24 Reflections

Laying in bed, the day before our big trip to Orlando for my 24th Birthday thinking. I guess its time for a reflection of the past year.
So this time last year I was sitting at a table of people who were considering or had already turned there back on me. In this bar in Kalamazoo, Michigan, I was pretending things were okay and hiding behind smiles, its was hard, living with someone you grew close to in two years time and then after almost a week of time together in person it was over and all that was left was a bitter taste that we both suffered with. How can someone who came off so sweet turn out to be so rude and harsh? I wonder if I did something wrong, but I can't worry about such things now. It was a rough period of my life, it was sort of the limbo of Dante's Inferno but it was a limbo of my own making. All because of my inexperience and a bad choice, but i've learned since then and id theirs anything i've learned its that life is a growing process and we are constantly learning from our experiences.
A breaking point was hit in Michigan, and I reached out to anyone that would listen, even if most of the people I was close with weren't there to listen. Somewhere in all of that cold emptiness I felt inside of me, part of me knew I needed to do something. Thats when I met my now current roommate and one of my closest and best friends, Michael Varvel. Meeting him and moving down here is one of the best decisions i've made, if I never made it, i'd be scared to think of where i'd be today.
Since moving down here, Michael has made it more than welcoming for me. I've met lots of people and friends and shared my creativity and personal life with people when me and he started Bears On The Coast. Its been quite a change, but a good one, i'm glad to be having a birthday this year with people who care about me and I care about them. My friends are like my family and keep me strong, I thank them all for sticking with me.

Dustin's 24th Birthday & Drunken Straight Boys

My 24th Birthday is coming up, we are going down to Orlando for the weekend. So far the current plan is to go down on Friday, pick up James from Orlando Airport, and then get unpacked for the evening. Saturday, we wake up early, go to Disney till early afternoon, then come back and relax before dinner at Hamburger Mary's that evening, and possibly going to P House afterwards. Then on Sunday, wake up early and go to either Disney or Universal, then hang at the hotel and go to dinner at Stevi B's and then P House. Monday we will be packing and getting ready to leave, we will have lunch with James and drop him off at the airport around the afternoon and then head back up to Gainesville. Its a very long list of stuff but its all stuff I hope to do. I am looking forward to seeing a lot of my friends. Glad to be getting out of the house and doing someone fun.

So its almost 3am here and Michael was woken up by the sound of a very loud drum set which was being played above our heads. It was like a rock concert was going on and we even had the sound of an audience of drunken guys and girls. We got dressed and went out to the lobby where Michael went upstairs to find not only was the tenant above us awake but the tenant upstairs on the other side was hanging out with them as well. So Michael asks them "Can you please keep it down, its two in the morning and were trying to get some sleep?". Silence, thats all I heard for almost a minute and then "The way you put it sounds like a reasonable request." and then we went back inside. Ten minutes later, the drums are back and Michael is on the phone with the police, the arrive, watch the house for three minutes and then leave... Thats not what we asked but okay. They are at least being quiet now, and i'm gonna try to head to bed.