Hey world! I'm here to stay

I have love and hope; the rest will follow, with work, luck, and given half a chance! I’ve discovered what it is to love again. It’s not the crazy, mad, love of the young, even though the older woman¹ I have recently ‘officially’ started dating (that is we’ve decided we are now dating) is full of youth in so many ways.The only hint I’ll give here, is that the photo silhouette² (originally used as a cover photo before reworking this site’s theme) looks nothing like her.

Well, okay, I’ll add she’s highly intelligent, caring, and adventurous. All in all, an amazing human who is interested in me, and is so good to me.

In less exciting (at least to me) news, I was approved to apply for funding for locally applicable skills training, in order to get back into my career with a local employer. The application has been sent, and now I wait and hope that CPP-D Vocational Rehabilitation (that is the Canadian federal disability benefit’s program to help those with disabilities obtain full time, paid, employment) will find the proposed training, and financial ask, sound and worth supporting.

In the meantime, I have had an informational interview with a local company³, which has the potential (at least, I’ve been offered a follow up interview with a more technical manager) to result in being hired, based on my existing skills, work history, and my efforts to stay current despite having been in the midst of mental health challenges. Even if I don’t get an immediate job offer, I am pleased to be considered, and to learn more about what specific skills will increase my odds in the future (with this, or other companies).

There are also possibilities I am keeping under my hat for the moment, that could be interesting. Stay tuned…

I have also written a few “Letters to the Editor” (though not as well as I would like, since I tend to get impatient and fire off the letter without self editing and proofreading in any significant way).

• https://www.midlandtoday.ca/letters-to-the-editor/letter-instead-of-getting-it-done-they-are-destroying-it-6131714
• https://www.midlandtoday.ca/letters-to-the-editor/letter-jill-dunlop-is-indeed-responsive-reasonably-accessible-6270702
• https://www.midlandtoday.ca/letters-to-the-editor/letter-homeless-deserve-compassion-not-brickbats-6426105
• https://www.simcoe.com/opinion/10844244-for-ai-to-be-relied-upon-it-needs-to-be-able-to-explain-itself/

As an aside for those interested, this Saturday, February 11 (2023), I will be presenting “Making the postmodern web” at the MPL MakerPlace of the Midland Public Library

And, as further evidence my mental health is continuing to improve, a few weeks ago I read two novels⁴ in less than two and half days. It has been quite some time since I have been able to ‘get into’ fiction. Given how much of a bookworm I was when I was younger that was both an indicator of poor health, and a loss of an activity that gave me great pleasure in life.

Finally, for this update since my November post, is a mention that I have been keeping very busy with a lengthy technical project, and more ‘migratory nerding’. The beginning of a technical series resulting from those activities will soon appear on my technical website and blog.

So, feeling great, having hope for the future, and a new love…
Life is good.