Let’s start with the most cliché shot of Minneapolis ever: the stone arch bridge:

Cee Cee Russell at the Gay 90′s:

There are some hardcore bikers at LA Fitness. I want to buy a vintage canary yellow moped and park it next to this:

Kristin certainly stays hydrated:

Ian and I at Lush Food Bar:

Amazing weather, with everything finally green:

The one and only Mercedes Iman:

Class and elegance:

The Minneapolis Fashion Ball, which Geraldo took me to:

The last day of the tax season at AccountAbility Minnesota:

And a creepy trip to the Minnesota History Center:

Possibly the most exciting development happened today – Madre Jansen called me and reminded me that I have to renew my passport by the end of June. The closest German consulate is in Chicago so that means I’M GOING TO CHICAGO PRIDE! Oh it’s going to hilarious.

This is my favorite band and I wish their music was more readily available in the US.

Get with it America.

My own musical endeavors have not been going so well. I’m still in that learning stage where everything I produce is awful. Unfortunately, the only way to get out of that stage is to keep producing crappy tracks until they are no longer as awful. I’ll get it together eventually.

As for the the past two weeks…well, they couldn’t have been any more  different – I went from going out every night to not going out at all. I spent this weekend with the dogs and it was a welcome break from my usual routine.

I’m also working from home more, which the dogs appreciate.

This coming week is going to be a tad brutal because I have early morning personal training sessions every day. We are focusing on strength now, which means that everything hurts.

Hopefully I’ll start seeing some results by Memorial Day Weekend. I’m aiming for Jersey Shore realness. GTL!

I’m amused and exhausted. Hopefully this coming week will be quieter.

Nutty dogs, an amazing job, hilarious friends, and dates that could make the blue sky blush.

Can someone cue the Mary Tyler Moore theme for me? Things are just too awesome right now. I won’t say too much more lest I jinx things.

1. “In the end I want you to cry” – Tensnake
2. “Son of a gun (remixes)” – Oh Land
   
3. “#STUPiDFACEDD” – Wallpaper.
   
4. “Crave You” – Flight Facilities
   
5. “Lap Dance” – Tyga
   
6. “Rumour has it” – Adele
7. “Odesa” – Caribou
8. “My love sees you” – Beni
9. “End of Time” – Beyonce
10. “Dance (A$$)” – Big Sean ft. Nicki Minaj
11. “Chemise” – Souleance
12. “So This Is Goodbye (Pink Ganter Remix)” – William Fitzsimmons
13. “The Rhinohead (Pilooski Remix)” – Von Sudenfed
14. “Stupid Hoe” – Nicki Minaj
15. “Rainbow” – Oh Land

Long days at work, epic nights out, and of course, a return to dating.

My ideal type of guy is self-confident and direct, which means that I am in the wrong city. The absolute low point was when Kirk and I were at Lush and I got a message on a dating app:

Failboy: “Hi, how are you?”
Me: “Happy hour. I’m at Lush!”
Failboy: “Oh I know. I’m one table over.”
Me: “Oh, I don’t see you. Come and say hi.”
Failboy: “Oh, I’m way too shy.”

Sigh.

The job, dogs, socializing and early morning personal training sessions keep me busy. The passive guys will fall by the wayside soon enough.

If you soften your gaze and back away slowly, the fail whale will appear.

Blue screens lit up my work computer throughout the weekend and the beginning of the week. I also caught some version of the plague Saturday night, but meetings and computer repair issues brought my germy-body to the office on Monday and Tuesday.

At times the sinus pressure was so great that my right eye would start pouring as I talked to coworkers. I’m pretty sure they wanted to swat me away with a Lysol wipe.

Add to this the fact that Tader and I broke up over the weekend. So, I’m sick, newly single, and my work computer is seizing. Sigh. These are my first-world problems.

Tader and I have a three-bedroom apartment, so we had to move the bedroom furniture (which he owns) to one end of the apartment and I dragged myself to Ikea several times to furnish my new bedroom. Putting together Ikea furniture while on cold medicine is slightly amusing…especially after the bed frame falls apart for the fourth time.

