Most Things Never Die (And Will Likely Be Relived)

It wasn't until a month or so ago that I remembered I even had a blog. How sad is that? To top it all off I abandoned myself and fell off the grid right after the "The 30A Wedding [Part 1]" teaser!

I'm not even going to attempt to continue from the strange and dismal time in my life when I finally got around to recounting and documenting the "house guest periods". I was several months, and a lot of lag, in to writing about the "30A trip." It was long overdue, yet also too dated by the time I got around to writing about it. I fell off the boat. I admit it. It was and still is a great story, but I'll have to get back to it. (I really want to finish it up because I don't work there anymore and haven't spoken to the girl in 7+ months, so I think it'd be kosher if I picked it up and concluded the story from where I left off, but I'm going to catch up on more pertinent things before I start retrospecting.) To be continued...

To think back over this past year is almost surreal. Many more changes came about: half of which I expected, the other half of which I rejected, and a small percentage of which were just straight up unexpected. It all started in May when attended a quarterly E-commerce executive meetup at 10th & Piedmont. I met someone who asked if I was "looking for a move and interested in a change."

It was the beginning of June when I accepted "a move" and very sadly moved on from KooKoo Bear. The ladies at the pool were nearly in full season, yet I couldn't traditionally bask among their beauty because I had to move out by June 11! I became extremely limited to pool time interaction with females for the rest of this summer. It was only like once a weekend that I could get to the pool to mack! Tough stuff... Fortunately Danny and Weave held a fort down right off the Phase 3 abode and spa. (Deets own dis layta.)

My boss/business partner was very upset, but also very happy for me. I'd made one of the best decisions of my life. I'd imagined that I'd work, develop, and innovate with a company like this one. My dream I hadn't yet developed was coming true. Life works in mysterious ways. 

After job acceptance and move decisions I decided to take residence with my dad for a few months. (He had a few storage units right next to his house and my mom's townhouse in Alpharetta was able to harbor my formal wear.) My office was less than 2.5 miles from his house and I hadn't lived with my dad since I was 10 or so. That was a great experience. (More details to come...)

I'd finally found the apartment I was cool with. This place had been hiding under the radar for several months. (I'm still a little emotionally physical with Promove about not listing this complex on my roster. I think they have some sort of deal with Berkeley Heights. [Will investigate.])

And can you imagine I'd met a chick. During this time I'd met a chick. After the follow-up to the "30A Wedding [Part 1]" and the more details coming about living with my dad... Then... Enter TLN.

[I'm] Going Back To Cali (Part 2/2)

The last post, "[I'm] Going Back To Cali (Part 1)," was attempted to be, but was not, finished by this past New Year. Fail on my part. No (valid) excuses. Please forgive me. Alright let's get on with it.

Picking up (more-or-less) where I left off:

This Bruce Clay guy. He turned out to be a freakin trip. Yin, Joe, and I sat in this guy's class for about 7.5 hours a day for 5 days. There were about 25 of us in the class. Almost everyone else was sent by their company to "learn SEO" so that the company wouldn't have to pay for a 3rd party service. This was EXACTLY what Bruce anticipated and wanted.

Jen made for a very suitable, if not desirable, secretary and personal assistant. She also claimed she learned new things. That's all fine and dandy. What I really cared about was that she took excellent notes. Her notes are still helping me today! In addition, Yin has become pretty damn proficient with using ole Bruce's trademarked SEO ToolSet!

Just about each one of these five mornings was PRETTY. FREAKIN. ROUGH. and consisted of 4-5 cups of coffee, multi-grain bars, water, sprite, fruit, and a cup of tea. The combination of an acknowledged hangover and anxious reality that you're about to have a whole lot of very valuable information crammed into your head worked as a perfect mix for a very valuable and memorable experience each day of this adventure.

I will never forget some of the people I met in this course. I remember these two people, in particular. I'm having a hard time remembering their names, but we all met in the lobby during the free, unlimited wine and cheese hours the second night after Bruce had finished preaching for the day.

It was Joe, Yin, these two bros (one who turned out to be very knowledgeable of and familiar with the porn industry in a neighboring valley), and myself. Joe ended up driving us all to dinner and I can't repeat some of the conversations that transpired during the car ride(s there and back). We went to a cool restaurant on top of a hill within the valley. It had a great view. The dinner was too much fun. Wow. People are interesting at first. How would you describe they are at second? I can't yet think of a term for it...

Simi Valley wasn't the most exciting place to hang out at night nor during the day. That's why on the third day we took a trip to Santa Monica and Venice Beach... We drove through the mountains from Simi Valley down to the coast. The drastic and changing scenery was exciting and attractive. Santa Monica was gorgeous and flavorful. I'd never seen such a set up as those houses lined along the Pacific OVER  the water and ON the highway. It was not only stunning, but also beautiful. Whoever these architects were did a swell ass job.

