BoyWonderBlog

2008, I hardly knew you. Feels like we were just celebrating your arrival and the promise of many great things. My daughters are now a year older and growing closer to asking for the keys or to meet a guy friend. 2008, you will be remembered for:

• Celebrating 8 years with my gorgeous wife.
• Reconnecting with great friends
• Sailing on the cruise of a lifetime and making new friends.
• Meeting a musician who I hold respect for.
• Surviving a go-kart flip with my nephew.
• Getting closer to a degree in game programming.

2009, you have a lot to live up to. Let’s get this year started.

Tristian

Well, I guess you could say the holiday season is now officially upon us. Black Friday is over with. Although I’m no longer working in retail to experience it, I still have a faithful friend that is. I understand the appeal and draw for most, but the level of animosity that people have towards their fellow shoppers is just unreal. Take the story of the Wal-Mart employee that was trampled to death. I speak from being a previous Wal-Mart employee and that is SCARY! It’s scary but seeing the crowds that can gather, not out of the realm of thought. Really sad though… Seriously, I really just want Christmas time to be able to spend with family and friends. I could really care less about presents and gifts. Not that I don’t enjoy giving them, I’m only saying that if I didn’t get one, what does it matter. I just want my girls to have fun and to be around people I care about. Anyways, now is the time to unleash the Christmas music and play it non-stop. Let us see what this season brings…

Tristian

Sometimes life sucks. I’m just getting over being sick a whole week. The girls are still fighting whatever has been passing around. Being sick is enough to ruin a week but both Amy and I have family getting married to which I cannot attend either event. For myself, I wanted to attend my brother’s wedding or at least the reception. The wedding was held in Oregon which I would have loved to attend but travel makes that difficult for us with all the girls. The reception however is going to be in Austin this weekend and I’m not able to take off work for it. Sucks, sucks, sucks. I’m glad that at least Amy gets to go to her cousin’s wedding.

I’m super excited for Donnie and Jenni. I wish them all the love and companionship that Amy and I share in our marriage. I wish Becca and her husband a life lived in love. Here’s to getting hitched!

After 8 years, still love this woman with all my heart!

Tristian

Finishing up a good day. I’m now officially 27 as of this post. Birthdays are always good, well at least for me they have been. I received good presents, lots of love and attention (more than usual), played a silly round of ‘Simon Says’, and just generally had a good time. Not saying I’m old….just saying I’m having fun.

Thanks to all my friends and family for a good birthday! Thanks to ALL the birthday songs sung to me! The comments, the texts, the presents, just being there, thank you.
To all the September babies, my birthday was great now go have a great one too!

Tristian 9/1 WOOT!

Proof that Superman is jealous that ‘The Dark Knight’ is doing so well in theaters.

As I’ve written previously, Amy and I won a contest from Local-83 to meet John Mayer before his concert in Dallas. I will try to best explain how it all played out. We get to the venue and locate the Will Call area where we are instructed to gather and meet at a specific time. It’s HOT! Two minutes waiting outside and we are sweatin’. Meet up with the fellow contest winners and chat with them while we wait for the call to come backstage. Right before Lauren, the lady who manages the contest winners among other things, comes out the venue staff announces that they lost power to the facilities and were attempting to get it back on. I’m hoping this will have no impact on our meet up with JM. A few minutes later Lauren approaches the group and asks for all the winners to show IDs to prove they won and then she proceeds to tell us we’re waiting for a few more VIPs to show up. She asks if we know ‘The Wiggles’ from the popular children’s program. Everyone, including myself, thinks she’s kidding until she assures us that they are for sure coming to meet John as well. Apparently they were in Dallas performing and are big fans of John’s music too. Sure enough, ‘The Wiggles’ and their guests show up and a few ask to pose for pictures with them. We couldn’t resist and had ours taken as well if nothing but to just show the girls. Thanks to Kristy from the message boards/fan club for snapping the photo! Finally….we are lead backstage.

