Its Been A While (New Blog Vision / Life Update)

Wow so lets see, its been exactly 83 days since my last blog post about me moving into my first house in Florida, plans for starting my own podcast and my over all 2017 goal for the year of well ending the year on more positives then negatives. So before I get into what I have been up to or any new epiphanies I may have had over this gap of 83 days, im going to quickly provide a little update on a few items.

*Note: I divided this post into different sections, so you can skip around and read what may be more interesting to You! The Reader!

Continuation of Previous Blog:

So first off, my original plan of doing blogs every other week or so was a bit optimistic and I realize that really shouldn't put a time frame on this because its really just a tool for self healing, a barometer as far as am I moving in a positive direction to ensure I am meeting my goals and making my dreams a reality and also to leave little footnotes behind of my life so that I can revisit these in the future one day hopefully and see how far I have come and correctly capture my memories, beliefs and feelings of this current time in my life. Although it could also end up being a well written documentary of my life if I end up dieing in some freak dog sledding accident lol, hopefully not though. In general, im going to aim for maybe 1 blog a month or 1 blog every 2 to 3 months, but like I just said above it doesn't matter if its more or less really.

Now that I got that out of the way, so there was this idea of mine to make my own podcast called the Curiosity Podcast, which I mentioned in my previous blog. Well I haven't really made much progress at all on this idea, sad to say. Why I still think its an awesome idea, I just really haven't devoted the proper amount of time to get this going as I got sucked into so many other activities. Will I ever get back to this you ask? Good question! Potentially, I mean I did create the channel for it on YouTube and guest are always easy to come by, but idk really, I actually may end up doing something similar, but different on YouTube instead with a friend of mine named Cameron Roth who is also interested in doing some fun things on YouTube. Details on this will come in time, but I mainly want to talk from now on about my life and whats been going on over the last 83 days ;)

Life Summary (83 Days):

God so where to begin...hymmm, well for starters im a Disney World Pass-holder! This was one of the prospects I was really excited about when moving to Florida and always wanted to do, and now that I have become more stable and understand how to manage my income and expenses I can do what everyone wants to do in life, which is to have some damn fun! Although, while going to Disney is awesome, this isnt exactly how my dreams come true (pun intended!), its more of just a fun option to get my nerd on, but in reality I desire a lot more out of life. You see, when everyone starts to come of age, whether they realize it or not, they know exactly what makes them happy, what fills their lungs with air and brings meaning, purpose, healing and beauty into their lives. Its the very ideas, places and concepts that you dream of and the things you would be naturally doing if you didn't have to spend more of your days working and/or going to school. For me this is my uncontrollable passion for Adventure, Travel, Hiking, my Religion, my Family and friends, being a Geek, Nature / Wildlife, Aviation, taking on a Challenge and Helping Others! Im kind of getting sidetracked here, but as you may see on 1 million pins on pinterest, I believe that it really is your passions in life that are connected to your destiny. So if you understand what makes you tik, then you understand your true calling in life, you understand how to live your life and you now have a path to walk on that will inevitably make you happy and give you purpose.

So David, why did you get all sidetracked? What does this have to do with the 83 days?? You still haven't told us anything about what you been up to??? Well, you're only partially right there my friend :) In the last 83 days I was able to do some soul searching, understand what I really want to accomplish in life and also enact for the first time on some of the biggest life goals of mine. I can say now that I actually started living and I validated my theories and questions as to what can I do to live a happy life! Yes I work for an amazing aerospace company and im lucky to be doing work that is connected to something that I am passionate about, but even work ends up being work after a while, but traveling the world is one of my biggest dreams, one of my biggest goals and ultimately is one of the things that makes life worth living for me!

