Sunday, August 23, 2009

*taps on the glass* Hello?

Well.

Been a while.

There's nothing like having something you don't want to think about, let alone write about, happen to you to keep you from updating a blog. I guess I should have come back earlier but after I finally got to the point where I could talk about things my life got pretty busy and I hardly had the energy to ever sit down and really focus on this. Today is the first day since Bandit's death really that I've had the time, energy and focus to sit down and write here.

I assume most people who read this blog are my friends and already know about Bandit's (my English Bulldog) death. I found out on April 20th. He had been dead for 6 days before I found out. My parents told me via letter. He was hit by a train while my father was walking him off of his leash. I could do a huge post about how all of this made me feel and what a horrible time it had been after which I am only now truly starting to move past in the past month or so but I don't think that's productive for me or for anyone else. I will merely say that I will always miss Bandit, he was the best dog I could have ever asked for (even in the short period of time I got to be with him) and I will never forget the happiness he brought me and so many others.

With that dealt with, let's move on to happier things. I couldn't very well update this without touching on what had stopped me dead in my tracks but as I said, dwelling shan't do anything productive.

What has this summer been like for me? A learning experience certainly. I'm sure if I sat here and really wrote out what's been going on this would be an obnoxiously long post (as most of my posts are) so I'll try and bullet point. (If you'd rather get all this summarized in photos, go check out my facebook page, they're all over the place there.)

* Quit working at the Spy Museum after a good run and many a good friend made.
* Started working at "Segs in the City" a Segway tour company in DC. It's as nerdy and as fun as you might think. It was for a while about 20hr/wk but I now only give 3 tours in the evenings on M,T,W.
* Taught over 175 kids in 2 week sessions with Harmonia School in Oakton, VA. A pain in the ass commute but worth it for the paycheck. I will continue on with him as a PT contract teacher. If I can cobble together 20 hours worth of classes at their going hourly rate, I will be making an adequate amount of money to survive fairly comfortably here in DC. I currently have 10 scheduled and am hoping to pull in more with private lessons and extra classes. I directed "The Jungle Book" "The Little Mermaid" "The Wizard of Oz" "The Big Bad Musical" and an Improv troupe. Overall a pretty successful summer with a lot of very happy students and parents. Hopefully that happiness will translate into private lessons.
* Explored many national parks with Nick and Jeremy, expanding my cultural consciousness and helping Nick nerd out with his National Park Passport collection. Spent a great weekend camping in the Shenandoah Mountains with them as well. A great camping experience with two of my favorite people.
* Watched my best friend get married to a beautiful woman in Louisville. It was an honor to be in the wedding party and I'm nothing but ecstatic for the both of them. My two whitest white bread friends together in holy matrimony...What's not to love? They can tell me of their weekends spent studying and doing sudoku on the couch just to throw my life into sharp contrast. It's pretty amazing.
* Saw a FANTASTIC Decemberists Concert with Cathy.
* Had NUMEROUS car problems and cannot wait until I can afford payments on a new car of ANY sort.
* Had a fantastic 4th of July party. 320 degrees of fireworks (it'd be 360 but there is one spot where you couldn't really see the big ones) on the top of the roof. Around 35 of my good friends in DC and tons and tons of food. It was an AMAZING time. (For most of these exploits you can find some photos on facebook...for this one there are none as of now because most of them are totally inappropriate to share online...yeesh.)
* Went to my first gay pride celebration. It was ok. I need to try some other ones, apparently DC's pride is sorta "meh" in the scheme of things. I'd be inclined to concur.
* Spent many hours and many evenings with many wonderful people. I have never felt so socially connected in any geographic area since I graduated from Centre. I have so many amazing friends in so many different social circles. I am so thankful for all of them and for the many amazing moments I've had with them all over the past summer. I couldn't detail all of them here and do them any justice. With Harmonia combined with Segway tours I often worked 12.5 hour days during the week but what free time I have been lucky enough to have has often been filled with great people, conversations and experiences. These seemingly uneventful times have made this a truly great summer. While my life may seem like it's a little at a stand still right now, I am taking all of the things I'm experiencing, all the people I'm meeting and all of the time I've spent and learning a ton about myself and other people. I can't think of a better way to spend my time right now. (Maybe working at a high paying job that I love, but that's still a ways away I believe.)

There's a nice little ramble. You can thank Julie & Julia (one of the many great movies I've seen this summer) for re-inspiring me to blog again. Meryl Streep officially is one of my favorite actresses now. What a phenom. Now that things are back in some form of normalcy, as much as I can ever hope for at least, I'd like to resume more frequent updates. As per the norm though, no promises.


I miss you friend.