Dating During COVID and the "End Game"

I started dating this wonderful woman before the start of COVID, literally. 

Our first date was in late January. We went on a few more dates, and then COVID hit.

We've been together since. Through the pandemic. 

We were in lockdown together, but as we slowly emerge from COVID reality is starting to emerge. Granted, I suspected this would occur three months into the pandemic: what's the end game?

Fast-forward to tonight. 

We had a lovely evening eating at Sushi Zushi at the Domain in Austin, Texas. The weather was perfect -- not too hot and at all cold. Perfect.

Being an epidemiologist, she is super cautious of exposures. Add to that: her son is getting married in a couple of weeks so spread of virus is absolutely on her radar.

During our meal, I expressed my concerns regarding my kid. "She, will be with me," I explained, "It has been bothering me because she comes first. I'm conflicted," I admitted, "because for me I need to be 'dad' when she is with me."

She didn't take it lightly. I figured it would bother her. I felt berated. Later that evening, after things cooled down, I expressed my feelings of being scolded and added that a relationship, to me, was one of being honest and open. I added that I was more looking to share my feelings with my companion and it was received negatively. 

The whole thing was soar, to be honest. 

Later in the evening, at a different location, she brought up dating after COVID and how we were at that point.

I kind of knew where this was going. It was something I brought up earlier in the year. 

Being me, I herded the conversation in my direction.   

I explained that in my point of view, I felt that people are placed in other's lives for a reason. It is up to us to determine and decided whether to follow them. For me, a higher being brought an epidemiologist into my life during a pandemic. And for me, an catastrophic outage during a winter storm caused her to be with me.

Later in our conversation I added that we are on borrow time. We have to appreciate the life before us as in the now. We can't hold grudges. We have to find comedy in life. We can't find the negative in things. 

I went into this relationship because I wanted to live. As a grounded individual who cares so much for his offspring, I felt it was important to rely in someone's knowledge. And I did. Still do.

I wouldn't trade it in for anything less. 

When I dropped her off after our date, I felt she was thinking a little more about this situation. I'm sure she was contemplating all the other elements revolving around her head.

In isolation, dating each other worked. We had each other. We depended on each other. But for how long? When's the 'end game?'  

Waldemar Kazak

Art Appreciation

Russian surrealist artist Waldemar von Kazak is best known for his illustrations and drawings depicting sexually-charged and bizarre characters. 

Check out his other digital art HERE.

The Moth via boredpanda

Only Love via boredpanda

Aphrodite via waldemar-kazak

Sources:

http://www.waldemarkazak.com
https://www.facebook.com/waldemar.vonkozak/
http://waldemar-kazak.livejournal.com/
http://waldemar-kazak.tumblr.com/
http://waldemar-kazak.deviantart.com/
https://conchigliadivenere.wordpress.com/2014/03/05/waldemar-kazak-1973-russian/
http://www.boredpanda.com/dark-controversial-illustrations-waldemar-von-kazak/

Getting to No Debt

After my divorce, I was broke. Like, “checking under couch cushions for gas money” broke. I didn’t know what I’d do, and stress became my full-time side hustle.

My marriage had its comforts—or at least I thought it did. The love was real, but most of it was aimed at our child instead of each other. Still, marriage gave me chances I wouldn’t have had otherwise. I got to see life outside of Texas, and during the early years of my ex’s career, I was the one cheering her on as she traveled for work.

The trade-off? I handled the bills, mostly with credit cards. I never told her just how bad it got—I figured I could carry it alone. Spoiler: I couldn’t. Things fell apart: house, cars, relationship. And still, I thought overspending made me look strong. Instead, it just made me broke and single.

Then came the rebound. I met someone new, thought she was “the one,” and fell hard. She struggled with mental illness, and I wanted to build a life with her, but deep down I knew it wasn’t possible. I even got a vasectomy to stop myself from making reckless choices. I poured everything into us—time, money, trips, gifts. And when it ended, so did my finances.

I dated more. More debt. Then the pandemic hit—and oddly, that was my reset button. I met someone amazing, and together we learned to make dinner out of whatever was left in the pantry. She didn’t just improvise—she improved me. Within a year, I closed my Discover card with a zero balance and brought my debt down to something manageable.

The moral? Debt feels impossible until it isn’t. I was $30,000 under, and five years later, I dug out. My advice: call your credit card companies, cut up your cards, be honest with your partner, and above all, stay hopeful. If I can do it, anyone can.

