Reflection

That urge to write is coming back again. I know it's been a while since I've been writing consistently. Sometimes we only have time to live our lives and not reflect on them through writing (I consider writing to be my favorite form of reflection; and meditation/prayer is my other favorite way to reflect on life). 

Having time to reflect seems a luxury, but really I think it's a necessity. I must take time to reflect on life or else my mind feels backed up and cluttered. Like an old pipe that needs to be cleaned out. Reflection is a form of relaxation and mental nourishment. Without it, I'm stuck.

When we sleep and are dreaming, our brains are actively processing information, internalizing events, and drawing upon our emotions to create and store memories. It's the same with reflection while we are awake. It's as if our conscious mind also needs this type of "dreaming" which I'm calling "reflection" right now.

It's much better to write down your thoughts, and not just let them float around in your head. If you haven't done this before then I highly recommend it. Start right now. It doesn't matter what you write or even if you like it. You can always edit later. Just start reflecting and if you don't know what to write about then write that you don't know what to write about! 

I hope we all take the time necessary to reflect on our lives and what we are doing with them. 

--WBC--

Still here, still blogging!

I haven't posted anything in a while. Just busy I guess. Well, currently in AZ and working a lot. Seems like everybody's personal life is online now thanks to FaceBook and other social networks, so it's not much of a novelty to be blogging about my life, lol. I'm keeping this blog up though, and one day I want to have an archive of all the sites I've made since 1999. Anyways, hope y'all are having a great time. Whatever you do, do it well. There's always challenges, just keep your eye on the positive and be willing to adjust to make it there. I'm sure I'll post something here again before too much time goes by.

--WBC--

Crunch Time

It's crunch time. And not just because the snow outside is getting crunchy on the sidewalk. I'm talking about learning how to do MORE with LESS.

I'm faced with a lot to do in front of me. A lot because I'm choosing it. Choosing to get a Master's Degree, choosing to run a business, and choosing to consider getting a job (putting the business on hold will give me more free time, but that also means making applications and resumes and more work in the beginning). 

The Master's degree is a job in an of itself. Taking the GRE, getting letters of referral, writing a letter of intent, etc. Deadline to apply is Dec. 15th. But that's for next year's program. Which means I have to do a lot starting now. I must prepare for the GRE really fast. Not exactly how I wanted to be spending the next 4 weeks, but in the long run it will pay off.

I'm going to cancel my road trip to Arizona this week as well. I don't want to do that, but I know that AZ will be there when the next road trip comes along.

The next 30 days are going to be busy. I'm going to have to balance my time better, do more in less time, and deal with the stress of it all. I lost sleep last night just thinking about it. But it can be done. I'm pretty laid back most of the time, so learning to work fast and efficient should be a healthy challenge.

--WBC--

A Life Direction

Hello World! Welcome back to the World of Brian - ongoing blog since 2004 and beyond. In the past I considered moving my blog to WordPress, but alas, here is The World Of Brian, and here it shall stay.

At Bear Lake, Utah

So in reent news, I've moved to Utah. Surprise surprise. Well, yeah I am the youngest snowbird alive, but I'll tell you why this time is a bit more significant than the others:

First of all I stayed in Arizona for the Summer, and now I'm in Utah for the Winter - the complete opposite of what a proper snowbird should do. Hey I didn't plan it like this - it just happened. I was working the trail at Anasazi when in June I kept having these epiphanies about my life and the direction I was going in. I realized where some of my passions were, and probably most importantly, realized I wanted to be closer to my siblings. So, I made the move. 

What else is different? Well, this requires a small story: 2 years ago I was happily living and working in Salt Lake City. I had a jeep, nice job, and even a hot girlfriend. But sometime April all those things went away. I spent a month fighting depression and confusion. In a spur-of-the-moment decision I packed all my belongings into storage except for some clothes and on June 6th I hitched a ride to Jackson Wyoming. Found a job at Dave Hansen Whitewater (running the kitchen) and lived in a tent by the river (almost like in a van down by the river). The rest is another interesting story, but I remained mostly transient since then. Now, 2 years later I find myself living in my own room in a house, pulling things out of storage, and building my business making websites. In effect, I'm regaining what I lost. But that's not the big story.

