UPDATE July 2016

Long time no write.  I got married to the love of my life, the only woman for me, the one who I understand and delight, the reason I breathe.

We're moving soon, to South Virginia, and I couldn't be more excited to be opening a new chapter with her.  Work...will be sorted out.  I just have to write a letter and mail it out to Norfolk.  As I write this, I realize how life has more spontaneity than a drug-addled cruise activities director, wild-eyed with induced flight of the mental and limitless energy of the physical that could fill several universes.

I rode a tumultuous wave of what to do about my current position because as it turns out, I'm the top guy ready to be converted to full-time, and this situation brings me to a definitive fork in the road.  Path A has me converted at full-time status possibly by summer 2017 and I would have to wait a year or more to transfer down to Virginia.  Path B has me starting from day 0 at the new post office, but I'll be with the love of my life and on the way to beginning a family, which is frankly the only thing I'm concerned about at 32 winters under my belt.  I've chosen Path B, and I've made my peace with this option because family comes first.

As I watch Kuromukuro, a Japanese anime about a samurai who returns 450 years later in the future to battle ogres that destroyed his life, and how he battles these ogres with mechanized suits while simultaneously trying to survive in modern society, rife with technology like smartphones, bullet trains, etc. in 2016, I realize that life and relationships are all about compromise and "scratching people's backs."  I love Annie, with all of my heart and all of my soul, and I will do everything to ensure her happiness, and mine in the process, and I know moving to VA in summer/fall of 2016 is the right move for us and our family.

I'll write soon.

The Bass Player

Foot tapping,
four ropes of steel,
head bobbing,
so that we feel
heavy vibes
through our bodies
taking strides
helping souls heal.

The bassist
grooves on with zeal,
the faces
of the crowd feel
pure delight,
lost in clouds like
birds in flight,
with bliss so real.

Update 09-27-15

My goodness gracious!  Forgive me for it has been six months since my last post!  So much has occurred!  Another exclamation point!

In March, to celebrate my year anniversary with The Postal Service, my mother and I went to Sedona, Arizona for a spiritual rejuvenation.  We saw the Grand Canyon, and more importantly, the bond between mother and son was forged into a much stronger element.

In September, my sister and I went to Hastings, Barbados for a few reasons: rest and relaxation, ignition of life via travel, and quality sibling time.  The latter, I'm a bit surprised that it's a bit rare for siblings to travel with each other without the parental units.  Truth be told, we were also mildly astonished that it was our own trip in about twenty years!  Our first trip, courtesy of our parents whom were both invested in our lifelong connection, involved us both spending the summer with our grandmother in the Dominican Republic.

Here are a few pictures of our trips:

Sedona, Arizona

The backyard of our B&B

Chapel of the Holy Cross

Robber's Roost

Montezuma's Castle

Grand Canyon

Hastings, Barbados

Boardwalk in Hastings, Barbados

Hopeful rainbow before cloudy skies

Sunset at Hastings Beach

Bajan Pottery

Bajan Postman!

Animal Cave Overlook

Barbadian Green Monkey

Philly Flower Show 2015

Annie and I recently went to the Philly Flower Show earlier this month.  The theme of the show was "A Night at the Movies," and they did a stellar job of recreating scenes from Disney movies.  Although I took plenty of pictures, here are the ones that I felt came out the best.

Side note:  I now know how to attach and detach the circular polarizer filter from my Nikon D90.  The filter makes a huge difference when photographing outside with sun glare and reflections in water, however, it should be taken off when capturing photos inside because of lighting issues.

5K practice!

I'm jazzed to announce that I'm beyond ready for the next 5K!  I went to Planet Fitness with Annie for the first run of 2015, and I'm ecstatic to declare that I ran 3.1 miles in 24 minutes!  That makes my pace approximately 8 minutes per mile!!  Normally, I walk about 6-8 miles a day delivering the mail, and naturally, that aids my stamina.  However, 3.1 miles in 24 minutes is my baseline, and call me nuts, but I'm sure I can close in on the 20 minute mark by the summer.

My first 5K will be in Philadelphia on March 1st for the Philadelphia Flower Show.  Not only will I be able to enjoy a run, but we'll also get tickets to the show!  It also doesn't hurt that there's a post-5k run party with a free beer!  Huzzah!!

Energy Drinks

Hmmm, a new lesson in life: don't underestimate Monster Energy drinks.  I had my first energy drink at around 7:40 PM right before band practice that started at 8:00.  I sipped on that bitch for about two hours until practice ended at 10:00.  I drank another energy drink on the way back home from Union.  I suppose I wanted to ensure that I wouldn't doze off on the way back home.  In case you were wondering, the trip from Union to Philadelphia is roughly about ninety minutes.  I arrived home at about midnight.  It's currently 12:45AM, and I'm wide-the-fuck awake.  I'm convinced I'm not going to doze off for another week or so.  The silver lining in this situation: it's great to know those effective energy drinks work.

Some concerns

I wonder if the issue of respect will prove to be any sort of detrimental occurrence at the work place.  I was raised by "If you have nothing good to say, don't say anything at all."  However, at work, this proves to be quite contrary to what others were taught.

I'm not too crazy about how whenever a regular carrier is gone, regardless of how strong or poor of a work ethic that carrier has, the other guys at work would never fail to criticize that person.  I just feel that this would make me more secretive and more quiet of a person if I knew that I would be talked about as if I were a stinky, guilty street dog out on the town in search of a bite to eat.

What is the line between defending one's self and not fueling the fire of another's desire to provoke?  How important is it to maintain one's reputation when living in a den of gossip?  If you live in a village of fools, is salvaging the perception others hold of your reputation as crucial as bolstering the reality of said character?

I  live day-to-day with a clear conscience; should I really get worked up over silliness at the workplace?