What a weekend.

OK so, this weekend I haven't blogged much on here. So I'm going to run through the events of the weekend in quick fashion.

It was a crazy second half of the weekend. Saturday was a slow day. I didn't go anywhere or do much of anything. But Saturday night I got a letter in the mail from the Social Security Administration.

You may recall the meeting I had with Social Security 30 days ago in their offices in Florence to discuss me possibly getting some kind of benefits. Well...I GOT THEM! I will be receiving another $935 a month, PLUS $3,689 back pay (which should be in today or tomorrow I'm thinking)! This could not have come at a better time for me, or my family.

I found out Sunday morning that my mom's hours are going to be cut, and she's going to have to work 5 days this quarter that she won't get paid for. Basically, it'll be unpaid hours...which I think is a crock of crap unless I see that the executives at her office are doing it, too. But what it amounts to is two-fold. We won't be going on vacation as a family this year (although I am probably going to take a solo trip out of town for a few days over the summer, probably as a birthday gift to myself). We might not open up our pool this year. And last but not least...we'd probably be struggling to pay our bills...except that I offered a solution to the third issue.

I am going to give my folks another $500 a month to cover bills until my mom's work hours go back to what they were before the cuts started at least. My mom is stressing over those bills and she needs help...so I intend to give it to her in any way possible. Let's hope these cuts are temporary...

For an update on Krystlyn...

Check the previous blog post. Prayer sure is a good thing to have on your side...

Requesting Prayer

UPDATE 5:50AM 3/27: I received a message about an hour and 10 minutes after I posted this.

Stacie says that about an hour after I posted the following, Krystlyn WOKE UP! Hallelujah God Sure Is Good! There is still a long road ahead, but the first step has already been taken...

From my friend Stacie in Knoxville, TN:

Stacie's friend Krystlyn has been in a serious car crash that happened yesterday in Michigan. Krystlyn is currently in a coma, on a ventilator and is in critical condition. She's also battling leukemia while raising her two brothers, one of which is deaf and blind. Krystlyn is only 20 years old...and is too young to go through something like this.

I ask my fellow Christian bloggers to lift Krystlyn up in prayers before God today...as she fights for survival.

Courage + Belief = LIFE

Another Introduction.

For those who may be passionate Republican bloggers...or have an interest in pro wrestling...or just about anything having to do with entertainment...

Eric Bischoff, the brains behind World Championship Wrestling, as well as currently executive producer of the VH1 series "Confessions of a Teen Idol", "Scott Baio is 46...and Pregnant" and its predecessor, "Scott Baio is 45...and Single", launched a new blogger blog, which I found out about through his Twitter page, which in turn I found out about through email from his website. And the first post is a doozy for those who maybe dislike the way President Barack Obama has handled the financial crisis.

Announcing "4 Wrongs Make a Right?"! This blog will take you on a ride into Mr. Bischoff's mind...whether he is discussing the professional wrestling industry, talking about his latest projects, or, as was the case with the very first post, blogging about world events...you'll find it at .

If you have any interest in pro wrestling whatsoever...check this one out.

Getting sick.

I think the depression finally caught up to my physical state.

I woke up yesterday, and was at least halfway okay. I had a little pain in my back, but that's normal so I dismissed it. It got worse, so I took a nap...and woke at 6pm to a worsening runny/stuffy nose and an increasing tightness in my throat.

Now this morning, that's turned into a full blown cold. Needless to say, I won't be attending church this evening...or going anywhere else, for that matter. I need to rest...but my body is resisting going back to bed because I've already spent significant amounts of time there in the last week. Ironic isn't it...the very thing my body needs (rest) is what it's resisting...

Keep me in your thoughts...I need to get better soon.

Another Personal Decision.

I have made a couple of decisions that have some impact on my life online...but there may be a bigger impact offline.

First: I have decided that it was time to hang up the daytime internet radio headphones. I'm going to transition into doing late night work somewhere else. I am grateful for the experience I gained while at M103 The Touch...and still recommend them to anybody who likes unfiltered, unedited radio.

That leads me to my second decision, which is somehow linked with the first. I am going to start a real job search in the coming days. I need to find something that will have money coming in, but that I will enjoy doing and yet, still allows me to have my evenings free to myself. I'm unsure where this will be at present. But if I can get something, I'll be okay.

That being said, pray for me for the right opportunity to come along.

