I'm back!

I am one tired Scott, yes siree. That one 5 hour shift spawned another 5 hour shift on Tuesday evening that went until 11:30. I just barely missed being on time the next morning. "Turn-around" shifts are a pain, but this variety is better than when I would work until 11:30 and then come back the next day at 5:30. Those were much less than fun. You had to be 100% at 5:30, too, there was no wiggle room some days, as people had pre-ordered breakfast and would be calling down for things. I am not a morning person so IMHO I think it was a truly amazing thing that I was able to work those shifts for so long. Anyway, I had a good week. Workwise I got 40.25 hours (15 minutes overtime, w00t!) and so that was pretty good.

We left for family camp with our church Friday afternoon. I went up much earlier than most with my wife's parents. Having them around provides an interesting dynamic to my life. I am a very family-oriented person, and have been taught all my life that "family is family." For example, I have five siblings, but three are technically half-siblings and two are adopted. I am the only natural child of my parents. Not once have I ever been called a "half-brother" by my older brothers and sister, and although we occasionally mention the adoption of my younger siblings it's usually only in context because my brother looks so dissimilar to the rest of us.

So having two new parents is really great, but I'm still not at a stage where I can call them "Mom" and "Dad" yet. They're wonderful people, but it's still weird right now. I don't know if I'm alone in that; my sister's husband was doing it pretty much immediately. I don't know about my brothers as I rarely see them interact with their in-laws.

Anyway, camp was all right. I love camping. I really enjoy being in nature, especially in the fall, and it was gorgeous. It rained before we got there but not while we were there to my disappointment. I would imagine that most everyone had been praying for it not to rain, however, so I suspect my wishes were overruled. We had a good time overall. I was only moderately comfortable there as although I have gone there for a few years there are still a lot of people I don't know. I spent the time between my arrival and the rest of the clan (after unloading the van) on the porch of the cabin with my feet propped up on a stump, alternatively reading a book (Summerland, by Michael Chabon) or watching a video ("Mr. Monk buys a house") on my iPod. The mom in law had to take a picture; apparently it was rather impressive. I got a couple of remarks from passersby to the effect of, "There's a guy who knows how to relax."

We participated in some activities (i.e. the scavenger hunts and the field games) but not others (the family movie nights), choosing instead to spend time together in the cabin. We played Phase 10 for a few hours (I lost, but not too badly), and then Apples to Apples later than night (twice, won the second game). Then this morning we all got up in time for breakfast, followed by the morning church service, after which I suffered through the first of many group pictures.

While my parents helped with the campwide cleanup, I was tasked with loading the truck so we could get on the road not too long after. Luckily I have inherited my dad's strange gift of being able to pack things (cars, moving vans, boxes) with extraordinary skill so by the time he arrived we were nearly ready. Thankfully we managed to get out with precision, and I only had to say good bye to a few people right at the end when I was walking across the courtyard and mom in law yelled out our names. Grrrrr........

So now I'm back, sitting in my armchair. Life's pretty good. Tomorrow I will be heading down to GameStop circa 10 PM to attend the pre-release party for "The Force Unleashed." I realize I will be far out of my normal circle of nerd-dom, but I happen to have a SW T-Shirt from the pre-release of another game (never bought it but I worked in a video store at the time and the shirt was free). So I hope to fit in, although there will be a trivia game throughout (the actual release isn't until midnight) and a costume judging at 11... (shudder). Judging by the post-Halo 3 release night memories, I should be pretty tired on Tuesday morning... maybe I should take THAT day off instead and go in on Monday. :-)

Hope you are well. I know I have a couple of readers now so join Blogger at least so you can leave me comments, okay? Later!

~Scott

Well, this is weird...

"Normal" for the accounting position is a 40 hour week, roughly 9 to 5. The hours are somewhat flexible, but the amount of them was definitely 40 unless I needed to take off for a doctor's appointment. So when we hit slow season this summer, I still had 40 hours while other departments were getting cut...until about 6 weeks ago. Now I get 32 hours a week if I plot for it, but at least I get Fridays off.

So I'm going into work today to help out with a weird scheduling conflict. I'm working a mid shift in my old position but at my current pay (score!), which means I don't get the extra day off but I will get the normal paycheck (pretty much). With my birthday coming up and The Force Unleashed coming out sooner than that, a little extra cash is not a bad thing to be had. I don't buy my own gifts, but my wife has a list. :-) Hey, she asked for one!

