Sam's Blog

As you can tell, I haven't been writing much these days. A lot of things have happened but then again, it feels like nothing too much has changed. First and foremost, the biggest thing that occurred this year: Josh and I got married! In March, we decided to do a very casual "signing of the paperwork" to make it official, which included a lunch with our families and Shahab being our minister-of-sorts. A reception will definitely follow sometime next year. I haven't quite gotten around to planning it these days. Life overall hasn't really changed. We were living together already and we pretty much acted like a married couple so there was not much of a change to be had. I like that nothing's different – it's a reassuring feeling to me since I was afraid that getting married would somehow change the dynamic of our relationship. The only major differences are that we have a joint checking account and Josh finally has consistent health care through my job. Oh, and the whole name changing thing will happen soon but I am not looking forward to the long, long process.

I am still not used to calling him my "husband" yet. I always catch myself calling him "boyfriend" which is sad because I should be at least calling him my “fiancé.” Come to think of it, our original Anniversary is coming up this weekend. I don't know what would count as our Anniversary since the day we officially got married was on the Ides of March. Not the most ideal date, but maybe it could be the date that we have our reception too. In any case, I have a feeling that we will have to choose something logical because I doubt Josh can remember all of these dates. He has a hard time figuring out what day it is sometimes. That isn't a bad thing – he's home a lot more often now that he quit his production job. He's working on his thesis and teaching two classes. Hopefully his thesis won't take too long, but I have a felling it will be about 2 years, give or take. A lot of people take so much longer, but since he's been putting it off for so long, I hope he will be able to trudge along and finish it sometime in the near future.

Another change - I decided to go back to my previous employer after 8 months at my "new" job that I mentioned last year. Don't get me wrong, I liked it and the people were great, but I went back for a promotion. I haven't written in so long that I am already approaching almost a year here at work already. The people are great as well and the job is satisfying overall. There are definitely pros and cons about both jobs but for now, I like where I am and am starting to feel more comfortable with everything. The transition period has been tough, but I do enjoy the challenge. I try not to get caught up with everything since I realize that it's not brain surgery…no one is dying and people's lives aren't at risk. Knowing that gives me a little perspective on things and it helps when I'm stressed out and allows for problem solving. I am learning a lot and growing in my career. I like that feeling and knowing that I will be able to move forward and eventually get promoted again when I am ready (that is, if the economy allows it).

A few of my friends have gotten married over the past few years. It's a weird feeling knowing that you are getting older. A friend of mine is pregnant already and I still feel like it's too soon, even though in actuality it is a normal time for them to have kids. I went to my 10 year high school reunion this summer and it was strange. It was nice seeing everyone again but it was weird because it feels like everyone is at a different stage in their lives. Some already have a few kids and have a wonderful family. Others are just now figuring out what they want to do with their life and are in school or training for a specific job. There are some that still don't know what they want to do, which I think is perfectly normal. I can't expect myself to know what I want to do with the rest of my life when I'm 27 years old. The future looks good, but with everything going on right now – the economy, wars, etc., it's hard not to be worried. Going back to Modesto was fun. I hadn’t been back in a few years since none of family lives there anymore. So many changes to the city, but everything is pretty much the same in a sense. I still know where everything is – all of the streets and local hangouts are there. It was really comforting. I saw tons of people that I hadn’t seen since 1998 and it was great catching up with everyone. I was hoping more people would’ve attended, but it was a decent turnout. I am trying to keep in touch through MySpace and Facebook, but even that is getting hard these days.

Link: http://www.deathcabforcutie.com

Argh! I hate Internet Explorer! I just had a nice little post and now it's gone! Boo. Too bad we don't have Firefox at work. It would be awesome if we did and little things like that won't happen as often.

Anyway, if you are a Death Cab for Cutie fan, (you probably already know this already) they will be releasing music videos for all of their 11 songs on their most recent album, [u]Plans[/u]. Release date is January 23rd and I believe they will air exclusively on their website. But the most exciting thing is that one of Josh's friends and colleagues from his animation program, Liz, will be directing the song, "Your Heart is an Empty Room." Josh just saw it this morning and he says that it looks really cool. I can't wait to see them!

In other news, a big congrats to Tara!! Her and Hal got married last weekend and surprised us all. They will be having a formal reception in June in Santa Cruz and I am way excited to go!! She's so crazy and spontaneous and that's why I love her.

Photos from this past weekend are here. I started up the monthly brunches after a month hiatus. It was really good to see everybody again. Kurt was in town as well, so he chose Hugo's, a cute corner restaurant that had many vegan friendly items and meat items as well. It was yummy.

Tuesdays with M tonight. Yay for normalcy!!

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I forgot to mention that I was surprised this morning when I woke up and Josh was up. That wasn't really the surprising part because he's been working through most nights lately, but he had actually made me breakfast. That was very sweet and he is such an awesome boyfriend!

Hey Sam,

I had a brainstorm while sleeping about how to fix your blog so I got up, tried it, and low and behold... IT WORKED (as you can obviously see).

I had a backup of all your posts from right up to the initial server outage last week, but I don't have any of your posts made during that brief time that the site was working, so you'll have to copy and paste them from Word or retype them if you don't have them saved. Also, since I had to manually re-enter all the database info, I'd recommend that you browse through your blog and double-check that all you posts are here.

Feel free to delete this post, BTW.

Love ya,
Josh

I usually tell my rants and raves to very few people. But since this website is "public," I will use my best judgement as to what I will share.

I am trying to use this site as a forum for me and my friends to rant, rave, air dirty laundry, let skeletons come out of the closet, or voice our opinions on certain issues that affect our daily lives. Feel free to comment or suggest certain topics of conversation. Check back often because I am hoping to use this site frequently!