All this talk of soul searching, goals and dreams...what are you a hippy, can you just get to the point! Geese take an easy will ya, ok fine ill just jump to the biggest thing I did in the past 2 months or so. Thanks to having saved some money with the goal out of college to begin a traveling career in both the U.S. and abroad, I was able to both secure enough money and time to go and take a trip to one of my dream destinations in the U.S. in Colorado! It was so worth every penny and truly affirmed my unending passion for Adventure, Travel and Hiking! I ended up going with my cousin Anthony because he was the only one crazy enough to go on an adventure with me, but originally I planned on it being a solo adventure, but the more the merrier you know :) Going to Colorado was mind bending, in its beauty and as a growth tool for me. It proved to me that for one, there are places on this planet where magic still exist, where animals flourish, where there are mountains so tall and majestic that they leave you breathless and numinous (literally it was hard to catch my breath at times when up around 15k feet lol). In addition, it showed me that I am capable of being self-reliant, that I can plan a trip from start to finish by myself and it wont end up being a super cluster****, and more importantly that I can travel safely while doing some inherently unsafe activities! The unsafe part though really never scared me, because in my mind, I would rather die living the life I dreamed about, then die at home dreaming of the life I want to live. I have this insane wanderlust and there is NO WAY im gonna let a fear of heights, fear of bears, a fear of being alone or a fear of the unknown keep me from making my dreams a reality. (Look at the Pictures Below)

Other than going to Colorado, did you do anything else in the past 2ish months? Well ya no shit silly! I made a lot of progress in my self-development; I think its finally safe to say that im no longer a full blown introvert and I have finally evolved to the next evolution...Ambivert! Ambivert for those who dont know is basically a mixer or balance between being introverted and extroverted. Although obviously and naturally I will still lie more in the introverted side, I am definitely a better mix of the two spectrums now :) This is fantastic because for one, it will help me with my professional development at work / career goals and also helps me be better able to help people and meet people in life. I have been able to make a lot more friends, because of my personality overhaul, obtain a lot more confidence in myself and break away from holding myself back when opportunities arrive. I used to be so scared to be myself at times and follow through in certain situations and now its all a lot less scary for me, but I still get butterflies from time to time, still lots of self improving yet to do. Im forever and always a #WorkInProgress, but better to be a work in progress then in regression or in a neutral state I say!

So Whats Next?

Obviously I am going to continue my pursuit to see the world and continue to follow my passions! I have a family trip here coming up soon, where my parents, my brother, my cousins Suzy, Anthony and potentially some others, and then there's "Me and My Dog Blue" (Yes this is a Blue's Clues pun!) will be driving up to the great Smokey Mountains of Tennessee! This will be my first time in Tennessee which is so damn exciting to me, two places I have never been in a single year!!! Cant wait to scratch out Tennessee and add a green pin to my world map (Look at the Picture Below)! In addition, to continue with my travel theme that I have here, my cousins in Tampa and some of their family might be planning a trip to Iceland and said if they do it, that I am more then welcome to join then, so I will most definitely be looking to join them if its possible and it actually happens later this year, as that would be insanely fantastic and my first time to that region of the world / outside of North America!!! Lastly, my friend Cameron and my cousins Matt and Anthony have all tentatively agreed to start saving up for a trip to Japan or even Europe next year and I know for a fact that if they decide not to go, I will definitely be going solo as this is already a goal of mine for 2018 so you can count on it, bar from me getting hit by a car and losing my arms and legs; even that wont stop me!

As for non-traveling ventures for this year, I want to continue to do 5Ks all around Florida, hopefully sometime soon here FINALLY get into Disney's new Pandora/Avatar world (always super damn crowed its crazy!!!!!), hit up a bunch of different Florida springs that look beautiful to me based on videos and pics online, go to Key West, go deep sea fishing, oh that reminds me; my company has this group that goes scuba diving (sort of independent of company but most of the members work at NG) and I really do want to give this a go! I have always had a unhealthy fear of sharks and being stuck in the ocean, but I am willing to take the risk to see and experience a world that not many people do (The Seaweed is always Greener...Unda Da Sea!!! - The Little Mermaid reference lol)! I mean under the water everything is so very different, so much unique, alien beauty to be found, all kinds of wildlife and cool things to explore like sunken ships, etc. This is definitely a bucket list item and a good way to face another fear of mine!

