Things are slow in my life right now. I’m finishing school, working part time, playing volleyball, and that’s really it. I’m much older than the majority of people I meet at school, so there isn’t much chance to socialize there. Most of them are either living in dorms or partying in campus apartments. Not that I don’t have friends at school –I actually have quite a few really good friends there– I’m just in a different place than them (although, not, because we’re all in the same program at school!) Anyways, it’s just different. I’m all for going out and having a good time, but since my closest friends in town are married and/or have kids (or dogs,) those outings are few and far between. But at least I save money!

Volleyball has been good but again, most of those guys live together or have played together for years. It’s hard to break into that group. But I’m trying to concentrate on just improving my game and having a great time. We’re headed to Michigan State University this weekend for a 2-day tournament, our biggest of the year so far.

So yeah, things get a little lonely sometimes. Which is fine usually, because I’m totally cool on my own. I like peace and quiet and downtime. But sometimes it gets to be too much and I get that longing to be social.

I’ve waited a while to comment on this, but things with Shannon and I are good. We’ve emailed a few times in the past weeks and it looks like we’ll be able to be friends after all is said and done. The breakup was very hard on her, harder than on me for reasons I can’t really explain (or don’t wish to get into on the internet.) She took the time she needed to sort things out and she’s in a better place now. I’ll always respect the time I spent with Shannon, and I’ll always be grateful for what she contributed to my life. Like I’ve said before, I can’t say enough about how great of a person she is and I hope for nothing but the best for her in the future.

But life moves on, and here I am in the newest phase of my life. Although I find myself wishing it was December already and the end of the semester, I keep trying to enjoy the here and now, because you never know what may happen. I’m not actively pursuing any kind of relationship at the moment, but I’m not ruling anything out either. What I am trying to do is to respect myself and whoever I might meet because of the fact that I just got out of a 3-year relationship. I have no intention to date just to date. And I want to make sure I’m not rebounding or trying to fill a spot in my life that Shannon once occupied. With that said, the past few months have made it clear that I am and have been ready to move on. I think that I was earlier before the breakup but I just didn’t know it or didn’t want to admit it. And I think that is why it wasn’t hard for me afterward. It’s difficult to explain and even to think about, but I know that now I’m working with a clean slate. There has been enough time to analyze and put that period of my life into perspective. I’m glad that it happened, but I am also glad that I am able to move on. Move on cautiously and responsibly, but move on.

So yeah, here we are. Like I said, I don’t know what will happen in the future, but I’m confident that this period in my life is working out. It’s preparing me for what is coming next. I don’t know what that is, but I’m excited for it. 2009 should be a good year. I’ll (finally) be graduating with my bachelors degree. I’ll be job hunting and hopefully will make the first moves of my career. I might move, I might stay. Sometimes the unknown can be more exciting than anything.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. Feel free to leave a comment below with any advice or whatever you might have in your head at the moment. I appreciate you taking the time to read about me!

No, this isn’t a movie review, unfortunately (though I did review that movie.)

This is about Shannon and I. As many of you already know, we broke up about a week ago after over three years of being together. It was definitely not an easy decision, and it was mostly mine to make. Shannon did not want to break up, and was leaning more towards taking some time apart. We discussed, and without getting into too many details, we are now broken up.

I can’t justify the whole thing in this blog post, and I won’t try to. And I can’t sum up our three years together or what Shannon means to me either. I’m not even going to attempt it. Shannon knows how I feel for her, and hopefully our friends do as well. That is what is important.

What is also important is that I do what is right for me at this time. And that is to get my life in order and get things straight. I need to finish school — two more semesters left! — and find a job. I need to figure out what I want in life and who I really am. I need to stand on my own two feet for once in my life and succeed.

It is possible I might see other people. I am not specifically looking for that right now, but I’m just going to live my life. I will continue to stay friends with Shannon because she’s a very special person in my life. I will continue to be friends with her friends and family if they will allow that. I’m just kind of….over here now.

