Hey there, looks like it's been over a year since I last wrote a blog. So lemme catch you up...

I finally reclaimed my "official" U.S. citizenship which I never really lost, but because I had to wait for my certificate, my life was sort of put on hold. I also know now that the people who work at the Department of Motor Vehicles in Paris don't know what they're doing, and they completely wasted my precious time. It's a good thing that I never have to see them again for at least 7 more years. Now that it's all over, I've been applying for jobs left and right, I can drive legally (although no vehicle yet), and it's also nice to be able to buy stuff on my own without a friend's assistance (alcohol, lottery tickets, adult themes).

This past December, my father had his second heart attack. I started crying uncontrollably when my mother sent me a picture of my dad through her Blackberry of my dad in the hospital with an oxygen mask on. Luckily, I was already in Memphis at an appointment with USCIS scheduling another appointment to attend the long awaited oath ceremony. After I left USCIS, I went to visit a friend there, who helped me make the 8 hour drive to Northwest Arkansas. I stayed there for a week to see my father before he went under the knife to have open heart surgery. My father and I have had A LOT of ups and downs over the years, including New Year's Eve 2010, when he assaulted me for the last time (and hopefully the final time). So before he had his second heart attack, we were not on speaking terms. So if anything could be made right, it had to be then because there was the small possibility that he wouldn't make it out of surgery. Just so you know, he's doing fine now.

I started writing my first book's revised draft, and when I'm finishing writing it, I will type it up as my final draft on the computer. I'd like to publish my first book by the time I'm 25, so that means I have less than 2 years to go, but I believe I can do it! I've had this book in the making since April 2010, when I first started writing it's rough draft.

Another thing that happened was, a few days after my birthday (Jan 3), I filed my very first lawsuit against somebody (oh joy...). While not exactly the best news, the good news is I won. It's weird, because in the past, I've usually been on the defendant's side of the court room (lol, ouch). 

I also have a love interest who has been helping me get through this tough year and he has been so great to me and we've been helping each other out in ways that real friends do, even though I've had a handful of people take advantage of my generosity this past year. But that's their loss, because I'm an awesome person. He also got me a new Black Moor Goldfish to replace the one that died last year, which I appropriately call Google II (the second, ya know sorta like Henry VIII). Black Moors are very cute with their bulging, protruding, eyes and intricate, flowing, fins. Those things can live longer than your average pet if taken care of properly.

All in all, 2011 wasn't a total let down. I finally got my driver's license renewed, I met a few great people, I got to see my family in Arkansas a couple of times, I finally got started on my revised draft for my book that'll be coming out in about a couple or years, I got a new Black Moor Goldfish (Google II), and I won my case. So now out with the old, and in with the new.

Hello there! I am doing just fine. A lot has been going on, so I will brief you on my happenings since my last entry.

I had a huge bomb explode within my family. It all started with a picture and was suddenly all distorted out of proportion because all kinds of lies that were starting to unfold. I’m angry at everybody because of their lies, childish behavior, poor judgment, paranoid interpretations, morbid expectations (they feel that everybody is out to get them for some foolish reason or another by doing “mindless“ things to hurt them in some way), and did I mention lies? So everybody is cut off. I can’t deal with any of this right now, let alone think of it. Of course none of this is the reason why I am doing just fine, so please read on… 

Cami had her yearly visit with the vet, and everything is just fine with her and she got her rabies shot. She is however a little overweight, so I am taking the steps to help her out with this. We play everyday at least once a day, I give her fresh water everyday, and I more carefully portion her meals. She is my friend and my little girl, so I want her to be happy, and in good health. I need her in good health so I can have her for as long as I can. She is sitting in my lap quietly sleeping as I speak.

Louis, my baby tomato plant, has really grown quite tall. Some of his tomatoes are even starting to blush at me. I hope I didn’t embarrass him in some way. I have a bigger, deeper, and more attractive pot for him that my friend is going to help me out with transplanting him into hopefully later today since he is probably starting to become root-bound. Soon, I will have myself some good eating!

We are also growing many things in the garden. We’re growing yellow Watermelon, so I got the first ripe one, and it is so good! I also gathered up some stuff from the garden and my friend put a basket of them together and we entered it into the county fair last week. We won first place for our garden display, and a $20.00 cash prize! We put it in my name, but I will share it with her since it was a team effort and her birthday is next week so we will probably go out to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant.

Speaking of some good eating, last week, I went fishing for the first time in my life and actually caught something, or should I say some things. My best friend and I had gone to a creek out at by the lake. This is a place that we usually go to where we drink, catch and release crayfish hiding under rocks, and go swimming. There's almost never anybody around, so we can laugh and be as loud as we want without bothering anybody. After we were done and were leaving the area, my friend asked me if I wanted to see the trout pond since she wanted to show it to me and we were heading in that direction anyway.

So we drive there and upon arriving, I see this little fenced in pond with a white brick stand that had an awning and a small restroom. Underneath the awning were two guys who ran the place sitting at a picnic table. We get to talking and end up with an invitation to fish for free. My friend declined, but I took this opportunity for the experience of my lifetime. So they gave me the pole, told me what to do, and being that I was fishing in a “barrel” I caught one right away.  I wrestled with it, and one of the guys showed me how to hold it, by sticking his thumb down its throat and found a place to “hook” it through an opening in its neck. He then proceeded to show me how to cut it, remove its insides, and clean it in the sink. This first one was a female. 

So after I had caught my first one he gave the pole back to me and told me to catch another one. This time I wrestled with it on the ground, hooked it with my thumb, cut it, removed its insides, and cleaned it myself. This one was a male fish, so the ghosts of the fish I caught can make baby ghost fish in heaven. Those little buggers have teeth and although they’re not very sharp, it still left a ring of teeth marks around my thumb that are still there. I can tolerate pain pretty well, and it didn’t hurt that bad. He put them in the freezer and my friend and I talked with them a little longer and then we left. 

The fish are in my freezer and I learned some stuff that day and I feel good about it. For one thing trout don’t really have scales it’s more like really oily skin. I know that my first fishing experience was easy since it was a little pond with tons of trout in it, but it still feels special to me. I haven’t gotten to eat my fish because I don’t know how to cook them yet, but I will cook and eat them myself. I caught and killed them, I should eat them.

So is there anything else I want to share? Okay one last thing and I’ll wrap it up. I was born in Canada, my dad was born there too, and my mom is American. So I’m an American too, I just don’t have the certified certificate to prove it. I’ve lived here for the past 18 years, but my passport expired in 1998. But that doesn’t matter because my mom is still American. But I have to get this certificate, the only thing is that it costs $460. But I spoke with USCIS, and they told me that I could get a fee waiver if I attached an affidavit proving my limited income with my application. This will be a headache for me since my parents never got this taken care of or renewed my passport. I need this certificate if I want to get a passport so that I can travel, and the DMV now has a policy in my state that if I was born out of the country that I have to obtain this certificate to be able to renew my license. So that is all, and until next time…