So.

I went to pride yesterday with The Girlfriend and it was, way different than the pride that I'm used to. The last pride I went to was in Chicago and it is a HUGE event. With police and protesters and over the top everything.

Here, there is a park that is gated off and there are two stages, a main stage for the drag queens and a smaller stage for some more local, less known acts. Yesterday, the highlight was a band called The Pubes (you can see their myspace here.) And they were awesome enough that I gave them seven of my dollars for a CD.

We walked around with my friend Sarah for awhile, got some overpriced beer, and then later went to a goodbye party for a friend at work. It was a very chill day.

I need to explain that life happens. I know that everyone knows this, that life happens and gets in the way of things like regular family emails, sending pictures to loved ones, making time for friends, and updating blogs. I do apologize for it though. So this update is to keep this thing updated. I love this blog, greatly. But this year so far has been hectic to say the least.

It began with a trip to Chicago to see my family and Alan. But this was no ordinary visit home, oh no. It was the visit that involved my dad meeting The Girlfriend. Which turned out fantastically well, but was stressful nonetheless. Three weeks later, I had to drop out of school due to financial difficulties and Emily had her birthday and my mom began going to the hospital for arthritis pain. The next month, my Grandfather died, I moved out of my apartment, moved in to a new place with The Girlfriend and, in the middle of moving The Girlfriend's old apartment to this one, had to make an emergency trip to my mom's neck of the woods when scans from her arthritis pain led to the discovery of ovarian cancer. Some of my other family was spiraling in to their own negativity and it involved my brothers. In April, the move was final and we had to deal with all sorts of maintenance issues, and my mom started chemo. May, things started calming down and then I got slammed with a money/legal issue that I don't care to go in to until it's over, and then, June, I got excited for the nice weather and my mom had a heart attack.

Now, the heart attack's over, I should be back in school by August, I'm settled in to my new home. I'm young and in love, and really, who needs more than that? I know exactly how blessed I am that I have my mom, my girlfriend, my daughter, my dad, and my friends. But. In six months, my life has turned upside down. So I sit at this computer to update things and don't know how to update anything with the lightheartedness that I want this blog to have. And I guess that's it: my life isn't lighthearted all the time. So, readers, I hope you're prepared for honesty. It may not be pretty. But I will begin updating more. I hope that you'll still read, and maybe learn from the things I'm doing in my life.

For now, I need to go lie down.
Goodnight.