The Events that Shape Your Life

Whats up homies! The topic of this post seems to me to be pretty self explanatory. Over the past few weeks, I have had the pleasure of having a few separate events in my life that have been so wonderful and fun that they inspired me to write this. This is sort of a stream of conscious thing for me so I am not quite sure how it will end, but I hope you enjoy coming with me on the ride to see. Expect a brief retelling of these two events.

The two events that inspired my blog post are very different. Two weeks ago, a man whom I shall call Zach and nothing more came to visit my housemates. They hung out a bunch and recalled old college adventures, drunk stories, and great times. Every story they had was so fun just to listen to, I could not help but want to be a part of a story like that. The day before he left, Zach and my housemates asked if I would go out with them and if I would agree to let myself go. I of course thought this was the perfect way to make that adventure of my own so I agreed. That night was a blast. I do not wish to turn this post into a story about one or two nights, so I will simply say that we all got drunk, we all threw up, two of us cot court summons, one of us got kissed by a random attractive girl, one of us got a phone number, and one of us fell asleep on the kitchen counter when we got home. As for who did what, you will have to ask me or one of them if you really want to know. What I will tell you is waking up the next morning was terrible, and at the same time, so invigorating. Not only because the night was fun, but because it was so simple. 4 guys went out with no goals of showing off or getting girls, just the goal of having a blast. I feel closer to all of those men now, and can safely say it was one of the best nights I have had since leaving Spokane.

Speaking of Spokane, when I came here 4 months ago, I not only left a safe and comfortable environment  but I also left many of my dearest friends and mentors. While it is true that I am making new friends here, the best friends that I made in college will never be replaced. It so happens that the wedding of one of them was this weekend, and it was only about 45 min from me, so I made certain that I would be there. Not only was one of my best friends getting married, but our whole posy of friends from Spokane was pretty much coming up to celebrate! For the sake of time, I will use their first names so I don't have to just keep saying he and she for the rest of this story. Ryan and Emily were getting married (about time) and Jerod and Amanda and Tobin and Rachel were all coming down to see the wedding! This group of people makes up a good percentage of my friend group from home as well as the majority of my spiritual core. Hells to the YEAH!

At the bachelor party, I met a few other awesome guys whom i knew but not quite so well as the previous 6 people. Grant, Stephen, and Christo were all there too and the party was so epic. Once again, I wont tell you too many details, just some of the best parts.... All of us got smashed.... and most of us threw up. A lot of rock band and a lot of drinking games were played, and one of us may have received a concussion. The day of the bachelor party came and went, and eventually it was the day of the wedding. It was so perfect. There is nothing quite like watching two of your good friends get married and knowing in your heart that both of them are perfect for each other. I'm not a super sappy person, but I may have cried. shhh! Don't tell  anyone. Anyway  the wedding was amazing, and the reception... well.... lets just say that in a small room, that many good friends, loud music, and free wine goes a long way. There was much rejoicing,  much dancing, and much fun had by all. Nothing I can write down here can adequately describe my feelings of joy towards Ryan and Emily, and seeing them so happy and carefree together. The best part of the night for me was most definitely all of the bridal party and close young friends of the bride and groom dancing together to Gangnam Style. As the night went on, my tie went from around my neck to on my head, and my collar went from straight and crisp to wrinkled and popped. The mood became less and less formal and we had more and more fun. When the night was over, and I began my drive home, all I was left with was a feeling of warmth and love for all of the great friends that I had been with and the new ones I had made. The only slightly negative feeling I had was sadness at its ending. I still kinda wish that night was still going.

My friends from Spokane are all home now, and I miss them a lot. That's right guys. I miss you. I am very thankful however for the time that I was given with them this weekend and cant wait to see them again because no matter what happens between now and then I know we will still be close and still have a good time with each other. I think I have said before that family is the most important thing in the world, and I still agree with that. To me though, real friends are simply unrelated family. I consider my best friends to be part of my family and for this reason I can say that the past few weeks have reinforced my belief that family (and true friends) are the most important part of my life.

