Finally, A Real Student

The first week of classes is almost up and I just finally have a real schedule.  I’m taking 19 hours of courses but will have a surprisingly short time of actually being IN class.  One class on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and just two on Tuesday and Thursday.  There are online courses and weekend courses and the ones on Tuesday and Thursday are 90 minutes and the other is 180 minutes.

Not that many actual classes but they sure are long!

So glad classes finally got sorted out.  Sad that I have yet ANOTHER year at Mizzou… They add a year for every year I’m here, I swear.

Tomorrow morning I get all of my books and can start doing my homework.  Oh, and I get to buy another calculator!  That makes five since starting at Mizzou.

Ryan got back in town today, he had been gone for what seemed like a lifetime.  It was wonderful to see him again, hold him and be all lovey dovey.  Oh how I missed him!

Now I guess it is time for me to leave Starbucks and get home.  There have been some really strong storms here tonight which kept me from wanting to plug in at home and was making my internet all sorts of unreliable.

Starbucks has a massive surge suppressor and the internet is battery backed up.  Sweetness.  The parking spot that I normally put my car into was pretty unfortunate tonight.  A huge oak tree was blown over and crashed onto the car that took my place there.  Wow, I avoided car destruction for once!

Here’s another storm shot from my window.

And with that, I’m outta here.  Time for some sleep, gonna wake up early tomorrow.  So far I’ve been really good about getting up and getting ready for class early in the day.  I hate being rushed!

Tags: Classes, Love, Missouri, Missouri Tigers, Mizzou, Photography, Ryan, Schedule, School, Starbucks

I Want

I want to: graduate from college

I want to think: for myself

I want to learn: French well enough to bring Ryan through France

I want to see: my kids (that don’t yet exist) grow up healthy and happy

I want to try: to be that guy that everyone knows they can rely on

I want to tell: my family just how much I love Ryan

I want to touch: myself

I want to smell: good, even after working out in the 104*F heat

I want to feel: comfortable in my own skin

I want to stop: wasting my time, mind and money

I want to let go of: the past

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Tags: Blogroll, Desire, Hope, Love, Me, Ryan, Want

Homesick in Houston

It has only been like 30 hours since I left Columbia and I can’t believe it but I’m homesick!

I went on Back to My Mac, which by the way, always works for me and checked in on my apartment using Photo Booth.

I use the PrePane hack, Secrets, to do some extra fun things with MobileMe’s Back to My Mac, you should all get it, btw.

Here’s the picture I got from Photo Booth.

I really need to take hots of the apartment with the new furniture, sorry I didn’t do that before I left.

Anyways, looking at a live shot of my apartment made me all sad that I wasn’t there.  I want to see my fish, I want to enjoy my 55″ HDTV and I want to gaze into my 24″ iMac and ponder over government homework or what I should blog about next.

Never did I ever think I would miss Columbia, and maybe I don’t, I just miss my apartment.  I love my apartment.  It is big, it is clean, it is decorated, it is well equipped from the kitchen to the entertainment.  It has 8 bottles of tasty wine waiting for me.  I just spent $180 buying groceries that are waiting to be eaten.

The floors I just waxed and the new couch and chairs need to be worn in.  I have only slept one night on my new bed!

But all of it is nothing when I keep it to myself.  Happiness is nothing if not shared and with Ryan out of town, I can’t really share so much of it; but he returns Monday and I return Friday.

Well, I guess Micheal will keep the fish company, I miss him too.  And Jeremy, and Max, and Brittany.  And Kaldi’s and Starbucks.

I will have to find a way to keep myself occupied here.  With my closest friend in Houston now in Seoul Korea, I can’t see him when I visit and I miss him so.  We were best friends through high school helping each other out in so many different ways and through all the moves and the distance and the changes in our lives, we are every bit as close as ever.

Except that he’s in Seoul Korea and I’m in Houston, alone.

Wow, I need to get my head straight!  I’m in Houston, I love this city.

Let’s go out in the world, maybe buy something for my camera, maybe eat something totally delicious.  Stop personifying my apartment, no matter how much I love you.

Now if Chase could maybe make another trip down here from Columbia, I’d have a buddy with whom I’d waste time and money and enjoy every second of it.

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Tags: Arts and Entertainment, Back to My Mac, Chase, Columbia, Distance, Houston, iMac, Jeremy, Joseph, Kaldi's, Longing, Love, Max, Micheal, Miss, Photo Booth, Ryan, Texas, WTF?

