What a fucking shitty time

The recent time has been really shitty. My brother Donald was killed in Afghanistan in June. Needless to say, a much needed vacation to Portugal was only a way to take my mind slightly off of the problem at hand.

Photos in Portugal

The place I'm in...

Up until now, my blog has mainly been a way for me to talk about the stupid shit that was going on in my life. Most of it extremely irrelivant, but on June 6th that all changed. My brother, Cpl. Donald M. Marler, was killed in Afghanistan while fighting there as a Marine.

I don't know what to say or to do.

A finished painting

I've finised only one painting in 2008 and need to begin shortly on a few new ones for 2010.

A good painting

"De tiranie der stralen helmen"
@Booijman van Beuningen in rdam

Quiting again

This quitting smoking bullshit is not fun. I quit smoking a few years ago, and the started again in October.

Now I haven't smoked in about 20 days and I am still going nuts. It's not pleasant.

So much has happened

I feel like so much has happened the past few months. I've been busy teaching which is tough and not too rewarding and I have been busy with my personal life. I started smoking towards the end of 2009 and have recently quit.

Already this year seems quite shitty to me. Not like the last few years have been bad. Actually I've had quite a good few years. But still!

LaKeidra Kemp, an old friend from Mid-Mo, died on the 27th of December. One of the fathers of one of my students died a few days ago on the 5th of January, and once again I find my self in one of those morbid moods.

Overall I hope that MMX (2010) will be a good year. I hope that we fix global warming and restore some sense of peace. Personally I will be working on restoring some sense of self-dignity!