Long Distance Relationship

I’ve heard many people tell me, “Long distance relationship never work.” But how do you know if you don’t at least try. That is what I did, I gave it a go and I wouldn’t have asked for a better ride. It started in the summer of 2008, mid August or so. She was a rock climber and an adventurous hiker. I was instantly attracted to her. One thing I’ve learned with rock climbing is, if you can trust someone with your life belaying you on a rope, then they are a keeper. But the thing is she resides in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and at the time I was living in Salt Lake City, Utah. Then I probably made things a little worse by moving back to California. Now with a  separation of 6 states and a 2 hour difference in time, made things a little harder, for the both of us. With her job of late night hours and my job of working gigs at the Performing Art Center, it was hard to catch up on a regular basis, and that’s when emotions escalade and turn into depression. No one to my knowledge likes to feel alone and depressed, and the fact that we couldn’t see each other or talk to each other face to face made things sucky. So on a mature agreement, we called it quits. Am I sad? Well a little. Under the right circumstances this could have worked out. I am glad we at least gave it try and had a blast while it lasted. It is sort of crazy when you put your life in God’s hands and he just takes care of you. I was sad and this is his solution. I trust he has a plan for me and someday he’ll give me my Paige, but what a ride. Thank you Lord!

Century for Marie.

Some people say their heroes are magical or have super powers. My hero has the power of passion and unconditional love. I’m talking about my Pops. On Valentines Day, this past Saturday, my Pops and I rode our bicycles 102 miles in honor of my older sister Marie, who past away May 5^th, 2008, of blood cancer. “Team Marie” was the team my Pops trained with for 14 weeks, and raised over $3,000 for the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society. I did partial training while in Utah, (snowboarding) and didn’t get on my bike until I moved back to California. But I knew I would finish as long as I had the spirit and strength of my sister pushing me along the way. (Thanks Marie!)

There has been no greater feeling of accomplishing a physical beat down of the body than the one I had this past Saturday. I crossed the finished line with my Pops, and loved every hundred miles of riding next to him (except for the downhill parts). I felt the hard work my Pops put into this, and the many lives he has touch throughout his training. I am proud and honored to say that this 49 year old man is my hero! I want to be just like him when I grow up.

My step dad, Jose, not to long ago in September also rode a century in honor of Marie. The race was in Hawaii, and I wish I could have been by his side too.

We all miss you Marie, and we’ll keep you in our spirit as everyday goes by.

 

 

What’s a happening?

I once produced a radio commercial that started out like this, “A new year, a new you…” Well, I’m here to say, that I’ve started a new me. My closes friends already know that I’ve recently moved from Salt Lake City, Utah back to California. While living in SLC I learned so much about myself, and the potential I have to offer to the world.

It was a very difficult decision for me to move back to the one place I dreaded, Fresno! It isn’t really developed and it’s scary just walking downtown. When comparing it to SLC, I lived in downtown, and I had no problem of ever being scared walking the streets late at night, and the transportation system was as simple as can be. I could literally get from one place to the other with a combination of the Trax and bus system. I don’t live in Fresno, but a small town just east of it, Clovis. The bus system sucks, and doesn’t go through many main streets. I can’t even get to my work on a bus. But if I decide to take a bus, it only cost me $1 dollar, SLC it was $2.50 for a 3 hour period. Maybe you’re thinking, “Why did you move back if you hated CA so much?”

Well I moved back because I ran out of mullah (money). I moved to SLC not really knowing what I was going to do, I applied to a few full time jobs, but all I got was nibbles and no interviews. I thought of being a teacher, but the credential program took 2 years, and I didn’t have the money to go back to full time school. So I worked in professional theatre and REI. You would think a professional theatre, that should be pretty good pay, right? Nope! I was getting paid $7.50 an hour. That was the cap. Then I worked for a Tony Award Winning summer theatre company! The contract was 3 and half months, paid me just enough to get by. REI paid me more an hour than the theatres, but I wasn’t getting many hours. So if you looked at my budget for the year, I brought in little money, but with bills, I was actually losing money. That finally caught up to me, and now I’m completly broke. My buddy had a job lined up for me if I moved back to the Fresno area. So I packed up and moved back.

The Performing Arts Center in the Clovis Unified School District is a $22 million dollar facility. It has a concert hall and black box theatre. It’s amazing! I am a sound engineer and sound designer for the PAC. It should help boost up my resume and give me more practice on designing/creating art in a theatre atmosphere.

I’m taking this move as an opportunity to make some changes in my life and hopefully leave a mark on some people. Because to be honest with you I don’t plan on staying here that long. Just enough time to get out of debt. Some good things I’ve noticed already is I love living pretty close to my family, and seeing my college buddies adds more life into my weekly schedules.

So, A new year, A new me? We’ll see!