Aud Lang Syne

It's New Year's Eve!  As it is 1:21 p.m. and I enjoy the luxury of being able to hang out in my pajamas, I felt extremely motivated to write a blog.  I will say that I often do feel the motivation, and at times these great ideas strike me, but by the time I get around to writing them out, I find they have been removed from my memory.  I think I'll start doing a little trick I've heard some people do with their tweets.  That is, in the moment, using the Notes app as soon as an idea for a blog (or other social media influenced post) comes to mind and when it comes time to dedicate time to the blog in front of my computer, bam, there are the ideas, ready for me to remember them.

This year, though not the easiest, has been very good to me.  Even when I think about the times that have stressed me out, I must say that it is only a handful of them that stand out.  The major one was doing the jobs of three people this year.  One major thing I am looking forward to is a new hire we have at the first work day of the year.  I get to just do my job for the rest of the school year, wahoo!  However, much in the spirit of aud lang syne, I will say there are those who I cannot help but note had harder times than I did.  This was the year my friends Nancy & Andres lost their father, Abel.  I so much admire their strength as a family and how they pay tribute to him with every family event they have had since his passing.  Bad news also struck our DH community when news came that one of our schoolmates, Jeffrey, passed away in the last week as well at a very young close.  Though not close with him, he was a very kind-spirited young man who always had a smile on his face.  

With this said, my friend Lizzy recently found her "Life Plan."  What is that you ask?  Well, in high school, if you took the AP Econ/Government course (which I got out of), you were asked to work on a major project called a "Life Plan." This plan consisted of writing everything out that the next ten years of your life would consist of.  However, it wasn't all future based, one also had to write about where one currently was including friends, goals, and ideals held at the moment.  One of the questions asked was "If you had to name the one person you have the most compassion for, who would it be?"  Lizzy's answer was me.  In her response her reasoning was that my grandmother had just passed away and in essence had been pretty bummed out for a while.  In retrospect, I had many reasons to be bummed out during that time in 2002.  Aside from my grandmother having passed away, which was of course it's own load, my parents had just bought the house they currently live in.  When the last of the things that needed to be moved out of the truck, that's when my dad found out his mother had passed away.  The timing was goosebump inducing.  My dad headed over to Mexico with my aunt (his sister) and my mom, brother, and me were left to live in very unideal conditions.  For you see, my parents bought a duplex, and the house we were going to live in, wasn't done being prepared for us to move into, so we already knew were going to live in the other house while our house was being finished.  But without my dad around, it brought the intensity of living out of boxes for a while to a whole new level.  Aside from this, it was my senior year of high school, which is one's teenage pinnacle for stress, happiness, closures, and commencements.  I will say that having Lizzy share her life plan response with me reminded me of why we continue to be friends.  Because despite note being able to see each other as often as we'd like, we genuinely care about each other because we've seen each other grow up since we were kids who knew nothing to adults who take cheese with their wine. It was great seeing Lizzy and Heidi yesterday, a great way to catch up and really delve into pre-2015 reflection.

Osc, Heidi & Lizzy (est. 1998)

Always value those you have, and needless to say, I am grateful for those who have been with me this past year, as I hope I have been there for you. (side stream of consciousness note: That last sentence reminds me, all of "Friends" is coming to Netflix in 2015......jaaaaaaaaa!)

With these amazing friends at our annual holiday gathering, this year, gondola style

Blessed to work with an amazing team

Made my niece screech when she found out she'd see Wicked before Christmas

Christmas Eve brunch

Christmas at my parents' house

So glad to have such a great collection of folks to call family

Pre-NYE impromptu (and fun) Vegas trip

Later tonight I'm off to Pati and Nick's recently bough house for their NYE party.

I can't wait to see what you have in store for me 2015.  Should be interesting.  

Thank You

As a major holiday approaches next week, this November and now (finally) shifting fall weather in LA symbols a few things in my mind.

First off, my dad's birthday is tomorrow, hoorah!  My dad is a great hardworking man who is many things from my oil change guru to my cocktail instigator.  He is a dedicated guy who has come a long way in his life.

However, this day last year had a different tone to it.  It is also the anniversary of when I lost a car, and was in my first accident.  Yes, this accident happened on my way to my dad's birthday dinner.  Need a reminder? Read about it here: http://theoscblog.blogspot.com/2013/11/bus-pants.html

Finally, Thanksgiving is next week.  I'm running a 5K called the Turkey Trot in DTLA in the morning with my friends and then joining my family for dinner after.  So it looks like I'm doing the whole eating/exercise pattern backwards next Thursday.  I've been working out leading up to it and feeling great.  Should be a fun experience.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving family and friends and I hope you all have plenty to be thankful for and appreciate it.

November Rennaisance

Amidst the excuses one can have for not posting a blog online, mine has been postponed due to the October I've had.  I figured the start on November would be a good time for a new post.  This October was really trying, as stressful as ever trying.  But now that it has ended, and I attest it to what I found out this weekend was Mercury being out of order or just things in general being out of order.

At the same time and I look back and see that the bad seeds of the last month or so are focused.  But it is that they were so extremely focused that they felt stressful beyond measurable scales.

However, since the last blog post, I've had some highlights that I plan to remember as events that will overshadow the shadows of the last 30-ish days.

First off, I had a milestone birthday, and enjoyed it in Temecula with close family and friends.

One of the awesome gifts I got was visiting the WB Studios and yes, that's me in Central Perk for Friends

The start of fall also included seeing friends from my travels, I always enjoy getting together with them.

My twin nephews are now also a year old!!!! That's insane to me.  I feel like they just got home from the hospital last week.

Dressing up is fun too, including our Star Wars night, Halloween and Dia de los Muertos:

With the note of Dia de Los Muertos is something I am observing this weekend, alongside others.  This day signifies remembering what is gone on a positive note and celebrating your life.  I'll keep that in mind.

Happy November.

Transition Mission

One of the most common terms I heard this summer is transition.  This time it's taken on a whole new meaning.  It's Labor Day weekend, which means it is the end of summer.  School at my workplace began about two weeks ago, and that's been its own transition as it always is.  I have one coworker who is ready to give birth any minute, so it'll be a huge transition for her, as well as how we in the English department interact with her soon-to-be absence for a brief period of time.  Work-wise, I also have my own transition, this one came with a position.  As stated before, the news of my transition was news that was heard the wrong way and ultimately lost in translation.  However, now that the hustle of work has taken place and systems have come into play, things have certainly simmered down when it has come to that topic.  It is better.

My sister texted me the other day and was hashing out what she plans to do for my twin nephews' first birthday celebration.  Those texted hit me like a truck.  First birthday?  They've been alive for a year?  When did that happen?  Time flew with a quickness.

On that note, I also hit a transitional birthday this year.  Planning with my friends has been quite the planning committee-style meeting situation, but I think we will be satisfied with our end result.  Should be an interesting end of year as I hit this milestone, stay tuned.

The end of summer is now calendared and I must say, that even though I wasn't able to get away as much as I had initially hoped, I still got to do some interesting and fun things:

Catalina Island, included some unsuccessful paddle-boarding, but resulted in successful kayaking

Long Beach Red Bus Tour

Finally made it to the Grand Canyon (I have some common American staples I have yet to see, but was able to cross this one off the list)

I'm ready to have fall bring whatever it needs to bring.  My mission, to keep enjoying the things that keep on coming.

Speaking of transitions, I feel for the transition a family at my workplace will now have to face.  Rest in peace Danny, you're in a better place.