Tag Archives: life

Lazy Days, Restless Nights

13 May

Visiting Billings is weird for a number of reasons, but the one that always sticks out is how much hasn’t changed since I left here two years ago.

New buildings have been built in places that were empty fields a few years ago, new people hang out in the places that I used to haunt in high school, and few of my friends still live here. But virtually everything else has stayed the same, and that is what shocks me the most.

It’s like walking into the past, but the things you cared about the most in the past have changed; the only thing that stayed the same was the scenery.

I miss being able to call my friends up and meet them somewhere, and then just go out and do something– you know, the kinds of things that are easy when you live in the same town.

That doesn’t happen anymore, unless we’re all in town for a holiday or some other rare event, and it sucks.

Today was a day that brought that knowledge back to the front of my mind as I spent most of the day bored at my parents’ house. I did some chores to help out, I ran an errand for my dad, and I watched some cable TV (a luxury I don’t have back at my apartment). And while that wasn’t the worst way to spend a day, it definitely wasn’t the best way.

Tonight should be different though, as I’ve made plans to spend time with the few friends that still live here. Hopefully we’ll tear up the town like we used to back in the day.

I’m bringing my camera out with me, so maybe I’ll post some shots of what happened later. Stay tuned.

- Will

P.S. For those of you who also use Tumblr, you can check out my other blog, the wco show, here. (Feel free to follow me on there too, if you like! I’ll probably follow back.)

P.S.S. For the people who just recently started following my blog on here, thank you! Once I figure out how the following feature works on WordPress, I’ll be sure to follow you back.

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Work, Sleep, Repeat.

9 May

One day into my daily blogging venture, and I already missed a day. Whoops.

I would feel more disappointed about missing a day/post if yesterday was more exciting. I spent the first half of the day watching movies and sleeping (my sleep schedule has been really messed up lately), and I spent the second half at work. Fortunately, I have two-days off (today and tomorrow), so there should be plenty of time to do some fun stuff (as well as catch up on all of my “adult” responsibilities– like cleaning my apartment).

I’m debating whether or not I want to spend the early hours of today taking care of all of my responsibilities, OR just going outside and enjoying the nice weather. I charged my camera battery yesterday, and it’s looking beautiful outside…

Maybe I should hop on my bike and head to Hyalite? (Or at least throw my bike in my car, drive to the trailhead, and then bike up the mountain.)

Hmm… decisions, decisions…

I’ll let you know what I did with the day later this evening.

Stay tuned,

- Will

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summer reflections on life in general:

21 May

Life is complicated.

When I say that, I’m talking about life in general. As of right now, my life is fairly simple. I don’t have a job (yet! I am actively looking for summer work though, so if you know of some places that are hiring, let me know), so I have quite a bit of free time. I don’t really have any obligations for the next few months either… As far as the summer is concerned, life couldn’t be any less complicated.

As we “zoom out” a bit and take our focus away from just this summer, the scene gets increasingly more complicated. I’ll be headed back to college in late August– something that I’m reminded of almost daily by my parents, who are worried about my current “undecided” major status (something that only became a problem after last semester, when I began to realize that Biochem might not be right for me, and began to “explore my options”).

Just thinking about going back to school in the Fall raises my blood pressure… I have so many things to figure out before then. Do I want to continue majoring in Biochemistry? Should I make a decision now, or should I wait until I get back to campus so I can sit down and talk to the career services counselors?  What classes should I take next semester? Can I afford to stay in the dorms next year? Will I be able to juggle having a part-time job, a full course-load, and a social life?

These questions breed other, more concerning questions, like:

  • Do I really want to go back to school in the Fall?
  • Should I take a year off, move out, save up some money, and then go back to school when I can afford to pay for it all independently?
  • Should I join the military?

Its all very frustrating, and my parents are not helping by pressuring me to make quick decisions that will affect my entire life. I just want to smack my head against the wall, and have fifteen-minutes to think everything through. They don’t understand that I’m a very analytical person, and that I like to think everything through before I make a decision. They want answers. Results. Something solid.

What frustrates me is that they don’t understand that I want all of those things as well. I want to know what I’m going to do for the rest of my life. I want to know what I’m going to be studying for the next four-years. I want to have a job so I can pay for college. From my perspective, they don’t seem to understand that. It feels like they think I’m still a kid who doesn’t have the capacity to think ahead about how all of these decisions are going to affect me, and how hanging out in this “limbo”-zone of indecision isn’t good for anyone– especially me.

