2009 so far... The ups and downs.

So, 2008 has gone and 2009 is a little over a month old so far. Yet, even in a month I've already had my good moments, my not so good moments, and experienced devastation.

The good:
Before I even came out to California, I was in contact with a friend who lived there. She had been reading my webcomic and came to meet me online from one of my friends who also worked on the comic. We kept in touch though high school and off and on throughout my SCAD days and finally met back in July after I landed my job in Cali. We met again in November and hung out a bit (primarily because she wanted some of my roommates chocolate chip cookies... which are fucking delicious). Through these brief meetings, I developed a crush on her but hesitated to take any action. We had a night out on New Year's Eve, which her mother kept asking her if I had the "right intentions" and she kept ranting on and on about it until I finally told her that I wanted to date her. Which shocked her a bit. I expect rejection, but she also admitted to wanting to date me as well. So needless to say, I have a girlfriend now.

The bad:
I went up a week before my birthday to visit my girlfriend at her college. I spent the weekend there and had fun meeting her friends and attending her club gatherings. Then, on Sunday, my bank calls me. They inform me that someone in Florida was trying to use my card number to buy something at a Wal Mart. Seeing as I was also buying food in California, it raised suspicions and they called me to verify everything. So I canceled my card for the time being and waited for a new one.

Then, I returned home to find that there had been some roof construction over the weekend at my apartment. Said construction opened up a crack in the ceiling above my bed. Then, a pipe above said crack leaked all weekend... right onto my bed. It soaked through the mattress, through the box spring, all the way down to the floor. My bed was ruined and I had to get rid of it.

Finally, I won't hesitate to say that the company I work for hasn't seen their fair share of turmoil in these turbulent times. Right before Thanksgiving, they laid off 8 people (including my roommate). Other firings and layoffs occured, but were more tame in numbers. Last Wednesday, they let go of the entire 3D art team. To be fair, it was the best move they could do since our focus and projects changed. And the 3D team knew it was coming (and even bet money on when they'd be let go, apparently). But it still sucks major balls that it had to happen to such cool cats. If you didn't know, the game industry was already swarming with people with no experience trying to get in before the economy sucked. Now, it's swarming with people with years of experience as well since major companies have axed entire development studios.

Devastation:
Two days after my birthday, I get out of a meeting at work and return to my desk. I just missed a phone call from my father and called him back. Usually, my dad has a bit of news like "we're going out of the country" or "just checking to see how you were doing, sorry I missed your birthday." Those would have been very welcomed bits of news. Not this time. Instead, he had called me to tell me that my little brother had passed away. Now, when you have spent as much time attending as many funerals as I have, the last thing you expect is for someone younger than you to suddenly die. To make it worse, I was under the impression that the viewing was on Friday and bought plane tickets to leave on Thursday. But it turns out that the viewing and cremation were on Thursday and that the memorial service was on Friday. So I didn't even get to see my brother's body before he was cremated. Despite the devastation and anger from certain family members over how things were scheduled, there was some rejoice in seeing old friends and family I had not seen for years and it helped me to survive the ordeal.

So, there you have it. 2009 so far has been a severely mixed bag for me. Despite all that has happened so far, though, the only thing I can do is keep my head up high and look towards what the future brings... or throws at me.