Best Friends...But Not Forever.

Anyone who has ever been through high school knows that at times, you can make friends for life there while others show up before or after that period. However, this isn’t the case for me. Back then, I had this one friend and we were nearly inseparable. So what happened? Life happened.
As we went off to college, we drifted to different campuses. We each began our own separate lives, which is normal. However, he started dating shortly after. This forever changed the dynamic. What was once a close duo was now a trio. I did not learn that eventually, he would have to make a choice between me and his girl. Looking back on it now, I still think he made the right decision, even though the process wasn’t quite right.
One day while having some friends over, she was going through some of my electronics when I advised not to. However, two unfortunate elements mixed in what became a very bad event for everyone. First element: she kept insisting on going through my belongings when I advised not to. Second element: my short fuse. I have a problem with redundancy. The more I have to repeat myself, the more irritated I seem to get.
I admit, I did not handle that well at all. I yelled at her not to touch anything. I lost a grip on my composure, which was the first step to losing a good friend. And why not? I just yelled at his girl. Also, a man should never yell at a lady for any reason. What I did was uncalled for and I have nobody to blame but myself for losing that friend.
Afterwards, we began drifting apart. I had to apologize to both of them on multiple occasions due to my inappropriate behavior, but also because I didn’t want them gone. Unfortunately, it led to the inevitable end of our close friendship. Years later we were able to briefly reconcile, however it was unable to restore the way things used to be.
And yet, the separation is what led to me becoming the way I am now. Looking back, my own personal growth was due to one of my biggest mistakes. We aren’t perfect, but if we can try to learn from our mistakes, then we are headed in the right direction.

The Night The Sky Exploded (Revisit)

I believe this was back in 2009, but this is a story that takes place in the very middle of the night. Normally, I'm the kind of person who goes to sleep extremely early. However, that was the night I turned nocturnal for most of it.

As I was sleeping soundly, I suddenly felt a door shut and dismissed it as just minor. Seconds later, my best friend, Ace, calls me at 1am yelling at the top of his lungs.

"What do you want?" I say as I'm waking up.

"It's the end of the world! There was this big explosion, and the sky is on fire!"

"If it were the end of the world, why the hell would you wake me up?" I replied.

"You got to believe me! There's this big ball of fire, and it's a mess everywhere. The sky is burning up!" he continued.

If I were awake, I would have noticed something was odd about this. Not because of the big fireball burning in the sky, but the fact that he was speaking clearly. For you see, my best friend stutters often when he speaks. His level of fear was so intense, he didn't stutter a single time. But sleepy me didn't notice it.

"Go look at the window," he said.

I stood up and walked towards it. "I will bet nobody is outside," I said as I opened the window.

"Odd..."

"What?" he said.

"There's people pointing at the sky."

I walked out of the house and stood in the middle of the street as I looked up at the sky, realizing there was a giant fireball up there.

"The sky is on fire. Who knew?" I said, oblivious to the situation. And right there, I woke up.

What I think my face looked like when I discovered the fireball.

That's when I realized what was going on. I quickly hung up on my friend to check up on everyone else and make sure they were fine. Not many answered, but my buddy Johnny did pick up.

"Go see the sky," I said.

"Why?"

"It's on fire! You gotta see this!"

"I don't believe you," he replied.

"Would I call you in the middle of the night to tell you the sky is on fire just to get some laughs? I'm serious."

He stepped out of the house, keeping silent for a few seconds. When all of a sudden I hear him taking a large gasp on the phone.

"I stayed behind!" he yelled, thinking he got left behind in the rapture.

"It's not the rapture, you fool," I said. "There's been an explosion and I'm just making sure everyone's fine."

The real reason of the night's big bang.

He hung up as I heard him begin to yell in paranoia. Turns out, there was an explosion at an oil refinery nearby and the entire area woke up due to the massive blast. But of course, none of us knew that right away.

As for me, I spent the rest of the night calming both friends. Both thought it was the end of the world, and I had to convince them otherwise. What a night it was...

Ghost Puke

Shifting gears into silly for a bit, this story is a lesson on how to not let your curiosity get the better of you.

