A New Chapter

Well, another year another chapter. Things are changing and looking up.

First and foremost, I am joining the U.S. Air Force. I've been talking to a recruiter for a little while and we've both been holding up our ends of the deal for my enlistment. I have lost significant weight at staggering rates due to my determination to make something of myself and give back to my country.

In the past year, I have realized that I've reached a point in my life where I've grown used to and comfortable with mediocrity and not actually living life. I wasn't motivated to do anything, I didn't really believe in myself, and I only did what it took to get Cs in school. It took me a little while to see how lame that is. And that I can do so much better.

 With things like this in my mind:



I have changed my life. My new motto echoes in my mind, "Yes I can. And yes I will." I have made great progress since my lazy days of sitting around and doing nothing and not working for anything.

I walked over 6 miles and still felt unstoppable afterward.

Graph of my weight loss

Shaved that beard off and some pounds too.

I feel pretty good about all this.

I've changed so much, that everyone I know can't even believe it. I'm changing from the inside out. Starting with the mindset, and working outward to the physical appearance. I've even changed all my wallpapers and social media banners.

And so, the quest to join the Air Force has had an overall positive effect on my life. I'm very excited about it. I've memorized the Airman's Creed and the Air Force song. And the Three Core Values of the Air Force. I quite like those actually.

Integrity First
Service Before Self
Excellence in all we do

It's been a heck of a challenge actually getting in where I am so far. Many recruiters of the Air Force don't seem to care to show up to the Armed Forces Recruiting offices. (As you'd expect, the Marines are always there, every single time.) Finally the original recruiter was willing to work with me. The first time I went to see him, my weight was above the qualifying limit. I weighed nearly 220 lbs. The next time I saw him (a little over 2 weeks later), I weighed 202 lbs. That's what I call 'holding it down'. He immediately scheduled me for the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery), which is an aptitude test for finding out which jobs in the US military I qualify for academically.

96. That's my score. The highest possible score is a 99. Needless to say, my recruiter and every person I know is ecstatic. Including me. This score means that I am definitely academically qualified to do ANY job in the Air Force. I'd like to either be a linguist (minimum enlistment 6 years, 2 year tech school) or a computer systems programmer. I get to submit a list of 10 jobs that are available and the Air Force chooses which one they want me to do. The jobs I want to do are on the list of jobs that are in demand, so I should be fine. Next up is get that appointment to process at MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) and finally get into the Delayed Entry Program. Date to ship out to Basic Military Training date should come at the end of MEPS, if I remember right.

And no, joining the Air Force does NOT mean that I have given up on my goals of finishing my Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science. I'm going to do that for free while in the Air Force.

---

Another update: In case you all didn't know, I am a Brother of Alpha Phi Omega at UMBC's Alpha Zeta Pi Chapter.

From last semester's camping trip

We are a national co-ed service fraternity.

From the End of the Year Banquet

This past Spring Semester, I was determined to try to get out and be more social and to try to do well. I talked to a lot of the groups and clubs and other fraternities on campus. I chose APO because the brothers are all totally awesome. It's co-ed and so most of my brothers are girls. I think that's really cool. We're all about Leadership, Friendship, Service. We like to do service to the campus, community, fraternity and the nation. Doing service projects and hanging out with my brothers this past semester has been so awesome. A big downside to joining the Air Force is that I won't see these awesome people nearly as often anymore. But I'm sure we'll keep in touch and find ways to chill on my off time.

Winter 2013-2014

So yeh it's been ages since I've blogged.

I guess I kinda just forgot about this blog and/or haven't been in the mood to make a post. But I guess at least I can post a little update about what's kinda going on right now. In no particular order.

I'd say the biggest thing that's happened since the last post is that I decided to drive from Houston, TX back to Maryland.

I've been living with friends for a while now until I get back into UMBC to finish out my Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. It was here I discovered the EPICNESS of maple BACON chips.

