Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve updated. I’ve had a lot going on. I apologize also that this is pretty much a vent post. I’m almost always a very, very happy person and don’t have much of a problem with anything. But I guess you could say I’m in a little bit of a rough patch right now. It’s nothing in particular, just little things that have started to add up lately.

First off, Gabby, my best friend, hasn’t even talked to me lately. No contact in three weeks pretty much, besides the one time I got her on the phone and went over to her house after not talking to her for a week and a half. Something had changed. Something’s different. I saw it when I went over there. I didn’t do a thing to make her not talk to me anymore, she’s just moved on I guess. She’s the kind of person who seems like she can only have one good friend at a time, and, for some reason, she’s moved on. I mean even though it hurts a lot, it’s the downside of having a female best friend. They’re just so up and down sometimes. Over the course of my nineteen years of life I’ve had about six people I would call a best friend at different times in my life. Three have been guys. Three have been girls. Out of the three guys, two moved and one got involved with a lot of stuff I didn’t want to be involved with that ended up getting him in some pretty serious trouble. All three of those situations are understandable. But what’s interesting is the three girls have all left my life in the same way. They’ve just flat out up and left me. I honestly can’t think of any reason why it’s happened, other than the fact that they all have striking resemblances to each other personality-wise. Not everything, just certain traits. Anyway, no matter how you look at it, with Gabby gone, there’s a big hole in my life right now and it sucks. I’ve got other good friends, but without that one person who completely knows and understands me unlike anyone else, I feel really out of the loop so to speak. There’s a couple groups of friends I have, and I guess right now I just feel like I’m just not in the circle. I’m friends with them, but I’m kind of off to the side. It’s just kind of happened. It’s partially my own fault, but I don’t know.

So I had a bonfire last night as sort of an end of summer kind of thing. I don’t have a problem admitting failure, so to be quite honest the whole thing was a flop. At least the first three hours. Everyone came late, so a few people got bored and left pretty soon after they got there. Some people had already eaten, too so I had a lot more food than I needed. It didn’t help that on the Facebook event page for the bonfire, fourteen people said they were coming (Maybe ten did at most out of those confirmed) and twenty people said they “might show up” as Facebook puts it. There oughtta be an option when you create an event to take that response away so that people have to give you a yes or no answer. I ended up buying food for about fifteen people that didn’t show up. From $50 at Wal-Mart, to $15 at Costco for burgers, to $25 for firewood and s’mores ingredients, I spent a little less than $100 on food. Parties are expensive and I think people would be more serious about their RSVP if they had to pay for all the supplies themselves. Don’t say “maybe attending” if you have no intention of showing up and just want to be polite, because frankly I think that’s more rude. Just say you’re not coming. For the ones who said they were confirmed and didn’t bother coming or changing their RSVP, this applies even more. I hate to be so blunt about it, but it’s true. This wasn’t the case with most people, only some. It got really fun right after Jenn, Lizzy, and Christina left, though. Not because they left- I don’t mean it that way. It’s just because of when they happened to leave. They were all three really bored and left right as Jen and everyone came with the firewood and s’mores stuff. I wish they would have stayed because it ended up being really, really fun in the end. After everything was over, we went to Wal-Mart and got some duct tape and went duct-taping at the front of my neighborhood. I don’t feel like going into the details of what you do, but if you don’t know what it’s all about, it’s one of the few ways of having some harmless fun and getting some pretty funny reactions out of drivers without doing anything illegal or causing any damage to cars.

This is a totally different subject, but I just wanted to bring up something that’s been on my mind for quite a while. I’m up at the pool all the time in the summer and while I like the place, sometimes I can’t stand to be up there because of the people. It’s a day to day thing, but some of the people up there are so unnecessarily rude and nasty, not to mention they act like they own the place. We’re talking about The Dominion Club here by the way if I didn’t mention where I go. I’ve talked before about how some of the people at Deep Run act, but the fact of the matter is some of them don’t hold a candle to the snoody and frankly downright immature behavior their parents show. It’s no wonder they act the way they do- look who raised them! I will have lived in Wyndham for eight years as of this week, and I thought things would either get better or I’d get used to it, but neither ever happened, nor will they ever. I don’t belong in Wyndham nor do I want to. Without being too hypocritical since I’ve lived here my whole life, Short Pump is like its own microcosm, almost like it’s own social bubble, protected from the “big bad” outside world known to everyone else as normal life, just like Deep Run. I’m so happy to be going to VCU where there will actually be some diversity and people who come from different areas and backgrounds.

Speaking of which, about a month ago, I had my orientation at VCU. I had mixed feelings about it before I went down there, not knowing what to expect whatsoever. I had heard many different viewpoints about life down there, but I was very pleasantly surprised at just how nice everything is and how nice the people I met were. I’m living at home my first year and then most likely renting out an apartment in the fan or somewhere around there with friends next year. So many people I’ve talked to have mentioned that they might do the same thing, so it should work out that I can get a group together and get a place.

So Thursday, college starts and I’m pumped. It’s not like I’m going to be living down there or anything, but I’m going to be involved with a lot of different clubs, activities, and most likely a fraternity, so I’ll be plenty connected to the place and hopefully meet a lot of new people. It’s so nice to have a fresh start.

With the college countdown underway, I’ve been living up the summer. I’m hardly ever home anymore because I’m always out doing something or another. I’ll get home sometimes as late as 2:00 AM and still get up no later than 8:00. I hate sleeping in. But sometimes I go up to the pool and chill out and maybe have a mid-day siesta. But don’t get the idea that I’m not doing anything this summer. I work several full (9-5) days downtown at the Attorney General’s Office. I love my job. Getting paid to solve computer problems and do general help desk stuff is really cool.

The most awesome thing I’ve done by far in the past week or so was going to the Dave Matthews concert Wednesday night with Winston, Lizzy, and Sarah. He and his band put on an amazing show to say the very least. The one thing I was surprised of, though, was the song set. He did a lot of unknown stuff and not a whole lot of the songs you’d expect him to. It was still a great show, though. We didn’t get home until 3:00 AM, so I was dying at work the next day.

So on a final note, this past week one of our really close family friends, Dave Rossell, passed away at his home in Charlottesville from pancreatic cancer. I was at his bedside when he took his last breath. I’ve never seen anyone die before. It’s so overwhelming. So many emotions all at once. Sadness that he’s gone, but relief that he’s out of pain, sympathy for his wife, Sue, and joy that he’s moved on to his eternal life, free from the troubles of this world. He was an amazing guy and I’m honored to have known him.

Well I’ve gotten a lot off my mind now. I hope I haven’t offended anyone, but there was just stuff I needed to say. Don’t take any of it too personally. Everything’s fine, I just needed to get this stuff of my chest. I’ll update again soon.