My friend Aarik was one of the front office managers in my hotel, and he died on his birthday this year, so it will be really weird to go back to work on a busy day without him there. He was one of those people that energized the room whenever he was in it, and we still get repeat guests asking about him. I guess I'm just preparing myself for a weird day in general because it will be essentially the same job but with an entirely different group of people.

Anyway, gotta get ready!

The first post!

Greetings one and everyone!

Thanks for coming to my blog. It's pretty nice, I know. Take a load off, sit on the metaphorical bean bag chair. Or rather in it, I don't know. My imagination can be thrifty, so those chairs need some more stuffing, I guess. (shrugs)

Anywho, my name's Scott and I'm just your average guy, in some ways. Average in a socio-economical sense; otherwise I'm pretty off-kilter. I don't know much about sports except for baseball and golf. I'm lousy at both in real life, but I can probably kick your butt on X-Box 360. That's right, I'm a nerd, but I'm ahead of the curve as I'm married to a real, non-virtual woman. She's awesome.

I work in a hotel in the accounting department, and if I had to choose between that and sitting on my butt playing video games all day I would do accounting, but only because it allows me to buy more video games. Oh, and pay rent and stuff. I seriously don't care for my job, but that's a whole other posting right there.

That's probably good. Unlike my wife, I'm not used to prolific blogging, so it will take me a while to get used to this, I expect. Peace Out!

Okay, okay, so I'm not a good communicator...

I suck at keeping in touch. I'm not totally sure why that is, but it's something I've discovered in the past year or so. I'm sure most of you who will read this will have discovered it much sooner.

I moved around a lot as a kid and didn't have many friends until I got to high school, so keeping in touch wasn't something I thought much about. My older siblings were much older and kind of abandoned me when I was still pretty young (stupid getting older and living their own lives).

I have always thought of myself as being a pretty dependable person, but now I'm not so sure. I think I'm still a good go-to guy in a crisis situation, but I've noticed I really don't do too well in day-to-day things. For example, I essentially got fired from teaching my small group at church after two years. On the surface this is so I can find a new job and finally have some personal time (they probably shouldn't have even asked me to do it in the first place), but still. I've never been fired from anything before and it's kind of sad.

I'm the first one to recognize the fact that in a lot of ways I've been lost for a few years as far as my self-identity goes. I think that happens to a lot of us. I was talking to someone not too long ago who wanted to go back to high school because of how much more things made sense then. I disagreed at the time, although it was kind of nice how compartmentalized our world was then. Everyone we could conceivably want to see or speak to was most likely encountered in the span of 1st to 6th hour, or at least at lunch. It was a lot easier to keep in touch.

As far as identity goes, though, the person you were in high school died once you graduated, or at least they should have. You're not allowed on campus anymore for the most part and there's a very good reason for that. There is a whole world out there that you're a part of now for better or worse. Adulthood isn't compartmentalized into 1st through 6th hour (well maybe college for some, but after that!). It's unpredictable, and completely insane, and it constantly tests you. It is still easy to stay in touch, but only if you're in the habit.

I am still really fortunate, and in a weird way I think God likes me. (shrugs) My family is amazing. I have the benefit of being married to my favorite person, even though hobby wise we have absolutely nothing in common. Between her parents, my parents, and some of my friends', I have a few great moms, and a couple of awesome dads. There's always someone to take care of me, which is handy since I frequently seem to need it. I also still have a handful of good friends, some of whom I actually still talk to when I remember.

That brings me to my original point: I suck at communicating. Don't hold it against me too badly and keep me in prayer (or whatever you do). I really want to work on a couple of things in my life, and one of them is my dependability especially to my friends. So don't give up on me, okay? And if you have, and you're reading this, maybe give me another chance. I'm feeling pretty down lately and I could always use another person around to lean on.

sometimes I get the feeling

that I won't be on this planet for very long

I really like it here

I’m quite attached to it I hope I’m wrong

all I really want to say

is you're the reason I want to stay

I loved you before I met you

and I met you just in time 'cause there was nothing left

from Ben Folds, "Don't Change Your Plans"

Stay cool kids, and remember to floss and all that other important stuff. Have a safe Labor Day weekend!

Here I be...

Okay kids, your prayers are answered: here is the official update to the Scott Blog, as promised! Huzzah and such! Okay, settle down now. Stop crying, you.

I'm in a weird mood right now. I have been working crazy hours this week in order to work a very short day Friday. Consequently, I will work 4 hours at most before they kick me out in order to avoid overtime. "Scott, how can you make up your schedule," you may ask? Well, I got promoted about a month ago, thank you for asking. To Accounting, no less, which would amuse anyone who knows of my feelings about math. So the base schedule is 9-5 M-F, but I'm able to do pretty much whatever I want as long as I get things done. Point: I should be a little more open socially, if any of you are interested.