At least one person may hate me for this decision.

But I really don't care...my faith has led me to this choice.

I have decided to forgive Suzanne for how she hurt me. Why?

Well, I was sitting in church this morning. Today my pastor began the run up to Easter Sunday morning. The Scripture today was Matthew 4:18-20.

Afterward, of course we had the invitation time. And God laid it on my heart that I had something I needed to do...which was to forgive her. See...we don't need to hold a grudge against a fellow believer (Suzanne is Catholic). It only makes it harder to worship...harder to fellowship...harder to do what God wants us to do. And God laid this on my heart...so, forgive I must.

It may or may not be a popular decision. I don't care at this point how popular it is. I just know it's the RIGHT decision.

Shuffle Blog (A PTONKY First)

Again, I promised some time back I'd do a Shuffle Blog. My MP3 player is on shuffle (or in this case, I have the radio going), and basically what I do is blog whatever comes to mind as I listen to music.

Starting out with Will Smith - Summertime. It's the first day of spring. I'm glad winter is basically over. Can we get snow after winter officially ends? Sure but, it becomes more and more rare as the days go by. I am looking forward to getting out of the house at some point this weekend. It's supposed to be 60 tomorrow, and 65 on Sunday. :) I think Spring makes people happier in general...I'm not saying I have seasonal affective disorder, but I feel much better than I have in the last few weeks. The thing I love about springtime is, it's much brighter. :)

I'm still dealing with my personal issues. It's going to be a few more days before I make my full comeback. But it's getting closer. Poker Face - Lady GaGa now. Good beat. I sometimes wish I had a poker face. The fact that I do not is why I am no good at Texas Hold 'Em. LOL. People can tell when I have a hand, and when I don't. And it usually costs me. LOL.

So, the weekend is here. Does anybody else feel like this week has kinda dragged? I sure do. I don't think the week could have gone any slower if I'd tried to slow it down! LOL.

I am looking forward to WWE Wrestlemania 25. Sounds like there's a great card shaping up...the Money In the Bank match is always interesting to me. Everybody - Black Box now. These songs are absolute JAMZ tonight! I love me some Q102! By the way - they're the ONLY radio station I really like to listen to for an extended period at night. I wrote a few weeks ago in this space that Holly Morgan, who does 7-midnight on Q102, is my favorite radio show personality. (What, did you think I'd pick myself? No, I'm not THAT self-centered!) LOL. But, Holly does know how to pick 'em...the songs, that is. And I think Grover Collins, who does middays on Q, out-kicked his coverage when he landed her! (For the uninitiated, Holly and Grover are real-life married. I knew this of course.) Soul Decision - Faded now. Good choice by that listener! This is the Friday Free-For-All...listeners to the station can call in and request songs :-) I did a couple weeks ago, I might have to call in again tonight :-) So, when people call in, Holly puts them on air a lot of the time. I love that - radio shows should depend on audience participation like this more often! That's why when I am on air, I always open the request lines to my listeners. :-) By the way, you can go online to www.m103thetouch.com to hear me, or www.wkrq.com to hear Holly, Grover and the rest of the Q gang :-)

Well I am going to end this blog, listen to a bit more Q, and catch WWE Smackdown! Have a great night and an AWESOME weekend!

Courage + Belief = LIFE

Jeremy

Random Thoughts - PM Edition

Your Friendly Local Net DJ (tm by me) is back with a few more random thoughts about life...

* I watched parts of the day's basketball games. UConn won which I expected. Purdue was also an expected win, as was Texas A&M. Butler's loss...ugh. But then again, I didn't have them going too far. UNC wasn't a surprise. Cal killed me, too.

* I'm looking forward to UK's next game in the NIT. Granted, it's not the NCAA's, but...it's my home-state team. So I'll take it.

* Non basketball thought - Insomnia STILL sucks! I woke up at 12:30pm, after maybe 5 hours of sleep. I think tonight will be back to the normal 1am-1pm cycle. I hope at least.

* Finally, addressing Cliff's comment on the previous randomness blog - Super day? Not quite...but not horrible either! :) I'll take it.

I'm going to save and build up some more randomness for the next blog. I had planned to do a shuffle blog sometime back. (For the uninitiated, a shuffle blog is when I put my mp3 player on shuffle, or turn on the radio, and as I listen to the music I blog whatever hits my brain.)

Some early morning thoughts from the DJ from the 859...

