Visually Reviewing 2010
2010 will be coming to an end soon. It’s been such a great year filled with memories and milestones, and it’s a year that I certainly won’t be forgetting anytime soon. These are a collection of my memories, events, and experiences from this past year. There is one photo for each of the past eleven months and they work together to create an abstract representation of my life throughout the 2010 timeline. Enjoy.
Prologue is done. Chapter 1, shall we?
On August 19, 2010, after 21 years of happily living my life in my hometown of Killeen, Texas, I packed up everything I had and set out to start a new chapter of my life in a not-entirely-too-distant town called College Station. Little did I know, this wasn’t the start of a new chapter. Nowhere near. This was only the beginning. It’s what you would call the warm-up, the starter kit, get-your-feet-wet stage… It was only the prologue.
A lot has happened since then. After one semester of attending Texas A&M University and shifting my college career into 2nd gear (I’m technically classified as a Sophmore, don’t judge), my lifestyle has dramatically changed in many aspects. I made decisions that have impacted myself and shaped me into who I am today. There’s been good days and bad days. I made new friends and lost others. I lived and I learned, but it’s not enough. Not at all.
It’s been a while since I’ve written here. The fact that I haven’t done so is a statement within itself and represents how busy I’ve been adjusting to my new life. I feel that it’s finally time to start again, but I can’t do so without writing down all that has happened since that last time I’ve written. So here it goes. After a few months, this is me.
A&M
Attending a new school was very tough at first. From the first day of classes, all the way to the last, it was an experience and a transformation from attending community college to say the least. The campus was rich, robust, and full of life. Students and classmates were very kind and outgoing. Everything seemed to be great on the outside, but after about a month, I began to feel very homesick. I wasn’t depressed, but the thought of being away from home and even farther from my (then) girlfriend was depressing. I began to have silly thoughts. “What if I lived in Austin instead? Why not attend University of Texas? I would be closer to home and I could visit my girlfriend more often! That would be cool, wouldn’t it?” Those thoughts led me to fill out a transfer application to UT. All I had to do was write a short essay and submit it. But I didn’t submit the application. Why? Because it was premature. I was considering looking into UT when I didn’t give A&M the fair chance that it deserved. I was judging A&M based on my current situation and I wasn’t looking at the big picture and how it will affect me in the long run. It goes without saying that I will never do that again. After taking the time learn and gain experience, I’ve come to love A&M and realize that this is where I belong. I am proud to be a fightin’ Texas Aggie and I will never look back!
My classes turned out pretty good. Instead of sitting in a room with a bunch of older, quiet, and awkward people, I’m socializing with courteous people that are my age and really outgoing. My science classes are no longer cougar towns. From my ladies in Chemistry, all the way to my buddies in Intro to Programming, they’re all great people to be around with. The course material was tough stuff. A&M is no slouch when it comes to education and I will admit that I was not prepared for it when it came charging at me with all guns blazing. I fought back though, but I feel that I didn’t fight back hard enough. I ended up dropping one class and finishing the semester with all B’s in the remainder of my classes. I’m determined to do better next semester. Obtaining a 3.5 GPA for the year isn’t entirely too difficult and is a very practical goal. I have to really work hard for it this time though, and I won’t be stopped.
San Antonio Speedway
These are just a few casual pictures from quite a while back, nearly a month ago. Krizia and I visited the San Antonio Speedway to see my friend Patrick and his brother Chris race. We both were able to ride in the passengers seat and get a first-hand experience as to how it felt. Krizia enjoyed it and said that it felt like a roller-coaster ride. It was a pretty thrilling experience, like that of an action movie. Patrick placed first in his class, which really comes as no surprise. He’s very passionate about cars and enjoys the thrill of racing. Chris does it for fun too. Afterwards, we visited Krizia’s house to eat, unwind, and sing karaoke with her sister Kristel. A perfect way to spend the rest of a sunny Sunday afternoon.
Happy Birthday Baby Ko
Though my birthday has not come yet, on the evening of Friday, April 16, 2010, My girlfriend Krizia, along with the help of Anthony and Rachel, gave me one of the biggest but simplest birthday surprises I have ever received in my life. The floor was filled with balloons and the room was decorated just for me. As I walked in, Krizia presented me with a beautiful chocolate birthday cake with only half of the candles lit. She was rushing to get them all lit but gave up as I was entering. :) For my birthday present, she gave me a gorgeous, hand-made, one-of-a-kind, straight-from-the-heart birthday scrapbook filled with her thoughts and the sweet memories we spent together over past few months. I’m usually thankful enough to receive just a birthday card from someone with their thoughts written down. Receiving a gift like this not only makes me feel happy, but it also makes reminds me of why I’m so thankful to be blessed.
This picture is a comic book style compilation of my birthday surprise, the way that I saw it. Thank you mahal, I love you. God bless you.
For reference, “Baby ko” means “my baby” and “Mahal” means “love.”
Theme and Thoughts
It’s finally warm again! Goodbye jackets. Goodbye freezing. Goodbye suffering. Hello to warm spring/sumer days filled with heat, sweating, and mosquito bites! As always, I hope that everybody is doing well. People seem to be stressed over schoolwork these days. :\
New layout
So I changed redid my layout again. I wanted to focus on steering away from the “night sky” look, but I couldn’t help it. I think my site looks much better if it has a more dark feel with more flourescent color. Dropped the purple color of the last layout and threw in some blue. The background is a picture I took a few days ago. Getting the shot was quite a challenge. I will go into more detail about it at a later time when I showcase the photo in another post. The original foundation design of the layout is based on Motion by 85ideas. It has a good amount of new features such as drop-down menus and formspring.me integration. The layout isn’t exactly completey finished as there are a few minor kinks that I have to fix and polish up. All-in-all, I believe that it looks and performs quite well and it won’t be changing for a while. ;)
How have you been, Ruiz?
Well, all of that website-interweb talk is fine and dandy Ruiz, but how about you? What’s been going on with you? Oh, just the usual: work and school. My hours have been getting cut so I’m trying to be a bit more thrifty as far as my spending habits go. It’s amazing how three McChickens can fill you up just as well as a $10 meal at a chinese resturant. I literally paid for two weeks worth of gas just by going to McDonalds three or four times. Speaking of gas and cars, some lady hit the side of my car about a month ago and my car is finally about to get repaired next week. I think it’s kind of sad how the rental car I’m going to be using is 10x better than my own. Oh well, I’ll be sure to drive that sucker to down San Marcos when I go to see Krizia. Garwsh I miss that girl. :)
Random thought’s much? Yes. But I figured I might as well get them out along with the random fact that Passion Pit is awesome and that you should listen to it.