Let's see, what else? I have moved since December to a townhome pretty much equidistant from both our parents' houses, which is pretty nice. I have also taken up golf since Matt got married in May, and we played as part of his bachelor party. To those of you who are excited to read this, bear in mind that I'm really not very good; my best game is still 106. That's not like bowling,bowling; btw, you should have very low if not negative numbers when playing golf.

My social circle has changed a little. My wife is still working three 12-hour days per week, but added to that as of July is nursing school out at GCC. So she is a very busy lady, while all I have right now is work. I will be picking up some extra work helping out with some web design, but it's mostly to take up time more than anything. I still have a lot of books I haven't read and there are always video games to play and replay, but I tend to get bored easily at this stage in my life.

Travis and Josh have moved away, and Andrew is back in Flagstaff, although at least he is only 3 hours away. I may even go see him this weekend; we'll see. Of the two Matts, the big one is married and works the late shift (for now) so I don't see him much. The little one lives near my work, but far from my home, so usually when he wants to get together I don't feel like driving 35 minutes or so. I feel bad for this, of course, especially since my friend Chris also lives out that way, so that's two people I rarely see (although I occasionally see Chris at work). I actually have seen Kayce once this year, which is amazing. Katrina has moved home (as far as I'm concerned), and brought her husband Danny with her. Soon after she had her daughter, Alice, who is pretty much the cutest thing ever. Like most people, I don't get to see them enough.

My little sister turns 16 this year, which means she starts dating this year. High school boys everywhere: I have guns, and they are loaded. My bro graduates this year, which is awesome. I had hoped to be graduating from college this coming spring, but I guess it isn't to be. My new goal is to find a job that will pay for my school like the hospital is paying for Abigail's. Corporate Marriotts offer tuition reimbursement, unfortunately mine is a franchise, so no dice there.

Ok, so I haven't blogged in a while so I'm rambling a bit. That and I'm trying to play golf while doing this and hang out with Matt. So I'm going to call it a night, but if I missed anything please let me know. Remember, this is still not my primary form of communication, so E-mail and phone remain the best way to find me, but I check MySpace and Facebook more now, so yeah.

Peace out, and remember to keep it real!

Let's clear some things up here...

First off, this may surprise you but yes, I'm still alive. I admit, I have been horrible at communicating with you both in and out of MySpace with only a couple of exceptions, and that's mostly because I either live with you or because I work with you. I do have my reasons, though.

I have been busy, I have been lazy, and I have been tired of how trendy and annoying MySpace can be. It reminds me of high school, which is usually not a good sign. However, I have been slacking off and I apologize. So do us both a favor, MySpace friends, and don't judge our real-world relationship by how often I post (or rather don't post) here. Another new blog should be coming this weekend, and I will update my page, but my phone is on a good majority of the time and still receives calls and texts just fine. So if I don't comment on your pictures or your new background, don't assume I hate you and send me messages asking (and no, I'm not just talking about you, sir).

I promise you, if you're on my friends list, chances are I like you, and if you're not completely sure and I don't answer your MySpace message, call me. If you don't know the number, then we probably weren't too close to begin with, so I wouldn't worry about it. :)

With Warmest Regards,~Scott

Christmas time again...

Well, Christmas time is here once again, and I for one am surprised at how fast it came. Seems like only yesterday I was coming back from my honeymoon in October, and now it's Christmas!

Once again I find myself working, and Abigail is not. (pouts) However, we have had Christmasy things the past few days, including this morning, so it's not too bad this time around. Maybe I'll get New Years off, in which case you're all invited to come over for what I've done several New Years in a row now. Kayce, this means you.

Needless to say, Christmas has been a little different this year. I'm forced to be a lot simpler in my gift purchasing than in recent years since I'm now paying for rent and all. It makes me appreciate my parents more. Additionally, I'm buying presents for/celebrating with two families now (actually I did last year too), and that's a switch.

It's not at all bad, and it looks like Abigail's parents have to get used to including me in Christmas just as I am getting used to them. Abigail has to get used to my parents as well; my mom gives socks and underwear to everyone, and you have to show the packages off!

I got to see Matt and Travis, which was nice. I'm house-sitting until the 2nd, with a beautiful house close to my parents, including a widescreen plasma HD TV. Really spiffy. I am sorry I didn't get to see most of you, but hopefully that will change (Kayce!). So, a very merry happy to all of you, and to all a good night!