april update

Life has really gotten away from me. I've been busy getting ready for the new arrival and work has picked up a bit as well. I attended an infant CPR class last week that was definitely an interesting experience. I never took CPR before so learning it in the first place was pretty cool, but spending 2 hours talking about and giving CPR to infant and child dummies was...strange. It's an invaluable skill though, that I'm so glad I know, but hope I never have to use.

As for work, my boss got me a lynda membership which has been unbelievably beneficial. Lynda is a website with tens of thousands of professional videos teaching you just about everything about just about every piece of technology.  They cover still and video shooting and editing, content creation with after effects, photoshop, etc. along with computer programming and countless other topics.

I was joking on twitter the other day that using this website feels like being in the Matrix, minus the neck holes. I have a big  project that's due in June where I have to design the CD cover, sleeve and disc art for this big annual meeting. I have less than a year of experience with photoshop and after effects, but my boss said that Illustrator would be the best program for this project. (Being a film guy I have no idea about this stuff) So I searched lynda for something on Illustrator and it responds big time!

"You need to know Illustrator? Well here's an 8 hour course teaching you everything you need to make just about anything. All you need to do is supply the creativity!"

"Ok!" I said in an excited tone.

I really want to get back into story writing...

I keep telling myself that I want to be a writer. I want to create an entire world and make everyone come to life. I probably need a good idea first though huh...

an amazing adventure

It still amazes and slightly scares me that I will soon be a father.

Sometimes I wish I could write one sentence blog posts sometimes because my mind is so amazed by what the future holds, that I have no idea what to say.

I've always wanted a family. That probably stems from growing up in a wonderful and loving home with two parents who barely ever fought, and who are still married almost 30 years later. This of course does fly in the face of what a lot of people claim to be the cause of my affinity for diapers. I have always done things my own way though, so I'm not surprised, not to mention how it's all speculation anyway.

So at this stage in the game, we have a crib/changing table and dresser built and in place in the baby's room. Seeing all of that was a big thing for me. Obviously I knew my wife was pregnant and she was showing a bit at that point, but to see the furniture in the room was awesome. There was finally a material connection between us and our baby. Now we have a stroller and clothes and other odds and ends scattered throughout the house that I can't wait to use! I can't wait to meet our baby and take her out on walks and show her the world.

We're over half way to the start of an amazing adventure that I can't wait to begin!

roommate

Our friend finally left today! You may be able to tell that I am a bit excited. Now, don't get me wrong, he's a good friend but, we quickly discovered that we can't live with him. Basically, he reminds us of our old roommate. Starting at about day 3 of his 5 day stay he sat on the couch and never got up. He played my Xbox all day and didn't really pay attention to us. At least we were able to get him out of the house a couple times to eat.

My wife and I wonder how we ever found each other. For both of us, any one of our friends becomes incredibly annoying after a short period of time. For instance, we've had a few friends over for parties and such and, after a few hours, can't wait for them to leave. We got sick of our roommates in Florida and Rhode Island. The my RI roommates were really good friends of mine too, let's just say we haven't spoke in almost 3 years now. My wife and I are generally surprised that after over 7 years together, my wife and I never got sick of each other.

Well I didn't really want to spend the entire post complaining about friends and past roommates but, I guess I did.

Oh wait, one big thing about our friend finally leaving is that I get to pad up again! I was already in the middle of a big diaper craving for some reason and adding the stress of a big project at work to the mix was all sorts of bad. With my friend over I couldn't diaper up so there was no release. At least now I can find some time to relax over the next couple days and hopefully this work project will finally come to fruition. 

little circle of trust

Life has been crazy lately. Our baby is growing and, thankfully, my wife is more than half way through the pregnancy and is feeling much better over all. My job has been crazy and super stressful lately which has led to a much higher than normal craving for diaper time, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Of course, joking about diapers all weekend with my best friend didn't help either, which leads me to today's topic.

Last Thursday morning one of my best friends came down from the east coast for a long weekend. If you are keeping score, this is the friend who I told all about my DL side a year ago on Thanksgiving. Wow I just realized how long it's been... Was it really that long...?