...who really needs to stay on that down by 1am > up by 1pm sleep cycle!

* These all-night insomnia bouts really do suck. Been up since 1pm Wednesday, and at this point really don't think I should try to crash now, and risk missing my 1pm DJ shift. I can't miss that.

* It is amazing how weather can change over a 2 mile span of pavement. It really is. Last night, I went on a ride over the KY State Route 18 overpass (going over I-75/71) to Florence Mall. In 2 miles, I went from getting rained on, although not quite looking like a drowned rat, to almost being able to dry off. Key word: almost. Coming back, it started to rain again about 1/2 mile from home. Go figure.

* Somebody really needs to come up with either a) wireless earphones for mp3 players, or b) a cord that cannot catch in wheelchair spokes. Such a thing, apparently, does not yet exist. Maybe I need to work on that.

* I also need to work on a device that will hold an umbrella for me, while I am riding in my wheelchair, but not be in a spot that it can get knocked off easily. Just sayin'...

* We just had a Tuesday night bible fellowship in the new church building this past Tuesday night. We have enough room, more than enough room actually, to expand...and almost filled the little room we were in! Can we move it into the bigger commons area next week??? I sure hope so!

Alright, that's it for the randomness! I may try and catch a few hours of zzz's after all...and make sure I'm up for my shift at 1pm!

Courage + Belief = LIFE

Jeremy

Announcing a New Blog

From time to time, I like to announce new blogs friends of mine have put up.

This is one of those.

Announcing patjseenitall...see what i've seen! This blog follows the adventures of Pat J., a loyal follower of Tri-State Media Watch out of the Springfield, Ohio area, and does so in video form!

Go check that out, and of course while you're over there on his profile, also check out Pat J (at least in my mind) knows it all.

Telling it like it is.

Everybody knows that when I tell you something, I am telling it the way it is. When I tell you I am upset, I am upset. If I say I'm happy, then I am happy.

So the information I received saying that Suzanne "won't be around me because she thinks I'm manipulating her" with my suicidal tendencies, made me angry. And not only the knowledge of that, but she won't even tell me to my FACE.

Below, is the note I just wrote to her. I used no profanity...but I worded it as strongly as possible.

"So, Chris finally told me why you were avoiding me.

"You think I'm manipulating you with my suicidal tendencies. Well, you are wrong.

"You can ask my parents. They will tell you, I spent much of last week in a highly depressed state. Except my depression came out in other ways around them, than it did with you. Or with Emily or Chris.

"I was diagnosed in 2007. It has been two years. My doctors have records that show I was admitted January 19, 2007 to St. Luke West AT MY REQUEST to deal with my problems then! Last week was the worst depression I have had since 2007. I've been depressed, yes - but NEVER that severely since '07. My aunt's own suicide later that year drove me near, but not quite, to that edge. The thoughts I had last Monday (3/9) morning scared the crap out of me! And you had every chance in the world to help, AND YOU BLEW THOSE CHANCES! NEWS FLASH - it wasn't just what happened with you that sent me down that path - but that was a part of it.

"I TRUSTED YOU to keep the promise you made to see me last week...but you couldn't even do THAT? And not only that, you could not even TELL ME that you thought I was manipulating you???

"There are VERY few people who see THAT part of my depression! I do not even trust my parents with that side because to them it's overblown, it's not serious but...I TRUSTED YOU. I did. Do I any more? NO.

"It's become pretty clear the ONLY people I can trust to see that side of me, and slap me back to reality when needed, are Emily and Chris and MAYBE a couple of my church friends. So goodbye - you lost the best friend you could have had in me."

Seeing life through these eyes

Please don't take offense to this...it's kinda my way of venting.

Seeing Life Through These Eyes

People look at me every day
And they see a lot of things
But it's much different from the outside
Than seeing life through these eyes

These eyes see things daily
That eyes may not be meant to see
They're things that make most people
Run and scream in terror

Life through these eyes ain't easy
You gotta walk in my shoes to get it
Because until you've felt what I do
You'll never know how it feels

So the next time you see me
If I look broken and battered
Just remember how I see life
And you'll understand what I feel.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: For another perspective, please go read my friend Chris aka spoons' latest poem.

A quickie about my twitter feed.