Anthony Green

 

English realist painter and printmaker Anthony Green RA was best known for the narrative paintings that portray domestic life in compound perspectives and polygonal forms. 

Green was born on September 30, 1939 in Luton, Bedfordshire. He was taught by Welsh landscape painter Kyffin Williams and the Slade School of Art. 

In a seminar series in 2013, he mentioned the struggle to fit in as a "European artist" at the Slade School, "...I'm a half-French. I cut my teeth not in English art, which I thought was a kind of off-shore paled shadow of continental art, but in fact the proper art was found in Paris. As a school boy, I knew the Louvre better than the National Gallery... when I came home from my relatives in France, I was into French art. I considered to be a good European artist."

After spending some time in the United States, Green was elected a full Member of the Royal Academy in 1971. Green was sought out for exhibitions internationally. His pictorial sculpture titled Resurrection toured UK cathedrals in 2000. 

Resurrection (2000)

Springtime in Lissenden Gardens, London (1939)

The Chinese Lantern (1974)

Source: https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/name/anthony-green-ra

Sylvia Kristel

 

I use to wait up for my parents to get home from date night. It was scary at first but then it became a routine I looked forward to. 

I was in my teens and my parents had upgraded their cable service to include the movie channels, HBO and Skin-a-Max -- I mean, Cinemax.

My parents had date nights on Fridays, and that was okay with me. My dad would take me to the video store and let me pick out two movies. I would typically get a comedy and a Disney movie. 

At the time, the house wasn't that big. It was shaped like an L with the entertainment room being in the center.

Before my parents would leave, pizza was typically order from Pizza Hut or Dominos. I had my pizza and movies ready and playing. 

By 10:30 pm, I had finished the two rental movies and ready to turn on Cinemax. 

Right on the dot. An after hours movie would begin. 

Emmanuelle.

The amazingly gorgeous 5'9" Dutch actress and model Sylvia Kristel caught my attention and I quickly fell in love with her character Emmanuelle. 

Sylvia Kristel was born on September 28, 1952 in Utrecht, the Netherlands. She is best remembered for playing Emmanuelle and eventually typecast to other similar roles that capitalized on her sexual provocative image. 

She began modeling at the age of 17. She won the Miss TV Europe contest in 1973, before starring in the role of Emmanuelle.  

In the 80s, Kristel starred in Lady Chatterley's Lover, Mata Hari, Private Lessons, and The Nude Bomb. 

In 2006, Kristel received an award at the Tribeca Film Festival for directing Topor et Moi, a short animated documentary film.  

On October 17, 2012, Kristel passed away from esophageal and lung cancer.

via Wikipedia

via rannygallery

Source: Wikipedia

Matt Harding

Where in the Hell is Matt? Better yet, who in the hell is Matt? 

Matt Harding is a video-game developer who, in 2006, decided to quit his job and travel the world. He became a YouTube celebrity after videos of him dancing in different parts of the world went viral. 

Born on September 27, 1976 and originally from Westport, Connecticut, Matt worked in the video game industry before becoming an internet celebrity.

He's credited in developing eight video games, such as Destroy All Humans! and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow.

Want to smile today, check out his YouTube channel HERE and his website HERE. 

Nintendo Koppai

 

On September 23, 1889, Fusajiro Yamauchi opened Nintendo Koppai, a shop that produced and sold hand-crafted flower cards known as hanafuda. During this time, the Japanese government had outlawed gambling cards except for Yamauchi's hanafuda. Demand for the cards increased, which led Yamauchi to mass-produce the hanafuda cards as well as offer lower-quality cards known as Tengu. 

In the 1900s, Yamauchi entered into an agreement with Nihon Senbai, a nationalized tobacco company, to market its cards at various cigarette stores throughout Japan. 

In the 1930, Sekiryo (Kaneda) Yamauchi established the company as a general partnership titled Yamauchi Nintendo & Co. Ltd. 

In 1947, Sekiryo founded the distribution company Marufuku Co. Ltd. A few years later, his successor grandson, Hiroshi Yamauchi, changed the name of the company to Nintendo Playing Card Co. Ltd. and changed the name of Marufuku Company to Nintendo Karuta Co. Ltd.

In the late 1950s, Nintendo contracted with Walt Disney to incorporate the Disney characters onto the playing cards. A few years later, Nintendo became a public company and changed its name to Nintendo Co., Ltd.

The company released its first video game console, the Color TV-Game in 1977. Donkey Kong was then released in 1981, followed by the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) console was released in 1985. 

Source: Wikipedia