One day a few weeks ago, I decided to consolidate my guitar gear. I had so much I don't use taking up a lot of space in my room here. So I drove down to Guitar Center to make a trade. I pretty much got rid of everything except Ol' Blue and the acoustic I got for Christmas and a bass amp, and small guitar amp,

Ol'  Blue, my first ever guitar

They did not give me nearly what I expected back, so I decided to basically use what they gave me back to get an AWESOME new Fender Telecaster. 

I played every Telecaster they had from cheap to expensive and this one ripped it up on all facets of guitar playing. It has a really beautiful look and feel and nice range of tone.

I call it Butterscotch. 

We're buddies and get along very nicely.

While I was visiting here in January, I ordered a Djembe drum from x8drums.com. It's totally awesome. Love the look, the feel, and definitely the earthy tones.

In other news, I've been kinda hating my AT&T iPhone 4 for months. So when I heard that T-Mobile is paying off Early Termination Fees for switching and trading in devices, I decided to jump on the offer. I drove to the local T-Mobile store and did just that. I traded in my iPhone 4 and got a black LG Google Nexus 5 with $60 down, and signed up for the $50 plan.

FLAPPY BIRD!!1!

Quite decent battery life

I get unlimited everything with a phone that mops the floor with my old one, and a better plan for half the price I was paying. Yeah. Then I upgraded to the Unlimited 4G plan and I'm STILL paying less, even with financing my device. Thanks T-Mobile! Bye AT&T, It's not me, it's you and your overpriced plans and phones.

 I need a new dev laptop because my 2007 Presario A900 is about to literally fall apart.

Big Fattie, the Compaq Presario A900 and my Nexus 7 (2012)

It's been snowing and very cold and what not here. Even still, and it's March. It's so ridiculous, I "punched my car window out".

And that's pretty much all the Winter highlights. I'm back in Maryland, things are a lot different now than they were. Still on the track to get a life. One step at a time.

A Job And A Car

It's been forever since I've blogged at all, but that's because I've been super busy trying to make things and/or help make things happen. And they have.

For anyone out there who cares about my life, here's the update: I got a decent 30+hr/week minimum wage ($7.25/hr) job at Cinemark, the local movie theater inside the mall. And Thanks to Dad and Matt, I also have a nice car. A 2004 Volkswagen Passat GLX. I'm quite happy with these things.

It's taken a lot of time and effort to finally land a job (See previous post). I've been through so many applications, rejections, interviews, most of them with no feedback or anything. Back in September, I put out a bunch of apps in the mall. And just for the heck of it, (I think it was actually Aunt Marina's idea?) I put an application in at the Cinemark theater. I didn't see it coming what would end up happening. So then all the stuff in the previous post happens.  And now, out of nowhere, I get a call from Mr. T (I pity the foo who tries to pronounce his real name. OK, sorry, that was bad. :S) at Cinemark asking for an interview, and telling me to bring my license and social security card. (This pretty much told me what was about to happen in the next day or two...) In the next day or two I showed up, he interviewed me, and hired me on the spot. He copied my license and SSN and then discussed stuff with me, gave me a packet and handbook to read when I get home, and made me watch a Training video. And so, I was hired at Cinemark as a Concession Worker. (And also, whatever the manager or other employees need done worker)

I started work on the 1st of November. That day, I showed up in black dress slacks and black dress shoes and a white undershirt. I received my black Cinemark Polo T-shirt, ID card lanyard, and cap.

You KNOW I Instagrammed that right before my 1st shift.

It's been pretty fun. Everyone's nice. I'm pretty much the only guy working concession (I've only met girl concession workers so far). Everyone seems to be college age (except highest ranking managers), which is nice. Even though I've been told so far to do dirty work from mopping and sweeping to scrubbing down copper pipes and metal drain covers, It's not a bad job. It especially makes me happy to see even the managers in suits doing this work along with me. It's refreshing to see managers who don't have some kind of 'I'm better than you' complex.

The job has so far consisted of helping the concession cashiers gather the stuff ordered by the customers, doing a little cashier work myself, cleaning, unloading, counting, restocking, checking, double checking and waiting. I'm getting there. I think I'm doing ok for someone just hired.

