Jump Run Pass....

The title of this blog is a dedication to a man I met only once who I found out recently died in a car accident with a parked semi-truck. This is the name of the sports blog that he was editor in chief for. It's really sad.

I received an invite a few day ago on Facebook from this guy to some sort of event. I never read the event right away. Half the time I'm just trying to get the notification symbol to not be red anymore. So like most events it went into hiding until I was bored at work and needed to do something other than watch the same commercials all day. Yesterday, I began browsing through my events and came across his and when I read it, it made little sense to me. "Celebration of Life service?" I assumed it was a religious gathering of sorts and when I clicked on the event to see more, I realized the life being celebrated was the one who added me. He was dead. Someone (I later found out was his mother) was able to use his account to invite all of his friends to his wake. I didn't know how to feel. We talk and post and write as if we will be here forever. As if we all will live well into our 90's....

I only met the guy once. He spoke in the third person and used his own name as a catch phrase often times.  I thought he was full of himself, but it was also charming...I didn't know until recently that he had his hand in so many things: I believe he was a substitute teacher, he trained people at a gym and on the track, he wrote for a sports blog, hell, was editor of it....He did a lot and updated a lot and was traveling a lot and I say all this to say....That for some reason, even though I didn't know him well, his passing is bothering me.

Am I doing enough in my life right now that if I were to suddenly pass away I had anything to show for it? believe it or not, we all want to be remembered in some way. Death doesn't often allow you the time to figure out it's about to happened for you to get your life in order...Much like this guy, it is sudden and without warning. The fact that his event page has 250 people saying they will be there says something about how many lives he has touched. I can not say I've done that much in my 25 years of life... how depressing...

When I read about what happened I was taking a break at work from the mundane. I thought about it for the rest of the day in little spurts; how sad of a story it was. He was in the passenger seat and they ran right underneath the truck at a high speed....the driver survived, but barely. Before going to bed a women outside was screaming the name of someone over and over again. I rolled my eyes and thought, eventually she'll get tired and leave, or the police will chase her off. But at 3 a.m. this morning I was awakened by the hoarse voice of the women from crying out all night. This time the police did show up and I finally looked out the window and saw a very upset woman  and at least eight officers, seven of which were standing around, joking, and talking as if they were not responding to a call....from my window. It looked as if she was in desperate search for her lost teddy bear, and the police we're just going through the motions of writing down the information so they could leave and get back to the real work...

I wrote all this because seeing her--oily hair, dirty sneakers, ripped pants--reminded me of him. She reminded me of life in general. Calling out trying to get someone to take her seriously about what ever it is she has to say...but everyone shrugging her off going about business as if she will always be. Life is dirty and desperate, but it is also beautiful in it's own way. my Facebook friend's life is over and like that, the world turns. For me, it's a scary thought. We dismiss life so easily as an ongoing entity. We have nothing but time. Every time I talk to someone about how I feel like I'm not doing enough, I'm told, "How old are you? 20-something?? You have time!" But do I really? I believe I do and so does everyone else, but we really don't know. This event has caused me to look at what I have done so far in my life and I feel like I've done close to nothing. My friend and I were the same age and he had a hand in so many things and helped so many people....Maybe that was his main purpose in life, but what is mine?

Today his body will be on view at one of the funeral homes in California where I believe he lived. Today is also--according to Facebook-- his birthday. It's not really his birthday. His birthday is in June. What a little trickster he was.

Fat Girl Me

So If you look at a picture from June of last year and look at one of me now you will notice 2 things: 1. my dreads have grown in nicely and 2. Geeezzz I've gotten fat. I know, I know. That seems to be a terrible thing to sit down and look at, but even when I try to pretend like the scale is lying to me, I can't because I have photographic proof that I've gained back 20 lbs. And the excuses! Man, I can't work out because I need to make sure my room is in order. My room's not in order because I have to work, I have to work because if I don't I'll be homeless...well that last one is true, but I do know that I am simply not making time to workout, just like how I was not making time to write because, "I need the right setting to do so" and my room stays a mess so I can't. 