Always Busy

It seems like every week I’m flying out somewhere or otherwise taking a trip out of town.

Texas, Birmingham, Chicago, Kansas City, Saint Louis, San Francisco… This Monday I’m flying out to Raleigh North Carolina and giving a presentation to the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission and then Ryan will join me in Texas to spend a long weekend with my grandmother and grandfather at their home there outside of Austin.

I am really excited/nervous about the trip to Texas.  This is the first time that I have really integrated a boyfriend in my family life.  I have always wanted to do so with my past boyfriends (namely, only, Landon and Geoffrey) but a mixture of my fear and my family’s obvious distaste for that quelched any chances of something like this.

However, my family seems to just love Ryan, a lot.  I mean, why not?  He’s smart, funny, loving, cute, incredibly diligent, charming and so kind.  He has helped me grow and feel comfortable in my skin.  He is such a light in my life and my family must see that.  He emails back and forth with my grandmother and my parents ask about him everytime we talk on the phone.  How great is that?

So anyways, going to be busy traveling but it will be a lot of fun and let’s be honest, getting out of Columbia is about the best thing one can do in the summer!

Tags: Family, Geoffrey, Kansas City, Landon, Love, North Carolina, Raleigh North Carolina, Ryan, Society and Culture, St. Louis, Travel, Work

The New York Post Thinks I’m Single?

Breaking News:…

Justin is single.  He just found out and now he has to chat with hot singles in his area.

Only I’m not single and the only hot singles with whom I chatting is my friend Chase so, once again, the New York Post gets it all wrong.  It’s just another round of targeted marketing going amuck. 

Tags: Chase, HaHa, iPhone, Just My Nerdiness, Love, WTF?

I love Birmingham Alabama

I am here in Birmingham Alabama to do a photoshoot with the Taste of the South Magazine and the National Sweet Potato Commission.  Right now I am sitting at a two story Starbucks in their old downtown.  

As the plane made its rough, really rough, landing, and as I looked out of the window to what would surely be the city I would die in (I swear we all thought the plane was going down) and took a look at my final destination, I had a revelation.

I love Birmingham.  Right now, after spending a few hours in the old downtown and just really falling in love with the old downtown, I am just certain that I need to live here.  I even picked out an apartment for Ryan and I with it’s own Bar/Restaurant on the ground floor.  How sexy is that?  I have even planned out our lives here.  Oh my!

 
 

I had dinner at this awesome restaurant/bar that had all sorts of fun food and lots of veggie foods… Great wine selection of which I had the Bacarro Pinot Grigio.  I also passed probably 10 gay people so far, which is not what I expected for a city in Alabama.  They rank 47th in hate crimes based on sexual orientation and 50th in overall hate crimes!  Awesome (unless I’m reading the statistics backwards…

Look at that adorable fountain.  Oh this is lust at first visit.  Below is my new church… haha, well it is a Methodist church! 

 

I’m sorry that I’m stuck using my iPhone to take the pics, with it’s new broken camera.  I didn’t want to walk around town with my camera bag, but if the weather is nice tomorrow, I certainly will.  

What do you think about Birmingham?  hmm?  Can I convince Ryan to move here? haha, not likely.  Cost of living is 4.8% lower and income is 2.5% higher.  How awesome is that? 

So far Chase, Ryan and Landon think I’m crazy.

Tags: Alabama, Awesome, Birmingham, Chase, City, iPhone, Landon, Love, Move, Photography, Ryan, Travel

Picture Perfect Wedding

Saturday my brother married the most amazing person, Lisa, and now I have a sister.  The wedding was beautiful, the weather perfect and the scenery stunning.  We had a wonderful time in the Texas hill country and seeing old friends and relatives was awesome.

Here are a few pictures I took from the wedding.  I did my best not to take pictures since I was a groomsman, there were two hired professional photographers and my dad’s side of the family is full of professional photographers that were doing their best to catalogue the events.

So here are a few shot for you to enjoy.

Justin Trahan and my brother at the groomsmen’s house.

 

Me taking a self portrait. Not something I do all that often. Love this fish eye.

My awesome cousin Benjamin. I met him for the first time this trip! I cannot wait to visit him and his brother in Denmark, hopefully this summer!