Dad and Matt have done a lot of work researching cars. The idea/goal was to get a luxury brand (or otherwise very nice) car used with 150,000 miles or less for $5,000 or less. There were many cars we looked at and drove out to see and test drive. Most of them were Volvo, Audi and BMW. One of them was a slightly older Mercedes-Benz S class. That really looked like it was the one... until the inspection came back from Dad/Matt's Mercedes-Benz dealership saying that it needed significant repairs before it would be good to drive. There were some SUVs on the list like a Ford Explorer, Volvo XC90 and BMW X5. We even considered a Chevy Aveo. My goal was simply to get a car with good gas mileage and low insurance rates while still being inexpensive (and in good running and cosmetic condition). Which ruled out SUVs (bad gas mileage) and sports cars (high insurance rates). This pretty much left us searching for nice Sedans. There were some nice BMWs, Volvos and Audis. But the problem is, most of these cars either ran well and looked rough, or looked great and ran rough. Or a mediocre blend of the two.

Eventually, we were lucky enough to stumble upon a nice top of the class Volkswagen Passat. So we went to the VW dealership, I immediately called USAA to get an insurance policy for the car in my name, got that set up, signed the paperwork to get the car in my name, and Bam. Just like that, thanks to Dad's and Matt's awesomeness, I own a nice VW Passat. The coolest part is, the dealer went way down on the price. It was a seriously good deal. The car is in great shape, with only a few little scratches and tiny dents and minor exterior cosmetic things. It runs great, and the interior is perfect and tidy (None of that saggy headliner business). The previous owners clearly took great care of this car.

Seriously. It's SO clean! :O

The guages and controls glow red when the headlights are on

The screens glow an epic blue when the headlights are on

And so I drove my new car off the lot and straight to work. It was such a cool experience. Only thing is, I skipped the detailing, refueling, and cleaning of the car to make it to work on time. It's been good fun driving to work and back home.

My ride home from work waiting for me after a crazy Saturday night shift

Included in the paperwork was the VW dealership agreeing to fix the tail light and the mirror adjustment knob. So the other day, I called up and drove out. I stuck around for a lot longer than I thought, and then finally it was done. While I was waiting I got quotes for the chrome trim around the back bumper (there's a small section of it missing) and the driver front fog lamp (the glass cover is busted, but the light still works). That may take some time for me to save up and repair. Meh.

Josh, our salesman, even cleaned the passenger headlight cover to the best of his ability when I mentioned I noticed it wasn't quite as clear as the other one. It looks great. He's such a cool guy going the extra mile like that. While I was there he detailed and filled the gas tank. He offered to wash it and vacuum it out whenever I next have the chance. Needless to say, I like VW, I like the dealership. So yeah. I'm so gonna take him up on that offer this week.

So yeah. Thank you so much, Dad and Matt, for sacrificing so much of your time and own money to get me this car. I'm very pleased with it. It's like Christmas has come early.

Today, I opened my USAA Checking&Savings accounts, set up auto-pay for USAA auto insurance and set up Auto-pay for my AT&T iPhone bill (so Matt or Dad don't have to pay it anymore, yay for having my own job and bank account..) On my next work shift, I will set up direct deposit. I also checked on University of Houston and FAFSA deadlines for applying for college next year. Yeah.

So I'm definitely on track toward my goals here. I have a life.. :') I have my own job, car, bank account, lovely girl and everything. Yay. :)

Job Hunting

So anyone who knows me knows I've been searching for a job. I'm here for a year waiting to become a TX resident to get in-state tuition for University of Houston next year so I can finish my degree. In the meantime, it would be good to have a job and start saving up money.  Here is a description of my experience on that so far.

I started by using Google Maps to find places around the area that might be hiring. Like Home Depot, Best Buy, Apple Store, Starbucks, Gap, and so one. Many of them were in the mall. Point is, I made a list of a lot of places.

