Looking at oneself in the mirror/Bucket List

Well I'm back again. Not in a particular good mood though. I was sick during Thanksgiving so I missed out on Thanksgiving dinner and my Alabama Crimson Tide lost the annual Iron Bowl against Auburn 28 - 27. But I'm not here to cry over spilled milk, there will always be next year.

Today I'm here to share some thoughts and clear my mind. In every person something unique or unusual occurs that makes you stop, slow down and take a look at yourself in the mirror and reflect on your life. It varies for each individual, sometimes it can be a certain event, a certain statement being made, meeting a certain person or any number of events. For me however, I think it was a variety of events occurring meeting someone, health reason, a friends concern about my health and reconnecting with some special people in my life. Due to all of these things occurring basically around the same time, I decided to stop smoking cigarettes, which i'm very proud to say it's been over 2 months now. I can't thank everyone for all of their support they have given me while I'm not smoking.

Due to all of those things occurring I also spent sometime looking at myself from the outside in and evaluating what I've done in the past and what I would like to do now as well as in the future. While doing this, believe it or not the movie "The Bucket List" came on TV so I got the bright idea of coming up with such a list and posting here for me to reflect on and check back on as I move forward in my life.

1. Take a cruise
2. Take a trip outside the United States
3. Go camping overnight and stay in a tent
4. Purchase a house of my own
5. Go see the Grand Canyon
6. Go see Niagra Falls
7. Go see Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park
8. Go see a NASCAR event
9. Run in and finish a 10K event
10. Run in and finish a 1/2 marathon
11. Take a helicopter ride
12. Take a ride in a hot air ballon
13. Build a complete PC from scratch piece by piece
14. Share a sunset on the beach with a special someone while sipping wine
15. Go Whitewater Rafting
16. Go on a Zip Line
17. Learn a new hobby with someone special
18. Go see the Great Wall of China
19. Go to an Auburn - Alabama Iron Bowl Game
20. View something truly amazing and takes your breath away

I don't think anyone can predict why or how things are going to occur or how those events are going to effect yourself or others for that matter, but must be willing to not just ignore what is happening. Well hopefully I am moving forward and accepting the events of the pasts as well as preparing myself for events in the future.

Well I've rambled on enough for now and it's time to sit down and watch some football. Love you all and until next time.

Mini Vacation Weekend Trip

Well, my trip to the coast turned out to be great. I got plenty of rest this time believe it or not and I got to see a lot of special long time friends in the process. I hadn't been back to the coast in almost a year so I had really gotten out of touch with some very special people in my life and it was nice to finally catch up with them. I also got to see lil Alexander, Caitlyn's baby boy and that was truly a treat. She has grown up so much since I've known here. He was such a quiet little man everytime we went out to eat. I got to see Rob and Tina which is always a treat indeed. Plus I got to see Charles and Kat whom I haven't seen since they moved back to the coast and I got to see their new house as well which was an added treat. Missed out on seeing Frankie this time but there will be others. I did however get to see Kaye before I left headed that way. Overall it was good times, the weather was nice and I thorougly enjoyed myself, it just never seems to be enough time to go around and see everyone.

I also got to take a good friend of mine's out for her birthday. She loves sushi and thanks to some of my friends up here I have learned to enjoy it on occassion as well as learn what to and not to order as well. It was nice to spend some time with her and see her smile, her friends don't eat sushi and that's all she wanted to do for her birthday was have sushi so I was happy that I could help put a smile on her face for that special occassion.

Well I woke up early today because I slept so much yesterday. I'm under the weather, with no appetite, sore throat and a hellacious sinus congestion going on. Don't know what's wrong. Hate that it ruined my plans to go with Tony for a Thanksgiving dinner but I just don't have the energy in me to do anything today. I've already pretty much demolished a bottle of DayQuil, so this Thanksgiving looks like I'm gonna be sitting at home resting. No family, no friends, no big dinner of any sort, just me, my illness and my two cats.....