This is my cousin Chloe.  She and her parents are totally addicted to this gourmet cake company company my mother has been using for years.  We have become friends with the owner, Annabelle, who made these awesome cupcakes for the rehearsal dinner.  Can you tell she really loves them?  

Childhood best friend Jena with another great friend from the olden days, we are talking Bellville Elementary to Senior High.  Crazy! 

 

Friend of the Bride Amanda and my belle of the ball, Melissa.  We had so much fun reconnecting over the weekend.  Oh wow, what a wonderful time. 

That’s where the reception was, hanging over Lake Travis and such a beautiful night.  This was taken from the groomsmen house. 

 

 Melissa and I taking a self portrait.

My adorable cousin Eleanor.  She was the flower girl in the wedding, did a great job.

 

Ahhh, the fountain.  We took some great pictures here with the professional photographers.  Once I get a copy I’ll post them up here.

Tags: Amazing, Family, Fun, Lisa, Love, Marriage, Patrick, Photography, Texas, Wedding

Update from the Hill Country

My brother gets married in two days.  It is really exciting and nerve wracking.  I can only imagine what my brother and Lisa are feeling right now.  I cannot wait to someday go through the very same emotions as those two.

Tomorrow night… well I guess tonight now, I will be giving a toast to my brother.  I guess this is what has me so anxious.  I am not always a great speaker in front of large groups of people.  When I have my confidence with me, I can speak to tens, hundreds of people with great stride.  However, tonight is different.  This is my one chance to express all the love I have for both my brother Patrick and Lisa in about five minutes.  

Not only is it impossible to condense my love to five minutes, but to properly express it in front of all of those people, to make it funny and interesting…  Yikes.

But it really isn’t about me.  It’s about them.  Looking around at the scenery however, you’d think it was the hill country’s weekend to shine.  

Well, I should get to bed, get some sleep for the semi big day right before the actual big day.  We have a lot to do. All the tuxes are the wrong size, the table cloths are the wrong color and we’re hosting the whole thing.  Plus, I kinda dropped my iPhone and damaged him up a good bit.  The standby button is jammed, not a good thing.

Alright friends, time for sleep.  Much Love!

Tags: Anxiety, iPhone, Lisa, Love, Nervous, Patrick, Ugh, Wedding

The Pinnacles

Today was a weird, but nice day. I woke up at 6:46 in the morning without an alarm or anything! I chatted online for a bit, made a smoothie (two bananas, 1/2 cup of fat free yogurt and a cup of berries) drank it up, showered and headed out. I got to Starbucks, bought my plane ticket to Washington DC and then headed to the dentist.

The dentist appointment was just to check on the status of my Invisalign, to see if I wanted to do it and see the difference I would receive from it. It looks like it is going to be worth it. There isn’t a whole lot to change, my teeth are in pretty fabulous shape, but there are a few things that culd be improved, so why not?

After that I investigated tanning salons, kinda out of curiosity and kinda out of the fact that I’m looking a bit albino. While I am attracted to pale and dark people alike, I find myself terribly unattractive in my current state of affairs, translucent. I tanned at The Tan Company and then worked out a bit followed by a tuna sandwich with fresh tomatoes. Then back to Starbucks.

I hung out a bit chit chatting with Jessica2, I heart her. We are going to the library together tomorrow, super excited!

After my little time at SBUX, I went with Ryan to The Pinnacles. This is the highest point in Boone County and the views are stunning. I just really loved it. Glad he brought me out there and glad I got to hang out with him. He is a wonderful person.

Then Ryan and I met up with Beau and got some tasty Hibachi at Osaka. We had a great time before heading out to Arch and Columns where I bumped into some wonderful friends. Chadd showed up with some friends of his who became sorta my friends. It was nice to see him… I kinda missed him, ya know?  I didn’t really realize how much I missed him or the idea thereof until then. But what can you do? Right?  Seem like too many questions.  Don’t you think? ;-)

I was most excited to see Jazmine out. She is moving back to California, lucky duck. I’m going to miss her a lot.

I guess it is time for bed. Love you all. I miss so many people right now. Geoff, call me, let’s hang out.

And now I leave you with a song.

Don’t read too much into it. The song came on when I got home on my computer and made me get to thinking. Thought I’d post it.

Tags: Beau, Chadd, Geoff, Jazmine, Just My Music, Love, Ryan, Starbucks