Then I applied to these places. While we were out at Home Depot one day, I decided to sit at the computer where it says Hiring and fill out an application. It took ages. Dad sent me MMS photos of him sleeping in the car, and Matt got bored of standing by me waiting for me to be done. We were both surprised by some of the questions this thing asked. A few of them required algebra. So you need to be good at maths to work at Home Depot. That's not a bad thing, but still. Who integrates Maths pop quizzes into job apps? After that, I decided to fill out apps on my own time online. All big name sites have a Careers link at the bottom of the page. These were mostly easier and quicker than that one. Apple's online application is by far the quickest and easiest.

Then the waiting game. Who would call for an interview? Who wouldn't? It turned out, I received many rejection emails. And some of these said please feel free to apply again in 2 months. This was quite lame.

I want to work at the local Best Buy. Because I really believe I would be good at helping people find and buy stuff that they'd like to use. So after getting one of those rejection emails from them, I decided by Dad and Matt's advice to show up to the Best Buy in person to talk to the manager about the email and the job. I found the manager shortly after walking in. I asked him about the job and we had a little chat. He seemed like a really cool guy. He introduced me to the hiring manager guy, who took me to the Job Application computer. So basically, from what I understand of him telling me, If I apply again, he will see the application and look into getting me an interview there. So I sit there and apply again. He had to go back to work and do a bunch of stuff, so he told me to tell him when I'm done and about to submit the app. I finish the app and then I stand around and sit around, awkwardly and notice he's not coming back to me. So I go up to the manager and ask where he is and find him and remind him I'm done. After a while, he joins me at the machine and I send the app in. Then finally he said that should be it and then I left. A day later, the same rejection email. Corporate HR is rejecting my application and it is never getting to the store. And conveniently, they won't tell me why it is that I'm being rejected or not considered. I called back and a different manager answers the phone and then finally tells me that it's up to Corporate HR who gets hired and who doesn't. Why did they tell me this in the first place? Way to get my hopes up. :|

The first to call me in for an interview was actually the Apple Store. That's probably because I went in there and told a Specialist I'd applied online and they wrote down my name and number. That was a very nice time. It actually woke me up but when I heard who it was calling, I immediately somehow became alert and awake so I didn't sound like I was just sleeping. So I now had an interview that day in the afternoon. I got up, ate cereal, got dressed and ready and was able to convince Aunt Marina to drive me to the mall for the interview despite super short notice. So I show up at the Apple Store, then tell someone I'm there for an interview and a few minutes later the manager comes out and we go out into the mall somewhere to sit. The interview itself was really nice and laid back. It was more her getting to know me. It felt just like a normal conversation where I felt free enough to talk about my life and my interests and why I should work at Apple. (Which is really funny because anyone who has known me for the past 3 years would know I do not have a thing for Apple and instead I'm actually a Google, Android, Linux/PC kind of guy. Strongly. Not to say I hated Mac/iPhone and what not because I like Apple a lot more than Microsoft.) Anyway, it was about a 20 minute ordeal where she almost lost track of time. She told me I would get an email and/or a call for the second part of the 3-part interview. The next day I called and said I didn't get the email. I changed my Apple ID and so I don't know what happened, maybe they sent it again. So days pass and I go into the store to tell her I still haven't got that email yet. She said it's nothing to stress about, and if it were, I'd get a call. I never heard anything at all from Apple since then. I kind of gave up on them. I have been in there many times. I hear it's actually very hard to get a job at the Apple Store. Most people don't get in even the first 3 or 4 times they try.

After that, I got a call from Starbucks because I applied for Barista. I don't even want to talk about how bad this interview was. Let's just say the girl who was interviewed before me was in the interview for like 25 minutes and then my interview lasted less than 5. *shudder* BAD. I was then haunted for the next 40 hours about how horrific this interview was. Nothing about it was right. Moving on.

