19104 and a Strong Jawline

Hi!

Well....... I started this blog a few years ago to document my travels and experiences in various places throughout the world, but I feel I've only done an exceedingly mediocre job at it. I think half of the things I write here are just bitter rants that I don't want to bore even my close friends with. Sure, it may be therapeutic, but I still get plenty tired of my own negativity.

Anyway, the times they are a-changing. I've had some crazy adventures over the past couple of years, but my blog consists of some gaping holes and does not accurately reflect those adventures, i.e. consistency has not been a forte of mine! Let us hope that this changes.
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So what are these adventures? Well, the most recent ones are as follows: I left Chengdu, China in March and returned to Phoenix. From Phoenix, I went to La Ceiba, Honduras to stay with and hang out with my sister and brother-in-law there for a couple of months. We left Honduras on June 16 to attend a Kyle family reunion in North Carolina, after which we drove up to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where my parents and brother now live. My sister and brother in law returned to Honduras while I started job-hunting soon after I got here.

I am now sitting in a room in an apartment in West Philly which I am temporarily renting, and, as of this morning, I have accepted a job offer as a Residency Advisor caring for and essentially acting as a parent for Chinese students who come to the states to attend private high schools. I will move to Chicago in mid-August, and the students I care for will attend Morgan Park Academy.

Sometimes I think about my desire to travel and how it used to be somewhat of an obsession of mine. My geographical stagnancy bothered me and formed a burden on me. Now, I'll watch movies, and there will be certain points at which, in the past, I would have pined for change and felt the weight of the lack of... experience? adventure? or something... There are many reasons for this, but my point is, I don't cringe or feel a burden anymore. I realize I'm doing exactly what I wanted to be doing for so long. Ups and downs, exhausting laughter and cathartic heartache, I'm alive.

Not everyone can say or write these things. Perhaps the burden still persists for some, or perhaps it has been lifted, but there was or is more heartache than joy.

Hope always remains.
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Now, for a pick-me-up! 

(Thanks Christy!)
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Did everyone born after 1990 make a tacit agreement to refuse to use correct capitalization and punctuation in casual messages? I know it's a generalization so don't take offense, and I'm more amazed than I am irritated.
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South Korea has long had a corner on the pop culture market in East Asia. I propose that western pop music is going to start taking it's cues from South Korean artists very soon.

Ultimately, though, good music is good music.
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There are many reasons that a 25-year-old male might possess negative feelings toward conservative news outlets like Fox News and radio personalities like Glenn Beck. I don't watch the news. I don't subscribe to any news outlet in particular, and, if I did, I'd most likely head toward the BBC. You probably already know that I'm "apolitical" in that I tire of the bitterness and fighting that politics causes among those I care about, I tire of the disunity and I think that, at the end of the day, the results are almost  the same, regardless of who's in what office. I'm fed up with the system, and I think it's fooled us all. I care with all my heart, but I don't.

So, understand where I am coming from when I write that the reason I most hate Fox News is because of what it does to my father.
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This is interesting: 30 x 30
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Here is one thing I learned during the process of my job and temporary apartment searches:

It sometimes hurts to send a billion emails out and get only one or two back in response. 


I'm so glad that I got responses at all. 
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I've recently realized that I consistently tend to most enjoy the not-popular songs off of mainstream hip-hop and rap albums. I sit there wondering, "Why'd they pick that song to be the single?"

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, though.
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Most of you probably already know about this, but just in case... some of my music.
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Given that I haven't posted in a long time, my music recommendations are going to be plentiful. So, I hate to do this, but all I can recommend today are albums, because I just enjoy the songs on these albums that much.

Audrey Assad- Heart
Ellie Goulding- Lights
Esperanza Spalding- All of her albums, ever
Gil-Scott Heron and Jamie xx- We're New Here
M.I.A.- Maya
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As usual, comment, question, prod, poke, cut down, sneer at, etc. everything and anything that you'd like!

I'll write again soon! Hopefully...