Dangerous Business

Well, as I have been looking around at my usual haunts, I have been seeing a few poeple doing “The Year In Review” type things, so I just got the sudden urge to do that. Like, I didn’t even know that I was going to do it until I started typing that sentince up there. Funny how things like that work out so quickly.

At the begining of the year, I lost my job at Builder’s Choice. That was quite an interesting start to the New Year, I must say. I got quite a good bonus when I left, which was about the best part of it. That was just a really weird day. I didn’t know it was coming, and after they told me, I didn’t know what to do. I stuck around and worked for a while longer, because I felt like it was the right thing to do. However, I wound up getting so sick of the place by the end of the day, that I cut out an hour or two early.

I three new amazingly awesome friends. Lauren and Rachel have been a God send to me over the past year. My friendship with Rachel has become really deep, and I consider her one of my absolute best friends now. I am still getting to know Sarah, but she’s turning out to be a God send, as well. To think, if I hadn’t gone to Atlanta with Rachel to learn how to dance. January ‘09 was my second time going, if I remember right. I think that was the time that really got me hooked in it. Thank goodness I went, is all I can say. Friendships are wonderful, esspecially during the rough times.

I got my motorcycle license in February, and then promptly took a trip ON motorcycles down to Panama City Beach Florida. Of course, if you are a regular reader of my blog, or know me, you already know the story. Which of course, that describes all of my readers, so I don’t think I have to retell the story for you. Now, if I post this somewhere else, I might need to add a few more details… or just link to the old blog post.

In March, Rachel was out of town or something, and I went down to visit with Lauren. That was my favorite day of the entire year. I don’t know what made it so special, but it definately was the best by far. I’ll remember it forever. She took me to The House of Dreams on the Berry campus. My goodness, that place is magical. I got to really get to know Lauren that day, and see just how beautiful of a young lady she is becoming. She still has a lot to learn, but she’s going to make a special woman some day.
Anyway, we went up to the House of Dreams, had pizza in the chilly windy mountain air, shooed dogs away from our lunch, and took a stroll around the garden. She then showed me her book of pictures from Costa Rica. Man, I remember it like it was yesterday. Every detail seems so vivid. After we left there, we went and watched the Godfather, so we could both be true men. haha

I wound up losing a person that was starting to become a friend, as well. Everyone did, actually. At some point, something happened with Beth, and she stopped talking to all of us. I really hated to see that happen, because she did seem like a really good kid. I know it really hurt Lauren, too. I could see it in her eyes for a long time. Unfortunately, she’s moved past being hurt, to being a little bitter. Which, I can’t say that I blame her but it is still hard to watch.

I studied for and took the ACT at the begining of the summer! I actually didn’t do nearly as badly on it as I thought I would do. Which, that actually makes it sound like I still did poorly on it, which isn’t the case. The only thing I didn’t do well on was the math, which I expected when I went into it. I can’t stand that subject.

I started applications for a couple of colleges, but I didn’t finish them, because I seriously don’t know if I want to go. I go back and forth on it all the time. It’s not only the money aspect of it, quite a bit of it is that I just don’t know if I want to. Which I find extremely frustrating, going back and forth. The indecision is absolutely killing me, but yet I continue to do it. Who knows what I will wind up doing.
I sort of feel like if I do go to college, I will wind up wasting time and not doing some really awesome things that I could have done, had I not gone. However, in the long run, I might miss out on some things that I could have done, had I gone. Either way, I’m just screwed.

Goodness, this year in terms of having crushes on people has been a little crazy. I don’t remember ever thinking that so many girls were cute, or had potential. Esspecially not when I fall on my face with them. They either aren’t interested, I never tell them I’m interested, or… well, any number of things. After all is said and done, it often makes me feel like I should just say “Good riddance” to relationships, and go about my own way.

In May, I started going to the local writer’s group. It’s been quite nice to be able to get with like minded people, and write about random stuff. I even accomplished something I never thought was possible. I wrote 50,000 words for a story in November. That was pretty amazing… Though, it did make me a bit sick of writing for a while.