Then I got called by Gap. I went in there while I was at the mall one day. Aunt Marina noticed a Now Hiring sign on the door, so I went in to ask about that. The guy was so enthusiastic and handed me a card with info to apply. I applied and then a couple days later I followed up calling about it. I then got an interview date for a few days later. This time, I was prepared. I borrowed a couple things from Dad's closet and looked pro. I went in there and had a nice chat with the manager. It was not bad at all. I tried so hard not to act nervous but she was still able to tell. Oh well. I'd say this one went very well overall. I answered all the questions naturally and sounded good, I thought. The biggest win here was right when I was leaving the store, she told me, "By the way, you look fabulous today!" That was awesome. And as you know, I totally tweeted about that on my way out. I must have done something right having been told that by a manager of a clothing shop like Gap. Either that, or Dad has a good sense of style. (Both? *shrug*) the next day I wrote and sent a short little Thank you note that looked amazing and professional.

After that, I decided for the heck of it to go in to Hollister and ask if they're hiring. Apparently, they are always hiring. They gave me a paper with a link and password to fill out an app. I got called what must be the next day saying that position wasn't open, but another one was, so I filled out the app for that. Then I called back saying I did that. Then she said that Overnight pays more and is also open. So I then fill THAT app out and call back. I was told orientation would be on Sunday morning. So apparently, working from 9 PM to sometimes 1 AM was totally not cool. One of the three would have to wake up in the middle of the night just to drive me home from work and they all wake up early. We kinda panicked a little bit and tried to think about what to do that would make sense. I said I would try to switch position at orientation on Sunday. And so I did, luckily enough. So on Sunday, Marina drove me to the mall (Yet again. I'm sure by now she's tired of driving me to the mall. And not only that, every time we go, we pass that shop where she always means to drop a ring of hers off for repair ;D) I went into the Hollister store when I saw someone opening one of the side doors letting a couple people in. So from here, people were registering for their work IDs. I managed to switch position to Impact (day-time stock). Then went back and heard basics about working there. Loss-prevention, general things and about what we have to wear while working there. After that I decided to visit the captain see if I need to cut. Unfortunately, I did not. Someone else who had more experience than me was hired. A few days later I went back to buy work clothes. At first I picked up the wrong shirts so had to get ones that were in the Style Guide. Eh. So yeah. Now I work at Hollister part time. And by part time, I mean I've had two shifts in two weeks, and then now for 3 weeks running, zero shifts. Seriously, this is crazy. I need to find something more stable and reliable than this.

So then I go on to Craigslist. Then for 2 days I search for job listings. It turns out that there actually is a classified section on craigslist for jobs. I looked at restaurant jobs I looked at retail jobs and none of them seem to be right for me. Some listings required experience others did not. I disregarded those that did. I sent off some emails to some of those listings. I actually got a reply from the main one which was a local website development company close to where Dad works so he would be able to drive me to work. It was exciting to get an email from them because they were the main people that I thought would be really cool to work for. So they asked me to show up for an interview and basically the same thing over again but this time I dressed up a little bit more. The interview went pretty well I think. It took a little while to find their office because it was on the second floor of some building that was not really obvious where it was supposed to be, but luckily I was still on time. I went into the office is open to take a seat so I set there for a little while. And then finally the guy came over and met me to bring me to a conference room. And so while we were trying to figure out the phone thing for the conference call (one of the guys in Canada), I was offered coffee and I made had a little chat. Once the phone was set up, the guy on the phone gave a quick rundown on the company and its history. Then he asked me a lot of technical questions about JavaScript/JQuery, definitely a lot of things about CSS and things like that for website development, as expected, and I generally knew the answers to these questions. After that was over, everyone shook hands, said it was a pleasure and then I was on my way. I did some digging to find email addresses of the people in the conference and then later that night sent a thank you email to each. I still have yet to hear back.

And this is where I am now. I have a part time job that hardly gives me any hours and there is definitely not even a regular schedule, and I still have yet to hear back from anyone else, who I pretty much assume by now has looked on and forgotten about me. It's been a long journey. One that is just completely ridiculous and tiring and annoying and never ending. I seriously hope that somebody hires me because I really need some work right now and I want to do something productive in this next year before I start school again. But it wasn't all annoying sometimes it was actually quite exciting. It's all very new fresh and it's something that's necessary and a milestone of life and part of moving forward.

TL;DR: I've been looking for a job for over 2 months now and it's an annoying and long process. I got interviewed many times and managed to get hired somewhere. It's been fun and new yet also very annoying and tiring at the same time after a while.