But it's not just the working out, it's the eating. I used to be fine with tiny portions now I can't tell if I'm full unless I'm bursting. I have all of these things to my disposal at work: cookies, chips, soda, burritos. I don't drink soda so that isn't a problem for me, but I've racked up quite a sugar addiction and I literally get an itch for candy or something sweet after meals. That definitely can't be good. I'm starting to think I'm not only addicted to sugar, but to overeating in general. Eating makes me happy usually, and it taste good. I like the feeling of eating something tasty and when I'm bored I always take a quick look in the fridge for something to munch on. I tell you, I need a 12 steps program to lower my habit down to "eating for survival", not for fun...

I don't have to go to work until late tomorrow. I plan on cleaning my room and finishing up an article for the online publication I write for --nerdcaliber.com-- and getting some pilates in. But the truth is...because I don't want to really work out...I'll have breakfast, take a shower, peruse facebook for memes and watch How I Met Your Mother before making a small attempt at organizing my room, only to  fall asleep and wake up just in time to head out to work. *sigh*

Sleeping with a bottle of...

pills.

In this heavily over medicated world we live in, I can honestly say that I am one of the many whom rely on meds to keep my mood stable.  I take prozac for my chronic depression (thought I'm told by a few people that that is not a real disease). For months now things have been pretty okay...that is until I switched doctors and forgot to get a refill...now I have to wait a month and I'm trying to stretch out the last week and a half by slowly self lowering the dose. I'd rather just get a prescription, but doing so is almost impossible which makes little sense...isn't half of the country taking a life long medication?

I bring all that up to say, I'm starting to get a few of those residual feelings that I've stashed away deep down in that tiny little box we all have. Oh who am I kidding...for me, It's definitely still baggage. I wish I could leave it on the curb Wednesday and Friday with the rest of the trash, but I think these attachments to the past go much deeper than just being able to leave it somewhere.

First off, I'm a little hurt that Mr.X didn't move to New York. I didn't ask him to. He asked me...and I thought about it and decided to assist him. Now it is almost like we never had that conversation; like the thought never existed. I want to blame some unconscious fear of his, but it could be anything really. I recently started dreaming of the west coast and I feel I need to sit down in person and tell him how I feel about his abandonment of his big city dream; and essentially of me. Obviously there are a lot more issues surrounding us, but I came to the realization that as much as I love him in my life, eventually we will have to go down separate paths and it makes me sad..

Then there is the 'literal' dreams I keep having. Maybe I really do need that prescription to keep sane, because too often I dream of my ex. It doesn't help that whenever I think I'm fine with the break up, that someone either calls, texts, or says out loud, "SO ARE YOU OVER BLAAAANNNKKK!??" or recently and even worse, "Hey, didn't you used to date a tattoo artist? Was his name Blank? Not to cause any trouble,but...he's now dating my friend." I'm sure you don't mean to cause any trouble...but I also know the last thing I want/need to know is how my ex continues to find these relationships that are one degree away from me. I mean, for crying out loud a few of the girls he cheated on me with I went to high school with...In the end, I'm still in love...and it hurts to know that. It sucks too, because I'm still carrying that huge bag around with me...even though I have...

A new boyfriend. A very sweet, sometimes weird, but always thoughtful MAN who can play the saxophone, write plays, and sing Boyz II Men perfectly when we do Karaoke. *sigh* He's pretty wonderful. But the truth is, I know I can't manage a brand spanking new Marc Jacob  bag  (well...more like Fossil lol) and a duffle bag, AND a freakin' garbage dumpster all at once. Something has got to give...and because my feelings have grown exponentially for this guy...I realize...I am scared shitless of the aspect of trusting him to do anything. But I feel like this guy might be different... I mean, I told him for the next month I couldn't have sweets and when I saw him, he brought me apples, "in case of cravings." I couldn't ask for more of a nice guy.... sigh...why the heck am I worried about this...damn you prozac....