Ashley's Atrium

So before I go any further, I'd like to introduce a rather new, yet very important part of my life.  I know, this is a big shocker, but I have a boyfriend now!  Yeah, me, I've escaped the seemingly eternal depths of being single, and I've allowed my heart to belong to someone else again.

So you're probably wanting to know how it happened.  Well, the story will expose the nerd that I am, but so be it!

So I've always wanted to go to a Comic Convention (Comic Con for short).  The problem is, they've never had them anywhere near where I live, and I hadn't ever made it to one (particularly California's)  Comic Con, like I'd always wanted to.  Then this year they announced that Utah was going to have it's own Comic Con, the Salt Lake Comic Con.  When I heard about it, I was so excited!  But then I realized it was probably going to be expensive, and something I couldn't afford.  So I gave up my wishes of attending, and hoped there'd be another one next year.                                                                                           Then the week that the Comic Con was to occur, I was talking to my parents about the Salt Lake Comic Con, telling them about what it was, and how desperately I wanted to go.  Later that day I was standing in the kitchen, and my dad walks in, and hands me a $50 bill.  I looked at him wondering, and asked him what this was for.  "It's for your thing," my dad replied.  "What thing?" I asked.  "Your Comic thing," he said.  Oh!  I was so excited!  I threw my arms around him, and thanked him for being such an awesome dad, and for affording me this opportunity to attend the first ever Salt Lake Comic Con! 

Later, as I went online to order my ticket to attend the Saturday events of Salt Lake Comic Con 2013, I saw that they were also having an event that Friday evening.  It was, as they described, a "red carpet" opening and celebration of the Comic Con.  It was to be a somewhat formal affair, and costumes, of course, were recommended.  I told my mom about it, and she said, "You might as well go!"  I agreed, and as it was a cheap addition to my ticket, I decided to go.  I ordered my ticket, and got to planning what I was going to wear.

"Hmm," I thought.  "What kind of costume to wear to a red carpet affair..." My mom helped me find my box of formal dresses, and we started going through them, and my costume accessories (I have a lot of them...I love to dress up!), when I came across a dress that I hadn't fit into since I was about 17 years old.  Well, with having recently lost quite a bit of weight, I tried it on, and ta da!, it fit!  It was long, black, with sparkly silver thread  running through it.  Simple but elegant.  I knew exactly what I was going to do with it.  I quickly found my black angel wings, and got to work putting my costume together.  It came together beautifully, and I was transformed into a "dark angel".  I felt like Cinderella going to the ball.  

So it was Friday night, September 6th, 2013, and I was ready to go.  I knew that the Salt Lake Comic Con was being held at the Salt Palace Convention Center, so I figured that's where the red carpet event was going to be held as well.  This is where fate stepped in.  It turns out that evening in Salt Lake City, that a man named Joel Bruce had assumed the same thing. 

When I arrived at the Salt Palace, I parked, and started walking inside.  There were some people leaving from that days events, but it was pretty empty.  I wondered about this, but thought nothing of it.  I made my way inside, and looked around, and to my surprise, though there were a few people there, there was no event going on.  I spotted an information desk, and made my way over there to ask the people at the desk where the event was going on.  That's when I felt a presence behind me.  I looked over my shoulder, and saw a man standing there.  He was dressed nicely in a dark red shirt, and dark trousers, and I found him attractive, but then wasn't really paying attention, as I was still inquiring about the event.  The man behind me piped up saying that he was looking for the same thing.  The people at the information desk told us that the even actually wasn't being held at the Salt Palace, but at a club called The Depot, down the street.  I asked them for directions, and they told me, and I turned and walked back out of the door I had come in.  As I made my way quickly across the sidewalk in the dark, I heard footsteps behind me, and someone call out to me.  "Miss!"  he said.  It was the man in the dark red shirt.  "Miss," he called,  "do you want to look at my phone and see the directions, and walk there together?"  Immediately my walls went up.  You see, I'm used to the creeps the perverts, the no-so-nice people in the world being attracted to me, as if I had a sign post on my back indicating I was looking for such people (I never could figure that out), and I figured this man must be one of those people, if he was talking to me.  Quickly I replied, "No, that's okay, I'm just parked right here, and I'm just going to drive over there."  As I quickly turned and walked away, I heard his disappointed, "Okay.", and something in me told me to turn around.   Now just a note here, usually I don't do things like this, nor do I recommend that anyone else do them, but like I said, something told me to, even prompted me to do what I did then.  I stopped, and turned around, and said, "Hey, would you like to ride with me?"  He brightened up and smiled, and agreed to do so.  

