Happenings in a life of public transit

this is not a complaint at all. just letting some of you know what actually is happening/happened in my life. and some thoughts on that. i hope you enjoy.

since i moved to chicago, well to take a line from a popular tv show:
"My life got flipped turned upside down
And I'd like to take a minute just sit right there
I'll tell you how I become the prince of a town called Bel-Air"

no i didn't move to bel-air or become a prince. but a lot has changed in life for me...

after all these 18yrs in one house in a small village where nothing really changed, the pace of life was slow and relaxed.

then in the next 3 years I: moved across the country, twice, earned a bachelors of science in digital arts and design, freelance, started a job, got laid off from a job and move to a city that was 1120x the size of the one i was living in and started a full time corporate job.

after summer of my senior year, i jumped head first into a college, a house and a new life all in the matter of 2 weeks. for 2 years straight i would be at school, learning, designing, coding, taping, editing and modeling to come out on the other end with a degree, an amazing friend group, a new outlook on life and a sense that i don't fit inside the same shoes as i did before.

afterwards i moved back home. for those 7 months, i did some freelancing, hanging out, blowing off some steam. during that time i got my first taste of corporate america working for a print house just north of were i was living. for little pay and an annoying work environment where my boss(es) were never there or too busy to actually know what i was doing, i toiled and pressed on; creating designs, getting used to the whole 40hr job setup and having a cubicle...

after promises of better pay, greater work and more responsibility, i got laid off with very little notice (like 5 minutes). it destroyed any plans, budgets or hopes of being able to make my loan payments and develop a business of my own. i got back into a few little freelance jobs but money was running short in my home state of michigan. i had to do something. but what? hells i didn't fully know and it seemed like most people around didn't either. first i was much younger then most college grads, i had a strange degree and set of job skills and history plus i never had to find a real job before. i always got lucky with getting one. i dont know what to ask about, how much pay, what's a good time limit to wait for a response or offer before looking for the next job. i was going in completely blind.

i must have sent out 600 resumes online, 50 hard copies and a bunch of emails and phone calls. after weeks of looking i got a response from a company i dont remember applying to for a job, i didn't know i was fully qualified for in a city i didn't know existed. i was confused. at that same time i was talking with a company in sc for a similar position, similar pay and ok benefits. after talking back and forth with the companies and attempts at video chats, phone interviews and emailing i got it settled to went to the interview for the company in il.

i packed up some snacks, my gf and hit the road. i was so nervous i couldn't handle it. i wanted to just get back in the car and drive back home. call them and tell them sorry but i just couldn't. i left my gf to read books and drink coffee at the barns and noble down the road and went to the interview. i walked inside and was even more nervous and confused at what i was doing there. i was sat down in a glass framed room. the interview started at 1pm. i met and talked to 6 people for 3.5 hrs after all was said and down the guy that would be my direct boss came in and talked with me. "we think you would fit pretty well." we talked about some questions i had and how this all would go over. i shook his hand and walked out to my vehicle picked up the gf and went home. i got a call two days later telling me their offer. i told them give me till monday to decide, they said "ok."

i didnt know if i should be excited, scared or just ignore this whole event. i called them monday and told them I would need two weeks before i could start. within those two weeks. my sister went into labor. i had to bring her to the hospital bc my father was recovering from an industrial accident. His legs were badly burned by super heated steam from a boiler, numerous other things and i also turned 21. that next week i drove down with my brothers to chicago, we searched all day for apartments. finding horrible ones, ones that the landlord and engineer didnt know english or ones that were too busy to even talk about renting: which seems oddly strange to me. And by the end had settled on 2; a small studio in a college area or a 1 bedroom in a residential sector near the north side of town.

we drove home. i decided on the one bedroom. within 3 days i had borrowed enough money for my deposit and rent. faxed my info and packed all my life up again. 2 days later with the assistance of my oldest brother, friend stacy, friend brandon, a suburban, 25 ft trailer and packed full mini van, we drove to chicago and unpacked all day. at the end of that cold day in january was i moved in. they had left to get home before it was to late and again like my move to orlando 2 years before that i was alone, lost and completely unsure what the next step in life would be. the next day i was hungry, confused and had no way of figuring out where i was in the world. after talking to my neighbor who thankfully pointed me in the right direction to a mcdonalds that had wifi and a grocery store. i was able to figure out a few things and find my way to work. the next day was my first day.

it was scary, confusing and very over whelming.
skip ahead to present day now.
i am now fitting in well at work. i found a great corky church to be part of with some great people that just have passion to really change its community and the people around them.

thats an update on me since the last media mistake.
i still have no clue what God is trying to teach me, where He is leading me, or why He has or hasn't blessed me with certain skills and abilities, emotions and logical processes. there is so much for me to learn from where i am at, who i am with and what i am doing that my possibilities are endless.

take life as serious as possible but only a moment at a time. dive into every meaning but flush some of it out when you are done. try to tailor yourself into being more then you are now without destroying the fabric God stitched you from in the first place. there is so much more that its not worth hiding back inside a closet only to be thrown out by next years fashions.

be true to yourself
live. love. laugh.