Yeah, so anyway. I took a 4 day weekend and picked him up Thursday morning. It only took until Friday for the diaper references and jokes to come out. Honestly, I loved every minute of it. It feels great to have people in my life who I can be completely open with. Sometimes I wish there were more than just 3 people, but there isn't anyone else right now who I feel should know. Or maybe I should say,there isn't anyone else who would take it well and not break our friendship.

I guess you could say, you don't really know what would happen without just doing it and, while that is true, some bit of strategic planning is necessary. I definitely can't just go tell everyone because there will be negative reactions, and it will affect my life and my growing family. I will say though, it does feel easier and I feel more confident opening my self up to others. I may meet someone in the future who I want to bring into my little circle of trust but, as for now, I can't think of anyone else.

fatherhood

Ok that subject may have been too descriptive but it's true. I'm going to be a father! My wife is pregnant, several months along now actually. We are both so excited to finally start raising a family!

Needless to say, between the new addition to my family and my new job, it's been a busy could months. Speaking of which, my new job is going well so far. It's finally something I enjoy doing so it's great to get paid for it. It has been stressful lately and I have been under a lot of pressure to be perfect but it's ok. I'll survive.

How have all of you been? I really wish I kept up with this blog but things always get in the way. I have been living in southern California for over 6 months now and I really enjoy it, of course I have yet to make it to a munch. There is one tomorrow night but I'm gonna pass this one up. I really want to go next month though, hopefully.

Until then. Thank you for reading!

october 2012

Wow this has been quite a busy and emotional month. Where to start...

I was offered a new position at my job a few weeks ago. I am super excited for this job because it gets me back into an office job and working a much more stable schedule. It also is my first professional job in the media field and my first management position. I went to school for TV studio production so to finally have a job where I will be shooting and editing videos is amazing! I basically get paid a regular salary to be creative!

The biggest thing about my new position is the hours. The job I was hired for a couple months ago was a night position, which meant long nights and almost no time to see my wife. I basically woke up around noon, got to work about 2 PM and stayed there until everything was done. I had many 10, 12 and some 14 hour nights that were physically and emotionally draining to say the least. I basically had no time to spend with my wife and almost no time to myself. But hopefully that will all be over since I'm back into a 9-5 type of job.

Next October event: We just got back from a weekend trip up Universal Studios Hollywood! My wife and I met working at Universal Studios so it's always going to be a special place for us. This year we went to Halloween Horror Nights which, if you aren't aware, is when they setup various haunted mazes around the park for you to walk through. They also setup scare zones around the park so as you're walking through smoke filled sections of the park creatures jump out and try and scare you, or they could creepily follow you around... Anyway, the whole night is all about getting scared and marveling at the movie quality sets and makeup. They do it every weekend in October so I highly recommend making the trip next year if you're a big Halloween buff.

Some more stuff happened to me this month that I'm not prepared to talk about yet but soon enough.

Oh yeah, Happy Halloween!

decidedly september

This September has flown by! I remember when I was growing up my parents would always say the years go by faster as you get older and I 100% agree with that.

So my job is going well for the most part. I'm learning a lot and have been the closing supervisor a few times which is pretty cool. Of course the closing part isn't so cool. The ad I applied for online mentioned nothing about this being a pm shift. Working nights is definitely putting a strain on my marriage and I don't know how much longer I can do this. It's only been a month and as much as I enjoy the people and the work, for the most part, I don't know long I can keep this up.

The main thing that keeps going through my head is that my wife will eventually be deployed and I never see her already. She works mornings and I work nights, so we only see each other on the weekends if I'm not working. It's a rough thing to go through and I don't really want to do it anymore. I would rather be unemployed for a while if it means seeing her again. Of course I have only been there for a month so I would also feel terrible for leaving so soon. Decisions decisions...

If anyone has any advice I am all ears. I really wish I could do some kind of work from home. Maybe I could be the next internet star or...something.