No one knows what will happen in the next 6 months, year, 2 years. I’m not closing any doors, but I’m hoping to open a few new ones up. I don’t really have the money to open up too many new doors, but I’m open to the idea.

So yeah, there you go. This is not meant to be an inspiring talk about life or anything, and I’m not trying to say I have all the answers or that what I’m doing is the absolute right thing to do. I don’t know. I’m just trying to be Brad.

So there you have it. Leave a comment if you’re so inclined. I’d like to know who’s reading about me.

I’m copying this from doahleigh. It’s been ten days since I moved out to my own place. Some things are better, some worse, and some just downright weird. Let’s explore, shall we?

Good

• I get to put things where I want, why I want. Not that big of a deal, but since this is my first place on my own, it’s been fun. My stuff finally has room to spread out.
• Like doahleigh, no coordinating meals. I eat at all different times of the day; pretty much when I’m hungry. It’s 8:35pm now and I probably won’t start making dinner for another half hour.
• A nice big queen bed to stretch out in. And I get to breath and snore all I want.
• This new place has windows facing east, so the sun shines in the morning but doesn’t heat things up at the prime of my working day at 4pm.
• A garage! I get to put my car and my junk in it. It’s pretty clean right now, though.
• Establishing myself: Even at 28, I’ve never had this much responsibility all to myself. It will be fun to get my life going.
• Got my own Netflix. Batman cartoons and Will Ferrell movies here I come!

Bad

• My milk doesn’t last. I used to be able to steal Shan’s, but now there’s a lone Vitamin D gallon in the fridge with no Skim to talk to.
• No roommate to split bills with. Hrmm.
• It’s boring. I have work and school stuff to do, but when I don’t do that, I’m bored. To death. I walk around the apartment looking for something to do. Today I rode my bike for 7.5 miles (I was bored when I got back so I measured on Google Maps.) I check my PO Box everyday with much anticipation, only to get nothing. Taking out the trash breaks up the monotony. There’s nothing good on TV in the summer.
• Shan came to see me this weekend, but other than that we talk maybe a couple times on the phone in the week and that’s it. A few emails here and there, a few text messages. It’s strange not talking to or seeing her everyday.

Strange

• I have this itch to keep everything clean and tidy. I bought lots of cleaning supplies and have actually cleaned a little. I pick up things a lot. I make my bed. Maybe it will pass but it’s not really…me. But I like it.
• I tried to get some beer at the local grocery store. Nope, it’s a dry township (or whatever.) Ok, I’ll try the store in the next town. Nope, we don’t sell beer on Sunday in this county. HUH. I finally picked up some at the store yesterday (Monday, in the next town over.) I’m not even that much of a drinker at home, but I needed some beer in my place, right? Well why’s it got to be so damn hard?
• I’ve made four trips back to Shan’s place for more of my stuff. I still have a couple loads there.
• Shan and Robin walk around their place in their underwear. Why did I move out again?

So yeah, it’s an adjustment period. Hopefully I’ll find some stuff to do. Hopefully Shan and I will figure out our crap. I’m sure it will all work out somehow.

Thanks to all of you who were worried that I died in the storm. It’s taking me a little while to answer all the emails, but I promise, I’ll get to each and every one of them.

Wait, there were none. Everyone hates me.

Just kidding, not EVERYONE hates me. Right?

Anyways, I got a new haircut and Ed twittered that I should show pics. Fine, here it is. It’s a self pic, so I look like a freak.

A lot of people expect me to be conscious of my hair loss. I am conscious of it, but it really doesn’t bother me. It’s the least of my problems in life. I’m seriously just glad to at least have most of my hair!

Even the barber lady was weird about it:

Brad: I’d like it clipped all over

Barber: Ok, what number?

Brad: I don’t know, I’ve never done this before.

Barber: Ok, we can start with a 4 on the side and see how that looks, ok?