Nightmare At The Texas DPS

Sorry this is a kind of a late post. All of this is over as of almost about a week now, but I still kinda feel the need to rant about it here. In case anyone is interested in one of many examples of why bureaucracy annoys me greatly.

So for the third time, Aunt Marina and I try to get our TX Driver's Licenses. ಠ_ಠ

The first time, the wait ended up taking SO long, we just up and left. 

The second time, I apparently didn't have enough documentation to prove that I'm a TX resident. OK... I assumed that there was a little more continuity in the United States here... I figured that I could just move from one state to another, and easily get a license there, provided I could at least prove that I am a US citizen and already have a non-expired, non-suspended, non-revoked driver's license... I was definitely wrong. The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Driver's License office seems to be very, I'd even say overly strict about getting a license here. 

So I sit there at the station after a little while of waiting. The computer system actually malfunctioned, causing extra wait time... (Thankfully, you can get in line online at DPS Mega Centers, so the wait was not that bad, relatively.) I identify myself, and say I want to get a new TX driver's license. I then hand over my current Maryland license. Then my Birth Certificate. Then my Social Security card. These official documents should be enough to prove my identity. cool. I've proven my identity as a human being, and resident and citizen of the USA. 

The lady then asks for two official documents proving that I am a resident of Texas. I'm dumbfounded, as I do not recall seeing on the website that I need that. I just remember needing those forms of ID, one of them being a valid license. Then Aunt Marina, who's standing there, in the same situation as me (She's moved down here with us from Kentucky) kinda stands in my defense. 

We do not have anything in our name here yet. First of all, we just got here, and second of all, we are living in Dad's house. Everything is in his name or in Matt's. So now, we have to prove that. The lady hands me her last copy of a residency affidavit. Apparently, if I cannot show I'm a Texas resident, I have to prove that I am living with someone who can prove they are a Texas resident. The lady said we can just get the affidavit notarized and signed by Dad and then we just submit that as well as the two documents he will use to prove his residency.

So we go home, kinda upset that we wasted all of this time. I showed Dad and Matt the affidavit that night and read to them the list of acceptable documents, two of which would be required. The list is rather intrusive on privacy. If you can think of something you think is no one's business, it was on that list. Mortgage stuff, bills, government-issued documents, documents from financial institutions, stuff like that. Then the next morning, Dad went to work, copied his documents, notarized the affidavits, and waited for me and Marina to come to his workplace and pick it up and start all over again...

The third and final time...

A completely candid shot that Dad took of Marina and me being totally miserable

We get in line online. Deal with Navigation again. Show up. Wait. for ages. Then I get called and Marina follows me to the booth thing again. I do exactly as I did last time. I hand the lady my MD license, SSN card, and birth certificate. and the signed, notarized affidavit with the related not two, but four documents. (Dad and Matt decided to do four, just in case one or two of them were not acceptable). She looks at the affidavit, looks up at us, and notices that Dad is not present. She then says that he must physically be here because it cannot be proven that he is related to me. Yes, I admit that my birth certificate kinda doesn't have his name on it... Long story, irrelevant... She said had his name been on there, we could just move right on along. But no. He has to leave work in the middle of something important and drive all the way down here to the DPS just to exist in the same physical space as us in order for us to get licenses. So I'm dismissed and we go to the waiting area. Marina calls Dad and tells him the news. He is not pleased. We wait in line for a century. He arrives, and we all three sit there for another eternity.

Finally we are called. Both marina and I got called at the same time. So I go yet again to a lady in a booth thing. I present my documents. Dad stands there and explains and we move along smoothly. Marina, who is sitting a few booths down from me needs him present too, so he moves down there to be with her. Then the woman at my booth needed him so I had to keep looking down toward him and wait for him to come back to me. He had to show his license, so it could be copied, he had to sign some stuff.  Then he had to do the same thing a few units down from mine. Back and forth, back and forth.

