Brother-isms.

Something I've said many times before (and fervently still regard as true) is that I could write an entire novel solely based on the crazy things my brothers say. This isn't a novel or anything close to one, but I figured I'd share the hilariousness and show everyone why they make my life so much better.

For those of you who don't know, I have two brothers, Josh (17 years old) and Adam (10 years old). That's just for the sake of putting these situations in perspective. Since neither of them have identities yielding public influence or black market value, I think we're all good.

Adam walks into my room.

A: "Time to eat."

Me: "Alright, I'll be down in a few minutes."

A: (stands there awkwardly)

Me: "What?"

A: (quietly) "Uhh...do you, uhm...know why mom hates Josh?"

Me: (laughing) "She doesn't hate Josh. She's just upset with him because he never listens to her."

A: "Oh well, he's dumb. She yells stuff to him like a million times."

Josh and I at the store.

J: "Hey Dave, you heard of that new Xbox game, Luh Nory? Looks pretty sweet."

Me: "No...can't say I have. What's it look like?"

J: (holds up case)

Me: "That's LA Noire. It's French."

J: "Looks like Luh Nory to me."

Adam talking to my mom about me leaving for Florida.

Mom: "So, David got accepted by the program. He's gonna be moving to Disney World!"

A: "Yeah. How long?"

Mom: "He's leaving in August and he'll be back mid-January."

A: (tearing up) "So, what you're telling me is that I'm losing my only brother?"

Mom: "We'll go see him! It's only for a few months. And your only brother? Josh, hello?"

A: (snapping back) "Duh, mom! My only brother in COLLEGE."

Josh and I at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC.

J: "That little house out there is probably for like servants and stuff."

Me: "It's still pretty big though."

J: "Yeah, everything here is."

Me: "It's probably like one of their bathrooms or something. That whole house."

J: (chuckles) "Yeah, it's like the house of dump."

Adam and I watching "Regular Show."

A: "Hey Dave, you and I should dress up as Mordecai and Rigby for Halloween because you're tall and I'm short."

Me: "That would be pretty awesome."

A: "Yeah, we could ride around in a golf cart and every time we got to a house say, "Candyyyy! Oooooohhhhhhhhh!"

(Bee tee dubbs, I got my apartment and check-in assignment for the program yesterday! 172 days and counting.)

Keep moving forward.

As most of you know, my family and I love Disney World and really just Disney in general.

But what most of you probably do NOT know is that, two weeks ago, I applied for the Disney College Program. To be completely honest, I didn't expect anything more than a confirmation email thanking me for my interest in the program, which did, in fact, arrive moments after I submitted my application.

Amazingly though, my application went through quickly and I received further correspondence less than an hour following the confirmation email. From there, I stuttered and stammered through two interviews and was informed that within a couple weeks they would reach a final verdict as to whether or not I would be accepted into the program. 

The momentum and excitement from the sheer thought of being accepted had me incredibly anxious, and what had originally seemed like it would be a short lapse of time became an agonizing waiting game. I scanned through various blogs (and vlogs) regarding the program, students who had waits of up to three months before hearing anything. Some were placed on a waitlist for months only to be rejected, and some even claimed to have never heard anything at all. Talk about psyching yourself out.

For the past several days, I've kept my phone and/or laptop fully charged and within arm's reach at all times, constantly checking my email. Despite being completely unproductive during that period of time, I did manage to achieve a few things:

- The Disney College Program dashboard rocketed into my top visited sites in Google Chrome. 

- I changed the settings on my iPhone to consistently check for email on a half-hour basis (In hindsight, probably not great on my data plan...). 

- And I pressed the F5 key on my keyboard so many times that it is no longer functional.

So, the moment you've all been waiting for... 

...okay, the moment that I've been waiting for and am going to rave about...

ACCEPTED BABY!

Just one week, exactly seven days (not months, hallelujah) after my second interview. Yes, yes, it was indeed a good day in the life of David. And in the end, we all lived happily ever after. 

I am so incredibly thrilled and humbled and honored by the whole situation. And slightly ticked that all those previous applicants forced me into a state of panic. Although, to the guy whose video introduction involved headbanging to the Mickey Mouse Club theme song...keep doing what you're doing, man. That's a level of magic that not many can achieve.

I tell this emotional rollercoaster triumph of a story to say, God is good. So very good. 

I could never stress enough how incredibly undeserving I am of the blessings in my life, but this...all this you read above, that's all Him. I could not have done anything, would not be where I am today without His grace and, more importantly, His love.

I plan to write a lot more in these months to come. I'll try to blog my journey from college student to Cast Member and hopefully provide a less scary take on the program. As Mick would say, see ya real soon!

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious, and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."

- Walt Disney

              

Know it all.

Be warned: rant ahead.

No turning back.

Seriously.

Okay, you asked for it.

I don't know everything about everything. To be honest, I don't know much about anything. This should come as no surprise. But there are a few things of which I am confidently and wholly sure of. One of these is that you should never make any statement, comment, and/or vaguely accusatory interjection about someone you do not know. Basically, it's bad to gossip and start rumors about someone.

And by someone, I mean me.

Facebook, much like Foosball, is of the devil, so naturally, that's where this drama is all spawning from. Initially, I decided to ignore it, but I've slowly felt more and more compelled to address it.

For Valentine's Day, I decided to purchase my beautiful girlfriend of 3 months a ring. She loves Amethyst (that's the purple one for you guys like me whose color knowledge of gems begins and ends with diamonds), so I got her a reasonable-sized, affordable ring, and surprised her with it. I'm precious. I know.

She loved it, I loved that she loved it, happy happy, yes? Yes...until it went on Facebook, the digital love child of gossip and drama.

Granted, several of my close friends and family said several happy, kindhearted things about it and made me smile. But rather unfortunately, this led to some vague but bold comments and messages suggesting, with a negative connotation, that I had proposed. Not to mention, there have been people blowing my phone and my mother's phone (Which, seriously? I'm not even gonna go there.) to give their two cents worth and/or expressing their offense to being excluded from this announcement.

Again, at first, I overlooked all this, but then, I thought about it, and it's really none of their business.

My life is, by all intents and purposes, my life. I care about what [a select group of] people think, yes. But before I make any decisions, ESPECIALLY one of that caliber, God's is and always will be the only opinion I care about. 

If you want to know something about me, ask. If I feel comfortable telling you whatever it is you want to know, I'll tell you. But don't, for the love of my sanity, start some left-field rumor in a public forum based on a few pictures and a hunch.

I may not know it all, but I do know that's just not right.
     

Afterglow.

The days seem to be getting shorter. I can practically feel the dark of the night bleeding in slowly, absorbing the sunlight until each ray has dissipated into an endless sea of navy. A cold and repetitive finale to each 24-hour period. Not only that, but the time itself seems to be moving faster. Noticeably faster.

My dad always used to warn me it would, and now, I know exactly what he meant.

Decisions are swarming in my head like angry bees, some immediate, some impending. I'm stressed beyond any measure I've ever been stressed before. Words cannot actually convey the weight on my shoulders right now, but surprisingly, I've retained that optimistic attitude I've been working on, and I'm handling it well.

To give credit where credit is due and to transition from my cold introduction into my sunny outlook, God has been carrying the majority of the burden, masking all the stuff in my life that should terrify me and force me into the fetal position with constant reminders of His love.

I am so incredibly blessed, so very thankful to be alive.

Read this. It'll do your heart some good:

"The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know Your name trust in You, for You, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you."


Psalms 9:9-10