I GET ALL OF THAT.I UNDERSTAND. I AM NOT AN IDIOT.

When I think of next semester… I think of it as a fresh start. But the thing about fresh starts is that they are never truly “fresh”; all of the fuck ups you committed before still happened. They’re still on the record. You can’t deny their existence– your existence alone is evidence that you’ve fucked up before. The whole “learn from your mistakes”-thing that our teachers tried to drill into our skulls back in elementary school… I get that now.

It’s too bad it took over ten-years to sink in.

- Will

 

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mediocre monday.

15 May

I think Mondays will always doomed to be the least exciting day of the week, regardless of one’s schedule. Today was not an exception to this expectation; my day went fairly well, it just was not very exciting.

I slept in late today. It was nice to get a full night’s sleep after staying up late, but I really need to start waking up earlier so that my sleep cycle can get back to some semblance of normal. Also, it would be nice to show the doctor that I’m making an attempt to sleep better when I go in for an appointment this Thursday.

I’m not sure if I told you guys about that earlier… Hmm. Well, I have an appointment to see a doctor about my sleeping issues. I also need to get a few shots. It should be a fun morning of needle prodding, questions about my health, and suggestions to avoid drinking caffeine. It should be a “good time.”

An update on the job hunt: I have an interview later this week. It’s a job that could be either really awesome, or really lame depending on the time of day I’m working AND who I’m working with. Either way, I’m definitely looking forward to making money again. I really, really need to save some cash this summer, and the sooner I get a job, the better.

Money and job woes aside, the rest of the day went well. I went over to a friend’s house and played the new Minecraft game for Xbox 360. I was surprised by how intuitive the controls were, and how easy it was to craft objects. I could actually see myself shelling out the cash to buy the game if I had the cash (and a well-functioning Xbox). We played for a few hours, then I left to go home for the night.

Now I’m here, and I’m also ready to get some sleep. Hopefully tomorrow will be a more thrilling day.

- Will

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What Happened Last Week & A Brief Mother’s Day Recap:

14 May

Blog projects are a curious thing. They start out with hope and ambition, and then life comes by and laughs at those silly aspirations, casts them aside, and says, “Here, focus on this. Forget that blogging nonsense.”

In some ways, “life” in this instance has a point; blogging projects aren’t really a major priority, and they should be put aside when other, more important things are happening.

Anyway, let’s get to the reasons why I was too busy “living” to update this damned blog:

  1. I got out of the house for a bit and spent some time with my friends. This week has felt a lot like house arrest, and spending a little time out on the town with some old high school friends brightened my spirits considerably (and I’m sure the coffee and clove cigars helped a bit too).
  2. I’ve been job hunting, though not as actively as I probably should be. I’ve applied for a few places online, and I put my name on a work list at a local utility workers’ union for a general laborer job. I’m going to apply for several more jobs tomorrow, and then head to my old job to see if they’ll let me pick up a few shifts. (I should note that the thought of spending another summer at ***** makes me feel physically ill.)
  3. I’ve been busy doing other things– like sleeping. And mowing the lawn. And feeling like shit.

(When I look at all of these “reasons” for why I haven’t been able to keep this blog updated on a daily basis, they seem like pretty poor excuses. To be honest though, I doubt you would have wanted to read anything that I would have posted during those days. It was a very slow week, and I hoping that it doesn’t become a trend.)

Anyway, now you’re caught up on what happened last week, so let’s get to today: Mother’s Day.

As I’m currently unemployed, I didn’t really have a lot of cash to spend on a gift for my mom. And if you’ve noticed the price of most quality Mother’s Day gifts lately, you probably know that they aren’t very cheap. So I had to put a little more work into this Mother’s Day than the usual “run down to the store, pick out a nice gift and a card”- routine.

I was planning on picking up some fresh-cut flowers and a nice card from the grocery store, but I decided to buy a live flower plant instead (in addition to the nice card). I figured the plant would be a cooler gift in the long run (plus, gerber daisies are some pretty snazzy flowers). I also made my mom pancakes for breakfast; this was apparently quite unexpected, as she felt the need to tell all of her friends that her son made her breakfast.

