An Old School Post

There was a time when blogs existed for one to place their thoughts out in the open. A digital journal, if you will. That's why services like LiveJournal came into existance. Recently, "blogging" has become a term we use to describe any website that has periodic updates, or, "posts." Blogs, short for weblogs, have existed for years before the termblogor even the termweblogever existed. That's what Frobba.com (formerly The 9th Layer) was created for. A place for my thoughts. Which, essentially, it still is, generally my takes on current events as any good moderate or liberal would do.

But I have somewhat strayed from the more personal entries recently. This could have something to do with my relationship status being concrete, or the fact that I don't live at home anymore, or the fact that the government has just been so newsworthy lately.

Whatever the case, I want to take it back a few months, Christ, almost a year now.

I guess this is my obligatory "2005 Re-Cap" post.

The year started off really shitty. Calie broke up with me which sent me into a world of frequenting Nick's Bar and drowning my sorrows and pretty much everything else in Coors Light, Jager, Red Bull/Vodka's, Camel Lights, and a single instance of promiscuity. (Which is a total contradiction if you're paying attention.)

I missed a lot of work (unbeknownst to my friends and family because I'd pretty much just sleep in and not go, then go to Nick's). I missed a lot of family time. I missed a lot.

I met new people, made new friends, most of whom were bartenders.

I watched a lot of movies, most notably,Garden StateandHigh Fidelitywhich both furthered by depression of the fact that I was alone.

So I set out and tried to find someone to spend my time with. And I succeeded via that waste of bandwidth, MySpace. Yeah, say what you will, it worked and she wasn't an ax murderer. Anyhow, we pseudo-dated and enjoyed each other's company. Perhaps we just cured each other's loneliness.

I got a new car in March. A gorgeous 2005 "impulse red pearl" Toyota Corolla that I'm paying for with my own money (for the next 7 years).

That May (or was it April?) it got broken into at Nick's while I was doing another first ever, working the door at Nick's Bar.

I got a promotion at work sometime before that. Got promoted from Web Site Director to Director of Technology, which gave me an amazing increase in income of 50 cents an hour and twice as much work!

I discovered the importance of friends and how you can never have too many, no matter how close you are to any of them.

I became closer to my sister than I had been in the past, which is something I longed for.

Later in the year I became closer to my father which, to this very second, still brings a tear to my eye with joy. I know how hard it was for him to be close to his father at times and I know it always killed him that I—whether conciously or subconsciously—distanced myself from him. I love the man with all my heart and he's one of the most honest men I've ever come across in my 21 (almost 22) years on this planet, but I think that there was always a small part of me that didn't want to turn out exactly like him, so I distanced myself. And the fact that I can admit that and talk to my father like a friend and always give him a hug, and even as a 22year old man, kiss the 54 year old lug that is my father, is quite possibly the greatest achievment of mine of 2005.

May was a wicked month for me—both good and bad. May was the month I got my first speeding ticket. That same night, after the gut wrenching feeling of having a State Tropper pull me over at 3am on a Monday morning and praying he wouldn't smell the beer on my breath, everything that had happened in the previous 5 months came into focus.

I thought about going to Nick's everynight. I thought about never being home with my family. I thought about skipping out on work. I thought about this relationship I was in. But mostly, I thought about Calie. Brad, after seeing me pulled over on Airline, called Calie to tell her what happened. After I talked to her, it poured out of me like a gallon of water coming out of an 8 ounce glass. I, no,werealized that we needed each other. Our lives only got more complicated when we were apart, though at the same time, we learned more in those 5 months than we could have learned in a lifetime. That was the night we gave our relationship a second shot. And no matter what either of us said or did during our time apart, it was the single best decision I made all year and haven't looked back once.

Of course, it was weeks later that I ended my other relationship, which, in hindsight, was a horrible thing to do, but, I didn't do a lot of thinking around that time period.

Anyhow, May also saw me move into my own place with Kevin, and, starting Thursday of this week, Alex.

This summer brought something I never thought I'd have to do. I spent almost a month away from home, hell, outside of New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina came through and virtually destroyed my beloved city. I saw parts of Louisiana that I had never seen before while making the slow trek to what would be home for a few weeks: Morgan City.

I also put more miles on my car than I ever thought I would in the first year of owning it.

In addition, I also paid more for gas than I ever thought I would: $3.009 at one point.

I never thought I'd ever go kayaking and this September, I did: down my street. I also never thought I'd ever smell venison that had been rotting for 3 weeks, and this September, I did, cleaning out my parents' refridgerator.

I went to Gulf Shores after the storm with Calie and her family and had a blast. Made a fire on the beach where we were later told to put it out by the beach cop because some killjoy called and complained.

October was about the time I started getting disgruntled at work and started looking around for an alternate job and still am to this day. I'd like nothing more than to be happy and paid adequately. To be honest, I love my job. I love what I do and who I work with and, for some strange reason, I have faith in the company to prosper. I just feel so exploited for my talents and feel that somewhere else would recognize what I bring to the table is worth more than the chump change I'm being given every hour.

A few days ago, last week, I damaged my new Corolla by driving to work in LaPlace and running into a truck tire tred.

Which brings us to the present. What's up for the remainder of 2005? Aside from a very different Christmas than usual, I'm not really all that sure. I'll still be at the same job, that's for sure. I'm less sure of my 2006 future. I might still be working for 3-4 dollars an hour less than I'm worth, I might be rolling in the dough. I might… I might… shit. Nothing's really going to change, is it? I mean, I'm living on my own and that's going well. I', back with Calie and that's going extremely well. I'm closer than ever with my family. I have a new car (albeit slightly damaged). I have my health (well, as far as I can tell). Damn. Really, everything will probably be the same. I just may or may not have a new job. And to be honest, I hope I don't I hope I'm just getting what I'm worth and not less than some asshole store manager.

So, that's my '05 wrap up. Comments, suggestions, dinner recipes, anything's welcome.