The big story is that I am finally know what I'll be going to graduate school for (and yes, I've "decided" upon things before and then switched. But oh well.)

I want to become a therapist. 

Yeah, really! Maybe even continue on to a PHD in Psychology. You might be thinking 2 things right now: 1"Totally makes sense, cuz you've been working in the therapeutic industry for over 6 years now" or 2 "Huh? I thought you said you would never be a therapist because you hated doing paperwork, etc." -- well, what can I say! I've been thinking long and hard about these things. It's been five years since graduating with a B.S. in Communications and Recreation Management. It's about time I move on to what comes next.

Belle Pepper - my lil' friend in Utah

I'm very excited about this decision. After hours upon hours of pondering, writing things down and just talking to people and praying. (yes, I pray and I'm not afraid to admit that. Nothing wrong with speaking out to the man upstairs). Now the process is to gather information and decide which school to go to.

So have I left computer programming behind? Nope. I am currently taking a Python class from the University of Toronto online. I really like the class. Even though I already know programming, this class does and excellent job of covering the basics, and I'm catching onto things I haven't realized before in programming (being self-taught I missed some basics). 

I believe I can do both. Why not? I like both programming, and working to help people.

Looong post eh? Well if you're still reading, then cool. Here's something for your refinement:

Until next time!!!

P.S. Here's my other blog (mostly non-personal stuff gets posted there)

www.BigWilliam.com

--WBC--

Summer Dreams

Antler's Cafe - coming off the trail

Tim, Alicia, Cait, Lina, Steve, and me

Last week I finally started updating my new porfolio site www.BigWilliam.com. Head over and check it out. Of course, it's not designed yet or anything, but I just wanted to get some content up for the time being.

I've also finished working there trial here at Anasazi, for a little while (you and I don't know when I'll come back). Let me just say that I've LOVED working on the trail. I love being in nature especially, all the TrailWalker friends I get to meet here, and getting to know the YoungWalkers. I started a blog about TrailWalker life here http://trailwalkerjournal.blogspot.com but I haven't been updating it enough. But I have some stories I may be adding to it one day.

I have been surviving the summer heat here by purchasing large quantities of ice cream. It really helps! Oh yeah, and sometime A&W Rootbeer too. Can't go wrong with a Rootbeer float every now and then.

Since finishing walking the trail I have put my efforts into re-starting my freelance programming business (currently called "Vendo" but I might be changing that name). I'm working on my personal site www.herbalnoni.com (new design isn't finished yet, but it's there), and I'm starting a new one for a new client (which I'll announce once it's finished).

I've been focusing on my personal schedule as well. I've found that when you work for yourself, you have to keep a strict work schedule. There's no "boss" or "office" to keep me accountable, so I have to write out my own schedule and stick to it. One thing that helps me is this creative work place called GangPlank which allows anybody to come and work and collaborate. Themed in pirate flags and lots of computers, it's my favorite place to get work done. Frankly, I LOVE it.

I also love the new ward I'm in. Nice people.

Alas, all this love, but I am heading out. Why you ask? Because I'm freaking awesome that's why! Oh, so you think I just float around and do whatever comes my way and keep no stability in my life... well... okay you win. Expect the unexpected. But really, I do have a direction, and I'm testing out a few ideas before I go for it all the way.

I've been doing some soul searching and I've found that I have a recurring passion in my life: to create fun situations and learning environments. That's a fancy way for saying I want to become a teacher. So I tried it out: I set up my own free class for the public and taught an HTML class. I also signed up to be a Substitute Teacher for the Mesa Schools District (although I didn't get to do it because of a long story about my hands being too calloused for the fingerprint card and it taking too long to process, etc. whatever). So I'm trying things out in other ways. I've tutored a few people about how to make websites. And don't forget what we do as TrailWalkers: teach wilderness skills baby! So yeah, I've been trying this out for a while. I'm going to consider a few other options first, but then if those don't stick and this one does, I'm going back to school for a Master's Degree in Education. (Horray for more student loans!) Well, hopefully I don't have to incur more student loans. I'm (fingers crossed) hoping that I can create a successful freelance business to pay my way through college. Pray for me on this one, please.

I'll be looking for a job in Utah when I head up there.

Okay that's all I have time for. If you've read all the way here then GREAT. Have a splendid freaking fantastic day.

--WBC--