Not really much of an update here. But I should be getting more RAM for my computer, going to bump it up from 1G to 4G so I can run this thing without as many problems, then maybe we can get a scanner and I can pull the old tablet out and possibly start uploading and coloring the drawings I have done over the last few years that I haven't been able upload because of either lack of internet or lack of scanner. Jack still needs to get his computer replaced, so hopefully within the next few months we'll actually have two computers again and I'll be able to focus on getting stuff up. I can't say as I've really progressed any, well, maybe I have kinda, but I don't really think so. We'll have to see how badly my ability to line and color on the computer has deteriorated.

Ah, it'll be nice when we can eventually get out of this place and into our own space. Especially since we'll be able to surround ourselves with our stuff and completely unpack, although everything we have we managed to cram into the truck and the car and still somehow find ourselves able to see out the back of the vehicles.

BTW, it's toasty and humid as hell out here in Lake Charles, LA! Much better than snow and cold! Hurricane season? Not so much kthnxbai!

I apologize in advance if anyone who reads this has me on their MySpace, Facebook, and LiveJournals...since this is going to be posted at all three places to save me time.

So, we've been in Iowa, Louisiana for a couple weeks now. (We're just outside of Lake Charles, and about 48 miles from the Texas border) It's not bad here, the economy isn't quite as bad as it could be, but it's still not the best. I'll admit that job wise it was a bad idea to leave Missoula, but here we'll be able to just settle in for the long haul. We're going to end up buying a house here since we're going to stay for a few years.

I miss all my friends at work, Harmony, Ed, Rex, Dan, Jon, the Brads, and everyone else. Nobody here is anything like you guys. I think the guys in Sporting Goods are about as normal as it gets, Clint's a WoW geek and likes anime, and Damon has a perverse sense of humor. I can't say as I've associated with very many people, though. The females here are very southern belle, and the guys are wary. It's been explained that the guys get b*tched at for every little thing they do wrong. Meh, I'm a foul mouthed, boyish pervert, so I'm sure people will eventually get used to my weirdness.

We're going to go job hunting on Tuesday and Wednesday, try and find better jobs so we're not making crap wages and can buy everything we need (we're buying a bed first, the one we're sleeping on sags in the middle like the damn thing's going to break in half.) Sandi said we could just stay and pay a bit of rent to help out and buy what we need before we move out.

Oh, and for anyone wondering, Lake Charles wasn't hit as badly as New Orleans. We're above sea level. But New Orleans is still trying to get back on it's feet, there's still plenty of damage.

Last note for the night: My mother is a huge disappointment and I'm desperately tired of giving her chances. Three years in a row she can't pick up the phone and say "Happy Birthday", tell me she's not feeling well, and then hang up the phone. But you know she says it to my brother, and you know he still gets plenty of shit for his birthday. Yeah, I know I sound bitter, I'm just fed up, and if I were to actually confront her, I wouldn't know where to begin. I'm done with her. I'll deal with my grandparents, but mom and Ryan can deal with themselves unless something happens to grandma and grandpa. Speaking of, I need to call my father's mom and let her know I'm alive and give her the address here.

So, all hell of epic lame breaks loose in our apartment and we get ignored when told the b.s. needs to stop. Whatever, so now we're moving in with another friend who's lease is up on January 18. After that we should have the $2k to get down to Florida. We're going to make the trip into a vacation for the two of us. We decided we might as well since it's been so stressful and we're not in so much of a hurry to get down there that we'd miss the sights the trip has to offer.

I figured if we drove 12 hours a day, and it's supposed to be a 45 hour drive it'll take us 4 days, but I'm going to assume it's going to be more like 7 days since we plan on spending the night in Salt Lake so Jack can say goodbye to his parents, then we'll spend at least one night in New Orleans to see the sights there and so Jack can spend time with his sisters and visit his grandpa's grave, which he hasn't gotten to see yet and he can show me N.O. Then it's a straight shot to Florida since it's a 10 hour drive from New Orleans to Leesburg.

Sadly, this has to be our out from Montana. As much as we wanted to get to Las Vegas, it isn't going to happen until we can afford it, if we even bother coming back out west after this. Part of me is sure that we'll head back this way eventually, I mean we're only 22 and 24, so we've got plenty of time to enjoy ourselves and see what we can see. As much as I know something could happen to us at any time, I'd like to think we'll both live to be quite old and be able to see many things.

So, everyone remembers 3 years ago when I posted my friend's death. (Mourning for a Friend)

To Misty:

Even after 3 years you're still sorely missed. Happy belated what would have been your 21st birthday. May where ever you are in the afterlife be joyous and one helluva party.

Love:
Vincent

P.S. Thoughts of you still makes me cry despite the happy memories.

I know I should've posted this forever ago, but I'm only a lurker as it stands for one horrifying reason: No scanner.

I have plenty of drawings to put up that are actually worth posting, I just don't have a scanner in which to use to do so. Then again, I don't think I've drawn much in like...a month...which needs to change, but I can't remember where my sketchbook is right now, and I've been thinking of using a larger piece of paper, sketching something FANTASTIC and either painting it, using pastels, or charcoal. Or maybe even a combination since mixed media was kinda my forte in art classes (including painting XD).

In other news, my grandpa's in the hospital with a combination of a blood illness from surgery (he was peeing blood) and an abscess on the kidney he just had surgery on about a month ago. My uncle found that my mother couldn't make the decision to call an ambulance, and found grandpa in his chair, his skin color that almost-dead grey and decided it was time to have him taken to the ER. And he's lucky he did, grandpa wouldn't be alive if my uncle hadn't made a decision.

So, my family is all sorts of pissed off at my mom, including me, because she moved down there to take care of my grandparents, and when this crisis happened, all she could do was complain about her own problems, everything became a 'me' issue. While that's the way she's ALWAYS been, it's irritating to be 3500 miles away and not have the money to fly down there and take care of things for her, which wouldn't include taking care OF her. She's 52, perfectly capable of taking care of herself if she'd stop being such a whiny hypochondriac. I mean really, I lost sleep over this shit, couldn't work because of this because I was too stressed, wondering what the hell was going on, and I was finally able to talk to my uncle and my grandpa and figured out what was going on and got a game plan worked out with my uncle. Hopefully on Monday when I call my uncle grandpa will be out of the hospital and things'll be alright again, but I'll know if I need to take vacation time and go down there to make sure things are really alright since he can't stay with his parents and watch over them for more than a couple of weeks.