To conclude... friends of Reid... YOUR AWESOME and I LOVE YOU! peace homies :P

How Low Can You Go: The Limbo

Since my move to Denver, there has been a very constant question at the back of my mind. I have managed to answer this question many different ways in the past few months. Some days I feel so certain of the answer, and others, I it seems to evade me like the warm touch of the sun on a cold winters evening. I am well aware that God wanted me to move to Denver, but the question of whether I will be a permanent citizen of Denver bugs me nonetheless.I seem to be stuck in a Residential Limbo of sorts. I do believe that I am here, right now, for a reason, and that it is where I am supposed to be out off all the places in the world. This in itself is very reassuring, but I still wonder frequently if my stay here will last for another couple months, years, or some unknown time for reasons that I cannot even fathom. Not knowing the answer would be that bad if EVERYONE didn't seem to want to know the answer. Family, friends, the federal and state governments, the church, Whitworth University, and all the boxes of stuff still sitting in my room all deserve to know the answer, but how to I answer such a question. I myself cannot even make up my mind on what I want to happen in the future. I managed to Move to Denver, buy a car, and get Denver plates, sign a lease on a house, and get a Job.... but at the same time I kept my Washington Drivers license, got a more expensive gym membership for the soul purpose of using it at gyms in more than one state, and keep telling my friends and family "I will see you soon!" when I talk to them. There is definitely a part of me that wishes to return to Washington and resume my safe and secure life there with all my friends in a comfortable and familiar surrounding. I do however feel like doing this right now would be cheating Life of the chance to teach me many great and needed things. I do know that at some point, when I have the money and the time away from work, I will come and visit all of the awesome people I am missing right now, both friends and family, but I have to be honest with myself in saying that I really don't know when that is going to be. I have to keep my faith in God and remember that he brought me to Denver for a reason, and when that is finished or He needs me somewhere else, then I will feel his a hand on my back pushing me onward. Until then, I have decided to answer my question with the following statement. I am a citizen of Denver Colorado and I have no idea when I will be leaving. Th-th-th-thats all folks!

The show must go on!

I have been in Denver for just over 3 months now and I just opened my second show at Curious Theatre. This show, unlike the last one, is kinda depressing and is just a sad play overall. I still think its a good one, but just not the happy type. I had to pull a lot of long hours to get this show open, as my boss was in Colorado Springs for a few days moving our last show, so I had to run load in myself for this one. Load in went well, but once we got into tech our director and some designers made life miserable for me, in the sense that they were never happy with anything we did and I had to redo a lot of stuff. Guy and I pulled many 14-18 hour days over the course of the past 2 weeks to get this show running, and I am obviously a bit exhausted mentally and physically from that experience. I am however running board op for this show for the next 4 or 5 weeks so I will be working the show at nights and in the day I will be building the set for the next show, Maple and Vine. While i still love what I do, wow, its tiring! I can most certainly say to anyone who is interested in doing tech work for theatre that if you don't absolutely love it and want to do it forever no matter what the cost... don't do it! I can safely say that this past 2 weeks has cemented the fact that I do absolutely love tech theatre, and that, is awesome.

My life has many positive and negative aspects right now. I would love to put this all in perspective for you guys. Some ups and downs of my stay here so far....
UPS:
I am doing theatre, and this theatre is awesome
I am living with Nick Kemner and Josh Mckee
I own a car
My boss the hella awesome
I am doing God's work and feel Him with me all the time (religious vocation ftw)
My new computer kicks ass
I get to cook my own food (which i love to do)
Denver is a super cool city
I have a bar I can call "mine"

DOWNS:
I miss a lot of friends from Spokane and from home (you know who you are homies!)
I miss my family.. a lot
I work so much I don't get much chance to get out and do other stuff (hence the next point)
I have yet to meet a single woman (as in, woman without a man already)  that I like
My time here is flying bye and I dont want it to end
I am constantly afraid that my car will stop working
College debt comes in next month... yikes!
I miss my bible study group
My roommates are playing halo 4... and I dont have time to get it yet
I have a bar I can call "mine"

Thats just a few. Anyway, life keeps trucking along for me, and I hope it is treating you all well.All my friends and family in other places...  I miss you all, and send all my love and prayers.