The six of us (Kyle, Clint, me, Lauren, Rachel, and Sarah) went to the Renaissance Fair over the summer, before Rachel took off to go out west. Of course, the day we chose to go was an absolute downpour in the early part of the day. It was thunderstorming like crazy, with lightning strikes and stuff. After it stopped raining, it actually wasn’t too bad. There were a couple of interesting experiences there, which I think were totally worth it. I would love to go again this year, but I don’t know how it’ll all work out.

Speaking of going to fairs and stuff, the six of us also went to Dollywood several times over the course of the year. That was pretty fun every time we went. Lots of memories to hold onto forever. I hope we can have more experiences like that over the next year.

I tried out contacts… what a joke.

Lauren moved to Dalton over the summer, and Rachel moved to Wyoming. It was pretty nice having Lauren so close, but we didn’t go to see her nearly as often as I wish we could have. Not to mention she was really busy for the most of it, being the social butterfly that she is. We tried to go watch Transformers 2 with her, but that was also a joke. The theater was packed out, and we hardly saw Lauren at all. We wound up just leaving early.
We also coined the phrase “Up and Over” in Dalton, one day when we pulled into on coming traffic, and had to go over the median. That was pretty wicked.
We didn’t hear much out of Rachel for the whole summer, and we were pretty bummed out about that. Which actually wound up causing problems later on, when there were some misunderstandings, but nothing too major that we didn’t work out.

My life was tremendously slow for a couple months. I can’t really remember much of anything that I did. I was out of work, and sat at home on my computer for a good part of the time. I remember going absolutely insane from the lack of anything. That was not exactly the best time of my life. Probably some of the worst days of the year were spent in that time frame. I got into a pretty deep funk, and it took me quite a while to get out of it.

The Blizzard’s hired me in October. It was such a relief to be able to go back to work. I was hired on doing web design and building. I have now moved on to do some small work in marketing, which is pretty neat. It was definately the challenge for my brain that I needed. My brain got squishy, because I wasn’t using it enough. Yay for excersize. Of the brain. Forget that gym stuff.

Staying up super late, not wanting to go home, going to Wal*Mart and buying cream soda and Teddy Grahams. I suggest that to anyone.

I got back in contact with an ex of mine in October, as well. Seems hard to believe that I started talking to her again that long ago, looking back on it now. It seems like we just started talking a couple weeks ago. She’s gotten married in the time we’ve been back in contact. Man, talk about weird to witness. Someone I used to date, getting married to a guy with the same first name as me.
I’m glad she found the right guy though. It does make me feel old, but that’s not always a bad thing.

The last couple months of the year were just a blur. Towards the end of October, Rachel asked me to be her dance partner for the Masquerade ball. That was quite an experience as well. I will remember that one for the rest of my life too, whether I want to or not. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be, but it was bad enough. Looking back on it now, I am almost embarrassed that my parents and grandparents went. It seemed like such a big deal at the time, but it seems like I blew it a little bit out of proportion. Esspecially since no one else’s parents showed up. It was just all college aged kids. Oh well… I’ll always just be that weird kid who’s Rachel’s friend, at Berry.

I turned 22 years old this year. Turning a year older is starting to get to me now. I have finally hit that magical age where you start to notice you’re not a kid any more. It’s not nice. Because now the birthdays will come quicker and quicker.

Then in the past couple months, there’s been a lot of really private stuff going on, that I don’t want to put out there to the world. It’s still too fresh in my mind, and I am still mulling over it. I don’t know if it’ll ever be “old enough” to let the void/internet know about it. If you really want to know about it, you can just ask me. However, I probably won’t tell you.

What a year…

—-

Additions: More things that I have remembered after posting this a little bit ago.

