Leaving Something Behind

I'm enjoying my time in Findlay.

That pretty much sums up my life right now. Work, home, work, home. Repeat again and again. I play games, I watch TV, and I work. This is pretty much the laziest period of my life, and I hope I get out of it soon, cause it is driving me nuts.

I have yet to discover a comfortable place in Findlay outside of my apartment. BG was a bounty of comfort - any given building in downtown BG had a place to escape: Nellie's Deli, Dairy Queen, Jed's, Grounds for Thought, hell, even the sidewalk benches are a relaxing place to chill. BG is a great balance of size and population. There is just enough space to be comfortable and just enough people (especially with college in session) to meet lots of new faces.

I love curling up in downtown BG with my laptop and an appetite, not to mention a craving for a Qdoba burrito or hot chocolate or ice cream. A perfect place.

Does anyone know where this kind of place might be in Findlay? I haven't found it yet.

B3 out.

Maybe Offline?

I'm in the middle of transferring my domain name, brandonbrun.com, over to a new provider, so I might be offline for a day or so. Direct access to Critically Correct is always available by using the Blogger address: bmbruno.blogspot.com

B3 out.

NW Ohio Or Smoky Mountains

I wish I could put how I have been feeling lately into words. I find it very hard to sit down and write anything meaningful as of late, whether it be fiction, blog, or code. Do not get me wrong, I have the motivation and the need to write, but sitting down in front of my computer to get anything done is difficult. Perhaps that is why I am babbling like this: right now any writing feels good, even if it is pointless babble.

I do have this to share, though:

Last January I visited Side Cut Metropark and immediately fell in love with it. From then until two weeks ago when I moved to Findlay, I made weekly visits to Side Cut. I made it my place of escape, a place for me to get away from my normal, daily life and peacefully spend time alone to discover myself.

As fall gives way to winter this year I turn my interest to a new playground of discovery: Oak Openings Preserve Metropark. While I have been talking about moving into the Oak Openings region as an upgrade to Side Cut, it was not until this weekend that I went for my first time since I was about six years old. I spent part of Saturday with my family leisurely walking around a couple trails, and it was quite beautiful, especially at this time of the year.

While Oak Openings Preserve has access to a wide variety of plants and animals to see and miles of trails to explore, there is one particular path through the park that I am the most interested in: the Oak Openings Hiking Trail (otherwise known as the Scout Trail). This is a 16-ish mile primitive hiking trail that more or less runs around the outer perimeter of the park. The key word is "hiking," because I see this as a good opportunity to begin my long-distance hiking practice for my return trip to the Smoky Mountains in 2010. While I have mastered every square inch of Sidecut Metropark, the scale of those trails and exploration pales in comparison to Oak Openings.

Thus, beginning next weekend I will begin a series of weekly trips to Oak Openings Preserve to tackle and practice hiking the O.O. Hiking Trail. I do not intend to do all 16 miles in one day on my first weekend, but definitely by the end of the year I intend for the 16 mile hike to be a breeze for me.

I will very likely try to liven up Critically Correct with some pictures and stories from my time spent hiking in Oak Openings Preserve. Until then, B3 out.

Welcome Home

I am now settled comfortably into my apartment in Findlay. For those people whom I don't see very often or are no longer within easy access, I hope that Critically Correct can be an outlet for me to share how things are going for me.

In general, I'm finding my new apartment awesome. Space is limited, which forces me to be conservative and realistic - exactly the qualities I developed in college and hoped to take into my daily life. I found out that I really enjoy shopping for food. In my first two weeks I have been grocery shopping three times, and I have been experimenting with filling up my kitchen in various ways. I made getting Internet service and television service set up a priority, and I have both, so far with spectacular results (AT&T U-Verse, actually).

The biggest benefit to me living in Findlay - a short drive to work - has already been paying off handsomely. I get home from work shortly after five and get the night to myself, usually until 11pm or so. The extra two hours of freedom have been put to good use so far with daily exercise and extra time organizing a new daily and weekly routine. Hopefully I'll have an update on that soon.

Anywho, I'm off to bed. Got a lot on my plate at work lately, and a solid night's sleep will be appreciated.

B3 out.

The Almost Vacation

As my vacation from work comes to a close this weekend, I reflect on what has been a long week and these are a few things that stand out to me:

• Games, games, and more games. It has been a while since I have been able to sit down with a good stack of video games and get lost, but when I was not on the road this was exactly what I did. I caught up with a few Wii games, played some old classics on my PC, and got tons of WoW time clocked in throughout the week. I am just about exhausted of video games for a while, but it was nice to get it all out of my system at once.

• I took a bit of time to work on my writing for a change. Not any one story specifically, but I did some writing exercises and did some storyboarding-type diagramming for a few other story ideas I have floating around my head.

• I took up teaching myself PHP, particularly in a WAMP stack. This is mainly as a means to learn the technology of PHP for my personal gain, as once I get the money I need, I plan to set up a personal web server at my apartment to use for file hosting and small website projects.

• This weekend yet I have a lot going on: a trip to Sandusky for dinner with my family on Saturday and the Grand Rapids Apple Butter Festival on Sunday. Both should be really great times, particularly the festival.

This Sunday I will also move the last of my things to Findlay, which means this week kicks off my first full-time week living in Findlay. I can't wait for this - I'm really genuinely excited about living on my own (the AT&T TV service and high-speed internet helps!).

I also took some time to re-align how I prioritize my responsibilities at work, so going back into work next week will see me putting in lots of extra hours to get caught up, as if I never went on vacation. The time off has helped me recharge from the CRI burnout that I experienced in August and September. It should be an interesting week.

Now it's time to get this long weekend started. B3 out.

The Yearly Routine

I woke up today on my 25th birthday and this is how I felt: not quite old.

Twenty-five seems like a significant number in terms of a human life. A third. That is, a third of my life is over with. Seems kind of strange to me. But still, here I am.

I'm not exactly sure how I will be spending my birthday. I always spend it alone so I can make it a day of reflection, something that I find to be impossible with friends around me. I'm very likely going to be spending the day outside with Elli at a park or simply in my own backyard.

A little preview of where my mind will be wandering today:

• Four years ago I learned what real, honest heartbreak felt like.
• Nine years ago I met a few of the most influential people in my life.
• Ten years ago I began the ninth grade, which was the beginning of the best four years of my life that I can hardly remember anymore.
• Thirteen years ago I opened one of the best presents ever: my Nintendo 64, which firmly established my love of gaming and got me lost in some of the best games I've ever played.

I have a lot to do today for a day where I do nothing.

B3 out.