I initially wanted to make this post tomorrow, but I discovered I won't have time since I'm working much of the day and then I'll be out the rest of it with family. So, I'm taking a bit of time here now to look back on this past year, with some highlights of many memories -- both good and bad.

January:
Actually, I don't remember too much happening in January. I do remember my classes during that semester being really fun and exciting, and January was when they all started. I took two English courses and continued my studies of animation and other related art fields. My sister turned 18 on the 13th, and as of that day everyone in my household are officially adults. It's a strange feeling.

There were two big events during this month. The first was seeing Alice in Chains in concert at the Hollywood Palladium, my third time seeing them. All the brothers went, including my sister-in-law's brother, just a guy's night out. I love Alice in Chains. In fact, they are second only to Coheed and Cambria. That was a kickass night, and they played all their best hits. The second big thing was my nephew James' 3rd birthday. His parents have thrown him wonderful parties for his birthday every year, and the little guy's been growing into a cute little kid. I'm so excited to see where he goes from here on out.

Very little happened in March. My brothers Tim and Steven had their birthdays, ten days apart, Tim turning 22 and Steven turning 34. One of the things I've kinda liked is how Steven was born on St. Patrick's Day, and thus was given the middle name Patrick. I always remember this every year.

This was by far one of the best months. Oh, where to start... Spring break came along, and my friends, my brother, and I went on a one day camping trip. Short, but so worth it. Sloppy Joes are amazing! Easter Sunday with the family, good food and lots of entertainment as it always is. It was also the month of the release of Coheed's latest album, Year of the Black Rainbow. My love for this band has grown so considerably that this was arguably the first Coheed record I was really looking forward to. April also saw my participation in Relay for Life, a massive cancer fundraiser. My team and I raised over $1000 for it, and the event itself was a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to it next year! And finally, it was my niece Rachel's birthday. She turned 1. I adore her so much. Having a niece, in some ways, is such a special thing. Since then, she's becoming a cute and very outgoing little girl, and I'm just as excited to watch her grow up.

By far, the highlight of this month was seeing Coheed and Cambria live for the first time in nearly four years. In support of their recently released album, the band played many songs off the new record and some old hits. As it was also the first time seeing them live where I knew all the songs, this was a far better experience than the first time I saw them in 2006. Mother's Day was also really nice. It was nothing extravagant, just some simple gift giving to my mom, but she had a wonderful time. The only other highlight was school letting out for the summer.

I barely remember anything that happened during June, except for Father's Day, which was more or less like Mother's Day. Just something simple with the family alone. I also saw Iron Maiden in concert. Totally awesome!

I love barbecues, especially fourth of July barbecues. And when they're done at my Steven and Christy's house, you know you're in for a fun time! The only crappy part was my phone falling into the pool, but that was quickly made up for with a cool new one within a week!

I saw Coheed and Cambria another time. In fact, it was four years exactly to the day I first saw them. It wasn't quite a similar epic experience during the time I saw them in May, but it was still awesome. I can't express in words alone how completely amazing it is to be that close up to the guys as they jam. August was also my mom's birthday. She's a trooper. My mom is one of the most amazing people I know. She's been through a lot, much of which should never happen to anyone, but she presses on. For that, I can never thank her enough. August is also the month of my other nephew -- and James' baby brother -- Cole. He turned 1 year old. He's a shy little guy, but I swear his laugh is the most precious thing I've heard. And as I look back on the year, you know what the best thing about this month was? I met Katie.

School was back by now. Most of my classes proved they were no pushovers, as work began to pile up. However, I alleviated much of this by playing a lot of Zelda with Katie. We're total nerds, we know it, but it's so much fun to play along to a game with someone. :) I also started blogging, and I've grown to really enjoy writing my thoughts down.

October was rough. There were many moments during this when I felt at my worst, and many people I know were feeling down as well. There were some good points though. My twin brother, Jonathan, and I turned 21, and celebrated the following week by going to Vegas with Steven and Tim. It was a small trip but so well worth it. I'm not really one for gambling, but just the thought that I can do it legally is quite the cool feeling. Halloween was boring, largely because I was working that night and it was really slow. I played even more Zelda with Katie during this month, and we finally kicked the crap out of Ocarina of Time!

The first bit of the month wasn't too great, but it picked up after a while. It was stressful and very overwhelming in terms of school and work, but I pressed on. My dad had his birthday. There are a lot of issues between my dad and... well, pretty much everyone. Some are for good reason. In spite of this, I know he's only trying to do what he can, and no matter what happens, I'll always be proud of the fact that he helped raise me to be who I am. Thanksgiving was a wonderful event. I love when my family comes over to our house; it's roomy, plenty of space, and there's a lot to do in the different rooms. And such amazing food!

December:
This year definitely went out with a bang. School ended, and my grades were some of the best I've had in a long time, which I'm proud of because I was struggling when the semester started. After weeks of planning, my grandpa arrived two days before Christmas and spent the holiday with us. Christmas Eve was a quiet family at home night, while Christmas Day saw the whole family over with us again. I got lots of new clothes as well as The Amory Wars comics, so that I can finally understand Coheed's concept. It was, truthfully, the best Christmas I've had in years. The day after Thanksgiving we had a potluck. This past Tuesday, the grandchildren took our grandpa out deep sea fishing. We caught 85 fish that day and grandpa showed us how to clean and fillet them! And yesterday, we had a massive fish fry. Today, my grandpa went home. It was truly a wonderful week and month, and I'm kind of sad it's over. However, I'm also happy. I'm the happiest I've ever felt in a long time thanks to a very special someone who's made me feel like the luckiest guy in the world.

