What Title?

So Summer Bash has been postponed yet again. I'm now aiming to have it on July 14th... nearly three weeks after the original date. It seems more people will be able to make this date, which is exactly what I want - more people to show up. However, I've also realized that rather than throw an invitatioin out to anyone and everyone under the sun, I'm scaling things back to allow for a select group of people, who can (hopefully) all get along with each other.

In other news...

I've finally come to grips with my life. Without Lacey in it, I feel so independant... I've rediscovered old friends, made new ones, and feel good simply about the people that I do have in my life: Colleen, Jason, Austin, Korinne (best... name... ever...), Brittany... and of course, Jaime.

Tonight's agenda:

• Shopping in BG until 9
• B-Dubs until 10
• Bowling until 11
• Rollerblading until I pass out...

I can't wait.

Big Changes

I have a big surprise for everyone at the end of this week.

It'll be a whole new... me.

End of the Line

And with that, the Lacey era is over...

May the anger, the passion, and the memories, rest in peace.

What If...

I hear my name from time to time. I know my friends say it, I know my family says it. I'm sure I'm loved, even though right now I don't feel like it.

With myself becoming so self-centered lately, and no one really out there who gives a shit... I wonder one thing...

What if Brandon Bruno was no longer around in the life his friends now know? What if, Brandon didn't exist?

...

Food for thought... a seed for possibilities.

3...2...1...

I think I'm going to explode.

I mean, Jesus H did I ever eat a boatload.

Steak and potatoes were the order of supper today at home... delicious as they were.

Anywho...

What a day. I mean... Perfect. Summer. Day.

With the grass as green as can be, the sky as clear as ever, and a bright, warm, beautiful sun shining, I've spent my entire day away from my bedroom and out and about. I've spent a good portion of the day working on "Almost Gone, Part II" on my deck with the laptop and radio. There's something about sitting out here that really appeals to me... being as lazy as hell on my deck yet still being outside to add that "adventurous" zing to it. Umm... yeah...

Today's bikeride was down to Buzzy's Place in Haskins. Decent ice cream at a good price. Sounds like a winner to me. I think it's here to stay.

I went to The Andersons today and was amazed at how cool that place is. Compared to the dry, stale Meijer, the Andersons is like an amusement park. While making my way through the croweded aisles, I couldn't help but recall an old friend that I've let go from my life... Ayrn. I miss her.

Well, tonight looks like I'll be spending it at home, and maybe some of it in BG. I got work tomorrow, which sucks, but we'll see. Before I go, I got one plea: Ashley Nye, if you're out there, call me! I need to talk to you.

Who the...?

Apparently I have a fan from Cleveland, Ohio keeping up with my blog pretty much everyday. I don't know all but one person from Cleveland... and I'm pretty sure he's not the one. Identify yourself!

Beginning a Journey

"Almost Gone, Part I: Escaping From Reality" is done!

I've finished final revisions on the final version of my sequel to "Almost Home." Get a hold of me somehow if you want to read it in person. I'll have a version of it posted online eventually.

Until then, I'm off to work on Part II of the three-part series.

Full Circle

And here I am.

Lacey is no longer in my life. Oh sure, she's still there, technically, and we do work together. But for all intents and purposes, she's out of my life as I've known it for the last two years. Now it's my turn to let her live the life she's been wanting.

As for me? Shit if I know what I'm doing next. The hitlist:

• Austin and Korinne are awesome together. I wish the best for them.
• Colleen and I don't really see much of each other, as we seem to both be busy in opposite directions at the same times.
• I'm not sure if I'll have a buddy for Brent's wedding anymore, so I'm not sure how that'll play out.
• I feel like it's Fall 2003 again - I am here, but my mind and heart are elsewhere, while an abstraction of Brandon Bruno is all that lives day to day. I may lose my mind even more in the coming months.

Then again, without Lacey, maybe I won't.

Updating...

I've updated the site a bit. My Winamp playlist has been updated. 5 day, 7 and a half hours of music now comprise my list of 1,834 songs. I also updated my Warped View blog with a new pic (about time, eh?), and updated the shit that I'm listening to. Buckcherry rules.

Random Shit

I've spent most of my night browsing AllofMP3 for new music from some of my old favorite artists. I bought the new Pearl Jam album, and after listening to "Crazy Bitch" by Buckcherry, bought their new album too. So far, it's pretty sweet stuff.

I'm hoping to fill this summer out with music, biking, and writing - the classic Brandon that I let die under a mountain of girls, sex, alcohol, and anger all year long.

Buckcherry's got it down pat:

"You're a crazy bitch,
But you fuck so good, I'm on top of it,
When I dream, I'm doing you all night,
Scratches all down my back to keep me right on..."

Lies, All Lies

A certain someone has begun the same spiral of lies, misinformation, and dishonesty that I went through this last semester.

We've come full circle, and my new motto stands:

"My heart is frozen, my mind is numb. I am merely here."

Crossing America

"Almost Gone" (aka, "Almost Home 2") is shaping up nicely for me. I present a quick note-taking session below:

- After the introduction (the first third of the story), we see Benjy drive as far west as rural Indiana and sets up a hotel room at a Super 8 just after sunset, especially given that the day's events.

