Month: December 2007

  • Happy Old Year?

    As I look back at this year, I see one of the most tumultous, chaotic years of my life. Many will see it as tame,  and in several senses it is. Most things were stable, for most of the time. In truth in fact it was only the last third that brought any real trouble, but what a time that has been. There's no use in going over it again, no benefit can be added by saying more. Suffice to say, "It sucks to be me."

    On the brighter side, life is better than it was. I have new resolve, new friends, new outlooks on life. It has been very painful coming to some of those things, and I wish those lessons had never needed to be learned, or at least not in the way they were taught. But I cannot change the past. Only the future. My determination does not waver, nor does my dedication to ALL those whom I love and will ever befriend, protect, and honor. The end of 2006 found me with hope and joy in my heart, full of love, as I have mentioned before. The end of 2007 finds me broken, but with a blue print for a better Byron. The beginning of 2008 shall find me...home. Beyond that...I am anxious to start.

  • Mental Marathon

    Classes begin soon (about 2 weeks), and I'm getting ready for it all. Need to review things with a counselor, but I'm enrolled for everything I can be this semester, and it's a lot.

    I've realized I've been mentally exhausting myself lately, wasting time and energy on things. Coming to Idaho has been good for that, a time to recover, and re-evaluate.

    It's so important to take the time to connect with your family. No matter how young or old, family is there for you, loving you unconditionally (worst-case scenarios aside, but so few ever really experience that). It's been good to spend time with them, for a decent length again. Family can steady you, give you guidance, or a rock to stand on. Sometimes family needs you too, and it helps them just as much as it helps you for you to be there. We aren't always aware of that part, but I think it's true just the same. Still, there is no purer, more self-less love than that of family, and to be surrounded by that is vital to our physical, mental, and spiritual well being, whether it's tough love, gentle, obvious or subtle. I've been lucky enough to experience all four this visit.

    Still, I do miss Missouri, and I'll be happy to return to my second family, my friends: the ones I love, in the home I've made.

    I may or may not have some "insightful" (read: self-indulgent) New Year's message, but I think I said that already on my birthday. All else will be for me to know, and speak through action, not words. I hope this new year brings many important changes for all.

  • Life is too short to feel sick to your stomache, and words flow more freely with a heart less burdened. Taking a deep breath, and forgetting about it.

  • Last night I did something I haven't for awhile, came up with a poem on the fly, just speaking it aloud as the words came to me. I'm afraid the intended recipient was half-asleep when listening, but that's alright, I don't really remember the words either. It was a poem of love and friendship; things I've had a conflicted relationship with lately. I've been through a lot of trials lately. I passed some, failed others, barely scraped by on a couple. It's all just a part of life, but it has been a particularly difficult part.

    Changes, both welcome and unwelcome require adapting, and it can be a painful process, no matter what kind of change. Life still feels unnatural, awkward, in many ways. Things aren't right yet, and may not be for awhile. But I must focus on those areas which are good, which are encouraging, rather than burn myself out on those things that I cannot alter.

    The truth is, in those areas I have always been steadfast, and I shall continue to be so, digging my roots in deeper to weather the storm, while at the same time adjusting how I bend with the winds so I do not snap. And I believe the best way to do that is to let the winds come to me, rather than seek them out, exposing myself to more weathering than needed.

    On the other front, I'm pursuing what avenues I can. The job I applied for went with another canidate, but promised me they were very interested in hiring me for another position should it open up, which is encouraging. More importantly, the brief flirtation with a better job has inspired me to go out and try to get one again, rather than wait for graduation. I think since being let go from Wide Awake, school has taken the priority, which is good, but I shouldn't let it exclude my seeking opportunity elsewhere.

    Speaking of school, I'm registering for classes today, and with any luck can take and pass enough courses to be done by the end of summer. It may take longer, especially if I am lucky enough to get a dream job elsewhere, but I aim to be done and move on with my life as soon as possible. I'm tired of seeing those things which I want drift away from me because it takes too much time, and that will have to change.

    Domestically, my apartment is still really clean, which is amazing, for me. I've managed to get into the habit of keeping it that way, and making it a daily routine, rather than a yearly chore. It's a good feeling, but the work isn't done. That attitude though has begun to spread to every facet of my life, and I'm excited to get back to Missouri and take on 2008 with a renewed vigor and sense of strength.

    I return in less than a week, and I'm anxious to be home. I like Idaho, and where my family is will always be a home for me, but I miss Kansas City; my friends, my families, my life. Of course I miss some things more than others, and it's always difficult to be without a part of yourself. I'll still be working on that though, even when I get back home. But it's worth it, as are all good things, and with any luck and a large bit of work, this next year will be one of renewal, and keeping dreams alive.