I think it was back in the spring, I went down to Berry for Relay for Life, and sat up all night long with Jessica at the Swing Dance booth. It was quite funny actually, because we were the only ones at the booth for the majority of the night, and neither of us belonged to it. Jessica was more uptight about it, I didn’t care too much.
Lauren wasn’t feeling well that night, and slept for a good part of it. I took her asprin and blankets all throughout the night, and kept an eye on her. Seems like I woke her up at about 5:00am, and then we went and had breakfast at IHOP. It seems like I got an omlet, and she got pancakes with sausage, but she wasn’t hungry enough to finish them. On the way to IHOP, we stopped on the side of the highway and watched the sun rise, which was pretty amazing. After we got back, we went to the underground and fell asleep on the couches down there.

That same day, I went to Cashes Valley with Kyle and Clint. I think that was actually the second time we had gone, but it was still one of the first times. I had rediscovered it on a map, and took Kyle and Clint out to it. What a year of fun that place has given us. It’d give us even more fun if they didn’t have it all blocked off for private property.

This fall Kyle, Clint, and myself went down to Berry to hang out for a while. We took the video camera with us, and made a day of it. Lauren was able to join us for a little while, but we spent most of the day with Rachel. That day will forever live digitally on Facebook as a whacked out video. That was another one of those “best days of the year”. We did everything from climbing the hill behind the mill, rolling down the hill at frost chapel in the middle of a wedding, while being filmed by a guy in an afro. That was pretty amazing.

Well, this is my second attempt at writing a blog post tonight. The last one turned into more of a rant against myself, and I wasn’t in the mood for reading about someone complain about me, even if it was me doing it. So, I shall attempt to start once more, and see if I can keep it more positive. With how I am feeling right now, that might be something quite spectacular, if I can.

So, it’s been quite an interesting past couple weeks, none of which I can tell you without breaking someone’s trust, or being mean to myself. So, you’re pretty much just tough out of luck. Just know that I have had a lot going on, a lot of information to process and think about.

Because of my having a lot of stuff running through my mind, I have been pretty anti-social the past couple weeks. Even when I have been hanging out and doing stuff, my mind has been elsewhere. So, I couldn’t really tell you what I have been up to, because I don’t really know. Probably if I thought about it hard enough, I could come up with something, but that’s too much like work.

I started working again yesterday after a couple weeks off. It’s been quite hard to adjust back into the flow of things. I haven’t been sleeping enough, and my brain is pretty much fried at work. I haven’t done any programing in a while, so I feel like I am starting to forget some of it.

It’s really annoying to have holes in your memory. Just thought I’d let you know.

Okay, I know there were other things that I felt like writing in here, but I seriously can’t remember any of them. I think it’s past my bedtime. Not to mention I keep getting distracted with shiney and flashing objects. It’s really hard to concentrate on writing a blog post when orange messenger windows keep Budapesting me. So, bye bye for now. I’ll come back and make another post soon, if I think about it.

As I sit here at my desk in front of my heater, sipping on a glass of Bailey’s, my attention was brought to the fact that I have not made a blog post in a while, once again. I had told myself that I wouldn’t feel bad about not making posts, but it’s starting to happen. I have two problems when it comes to making posts. I go so long without feeling like I have done anything significant to post about, untill I look back on everything and see that there is a lot to write about. At which point, I start avoiding making a post, because it’s going to take forever.
I also can’t quite figure out why I keep a blog. It might be partially to have the memories, that I would likely forget about if I didn’t have it. It could also be for my friends and family to keep up with what is going on in my life. However, I am fairly sure that no one in my family reads this thing, and most of my friends that read it, are with me when the things I write about happen. So really, it isn’t for anyone but myself.

The waltz with Rachel was a success, from everything that I hear about it. I was really nervous about it, but luckily it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I was still shaking when I came off the dance floor, but there weren’t as many eyes on me as I thought there was going to be. Which is both a good and a bad thing. Good in the fact that I didn’t wind up throwing up from nervousness, bad in the fact that Rachel was expecting more, and ordered a whole lot more food than she actually needed. Which, in itself wasn’t a bad thing, because lots of people ate off of it for a while. The bad part of it is that she wasted money on food she didn’t need.
Anyway, there is a video of us dancing it on Rachel’s computer, but it might be a while before she ever gets it posted. I would like to have it eventually, so I can show people. Even if I think I didn’t do the best, it’s still interesting to watch.

