I think I had a weekend worth bloggoling about.

Thursday evening, Josh and I decided we should have a small party. Living in an apartment, I really can't go beyond "small" anyway. The next day, Tomtom gets us a case of Rolling Rock and, having been unable to find Matador Tequila (RIDE THE BULL), picked up Durango triple sec instead. I don't know why, but there it is. We get back to the apartment, have a couple beers and play some Brawl. And realize that we didn't invite anyone else because we're idiots. But bro-time ended up being fun anyway, despite my disappointment.

The next day, no plans have been made. Usually that would be sad, but SURPRISE: its 50 degrees outside. The day will bring adventure! It starts with a trip to Drew's... we smoke pipes on the driveway with [extra surprise] James! Been a long time since I've talked to him; he's a really nice guy and we have fun. I get home and it's decided that tonight, Josh, Thomas, myself and Josh's "special friend" Aggie are going to go on smoke adventures at one of several places, including (but not limited to): Coon Rapids dam, Anoka dam, "THE BRANCH" and "THE TANK." We drive to THE BRANCH and hang out for awhile (everyone but Josh almost falls off) and then wind up in the parking lot at cub. Mario comes, mario goes... and then I have a brainstorm. Josh and Aggie are in the backseat, Tom and I are in the front. "I need to go inside to go to the bathroom and maybe buy a couple things," I say. "I'm going to go in, too," Thomas says. I breathe a sigh of relief, glad Tomtom picked up on what's happening. "We'll come too!" Josh says. Fail (NOTE: Josh made up for it the next day, and I'm very proud of him).

We get our snacks and our fizzydrinks and depart to bring Aggie home, and then wind up back at the apartment, just the 3 of us. SNAP: Let's go to Dani and Lisa's to chill and see the house I'll be living in. "I DON'T WANT TO, IM GOING TO GO HOME LIKE A NEWB," Thomas says. Josh and I wave a rather dismayed "farewell" and prepare to embark. A half hour later, we're smoking hookah with Dani and her friend Jamie. We giggle and snicker for about an hour or so, and I finally feel like we've made up for our [semi] fail Friday night. Josh is dropped at home and I am back at the apartment feeling quite sleepy. TRIPLE SURPRISE Drew wants to go chill at Coon Rapids dam, and I am ALLLLL ready to rock this bitch. BED.

FINALLY, Sunday. Sunday is 50 degrees and sunny again and I feel great. Absolutely friggen amazing. Go to Drew's with Josh for a pipe on the drive again, and then I have to drive to Brookdale to do taxes. This would ordinarily be very sad, save for the fact that today the weather is absolutely friggen amazing. And the taxes were filed online, so the return will come in like a week. And it's for $1,700... enough to pay off all my debt and then some.

I feel like I have pushed the "reset" button on life.

You should listen to Sugar Ray.

I love you all.

I have really great friends... REALLY great friends, and I'm really lucky for it. I'm not going to say that having or not having really good friends will necessarily make an impact on your overall life (I'm noticing more and more that being an introvert definitely has an upside), but it can sure as hell make it easier. That being said, I'm going to try to be a better friend myself. No one in life should ever have to be alone.

Yesterday, I was having a really shitty day. It seemed like pretty much everything that could go wrong did, and my hopes weren't very high for going to bed as anything but frustrated. But then Drew called me up and said he was bringing Tyler over, and I talked to Kyle for a little while... and all at once I forgot about the shit-storm that was my day. So thanks a lot guys; I really appreciate it.

Some shout-outs and stuff:

Tom:  Sorry again me and Josh gave you so much shit, last week and prior. If I start to do it again, tell me right away, but I don't think it'll be a problem anymore. You are the king of Man Weekend, after all.

Ayla:  You are so snuggly, thanks for hanging out with me.. and if you want to watch a movie this weekend or something let me know.

Josh:  I'm pretty happy that you and me are buddies now, and I regret that we weren't better friends in high school. I feel like you're the last piece in the puzzle that is our circle of friends, because we've got a pretty tight group now, and I like feeling like I belong somewhere. Tell me when the next meeting for our special project is ;-D

Drew:  You have literally spared my sanity, probably without realizing it. Yesterday is one example of many; thanks for taking time out of your [extremely] busy days to chill with me. Also, we need to play halo2 and finish "Mega Idea" within the next couple days methinks.

Kyle:  Thank you for not just getting pissed at me when we last talked... that was one of the bigger stress issues I was dealing with and I feel better knowing that I don't have to worry about it now. Also, thanks for the bread you beautiful animal.

Tyler:  No one looks cooler than the guy that brings snacks for halo2. No one. And in a geek squad uniform! I'm glad we're buddies again, and I'm sorry I can be such an ass. Also, thanks for the cigs that one night.

Chris:  Work usually isn't too bad for me, but thanks for being there to reassure me in those moments of insecurity. You're really the one who makes this place fun to go to (even in the early, early morning). I hope you'll come over and chill with me sometime so we can have our artsy-fartsy day of book-writing/painting/music. I'm really looking forward to it!

Ryan:  I'm glad we're friends again. You are the over-the-top element that most groups of friends would benefit from, and its fun to see you and Drew do your thing. Ra-ra candlelit?

Bubbles:  You will be sorely missed when you go... don't be surprised to hear talk of a road trip to AZ from MN in a couple months. Now that we'll have a contact in the area (particularly one where we could probably pitch tents for free) we'd be dumb not to! You're always the calm, collected friend, and I think it goes without saying that you are the most socially astute of the group. I know you don't like to always be that guy that people talk to when they have problems, but thank you so much for hearing me out the times I have had issues. You have no idea how much it means to have someone I know I can trust and talk to.