Then there were the beaches... These beaches... They were UNREAL. First we saw the freakin pier and what-not near Santa Monica. (That was after we walked the [what seemed to be entire] distance down the beach to get to the pier.) West Coast beaches absolutely lived up to their reputations.
After that we drove up to that Venice Beach area and (I at least) had a hell of an experience. The people there were like nothing else, literally. I did not understand how they survived on a weekly basis! It was incredible to see these sorts of people just "living" there like that's about all there was to live for. It was straight up creepy to be honest with you. A few times I remember asking Joe what the deal was with the whole scene. He said it'd been that way for 30 years. I had no more words, but fully enjoyed the experience, no doubt.

[I'm] Going Back To Cali (Part 1/2)

Good Lord. Please forgive Will Voegeli. I don't know how I let him get so backed up on sharing these fantastic experiences with his friends and self.

Despite the delay, this should be a fun post to read. You got that Will?? Yeah. I got it and apologize. I'm looking forward to this.

So I last left off with wrapping up my visit to Block Island and leaving y'all with a riveting, edge of your seat conclusion that lead into my (secretly) wild trip to California.

Venice Beach

It was a spur of the moment trip. Joe told me one morning that we should find the best SEO certification course and get certified in this shit. I believe it was later that afternoon that we found good ole Bruce Clay teaching out in a suburb of LA, California. It was originally just supposed to be Joe and I, but towards the end of the ticket booking he called and told me, "Hey Will. Tell Jen she's coming, too. Get her to send me her info. I'm booking tickets now, so tell her to send me her stuff ASAP."

I hang up the phone and head into Jen's office to let her know that she's coming to California with Joe and I. Mind you, Jen had only been with KooKoo Bear for a few weeks. What's more interesting: she'd only been working upstairs in the "web department" for about 1 week, didn't know what sort of work she was getting into, and didn't know Joe or I at all...

Good Ole Los Angeles Car Jacking

Typical Jen (Yinny) was focused (a little too much) on something on her computer screen when I walked in to break the news. (Not to my surprise now-a-days) She was startled by my entry. I told her she needed to e-mail Joe all of her personal information. She asked why. I responded, "Because we're going to California and apparently you're coming with us. You ready to learn a few new tricks? Okay. Stop looking at me like that." Jen asked when we were leaving. "Sunday," I said. "This Sunday?" she replied. "................." I said. (I think the time between me telling her she was coming on a trip and the time we were flying out was about 3 days...)

We all finally rendezvous at the airport. (Of course I am the last person to arrive at the terminal.) Jen, okay from here on out I have to refer to Jen as "Yin or Yinny," looked a little nervous, but cool and level headed. I was pretty excited, myself. Joe managed to get all three of us seats next to each other, so that was pretty fun. Jen got the middle seat at first, but I forced her to switch so I could box her into the window seat and have a perfect blend between bro-talk on my left (with Joe) and chick flirting on my right (with Jen). Joe and Jen watched on my laptop as I talked the support chick with the Delta Go-Go In Flight into free Wi-Fi for the entire flight. B055 /\/\0\/3.

Beautiful Los Angeles

Jen was starting to turn out to be a pretty cool chick. Disclaimer: At first, in the office, I'd thought that she was a kind of weird, strange, A-type, dork. (That was way before I knew how smart and A-type and strange and dorky and weird she really was...)

We landed in LA and it was hot. It felt EXCELLENT. Being on foot in the city was bright, hazy, thick, and hot. It was exactly how I'd imagined and seen it in the video games and movies. I loved it!

Joe got a cool rental car (that turned out to host some freaking fun rides) and the 3 of us rolled out towards Simi Valley. [Okay. This is another "aside" or whatever you want to call it, but this was Jen's first experience riding in a car with Joe (and in LA), so she had zero expectations...] Joe performed his normal wild, fun ATL driving, but on the highways of LA without a scratch. Joe's driving seems like luck, but don't disagree, it is purely finesse.

The hotel is reached. We are all tired, but know what we are in for. I guess it makes perfect sense that there's a restaurant/bar called "Elephant Bar" practically connected to the hotel... (To be kindled at a later time.)

My room looked SO BALLER. Like... This baby literally looked like I walked back into an 80s hotel room that likely had a Scarface movie scene shot in it. Jen's room happened to be right next to mine. Joe's room happened to be like 30 rooms down the hall and to the left... IDK. WHATEV.

We're scheduled attend this class starting at 9:00 AM every morning most of the time we were there. Noting in my brain that I had to be good to learn a whole lot of new stuff in the morning and that my alarm was going off at 8:00 AM... I called Jen and told her to, "Meet me outside of my room in 3 minutes." I told her, "we're walking next door to a gas station to grab a case of beer and coming back to have a good night." She arrived promptly and on time. The walk was completed. The beer was had. The night was fun. I discovered that Yinny is too good to be true.

This post is to be continued and finished by the New Year.

It's Been A While

I was watching Deep Impact when I started writing this blog about a month ago. I knew the title and remember watching it, but couldn't remember when I saw it or what it was about. My first thought was a porn film, but I can see now that's incorrect. It's about a "comet" that's scheduled to end it all.

Now I'm watching Wall Street.

I'm way, way behind on all of this blog stuff. Wow. There is so much I want to talk about. A lot has happened...