Contentment

I know most of you have no interest in reading about my religious views or perspectives on my life, so just a heads up, you may tune out for this post if you don't want to hear about any of that. So... anyway, its been about 2 and a half months since I arrived in Denver and things are going really good. I believe in an earlier post I recalled how good it felt to feel as though God was calling me to move to Denver in the first place, and I can safely say that having been here for 2 months, in the place I am supposed to be, has only made that feeling better and stronger. Not only do I feel like I was supposed to move here, but now I can actually see some of the reasons why in my life, day by day, and that is truly amazing.

Before I left, I was a part of a small group, and was only really a part of it for about 3 months. This small group gave me a much needed lift to my faith, and filled me up with hope, love, and passion for my own God and the beliefs I hold about him. I realize now that without this group of special people, I would not be here today in the wonderful position that I am in. Thank you guys! In one of these sections, we talked about the meaning on contentment, and found that most people knew how to describe what is not contentment, but very few knew how to define it with positive words. Some people said that contentment is the lack of pain, the lack of sorrow, the absence of guilt or grief, and even just something as simple as not being worried about anything. I really wasn't sure about my own definition of contentment until about a day ore two ago. None of the above statements are true for me. I am in fact full of every one of those conditions which are supposed to NOT bring contentment, but I am still in such a state. How is this so? I have come up with my own personal definition that works for me quite well. Contentment for me, appears to be knowing that I am a part of Gods plan and and living my life in accordance with his plan for me. I can say with certainty that I have never before felt this certain that I am where I am supposed to be, and that I am doing what I am supposed to while I am here. My faith and beliefs are constantly being tested, and validated by God, and I can feel his joy in my progress. Even when I fall, I can see Him right next to me picking me up and moving me forward. I have never know a feeling of Joy and contentment such as this before and life is truly a blessing. I pray that all of you will be able to find your contentment weather it is through the definition I have given it, or some other of your own choosing.

So this is Life Huh?

Hey ya'll! Its been a while since my last post, and rightly so. I have been very busy getting The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity up and running. The show opened last weekend, and was rated by a popular theatre critique as the number one show to see in Denver this season. WOOT! As expected, I am trying to put my heart and soul into this show, and am spending a lot of time working and in the theatre. Today was the first day of school for all of my good friends back at the whit, and I t has got me thinking about all of the things that I really took for granted about being in school. I may never have a first day of school again. No classes and school events to meet new people. No homework (which I am actually happy about), and no more easy world educational theatre. While I love where I am right now, I am struggling to meet people outside of theatre because I am so busy all the time. Being single is fine right now, and having only a few friends in Denver is fine too, but thinking about the future, I am not quite sure how or when I am going to get the chance to make any progress in any of those areas. All you people in school, dont take it for granted cause the social aspect of education is something that will not last forever. Anyway. God is good, life is great, and I miss you all. Peace!

Washington Shmashington

SO, I have been in Denver for all of... 15 days. I just moved in with my awesome housemates Nick, Brad, and Josh, and am borrowing Nicks car to get to work until I get mine all set up hopefully this weekend or the next.Work has been going well, nothing unusual. We build things, problems arise, we fix them, and then the director and designers come in and we start that lovely cycle all over again. Light hang day one is tomorrow, and it will be my first true day in the grid, as I will be up in the air all day, and have to do more than squeeze the I beam with my legs and scream that I am okay! The next 2 days are for hang and then the third is for focus. Hoping to get my bearings in those days up on the grid. Really digging my boss, Guy. Teaching me a lot and fun to work with. I hang out with Ryan as much as I can and I have really been enjoying seeing him on a regular basis. On a sad note, I miss seeing all my friends from Spokane and family from Redmond. Especially Preston, Aaron, Jerod, Amanda, Tobin, and Rachel... and my Mom and Dad and Bother a lot too. If your upset I didn't mention you, I probably meant too, I just don't wanna list names forever and bore you all (Kyle, Dumble House, Linnea, and the entire Jarvis family). I am having a blast over here, and really feel like this is where I am supposed to be right now which is a great feeling. I am trying to do as much as I can while I am here because I don't know how long that will be, so I am pretty busy. When this next shows tech starts life is going to get crazy though! Anyway, that's my brief update from Denver, ttyl!