Got past security and pass by a few of John’s bandmates. I would have loved to get pics with them too but John is the focus right now. We arrive at the dressing rooms backstage and we are all trying to fan ourselves to keep cool. Lauren hands out the tour programs and gives us the details of how this is going to work. Amy notices my hands are shaking but I’m just super excited to be there. We continue to wait for another 10 minutes or so and Lauren tells us that he is on his way over. She also alerts us to clear a path because he’s probably coming from this one area and will need to pass through us. We all begin looking for him and he emerges out of nowhere it seems. Everyone is strangely quiet but I think inside everyone is just pumped to be there. John passes by so he can get to the photo spot. I notice one of the backstage crew hand him a pen and John kisses it like a trusty friend ready to sign some autographs. First up are ‘The Wiggles’ crew and John thanks them for coming out and snaps a quick photo. A few contest winners are ahead of us so we wait until they are done. Amy’s up ahead of me and just has a huge smile on her face when she heads out the side gate. Lauren waves me over and John looks me straight in the eyes. I shake his hand and say it’s great to finally meet him. He asks my name and repeats it back commenting on how interesting my name is. Normally I have to correct people because they usually hear “Christian” instead of “Tristian” but John proves he listens and I don’t have to correct him. He signs the poster I brought and poses for the picture. I tell him thank you and he just simply asks me to enjoy the show and have a good time. The man is super laid back, genuinely listens to his fans and just a cool guy. I wish I would have had more to say or ask him but I think nerves/excitement/awe got to me but I had a great experience. So….when do I get to meet him again?

Tristian

Tristian

People lose family members every day in this world. A year ago, yesterday (7-7-07) I lost a special person who meant a great deal to a lot of people. His name is JC but I knew him as Pappy.

His death meant more to me than anyone before. He was a man who would give you that hand up to anyone who needed it, even at the sacrifice of him having to go without. I learned a tremendous amount about life from him even though I didn’t realize it. Above all, he showed me what hard work is. I remember mowing lawns and washing dishes with this man, and I will always cherish those memories.

A trip to Nashville, numerous fishing trips, and his gray Dodge pickup are all things I remember about him. We worked hard but man did we have some fun in the meantime. He could talk your ear off on any subject and now I wish he was here to talk about anything. In later years, we lost contact but that doesn’t mean I loved him any less and the same for his love. I hope I was a grandson that made him proud. I love you Pappy.

Tristian

An interesting discussion occurred on my way home from work. My best buddy was talking to me about seeing people from his high school and their accomplishments. We ended up discussing your potential and what you wanted to be doing when you graduated. Some end up pursuing their dreams and doing the jobs they set out to do. Some end up in “go nowhere” jobs or positions they only took to make ends meet. This had me thinking about myself and my friends. When I was in high school and even before, I wanted to work in the video game industry. I was about 13-14 and I watched a series about what people do in their jobs. One of the jobs was a video game tester. I thought to myself, “People get paid to play video games? I can do that!” Well there’s A LOT more to it than just sitting in front of a console for however long a work day is. But, it’s where I wanted to be ‘when I grow up’. Today, I’m still reaching for that goal but I feel like I’m on the right path to attain it. But what about those people that aren’t even trying. Those that are either stuck in a dead job, hating what they do each day and wishing for something better. Why wish for something better? Wish for what you wanted when growing up! Reach for the passion that you had when growing up! Do something with your life that you wanted to do! I’m on my way, are you?

Tristian

And so it begins…

Guess I should start this with an introduction. My name is Tristian and this….this is another blog in the saturated world wide web of blogs and websites. But it’s my blog. Not meant to be anything fancy, just a place to share with my family and friends, and to anyone who stumbles across it. I want this to grow and be a part of my life that I enjoy sharing. So, there it is. Feel free to comment on my stuff, I can take it.

Tristian