- Ashley accepts all of Benjy's lies about the situation he and Ashley are in. Benjy heads to bed realizing that he was now a criminal. Pops the plates off an Indiana car late at night. Has a revelation about Ashley in the morning. Big breakthrough.

- The two continue driving through towards Kansas, making a stop at a McDonalds for breakfast (flashback scene), and making a late-afternoon stop at a mall. Benjy begins his sexual urges this day. There will be a few humorous scenes that take place within the mall.

- The next hotel, a remote location, is the first place that Ashley begins to remember.

- Day 3: Benjy and Ashley make it to New Mexico. This is where the final third of the story will take place and the conclusion will wrap up as Ashley recovers her full memory and Benjy's lies catch up to him.

I can't wait to finish this story...

Quite the Bugger

One of the worst things you can do in life is become a conspiracy theorist. That's me right now, only on an emotional level. I tend to get into certain moods where I think everyone around me has a problem with me, and I'm not wanted. Austin and Korinne will become one, Lacey and her friends will migrate their own direction, Colleen will never want to see me again after Japan, and I'll be stuck alone in the end.

It was today that I learned to get over it. That's where the key comes in...

For all of my dozens of problems, worries, and fears, I'm right now getting over one at a time, one a day. Everyday, as I dive deeper into discovering myself post-Lacey, I'm seeing more and more things that were once a real problem for me should have never been problem in the first place. It was all paranoia.

I bought GTA: San Andreas tonight for $15 at the oh-so-sweet C&C Games in BG. Great place, great prices. I played it all night tonight and now... I'm off to bed...

Out.

The Finals Thoughts

I sit here at my computer yet again, unable to breath as I wish to. The following thoughts echo throughout my head:

• "I would try harder if I knew you weren't going to be such an ass about my friends and who I hang out with. I hang out with my friends on the nights that you say 'no' to me when I want to do something with you."

• "I'm tired of it. Our phone conversations for the past three weeks have been the same goddamn thing. I ask you how work is, I tell a story, and you just reply back blankly with 'yeah,' 'uh huh,' and 'cool.' That's not a conversation."
  

• "I do want to be with you. I act like I want to be. I ask you to do things all the time, and you just shoot me down to... oh, go be with whoever your new friends are. Not me. I'm tired of you telling me that I'm the one who's not trying. When you're ready to act like you want to be with me, let alone be my friend, call me. We'll talk then."
  

• "I'm tired of sitting by my cellphone for hours on end, waiting for it to ring... only to hear silence all night long."
  

• "It's a thing that I know will pass in due time... all the others have. It's just hard when you don't even act like you want to be my friend sometimes."
  

See you kids tomorrow.

The Thoughts of My Time

Blogger was down for a few hours today... go figure.

As I write this I'm waiting for a batch of chocolate chip cookies to bake. I rarely bake cookies myself, but tonight I felt compelled to get my ass away from my PC (and Baldur's Gate II, actually), and do something. I love cookies. Making them isn't always easy (mine cameout slightly greasy tonight), and the end result isn't just enjoyable, but... sharable. I'm looking forward to handing them out at work tomorrow. It sounds corny, but I love sharing.

I've finally admitted to myself that I'm not who I want to be. I'm an asshole. At heart I'm still the loving, caring person I try to make myself out to be, but lately I've been letting jealousy and anger take control of me. Those of you who are reading this are probably thinking that I'm nuts. Go ahead. Only now am I realizing my mistakes of the past three months. And oddly enough, I'm realizing them as I become more secluded from my old friends. Scary.

I've begun work on a new short story. I don't have a title for it yet, and I'm not even ready to fully share the story ideas yet. That's just the key - "ideas." I do know that I intend for this story to become a series - that is; short, three to five page stories that all fit together as a cohesive whole, yet don't necessarily have to maintain tight continuity between one another. I hope to experiment with many story ideas by using this series. I'll eventually post a preview of the first story within the coming months...

Well, I have to bake 6 more batchs of cookies at 12 minutes each, putting me well past my bedtime of 11:00pm tonight. It'll be a long, interesting Sunday.

60,000 People Later

Work sucks, and I work all this weekend. Whatever.

As promised last weekend, I'm going to do three big updates this weekend, and see if my traffic numbers don't shoot way up as always...

Anywho...

I've made a huge decision in my life this week. For once, it's not about school or work...

I'm continually not being who I should be... that is, me. I lie to myself and friends, and I'm hurting the people closest to me. Myself, I'm not well. There's only one way out of this tidbit situation, and... that brings me to today's quote:



Of course, a select few will reconize this as Lifehouse's "Hanging By A Moment" - a song I held almost religiously close to me in high school. It's my new anthem.

Anywho, to get away from the boring shit...

E3 has come and gone. What a ride. I'll admit that I'm overall disappointed with this E3... that is, in respect to what Nintendo was able to do with it. I think in the long run Nintendo will be seen as the winner of this E3, especially in November when the Wii hits. But Sony sure as hell put on a nice show, and the PS3 looks like it just may be worth the $499 and $599 price tags it's going for.

