Tag Archive for 'friends'

i ran out of PBR

Two weekends ago I took Amtrak to PA to visit friends. YAY. I spent the weekend with m and we went to j’s party together where we… played beer pong (???) and sat by the fire until 3am. It was awesome. Really, the entire weekend was pretty great.

Corman, M, Me

I went to visit my parents for the day on Sunday and things were kind of rocky between my mother and I. It seems clearer to me now more than ever that there are some traits I’ve carried from her that I really dislike. But now that I see where it comes from it’s easier to identify what needs to be changed. That sounds really cryptic. Let’s just say I had a *major* revelation that Sunday and since then I’ve had an entirely new perspective on my life.

Lots of exciting things happening lately: Work is going well, my freelance business is picking up, BG and I are hitting a one-year-since-I-moved-here anniversary, yoga is kicking my ass (lovingly), and I’ve been seeing my boys more often. I think I can honestly say that I don’t hate Raleigh any longer. Yea. I said it.

Eric, Me

Me, Brandon

Eeeeeeeeee! :)

the connections you make

This past weekend the BG and I traveled west (again) to Asheville to attend a wedding. A lot of childhood/high school/college friends of his were there and I was truly in awe of how large and close-knit the group was… AND most of them are in a band together. It was such a cute wedding because all the entertainment came from the band members, the toasts were adorable (one made me cry) and overall I just found it so astounding that these kids have damn near moved mountains to be near one another (they’ve traveled across the country from GA to CA).

Wedding Horn Section

Wedding Dorks

Anyway, it got me thinking about my close friends and how I moved away from them (both from PA and OR) without batting an eye. When I feel a change needs to be made I just do it without really thinking about my friends; I figure they’ll always be there for me no matter where I live. But, inevitably, friendships change with distance. I can only say that one relationship (Mikaela and I) has strengthened since I left PA. In fact, I believe that strengthened bond has been one of the fruits of my leaving home in the first place. I always wish though, now more than ever, that her and I lived closer to one another. The realization that we aren’t getting any younger, and that I won’t be moving back north, becomes clearer each day.

Either way, I have another close friend, Graham, that I left behind in Portland and he has announced to me that he’s moving to Raleigh. I’ve been truthful with him regarding the city of Raleigh and all that it lacks (especially when compared to Portland), but he is insisting that this is time for him to move on and would like the support of a close friend for the rest of my stay here (until next December).

I have mixed feelings about it. Mostly I am happy, appreciative and excited about helping him out once he gets here. It’s clear to me how many friends I’ve made in Raleigh and the little life I’ve carved out for myself, even if I did spend the first long while completely miserable, complaining and closed-minded. I now have a list of resources to spew at G once he gets here and I’m fired up for him to meet my friends. This is something the BG and I definitely did *not* have when we moved!

at the moment

I got my hair cut a week ago and I swear it was one of the best moves I’ve made in months. My hair looks great, even after I go camping and not shower for two days. SWEET. Plus, since then, I’ve been feeling super cute, super confident, and SUPER HAPPY.

Hello Short Hair

The BG and I went camping in western NC with the THOG group I joined on meetup.com. It was apparently the largest overnight trip the group has ever organized, with 40+ people in attendance. Everyone I’ve met through the group (which has over 2,000 members) has been real nice, very knowledgeable about local/regional outdoor activities and it’s been providing me with a much better perspective on NC. I’ve gone to a few other events and each time I meet different people. I keep pulling the new friends I make to Tuesday night trivia at Napper Tandy’s*, hehe. :)

This weekend we’re headed out to Greensboro to visit some dude who’s really into permaculture. I don’t know anything about it so that’s why I sound dumb but I’m excited to learn. We’ll be heading out with a few students from BG’s permaculture class and hopefully the new knowledge will serve us well when we build our house. After this and some poking around in Greensboro for some good vegetarian food we’re headed west again for a show and a wedding in Asheville on Sunday. Hopefully someone on Couchsurfing will put us up in spite of our last minute attempts at planning on a busy holiday weekend.

I redesigned frekur.com because of a little incident with a client my company works with. The incident was a tad embarrassing, but I think everything is fine now and it kicked me in the ass to revamp the site. I’m also learning more on SEO/google indexing so that’s good, right?

