After some time of not posting much on the forum, mainly because I didn't want to bring everyone down with all the bad things going on in my life, I finally have a large number of really good things to report! So here they are.

Number one Really Good Thing: At least, I think it's a good thing. I hope so. I'm giving it one more try to sort things out with my ex -- now my ex-ex, if you can say that :-) -- and at least if it really doesn't work out, I'll know I tried. I guess that doesn't sound like a very optimistic way of putting it, but I've been so up-and-down over this for the last several months that "slightly hopeful" is pretty good going for me. Anyway. We'll see.

Number two Really Good Thing: I got a phone call the other day from a company I applied for a job with six months ago. I never even made it to an interview with this other company, because I was offered my current job. Turns out, the guy at the other company was so keen on me he FOUND OUT what I was doing (and that it was a short-term contract), kept my name handy for SIX MONTHS, and PHONED ME to see if I was still interested in a job with them now that this one's nearly finished. And this is without even an interview. Nothing like this has EVER happened to me and it made me feel really, really good. I'm going to see him about the possibilities some time next week.

Number three: More minor, but very nice. This'll restore your faith in humanity. I had a day off and I spent a lot of time doing some work on my boat. As usual, I left my car parked on the street off the beach where my boat's moored -- it's out of sight from the boat and not in a well-lit area. After a long happy day on the boat, I got back to find that in my haste to get out to the boat, I'd left one of my windows open, the passenger door unlocked, and the steering lock off. Visible in the car was a backpack full of stuff, a stereo and a lot of tapes, and a wallet containing (among other things) spare car keys. OK, I'm an absent-minded idiot -- but it was all still there, untouched, when I got back. :-)

Number four: I had the most awesome day out ever, yesterday. We were on patrol for (in ONE DAY!) the start of a race for classic and vintage boats AND the offshore powerboat world championships. Woo HOO! That'll probably be the subject of a separate post later, once I calm down enough to write it. All I'll say here is that, 1)if God ever designed a boat it would be the J-class Valsheda, and 2)anything that goes 160 km/hr AND makes a huge amount of noise AND has the potential to be fatal MUST be very, very cool. (Um, now that I think about it, that sums up everything I was going to say in a separate post. So I won't. If you want details ask me in chat.)

Brunnen-"and number five, unipeg is happy! :-)"G