In fact, my fellow teammate is a former long-time cheerleader friend of whom I have the utmost respect in too many ways to count. Who knew life would come full-circle in such an unexpected way?

Here we are at the Creighton basketball game cheering on my alma mater and celebrating 25 years of marriage together. And as I post this blog entry, I am also celebrating a new beginning with the start of my new employment this week. At the pinnacle of my life, I am feeling overwhelmingly blessed by the uplifting milestones surrounding me at this moment.

Holy new job situation! Things are just moving all crazy freight-train-like after making my final role choice (See what I did there? I'm talking HR-speak after so many months of getting schooled on the proper lingo.)

So here's my new bulleted list of key events that have taken place since my last blog post:

• Successfully completed a background screening and drug test, thus confirming I'm not some closet gangsta-druggie, but quite the opposite with the most boringly cleanest background/urine test of any other living job candidate
• Searched out and secured downtown parking accommodations and now must overcome my fear of sketchy-looking pedestrians roaming around the new-job area
• Actually TURNED DOWN requests for 2 more phone interviews for positions that have been way up there on my radar
• Also got me some more application rejections that are no less painful than before accepting an offer *ouch*
• Continued that video streaming marathon of "Friends" via Netflix, and while getting super annoyed hearing about Ross and Rachel's so-called break, I'm finding Phoebe's surrogate status even more interesting to watch now - must be that whole empty nester thing

All of these things happened today, and I am exuberant and busting at the seams, to say the very least:

• Interviewed with another highly recommended employer, then was invited to attend the second round of interviews with hiring managers
• Call with HR representative (from another company) resulted in actual JOB OFFER #1, the first in almost 7 months of job searching and also one that is way too amazing to refuse
• In less than an hour of that phone call, received a call from yet another HR representative (ANOTHER company) with JOB OFFER #2, one that is also unturndownable
• Husker Dude returned for a quick weekend visit, and we toasted today's good fortune over homemade pizza, complete with hugs & high-fives

So yeah, if I weren't so shocked and in disbelief at this super-fortunate turn of events, I'd probably be dancing on the table to a funky Prince playlist. (Although, it just might happen yet!)  But for now, I'm feeling blessed and thankful to be able to breathe again.

... check-check, shaboom. (Long-time rah-rah friends will pick up on that reference.)

Strange how a cheer from WAAAAY back in the day popped into my brain when all I wanted to do was stop in and post a blog documenting my latest status. So I'm either experiencing a synapse miss-fire or minor brain dump, not quite sure. Here goes, nonetheless:

• Took the cat to the veterinarian for a wellness checkup only to learn she needed a molar extraction as a bonus procedure. Yikes.
• Found a doctor to replace my recently retired gynecologist and got that annual exam checked off my "To Do" list.  Oh, along with a mammogram.  Because I'm a glutton for self-torture, obviously - so why not get it done all at once, right?
• Last but most certainly not least, interviewed for the job opportunity OF. A. LIFETIME. So basically if I die tomorrow, at least I can say I lived long enough to be considered for the position of my absolute dreams.

*mic drop*

As all of this full-time-job-search activity rolls on, life just continues forward. So in an effort to keep the blog all fresh-like, here's a handy bulleted-list of latest achievements:

• 3 trips to the University of Lincoln shuttling the Husker Student home and back for Fall break and various doctor and dental appointments
• assisting long-time business client on a communication-related project
• scheduling and tending to other vehicle, personal health, and pet-related appointments
• maintaining a regular exercise routine, house cleaning, and shopping schedule only with more flexibility due to open work-day hours (no complaints there!)
• keeping Sling, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video in business by streaming multiple seasons of Seinfeld, Friends, Sneaky Pete, Suits... amongst others

How I feel about today's job search situation.

"... as time passed, when I breathed in and out, it took less effort. It used to be that when my alarm went off, I'd immediately feel a two-ton weight upon my chest. But then, little by little, it was one ton. And then half. And less. Until slowly I became more anesthetized to the gut-churning pain. Sheer agony became blunt pain became discomfort. And soon enough discomfort morphed into tolerance for my situation. And once I started to get used to everything, I started, step by tiny step, day by day, to feel that if I squinted hard enough, I might be able to make out an infinitesimal ray of light in the distance."

- Jill Kargman, The Ex-Mrs. Hedgefund

After an exciting week of having a certain Rockstar Recruiter help me land an on-site interview with a Rockstar dot-com company, I still required more words of wisdom to keep that forward momentum going in my job search - and Alexa's Inspire Me skill did the trick with these loving words from STEVE JOBS, a lifelong hero.

The cool take-away from his motivational quote is that I have already found what I love to do. Steve would be so incredibly proud to know this!  So now I just need to put that love to use so I can go back to doing even more Great Work, lest I resort to Lyft driving or something else completely outside of my Love Zone.

**Sending out serious Ninja Brain Waves channeling that next Rockstar Career**