BZZZZZZZ - Looks fine.

Barber: Want me to just clip it over a comb on the top?

Brad: No, I’m not trying to hide anything. Just do the whole thing.

Barber: Are you sure? You won’t be able to do anything with it.

Brad: Yeah, that’s great. Whole thing.

Barber: Ok….

BZZZZZZ - Turns me toward mirror

Barber: Ok, there you go. The whole thing with a 4.

Brad: Thanks…

I like it and she thought I was crazy. Am I crazy?

There’s a post by Shannon on her website that you should all take a look at, read thoroughly, think about, and then comment on. It’s about women changing their last names to match their husbands.

I’ve commented on the article, so you can read my thoughts there. But I thought I’d send over anyone here that hasn’t read it so you can give your thoughts (I’m looking at you, Scott)

Here’s the link: Doahleigh.com - Last Names: to change or not to change

Just writing a quick update to log what we’re doing in Florida.

We drove down from Thursday to Saturday, making overnight stops in Louisville and Montgomery. We barely missed the big tornados in southern Alabama, and actually drove through the county where the tornados had gone through.

After arriving, we started to take it easy, and stayed inside because of the cool temperature (67). Shan’s wonderful Grandpa and Grandma are playing hosts to us for the week, and they treated us to a yummy lasagne meal. After that we watched TV a while before calling a night.

Sunday consisted of sleeping in, sitting on the balcony in the sun, driving out to see a little town for rich people (including one of Michael Jordan’s houses,) came back for a nap, ate yummy ham sandwishes, and then watched tv and played some cards. Temperatures were low today as well, only topping out at around 62. So, we have yet to go poolside, though we did take a cold, windy walk on the beach today.

Shan and I are using TurboTax to do our taxes this year….we think. Shan did hers up and wasn’t quite sure that the results were what they were supposed to be. I’ll be doing mine in the next few days.

Has anyone else used these programs? What do you think, would you recommend them?

Yeah, things are going to look like this for a while until I can complete a new design. SO DEAL WITH IT. haha

But for real, I’ll get something done here after I finish my 3 other big huge web projects, plus go to school full time, plus work part time, plus spend time with my girlfriend.

So yeah, someday.

My love’s birthday is today! Shan turns 26 today (I’m taking the chance that she’s still young enough to where it’s ok if I reveal her age to the world.)

I’ve never met anyone who’s made me feel more lucky or fortunate than Shannon. She’s shown me so much support, care and love that it’s sickening….sickening! We’re exact opposites and the same person all at the same time, which makes absolutely no sense to anyone but us. Our arguments and fights are the stuff of legend but somehow we come around and realize that we’re so frikkin’ in love that all that stuff doesn’t matter.

I love you honey, and I’m glad you’ve been on Earth for 26 years. Thanks for spending almost two of them so far with me.

Ok, so I got a Nintendo Wii a couple of weeks ago, as an early Christmas present from my sweetie Shannon. First we had to sit in line for it, which was a different experience in itself, and which Shan explained very well on her website.

So once I finally got it all hooked up (that didn’t take too long, there aren’t that many cords,) and then connected to the internet (also very simple, it’s all wireless…but you do need wireless or you’re screwed,) I was off.

First thing to do was to play the pack-in game, Wii Sports.

Wii Sports is probably the most fun people will be having with their Wiis for the next few months. First of all it comes with the system, second it’s designed to show off the motion-sensing controller, and lastly, there just aren’t really that many good games out for the Wii right now. But more on that later.

Wii Sports contains 5 little mini-games: Tennis, Bowling, Golf, Baseball, and Boxing. Besides those, it also has a daily fitness program you can do that keeps track of your progress and gives you an “age” based on how well you do. Do really well and you can get as low as 20, do bad and, well, you’ll be older as far as the game is concerned. I’ve really liked this aspect of the game because it gives me something to do each day instead of just playing the same sports over and over. The daily fitness program will switch up between the sports and have you do 3 different training exercises each day. The best I’ve gotten so far is age 28.

