All I’ve talked about on here for the past month is the demise of my relationship. However, much more has been going on that has thrown me lately. One third into 2008 and it is not turning out how I’d hoped. This was supposed to be a great year.

My relationship with Beverly was going to grow deeper, I was going to get into grad school, get a promotion and raise at work, visit friends in Texas and San Francisco, redo my personal and business websites, make more freelance money. I was really healthy – watching more and more of what I ate and trimming off the last few pounds of “freshman 15” fat I still carried around. All the things that had gone so wrong two years earlier were getting set right – I was through the “dark” period of my life and was enjoying having a normal satisfying life. I was planning to go back to Red Rocks, to Santa Barbara and eventually to China with my girlfriend. Even early on in January I went to court for that red-light camera ticket debacle and had the fine reduced to the original amount (as I’d hoped).

The consummate planner – I had great things planned for myself this year. But life doesn’t always go according to plan. “even the best laid plans…..”

Instead…

One of my largest freelance clients has cancelled quite a large job (we are talking over $10,000 over the course of the year).

My (romantic) relationship with Beverly imploded and caused enormous amounts of anguish for both of us.

Instead of a raise at work I’ve been given someone else’s job (who retired recently) to do ON TOP of my already taxing job – with (after two months of this already) no promotion and no raise.

Grad school may still happen – but recent events have made it impossibly hard to concentrate on studying for the GMAT test (April 26th).

On February 11th I fell ill – and have never fully recovered. I saw a doctor yesterday that couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong with me and will do blood testing next week. At this point something has been plaguing me just shy of two months.

I will still say that 2006 was the worst year of my life – but 2008 has sure had a terrible beginning.

To make matters worse – I’m not the only one having problems. Several friends are going through some extremely tough times right now as well – some due to the economy and some personal matters. It isn’t just my life going to hell, but many around me as well. More than ever I just want to get away – go to some remote island for a month. However, when you’re responsible for two jobs – you can’t take a day off, much less a month.

By the way – these are just the large concerns… I have plenty of little problems like a dead microwave, new tires that need bought, a condo that has depreciated in value making it impossible to refinance (or sell if I need to), etc. etc. etc.

I might feel bad for bitching about all this – but… it is my blog after all and this is what is really going on in my life right now.

So what do I have left to be thankful for?

Friends that always support me (albeit the majority of them far away).
Family that will always support me (although again…from far away).
A place to sleep.
I’m not dead.

PS – one of those friends now has a blog here.