Well time for me to get off of here and get some more rest. Figured I was up and had sometime so I better catch up on things.

I can't write how much fun I had on the coast seeing Kim G., Kim P., Caitly F. and family, Sharon R., Trista R. , Charles and Family, and Rob and Family. It's always a treat when I can catch up with some of my dearest and closest friend/family

Beautiful Weather Weekend

Good afernoon everyone,

Just a quick update of what's going on. This weekend the weather was absolutely beautiful even though I didn't get to go out and enjoy it. I pretty much stayed inside the whole weekend other than grocery shopping and playing Call of Duty:Black Ops. I enjoyed myself thoroughly shooting noobs in the face extremely up close and personal hahahahaha, some of them were not very happy about it either to say the least. Other than that, it was a pretty relaxing weekend. Planning on going down to the coast next weekend. A good friend of mines birthday is this weekend and I'm taking them out for Sushi. I also found out that Rachael is being taken to the Beau Rivage for her birthday but not sure if I'm gonna be able to make that are not since that Friday is my friends birthday.

Other than that I hope to catch up with some very good friends that I've been very bad as of late keeping in touch with them. Hopeing to reconnect and catch up on old times and current events. Plus it will do me good to get a way for a few days especially after the rough couple of weeks that I've had lately. I'm looking forward to going down there, it's almost been a year since I've been down and even longer since I've seen some of my friends there.

Well that ends today's entry, gonna try and take some pictures and post them of my trip down there, hopefully my camera will work and take some decent pictures.

Long Long Day

Well good evening everyone,

Started the day off with a rough start, by posting this on Facebook. "Ok, I have a feeling today is going to be a really hard day not to smoke. Gonna fight through it though, if I can make it through today I'm gonna be alright not smoking. I guess this is one of those moments others have warned me about where the urge will be pretty strong. Wish me luck!!!"

After yesterday and the restless night I had I didn't think I would be able to hold out but with all my support from my friends I was able to do so. I did take the easy path and stayed away from going outside with my friends today when they smoke but I survived. Even though the day didn't seem to improve. Still having pain in my back, blood vessel popped in my right eye, had to deal with HR in regards to an employee today, continued working on policies for attendance and promptness/tardiness for my dept., almost finished year end reviews, voted and found out that I have to come in at 6am tomorrow morning because I screwed up the schedule. So this week is rapidly and consistently beating me down, but what do you do when you get knocked down, you pick yourself up at least that's what I was taught. So I guess I'm gonna be picking myself up several more times this week at the rate I'm going. Anyway, this concludes another exciting adventure in the life of Courtney. Until next time!!!1

Surprising News To End On A Rather Bad Day

Well, I wasn't expecting this to happen but Kathie called and informed me that she didn't see this going anywhere between the two of us. She has always been a very honest and up front person and she informed me of that tonight. She says that she has thought long and hard about it and if it takes her that long to decide if its right that its pretty much decided. I hated to hear it but I respect her alot and therefore I respect her decision. I just hope that we can remain friends and keep in touch. I don't know if she still wants me or feels comfortable with me coming to her son's going away party this weekend. I really liked and enjoyed spending time with her so this definitely came as a huge surprise.

Hopefully, this isn't a sign of things to come. Today just wasn't a good day at all no matter how I look at it. Had to come up with an attendance policy for my department, dealing with legal issues with HR, trying to do evaluations and reviews, aggravated my back and that damn herniated disc....dealing with the numbness in my fingertips and then coming home and getting a call saying that it's just not working. I guess the saying nice guys always win isn't so true. Been told to many times that I'm a really nice guy but its not going to work. Hopefully this isn't a sign of how my week is going to go for the rest of the week.

Well this ends my post for tonight. Hopefully I gained a very good friend out of this. I know that I definitely enjoyed the time I spent with her and met a lot of interesting people that are her friends.