Update! I'm 21 now. Woop!

It’s three AM on the sixth of October. I decided its about time I quite avoiding this blog and finally write a little bit of an update.

I turned 21…”finally.”

I remember when I was 18 and I could only imagine all the beer I was going to buy EVERYDAY once I was 21. Now, being the 21 years of age I am, all I really want is more coffee and sleep. I can guarantee I am getting plenty of coffee, so at least half of my wishes are coming true.

But I keep forgetting I have reached this age that use to mean so much to me. Now it’s time to be an adult…..pfftt. ..NOT.

I just spent the last four hours watching cartoons with my friends in my dorm room. Of course I am sure there are adults out there that still do this and more power to em.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to talk to my best friend on the phone. It had been about a year since we spoke via telephone and we haven’t seen each other in two years. I miss that guy so much and it’s just crazy exciting to think that I actually get to see him this Christmas.

Well onto school. I switched my major from Comm studies to Film and TV and all I can say so far, two weeks in, I am really enjoying it. But I want to be skeptical so we will see how it plays out. In reality I might be having TOO much fun in this department. Look for me on the big screen soon. ;)

This one is short but I will bring up something I discussed with my friend today to close. It has to do with being thankful and humble.

I will tell anyone and everyone that I hate school. But now I am deciding that it isn’t very appropriate for me to say anymore. I am blessed to have the opportunity to earn a college education. There are probably millions of people that would kill to have what I have. I think that this life is hard, and the world a cruel place. I think these things only because of my “miniscule” experiences of “pain” and “suffering.” The world has it a lot worse than I do and I see myself as being “well off” when it comes to life sucking. I have also learned that a lot of people are going to crap all over you and treat you like the lowest of the low. I have learned this the hard way by mainly putting my faith into the wrong people. But the good news I got out of this is that I have accepted this fact. I am going to be treated like crap by people I had high hopes for, for the rest of my life. And the main key I leave with you, is that you and I, should not crap on others. Since my struggles aren’t as serious as children in Africa or Syria or really anywhere that isn’t America, I think that if we take the pain and give it to God, he will do all the cleaning for us.

I don’t know where I am going in life just yet. I have decided that I will not steer the course of my life, but rather slam hard on the gas pedal and have faith in God to direct me. That way I’m always moving forward and onward for His glory and I know He will show me the way.

And that’s all I got for you. Thank you for reading another story about James Scar and his un-edited blog.

“May you go forth and do what it is you set to go forth and do.”

            -@JS

The Adventure Returns North...

            It is September 7^th, the night before I leave SO CAL, and I am sitting in my Grandmother’s living room talking with her about life. I am waiting for a text from my co-workers to see if they want to hang out one last time before I make the voyage to Napa in the morning. I’m not getting any texts right away, but I’m not worried, this moment sitting with my Grandmother and sharing stories is a moment I won’t get to have for a while. Napa is about eight hours north from Grams’ house so I wouldn’t be seeing her for at least another six months.

Let me just say, that my Grandma let me stay in her house for two months with no rent, she has been such a blessing to me that I can’t even describe how thankful I am. She is a great woman with so much to offer and I wish I could have stayed longer. Grandma, I love you so much and look forward to our next meeting.

            My co-worker friends eventually texted me and we had a great night out on the town. I stopped by the Pizza Press one last time to give my farewells and wish them all the best of luck. I made some awesome friends during my two months and it was way too short, I plan on making my way back south eventually to see my favorite faces. I return around 2 o’clock in the morning to finish packing my truck. My body has had a crazy sleep schedule this summer because the Pizza Press didn’t close until 1 am, so sleep wasn’t happening until at least 2:30 or 3. I finally get into the small cot I slept on all summer for the last time and somehow fall asleep.

            I wake up around 6am and give Grandma my final hug and wave goodbye as I leave the driveway for the last time. My first stop is Starbucks, because it’s way to early in the morning, and I am about to be in my fully loaded truck for the next 8 hours. Coffee in hand, I head to another Starbucks just south of LA to meet up with my good friend Zach and his fully loaded truck, to “caravan” back to school. We grab some form of a “starbucksy” breakfast and hit the road, leaving the wonderful beach behind us.

            Now, I had to figure out a way to keep myself occupied while sitting down for so long, but not too occupied, because I still had to drive. SO I burned all of Dylan Moran’s stand up specials onto disks and laughed my way to Napa. He is my favorite stand up comedian and it’s hard not to enjoy any movie he plays in. My good friend Rose can attest to that. The nice thing about leaving so early in the morning is that by the time noon rolled around, we were just about halfway to our destination. We only had to put gas in once really, and decided to stop for some Subway as well. It was during our lunch break that I introduced Dylan Moran to Zach. I gave him two of the specials I had already listened to and I basically converted him to enjoy Dylan Moran almost as much as I do…almost.

            The rest of our journey begins to go by quickly and before we know it, we begin to recognize the geography of Napa California. The wineries here are insane and gorgeous. It’s much dryer here than it was down south, where every now and then you get the “sea-breeze.” But not here, here it’s just hot in the dry times. We even saw a few smoke clouds from fires nearby, I still don’t know who or what was on fire, but I hope they are okay.

            The arrival into Angwin is a bittersweet one. Yes, I am excited the drive is over, but I literally live on a hill now and I can’t go to the beach anymore. But as we get out of our vehicles and approach our beloved dorm, familiar faces begin to come into view. It is in this moment of hugging, hi-fiving and smiling that I forget about how much I hate school, because between you and me, I freaking loathe it. I’m sure I’ll write about that later so…back to the arrival.

            We check in and unload all of our belongings into our rooms and have our first meeting. Now I say meeting because I am a desk worker for the dorm and I have arrived to campus two weeks before school starts to train and prepare the dorm for all the fresh meat. I can’t explain how excited I am to be working here. I applied for the position because seeing a smiling face every time I entered or exited my dorm gave me a sense of peace that not everyone here is out to get you.

            It's only been a week since I left and I am sitting at the desk now writing this monstrosity of a blog and all I can say is that this week has been awesome. I have been working my butt off moving heavy dressers up and down flights of stairs, I am starting to legitimately get into parkour, AND I am making more and more friends as the days go on. OH and I switched from Communications to TV and Film, so this guy right here is going to be a filmmaker. I am really excited for my black and white photography class as well as a short scriptwriting class. I don’t think I have figured out “short” and “writing” to go together just yet, but we will see what happens.

            We just had our dorm revamped and it looks incredible. The walls are painted a sky-blue and the bathrooms look brand new, its really nice and soothing.

There is still a lot of work that needs to be done so this week is going to be crazy, but the nice thing is that I have been so busy that its impossible for me to get depressed about the upcoming homework assignments. Which is most likely going to be taking photos and writing scripts, “oh no.” OH and I’m taking the lowest math classes for college (finally), and for that I crap my pants.

            Lets see what else…oh right! My dad is coming to visit me on Tuesday! I can’t wait to see him. Its nice that he travels this way sometimes so I’m sure this won’t be the last time I get to see him. It’s my 21^st birthday this Friday and I think everyone here in the dorm is going to be gone for the freshman getaway thing. So I’m pretty sure I’m going to see a good friend of mine. I can’t wait. This year is going to be incredible and it’s just another chapter in my story.

More to come….. so hold onto your butts.

@JS

           

Everything is so much smaller than I remember...

Way back when I used to live in Southern California, the place where I was born. My family and I lived in Yorba Linda, California and we had a house about a mile away from an elementary school I was attending. All seemed to be going great, until my parents decided to move to Washington.

I’m totally kidding of course.
But when we first moved north, I was the kid from California. I always told everyone I surfed and was “one with the waves.” Which is total bogus because I have only been surfing once, and that was on a trip BACK to California a few years after moving. But recently, I moved to Northern California for school and decided to spend my summer with my Grandma in So Cal.
I was lucky enough to get hired at the coolest place I have ever worked. It’s called “The Pizza Press” and I give it 5 out 5 stars. If you are ever in the Anaheim area, go to the press. The pizza is bomb and its right next to Disneyland. Oh yea right! Disneyland! Only my most favorite place ever! I was also blessed to have the opportunity to go twice this summer. TWICE! I hadn’t been in nine years, and I killed that streak with two trips.

Anyways…

Today I had to take a good friend of mine from home, (Washington), to the airport because her visit had come to an end. After dropping her off, I was once again alone. I decided to go see the last place I lived in before we set off to Washington all those years ago. It was what I would call a normal Southern Californian drive. Meaning traffic of course, but I didn’t really seem to notice. What I did notice, however, was a feeling I wasn’t familiar with. It was a sudden strange feeling of emptiness that almost brought me to tears. I waved goodbye to my good friend that I have known for a long time and was immediately back in “one-player mode.” I realize now that I shouldn’t be alone anymore. April to the present has been mostly just me by myself living life. It’s not who I am, I thrive for the company of close friends….but back to my drive…

As I pulled up to the school, flashbacks from the playground and the school’s open field came upon me. I remembered the friends I had and the days I spent there. Cub scouts and skateboarding were the two things I remember most from the second grade. Also that my teacher’s name was Mrs. Powers…and if you know me, that’s one of the reasons I began to go by AJ.

The flash backs of the school began to subside as I drove down the street of the house I remembered the most. This house is the house that I first watched Back to the Future and Star Wars in. It’s where I played countless hours of street hockey and hit a golf ball at a neighbor girl’s car (I dented it pretty good from what the folks say). This house has held such a large portion of my memory for so long that as I stared at my old home, I realized that it was a lot smaller than I remembered.

As I drove (slowly) back to Grams’s, I didn’t listen to any music, I just sat in the quietness of my thoughts, and my frequent beat boxing. I remembered so much and it was quite the experience to see how small my large memories really were. I can’t wait to show my kids that place one day and tell them story after story.

And this has turned into a lot more than I originally planned, but whatever. If you read this far, you are an amazing person because I’m sure this was hard to get through. So to close this I shall say that my summer in So Cal ends in two days. It’s been quite the summer and I really don’t look forward to starting up school again!

This blog stuff could get addicting….

Cheers

@JS

Something about the water meeting the horizon ...

Every time I get a chance to go to the beach, I always find myself sitting in the sand looking out at the vastness that is the "big blue." The Ocean has so much water stuff that it's incredible to think how big it really is.
I see the never ending stretch of water reaching from the east to the west, or rather how far my eyes will allow, and I can't help but give a sigh of relief. The ocean is enormous and it’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.  I see how small I really am and how large our earth is. I mean yes, it is a small planet and the universe is humongous, but I think every time we say that, we mentally shrink the size of our home.

As I stare out at the ocean and realize that the rest of the world and the problems are behind me, I realize how big our planet really is.
I mean not "REALLY," I did take astronomy at one point.

But the more I travel and the more places that I visit and see, this place keeps getting larger and larger.
This is my first blog and my first time telling the world my story. It's not going to be the most graceful thing you have ever read, but so far you have read it. And for that I thank you.
Salutations, 

@JS