Yesterday I happened to say that I prefer to type with proper spelling, capitalization, etc. and that was why I changed blog templates. Well Twitter/Facebook statuses are now the ONLY exceptions to the rule, and purely by necessity. Whatever status I put on Facebook now goes to my Twitter, too...and with Twitter limiting messages to 140 characters, things get misspelled, shortened, etc. out of necessity only. "You" becomes "u", "tomorrow" turns into "2moro"...stuff like that.

In the interest of full disclosure...

There are some things I need to say about the latter half of my last post.

I noted that I'd failed on Thursday as a friend to Chris and Emily in their time of need. The way I failed was, when I was told of the situation, I more or less failed to see the big picture, and said something to the effect of "I knew something would come along to upset me today". That fired Chris up to no end. (Actually, that's very much an understatement. To say at that point, he was starting to hate me would be a bit closer, but I can't figure out exactly how to word what REALLY was going on.)

There were some harsh words spoken Thursday night, I cannot lie.

Did I break their trust? Yes.

Did I hurt them? Yes.

Was I wrong? Without a doubt.

Am I sorry for my actions? Without a reservation in my mind.

Do I intend to make up for what I did and earn their trust back? Of course. I cannot change what happened Thursday night. Nor will it be easy to get back to where things were before this past Thursday. But...it will happen. And, Chris, if I mess up...say so. I don't expect anyone to treat me any different. (Some do, that's their choice.) You and Emily should not, either.

Seems I ask a lot lately...

...but this is another prayer/thoughts request.

My friends Chris and Emily are dealing with a tough financial situation right now. They look to have possibly secured an apartment, but in order to make sure they get this, a couple things need to happen. Chris needs to find work...and in this economy, that's a challenge in and of itself. So be in prayers for and send thoughts to him for that. And second, they need to secure the funds by this Tuesday. And that's an even bigger challenge which I am asking for prayers and thoughts for as well.

Finally (and I'm putting myself last here, because it's the way I should do it), pray for and think about me, that I might be the good friend to them, that I need to be. Because Thursday night, I didn't do so well when they first told me of this crisis...as a matter of fact, I flunked the friend test that night.

A Poem for My Blogging Friends

Well...I had this idea strike me a moment ago. I needed to write it down, before I lost it. The idea was, I'd mention a few of my frequent blog stops, somehow incorporating the names of their blogs into the mix. So, this is what came out...it might read weird, but, it's what comes from writing on the fly.

My Blogging Friends

My blogging friends are many
They come from different places
Their talents, vary plenty
And they have many different faces

I know that Cliff's Gone Bananas
And Jen, she's Unglazed
While Shellmo's building her log cabin
And Suz is a Busy Bee

Joe Beans writes about coffee
Randy tells the way he sees it
Michelle has her Roundup
And Happy Wife has a Happy Life

All these friends and more
Are what keeps me blogging daily
So I hope that you'll drop by these
And see what they all are sayin'

A 6AM thought.

Two things:

1) Facebook Twittering = Cool. I can reach both lists, with one status message, instead of going to Facebook, typing in a message, then heading to Twitter just to put in the same thing!
2) I just realized, after a few days with this template, that the dates, headers, etc. are all lower case. For someone who likes for his typing to seem normal, well...that's slightly annoying. I might be doing some tinkering with the template. I still want something different for this blog, as compared to the Media Watch blog.

UPDATE: I'm gonna stick with this template for the time being. Also, I put up a new picture. That picture is Main Street in Florence, KY Feb. 13. And all links are now at LEFT, not right. For now at least. Until I find a comparable template that a) won't stretch the screen out, b) is more on the summery side since we're headed toward spring, and c) isn't TOO bright.

UPDATE 2: Found one I like! Capitalization's normal (:-)), looks greener to reflect spring (:-D), and best part is, it's DIFFERENT! :-D

Asking for Prayers, but not for myself.

Rather, this is for a close, non-blogging friend of mine.

Alisha Pratt is an Occupational Therapist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, working in the Hematology, Oncology, and Bone Marrow units there. She works with the sick children who are in the hospital.

Sadly, one of those children died either late last week or over the weekend. Today Alisha attended the funeral services, and this is what she has to say:

I went to her services tonight....it was really neat but so so so sad.To see her parents and family in so much pain...it breaks my heart. I know that some kids are healed on earth and others in heaven but it doesn't make it any easier when the heavenly healing happens.

Please add Alisha to your nightlies tonight and over the upcoming weekend.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This really makes the stuff I've been through all week, look like small potatoes.