Finally, the never-ending nightmare ends. I get a receipt of the license which is to be mailed to the house. Marina mentions how ridiculous it is that after all this, we still don't even have the actual licenses in our hands. We have to still wait for them to arrive in the post. Dad, completely inconvenienced, said he should have charged the DPS his "hourly rate". ;D Then off we all go, Dad to work, and Marina and I back home.

UGH.

Me and Marina keepin it real, gettin McDonalds iced tea and fries after that ridiculous ordeal

The insane traffic we ran into after the McDonalds trip

Pleasant Surprise

So the other day I was flicking through my Twitter stream. And then out of the corner of my eye I see a tweet made by Dad with a link to the latest post on the Houston Chronicle blog he and Matt write for. The headline was "The Call That Changed It All". So I decided to click it.

To my surprise, it was a blog post all about me, and how genuinely ecstatic Dad and Matt are to have me move in with them. That was very very nice.

Click here to read the post. (I would copy and paste it here, but I feel like it would be nice to give the Chronicle website the traffic.)

So yeah. After a bit of talking to my girl, I just HAD to give him and Matt a hug for writing that post. Yay for having people who care about you. Later that night he sent me a really nice Facebook message about how truly happy they are about all this.

 

Moving

Ahhh, moving house. Everyone's favourite activity. NOT.

I hear that moving into a new home is one of the most stressful things about being alive for most people these days. And it's true. But the thing is, the most stressful part can be handled if you hire a service to pack everything in the house and then move it into the new house. I will have to say, that surely is THE BEST way to move house. Not only is it fast, it saves so much back pain. And people who do that for a living get money to support their families. Cool.

But you still have to unpack the seemingly endless boxes and unwrap the seemingly endless paper. The rubbish pile accumulates to mountainous sizes. Once you get used to it though, it's not really that bad. As long as the mentality stays one room at a time with a positive optimistic attitude.

It may not be immediately obvious, but moving house is actually typically a nice bonding experience and you see who your real friends are. Especially if you don't go for a moving service. ;D It's always cool to go through stuff while unpacking and talking about how much stuff you have that you had no idea that you had. Like the tonnes of fine china that belonged to my great grandmother. I don't remember ever having fine china or ever dining with it. Apparently that is a shame and I've lived a sheltered life. ;D I have never seen so many spiffy little tea cups. Tea party for 4 families? :D

There's just something about organising stuff in the new place that's part of the excitement of it being new. It was cool to unpack my room. Not just because it was the quickest and required the least effort, but also because it's a fresh new start for me. It's been fun to unpack all my stuff I brought here with me. I went and got a desk and chair and built those.

Now I have a cozy bed, a nice desk, everything. Except WiFi. My room is the only room in the house where the WiFi connection is really bad or nonexistent on my mobile devices. But that shall change very soon when I unpack the range extenders. Yay. :D

Yeah. I'm loving this nice new place. It's roomy and cozy. A bit chaotic still as the unpacking/rennovating saga continues. With all the lighting reforms, painting sessions (which I have not had to take part in except a little taping), and getting some new furniture and whatnot and stuff. It took me forever today for some reason just to hook up a basic functioning Living Room A/V setup. Embarrassing, I know. :S But I must say this house is coming together quite nicely.

Then Aunt Marina (and her four Shih Tzu kids) arrives with this big truck full of stuff of her own to move in. A good friend of hers stayed a little while to help unload and unpack a little bit. It actually was not as much stuff or as bad as I thought it was going to be. But then again, in general, we seem to have a lot more to unpack than we thought we even had. That small-ish minimalist house we came from seemed to hide away stuff very well. She did some personalisation of the place herself. Including adding a not-so-welcomed Redskins hat to the Dad's classy decorative foyer gnome. Crazy Redskins fan. Let's hope she doesn't get herself evicted from Texas cheering too loud for the Skins.

I love unpacking as much as the next guy but I just can't wait until it's over. Soon enough I get my TX drivers license (which thankfully will be quick and easy) and start applying for jobs. YAY for making my own money!

I'm liking where life is going so far. I think moving down here to Dad's has been a good move. Yee haw! (Because everyone TOTALLY says that round here in Houston, Texas.)