We made our way to my car, and as we drove to The Depot club, we introduced ourselves.  He told me that his name was Joel.  I introduced myself as well, and I was truly glad to meet him.  

Joel came and went, but we always seemed to end up back together.  Finally we ended up on the dance floor.  There we touched for the first time, and the chemistry and sparks were immediately flying!  An 80's cover-band called The Spazmatics (see: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Spazmatics-Salt-Lake-City-UT/128819650527729) were playing a bunch of old hits, and Joel and I danced the night, and talked the night away.  I completely let go of my inhibitions, and allowed myself to enjoy myself like I never usually would.  I found myself wanting to be near this man, with this man, wanting the night to never end.  Then he kissed me, and I was hooked.  I couldn't stop grinning.  Things like this just didn't happen to me.  I wasn't Cinderella at the ball, this couldn't be real, could it?  At that point I just didn't care, I just didn't want it to end.  But eventually it did come to an end, and I figured that was it, and I'd probably never see my Prince Charming again.  Boy was I wrong!  

Joel and I ended up exchanging phone numbers, and he later texted me.  I still have the text..."Hi Ashley, this is Joel.  I really enjoyed myself tonight."  The feelings were mutual, and I told him so.  We talked about how we were both going to attend the Salt Lake Comic Con the next day, and he asked if I wanted to meet up with him.  I quickly agreed, and couldn't wait for the next day to come.  After such a perfect night, I wanted a perfect day for the next. I got my wish.  

I dressed up all sexy (in red, because I knew from him telling me how much he liked the color), and enjoyed getting dressed up again, this time just for HIM.  

And so our courtship began.  We spent the next several days together, every waking hour.  I enjoyed every minute of it, and just couldn't believe it was real.

That was almost exactly three months ago, and things have been pretty great so far.  We spend almost every weekend together, and sometimes other days.  I just love being with him, and miss him so much when I'm not.  

So you're probably wanting to know more about Joel.  Well let's see.  He's 32 years old, a year and a few months older than I am  He's originally from California, where his immediate family still lives, but he moved here to Utah in 2006 to go to school for Computer Science.  After he graduated with a bachelors degree, he started, and continues to work as a computer programmer.  He's absolutely brilliant, and definitely one of the most intelligent people I've ever met.  He's even quite the scientist, and I'm constantly learning new things from him!  (Which I really enjoy.)  We have so very much in common.  We both enjoy things like gaming (yay, a boyfriend that games...it's so much fun!  We've been playing Diablo 3 together, as well as Skylanders, which he has an entire collection of, and we recently started playing World of Warcraft: Mists of Panderia together.  I bought him the collectors edition for an early Christmas present, and it's been so much fun playing WoW again!), we're both total computer nerds (though he's far more advanced than I am in that area).  He's a scientist, and loves to both learn and teach.  We both love to read.  We both love movies (we even love the same kinds of movies, how cool is that?!)  The first movie we saw together was Riddick: Rule The Dark with Vin Diesel.  It was my first time watching a movie in D-Box, and it was so awesome.  It was especially cool because Joel looks like Vin Diesel, particularly when he shaves his head, and well, is incredibly hot!  

Now everything isn't completely perfect (nothing is), and we have our issues, and both come with our own emotional baggage.  Particularly theological ones.  As most of you probably know, I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (aka Mormon), and he's Atheist.  He used to be very religious, and even studied to be a pastor.  But I guess several years ago, he gave up his faith in favor of science and logic, and no longer believes in God.  That's the one thing we've had a lot of problems regarding.  We get into a heated debate, that turns into an argument, that turns into a fight far too often.  I'm actually working on a blog post regarding this exact subject, so that's all I'll say about it for now.

But other then that, we get along great, and really enjoy each other's company.  (At least I enjoy his, and well, he must enjoy mine as well, either that or he's a complete masochist, or perhaps a little of both, LOL).  I've completely fallen head-over-heels for him, and I love him with all of my heart.  

Anyway, that's it for now.  More to come very soon, so stay tuned!  Thank you for reading, and I hope all of you are well.  

Much Love,

Ashley