Bonus: Relationship Status

 Idk why I am even adding this, maybe because I keep getting asked the question or questions related to, "are you seeing anyone?", "do you date?", etc etc... Honestly, I have been all over the place in this department and im sick of it all. Ya I dated others after my breakup earlier this year and well idk, my whole philosophy on dating has changed. I no longer care about putting all this time and effort into looking for "THE ONE", its just more stressful and depressing the more I put my energy into this; im just so done with online dating and all the dating apps etc. I once thought I met the one and that ended up leaving a black whole in my heart that took sooooooooooooooooooooooo long just to repair and get back into a regular, healthy state where I can be myself again and be happy; fun fact im still not entirely better and idk that I ever will be with respect to this... As far as I am concerned now, there are so many ways to live a happy and fulfilling life and still be single, I should focus on things I can control that I know will bring joy into my life like everything I listed earlier; basically focus on reaching my goals in life. Its also my hope though, that I will eventually meet the girl of my dreams one day while doing the very things that I love, so basically one of the uncontrollable passions I listed out in the first paragraph of my Life Summary section...or thats the hope anyway. Dont get me wrong, I want to meet someone, hell I feel I was handcrafted by God to give so much love, why else do I have this freakishly huge heart, it cant be just to experience enormous amounts of heartbreak. I know that loving and helping another is connected to my purpose in life, because of this very fact that I have a big heart! Also, one of my biggest goals in life as most everyone else is to have a family of my own, but idk, I wrote about this because maybe my views on this topic will change in the near future, so I would like to see how I evolve and grow in this category as well.

Pictures:

*Note: I would have a pin on every country but I ran out of red pins!!!!

*DJ Color Key:

Red - Places I NEED to Go!

Blue- Places I Needed to Go and Went to!

Green - Other locations I have been!

Yellow - Places I have lived in or live in!

Colorado Adventure Images:

*Note: Can find videos on Instagram and Facebook

One Small Step (Life Blog)

Hey everyone...and of course my future self! Todays blog is going to be a more traditional lifestyle type blog, in that im going to talk about my current situation / state of affairs and my mindset.

So as of 04/21/17, I David J. Irizarry became a proud first time home buyer in the state of Florida. Its been a super challenging, frustrating and exhausting process from start to finish, but it was definitely well worth all the added stress as I am absolutely excited and just couldn't be any happier with the house and my current situation! 

To think, im only 23 years of age and I have now successfully applied a house on top of my student loan debt and added it to my name....Yayyy MEEE, lol!! In all seriousness though, I am really loving the upgrade from my old apartment in The Three Fountains of Viera, Viera FL (Melbourne FL) to where I am today. Its a big step for me and I got a tremendous amount of learning and troubleshooting to do as a first time buyer. Its going to be quite the challenge, but overall I feel like its a real positive position I put myself in...one small step towards my bigger goals and aspirations in life!

2017 has been full of ups and downs for me thus far...definitely more then enough downs then I care for...but I am determined to end this year on a good note for myself, and this house is one small step in that direction. From losing my first real girlfriend who I truly cared for in life, to losing my cousin / little brother in Christian in death; I was really wondering what else could go wrong in 2017... But with the addition of Blue, my families constant support, making a bunch of new friends and now adding a house to my life resume, things are starting to look up, not to mention the growth and strides I am making at my company, which is always a plus ;) Sometimes you just got to take the bad with the good and make the most of it.

It sure is a good thing I am so positive and rugged, because I know that trouble is just around the corner waiting to screw with me some more, but that wont stop me. Im way too determined to finish the year on a strong note and to reach my greater goals! Not to mention Gods got my back as well so, I got nothing to fear :) 

On another note, I cant say exactly what it is thats compelled me to be so vocal, outgoing or less introverted (its definitely a combination of factors), but I am planning on starting my own video podcast via my YouTube channel. I have always wanted to do something like this, but never felt like I had the courage to upload videos of myself in that manner....,but Im Over That lol! Im planning on having a bunch of my family and friends on for each podcast discussing all kinds of topics. I think its a great idea from the standpoint that it will help me completely break away from the fears of my past, keep me intellectually challenged and intrigued, as ill be able to hear people of various personalities and perspectives, discuss issues / topics that are near and dear to their hearts or have something to do with their professions or passions. I plan on each podcast being around 15 to 30 minutes but I have to feel it out and see what works best, also im going to try and do a podcast every week, but since its hard to be consistent when you rely on others, the physical day I upload my videos my vary. My hope is I have a video on either Tuesday, Friday or Saturday each week, so lets see how that plays out.

Anyway, as always thanks for reading and feel free to check out the pictures and video in the link below as its a video of me making a MTV Cribs style video of my house ;)

Video: Dj's First House (MTV Crib Style)

My YouTube Channel

Curious Podcast (My Future Podcast Channel!)

