Two years ago...

Two years ago I was still driving a car with no air conditioning. I don't know how I did it for so long. I tried to conserve the AC in my new car but that lasted all of a day before I rolled up the windows and cranked it.

Two years ago I ate at Subway maybe once a month, and only when I was bored with other options. Now I eat there once a week and I wish there were more options within walking distance of my office. Yesterday, I heard a customer repeatedly ask the guy behind the glass, “Get that fly outta there....hey...HEY! That fly! Right there...I don't want any more meat on that sandwich. Do you see it? Crawling. RIGHT. THERE.” It took way too long for the worker to register what the guy was saying. And why does that place leave me with a funky smell? It's not noticeable inside the establishment, but it grabs your clothes and says howdy once you're outside. I know people who refuse to eat there because they don't want to pick up that smell. I really should stop going there.

Two years ago, my uncle was only starting to show hints of his dementia. He was a little absentminded, and his stories were rambling, but the latter was always true so it took us longer than it should have to notice. We'll be selling a lot of stuff from his apartment this weekend since he has even less room in the nursing home where he now resides.

Two years ago, I really let myself go. I stopped going to the gym. I continued eating horribly. It went on for months until my clothes didn't fit and I constantly felt fatigued and on the verge of passing out, especially in stressful situations. Now my belt could use a new notch and I run over 5 miles every night. I'm not slim, but I'm still 30 pounds or so down from where I was. My diet still isn't great, so I'll enjoy this time while it lasts.

Two years ago, my secret identity labored as a mostly-unknown artist, with only one minor credit from a small job I'd done back in college for a major comic book company. Last week, I had my first cartoon “published” on my company's blog, complete with a credit and a small write-up about me. Granted, it's not the best thing I've ever drawn, and they pretty much took what I wrote about myself verbatim, but for me it was still a personal accomplishment. It's a shame MCF can never share it. Maybe someday when The Nexus has run its course...

Two years ago I was living in a cluttered room in my parent's house where I'd resided since 1974. I had two cats, an encyclopedic knowledge of geeky things like comics and cartoons, and I was wildly unpopular with the ladies. Some things never change.

Two years ago today I started a new job. It was a bit of an adjustment, since I'd been at the previous one for seven years and leaving wasn't my choice. In some ways, it had become a dream job, though the nightmare workload I'd built up over the years made the transition a little easier to take. Two years ago, I knew very few people, and didn't think I'd remember anyone's names. Two years later, I know most of them, and most of them know me. I like most of them and, as far as I can tell, most of them like me. It's been a good two years, and it's been an insanely fast two years. It doesn't feel remotely that long. I think that's a good thing.

We'll see how I feel after I blink and I'm writing about my retirement 30 years from now...