For Love of Coldplay

By all rights, I should call this "For Love of Music", but I'm listening to Coldplay, and so they get the kudos at this moment. At this very moment, I am listening to the album A Rush of Blood to the Head, the song is Track 2, God Put a Smile on Your Face. I smile more than anything else, big, happy, genuine smiles, and people respond so well to this. I don't use it as a ploy often - it just works out that most things in life make me happy.

Someone the other day (well, maybe two weeks ago) flirted with me endlessly and what can make anyone glow like that? I love that man, flirting or not. It was flattering and fun and I loved it. I don't often get that attention from others than Luis - and Luis dishes it so much that I can honestly say I am not feeling deprived - but there is still something sweet and wonderful to hear it from another. And this comes from someone I truly feel great affection for, so that just makes it that much better. And he knows he can say anything to me and I'll never take offense. I'm very hard to offend.

Today I feel great... I don't know why, considering the multitude of health issues I have, but some days I just operate on a natural high and don't come down. I mean, sure, I miss things - I miss Baltusrol so much, it is an ache in my chest and leaves a shadow in my eyes that will never go away. But at the same time, I look at my images of it and I recall all the great times I had there and I feel so good, I could cry from joy. It was mine to love and cherish for five and a half years.

But there is a lot in life to feel good about. I make my cleaning ladies happy. Go figure, but I do. I speak to them when home (which is more often than not, although I make sure to keep out of their way for the most part, of course; I don't want them to feel like I'm looking over them or keeping tabs on them. But then once in a while, there is something to show them or the lead woman. I was showing her the solar panels and system (it run our electric and hot water heater) and she was very interested. Then the chicken-kitty, Sorcha, came up the steps to see me, and I introduced her to the cat. She loved it. They see Siobhan often enough, but she's not afraid of anyone.

Now I'm on Green Eyes, and Luis is home, so I'm singing it to him. He has dark green eyes and I think of him anytime I play this song.

Honey you are a rock
Upon which I stand
And I came here to talk
I hope you understand
The green eyes, yeah the spotlight, shines upon you
And how could, anybody, deny you
I came here with a load
And it feels so much lighter now I met you
And honey you should know
That I could never go on without you
Green eyes

Honey you are the sea
Upon which I float
And I came here to talk
I think you should know

The green eyes, you're the one that I wanted to find
And anyone who tried to deny you, must be out of their mind
Because I came here with a load
And it feels so much lighter since I met you
Honey you should know
That I could never go on without you
Green eyes, green eyes
Oh oh oh oh [x4]

Honey you are a rock
Upon which I stand

It's true, he is my rock. I love the man more than he will ever know, no matter how often I tell him, show him, love him. He is my soul mate. I used to think that there was no such thing, but I've come to realise how much this man means to me. He knows it, too - at least to a high degree. I post images of him, I spend every night curled up with him. And we usually eat together, unless he comes home too late (I'm on a more rigid eating schedule, to take my meds. Not great times, but it is the life I'm getting accustomed to).

I'm almost on A Rush of Blood to the Head, a song that puts me in mind of USII, a company once prosperous and family-owned but it was not that way once I got there (wait, that doesn't sound right... it had nothing to do with my arrival!). For some years - I think ten or twelve - it was bought by a company in Winston-Salem, South Carolina. The company, run by an idiot of the -nth degree, was slowly run into the ground, bought by Steri-Cycle in late 2005 (after I left), and closed. But USII did all the damage. They laid me off in early 2005, the day I returned from a severe back injury sustained on their property when a thick layer of ice covered the parking lot. I slipped, fell, right onto my lower back, injured a disc (which is still screwed up) and they had the balls - the BRASS BALLS - to lay me off a day after I returned. Cindy and Jon O'Neill did it (although it was painfully obvious that John was not okay with this). We had lunch a couple of times after this and he admitted as much. He returned to American Cyanamid (which became another drug company that is on Route 10 and I cannot recall the name, although I know exactly where it is).

Fun memories...

Not that I didn't have plenty of good times there as well. I was just as nice and vicious there as anywhere. I know Wayne still - still - hates me for changing his last review to an honest one, instead of a glowing one that gave no criticism (no one is THAT good - and no one should have a job with no goals!). Can you imagine that? That is a talent for holding a grudge. That was not my fault. It was another's fault. False reviews are just so wrong. So wrong.

I would never allow that. And Kevin would agree that for the most part, I wrote reviews with excellence and accuracy. And I stuck to my guns with every fiber of my being when I was right.

I may not have done everything perfectly and I certainly had my flaws. But I did many things right. Ah, well. No regrets - not for me. (OK, one or two... but I prefer to see my time as a joyous adventure. It was!)

Play on, Chris Martin and Coldplay!