This month has been a lot of things for me; filled with promise, opportunity, productivity, etc. And as the first month of the new year draws to a close, I take a look at things around me and can’t help but feel…conflicted?

Recently, the newspapers have been filled with disheartening events, and it’s not about the war overseas or stock markets or fuel prices. In the past week alone, I’ve found out that friends of friends/friends of the family have passed away; unfortunately, some rather tragically. I won’t go into details here, but needless to say, it’s had a sobering effect on me.

I’ve known death; through funeral announcements/obituaries of public figures and sometimes acquaintances and old teachers/mentors…and always I’ve felt the pang of regret. ‘I should have emailed him…’ or ‘I saw her just last month…’, things like that go through my mind, and yet… I distance myself emotionally from it, because yes, I fear death, knowing I have so much more to live for and dream of doing in my life…

I offer my prayers to those who pass away and sympathy for those who remain. And only hope that before my time comes, I have lived my life as best I could and left my loved ones with happy memories…

I’ll be tweaking the layout a bit, adding some elements, and hopefully have a successful self-made layout…so, things are gonna get ugly, really…might wanna come back after a few hours…

Edit: So, here it is…a mellow type of pink layout. Not too bad I guess…but now I’m already thinking of making another one!