Major life update incoming.
I’ve had a rough time the last 2 years. With knee surgery behind me over a year ago I began another life challenge that’s taken some time to work through. In September, while on a motorcycle trip with my dad and brother, I was hit head on by a car who came into my lane. I survived, thankfully, with a few issues that are still causing me problems today. Continue reading
I recently wrote this on my Facebook when I got some push back from people of a comic I shared. This prompted me to go down the rabbit hole of empathy and try to relate to my neighbors. I find it so sad that violent acts have happened to cops. It doesn’t change the fact or make me feel less sad for the growing list of people killed at the hands of cops for routine traffic stops. The last one, someone who worked at a school, is the most egregious death yet. Anyways, here’s my attempt to put words to my feelings and assure people I don’t challenge things out of disrespect for the police, but I do it because I care. It’s what we should ALL be doing.
An exercise in empathy…
Imagine you’re a gay person who considers gay bars, as many LGBT people do, as a community center type home. Imagine a bar hosting Latin night like that, being attacked during the worst massacre in the US since 9/11. You’d be scared, sad, upset, and angry. Wouldn’t you?
Imagine your a police officer who feels called to protect and serve. Imagine your brothers and sisters in arms were attacked and hurt/killed in Dallas. You’d be scared, sad, upset, and angry. Wouldn’t you?
Imagine you’re a young person of color who hears DAILY that someone like you has been killed from altercations started by events like broken tail lights, no drivers license, jay walking, no front license plate. You’d be scared, sad, upset, and angry too. Wouldn’t you?
This isn’t a competition for who deserves grief more. This isn’t a new reality show called “America’s Next Top Victim”. We can be sad for the police victims (AS WE SHOULD), just as we can be sad for the victims of what seems to be a trend of overreaction by cops. There also seems to be more deaths of people of color than white people at the hands of police for like infractions. Maybe some of the shootings were justified, according to the court system they are… but every. single. one?
It’s important to question and challenge systems that don’t work. We see it everyday. People challenge their government officials on their policies, procedures, and stances all the time. People challenge their workplaces, churches, friends, family on their points of view as well. Questioning the police is not an act of disrespect, it’s an act of “can’t we do better than this?” Don’t take my posts as disrespectful to police. It’s not about disrespect, it’s because I care. All lives do matter. Blue lives, black lives. And that’s why we question and challenge. Otherwise nothing changes, and that’s unacceptable.
What makes us a Christian?
Did you hear it happen? Where were you? Do you even know it happened? In the first quarter of 2015, the Millennial generation quietly took over the American workforce as the largest working group. Check out the Pew Research Center graphic from this article:
This news is SO last year. We all knew that right? It was obvious and they’ve been saying it was going to happen for about 5 years. One of the big things to note is we’re not even done with Millennials entering the workforce. There is still a HUGE chunk of the 18-24 millennials in school. This number and percentage will continue to grow, ESPECIALLY as the Boomers take their time on retiring (if they ever do). Last month, the Pew Research Center announced another HUGE shift for Millennials… we are the largest generation now living in America! Check out this graphic from them:
We’re already known as the most educated generation (at least by academic standards). We are becoming increasingly politically active, we’re more socially progressive, and we are navigating tough financial situations our parents and grandparents never had to deal with. With all this change in full swing, it’ll sure be interesting to see where things go next as we continue to shape the future!
Roger Hampton (12/18/1964-12/16/2015)
This isn’t something I think many millennials think about until the unthinkable happens. My stepdad died on December 16th, just a little over two weeks ago. He was supposed to turn 51 on December 18th.
At first it was the shock from the first phone call relayed to me by my brother letting me know he had received a frantic call from mom that 9-1-1 was called and he was heading to their house. I was at the doctor’s office getting a follow-up for my knee surgery I had two months prior. The next was the text I received from him as I walked out to my car that my stepdad was dead. Continue reading
Recently stumbled upon The Majority of Millennials Have $1,000 or Less in Savings via Howmuch.net. The graphic above definitely shows the impact of a variety of things including poor financial decisions, school loans, underemployment, and many other issues that seem to plague many Millennials. To me, being financially stable is incredibly important and if this doesn’t scare someone, it should! Millennials are the future and many of them are putting off major life decisions in lieu of their finances.
The moustache that came and went with Movember (Moustache November).
I’ve really neglected this blog. I had good intentions when we celebrated the one year, but what I didn’t count on was the effect of losing my dog would have on me. It was a rough few months for me, depression having set in, but I’m back, and better for it.
It’s been almost 3 months since my last post and I am picking up where I left off. I’m still in the midst of planning a wedding, recently completed pre-marital counseling, and everything that goes with that. I’m on holiday from work until the New Year, and playing a bit of World of Warcraft in my free time. I can’t wait to share some of my Christmas Crafts and Gifts I made in a future posts. Also, my 30th birthday is next month and I have some reflections to write in regards to it.
I’m excited to re-engage the blog and thankful for those of you who do read my posts. It’ll be good to get back on track and share some of the things that have helped me cope with and give my attention to over the last few months. Thanks and stay tuned!
photo credit: Viola’s visions ◕‿◕❤ via photopin cc
So a year ago I started this blog with Opportunity. When I created this blog, I wanted to cover things from my millennial perspective in both my career and life. Through the year, and my main goal being to post at least once a month has been incredibly positive, so here’s to the next year! This past year has been challenging both professionally and personally, but I’m here to keep documenting my journey. Continue reading
So, I’ve been engaged for a while and it happened about a year ago while on vacation with my now fiance, Steven. We got engaged weeks after DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) was overturned. It was fun, he couldn’t believe it, and I was nervous because it’s such a profound moment of PDA that it took all of my strength to do it. We did it next to the reflection pool with the Abraham Lincoln statue looming in the distance, as well as the Washington monument in the photo (below). That wasn’t the beginning of our marriage journey though, the beginning of this journey started 1.5 years before that in January of 2012. We sat down with our Pastor at Highland Baptist Church and said… “We want to get married in this church.” For a straight couple, they wouldn’t have needed to meet with the Pastor, they would have just had to fill out an application, agree to the rules, and pay their deposit and find a date. Not us though, we’re gay, and our church had never done that kind of thing before. So we had to start the process to get this talked about by the church so that we could eventually get married in OUR church. Continue reading
photo credit: JoeInSouthernCA via photopin cc
I’m an introvert. There, I said it. And being an introvert in a large corporation is stressful. Sometimes it’s very stressful. It’s not that I’m lacking confidence, skill, or ability, but the people skills required inside the corporate world can be overwhelming to an inexperienced introverted professional. This blog post is dedicated to situations and ideals I’ve had to work through in order to keep my calm in a world that seems to demand constant socializing. Continue reading