After leaving the campus cafeteria with half a sandwich left, I was on my way back to the gazebo where my friends and I spent most of our days during the college semesters. As I approach, I see a few of them gathered around a computer and laughing hysterically. Excellent, I thought, some comedy to liven up my spirits after a rough morning. With that assumption in mind, i took a huge bite of my sandwich and proceeded to approach the group to see what the laughter was all about.
Surely, it has to be something extremely hilarious. I better swallow my sandwich so I don't spit it out while laughing.
"What's so funny guys?" I asked.
"Nothing," replied Ace.
"Come on! What's so funny?
"Well..."

Oh...
What the...what are they doing with...oh, no!

Perhaps I shouldn't have asked. Let's just say it was a video involving a cup and two participants who proceeded to gross me out in the most horrible way possible. And in a flash, I went from composed to looking like I was going to puke a week's worth of food. A friend of mine from across the gazebo noticed and suggested I head to the bathroom, and rightfully so. So I ran there so quick that Barry Allen would have been proud of my speedy retreat.
My friend followed me into the bathroom to make sure that not only I was alright, but to see what would end up being called "The Ghost Puke." To this day, he swears by this story. According to him, once I reached the stall, I puked with such force that apparently my feet were not on the ground. Clearly, it's as if a ghost had puked in the stall since he didn't see my feet. So how was it? Am I able to levitate? Can I attach myself to walls or something? Am I a parkour master who pukes with style? Well, none of the above. I think it might have been all in his head.
And yet, he swears by this.
Let this be a lesson to all of you who get overtaken by curiosity at any given time. Proceed with caution, otherwise you may end up walking into a gross trap that will make you lose your lunch.

The First Last Date (Revisit)

This story was originally written way back in 2006 (no clue when it was posted online), but back then it was written by an angry 19 year-old who was dealing with the frustrations of his first ever break-up. Since then, I've changed a lot and figured I would give the story the fresh perspective it needed. Can't justify this story staying all angry all the time, especially if it doesn't warrant it. Okay, let's go!

It was late into 2005. I was a freshman at college and was still in the process of breaking away from my old high school life and persona. I was amazed at the prospect of new beginnings where I could be anyone I wanted. And out of all those things, dating was one of those things I kept telling myself I wouldn't be able to experience until college. Why college? That's where I can start over fresh without the old school reputation to follow.
So late into my first semester, I was about to be introduced into the world of dating. Little did I know, that I was not ready for it with the state of mind I had. But I didn't know that then. I was 19 and stupid. I had a whole life ahead of me, as well as stories to tell.
One one October night, an old friend had a birthday party. Not only was this a typical birthday party, but it was going to be the one night that would set a massive chain of events in motion (gotta love that domino effect). Not long after my arrival, I was introduced to Eliza, who was in the living room destroying all the guys at Halo. At first sight, I knew this was going to be awesome. Back then, not many of my lady friends embraced video games, if any. This was still before I would learn that female gamers weren't as mythical as unicorns, they were very much real and everywhere (just not to my knowledge). That night, we played Halo for hours. We laughed at how much I sucked at this game (and still do), while slowly getting to know each other and breaking the ice with the magic of video games.
Of course, how else are you going to light a spark between nerds?
In the weeks that followed, everything seemed to be going well. We stayed in touch often and I was starting to feel an attraction that soon was going to hijack my brain and turn it into levels of stupid I haven't encountered. I've heard people say many things about young love, one of them being that your brain turns off. This was the first girl that was possibly showing interest in me. So what was I going to do as a kid who always wanted a relationship, I let logic out the door and tapped into the part of me that's been lonely and desperate.
Yeah, this wasn't going to end well...

19 year-old me in a nutshell

I persuaded Eliza into starting a relationship, which at the time seemed like a good idea. Now that I'm older and a bit wiser, I think to myself: who asks that question without even going on an official first date? I'll tell you who, this dingus right here! Despite that, we did manage to go on a few dates and everything seemed fine. That is, until I was in too deep and realized I had a bigger investment in this than she had.
After a few dates, I wanted to bring her into my group of friends. But that's where the problems started showing up (and by problems, I mean my own stupidity). Asking her last minute to come down to see me didn't go so well, especially since she had plans and surely I couldn't rationalize that time apart is okay. The desperate lonely kid was starting to tear everything apart without knowing. He was trying to move too fast.
And then the Christmas season approached. In what became our last date, as well as an overall bad night for me, I decided to raise the stakes and go for broke. I had a friend pick up us after our date and drop her off at her house on the way to mine. When we approached her house, I gave her a gift and somehow, managed to screw things up big time.
"Eliza."
"Yes? What's up?"
"Before you go, I just wanted to say..."
I think she knew where this was going, and I didn't pick up on the signals. This would have been a good time to stop while I was ahead. I could have derailed and told her I had a nice evening.
Don't say it.
Please, don't say it.