It's Friday night...

Finally.




Let the weekend BEGIN!

I like Cliff because....

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is in the style of Cliff (74WIXYgrad)'s "I Like...because..." blogs. He just wrote one about me here, and I felt the need to reciprocate.

I was first introduced to Cliff via Ohio Media Watch, which was the inspiration for my initial blog at Tri-State Media Watch. He put up a post introducing me to the blog-o-sphere, to which of course I reciprocated and prominently featured him (and still do) in my links on that blog.

A short time afterwards, I launched this blog for those who aren't media geeks like myself. And again, Cliff was very good about promoting the new blog space, doing a post specifically about it. And a short time later, several people began floating over, in fact much of my reader base for this blog, came from Cliff's which I am very grateful for.

Every day, I receive an email from Cliff with a devotional attached to it. I take time every day and read this, and it has helped inspire me for my day. Earlier this week, you'll recall, I asked the others who receive these devotionals for prayers in dealing with this latest bout with depression. Cliff has some great friends who read these devotionals, too...because the response was overwhelming. Cliff surrounds himself with nothing but the best, most positive, caring people in the world.

Cliff also writes poetry, much like I have been known to. His blog Whattville is on the Other Side of the Tracks is a blog in which Cliff expresses his creativity. This is writing the likes of which I could only hope to match.

And of course, there's the other Christ-like qualities Cliff has. His blog Seek Him First is full of good, inspirational stuff for the Christian soul. Whenever I see he's written something new there (which, I need to put both the latter of his blogs in my follow list, before I get scatterbrained), I look to see what he might have for me.

All of this, and more, is why I like Cliff. If you have never read his blogs, go read them. If you came here from his blog, be sure you remind him just how great of a man he really is.

Courage + Belief = LIFE

Another Update.

I don't really have much creativity in me at this point.

Another low period 4-7pm Wednesday. That preceded by, and then followed by, several hours of calm, if not recovery late yesterday evening, before another dip. It seems I'm riding a roller coaster the trajectory of which can and does change seemingly by the hour. If this isn't bi-polar at its wildest, I'd seriously like to know what that is. (Considered using the term worst, but it's not worse than Monday morning. Wildest seems to fit due to the rapidity of the swings from good mood to bad.)

Right now, I'm just...in the middle. Finally. Hopefully I can sustain this for a significant period.

These swings are wilder than any I've ever had to this point...and I want them to slow down soon!

A Huge Thank You.

Y'all, I cannot even begin to tell you enough how awesome you are.

48 hours ago, I was not even sure I would make it through the week much less that day. I took a risk, and sent out a prayer request to those who get the daily devotionals from Cliff (74WIXYgrad). I am glad I did, because the emails of support that came in from that group, as well as the blog comments here, have been a boost to my spirit the likes of which nobody else had matched.

2 years ago, I was diagnosed with depression. I could probably now be diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, but have not been yet. Doctors are sticking with the original diagnosis of depression, and the treatment IS working...it's just a matter of time.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

An Update.

I am still not doing all that great. But...it's getting better. Slowly.

I continued to have some low periods through yesterday, but things are a bit better today than they have been.

Thank you all for the support...the likes of which has left me somewhat amazed.

A quick 8AM post to inform all of my emotional state.

Just to let everyone know, as of this moment, I have reached my lowest emotional point in about 2 years. At this time, I ask for your prayers, support, whatever you can give and care to give me.

Decided to switch it up...

I decided to switch templates for a while. Just want to be different with this blog, than I am with the other blog...

Bad Weather Strikes...

...and I slept right through it!

We had severe thunderstorms impact metro Cincinnati around 6-7pm EDT last night. There was one tornado confirmed in Sunman, Indiana. What looks like a funnel cloud was spotted over Campbell County, Kentucky, and there's video of that featured on WLWT-TV 5's website.

But yours truly never saw any of this. I was asleep!

Now, it usually does not take much to wake me. My mom can wake me up by coming into the room. But, not tonight. I was out of it, and stayed out of it til about 8:00pm when I finally woke up, ate dinner...and I've been going ever since. I don't plan to go to bed until Monday night, so as not to throw myself into a 12pm-8pm sleep cycle...which isn't healthy.

I've been lacking on my signature lately...

Courage + Belief = Life

I was wrong.

Very, very wrong.

Last night, I stated that Suzanne and I might be closer than we had been before. I was wrong.