I hit my goal of 50,000 words in the month of November for my novel. It’s still no where near finished, and I don’t know if it ever will be. I think about it every once in a while, but it’s such a big task set before me, very daunting. Maybe some day when the mood hits me, and I actually feel like writing it, I’ll finish it. However, I need to find a reason for writing it. As of right now it feels very cliche, and like I have no real reason for writing it. Other than to hit my goal of 50,000 words, which I did. I might get those 50,000 put into a book format, just to show that I actually did it. We’ll see.

I feel like there is a lot more that I could, and should, be writing about. I just can’t seem to think of anything right at the moment. I can’t even think of what has been going on in my life since my last post. I feel like my life is kind of a wash right now, with nothing in particular going on. It’s just full of daily activity, full of just the comings and goings of a mindless wanderer. Like I am waiting for something, but not quite sure about what it is. It’s sitting there, just out of reach, taunting me.
Hopefully whatever it is, is going to blow my socks off.

On a more serious note; it’s been a while since I have posted anything of any importance. I know I say this like every time I make a post, but it just drives me crazy that I apparently can’t keep up with blogging. I don’t know if I find the task of writing all those words for no one to read to be such a daunting task, that don’t even want to bother, or what. All I know is that my blog has to drag me kicking and screaming to it, in order to make me post.

Alright, so I will attempt to catch you up once more on what has been going on in my life. Though, I don’t know why I even say ‘you’, because I do believe the only things that come here are spam bots. What I don’t get is how they even find my blog so frequently. Is there some type of ‘online now’ thing on the WordPress main site, and all of the stupid little bots flock to it? The reason I ask is, because in the time that I have been making this post, I have already had two bots post spamming comments. How retarded is that?

Anyway, first off: This month I have been writing a story for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). It’s been going pretty good, and as of this post I have just over 30,000 words. Which isn’t too bad. It’s only 5,000 words over half-way, so I only have 20,000 words left to type. Which seems really daunting.
It’s been a neat journey though, going from having a dream and writing down the basic idea, to a fully fleshed out story with real characters that have feelings and personalities. That’s never happened in any story that I have written by myself. I have never gotten over 5,000 words in any story that I have ever written before. So, this feels pretty good.
The basic premise of my book is that there is a guy that gets killed way back in 1927, and winds up becoming a ghost. He sticks around for about 90 years, and befriends a girl that is growing up in the house he used to live in. She grows up always having him around, and winds up falling in love with him. It makes it a little complicated, since he’s… well… dead. That’s the really quick and dirty version. If you want any more information, let me know.

Another thing that is going on in my life, is that I have commited to dancing the Waltz at the Masquerade Ball in December. Not only dance it, but be a preformer if you will. I get to go out onto the dance floor, and have people watch me dance the Waltz. No one else but Rachel will be out there with me. From what Rachel said, the Masquerade last year was a big hit, so this year might be even more so. Which means a lot of people. Oh gosh, I start getting sick just thinking about it. What am I doing?

It also seems like every post I make, I am either about to go, or just coming back from Dollywood/Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg. Well, guess what? Dang, you guessed it. I guess my hint was too strong. I should have beat around the bush a little bit more. Anyway, yeah… I am about to go to Gatlinburg again. This time we’re staying right in Gatlinburg, so the 6 of us kids will likely be out till all hours of the night. It’ll be great fun… Untill the cops show up.

Okay, I have wasted too many words on this post. I need to go get my laptop out and start working on my story. We’ll see if I can get my 1,667 words in tonight before I fall asleep face-first on the keyboard. I already feel like I am just about there. I’m only good till Wednesday though! I need to get ahead some more!

And, here. We. Go!
Gah… If you want anything done, you’ve got to do it yourself. Oh, did I ever tell you how I got these scars?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGHHH!!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAGGGH!!!

Thank you, that is all.

I hit a deer.

I also learned that night that it takes 3 cops to pull a Jeep over.

Oh… and I’m going to Gatlinburg in a couple weeks.