2010 was probably one of the best years, or at least that I really remember. I had more good moments than bad. Even those moments where I felt like giving up were overshadowed by all the good that happened. To this, I wish you all a wonderful and happy new year in 2011!

With the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 two weeks ago, I've been in a bit of a Potter mood for a while now. When I attended the midnight premier I brought with me my own hand-crafted wand. Today, I'd like to share it with you.

Last night, I attempted -- and succeeded -- in making butterbeer. If you're not familiar with what that is, it's a made-up drink from Harry Potter. Or, at least it was made-up until the arrival of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park in Orlando, Florida.

Since the opening of the park butterbeer has now been in stock! J.K. Rowling herself tasted different concoctions of this famous drink until she found it just right. Like so many good things, however, the exact recipe isn't known and may never be. To our good fortune, many have tried to imitate that taste and have been kind enough to post their own recipes on such places as Mugglenet.com, which is one of the most successful Harry Potter fan sites on the internet. Several recipes exist, one even including extract of rum to match the slightly alcoholic taste the books imply the drink has. Though each recipe has its own little spin, they generally follow the same format, which leads me to believe that I was fairly close in creating the drink that the many characters -- and fans -- of Harry Potter have come to know and love.

I mostly followed a recipe that was posted on Mugglenet, and rather than re-post it as if it were my own like an asshole would, here's a link to the recipe I used. The only difference is I took a couple liberties, which I'll explain later. As the note above the recipe says, the woman who came up with this recipe said her idea of butterbeer resembled a "whipped shortbread cookie." After creating the drink, I came to this very conclusion.

With that, onto the procedure! As pointed out in the recipe, several ingredients are needed:

This is day four since starting this blog. Not much has really taken shape yet, but there's always hope. As of this moment, I'm probably in one of the best moods I can remember being in a long time and a large part of it is the fact that I had the best night of sleep in weeks.

When I was first told that power would be shut off at my neighborhood at 11:30 pm last night, I was annoyed. Many people my age don't fall asleep until much later and I wondered just what I was going to do until I actually got sleepy -- and then I realized that I really should get to bed. It had been a long day and I had school the next day. So I rolled over, laying on my side and staring at nothing until I did fall asleep.

I didn't regret it. I woke up at 7:00 this morning. It wasn't quite the recommended 8 hours of sleep people are often told they should get, but that didn't matter. It was not the fact I got more sleep than usual that was the best part. Actually, what made it the best sleep was that I had absolutely nothing to deter me from soundless, dreamless sleep.

No dreams; no nightmares; no getting up in the middle of the night because I'm thirsty or hungry; and, best of all, no nagging, dispirited thoughts like what had haunted me almost all of yesterday. I know for a fact it helped that I spilled out my fears and feelings to someone who was there to listen, and who took every word I had to say with compassion and understanding. And for that, I thank her from the bottom of my heart. Thank you, Kate. I honestly can't say it enough. After all of this, this morning I felt fantastic, or at least as much as one can while yawning and trying to shield bright light from their eyes. For the first time in a while I was able to get out of bed without any trouble. I was dressed and ready to go in about 15 minutes.

After I got to school, I decided to get some breakfast. Though I had plenty of time to do so at home, the thought of how hungry I was didn't occur to me until that moment. As I walked around, passing by the Arbor Grill food court, I was wondering just what it was I wanted. I glanced toward Sierra Hall off in the distance, and it was like I had a vision. I made my way to the Sierra Center food court and walked directly and purposely toward the back counter.


I bought myself a breakfast burrito. This picture does absolutely no justice to show just how damn well this place makes breakfast burritos. Seriously, for a college campus they are big, filling, and well worth the price. Eggs, sausage, potatoes, sour cream, salsa, peppers and onions and all the Tapatio hot sauce you want all for $4.00 (well, at student price I should point out). Added with a biscuit covered in butter and some strawberry jelly, a banana, and some orange juice, my total was $7.89. Not bad in my opinion, especially since it was better quality than anything an under $4 breakfast some crap place like McDonald's will give you.

After this amazingly good breakfast I headed to the library. Tuesdays and Thursdays are like that for me. My class doesn't actually start until 11:00, but my brother and sister both have earlier classes so I'm obligated to get to school as early as them since we share a car. However, that works out well since I just spend the few hours waiting in the library or walking around.

I just watched the trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 -- again. Yep, that's right. I watched it last night, but I just had to see it again. This movie looks like it's going to be so epic and awesome. I'm a huge, HUGE Harry Potter fan and have been since I was eleven. If you haven't seen the trailer then go see it now here!

It really is a beautiful morning.

I spent most of my morning working on a header for this blog, since the templates that blogger.com had available weren't too great and I wanted something more original. So, what you currently see at the top is my new header. I'm pretty okay with how it's come out, and I feel it reflects me well enough. The long story short is that the image shows off just about everything I really, really like - from Star Wars to playing guitar to Harry Potter to drawing. It's a collage of most of everything I am and like.

And yet, it isn't. There's only so much you can put into an image to make it reflect you and your personality. I guess that's why this blog is here, for me to go ahead and share that bit of me to others who care to know.

I'm still trying to work out all the kinks of this thing and get it running the way I'd like. Until then, enjoy your day!