"I love you!"
Well, no taking that back now. Besides, what's the worst that could happen? Oh yeah, now I remember. Eliza burst into laughter and ran away faster than you could say pretty much any word. Then again, she probably was just laughing out of nerves or something. That event was still a bit foggy, but I remember the laughter and her running away. Who can blame her, though? I made her really uncomfortable and she had every right to leave. But I didn't see it that way at 19.
I sat there in silence for what felt like ages, until I heard my friend laughing from the driver's seat. And from there, we left. Little did I know, I wouldn't see her again for another 9 years.
The aftermath of the relationship left me both embarrassed and bitter. For years, I was forced to learn the ins and outs of how relationships worked. And Eliza indirectly taught me that first lesson, patience. If something good is there, don't rush into it or you'll run into a wall and perhaps lose the biggest opportunity of your life. But I didn't know that at 19. I learned that almost a decade later.
To this day, Eliza will always be the one that got away. All because I was too young and stupid to realize I had the perfect girl on my first try, but it was me who wasn't ready.
In present day, we are on good terms and see each other every summer when I visit my hometown. And even though I know time can't be reversed, I can only imagine how things would be today had I used my brain instead of just blindly rushing into a situation. But it's okay, because the other relationships that followed were going to beat tons of lessons into me, whether I liked it or not.

A New Leaf

So where to begin? Well, I guess as any place as any would be in Pittsburgh, my new home of sorts. Well, it's been home since 2012. I had left my home country behind in hopes of getting a better life and spreading my wings. I remember when I first knew I would be moving away. The prospect of a new life seemed intriguing and in a way, I was prepared for the upcoming changes.
Then again, I wasn't ready for what was going to hit next. 2011 ended up being one of the best years ever. The final year of college, becoming more in tune to who I was as an individual, a period of great creative growth, and a surprise love all ended up taking place in that span of 12 months. So when it was time to pack my bags and go, I will admit that it was a bit rough. After a lifetime of creating strong bonds and accidentally finding (by then) the love of your life, I was more than a bit hesitant to go. In a way, I sort of channeled David Tennant's last words as the Doctor to sort of describe how I felt as the days kept approaching.

Fast forward to the fall of 2015 and the story is completely different. My change of scenery has been good to me (not 100% but I'll take it) and allowed me to grow as a person. In addition, I've been able to have new experiences that have molded the man I am today. And it shows, because every time I go back to my home country to see my friends I get a glimpse of the life left behind and how most of it has either fallen to bits or turned into the aftermath of a puzzle after a temper tantrum.
But I feel that all those stories are yet to come. When I finished writing the first chapter of my story, I was approaching 25. Little did I know that that year would be the tipping point of change for me. And so, here I am again. Chronicling the life of some guy in his late 20's who somehow still has the urge to keep writing his life story in an attempt to never lose the passion he once had for writing.
But first, I might revisit some older stories and tell some that I've missed along the way.

Start of a New Chapter

Many moons ago, I used to write for another blog where I pretty much told my life's story with a touch of humor. However, by 2011 I had moved away from my home country and pretty much ran out of stories to tell. So in an attempt to keep the steady flow, I found myself burned out and took a long hiatus. However, when I finally had stories to tell, I couldn't get myself motivated to write. Let's just say grad school kept me away from both reading and writing for entertainment purposes. I've tried to start blogs up again, but have met with failure.
And so, here I am again. Back to where I first began writing my life's story, but this time with a new chapter. My old stories concluded chronologically with my college graduation and basically leaving everything behind in hopes to start fresh. So after a few years, that blank paper has some marks on it and from it, new stories. In addition, I will not be restricting myself to being pure humor this time. I feel this may have restricted my previous blog. Don't get me wrong, this will still be mostly humor, but by getting it out of a particular type of genre, perhaps I'll be able to give some stories a bit more development.
And lastly, I might be retreading through some old stories to just update them to my current perspectives. The person I was during the old blog is not the same as the person I am today, and I'm hoping this blog can reflect that.

So that being said, let's get this show on the road. I'm not sure how frequently I'll be posting since I'm still getting back into the groove of things, but I hope to pick up a steady rhythm after doing this for a while.