Wow. I need to write journals more often... And I often kick myself for not doing anything about it. Basically I need to actually sit down and start writing a journal and I'll do it... Otherwise I'll forget or go do something else.

Regardless, July 8th is my birthday, and I'll be 22 this year! I'm not expecting anything from people on FA, but I figured I may as well throw it out there just so that maybe someone will say happy birthday or something and make my day. ;3

Anywho, compared to how things stand a year ago, things are picking up slowly in some areas, but are still kinda bleh in other areas. One of the most awesome things to happen actually happened a little over a week ago... I FINALLY GOT A JOB! Yep, I managed to beat 20% unemployment in my area and found a job. Basically I work for a car dealer delivering parts to mechanics in the area. Granted, I have no clue where I'm going, but that's what my GPS is for (thank god I have it!). I haven't gotten lost yet, and the pay is pretty good for a low-stress job. The only bad part is that Illinois is ALWAYS under construction, so the roads can be a pain and annoying. Granted, I don't have any times I have to meet when delivering stuff (other then "get it done") but I'm the fellow who had a lot of high-stress, time-pressured jobs in the past so I'm still like "I HAVE TO GET THERE NAOW!" and such. So yay for having an actual source of income!

As far as my career goes, I'm still making progress with my degree, although I took the summer off to find a job (which I managed to do, yay!) so that I'll work full-time until college starts up. I also decided to change my career into aviation. I've always loved flying planes and such in flight simulators, and I like flying and I'm not afraid of heights. It'll be a fun career I'm sure, and will get me out and about for sure! Ideally I'll eventually have a license to fly both planes and helicopters. But that's still a ways down the road, I need to get a degree then start in flight school. Luckily for me, I live nearby a decent sized airport, and am about an hour drive from an international airport (O'Hare Airport to be precise) so learning to fly won't be a problem.

Naturally, not everything is sunshine and rainbows in life, I'm afraid. On the bright side, I fell in love with a wonderful lady... Only to have things go down in flames. I'm still recovering from it a bit, although having a broken heart is different then I thought it'd be... I thought it'd be painful, but it's not... It's more like having an emptiness inside you. But as they say, it's better to love and loose it then to not have loved at all. I admit, finding that special someone is taking a backseat, considering I need money to get anywhere, both education-wise and paying bills and such.

Also, I was called for jury duty, and selected to be in court as a jury member. I admit, it's a very interesting process, and certainly not boring! The only unnerving part was being surrounded by about 300 or so sheriffs that go about their business in the courthouse. I like the police and all that (the cops I've met so far are really nice, as long as you treat them with respect), it's just that having the eyes of the law watching you makes me a tad nervous, even though I know I haven't done anything wrong. The result of said case? The guy went to jail for at LEAST 25 years, odds are it's more like 30-40 years.

Another brush with the law I had was getting into a minor fender-bender accident (bumped a car in a parking lot) WHILE ON THE JOB, WITH THE COMPANY CAR. Needless to say, I overreacted to things, as I was sure my job, which I just got, was going poof. However, the other driver was driving on a suspended license AND without insurance so everything's fine! Plus I kept my job, and my boss said not to worry... Apparently another driver accidentally destroyed the rear of a van (one of those "I have candy" vans) and still kept his job. Of course, I accidentally reported it to the wrong police department, but now everything's straightened out. Yay! Needless to say, unexpected adventures aren't fun for me... Very stressful, and I go from panicking to being EXTREMELY ticked off at myself. I'm the type of person of when things go wrong, I'm very hard on myself, especially if I caused the problem to begin with (I backed into the other car in this case).

As far as emotional stability goes, I'm pretty much over depression by now. True, I have some days where I feel down, but so does everyone. However, it makes me extremely sensitive to when other people are all "I'm depressed" only to have me ask about it only to see that it's not real depression (keep in mind I was clinically diagnosed with depression, complete with suicidal thoughts). It annoys me when people are all "I'm depressed because NO ONE LOVES ME AND I MISSED A PARTY" or something petty like that. It's a great way to get me mad at them, I admit. The only other quicker way to make me mad is to mistreat females (Yes, I'm a feminist).

On a happier note, I really like "Go West" by Pet Shop Boys (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G75.....eature=related) and I can't help but listen to it over and over! It's so catchy, and I love the song in general. Yes, politically I'm left-winged and believe Communism is a great idea on paper... But it's a shame it doesn't work in reality. Hopefully mankind will find something that'll work perfectly, but until then, capitalism will have to do for now.

Oh, and speaking of Captialism, the BP Oil Spill... It's depressing. We have the technology to drill miles below the ocean, but when things go wrong we can't fix it. The whole thing makes me angry at BP, and want to /facepalm the entire industry. The government isn't helping much either, since it seems that the Republicans only want to do nothing, while Obama is stuck in a system where half the people in it are fighting the other half, and nothing gets done. On top of that, I'm hearing that republican governors in the states affected by the oil spill washing up on their shores are only deploying a fraction of the national guard they have available to them. They're using like 600 out of 3,000 troops or so. They say that red tape is blocking them from deploying more, the national guard are saying nothing's stopping them (they are basically our militia after all, with a fancier name). It's a funny world we live in...

The best part is that our founding fathers were AGAINST any sort of party system, and stated that a 2-party system is an EXTREMELY BAD IDEA (George Washington was quoted stating something akin to that).

But yeah, here's hoping for a brighter, happier future, both for me and for the awesome people I know! :3