A Wonderful Night

I had a freaking amazing day/date with Sara in Seattle.

So in bland play-by-play style, here we go...
We bused into Seattle together and talked all the way. Upon our arrival, we went to eat some food at the Seattle Center food court and had burritos the size of an infant. We then wandered over to the Key Arena and hung out around the fountain (which is the second time we'd been there and where the first picture of the both of us was taken) before the show started. We went into the show and talked quite a bit before it started (Sara answered tons of questions I had about live sound about array positioning, frequency dispersion, reverberation - direct reflections and more). The show (Trans-Siberian Orchestra) started and it was such a cool experience!

Awesome music played with such expertise and super-super cool lighting! All the while the show was going on we were having a wonderful time enjoying it as well as talking every once and a while about different aspects of the show, ranging from technical to musical, and I just kept thinking about how cool it was to have such a friend to be by my side, someone who I could talk to about the things that excite me (who actually understands me) and share awesome - and not so awesome as well - moments with.


Following the show, we tried to go see FOH on the main floor but were thwarted in our efforts. I then took Sara in a bit of a wild direction to confuse her as I had a (barely planned) surprise in store for her... which was the Space Needle! I think I only have been up there once and that very well may have been when I was only about 5 years old not to mention that we both wanted to go as we are in the process of bidding our adieus to Seattle for now. It was so special going up there as we both were very excited and it actually was quite romantic.

Being up there with Sara reminded me of the many reasons why I'm with her. Among the site seeing and figuring out where everything was in relation to us we talked a lot more just about our lives and the direction that we are going, about us, and something about that moment just made me feel so very close to her.

A beautiful day spent with a beautiful girl who also happens to be my best friend and the love of my life.

COMPLETEly Forgot

This very well may have been THE scariest moment in my life so far.

Have you ever had it happen where you completely forgot something? And I'm not talking about, "Oh I'm so so sorry I like completely forgot our little get together, my bad." I'm talking about where there was something that someone reminded you of and you have absolutely no clue what they are talking about. This just happened to me.

Tonight, we had dinner, and it was a fairly pleasant one at that. Then afterward we are all hanging around, my mom, my brother, and I, and my mom mentions to me, "Ahren, it's Friday night, it's your dishes night." I quickly retorted back, "No it's not, Tuesday's my dishes night." She replied, "Yes, Tuesday and Friday." I didn't know what to say except, "No, my dishes night is Tuesday and then I wash dishes on Sunday morning as well." It was then that my brother chimed in, "No, Ahren, I know you do dishes on Friday because when you started doing dishes on Friday, I switched dishes to Thursday night."

Now sometimes it'll happen where I will forget something and then be reminded of it and then remember or sometimes I will forget something, be reminded about it and vaguely remember what they are talking about. Never have I had an experience, until now, where I was told something and didn't have a clue what the person was talking about. At first, I was confused, then defensive and then I became scared. What is happening to my mind? Is this some sort of sick joke? Are they just trying to get me to do more chores? Out of everything in my body one of the things I value the most is my brain and my intelligence and I've always had a great sense of memory albeit sometimes selective though. This time was not one of those. I have racked my mind over and over and over again trying to remember just the tiniest tidbit, word, even feeling, memory, anything! but I have no recollection of doing my regular dishes on a Friday night.

In all honesty, I'm scared. I don't know what is happening to me or if it's normal. My mom and brother tell me it is but this has never happened to me before. I've always been able to remember something even if it was just a sense of the notion. This is the first time I have drawn a total blank and it scares me so much.

I want a comfort hug.
:'(

Website Completed: My Life Has Returned!

Exciting News!
I have a life again!
After a super long haul, my current website project is done. I know many of my friends and family have noticed my almost constant state of stress and depression and hopefully those times are now over. This project was a huge one almost one too big but now it lays behind me for the most part (I still have minor things to do to get everything running and such but the majority is behind me).

The Website:
The website is: http://soulfireproject.com. It is a site that is to gather funding for the film "Connected" by Amy Walker. The idea is that the film is "produced" (funded) by the human community (as opposed to a corporate company) and that it's everyone's project as much as the creator's. Each person who donates (only one $dollar) gets their name in the credits of the film.
Overall I am very very proud of my work on the site and over the process I have learned so much.

Technical Overview:
The page website is built on PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, CSS, HTML and integration with Google Checkout. There is the basic page layout which uses a lot of CSS & JavaScript to display content and create the overall feel of the pages. I'm not going to go into too much detail should this information fall into the wrong hands.

My Standpoint:
I know there are still many things I need to work on regarding client relationsions and this has helped me see that. I am so thankful to have had this opportunity to do this because it has forced me to learn so much and that, I have! I now have what I'd consider to be sufficient knowledge in MySQL & PHP and other web technologies, not that I didn't before just that it was very very limited. I know my overall confidence with webdesign (especially that of the dynamic nature) has expanded leaps and bounds beyond what it was before.

I'm not all too sure what else to say but a BIG thank you to those who have helped me along with this process. I really couldn't have done it without you. There were many times in which I have thought about quitting along the process but I fought to stay in the game and it was because of your support that I was able to. (You all know who you are)

So check out the site and then celebrate with me!
http://soulfireproject.com

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Published Photography

Just for fun, I chose to google my name and I came across many things, most of which didn't surprise me at all. Though I came across this one, that was an article from the Marin Independent Journal about my friend, Chris, who worked for the South Whidbey Youth Connection but then moved back to Cali.
The article is a wonderful article about Chris and his connection with nature and his "waterfall spirituality". The article was nice to read and makes me smile to think of Chris (I really should see if I can get back in touch with him) but on top of it all, my photo that I took of him a while back was used for it!

http://www.marinij.com/lifestyles/ci_9509392

YAY! My photography has been publicly published!


Hmmm I wonder what the prefix "pub" means and how (or if) public and publish are related to each other and I wonder how a plain old pub fits into all of it...hmmm
OOOH! *Looks down at the button below* IT SAYS PUBLISH! :D