This Is Christian… (Eulogy 07/9/1997 - 03/30/2017)

Let me first off start by saying that, I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I would have to write something like this for someone I loved that was younger than me… I wasn’t even sure what to say or how long and detailed I should make this as there is no way in my mind that I could ever summarize the life of someone so dear to me in a couple of pages…

So I figured I start with a little background on my relationship with Christian, some of the memories I have with him and my perspective of who he was as a person.

To do that though, I have to tell you all a little bit about myself to kind of set a tone. I know most of you here are family, but for those who don’t know, my name is David Joseph Irizarry (although Christian knew me as DJ). I was an only child for 11 years of my life, I was terribly dreadfully shy, quiet and reserved as a child and was just god awful at making friends. So family…well my cousins in particular ended up filling that need in my life. When I was younger I was lucky enough to live right next door to my cousins in Anthony and Christian. They always came over to play, whether it was with toys, video games, hiking in the backyard or just playing hide n seek inside the house. So many good times I had with them and in particular (just so you know I love you death Anthony) but Christian would always want to stay over and spend time with me the most. Christian ended up being one of if not the closest cousin I had, he was more than a cousin to me, he was my best friend for most of my life growing up and my partner in crime, as we would get in trouble together quite often.

I have so many memories with Christian and there constantly flowing through my mind… I remember times when we were playing as teammates on a game called Halo together against some older cousins of mine from my Dads side of the family. They were always kicking my ass and were genuinely better then Christian and I (which is to be expected as they are older than both of us), but the more we played together the better we got and soon we started kicking their asses and making every game competitive and it was the greatest feeling, especially since both Christian and I hated to lose. I have memories of Christian when we would go to theme parks like Disney or Universal… He truly had an amazing and unique personality and I always loved having him around. He was always so funny and always gave me a reason to smile or laugh, it was just something natural for him. He was such a clown at times… he would always make some of the stupidest jokes and had no problem laughing at himself if it could get you to laugh and smile. I have memories with Christian as child, when I was pretending to be a movie director…we used to make all kinds of impersonation clips and short films with my mother’s video camera. I remember one time when we were trying to reenact a scene from Napoleon Dynamite in which Christian was saying some lines from Pedro (a character in the movie) that go like this “ I don’t like think I can do it” and then I was supposed to…like in the movie slap him and tell him he can or something like, but really I was only supposed to graze his face or fake slap him… but I completely slapped him pretty good, like he totally absorbed that entirely. I was really hoping he wouldn’t lean into it so much, but no Christian was always a good sport...and I let him slap me back to, so its ok!

I also have memories that were not so happy, that I wish I could go back to and maybe change something… Christian and me were very close and we also dealt with many of the same issues and struggles. I remember him telling me one time that he was so sad and depressed because he had such a hard time making friends, that people would bully and make fun of him for being overweight and that he just felt so alone and that nobody could really understand him. These being things that I myself struggled with and felt, really allowed me to bond with Christian and I told him how special he was to me, how much I loved him and his family loved him, how it doesn’t matter if the world doesn’t see his value or give him a chance to see just how funny and great a person he was, because the only opinion that matters is what God thinks of you. I always felt that I had to be a role model to my younger cousins and to people in general or more like an example of what you can do if you work hard, ignore all the noise of life, trust in God and believe in yourself, even when you feel like nobody else does. 

Seeing Christian struggle with these same issues of loneliness and a lack of self-worth, was one of the major driving forces in my life that compelled me to struggle through high school and eventually college to become an Aerospace Engineer. I remember Christian being there on the day I first went to Penn State to talk with a guidance counselor about my major…he told me, based on your High School performance in Math and your SAT scores, you might want to think about another major, I don’t know if Aerospace Engineering is right for you…and he went on trying to convince me that some other career is the career I wanted to be. I remember feeling devastated inside, talking to my parents and Christian about what he said and how I still wanted to be an Aerospace Engineer despite it all and I remember Christian telling me that “I should go for it and screw that guy, prove him wrong, if that’s what you want to be”. Christian even though he was states away from me, would always text me every other week or every few weeks asking how I was doing in College, always trying to cheer me up and cheer me on when I was depressed and stressed out of my mind. He was always there to support me and congratulate me on every accomplishment I made. The fact that we grew up and life separated us, never stopped him.

