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My Thoughts On Turning 21 & Perspectives On Life Thus Far

By events, life 2 Comments

When I was a little kid, in first or second grade, I remember thinking how enormous middle schoolers were. I thought they were practically adults at that age. Then a funny thing happened. I got to eigth grade and everyone in my grade made comments about just how little the incoming sixth graders were that year. The thing was, though, they weren’t getting smaller, we were getting bigger. By my senior year of high school, the incoming freshmen looked like a bunch of little shrimp.

Isn’t it funny how our perception of things changes over time? We always think we’re done growing, but don’t realize until later just how much farther we had to go until later on and we see the just how small we were, both figuratively and literally. Today, July 1, 2009, is one of those days. I turned 21. I’m just gonna sit for a second and let that sink in.

I think this day far surpasses both my eighth grade and senior year experiences, because this time, I’m not looking back on grade school. I’m measuring a turning point in my life.

If I thought middle schoolers were big when I was eight or nine, you better believe someone who was 21 seemed like they had been on the earth forever. The older I get though, the more I realize just how quickly time passes. I know I’m still very young, but with this birthday, even though I’ve been 20 for a year, I feel more like a “twenty-something” a less of a teenager. I think my transition from being a teen to being an adult took place over this past year, and I have mixed feelings about that.

I know I spend too much time doing business-related things and doing things like networking that adults much older than myself typically participate in, but the fact is I’m passionate about the business I’ve started and making it succeed. I just don’t know sometimes if I should just focus more on being a college student and having fun and less on the type of business stuff that I’ll no doubt have the rest of my life to do. It’s a delicate balance and I’m still trying to find it.

Working for yourself from home does have its advantages, though. One day a friend called me up when I was in the middle of a website and asked if I wanted to go to the river. Not having any boss to ask but myself, I jumped in my car and headed down to Belle Isle. I guess I just wish I was more spontaneous like this more often. When you’ve already got the snowball effect of several elements of a growing business, though, it’s tough to stop it or even slow it down.

I had an interesting thought the other day while talking with Edna, an 83-year-old that I’ve become good friends with up at Daily Grind. She comes in every day. She’s as spry and sharp as can be and still enjoys life to the fullest. She’s also willing to learn new things. I’m showing her how to use her laptop and check her email in the picture (credit: Bill Bangham).

I thought she would feel as if her life had been a long journey, but was surprised to find out just how quickly she thought it had passed. I think her perspective is what gave me my new outlook on the value of time. In what she thought was a short life of 83 years of her life so far (which still feels like lightyears away to me, being that I’m in my early twenties) she’s done a lot and I can tell she feels like she’s lived a good life thus far.

I only hope that I can be the same way and have a life I can look back on at her age and smile at all I’ve done. I’m still young and have more dreams and plans than I can shake a stick it. It’s time to achieve them while still remembering to live up my youth while I’m still young. This year’s gonna be a year of finding the balance. Right now, though, it’s time to celebrate!

First RVA Social Media Club (SMCRVA) Meeting

By business, events, life, opinion, technology 2 Comments

I went to the first RVA Social Media Club (SMCRVA) last night at Morton’s Steakhouse downtown. I really wasn’t sure what to expect, but as soon as I walked in the door, I knew I had just entered the best business networking event in Richmond. I had the opportunity to put a lot of names with faces from people I follow on Twitter (maybe a more appropriate name for the organization would be “Richmond Twitter Club!”), as well as catch up with some old friends. It was an all-around great night, albeit a bit overwhelming with around 150 people in the room to meet. I think the first night was a great success and is just the beginning of big things to come from this organization. The networking opportunities are awesome. It really makes Richmond feel like one big family of friends.

I’m really amazed at what’s happened to Twitter over the past year or so. Back when I first got my account, well over a year ago, it was a novelty service. No one I knew was really on it, but that was the coolest thing about it. I got to know so many interesting people in Richmond and around the world, and even had “tweetups” (Twitter terminology for “meetups”) with some of the nice folks I met on the service. Now, though, everyone is on Twitter. Businesses are beginning to realize what great benefits social media has and they’re all jumping on the bandwagon. Twitter is just one big social experiment if you ask me, opening the doors to a new way to exchange news, ideas, support and business information in under 140 characters. Richmond is becoming a lot more close-knit because of it, and that’s a really cool thing in this day in age where everyone’s always on the go.

Outer Banks – Round 2: My Birthday & The 4th Of July

By events, life 12 Comments

I know what you’re thinking. “Trevor, you were just down in the Outer Banks two weeks ago! What’s up with that?” Well, what can I say, I’m a beach bum! Actually, it just so happened the week I went down with Jen and Allie was close to our previously-planned family vacation. And I also know it’s taken me two weeks to blog about it. Oh well.