Not only are we not closer...but yesterday, she told me via TEXT MESSAGE that she didn't like me the same way I did her. Yes, you read right.

She felt the need to do this VIA TEXT MESSAGE! Not phone call, not a visit. And here's the kicker...she lives MAYBE 20 minutes from me!

Chris told me this, and yes, I'll gladly tell everyone else the same thing: Unless you do not live within a relatively easy driving distance (which I consider to be 3 hours or less), you have NO EXCUSE not to be next to the person when you have to break this kind of bad news.

Needless to say, it was a cold slap in my face.

I'll get through it.

Well...what a change in 18 hours!

Last night, I happened to drop this little hint in my blog:

"All I will say for now is, inconsiderateness when making plans with friends has GOT TO STOP."

Well, 18 hours later, I'm on air for my radio show. I'm about 2/3 of the way through it at that point. I get a text message. It's from Chris, aka Spoons of rants of a mad man as well as my writings and Observations of life through the eyes of spoons fame.

So, this text message was a surprise to me, in that I hadn't expected to be asked to do anything Saturday. But, Chris wanted to know if I was up to having a cookout, due to the nice temperatures we had going. (For anyone wondering, it was 76 degrees at 3PM EST yesterday in Florence, as most of Boone County also reached with maybe a couple exceptions.) Of course, yours truly LOVES to eat, so I said, "sure, let me finish my show, get ready, and I'll be out there." (Not in those exact words.)

Well, my computer did a crash job half an hour later, and when I couldn't get back online, I decided to bail, grab my shower, and split. Which is precisely what I did. I then made a 90 minute ride (yes, in case you're wondering, via wheelchair) to Boone Woods Park, located roughly 1 mile outside of the county's seat of Burlington, Kentucky.

After grilling hot dogs and hamburgers over a grill with charcoal, Emily, Chris, Brandon, Alicia, and a couple others all decided to head over to Chris' parents' house, in Oakbrook. (The same place which I got run into a ditch coming back from on Valentine's Day.) Suzanne joined us there, also but, due to work, she hadn't been at Boone Woods. (And dummy that I sometimes can be, I forgot the camera to get the picture I promised y'all!)

After a couple hours there, in which Chris had trouble lighting a fire in a fire pit, we all split up to head home. I won't talk about the incident that transpired as a few of us were leaving, except to say that I got scared out of my mind, to the point where yes, I did have two separate stress/anxiety attacks.

Oh and I will also say this: Because of said incident and the following stress attacks, me and Suzanne might be a little closer now, than we'd been even before.

OK I got a new favorite evening show :)

Many of you know about my Tri-State Media Watch blog (for those wondering, link below and at right). But, I'm allowed to have a personal favorite radio and TV show each, and I have a favorite radio show now :)

And no, it's not mine 1-3pm ET Tues/Thurs/Sat.

No, this one is hosted by the number 9 hottest female in all of US radio, Holly Morgan, at WKRQ-FM 101.9FM in Cincinnati, Monday-Friday 7pm-12 midnight. (They have a stream link on their homepage so you can check it out, too!)

WKRQ has always been my favorite Tri-State radio station, and Holly is one reason why. Somehow, twice in the last two days, she's managed to put a smile on my face, whether it was my call in to the station tonight to request "Ice, Ice Baby" (and the facebook wall post following the airplay of said request) or last night, when she visited my facebook page and left me a really nice post on my wall after I congratulated her on her ranking in that hottest females in radio poll.

Holly is one person who hasn't forgotten what makes her show so great...her fans! And to that, I say, thank you Holly, for being the most kick-ass radio host in Cincinnati.

A Note About Identity.

I have been keeping up with Cliff, of WIXY's Gone Bananas fame's blogs about identity. I struggled to figure out what I wanted to say on the issue. So, here it is.

Most people know me as Jeremy. It's my actual name. At first, my Blogger identity was the same as the name of my first Blogger Blog, Tri-State Media Watch.

But as time passed, and I decided to branch out to this blog, eventually I came to realize that I wanted people to know my real name. Thus, my profile actually mentions my real name. And not just my first name, but my REAL last name also.

But, there's a second identity problem I have to deal with, that very few people I blog with on here have had to deal with.

