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1 Comment / Life / January 3, 2023 / By

Happy New Year!

I wanted to make a great big post for New Year’s but couldn’t wrap my mind around the fact that 2022 was already ending. Doesn’t it feel like we just had Halloween? It feels like we just had Halloween. And then just like that, the year is gone! It’s probably for the better that I wasn’t able to get a New Year’s post written anyway. My year-end post was going to round up all the great, exciting milestones in my life that happened during 2022, but when I really think back on the year, I feel like I really just went into survival mode with everything going on between work, school, and the health scare with my Dad. There really weren’t a lot of huge moments for me in 2022, and honestly, that’s okay. We have other years for big moments.

Like the one that’s upcoming.

With the move happening in just a few weeks now, 2023 is shaping up to be something of an adventure for me. Literally, everything will be changing with this move out of state. I’ll need a new job, as I wrote about in my previous post because it doesn’t look likely that my current job can keep me remote in Kansas. I’ll also eventually be enrolling in a new college out there as well since I’m not made of money and can’t just travel back to Indy whenever I need to take an exam or an entire course in person. And all of that isn’t even taking into account that I’ll need to find a way to be social too, despite pretty much only knowing my family that lives out there. I hope my friends here in Indy and elsewhere are planning on keeping communication channels open at all times because I feel like I’m going to need them.

The move does feel like an opportunity to hit the reset button on this game called life in a lot of ways though. The house we’re currently living in needs a lot of repairs done to it and rather than spend the time and energy, it’s nice to be able to start fresh instead. The house we’ll be moving into is bigger as well, and I’ll be able to have a proper office space separate from my bedroom, which is sadly not the case here in this house. There will be new roads to learn and places to go where there’s a very slim chance you’ll run into someone you know. Unlike what the theme song to Cheers would have you believe, sometimes it’s nice to go places where everybody doesn’t know your name. And, of course, we’ll be around family we don’t ordinarily get to see that often. It’ll be nice to actually be able to do things with them and celebrate this year’s holidays and special occasions with them.

I’ll miss Indiana. I’ll always be a Hoosier at heart. I have a feeling that this place will always feel a little bit like home and there will probably be times when I’ll want to come back. Hopefully, I’ll be able to visit when those times present themselves. But I feel like it’s finally time for me to get out of this place where all I do for an entire year is simply “survive.” Instead, it’s time for me to start living and flourishing. And this is the year that I’m hopefully going to be able to do it.

Until next time…

Thanksgiving

2 Comments / Life / November 26, 2022 / By

American Thanksgiving was a couple of days ago, and it occurred pretty quietly here in our household. We feasted upon turkey and mashed potatoes, as I’d say a large majority of Americans do on the day, and just generally had a nice time without any of us having to be anywhere else. The most important thing was that Dad came home from the rehab facility on Monday and was able to spend the holiday with us here at home as well. That’s probably what I was most thankful for this year. He’s doing well and is able to walk again and fully function more or less like he had prior to his hospitalization. The only difference now is that he’s to be permanently using his BiPAP machine and taking his medication regularly.

Photo of Sheila’s father before and after restoration!

The photography class that I was enjoying came to an end and my raster graphics class is underway. This is my last class of the semester and likely the final class that I’ll be taking at Ivy Tech. Since it looks like we’ll be moving out to Kansas at the end of January, I’ve put school on hold yet again and plan to enroll at a community college or university out there once we get settled. Raster graphics have been pretty cool though. Photoshop has some incredibly powerful tools that I didn’t even know about. Our project for the third week of the class included restoring and colorizing old and damaged photos. I was impressed with how well my restoration project was turning out that I even told my friendly co-workers about it. One of them, Sheila, asked if I would try my hand at restoring a photo of her father. I was more than happy to do so, especially once I blew my own mind with how well the restoration turned out! Granted, most of the work here was done by Photoshop’s neural filters, but I still couldn’t believe what happened! The new version is so much clearer and cleaner and almost looks like a photo that could have been taken recently. Just like the photography class that I took at the beginning of this semester, I’m thankful to be learning this new skill set that’s truly opening my mind.

Though my ability to live stream lately has been hindered by a multitude of other things going on in the world around me — work, school, holidays, packing for the move, etc. — I have to mention that it has been a fun hobby lately. Though my viewership is nowhere near where I’d like for it to be, I know that I need to provide more consistency and dedication to the craft in order to truly grow. Once the move is finished and I’m able to get set up in my new office/studio space in the new house, I hope to start really putting my best foot forward with my digital presence and get where I want to be. So hey, if you aren’t yet following me on Twitch, make sure you do that so you don’t miss a thing!

Lastly, I just want to say that I’m thankful for the most essential parts of my life, too. I’m thankful to have somewhere warm and dry to live and sleep. I’m thankful to have food in my belly. I’m thankful for the clothes on my back. And I’m perhaps most thankful for my family, my friends, and my kitties, all of whom I would be lost and lonely without.

Until next time…