We have: visiting Brian Bobb in Washington D.C., checking out Block Island with Alex Hnizdor, hitting up Los Angeles California with Joe and Jen, revisiting Columbia SC for the USC/UGA game, raging in Seaside FL for the first with Megladon for one of her friend's weddings, and all sorts of new, strange experiences around ATL.

The new, seemingly sudden, arrival of Fall 2012 has brought a bitter-sweet feeling. The weather feels amazing, but I'm a little sad Summer 2012 has come to a close. This summer was absolutely great. I couldn't have asked for anything better.

It feels unreal that I'm actually going to see Rob Zombie in concert for the first time ever (at 26 years old). Brian Bobb bought us box floor seats to Zombie's upcoming performance in Atlanta. He's teamed up with Manson (who I saw on my 21st birthday along with Slayer). I had a ticket to see Zombie my freshman year in college and was packed and ready to head to New Orleans on Amtrak in the morning, but damn Katrina had to wreck the place that night and the House of Blues was gone by morning...

Work is very busy, like everyone always says, but it's going great and it's been a lot of fun, as usual. Jen and Lacey are absolute gems. Nobody could ask for better coworkers. Energetic, smart, funny, witty, good looking; What more could one ask for? Thank y'all.

This movie is in its closing, which means the same for me. Good night and good times tomorrow.

Belated July 4th (Total) Recall [Part 3]

FINALLY: The actual 4th day of July had arrived.

(The 2 days leading up to this day, not covered in this post, will remain that way.)

We awoke during the late morning/early afternoon in a NUTZ daze. Almost everything was in shambles and out of control. Doug, Dig[aret], Digerella, Douglita, Fresh, whatever you felt like calling him at this point, was still alive. Thank God.

I honestly don't really, really remember what happened over those 2 days. If I really think about it, then I can remember driving fast and recklessly around downtown Atlanta for a while with the top down and music blasting while crushing brews. I remember running into and catching up with Walter Pickens while Dig, Steph, and I were at lunch at... some pizza place... I forget. That's RANDOM. I DO remember Digga drank an entire pitcher by himself (at about 1:00 pm on a Monday [or Tuesday]).

My company had been calling me all morning/afternoon regarding IT issues, questions, etc. and wondering where I was. I did a good job.

I also remember crashing into a Starbucks around 5:00 pm that afternoon kinda pretty tipsy, pulling out my laptop, and working out some network and website issues while Doug drunk dialed some chick back in Charleston. It was either one of his mom, sister, or sister's chick friend. I know that much.

Let's get back to the morning/afternoon of July 4th. And let's fast forward through that entire day because it was just a freaking awesome nailz raging mess that I'd rather not risk carpal tunnel over.

So we actually make it out (Hnizdor drives [somehow]) to watch fireworks at Lenox and it was righteous. We brought plenty of beer for plenty of reasons. After Lenox we headed down to the Virginia-Highlands area to meet up with some SMOKESHOWS we'd met that afternoon at the pool.

We met them alright at Hand In Hand and the chick Hnize was into was also into him. However, these girls were already with another group of bros that they knew?? WHAT?!?!? Thankfully we overwhelmed those dudes and they ended up leaving us with the chickz. YES.

HOLD UP. Steph and her crew roll up all of a sudden. Dig had been sexting them, unbeknownst to me. Things get weird.

Our chicks leave to go to another VA-Highlands place a couple of blocks down. We meet them there (with our chicks) 15 minutes later. Things get weirder.

For the next 2 hours Dig provokes Hnizdor (continuously throughout the night) to hit on this chick who clearly has a boyfriend. What? Truth. He keeps telling him to "go back and give it another shot, to try harder, to not give up, to persist, to GET IT, to SUCCEED, TO WIN!!!!"

We end up back at our apartment one expensive taxi ride, not paid for by us, around 1:00 a.m. I'd like to say. It's quickly decided that we're going out to the pool. We had some girl come out on her porch at about 1:30 to tell us to STFU. I had to be responsive and productive that morning, so I left Digga, Steph, and Lauren down there at the pool......

Well... This is where things get the MOST WEIRD. Digger Fresh never came back that night/morning DESPITE the door being left unlocked and our apartment fully accessible and able to accommodate...

This kid... THIS KID. SOMEHOW he ended up back at Steph and Lauren's place. "WWHHOOOAAAA.... Dude... You're dating a freaking SMOKESHOW back in Charleston and you've already been going through the Mere Mere incident since you got here 4 days ago!," was all I could think. (This Mere incident was still going on, by the way.)

What a bro, Doug. Somehow you made it back to our apartment. You made it back to safe haven. I was sleeping while Danny and Alex were leaving for work. Danny said Digga was crushing a handle of vodka at 8:30 a.m. when he (Danny) was just about to leave for work. Doug Fresh then had to drive Hnize to his car, which had been left down in the VA-Highlands area...

Doug was NOT GOOD when he got back (and I was finally awake [around 10:30 a.m.]).

To this day we still do not know what happened and went down at the pool and/or at Steph/Lauren's place after I left the pool that night. All of the recounting and memories from everyone (Dig, Steph, Lauren) are unclear, inconsistent, uncertain, gray and the shade hasn't changed since their depositions/interrogations... What really happened?