winterbadger | (no subject)

Hmmm, a brief moment of quiet in which to do a little writing and catch up again with the whirlwind of life.

Work has been busy. I had a paper to write, and writing it was a challenge, but now I have to coordinate it, and that is proving an even greater challenge. Plus, I've been out on a training course all week, which has been fascinating (all sorts of lecturers and think-tank people coming to talk to us) but meant that I wasn't int he office getting the paper further forward.

Things are just lovely with The Teacher. We are both enjoying each other's company, conversation, companionship. I make lunches for her to take to school with her because I know that she will eat better than she would otherwise (she doesn't have time for a proper meal). I drop her off at and collect her from the Metro. I make us both breakfast in the morning and dinner at night. I treat her with love and care and respect; that seems to me the bare minimum that any BF should do, but apparently it's streets ahead of what she's been used to. She does our laundry and washes the dishes after dinner. She came with me to the wargame tournament last weekend and got a wee army of her own that she's keen to paint up and play with. I helped her file her taxes online; she's helping me polish up my French. We poke each other into going to the doctor when we might not do it otherwise. She got her bike, and now we go riding (Sligo Creek Parkway the first time, then the Capitol Crescent Trail).

We talk about foreign affairs and books and movies and friends and other countries and politics and religion, and it's all good. It's been a while since someone felt so right, so easily a part of my life--not because she has none of her own, but because we fit together so smoothly. We both enjoy looking after and taking care of each other, and we can both do it without being overattentive or annoying. We can share what we enjoy without self-consciousness or fear of rejection. We've talked about living together, and places we might like to do it. We've talked about travelling, and places we'd like to go together--either places we've been we'd like to share or places we've not seen yet that we'd like to have company.

She shared two things with me last weekend that I want to share with all of you.

One was this video from 2008, which is silly and quirky but, to me, is somehow amazingly uplifting and sweet. Yes, I'm a sap.

The other is this film, which you can watch entirely online. Fascinating, entertaining, and beautiful, I thought.

As mentioned, I did play in a local DBA tournament last weekend. Tied for seventh in a field of eight players. :-( Not my finest hour, competitively, but it was fun all the same. I also helped out with a Battlefront WWII game my friend Eric staged, a late WWII East Front battle between Germans and Soviets. I couldn't stay for the whole thing, but I gather the two sides eventually fought to a bloody draw... Nothing much else to report on that front--I've missed several weeks' Thursday nights with the Northern Virginia guys.

The weather is beastly, hot and humid. Having the top-floor flat doesn't help. At 10pm, it's still nearly 85*F in here. Ugh.

All right. Maybe not much of a whirlwind, but it's keeping me busy. Back to Slings & Arrows and hanging out with my sweetie. :-)