30 years and 13 months

The last 13 months have brought upon a lot in my life: The birth of my daughter Allura A new career Turning 30 Produced my first film Wrote my first script Made many new friends Lost a friend Death of a family member On Nov 29th of 2010 I started with a new bank. This bank was completely different than the one that I had worked at for almost 7 years since graduating college. I knew I was in for a challenge and its come with many ups and many downs. I've learned a lot about banking and myself in that year. I've been challenged like never before. I've won some challenges and lost some, but I've learned a few things with every win/loss. My team is fantastic and keeps me on my toes. I look forward to many more days with them. I hit 30 this past January as well. Let me tell you, my body has repeatedly told me that it is 30 and I can't do certain things anymore. The first thing it told me is that I shouldn't be eating large amounts of food because I'll be paying the price. Getting old sucks! Since being in the working world for 8 years its hard to stay up past midnight on the weekends to squeeze in a few extra films or hours of video game play. The more I try and hold on to some of the things I used to do, the more I realize I need to do more things that I haven't done before. Instead of staying up late I should go to bed early and start working in the yard early instead of putting it off until the following afternoon. Allura being born was too awesome to contain in one or more blogs. Having my little guy Reeve was fun but a little girl is really a different experience and one that brings out my soft side. She's my little pumpkin and I will do whatever I can to protect her from all the villainous scum out in society. One thing that hasn't changed in the last 13 months leading up to the end of my 30th year: that's me. I realize I'm the same person i've been for the past 12 years or so since graduating high school. I'm fun loving, a big kid, wears my heart on my sleeve and an open book. I think sometimes my personality has held me back in certain aspects of my life and has helped me in others. I know one thing for certain, I need to start being more assertive with not just myself but in everything I do. I've always wanted to do many things and always just kind of waited for them to happen instead of going out and grabbing them. I need to start speaking my mind more. I tend to bottle things up and let them simmer and eventually they get to a boiling point and that's when I express my anger/frustration. I need to find a more useful outlet and I think I found that my muse likes it when I'm angry. She's shown up again today after my day turned out to be not such a good one. Will my creativity yield anything? Probably nothing more than a few hundred words of the short story or so I have rattling around in my head. I'm sure a lot of my friends will appreciate this blog since they all know I need to write more. I also need to keep up the emphasis on photography. My creativity ebbs and flows depending on the season and what else is going on. Not only do I thank my wife for putting up with me but I thank my friends for all the great times over the past few years. There have been ups and downs and everything in between. I'm me, i'm staying me, I'm a horse of a different color and I don't know any other way to be. I should embrace that more and stop thinking about what other people of me. I tend to let others opinions of me dictate how i feel about myself from time to time and that stops. I'm going to do the best I can at everything I do. I'm going to succeed and make the best life I can for my family and myself. Not everyone gets me but I get me.