So that's my life.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about our future.

I say 'our' and not 'my,' because I gave up the notion of having my own future the day I permanently fused my soul with that of another person.  Leave it to me to make marriage sound like something out of a sci-fi novel.

Anyway.  I am totally excited and totally terrified.  Excited because I've been doing some networking, and I think I've got a good group of people behind me to help convert my painting hobby into a painting career.  If you work in the customer service industry, be nice to everyone.  Because you just might come in contact with someone who is deeply plugged into the art community in your metroplex, and if you are upbeat and helpful, they just might spread word of your paintings to some of their friends who happen to own galleries all around the city who are looking for new talent.

So that's exciting.

This Saturday, I say my farewells to all 12 of my guitar students after teaching them their last lessons.  The closer the day comes, the more I'm bombarded with thoughts about all the things I won't get to teach them.  I'm nearing completion of my book into which I've tried my best to stuff every tidbit of guitar-oriented musical knowledge I managed to absorb during my time in music theory classes, classical guitar ensembles, garage bands, jazz quartets and praise and worship teams.  I plan on getting all of my students' addresses and mailing them copies when it's edited and published.  I also want to put it in stores, so we'll see how that goes.  I've already sent a rough draft to a fellow author/guitarist whose years and talent in both areas far surpasses my own.  He wrote back saying he had learned a few things and really liked the tone of voice I used throughout.

So that's encouraging.

I'm also leaving my current place of work at the end of the month.  I'm transfering to the Fort Worth branch, where they've already made preparations to give me a promotion and a raise.  It will be a great opportunity for me to finally gain some managerial experience.  They already have a few projects with my name on it simply because they heard through the rumor mill that my brother and I were shakin' things up at the Dallas center.  He's leaving too, but he's leaving the company altogether, so the task of carrying on the 'Bayron Brothers' legacy rests on my shoulders.

So that's intimidating.

We got a new laptop.  What we do with big purchases is save a little each month, then when our savings matches the price of something that's available, we just go buy it.  It's our first Windows 7 PC, so we're still in the shock-and-awe stage of new-userism.  This will be the year that Glennda and I completely upgrade our tech lives.  We've already gotten a great deal on a 500GB media hub with a slot for an additional 500GB drive.  We're inheriting a 68" HDTV from my dad when we move in a couple weeks.  We got the new laptop, and we'll be getting new OS's for our iPhones this summer.  We also plan to buy a PS3 sometime this year, and ever since Gizmodo leaked all that stuff about the new iPhone 4, I've had my fingers crossed for a winter 2010 release.  All things considered, by this time next year, we will be set with everything we've been patiently waiting for, and we're doing it all through saving up and spending cash.

So that's freaking awesome.

When people ask me "How are you?" or "What's on your mind?" or "Hey, why are you ignoring me?" everything in this article is what I want to say.  But I can't, because no one really means it when they ask how you're doing, so I usually just respond by saying something like "You don't care" or "Why is your head so fat?" and then I do something really charming so they don't think I'm being serious, although I actually am.  Then I stare off like JD from Scrubs while I mentally write this entire article because they made me think about it.

So that's my life right now.

-R.