Saturday, November 28, 2009

Thanksgiving

To: Present Self
When: November 28th, 2009


Another year with good food and great family. I started to really look forward to it a few days before. I hadn't seen my dad or step-mom for about a month so it was good to see them.

It's tradition for my sisters and I to go to our dad's for Thanksgiving. It was nice to see Chez and Greg there and although Aly is still in England, we all got to talk to her on the phone. She'll be here for Christmas and her birthday in January though, so it will be nice to see her then.

It was a first for me to bring someone over for Thanksgiving but I wasn't worried about it. Paul has met my family already and I knew everyone would have a good time. We had the traditional food but the turkey was partly smoked with oak wood which gave it a nice flavor. I made the green bean casserole which is my favorite. We played Apples to Apples and had some good laughs. Dad's pumpkin pie was the best as always. We also got to talk to my Grandpa and Aunt from Washington and catch up with what their families have been up to.

Another pleasant Thanksgiving has come and gone. Here's hoping for another one next year.

Monday, November 23, 2009

What I've Been Up To Lately

To: Present Self
When: November 23rd, 2009


I can't think of anything special or specific to write about tonight so I'll just go over what I've been spending my time on lately...

Since I'm not currently involved in a musical, I've had my weekends available. The last three have been spent helping my boyfriend Paul move into his new house. He's been quite busy with it which is to be expected so I'm happy to help him move his stuff, especially since I can help save costs with my truck.

Saw a musical called The Fantasticks in Sunnyvale on Friday with Paul. I thought it was... alright. The show wasn't my favorite, but the people I know who are involved in it did a great job.

I've been trying to go to the gym most weekdays after work. I probably would never go to a gym but it's doable since it's conveniently at work. My weight has been staying pretty constant at 155 lately which is pretty good. My diet isn't perfect but I can control it when I need to.

A couple times a week I've been playing a computer game called Borderlands. I haven't played a good computer game in a while so it's nice to get back into it. I've been playing online with a couple of my friends and it's quite fun. I used to play a lot of games, especially back during the high school days. I guess I've mostly grown out of them and other hobbies like coding took their place.

I went flying about a month ago. It was just a refresher flight in an R22 with one of the instructors named John. It was interesting though because one of the emergency lights came on for just a flash and then went off. Luckily it wasn't anything serious. Otherwise I haven't been flying much overall. Probably just once a month or two. I don't fly by myself anymore because I've either seen everything around the bay area or it's just too expensive to just go alone. I am happy to take anyone if they'd like, but I do ask for some help with the cost. So far I've taken Paul, his Mom and her boyfriend, Dan my roommate, and Joe (a coworker) and his friend. I haven't taken any family yet which has been a dream of mine since I first even thought of doing pilot training. I promised "the gift of flight" to my parents for their recent birthdays but things have come up (as they always tend to do). I really want to take them up soon though. I'm so happy to be able to share something so unique and special with people.

So that's my life in a nutshell right now, besides work of course which is going well. Can't complain about a thing which makes me feel like I might be bragging sometimes when people ask what I've been up to. I've never had so much to be happy for in the past and it's a really nice feeling. For whomever may be reading this, I hope you have things that you can be happy for too.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Dinner Parties

To: Present Self
When: November 18th, 2009


Am I officially an old and sophisticated guy because I now take part in dinner parties? I hope not. When I was younger I thought it was something that old, prim and proper dull couples did. But I've been participating in one every Wednesday for over a month now and I'm enjoying it.

It started when Dan and Braden (my roommates) invited fellow cast members of a local musical (which I ran the sound board for) over for dinner. We decided on a theme involving a particular cuisine and everyone cooked their own dish to share. The food so far has always been outstanding. Besides sharing a meal, everyone watches So You Think You Can Dance, Glee, Family Guy, and sometimes South Park. Now I don't really care for SYTYCD but I find Glee somewhat entertaining. Of course I love Family Guy and South Park.

But more than the TV shows or food, I enjoy the people. It's an entertaining bunch of young adults comprised of mostly gay men and young women (go figure), and there never tends to be a dull moment with this group of theater folk. I'm really thankful for this opportunity to meet new people and socialize. I was particularly shy growing up and almost always kept to myself but now I'm making up for that. Feeling more comfortable around similar people probably has a little to do with it. So thanks to Dan and Braden for this chance to grow and expand my social life.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Boy Am I Lucky

To: Future Self
When: November 17th, 2010


Am I still living this amazing life one year from now? I feel really blessed to have what I do right now: amazing family, an awesome boyfriend, my dream job, a nice place to live, some good friends, and being able to fly helicopters for fun. Most of these things will have their own dedicated blog posts soon enough. Even though I'm not exactly sure why things are looking so good right now, I do have a hunch.

I believe that everything evens out in life. At one point things may be looking down, but they will come back around sooner or later. I think this applies to just about everything in life such as your mood, relationships, money, and employment.

There have been a couple of events that I can recall where things didn't go well at all. After deciding a four year college wasn't for me, I enrolled at Master's Institute, a fast paced technical school learning about my favorite subject, computers. After about a month of classes I show up one day to a note on the door that says they're bankrupt. Luckily the loan I got didn't go though yet so I didn't lose any money. A handful of years later I enrolled in a private helicopter pilot training school called Silver State Helicopters. I was about half way through the course when they also went bankrupt. This time I was not so lucky with the loan and now I have an outstanding debt waiting to be decided on in court. Those two school closures were definitely not good times but I believe I owe some of my current good fortune to them.

But how long will this good fortune last? What events may come to pass that aren't so fortunate? Could I lose any of the great things I have today? I know it's going to happen eventually so I won't worry too much because it's all bound to even out in the end.

Monday, November 16, 2009

First Post!

I've done it. I can't believe I actually started a blog. I used to loathe the idea for all the same reasons everyone else might. "Why would anyone want to read about me?" Well, that reason still applies, but I came up with a different reason why I should maintain a blog: for myself. Particularly because I don't have the best memory and it would be nice to be able to go back in time and review what I've experienced in my life. If others also wish to read it, so be it.

Speaking of going back in time, there's a good reason why I came up with the confusing blog title. This idea just came to me one night recently while trying to fall asleep. How about writing each message of my blog as a note to either my past, present, or future self? Now I figure you may be thinking I'm off my rocker since we haven't invented time travel yet, but here's my reasoning for doing something seemingly pointless, and honestly, kind of silly.

Writing notes to my past self will involve looking back through my life and recalling some of the good and possibly not so good memories. I will write what I can remember of my past events and perhaps give my past self some advice on what I could've been done better. Basically, I will be writing my memories down for posterity's sake.

Writing notes to my present self will be just like any regular blog that people keep. Just logging some of my day to day experiences. Nothing new, nothing special.

Finally, my grand idea. Writing notes to my future self will not only include a speculation of what may or may not happen in the future, but it will also include a date. I will use that date to follow-up to what I wrote in the past. It's kind of like that elementary school project where you write a letter to yourself and the school will mail it to you some amount of years in the future. But this date can be whatever I see fit. And as an added bonus, I will update the original post with a link to the response from the "future" so that anyone reading the blog from the beginning can easily see the response if they're so inclined.

Well, that's the plan in a nutshell. I'm not sure how well I will be able to keep up with it and post on a regular basis though. Hopefully I can.