11 Years Ending…

Poser May 5th, 2009

18 Days, until I walk across the stage at CSU Chico and get handed my (placeholder) Diploma. Jeez, its taken forever but I’m finally graduating, and so ends the Era of School for me.

Yes, I’m finally getting my Bachelors and finishing school. What am I going to do next? I have no idea. Most likely move back home and start the scary process of growing up. I’ve been in “college” for a long long time. I was privileged enough to be a part of many of your lives as you went through school and did your learning thing, and I want to thank everyone of you who was there for me during my school career. It’s been really rough at times, and having friends and family like you has made the whole experience so much more bearable.

I wish I could have every single one of you there at my graduation, celebrating with me when I’m given my collegiate pink slip (diploma) and sent on my way. I want you all to know that when I do take that stage and look out towards the crowd of graduates and their families, I’ll not only see my peers and my family, I’ll see all of your faces too. The many faces that through the years have given me the assistance and encouragement that has helped me plow on and pursue this goal of mine.

I’ll be brutally honest; I never thought I’d make it. Seriously, I always figured I’d drop out and just quit. There were times when it got REALLY hard to focus and do anything productive such as homework, or studying for a test. I can count a handful of times I was going to really really quit, and mostly it was because of money problems or not enough time. Then I’d realize it really wasn’t all that much time, and more money would come after I finished school.

For those that weren’t aware, I’ve been up in Chico, CA attending CSU Chico for the last 3 years. The move up here was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. I uprooted myself from a very comfortable place and took my first steps towards actually growing up. I believe I’ve learned more lessons in the 3 years since I came to Chico than probably all of the 26 years I was alive before. Some lessons were more difficult to go through than others, but all of them as a collective have changed me quite a bit. Changed for the worse? I hope not. Changed for the better? I’d like to think so.

Enough rambling and being melodramatic, the point of this post, besides an emotional brain dump, is this:

Thank You.

Thanks to you my friends, who shared your school experiences and wisdom with me to help me cope with the endless hours of, well, whatever it is you do while you’re in college.

Thanks to you my family, who has been there to aide me when I needed it. It’s taken me too long to realize how much God has blessed me with a family that will be there for anything.

Thanks to you Mom, who more than anyone has supported me beyond all anyone can expect from their parents. Everything from not pressuring me to do anything but be happy with my choices, to giving me all the time and space I needed in growing up and figuring out my life. And then there’s the financial support, where I cant even begin to imagine how much you spent on me. Sorry. :-)

Thanks to God, who has heard and answered my prayers when I’ve needed it the most. Unexpectedly to me, you’ve delivered many blessings to me when I thought I wasn’t deserving. Pleasant surprises by which I’ll always worship you for.

All of you, Thank You.

Vacation from my Vacation

Poser June 21st, 2008

Its Summer Vacation from school, and I am currently taking a break up in Chico. Last day of classes was May 22, so I took the following weekend off and traveled back to San Jose on the 27th. While I am glad to be done with classes, which towards the end of this past semester I was just ACHING to be finished and out of town, I miss Chico a lot.

Granted, venturing back to San Jose and my friend there and the cool job I have is cool, I’ve once again just right back to my lazy ways. I didn’t go for a run once while I was in San Jose, though I did do the Muddy Buddy race a few weekends ago. Which besides the day I had to ride moms bike to work, has been the only exercise I’ve gotten so far this summer. I guess that means I need to pony up a few bucks and get a 3 month gym membership, or face gaining weight, which wouldn’t be a bad thing, but I would get out of shape.

Additionally, there have been quite a few projects I need to actually do, such as website redesigns and learning Javascript, XML, PHP, AJAX, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, Perl, and other web related stuff. I’ve been needing to redesign my resume for at least a week now, which should have been something I coulda done in 2, 3 days max. I haven’t gone to see any movies, save the Chronicles of Narnia. All I do is go to work, then come home, eat dinner, and fart around my laptop while watching tv. Not healthy or productive.

So this brings me to Chico, where in 4 days I’ve been here, I’ve done more dishes than in a day then I’ve done since going back to San Jose (which is good, its doing chores and being responsible), gone out to Rockband Night at Panamas, gone out to UBar with James and Mario just to go and hangout, played a ton of Nintendo (mostly Mario Kart Wii and Guitar hero), started the redesign of my resume, slept in a little, printed and started my financial aid appeal, did laundry, cleaned my room, hung out with friends, went on a 4 mile run, saw a new movie (Get Smart, and it was hilarious), and bought food and made my own lunches and dinner. Basically, I lived independently and on my own. I guess this means I really need to get out on my own, and really leave “the nest.” While its fun living at home, its not productive.

On the heels of leaving the nest, is the question: “Where do I leave to?” Well, I want to go to Seattle, cause I love it there. I also dislike the Bay Area right now, for its insanely overpriced style of living. Southern California (namely LA and anywhere near it) is probably too insane to live in, I think. Portland is an idea, that its “borrowed” from James, since he enjoyed it there and I trust his assessment of the town. And then there’s Chico, where I’ve started my independent path of self-discovery, or some other hoopla semi related. Chico has quite a lot to offer. Bidwell Park for one, which to me is just awesome, its like Chico’s own Central Park or Golden Gate Park. Well, kinda. Theres One Mile and Lower Bidwell which is closer to town, and Upper Bidwell which is awesome hiking and stuff. Though its got kind of a small job market, which I guess I’d have to reevaluate what I want to do, web development stuff or my Information Architecture, or Librarian stuff.

Meh, enough rambling. Its time for sleep. The whole point of this rant and brain dump is: Sam needs to get out of the house, and be on his own. Stupid life making me grow up.