All the kids have always known...

Haven’t blogged in a long while. This is due to my crazy class load, student teaching (2^nd grade in Dublin!), Trader Joe’s, and my slim social life and time I get to spend with the lovely K.I.M. I haven’t had much to add with the exception of moving along in the program I’m in at Cal State University of East Bay. I went to Rock The Bells with some friends who I hadn’t really hung out with outside of work and had an absolute blast. It was refreshing to see a genre of music that I’m not used to seeing live, especially artists that fucking kill it. Mos Def/Talib Kwali, Nas, Common, Supernatural (incredible!), and my favorite of the day, a bit of GZA and Genius, and Childish Gambino (A.K.A. Troy from the T.V. show Community) were the bulk of our day.

We’ve moved in with Kim’s family to save money. Going from the annoying parking on creekside in Walnut Creek to the plentiful parking in a neighborhood in San Ramon is pretty nice. Since Kim and I will be crazy-go-nuts busy for the next 18 months or so, we wouldn’t be able to work as much as we’d like and live comfortably paying rent and what not. It’s been going well. Adaptations are being made. Modifications are being put into play. Kim and I also took a day to go to Big Sur. It was a nice little getaway with perfect weather for driving, listening to music, hiking, geocaching, butting in on other peoples' picnics, and other hijinks.

A few days ago, I got a call from my mom. It was regarding my dad. My dad and I haven’t been the closest recently. Our relationship has been strained. In short, it was because of him that I choose not to drink…ever. That’s something I feel strongly about and will never change. But I digress; the call was to say hi and check in, but also to inform me that my dad has liver failure. He has a 50/50 shot at living till next summer and if he gets a transplant, a 90% chance of living out his life. We’ll see how that goes. I am going to try to go visit during the Thanksgiving break. Hopefully that will work out. I’ve never really dealt with something like this, but in other shitty situations, music has been a crutch, so I assume it will be something I can utilize to get me through and keep me afloat. I guess there is also this semester’s workload mixed with the student teaching and work to keep my mind on anything but that.

Random images from the past few weeks or so...