Will I buy one? Bahaha... hell no, way too expensive. I have a PC for a reason.

Anywho, I'm off to bed, then work. If anyone wants to visit me at Meijer, by all means stop in anytime between 8 and 4 and call the cell.

Out.

Into the Shadows

I guess I'll just stay out of everyone's way, and not speak unless I'm spoken to. It worked in high school, afterall.

Pondering Yet Again

Every night my mind slips into a state of sadness. It's the same sadness that I've dealt with for some five or so years now. That feeling of "now knowing." Lacey brings it on every night, whether she means to or not.

Despite how shitty I feel because of her sometimes, I find an odd, although unstable, feeling of comfort in another female friend of mine...

E3 Is Here!

E3 is here and I'm loving it. Kudos to GameSpot for providing a live video feed from the show floor. I watched all of the Sony Press Conference tonight. Lots of Playstation 3 information. Looks like it'll be a winner, not to mention a wallet-buster.


People impress me. Some don't, simple as that. Despite a busy 6-day work week, it's actually girls and friends that stress me. I guess summer wasn't going to be so easy as I thought.

• Lacey and Jordan aren't exactly a "thing," but I hear about him as if they were. Strike one.
• Colleen is going to Japan soon... I'm already worried about how much we'll see each other this summer, especially with me working so damn much. Strike two.
• Jaime has been an awesome friend for me throughout the last few months, and for that I thank her a bunch. She has a strong chin and an honest heart... something that's quite hard to find these days. Boom, a hit. Homerun.

I can't wait for some of the things I have coming up. Blue October in concert, Brent's wedding, my sister's grad party, and Cedar Point galore. Simply wonderful line-up, anyway. I've also planned to return to the Smoky Mountains in the fall to go hiking again. It's worth missing school for... trust me on that.

Invites for Summer Bash 2006 will be going out soon. If you're on my list, you'll be getting one soon.

I'll end tonight with a little more Blue October... this song's called "Sexual Powertrip (One Big Lie)"

Yay!

The Electronic Entertainment Expo - officially known as E3 - is in full swing this week!

Check out IGN's coverage:

http://www.ign.com/e3/2006/

Spikey Things

Traffic to my blog seems to spike on the weekends, and I'm not quite sure why. With this in mind, I'm going to try to blog a bit more on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday every week.

Be ready for a big post tomorrow, though, as I will need to vent a lot of stress.

The Next Three Months

The last nine months of my life have been hectic to say the least. I started this blog last August to keep track of myself throughout the school year, and at noon today, that school year ended. Despite two very hard semesters, I'm now free for the summer, and I couldn't have asked for a better day to end the school year on.

74 degrees, sunny, and a light breeze to keep things just cool enough... perfect. I'm sitting on my deck under a shady maple tree as I write this.

I ended the semester on a high, albeit stressful, note. I pulled C's or better in all my classes, especially my harder-than-hell Math 135 class! With a sweet looking fall semester lined up, I'm genuinely excited about the remaining year and a half of my college career.

I'm looking forward to working on or finishing up many projects this semester. The list:

- My short story "Blocchi" was renamed to "Event Horizon." The blub is as follows: "Twenty year old Kale transfers to his dream school, perched high in the remote Rocky Mountains. With a beautiful nature scene surrounding him and his fellow classmates, he sets into a college semester with his head held high. After not too long, he meets a girl who not only changes his life, but introduces him to the Horizon's Dormatory - an experimental place that no one will acknowledge has problems. With the line between reality and his own dreams blurred, Kale attempts to discover the details of his mind's own inner workings. A unique tale slowly becomes twisted into something very sinister and dark - just in time for Kale to realize that his life is on the line."

- "Almost Gone" (aka, "Almost Home 2"), another of my short stories, will be completed by the end of the summer, and it mainly attempts to explore the pressures of modern America on the teenage male psyche. Think late July.

- Biking. I'll be doing so much biking this summer I should be shot. Can I get my weight back into the 160's? We'll soon find out.

- August, right before we head back to school, will see a major shift in my writing habits. I fully intend to pick up, rewrite, and reinvent my original fictional story: "Meltdown." Brent would be proud.

So here's to the next three months :-)

Cheers to all.

Counting The Minutes

Summer 2006 Is Upon Us...

Let the Fun Begin.

Not Much

Unfortunately it's been a very uneventful day.

I took three of my four exams today. My math and geology exams stressed me out like you wouldn't believe. My CS exam was cake in comparison.

I listened to lots more Blue October today. I'm in love, no doubt. Their music is becoming more and more beautiful every day that I dive deeper into their lyrics... raw poetry, I say.

Their concert at the end of May cannot come soon enough.

I'll have a big update tomorrow.

Only the Best

Here are my favorite movies, in order of preference:

1. Spirited Away
2. The Lion King
3. Jurassic Park
4. Tremors
5. Twister
6. The Abyss
7. Spider-Man (1+2)
8. Jaws
9. The 40 Year Old Virgin