It was a great week filled with a lot of family time, vegging on the beach, and eating at great restaurants for dinner. It was also my 20th birthday the Tuesday we were down there. For the 4th Of July, we went to the  Town of Duck Parade. Then, in the evening, we drove up to the Whalehead Club in Corolla for a great fireworks display. Both were great small town community events.

I had never been out of town on my birthday, nor had I been to the Outer Banks Fourth of July week. We normally go in the Spring or late Summer. It’s a whole different experience going for the Fourth. It’s without a doubt the busiest week of the summer tourist-wise, with traffic jams galore on the way down and back, long waits for most area restaurants, and crowded beaches. It was still a great week, though. The Outer Banks is my second home and I love it no matter what season or conditions.

I got some great photos down there, which I will eventually put on TrevPix.com. Until then here’s a few snapshots that give you a glimpse of our week. Descriptions are below the pictures, going left to right by row.

1) The house we stayed in, 2) Peace Frogs sand sculpture by a professional artist at Jockey’s Ridge, 3) Local children in the Town of Duck Fourth Of July Parade, 4) The massive amounts of people who watched the parade leaving, 5) The historic Whalehead Club in Corolla, site of the fireworks, and 6) Fireworks at The Whalehead Club.

Outer Banks – Round 1: Sharks & Smoke

By events 21 Comments

So I’m just now posting an update from the beach last week. It was a good week; had lots of fun with Allie, Jen, and her family. The weather was insanely hot, and the smoke from the nearby Hyde County wildfire was ridiculously thick, depending on which way the wind was blowing (either bringing it towards us or pushing it away), but overall it was a great week.

One interesting thing that happened was a huge basking shark washing up on shore the night we got there. It was hundreds of pounds, but apparently only a baby, because the adults can get upwards of thirty feet long. This one was only eight or nine. It was still alive as it came ashore and drew quite a crowd on the beach.

The basking shark is apparently an extremely endangered species and efforts were going to be made to save it. However, a man on the beach, meaning only to end its suffering, slit the shark’s throat with his pocket knife. The Nags Head Beach Patrol and a nearby marine biologist were infuriated, but, unforunately, it was dying anyway. A huge backhoe came the next morning and buried it deep in the sand. Here’s a picture below; more will be uploaded to Flickr later. And, in less than two weeks, I’m headed back for another week!

Outer Banks, Round One!

By events, life 9 Comments

I’m about to head out to the Outer Banks tomorrow with my best friend Jen and her family, plus another one of my best friends, Allie. They rent a place every year down at milepost 18 on the Beach Road. I went last year and it was a lot of fun. Anywhere on the Outer Banks is great if you ask me. The area is basically my second home. The best part is I get to go back with my family two weeks after I get back with Jen’s family!

I’ve been working every day for most of the day, and it will be great to get some time to relax (I know, I know, some of you who are reading this are saying, “Yeah, so? I work 9-5 every day!” Well, I’m new at this whole adult work week thing). Anyway, I’m trying to get a break from technology for a bit and will not be blogging (I’ve post-dated entries for the coming week, and they’re really going to be insightful). They’re gonna be all about my life goals.

Leave your comments and encouragement for me to come home to! Everyone have a great week, and I’ll be posting live again next Friday (June 13th).

Ashley Crossman: Miss Virginia 2008!

By events, news 2 Comments

A big congratulations goes out to Ashley Crossman, winner of Miss Virginia 2008! She’s the sister of one of my friends at VCU, and I had the privilege of designing her an ad for inclusion in the pageant program and other uses. Many of her sponsors were local businesses in her hometown of Montross, Virginia and had no logos for use, so I designed the majority of them. It was a lot of fun creating this and working with her. She’s incredibly nice, very talented, and is beautiful on the inside as well as out. She’s extremely deserving of her win. Here’s the ad I created for her in preparation for the pageant:

Lifehouse Concert

By events, music No Comments

I went to the Lifehouse concert downtown at The National with my friends Monica, Sarah, and Katelin Monday night. Genius here forgot to charge his camera. I realized it was completely dead when I got there, but this is me we’re talking about. I’m not at all surprised. It’s a daily occurrence. Either way, I snapped a few decent pictures with the iPhone.

The concert was incredible. Matt Nathanson and Honey Honey opened up for them. Honey Honey was pretty good, but Matt Nathanson was awesome. I had only heard one song of his before the show (“Car Crash”) and expected him to be pretty low-key and rather acoustic. That was definitely not the case. He rocked out. I’m talking hardcore. Lifehouse was terrific of course. Even more so than I expected, though. Here’s a few very vibrant (they put on a pretty cool light show, too) pictures from the concert: