Birthday

Today is my birthday, I am 34 years old. I don’t really know where the last ten or so years have gone, they are very much a blur. I know much of my early through mid twenties was spent in a haze of drinking my way through nights and spending my days working for peanuts. Mid to late twenties was getting myself together and going back to school, getting my heart broke, starting a job that has become my career (at least currently), moving out of my codependent mothers apartment, and just being me without someone there trying to tell me how to think and feel. Late twenties to early thirties was becoming more established in my career, reconnecting with old friends, losing old friends, getting my heart broke again, and then finding the woman and girls who would become my wife, daughters, and the loves of my life. I gained 20lbs, lost my dad, gained ten more pounds, and then got married.

My life has been easier than many other peoples in this world, but I know people that tell me I had to grow up way to fast and that I had it hard. All I know is that the preceding 34 years made me who I am as I sit here, killing time at work, writing this, and wanting to go home to my family. All in all, the 30’s have probably been the best part of my life so far.

Maybe it just gets better from here?

Wedding, breakfast, no privacy honeymoon, ducks, and cohabitation.

It’s been a life changing couple of months and I have been spending time adjusting to a new life, new schedules, etc. As I stated a few weeks ago this is why I haven’t been writing much, though I have wanted to.

On April 10th, in a small outside ceremony that was attended by most of our immediate family and close friends, my beautiful bride and I were married. My sister Margaret officiated the ceremony, making it not only short and sweet, but special. She incorporated our two daughters in to the ceremony, so for the last half they stood with us. As this was thrown together on somewhat short notice, we had no groomsmen, bridesmaids, etc. It was just us. We said our own vows; hers were written down, heartfelt, sweet, and beautiful. Mine were not written down, just a jumble of things I wanted to say and in no particular order. I kept going over it in my head in the days before the wedding so I wouldn’t forget…..I almost forgot in the moment and stumbled a little.

A word of advice, write them down.

Our reception was a small, intimate, pot luck affair. Old friends caught up, new family met, and new acquaintances were made. At the end of the day, we were so tired we went to bed early and crashed very hard.

The next day we met DjMatticus, his Queen, and the little prince for breakfast. This is the first time my Queen and their royal family have met, and everything was great. Matticus will always be my brother, part of my Ka-tet (Read the Dark Tower series).

From there it was the honeymoon weekend at a Bed and Breakfast in Bishop. That was a mixed experience. The owner of the B&B didn’t really believe in privacy, going so far as to enter the room without knocking once. My new wife was very upset. We balanced it out with a little shopping, some great bbq, the Laws Railroad Museum, Shats Bakery, and she faced her fear of ducks and survived.

She still doesn’t like the wooden duck I keep in the bedroom. She says it stares.

From there it was seeing her family off, me moving in to her rental with her and our daughters, and learning cohabitation. Our friends say that we have been acting married for a long time now, so they are glad we finally made it official. These are the same friends that say they never thought that I would get married; I was the perpetual bachelor. Perpetual bachelor no more.

I gotta say, I love being married.

Randomness

I was looking over my blog postings while killing some time at work and realized just how random I am. Some postings are history lessons, some are about my car, some are little short fictional stories, and some are basically just journal entries on my life. Are all blogs so chaotic or am I just gifted/cursed with a head full of wonderful chaos? I’ll have to ask the wife, maybe she will know?

So keeping in theme with the randomness of the day, here are some observations:

1.) I read blogs about Death Valley and other parts of the desert and people like to exclaim about how hot it is. Yet, most of them haven’t even visited during the hottest season. For us desert dwellers this is nice weather. I really want to call these people pansies, but then I realize I could never live where they do. Some live in places where they get multiple feet of snow per winter. F**K THAT! I hate the cold and I have arthritis. Others live in the city…I can’t stand cities. I can barely tolerate visiting them for a few days. Living in them? I would go insane. Too many people, too much traffic, air you can taste…no thanks.

2.) Kittens are the cutest damn things in the world.

3.) Engineers and PHD. Chemists are really really smart…yet really really dumb at the same time. No common sense.

4.) My grandparents are getting very old. This is not something that pleases me.

5.) Life is unfair and the world doesn’t owe you a damn thing. Get off your ass and do whatever you need to that will allow you to better your life. Stop making excuses and don’t blame the town where you are from. It all falls on you and the decisions you have made in life. Stop being a fuck up.

6.) What the hell, California?! (I feel that this phrase covers many topics and situations).