Last night I had a tremendous bonghit around midnight that ended up taking me down like a horse tranquilizer. Except that I just lay there in a contorted position without putting away my computer or getting ready for bed or anything, so I woke up repeatedly and my shoulder got sore, until finally at 0400 I brushed my teeth and got into sleeping clothes--whereupon it took me an hour to get back to sleep. And I had weird dreams: I had a sister I was chasing, like she'd gone completely insane and I had to stop her even if it meant shooting her. Except I was consciously shooting not to kill (I've had those dreams, too), but just to subdue. And I had a Glock pistol. I don't like Glocks (if you're curious, it's mostly because the side-ejecting shell forces me to aim slightly to the side of what I want to hit, which I find annoying--a gun should hit what I point it at, not whatever is half a degree to the left), and this one was especially bad because it was too big for my hand.
But I got up anyway and went flying with Murray. He's been taking lessons for a couple of months and is allowed to bring somebody to ride in the back seat of the Cessna. It was fun, and I got some good pictures and I learned a lot about flying, but I had had a big pile of greasy pork products for breakfast at IHOP, and about 45 minutes from the end of the lesson it started to harden into a lump in my stomach. So I'll not do that again. I will say that the inside of the Cessna was very much like an old Volvo in both smell and materials; the small plane doesn't fly all that differently from a 747 from a passenger's point of view; and the Bay Area looks neat from 3000 feet up. Just, you know, no more IHOP.
Did a bit of work at the office, ran into a wall with some very poorly-designed systems, and then went to sushi with some friends to celebrate the fact that the poorly-designed systems are going to let me get paid more than I thought (if not for them, the whole project might have been done tonight; instead I'll be in the office all day tomorrow). I'm thrilled to have even a little bit of work, and to start building a reputation for reliability and capability both with this company and with the recruiter who hooked me up--I'm happy to be the first name in the Rolodex when they need something done.
My family back East has a variety of things going on for which they can use my love and support, and it feels kind of odd being 3100 miles away...not that I don't have enough to deal with in my own world, but it'd be nice to be able to go visit every month or two. Of course, even when I'm there I won't be able to fix anything, just listen and offer high-quality hugs, but still. I think about them often, but the sort of listening I do that's helpful always seems nearly impossible on the phone. I'm looking forward to visiting for a couple of weeks over Christmas: I get to meet my new niece, see the older one again, pet some dogs, hang out with my parents, and for the first time in a while, Ben will be in the area, so hopefully I'll have someone to play with.
Things are starting to be okay, I think. I look at the copies of the precepts I have posted, and they don't feel so distant any more; and at the same time as I've been fumbling back to the Way, I've asked the universe for help, and I feel like I've gotten it. Neat.