He was such a kind-hearted kid, who just wanted to be excepted for who he was. He had a beautiful soul and personality… and this imperfect cruel world took advantage of him. To me, Christians life, however short, can teach us so many things. He was never perfect, but at the end of the day we are all human and will never be perfect, but like Christian, we all struggle with different internal difficulties and challenges… we all long for acceptance, friendship and love… and like Christian we should all love God with all our hearts, we should all be accepting of others, cherish family and be open and honest with each other so that nobody has to ever endure loneliness and grief in silence; it can be as easy as just making someone laugh and smile. I feel like we all as a collective whole failed Christian in life and that we all could have done a little more, especially me. But I know for a fact that Christian would absolutely never want his death to result in distrust, hurt or disorder… he would want us all to become closer and have a positive impact on ourselves and others.

I lost more than just a cousin…I lost my best friend, my wing-man, a little brother…one of the few people who would actually take the time to hear me out and seek me out. This world just became a lot lonelier for me, but I promise Christian that I’ll never give up and ill continue to make you proud in everything that I do. That ill always be supportive and helpful to others, that ill do my best to open up and be more interconnected with the rest of the family, because I know you loved family. And I promise you Christian that ill never forget you, and you will always live on in my actions and my memories… and If I am ever lucky enough to have children, in particular a son one day, he will be named Christian after you and he will know all about you!

You always had to be first, and it looks like you finally were able to beat me at something other than basketball... It comforts me to know you’re in peace though, and I can’t wait to talk to you again one day and tell you all my crazy stories. But until then im going miss you… I know you loved me and you know I love you…God Bless

Video of Eulogy: https://youtu.be/xowGfRPqKq8

An 8,395 Day Perspective

I’ve been better and I’ve been worse in the last few months of this new year

I have loved a beautiful girl

I’ve had experiences and felt emotions that I thought I would never experience

I’m a lucky person for it, even though it’s now becoming a fleeting memory

It seems like the old saying is true after all, you end up getting what you need in each moment, not necessarily what you want…

You know, the idea of blogging is new to me, but I’ve been practicing the concept forever

I’ve been alive now for approximately +/- 8,395 days on mother Earth

For those that stink at math, that implies I’m around 23 years old currently (24 in July of this year)

I won’t imply that I’m some kind of sage or wise monk, but I have learned plenty in such short time and continue to learn new things daily

One trend I’m starting to pick up on is that, society’s best tool for teaching life lessons is hardship and struggle

As hardship and struggle are core pillars of my very being and continue to be one of the few things that’s consistent in life

Sometimes though this isn’t always a bad thing, as we as people need to be broken down from time to time, to be reminded that the best things in life we have to work hard to obtain and to keep, because we live in an unforgiving world, an imperfect world and in general, a world defined by struggle

Its only when we are at the brink, that we truly realize and accept our faults and become willing to change and evolve as people

It is because of this universal constant that is struggle, that I have learned to try and focus my energy on positivity rather than negativity

In other words, never beat yourself up too much when things go wrong, the world we live in is going to do a good enough job of that

Instead, take the time to understand your mistakes, do your best to mend your wrongs and take care to not repeat bad practices

You can’t control or stop everything from going awry, but you can choose how you will let these negative moments affect you and you can also prevent lots of additional unneeded grief

Being a shy, reserved and quiet child for most of my life has made me into a pretty observant person

You can learn a lot about people, life and yourself if you would every now and then just stop, listen and take in all that goes on around you

I’m not one who wishes he could go back and change things, as that’s totally fictional and is a waste of my energy, but I do wish I could have told myself the following:

Don’t be afraid of what you don’t know or the road less traveled

Don’t go through the motions wondering what if…what if I had given everything

Find a reason to smile and be happy, as that should be a basic daily goal for everyone no matter your situation

Even if you have to tell yourself the worse jokes, make fun of yourself, watch a funny movie, read a good book, unintentionally bash your funny bone into a wall, look back at pictures from your past and realize just how much of a confused, misguided geek you were, or listen to your favorite positive music every morning on the way to work/school and/or when your relaxing in bed after a long day