I’ve made a few new improvements to my bicycle, inspired by the recent upgrades the BG did to his new ride. I’m so set now it’s not even funny. Like, set for long-term riding which is really what I wanted in the first place. I’m hoping when the weather cools off a bit the BG and I can get down to business on some longer trips with the bikes. I know he’s itching to get out more, too.

Bike Upgrades

We’ve also been giving the whole exercise thing another go, AND the vegan thing. So far we’re doing awesome and I think the key is… not think about it too much. (Also? Having some Purely Decadent Coconut Milk vegan ice cream around doesn’t hurt either. It’s no Luna and Larry’s, but it’s a pretty delicious alternative to Ben and Jerry’s and the other sugary/gritty vegan alternatives.) I’ve been hauling my ass out of bed earlier in the mornings (like 7am) and getting a TON more done with my day. I’ve been riding about 20 miles a week on my bike and doing the gym about 3-4 times. Granted we’ve only been on it for the past two weeks but I think this time it’s going to stick. I’m motivated, he’s motivated… it’s all good.

With biking, exercising and meeting new people in mind, I’m planning on starting to ride with the North Carolina Bicycle Club. They have several groups that ride, I’d be in the “Slow Pokes” (beginner, non-competitive group). Hehe! They also need a new website and I’ve volunteered to assist them with whatever they need. We’ll see what happens!

:)

*Read: $3-pints-of-Strongbow night.

my life lately, as someone who’s vomiting would tell it

I can’t find the creativity to write a decent blog entry and it’s pissing me off, so this is what you’re getting.

Feeling unorganized. Taking on a lot of freelance work. Buying a new Prius with the BG. Calling and getting a shitload of car insurance rates. Finding out I’m forced to get my NC drivers license. Insurance is a scam. DMVs are a scam. Owning a car is expensive and you only really figure that out after you stopped owning one for a while. Car dealers are a scam. It’s been hot as hell here lately. Exercise and yoga have been spotty, I just feel busy all the time (see “unorganized” comment above). Loving my friends in Raleigh (Morgan’s leaving in a couple of months, that kinda sucks). I’ve been having heart palpitations again, this time worse than ever. Just looked out the window and am seeing SMOKE from an eastern North Carolinia wildfire and thought it was smog. We’re leaving for Georgia tomorrow and the BG’s family doesn’t know yet that we bought the car. The other day I noticed that I’ve been here longer than I lived in Portland. Kinda sad, kinda happy. I’m cooking more, because I’m tired of waiting to be cooked for. ;) ME HUNGRY ALL THE TIME. CHOMP CHOMP

A more mature entry coming soon, I swear.

In the meantime, look at my car’s butt:

Prius Rear

365 days self-portrait project

Like a few of my other friends I’ve been thinking of taking a picture a day. Since I’ve been mulling this over for a while I’ve decided I need to either shit or get off the pot. So here I am, MAKING A COMMITMENT.

The reason I’m joining the one group I thought I wouldn’t be interested in is (after not really putting that much thought into it) I realize that I find pictures of myself, friends or people much more interesting than objects, places or flowers. Let’s see if I can do this!

View my 365 days set.

say it again

Dewds. Let’s re-re-reiterate: L + M = Awesome.

Last night the Crackcrew gathered at the TLA in Philadelphia to see Sasha and Digweed and it was phenomenal. Seriously haven’t heard music that good in quite a while. Well actually, that’s because usually the next day I can barely remember where the hell I was, let alone what the music was like…

Ok so NEWSFLASH EVERYONE… m and I did NOT drink (minus the one margarita at Justin’s before we left, but that doesn’t count cause we were still able to walk in a straight line afterwards). And the two of us were nearly the last men standing along with Leah and Superstar DJ Chris Le. We danced our sober asses off the entire night to some amazing fucking tracks. The vibe was on point.

Also caught up with Brian K. James (AKA The Engineer) who I haven’t seen since ‘nam and he took pics of the show from his iPhone.

I took lame ass pics from my phone just like every other jackass there, the only difference is that mine are friggen horrible:

Sasha and Digweed

Sasha and Digweed