Oracle proprietary product so not only were some of my department-mates presenting at Open World but we got a bunch of passes. For a few hours, I was a woman named Teresa. I got a great new grocery bag, a water bottle and a USB thumb drive. I also got to see some of the cutting edge technology on display.

Is it a mistake or an ad for the iPhone 54S?

PG&E is actively involved in the community. Which community? All of them! This week saw the kick-off of our charitable giving campaign and the IT department hosted a silent auction. It may surprise some to find out that I am a connoisseur of the arts. I was delighted to come away from the silent auction being the sole bidder and eventual overall winner of this wonderful addition to my collection of prints of animals wearing hats. Seriously. I can only assume that my bid was so powerful it scared off all other potential bids.

"Wha?" He seemed to say.

 But then, you wouldn't really expect my work life to change much based on an engagement or a birthday. How are things around the house? What's my home life like? Have I had to, you know, grow up? Tone things down. Yes, a little. But I'm still young, alive, kicking it old school and what not.

Just the other night I found I had the house to myself so I busted out my axe and raged on some wild jams until the sonic assault was too much and the cat's asked if I might keep it d-meow-n.

My fingers were starting to hurt from busting crazy hot licks anyway so I decided to head to the shooting range for some target practice. Now, this kind of activity might seem frivolous and not befitting of someone of advanced age and responsibility but I assure you it's for a purpose. In fact, before I got engaged I never shot anything at anything. Practically never. But with the prospect of having a wife and a family having become imminent, I set about preparing myself to defend my brood if/when the time comes.

That's a tight cluster!

What if the cats become zombies?

What if Cat Stevens becomes a zombie?!

Later in the week some friends, Rachel, and I got together for a night of pizza, drinking and birthday celebrating. Here's where things actually seem to be a little different.

Instead of making a dent in this...

We finished this.

 Also, I wasn't the designated driver. That meant that instead of having one glass of wine, I could have two glasses and a shot or two of whiskey (and mean hangover and a touch of regret and a feeling of creeping mortality).

So yeah, I may not be able to hold my drink anymore but I'm still rocking hard and shooting straight and living the high tech bay area dream. Maybe things will change when we tie the knot and settle down for real but maybe not. And that is awesome.