  • Merry Christmas, Darling

    Greeting cards have all been sent
    The Christmas rush is through
    But I still have one wish to make
    A special one for you

    Merry Christmas darling
    We're apart that's true
    But I can dream and in my dreams
    I'm Christmas-ing with you

    Holidays are joyful
    There's always something new
    But every day's a holiday
    When I'm near to you
    The lights on my tree
    I wish you could see
    I wish it every day
    Logs on the fire
    Fill me with desire
    To see you and to say

    That I wish you Merry Christmas
    Happy New Year, too
    I've just one wish
    On this Christmas Eve
    I wish I were with you

    Logs on the fire
    Fill me with desire
    To see you and to say
    That I wish you Merry Christmas
    Happy New Year, too
    I've just one wish
    On this Christmas Eve
    I wish I were with you
    I wish I were with you

  • It's 2 AM. here, which means it feels like 3 AM. to my body. I've just poured out my heart to a journal I can't bring myself to put up. It's left me feeling empty and at a loss for further words. I'm caught between the need to get away, and the desire to ease a mutual missing of a friend. But neither seems to help, so why do anything? I always try to hard.

    I have a problem with letting things go that are important. Maybe that isn't a "problem", but it is a challenge. It kills me to let the sun set on an argument. Hurtful words and a dialtone eat away at me, and I cannot rest easy until they are set right. We once had a policy of never letting the day end with us angry. Recently, it seems that no longer holds true. I'm sure it doesn't help that I tend to try and resolve things too much. I call too often, trying my hardest to ease things. Perhaps I'm fooling myself in thinking it will make things better anyway. Perhaps the phone is never answered because it would only make things worse. It saddens me, if that is true.

     

    Santa, all I want for Christmas is my friend back, please...

  • Updates

    Had a successful video shoot yesterday.

    Got my business cards printed, already handed one out to the owner of a Video production business yesterday (great stroke of luck coming across him too, you better believe I snapped up on that opportunity!)

    Leaving for Idaho for 12 days on Thursday, get back the 1st.

    And had a great birthday party on Saturday.

  • I miss the magic life held...the thing that made it special.

  • Birthdays

    Well, it's that time of year: the anniversary of my birth. This year...wow. Started off fantastic, had it's ups and downs, was great for a spell, then became one of the worse times of my life. Now....now my 24th year starts off with a clean apartment, a video I've been hired to make for a professional website, and maybe even a potential new job.

    Emotionally I'm still a wreck, but I'm determined. I know what I want in life, and God help me, nothing will stop me from getting those things. I'm changing who I am...no.. improving who I am in order to accomplish that. Eliminating pet peeves, dedicating myself to my work, and renewing my heart in order to successfully capture my dreams...all of them. I can do it, and I will do it.

    My 24th year of life will not be easy. It won't be the happy cakewalk in the beginning that my 23rd was. I got a great job, won a couple contests, got my awesome camera... A year and 9 days ago, give or take, Heather and I began courting. That....that was the highlight of the year, and one of the best moments of my life. I cherish those moments, and remember them as if they were yesterday.

    A year in which I both progressed, and apparently regressed. A year of joy and frustration, love and sorrow. A year full of things I dreamed of, and a year with things I had always feared.

    My 24th year will be a year of hope, at the end of a very long tunnel. The light is far, but strong, and piercing. As long as my eyes do not waver, I shall see the patch and follow it. As long as I do no falter and fail, I can and will achieve my heart's desire, and make myself and those around me proud. Most importantly, I shall devote the work, effort, and maturity necessary to it, factors that had been insufficiently given before, and caused me so much of the pain I feel now.

    My 24th year will not be easy..... but nothing worthwhile ever is.

  • Outcry

    It's like a cancer, from inside out
    my thoughts eating away at me
    I can't enjoy a simple moment
    All happiness becomes misery

    No one sees the truth, oh no
    My eyes reveal all that they can
    They alone are not enough
    But I am muted, bound and gagged

    The smallest things turn giant
    And crush me beneath their heal
    If I could I'd tear out my heart
    If only so I wouldn't feel

    Alone, alone, alone, alone
    No words can change this fact
    There is no warmth within my smile
    Every day becomes an act

    To hide the fact that I'm in pain
    Constant, bitter, without end
    To hide the things that drive me insane
    The loss I feel of my dearest friend

    Why do the clearest eyes have the most tears?
    Does the water wash away the veil?
    Why does the truest heart feel the sharpest pain?
    What justice exists in this sick tale?

    Such simple things
    That should bring me joy
    Instead bring me the deepest sorrow

    You say I'm strong
    Perhaps it's true
    But still I wish for no tomorrow

    Return once more
    To the past
    Where life was good and hearts were close

    Even if
    It wasn't perfect
    It's still the days I miss the most

    These past few months
    I've lost so much
    No one could begin to understand

    What hope is there
    When dreams are crushed
    And I'm left here feeling nothing but damned.