Tennis is probably the most active and fun sport you can play. Especially 2-player. You can play up to 4 people at once so I’m looking forward to getting some friends together soon. Shan and I played against each other in Tennis, Golf and Bowling, and all are pretty fun. The learning curve as far as controls is pretty small: You swing the controller like a tennis racket or a baseball bat or a golf club, or your arms like you would when bowling or boxing.

I haven’tplayed Boxing too much because the controls have been pretty non-responsive for me. There’s a lot you can do as far as placement of your hands on the screen according to where you’re holding the controllers in “real life.” So anyways, that hasn’t been played much.

I also purchased Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blast. I had bought Super Monkey Ball for the Nintendo Gamecube and it was pretty darn fun. Probably the weirdest and hardest game ever, but still fun. So this one is much harder, and definitely more weird. It tries to use the motion controller a little too much: you hold the Wii remote horizontally, and you tilt it each direction, which in turn tilts the entire world on the monkey ball game. This causes your little monkey ball to roll in whatever direction and you tilt your way through to get the monkey ball to go through the maze and finally end up at the goal. Well it’s very hard and frustrating, and I haven’t gotten far because I’ve wanted to throw my controller through the TV on a few occasions already. There’s also 50 different party games which would all be more fun with multiple people, so I haven’t been able to try them all out yet. Overall, I wouldn’t buy this game again if I had to.

Besides the games, the Wii has impressed me with it’s overall experience. One thing that I relly like abou tit is that it plays Gamecube games. So I’ve still been playing NBA Live 2005 on it a lot. It’s got ports for the Gamecube controllers on the top of the system (the wireless Wavebird controller for the Gamecube is my favorite controller ever,) and places for memory cards.

You can also download select games over the internet through the Wii via what Nintendo calls a “Virtual Console.” I loaded up some “Wii Points,” which costs $1.00 for every 100 points, with my credit card and went shopping. I ended up buying Super Mario 64 for 1000 Wii Points (or $10) and will save my other 1000 points for upcoming released older games. They release a bunch of games every Monday, and the selection right now isn’t too good. They have NES, SuperNES, Nintendo 64, Sega Genesis, and TurboGrafx 16 games available. I’ve though about getting Sonic the Hedgehog and Altered Beast, but I think I’ll wait and see what else is released first.

The Wii menu is set up into channels, and one of the channels is called the “Mii channel.” Here you go in and design caricatures of people (yourself and others if you want) that will represent you in games that utilize the Miis, like Wii Sports. I also heard the upcoming games like Wario Ware and The Sims will use your designed Miis. Shannon and I made each other and she made her sisters and her friend Robin, and I made Ed. Scott and Megan made themselves on their Wii and sent them over via the internet. It’s pretty silly, but still fun.

Pretty soon there will be News, Forecast and Internet channels available, so that you can sign up for news feeds, get a Google Earth-like forecast, and surf the ‘Net. But these aren’t available right now.

There’s a Photo channel available right now, which will read photos off your SD card and you can send them to people and draw on them and stuff. Haven’t used this yet and most likely won’t, it’s pretty silly, but could be nice for people who don’t have a computer. But if you have a digital camera then you probably have a computer. Oh well.

I guess that’s it. The graphics and stuff aren’t that impressive as far as an update over the Gamecube, but if the games are fun it doesn’t matter. There’s a game coming out in January called Wii Play that will do some more Wii Sports-like stuff like Pool and darts so that should be fun. And I’m looking forward to Super Mario Galaxy, Wario Ware, Metroid, and any NBA game.

I’d definitely recommend a Wii to anyone looking for a video game system. It’s just plain fun, and the games aren’t too hard to grasp so that you can just sit down and be playing right away without having to learn how to play.

So that’s it! Go buy a Wii and then make fun of yourself for buying and playing with something called a “Wii.”