Put more effort into understanding your weaknesses, as Its in your weakness where you will find who you really are and what you’re really made of

So instead of covering them up, embrace them, work on them and invest in yourself, you’ll be better for it

Additionally, the more social I become, the more I start to realize that Im not so different from everyone else like I thought I was

We all have internal battles and issues that we have been struggling with since our first breaths on the Earth

We all seem to have this artificial fear of being our true selves in public, the feeling like we need to hide who we are to impress others or to fit in

We all want to be loved, wanted, admired and valuable in someone else’s eyes

We all want and need social interaction, it doesn’t matter how shy or introverted you are…trust me I know

We all want to explore and be adventurous, it’s the natural instincts of our ancestral past free flowing through our minds…a longing for self-discovery, free roaming exploration and admiration of this beautiful planet that we live on

Lastly, every now and then, when you start to feel lost and defeated, zoom out above the clouds and take a thirty-thousand-foot view of things and realize that there is so much more to life than the pain and suffering you currently might be going through

It’s going to always be hard to stay positive, when there are so many things trying to drag you down, but one thing I know for sure is that, up to this point…life’s been pretty good to me.

I KNOW MY WORTH:

I know my worth… 

I am a young, caring, loving, thoughtful, devoted, passionate person and I'm willing to sacrifice everything for something I care about. I'm determined, responsible, and accept responsibility when I make mistakes.

I know my worth…

I am an Aerospace Engineer, the first engineer in my family. I have overcome so many challenges and obstacles, I am a survivor, I preserver, I am strong and courageous and willing to take a chance, to take a risk. I am not afraid of the odds and I don’t like to listen when people tell me that there is something I can’t do. I know what I want from life and I won’t except nothing less.

I know my worth…

I am a devoted Christian. I take care of my body and will always stay true to my beliefs, values and who I ultimately want to be. I will always give back to my community, will always help those who can’t help themselves and I will sacrifice my time, energy, money and if need be my life for others if I can help them avoid the pain and suffering that I endured and lived with and continue to live with, but also those who experience pain and suffering, the likes of which I have never and may never experience.

I know my worth…

I make mistakes like everyone else, but I choose to always look for the light in the darkest of times. I am one who believes in miracles not luck, that everything happens for a reason and that no matter how bad things get, there is always a reason to look forward, stay positive, to live, to be kind and help others, to smile, to have an open heart and an open mind and always have hope, that things can and will get better.

By David J. Irizarry

My Creed || My Story || My Promise

I really want to change the world, but I know revival has to start with me…

I David J. Irizarry as of 1/26/17 will think rationally and will get back to self-improvement rather than self-pity. I will be patient, kind, forgiving, strong and true to myself. I will live and breathe my faith. I will not pretend to be someone I’m not, but I will try to be the very best version of me. I will finish what I start before moving to something new, because I don’t run from my problems, I embrace them and meet them head on.

I will be the role model that I want others to view me as. Just because I am young doesn’t mean I can’t inspire and be the very best of society. I know that there is no easy way to success, no straight path and that through adversity and hardship, I will only get stronger. For every time I get knocked down, every time I have my heart broken, every time I feel alone, lost or hopeless, that it’s just another opportunity to improve myself, learn and grow; my journey of self-improvement, all part of being the best me I can possibly be, because just like you have to tear muscle to get stronger, you have to go through pain and suffering to get stronger. I also, know that I am never truly alone, I have God with me, my family, Blue and my hopes and dreams for the future. I will not feed into my destruction, but into my destiny, for God has a plan for me, and I know that even though it might not be what I want in that moment in time, that there is something bigger and brighter yet to come and it’s all part of my life story and Gods plan.

I know that nothing is impossible with hard work, confidence, determination and faith in both myself and God. I don’t need a miracle, I just need to remain focused and on the path I choose to walk. I know I will fall, stumble, stray and hurt myself walking this path, it’s not an easy path I chose, but it’s the hard path that is always the most rewarding and God, my family and my fiery inner being/essence that is David J. Irizarry (DJ) will always be there to help me get back up and I will not stop until I am either dead or I fall off the planet! If I can leave one thing behind, I want it to be the message that nothing is impossible and that life truly is what you make of it, that’s what I want my life story to be about and what I leave behind for all those after me.

Sincerely,

Myself (David J. Irizarry)