Now you might be thinking, “So you made your mom breakfast for Mother’s Day… big deal.” Here’s the thing: I don’t usually cook anything. I mean, I’m pretty familiar with microwaving stuff (TV dinners, Hot Pockets, Ramen), toasting Pop-Tarts and toaster waffles, and I’ve cooked Top Ramen on a stovetop. But beyond that, my culinary experience is pretty much non-existent. My dad cooks everything in our house, and I’ve never really had much of an interest in cooking.

So, the fact that I would even be able to cook a decent breakfast was amazing to her, let alone the fact that I chose to to do this for her, on Mother’s Day.

So yeah, I did a pretty good job for Mother’s Day on a budget.

The rest of the day went well. We went to the store to pick up some groceries, mom bought a new purse at the mall, and we had dinner together at home. It was a good day.

I also managed to fit in a little time to work-out at the end of the day. I did a quick warm-up on the elliptical machine, and then went downstairs to lift weights. Now, I just need to lift and do some long-distance running everyday. Oh, and do a lot of situps and crunches (Iwill get those six-pack abs this summer).

That’s all I got for today (and last week). Stay tuned.

- Will

 

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“Sounds like somebody has a case of the Mondays!”

8 May

Today was weird. Really weird.

Imagine what it’s like to wake up to the sounds of hammering, saw-buzzing, and lumber being tossed around. If you can’t quite grasp how that would feel, let’s just say that it’s somewhat disconcerting. Additionally, I realized that I woke up a couple of hours later than I wanted. It wasn’t a very fun way to wake up.

Anyway, the reason for all of the loud construction noises is that the stairs in my house are being fixed. About a year ago, we had most of the flooring in our house switched from carpet to hardwood. After about a year and a half of issues with the flooring (including having to replace one entire set of wood flooring with a different type due to a factory issue), this might be the last time that the flooring will have to be worked on. I’m happy to see an end to this flooring nightmare, but I hate it when strange people are in the house. It makes doing everyday things an awkward affair, as you’re constantly aware of the fact that someone else is in the house, working, and that you might be interrupting their work every time you need to go up or down the stairs.

It’s just weird… I can’t wait for this guy to finish his work and get out of my life forever.

Anyway, so I got up, showered, and got dressed, trying to avoid having to talk to this guy as much as I could. It’s not like the guy is mean or anything– I just don’t want to have to explain why I’m waking up at 10 o’clock in the morning on a Monday. I then retreat to the confines of my bedroom and aimlessly surf the web until noon, when the guy working on the stairs leaves for lunch. I wait for him to leave, grab my backpack, and get the hell out of the house.

Soon after exiting the confines of the manor, I realize that I’m starving. I hadn’t eaten breakfast because I woke up so late, and I didn’t grab anything to eat on my way out. I stop and pick up lunch from a drive-thru, and then spend the next hour driving aimlessly around the entire city.

And I literally drove around theentire city– from the west end to downtown, from downtown  to the Heights, and then back to the west end. I wasn’t intentionally driving around aimlessly; I was trying to find a place to stop so I could finish eating my lunch. I ended up just finishing my lunch during the drive. After making it back to the west end, I stopped at a local cafe and started to get the few tasks I had for the day completed. I ordered a double-shot mocha frapé, set up my laptop, and scoured the local job listings. A lot of places in town are hiring, so finding a summer job shouldn’t be too difficult. However, I’m not certain what my availability will be like for the entire summer, so I can’t apply for anything right now. After bookmarking a few possible jobs, I quickly run through my usual internet haunts (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and G-mail), and then exit the cafe. A cheery group of baristas shout a chorus of thank yous as I walk out the door.

I then head to the grocery store to pick up some essentials that needed to be stocked up on at the house. Shopping alone at a large grocery store is an awkward affair, especially if you’re shopping on a Monday during the early afternoon. I felt like everyone was giving me awkward glances as I pushed the cart around the store (it doesn’t help that I look like I should still be in high school). Also, the store was filled with a ton of slow old people who kept getting in my way. This got incredibly annoying  quickly, so I ended up ditching the shopping cart in the main aisle a few times so I could weave through the mass of geriatrics without slowing down. After I finally got everything on my list, I pushed the damned cart to the nearest checkout, and then got the hell out of there.

Lesson of the day? The grocery store sucks. Don’t go there alone, and don’t go there during the middle of the day. You’ll regret it with every ounce of your being.

Today was pretty uneventful, but during my aimless drive around Billings, I found a number of good places to stop for a photo shoot. Who knows– maybe I’ll get a chance to go on a shoot tomorrow.

It’s late. I’ll see you tomorrow.

- Will

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