I don't know if anyone still remembers me, but looking around the forums I recognize a number of names. That makes me very happy to see, I'm glad this community has held together like it has; my memories of C&F have always been fond ones and I'm glad it's still here. I can see I have a lot of catching up to do.
It's been probably been 13 or 14 years since I last posted, and I have come full circle back to the Celtic trad musical hobby.
Since my last post my life was upended in a pretty big way; i lost my job, went through a very difficult divorce, lost my house and would have been homeless were it not for the kindness of others.
After a couple of years things started picking up a bit more. I found a decent job in big data storage where I stayed for over eight years. Around that time I was invited to audition for a very well-known local band after their bassist quit. I didn't get that audition, but that band did put me in touch with what would become my regular band for about seven years. We became moderately successful in the greater Salt Lake area for a while, but unfortunately we've on permanent hiatus since a critical member moved out of state a few years ago (if your'e interested you can hear one of our singles here https://ladymurasaki.bandcamp.com/album/summer-fling).
I took a big break from music while my primary career started taking off, requiring more and more of my time. I would eventually work my way up to being the global subject matter expert in UNIX/Linux/NFS and began teaching and mentoring more of the business unit's more advanced engineers.
At this point I started working directly with someone in India who would change my life forever.
Her name was Annu, and we became very good friends at work. This led to talking on FB after work, which eventually led to phone calls over WhatsApp, which then let to video calls of WhatsApp...
Until one day I said, "Hey I really like you, I think you're wonderful," and to my astonishment, she reciprocated the sentiment!
We carried on a long distance relationship while I tried to get my company to send me to our Bangalore office to give training in-person. Eventually I got tired of waiting, and in October of 2018 I flew to Bangalore to meet the girl of my dreams. I don't know if I believe in love at first sight or not, but the first time we met in person we knew it was meant to be.
After spending some time in Bangalore I flew home and told my parents that I wanted to marry Annu. They'd known for some time what was going on, and my Mom told me, "Well good, I was wondering when you'd finally get around to it! You've been glowing for months!!"
In January of 2019 I moved to New Delhi, where Annu's family lives, and if February we were married in a traditional Hindu ceremony (it's actually several ceremonies, across a number of days, but we had a fairly compressed timeline). My mom and dad even flew out and stayed for a couple of weeks for the wedding.
I decided I was going to stay in India while we worked out Annu's US visa situation, and since my company was super on-board with the idea of my being able to work with folks in their India offices, I settled in and be came a remote worker before it was cool.
I would eventually be in India for about two years (yup, even through the pandemic) before we were finally able to get Annu's provisional green card approved.
While I was in India everyone kept asking me what it was like living there, and I always had a tough time putting the experience into words in a way that wouldn't take hours on end to communicate, so I started a YouTube channel (which I continue to maintain. if you're interested, you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/tyemorrisvlog )
We came to the US and moved in with my parents in December of 2020 and we've been very fortunate to continue living in the same city where I grew up (it's a fairly expensive place to live nowadays).
Shortly after we came back I was super fortunate to be offered a job with Adobe, and I've been with them for almost three years at this point, and Annu was able to start working with our old employer again.
Annu and I continue to be remote workers, and our home offices are right next to each other. Our time spent in lockdown in Delhi forged us into best friends, and to this day we continue to be inseparable; we hardly spend more than an hour or two apart. In a few months we will have been together for five incredible years.
Prior to moving to India I had stashed all my belongings in a storage unit, and I've been slowly unpacking ever since.
A few weeks ago I opened a box and found my old tin whistle collection, and have been re-learning what I used to know primarily using my Dixon soprano D. I've had such a great time playing that I've invested in my first low D from Kerry Whistles and I'm eagerly awaiting its arrival.
In the meantime I've been looking into playing banjo and concertina, and that's what sparked my memory on where the best place to get advice would probably be: Chiff and Fipple.
I'm really glad this place is still here. I didn't realize how much I'd missed it until I tried to log in the other day
I'll see ya all around the forums. Until then, take care!
