Richard Simmons isn't out? Because I have no gaydar and am notoriously bad at this game. And yet? Hello?

Went out and was social with writer friends today (even taking the visiting one to Third Place Books where they LURVE her and they treated her like a total rock star!)

Now I'm home and in inside pants, since it's an inside pants sort of day, all rainy and cloudy and delicious.

Hec, I feel your pain on the project, although honestly, you're much nicer than I would be. If it was up to Nate, I'd help him with everything and not in the "I want you to help so I can learn," but more in the "please help/do this for me" sort of way. So I have to hold firm and let him take his lumps.

The upside is, it seems to be sinking in and he's actually starting to turn work in that's of a much higher caliber overall. *crosses fingers that it sticks*

My personal feeling is that it's probably time for people to stop making a song and dance about coming out (especially) when "everyone knows." Can't they just bring a real date to events where people are bringing dates and introduce them as such?

I will be very sad it Zachary Quinto is gay.

Which means he is likely gay.

So I have to hold firm and let him take his lumps.

Perhaps I am not painting a good picture of this because the next several days will be very lump-inducing for Emmett. It's going to be an extremely unpleasant grind for him to finish this project.

The consequence for this will simply be that he has to do the work. At age 13 it's not as simple as letting him sink or swim on his own. He's moving up to high school next year and his grades now will determine the classes he's able to take next year. Those classes track from year to year so going in lower now has a consequence for his college options later.

This isn't just theoretical. Emmett's godsister fucked up her grades in 9th grade (same school system) and the hit to her GPA kept her out of elite colleges no matter what she did after that.

I guess I should reiterate that Emmett didn't punt the whole project. He's just below the halfway mark, instead of close to the finish line. He has done a lot of work on it already. Probably more work than he's ever done before. It's just he needs to do more.

Hooray for raises. 6% raise in my base comp, and a bump in target bonus. Nice, considering last year we were frozen in both. But, the more exciting part, or more unexpected anyway, is that one of the accounts I did a big project for last year chipped in a good chunk more bonus money. Which is so cool, because they totally don't have to do anything of the sort. I'm a little agog.

Can't they just bring a real date to events where people are bringing dates and introduce them as such?

I can see a lot of people not wanting to "come out" until such is the case (since their love life SHOULDN'T have anything to do with their jobs), but I don't think it is yet.

But, the more exciting part, or more unexpected anyway, is that one of the accounts I did a big project for last year chipped in a good chunk more bonus money.

That's a vote of high confidence. The kind of validation you can't buy with money. Except, that's exactly what they did. Still - they showed you the money.

That's a vote of high confidence. The kind of validation you can't buy with money.

Yeah, it's huge. And I shed blood, sweat and tears on that project but getting some backend recognition (as opposed to obligatory "thank yous" at the close) makes it a lot easier to keep up the energy to do that.

I remember going through similar stuff with my mom, David. She'd do what was needed to help me dig my ass out of the hole, but I was doing the digging. And not like the lumps really stop there.