Hello, Goodbye

Well, tis the beginning of another year. . . Cool.

2008 started off with quite a bang as I was at TAO when 2007 officially took the boot. Honestly though I actually kind of regret starting off the year like that. I will always have this small inkling of remorse concerning how i sort of wasted my first moments of the year. Its all good though; I learned from it, it doesn't keep me up at night, and I have actually improved myself because of it. I want to call 2008 my black and white year. Up till mid April was the dark part of the year. I was busy as hell with work from REALLY important classes, working full time and not getting that raise >:0, and balancing my (unfortunately) compartmentalized social life. Moreover, I needed to find a new trail to walk down in life as that of college was quickly coming to an end. Not knowing what comes next in life is a scary freakin thing, and stagnating in Irvine at In-N-Out was not an option (it terrified me). This fear overshadowed many aspects of my life and my closer friends were aware that times weren't too easy for me. Then finally I found my path.

I decided to teach English in Japan one day in May as I was driving to my internship for school. My decision re-injected purpose and direction into my life. I had motivation, plans, and a sense of direction once again. From that day fourth, life got better and better. I had gotten the raise, School was a breeze in the next quarter (more or less), and my social life was improving to ^_^ When graduation hit and I got to celebrate it with my family and some friends, I was the happiest and most content guy on earth. I will always reflect on June with a broad smile. With my graduation came a new orientation in my psyche . . . grow up and get the hell out of Irvine as quick as possible. With that in mind I started down my post grad trail toward Japan.

The first step was the 5,100$ Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certification. I had eight classes spread out monday through friday. Not one was less than two and a half hours long and they all had homework. I was still working full time, so I clearly was working weekends and nights during the week when I could spare the time. I worked nights so that I wouldn't party and blow my money and not pass the course since had I decided that not partying as often as I had in the past was part of my "growing up" process. I thus had a lot of time to myself to mull my life over in my head as I didn't have music, alcohohol, and dancing distracting me and was further motivated to make more little changes in my life that makes me feel like a very different person from the me a year ago.


Though I am on this new trail, I have, since the end of TEFL, made a pit stop at a knoll along the way and have to wait till June to get back on the hike. Things are great and I am as happy as ever. I know I will be in Japan in the summer, but till then, I am living life in manner that I can approve of. I am at a grey point in my life I guess. I got something to offer, but can't show it yet in the way I want. I think that, once again, I will be a very very different person a year from now. hopefully I will still be more or just as happy.


here is a look at some of me over all of 2008: