I know, I said that I would come back better than ever with a new layout, but things have gotten a little time consuming lately. In a nutshell, I worked my ass off for the clothing store from hell, got fired before I could quit, then started a new job as a cashier at a market/deli. On top of that, I was trying to get schoolwork done and started putting in a few more social events. I’ll write a recap post on that later.

Lately, I’ve noticed how much I’ve been thinking about the past. Sure, I do that all the time, but as of late, it’s had a different feeling… it’s more of the remembering the good days, or remembering the good people.

Not necessarily through death, but I’ve lost a lot of good relationships with people and I absolutely hate that, I do. It’s hard for me when it happens, but I just have to try and pick myself up, and move on.

Except at least right now, it feels exceptionally hard.

In the last four years, I’ve lost a lot of people. There was a good friend (DT) who won’t speak to me now due one mistake I foolishly made, my senior year boyfriend (MN), my childhood best friend (VN) I had known ever since kindergarten, my breaststroke swimming partner (AL), and many others. Sure it’s all a fact of life; people grow up and they grow into different groups and lives, but even the most different of people can keep friendships, right?

Of course, to seal the deal to all this reminiscing, Stockton Boy and I had a major blowout a few days ago. I could see that what happened with VN was happening with Stockton Boy; he was getting too busy for me despite having told me it could never happen. But it did and I ended up getting extremely upset. My stress was fueled even more when he couldn’t understand how hurt and upset I was because his guards had gone flying up.

Although I know that he wasn’t on anyone’s good side anymore, I still wanted to be his friend. I needed to be his friend because he was the closest thing I had to being able to lean on someone without feeling as if I was imposing on someone’s schoolwork and time. Then, in the last month, he wasn’t there and I just… I couldn’t handle it; I can’t handle it.

What does all this have to do with the past? A lot of people get upset when they think back on how things used to be. If I didn’t, maybe I wouldn’t have blown up like I did at Stockton Boy. I wouldn’t have thought on the days when we used to call each other (as friends) just to say goodnight for fifteen seconds. I wouldn’t have thought back on the time I was walking through my school hallways after being dumped and seeing DT right there with his arms open wide for me. I wouldn’t think back on the times MN and I used to be on the phone for hours teasing each other about useless crap. I wouldn’t remember all of the three-hour long conversations (and possibly longer) with VN and how close we were as friends despite how far apart we lived. If I didn’t think back on any of those, I wouldn’t feel as shitty as I do now. Most people wouldn’t feel so shitty if they didn’t do what I do. Except, it’s hard.

I had a feeling that a ex-boyfriend, MM, I recently got reacquainted with may have a crush on me again and last night, it was confirmed. He was doing what I did; he was thinking back to how good things were when we dated, however short it was. I know that in some cases, and for now only the ones that I’ve seen in movies, some people can date, fall out, get reacquainted and then date again to have an even better relationship. Except, this isn’t one of those movie moments and only when I got the confirmation did I realize how dangerous it is to remember the good ol’ days.

It’s ironic that so many good memories can be so bittersweet, but it happens.

So what now? How do you try and change your focus? It will always be the good ol’ days, but how can you make it have a good feeling as opposed to a longing feeling? Maybe it’s just slowly trying to come to terms with it, but as you can see in my case, I never came to terms with any of my lost friendships, my lost relationships.

I was reading a book, The Alchemist by Paolo Coehlo, and through that, I could see how easy it was for the protagonist to just let go of the past. Through his journey, he didn’t dwell on the fact that he couldn’t see the merchant’s daughter one more time, and used his good memories on his shepherding days to get what he needed out of his journey. (I highly recommend this book to everyone, by the way) There is this word in Arabic, maktub, that is loosely translated to: It is written. This book is a good example of that because it implies that if things were meant to be, if things were meant to happen, then it will be because it was written by God.

I do believe in that word; that there’s fate, destiny, and a God who doesn’t necessarily control, but puts certain events and people in your lives for a reason. In the end, if it was meant to happen and meant to be, it will be. If I was meant to continue to have good relationships with those people, I would and if I don’t, then it wasn’t meant to be.

Anyway, that’s a whole other topic that I can write on, but the main point from the last two paragraphs is just the other way of thinking I suppose. Maybe it’s not supposed to be easy or be less painful; maybe it’s just supposed to be.

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Hopefully one day soon, I will get that new damned layout up. I have the picture I’m going to use; I just need to find the time to code everything and make sure all the plugins I want to use will work. I apologize for the rather long hiatus and for those who came back to visit only to see that the new posts were advertisements (hey, I need all the income I can get at this point). I’ll write a page explaining my stance on that soon.

For some reason today, a huge wave of homesickness hit me. Now I’m not the type of person to get homesick, ever. If I do, it’s a very, very rare occasion like this one. I honestly don’t know what set it off though. For the entire day, I felt hungry. I wanted something warm and something good. My solution? Progresso Clam Chowder. I ate the whole can too, which is a lot considering I normally eat only half the can at a time. But no, that didn’t work.

I kept thinking of different foods I could eat and all I could think about was my mother’s food. Of course, it’s usually not an elaborate feast or anything, but having a nice bowl of rice and some deliciously cooked meat sounded so wonderful. And since I have not learned the fine arts of cooking from my mother, I could not replicate anything of hers.

My solution? I went to a newly opened restaurant called Anh Hong (unfortunately, without proper accents) because they would serve Vietnamese food. I trusted them much more than I trusted the other Vietnamese restaurants because I know that they are a small franchise and have opened up in large Vietnamese communities.

Anyway, the food was delicious and almost satisfied my desire for my mother’s food. However, it didn’t cure my homesickness. While waiting for and eating my food, there was a large Vietnamese family in the restaurant and seeing them there just made me even more nostalgic. I decided that I had to call my parents and let them know how much I miss them and how much I love them. Hearing my dad’s voice on the other line? That helped cure my homesickness a little. It’s not enough, but it will last me until this weekend anyway.

I just don’t know what brought this on though. I normally don’t miss my parents this much and just this past week, I have been a lot more than usual. Do any of you have this level of homesickness? If so, what do you do? What is your relationship with your parents like? See, my family isn’t the most affectionate around so my calling them just to actually say the words, “I miss you” and “I love you” really meant a lot. Does your family have that kind of problem too?

Well, I’m just so lucky to have the parents that I have. I know that in the previous post, I mentioned that I may have picked up some bad habits, but that doesn’t mean I love them any less. I’m very grateful for my family and without them, I would not be the person I am today and I would not be in such a great college if it weren’t for them. My family always comes first and even now, I’m tearing up as I think so fondly of them.

Even if you aren’t part of an affectionate family, don’t forget to let them know how much you cherish and appreciate them every now and then. And yes, I do mean for you talk to them outside of the holidays.