I eventually recovered from my sickness, just in time for our RuPaul’s Drag Race watch party!

RPDR is an amazing show and available on Logotv.com for free. One of the sponsors is Absolut: Cocktails Perfected, so I had to buy some Absolut for the party. Did you know that Absolut is three times more expensive than Bacardi? Bejesus…

There is more going on than sickness and drag queens. The dogs took the furniture rearrangement poorly. Gertrude almost broke her kennel in protest and Harley is unamused.

I’m also volunteering at the IRS VITA program, AccountAbility Minnesota, again!

I basically prepare taxes for low income individuals. I don’t mind preparing taxes – it’s fun, challenging, and a great networking opportunity.

Preparing taxes for underserved communities is also very encouraging. It makes my Ikea furniture woes, dying work computer, and head cold seem like minor annoyances. Many of my clients are single parents making under $20,000 a year. If they can juggle two jobs, kids and still find the resources to donate to charity, then I can spend four hours of my week preparing taxes for free.

I also found time to hang out with the people that matter,

…and made progress on my album!

That’s my setup before I moved my studio post-breakup. The new room is green, but the elements are the same.

This weekend is dedicated to catching up on work. After that it is time to bond with Ableton.

Well, snow did. We had a few sub-zero days but today we were well into the 40’s. We manage regardless of the temperature.

The colder it gets inside the cozier it feels inside, so it’s not so bad.

My month of overtime just ended with 60-hour week. It felt like a lot, but I realize that many of my friends are routinely billing 80-90 hours a week at their law firms.

Today was a bit odd because I am now down to a 48-hour week. At some point I had to say, “Okay, I’ve been at the office for nine hours, it’s time to go.”

I took a quick pit stop at Mall of America on the way home. I accepted an offer for a senior position on another team, so I figured I could use some of my overtime pay to buy some new ties and sweaters for work.

The sweaters from H&M were a hot mess. I was horrified in the changing room and reminded that I need to get back to the gym. I was on the LA Fitness personal training schedule but my trainer randomly quit working for the gym without telling me. I found out when I showed up at 5:30 a.m. one morning and no one was there to meet me. That and a bad illness was enough to get me off of the fitness wagon. I’m back on now. I’m signed up for an ungodly time on Wednesday. Maybe my fitting room horrors will behind me come spring.

I finally found some semi-flattering sweaters and ties at Banana Republic. Someday I’ll get out of there with a bill under $250. Maybe I should get one of those credit cards they always try guilt me into. Finding a flattering overpriced sweater is quite a charmed problem to have.

Short-term discomfort is necessary to achieve long-term gains. Understanding that discomfort is part of a greater process gives it purpose and makes it easier to work through. Sometimes I wish I had this mindset back during college, but I trotted out of undergrad and law school just fine.

Speaking of college, this video perfectly sums up my life back then:

The resident assistant job was one of the most challenging and frustrating experiences of my life. I met my boss’s expectations, followed university rules, and alienated scores of people in the process. The most vital thing that I learned from that experience was the importance of tact and networking. Sure, I learned that lesson a little late for that job, but it served me well in law school and afterward.

I also love what they called the “fishbowl.” Basically, my freshmen residents were always trolling for dirt to use when they got in trouble. That’s part of the reason why I didn’t drink until I turned 21 and why I learned not to post anything that I wouldn’t mind being spun against me.

I relived the RA experience while working for my last landlord. The job was awful at times but it turned out to be endless fodder for interviews. Past conflict resolution challenges? How about a drug dealer and an unmedicated paranoid schizophrenic as tenants? We also had heat that went out on a weekly basis and infestations galore. At least upset customers at work aren’t going to bang on my door at 2 a.m. (I hope.)

Obviously there was not much networking involved in the property management position, but it was very useful in another way. I just hope that none of my old tenants (or dorm residents) show up at my new place.

This coming week I will find out how well I communicated those experiences during my job interviews. I had four interviews during the last two weeks and I am really excited about the position. The interviews were actually a lot of fun, which I think is ideal. I never thought my old crazy tenants would be useful for my career, but this month’s interviews demonstrate that no experience is wasted.