It's the identity of "that guy in the wheelchair". You have no clue whatsoever the number of times I've had people use that as a name for me. "Hey, you" is better than that! For the love of all things polite, I HAVE A NAME! USE IT! And if you don't know it, ASK ME! Do NOT associate my identity with an inanimate object...a TOOL I use to get around!

That is all. I'd blog about the other things going through my head, but, I refuse to be seen as anything but the positive person I am. All I will say for now is, inconsiderateness when making plans with friends has GOT TO STOP.

The Fall Is Complete...The Redneck Brothers are No More.

That's right. You're reading correctly.

Earlier tonight, the Redneck Brothers DJ team on M103 The Touch imploded.

The main reason for this is DJ K-I-D has decided he no longer wanted to be a part of the station, while I want to remain there. He wants to go on to a new place, while I am perfectly comfortable where I am. He chose, however, not only to leave, but to not tell me, nor anyone else associated with M103, that he was leaving.

Consequently, he is gone. And not only is he gone from the station, but by making this conscious choice to depart without letting me know why, he is out of my life as well, after five years of friendship.

To say I feel betrayed is an understatement, and possibly the biggest one of 2009.

I may not be on the air tomorrow, as I am currently dealing with the associated heartache from losing a best friend of five years.

Letting go...directed at one specific person.

Before anyone asks, NO this is not directed at any blogger friend. Nor is it directed at Suzanne (whose friendship/companionship I will gladly take on any terms that are given to me).

No, this is directed at someone named Dustin.

See, last night my church cancelled our Tuesday night college/singles bible study, due to the move to the new campus on Mount Zion Road. OK I can accept that. But it's been a routine to go to a Christian event on Tuesdays for so long, I felt no reason to give it up for even one week.

So, as I had been a member of the Northern Kentucky University Baptist Campus Ministry in 2005, I knew they had a Tuesday night event called "engage" (that's exactly how it is written). I knew this would be my outlet to be close to God on a Tuesday night.

Going into Tuesday, I knew exactly ONE person who I had any longer than 3 days history with. That was Dustin. He'd been there since 2005, when I was there. I knew nobody else that I'd met any more than 3 days prior.

I'm not sure whether he had a class to attend or work to go to at 6pm on Tuesday or not. If he did, then his departure soon after I arrived on campus is excusable.

If he did NOT, however, have any other pressing matter to attend to on Tuesday, and chose OF HIS OWN FREE WILL to leave and thus, leave me with people I DID NOT know or have any more than 3 days' history with, then that's not excusable.

I was always brought up to believe that it was kinda poor form to leave a friend with people that you haven't made an effort to try and introduce them to. Even at a church event, it's just not right.

And yet, Dustin did exactly that with me. Consequently, I was left to try and get to know between 60 and 90 people, in 4 hours, with NO one to be an intermediary. I don't even remember HALF of the people I met last night! So, I still know exactly one person I have more than three days' history with.

And (with apologies to Randy of The way I see it fame) that's the way I see it.

I'd love to know how YOU see this situation.

THAT was close!

I was supposed to head up to Northbrook, Ohio this morning to visit with my friend Mikey.

However, I am in pain from my back due to the cold temperatures, and am currently struggling to sit here.

I have just found out that this pain could potentially have saved my life...as I would have been at or near the scene of a shooting in the Over-The-Rhine section of Cincinnati at around 10:10am...here's the story from WKRC-TV 12 in Cincinnati.

Moving to Happier News Now

The picture above is one I took last night, just before I went out with a few friends from the Northern Kentucky area.

Why all dressed up, you may ask?

One of the people I went out with last night is named Suzanne. Unfortunately, I don't yet have a picture of her to share. I do, however, have recent pictures of other people to share.



The above is me and my friend Chris, aka Spoons on Blogger of Rants of a madman, Observations of life through the eyes of Spoons, and my writings fame.



And the above is Spoons' girlfriend/fiancee, Emily or Emi, also pictured with me. Both of those pictures were taken on Valentine's Day, the day that yes, I got forced to go ditch-diving by a speeding car that did not stop.

I went with these two, along with Emi's niece and nephew twins and Suzanne, to IHOP in Florence last night. After splitting off from Emi, Chris and the twins for the night, Suzanne and I ventured over to the local Starbucks, where we proceeded to spend the next 90 minutes talking about life.

Stay tuned...there may eventually be developments between myself and Suzanne. And yes, I PROMISE there WILL be a picture of Suzanne and I forthcoming, hopefully by next weekend!