–And Rachel asked me to be her dance partner for the Masquerade ball. She wants to do the Waltz. I don’t think I can learn the Waltz is just a couple short weeks, without seeing her every day.

–Oh, and AJ is coming to teach more aerials. That should be fun.

Right, well… bye!

Where does the time go? I swear it has not been that long since I have made a post, and then here I look and it’s been like two weeks. What the fudge? I am pretty sure someone has been messing with all of my calendars. There is no possible way that it is October 27th. I only have like 4 days till the start of Nano. I am freaking out.

The days fly by at the office, for the most part. I sit there somewhat hanging out with Kyle and Clint. Working on writing code, which I find pretty fun. It can be agrivating some times, but really it’s pretty enjoyable. So yeah, I sit there writing code with my best friends… eat lunch at about 1:30, then come home at 5:00. I don’t usually do much after I get home. SLOW DOWN!!

This Thursday, I am going on a dance at Berry. Then on Friday I am going to the Halloween dance at Georgia Tech. I wanted to dress up, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. I could always wear the fro that my mom got me, and do disco while everone else is doing swing. That’d be pretty funny.

Anyway… I don’t even know what to put on here about what has been going on in my life… because there hasn’t been. It’s all been zooming by, and I haven’t been doing slag! Anyway…

This has been another short post of the emergency broadcasting system.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!

As you can tell from the title, this week has been very interesting. I started an internship with Kyle over at Blizzard Digital, makin’ websites. That’s been going pretty good. It’ll give me a way to pay off college, if I ever get around to that. Hey, need a website for your party on Friday? I’ll make it… 50 bucks. Or something. haha

Noelle contacted me yesterday, and we’ve been chatting a little. That’s probably the most interesting thing from this week. We’ve gone about three years without saying anything to each other, and now we’re actually talking about getting together for coffee. How things change.

I’m only two months from being twenty-two. That still freaks me out every time I think about it. I shouldn’t be that old! Kids born after 9/11/01 shouldn’t be eight years old! It’s freaky times, man. The world is coming to an end, I know it. Kids are aging too quickly. That isn’t normal. Or something.

Anyway, I don’t have anything else to say. I just figured I should say something. Since it’s been a while. Toodles.

To quote the most defining literary work of our time,

Cinnamon Teddy Grahams are so good that they will likely be banned in the future USSA. This will be the final catalyst which will cause several states to secede, and bitter civil war will ensue. A decisive battle will be fought at the Nabisco plant in Chicago, Illinois.

Thank you Clint Blizzard, for this most amazing piece of art.

Well, the past couple of days have been pretty awesome, weather-wise. However, my body apparently thinks it’s time to catch a cold. I had a sore throat for a few days, and now that that’s gone, I have a stuffy nose and a slight caugh. Why does this have to happen? The best time of the year, and I get sick for it. That’s just great.

I started reading Lord of the Rings the other day, once again. I am not planning on reading all of it, just the first section. My favorite parts… Which is from the begining all the way to Rivendell. It was nice to be back in Hobbiton for a while, all peaceful and very autumnish. I read up till the Gross of Hobbits. Man, that’s such a great book. (sigh)

I’ve also fallen in love with the Dubliners once again. I am seriously thinking about ordering one of their CD’s. Maybe I should ask for it for my birthday or christmas, since that is coming up before too long. Goodness, that’s a scary thought. I’ll be 22 in about a month and a half. (sigh)… Does anyone out there have any suggestions for something I should do for my birthday? You know… since you’re supposed to do something for your birthday, or at least that’s what I am told.

This Saturday I am going to be either riding a motorcycle (with a cold in the cold), or I’ll be in the car with mom so that I can take pictures and stuff. Not sure how it’s going to work yet. Anyway, it should be pretty fun though. Chili cookoff, music, motorcycles, all types of cool stuff.
Unfortunetly Rachel and Lauren aren’t going to be able to join me, so not as much fun as it could be… but still.

Then that night, Rachel wants me to come to Berry for the Marthapalooza. Not sure if I will or not yet… That would either put me getting home really late, or spending the night there. We’ll see…

Well, I am going to go now. So, have fun kids!