A Change of Location is In Order

Hey friends! So... this is my blog. I am going to try to fill it with exciting stories and news from my move to Denver. For any of you who don't know this, I recently accepted a paid internship in Denver Colorado, and moved here in a weeks time. Today was my second official day of work, and as per usual, everything in my life keeps falling into place. About 2 weeks ago I got a call from the Curious Theatre Company to ask me for a phone interview. We set it up, it went well... no big deal. Friday of that week, I got a call from them again, saying that I received the position, and that I had a day to decide weather I wanted to accept it or not. I would have to start work on August first (which at the time was about 9 days away) and so I was very stressed. I decided to take the position, and the journey began. I bought my plane ticket, and started looking for housing. Finding none, my generous boss offered me his place until I could find something else. I accepted once again, and began concentrating on packing. The day before I left for Denver, I got a phone call from my dear friend Nick Kemner, telling me that he was getting a new house in downtown Denver and was looking for a roommate. PERFECT! I accepted yet a third amazing offer and looked at the house yesterday. Its awesome! Now only one issue remains. I dont have any method of transportation in Denver. Wait, whats that, my awesome boss just bought a new car and informed me that he may be willing to sell me his old one?! BOOM! Accepted. I am in the process of working out some details with him, but hope to have a car by the end of next week. So... the trend of my life right now seems to be that God is taking care of everything. This seems to be one of those opportunities that everything is just falling into place, and it feels great. I have only worked for 2 days, but I am loving working with Guy (my boss) and learning as much as I can. I get to use so many cool new tools! WOOT!

There also happen to be a lot of people I know in Denver. I have hung out with Ryan already... AWESOME! Emily is coming down in like 2 days which is equally awesome! I hung out with Nick and Meghan and Amanda yesterday night and we went to a bar... and had some ... interesting experiences to say the least. I have a terrible memory, so If any of you guys want are in Denver or close to it, let me know so I can come and see youuuuu.

To conclude this entry, Denver is awesome and I really feel like I am supposed to be here right now. I miss all of you back home, and wish you all the best.

I cannot be shaken

This post has much of the same content as my last one. The concept of death still seems to haunt me more than everyone else around me. I am so terrified of the idea of death. I guess the thing that scars me most is when I die, what will my life have accomplished? This question has been plaguing me for a while now and I would like to walk through my answer for a minute. If there is a God, which it is my firm belief that there is, then the purpose of life is to live and serve Him. If there is not a God, then there is no real purpose to life,  therefor nothing matters. If this is the case, then it only makes sense that I live my life in a kind and thoughtful manner, so as to increase the enjoyment of life of those around me. Either way my response is the same, the difference lies in my reasons. It scares me a great deal to consider death, and all the questions that accompanies it. I only wish to know if I am alone in my fear of death, or at least to the degree to which I fear death. It is almost always pn my mind and causes me much stress. The time when I feel the most at peace is in bible study or church. When I am close to God I feel more at ease. I think this may be His way of helping me to want to get closer to Him and I feel as though he has been nudging me in that direction for a long time now. I hope to act on this and find new ways to grow in my relationship with God, but please keep me in your prayers and I hope to find some sort of peace soon.

What is the point?

It seems like everyone and everything is crumbling around me. So many of my friends and people I went to school with have died in the past few years, and the idea of death is really beginning to sink in. I always try to remind myself that I am going to die someday no matter what I do in this life and its very hard to wrap my head around. I sat awake for hours the other night because I couldn't stop thinking about how I am not the only person who thinks, and there have been millions before me and will be millions after me. How am I important at all? What does it matter what I do? I will not go down in any history books, I will not make any huge innovations to change the world. I am just another guy, searching for nothing. I feel incredibly alone and helpless. At the same time, there is some hope. While many people scoff at religion, it at least gives my life some focus. Following God, loving everyone, and living to serve him at least seems like a good use of my time. If I cant do anything useful in my life, the least I can do is love others and help them to do the really important things. When I die, I doubt I will be remembered, I am just another one in millions of millions of people. Even if I am, what good does being remembered do? When the people who remember me die, what happens then? Will I be flying in the clouds with my friends and relatives having a blast when i die? Will everything just go black and then, nothing? The thing that scares me more than death is the idea that nothing happens after death. There needs to be something after. Someplace where I matter.