So, it's really been over a year since my last blog?  Certainly, a lot has happened since my day trip to Chicago.  How can I really sum up over a year's worth of life in one blog?

Well, as some of you may have noticed, I've moved to California.  On a whim.  Last August, I loaded up my car, grabbed Annie and took off for sunny San Diego.  The drive (25 hours of pure driving) took us five days.  Mostly we took the scenic route to get there.  My parents lent me a book of the most scenic (pt. 2) drives in America and we chose the ones that weren't too far out of the way.  We wound up stopping in Nebraska and Colorado to visit various members of Annie's family.  Once we hit Denver, we took a day trip to explore the mountain drives.  From there is when we really started with the scenic drives.  We drove down to the southwest corner of Colorado, into Utah, down to Arizona and through to California.

I originally intended to quit Target completely when I came out, but I told myself it would be smarter to have a job initially coming out until I found that better job.  But instead of finding that better job, I got a modest promotion at Target, to Entertainment Specialist, where I do way more than I get paid for.  I've been screwed twice now on pay - for not getting any kind of pay bump for cost of living and now after my crappy review (the argument against this bullshit is enough to fill out another blog, so I'm gonna skip it for now).  Seriously, placing me between Ineffective and merely Effective when some regard me as the best the store's ever had at my position?  Anyways, I really need to just quit and find a new job.  Then they'd realize how good I really am at the job.  I only really feel like one of the execs appreciates what I do - coincidentally he's the only one who has known anyone other than me at the position.

I spent my first six or seven months bumming off my brother.  Which was way more time than he bargained for, and sadly, longer than I should have stayed.  I am glad, though, to have had the chance to hang out with him more.  He gets outside more often to do things, like snorkel or mountain bike (which may be a result of the San Diego weather) than I've really done in the past, though I've always wanted to.  Of course, I wish we could get out more often to go mountain biking or go to the beach, but what can you do?  Maybe as the Summer really gets started, that'll come.

I finally did find my own place and moved out at the end of April.  The place is nice - the room is kind of small, but the place is really taken care of and it's in a nice neighborhood, as far as I can tell.  My roommates are pretty cool, too, though I only really talk to one of them on a consistent basis.

Lately I've been playing beer pong pretty regularly;  every Thursday one of my coworkers (and a couple of former coworkers) host it.  It's a nice excuse to get out and just hang out.  I certainly don't go because I'm all that great at it or anything.  Before that I'd really only go out with my brother or when another of my coworkers threw one of her semi-regular parties (though she hasn't thrown one lately - oddly, they stopped right about the time I started with the beer pong).  I dated a girl for a while, but things didn't really go anywhere, as much as I wanted them to.  I realize now that I'm letting myself be blinded by the thought of what might be instead of seeing things for what they really are.

Anyways, that's all I've really got.  Maybe it won't take me another year to write another!