Once I have some money saved up within the next month or so, I want you guys to know that I plan on throwing a small celebration, which will involve about 60 minutes of halo2 that I will provide as well as snacks and beer. SO BE READY, BITCHES.

I love you all.
-Mike

Blog, I must regale you with a story. A wonderful, heartwarming story.

Friday afternoon. We at work had just finished our (sort of) annual potluck and door decorating contest and were relaxing at Legends Bar. Having gotten there late, we found the rest of the office in a quiet[er] spot in the back. The lights were dim. We ordered our drinks and chatted until Tom interrupted everyone; "Shelly has an announcement." Shelly (one of our supervisors, she's really really nice) stood up and gently cleared her throat. As the soft light cast across her face, she smiled and said "I'm pregnant." Now this may not be big news for some, but I think if I added a little background it might make more sense why I was so excited to hear this. I think its pretty typical that for people my age (20 and under), its not uncommon to hear those same words from a younger friend and immediately think "It was an accident" or "condom broke." But Shelly is and has been married for awhile, and much more importantly, Shelly would (I think anyway) make an incredible mother. I really can't say anything more about it because words really can't do justice to just how happy I am for. Should you (Shelly) happen to read this, I know it may sound kind of weird to write about this seeing as I really don't actually know you that well... but every now and then I'm especially struck by the moment, and I suppose this is just one of those. But congratulations nonetheless!

On top of that, I found out recently that one of my friends at work, Zak, is engaged! I think the part of the reason I'm as happy to hear all of this as I am is because its the first time I've met people that I really truly thought would make a happy, loving family... it's these sort of things that make life sweet.

I'm not going to touch much on what I've been up to lately, so I'll summarize for sake of memory:

- Sledding at Knox was a ton of fun, and I'm happy to have been there to share it with all of you. Particularly "5 guys, 1 sled." It made me think of "2 girls, 1 cup" and I lol'ed.
- Hanging with all of you on Saturday was a blast; thanks for coming over! Happy birthday Reed :) and you all should be aware we are totally gonna do that again soon.
- Work is going great and so is my motivation... really looking forward to the coming months (especially skiing).
- I'm going to try to find some volunteer work to do around the end of this month/beginning of January. If anyone is interested in helping out, let me know! I think it will be fun to get a group of us going; I'm thinking along the lines of shoveling old people's driveways and getting a food drive going.

I love you, whoever you are, and I hope we can get that love to the people who really need it.

-Mike

[Let me preface that this blog is more for me than you, so if you don't finish it I wouldn't get too torn up]

I have one free year at the end of this semester. My only responsibility will be to get to work on time everyday. And oh the places I'll go.

I can save some money. And not just a little money, either, quite a bit of money. Enough to buy some comfort and pay for school when I go back.
 
I haven't touched my xbox in two months... that'll be nice. I miss playing Halo with Kyle and Derreck, I feel more connected to them when we do.

I can go on a road trip... pretty sure Josh mentioned a little getaway to Cali.

I can finally get some time to workout more often instead of this once a week shit.

I can catch up on my weak areas... I'm thinking about taking some math credits, maybe a couple calc classes and a statistics at Anoka Ramsey so I can be on top of my degree when I get back to the U.

I want to go backpacking and canoeing; I feel like that's something that everyone would enjoy (in particular, Thomas Drew and Josh).

I want to have time for music again! Those concerts we used to do, I've never had such a thrill in my life, and writing music/jamming with Drew, Ben and Jen has been pretty awesome, too.

In one year, I'll be living in a house with my own personal jam space and several road signs to boot.

In one year, I'll have the motivation and ambition and spark and fire to excel again at everything I used to do so well.

Before this time next year I'll have the tattoo I've been saving for; I'll have been skydiving and bungee jumping; I'll have a cell phone that actually motherfucking works; I'll have a belt of some sort or another from Scot; I'll have continued to adore my family and gotten closer with my brother [bud if you happen to be reading this, just know I think you're a pretty cool dude]; I'll have been a part of the Big Brothers and Big Sisters program and had a chance to get to know some short shit who, despite being 7 years old, can still kick my ass at Halo; I'll have planted a grove of trees with some people that actually give a shit about the environment and helped put on a Free Hugs campaign; I'll have attended Man Weekend for a 2nd time... and we'll have done manly shit like chugging a beer in bed and punching each other in the face so we can put out the big fucking fire we made with the blood and teeth we spit out; I'll have time to waste nights impulsively and wake up in unfamiliar houses; I'll have gone to some pretty sweet concerts and put on a few good ones myself; I'll have sat in a bar with Thomas drinking a something or other and it will have been good; I'll have been to a bonfire and someone will have been playing an acoustic guitar; I'll have gorged myself intellectually on a few good books, a few amazing books, and a few books that step on some toes; I'll have doubled my worth in the fiscal year (that one sounds sort of dumb, but you probably haven't suffered one of kyle's massive inferiority complexes either); I'll have sat in 3rd planet studios with Drew after-hours [dubious, illegal activity] and admire the work that he does; I will have gone skiing and Josh will have [this time at least] refrained from chugging Red Bull and subsequently seizuring off a 20 foot lift into a near-death experience (you should whip out those hospital pics again buddy).

Again, if you actually read all the way through, I'm sorry; I know most of that was pretty dry, but I'm a list-maker and making lists helps me straighten out all the things in my head [gay joke here]. If you have any high-minded ideas for a trip or adventure, let me know. I'm. Interested.

Whoever you are, you should know that Carbombs are tasty and Seasons is an amazing album.