My last day while being twenty-something.

I woke up this morning and headed to Pullman. Starting my last day of being in my twenties. I got to Pullman and parked in the parking garage. I headed to Todd hall. I went to the professor's office. He was not in, but there was a copy of the review for the test. I started to work on the review in one of the study areas in Todd hall.

At about nine fifteen the professor showed up and I was able to take my test. It took me about one hour and fifteen minutes to do it. There were a few things I was not prepared for. So, I know I did not do all that well on it. I then headed back to Colfax where I met up with Greg at the fire station. We were going to Spokane to take the fire department test.

When we got up there we met up with Jim at the Onion for lunch. The Onion happens to be two blocks from where we were taking the test. The waiter was a young guy. Blonde hair and blue eyes. His hair had that purposely messy look to it. Every now and again I would hear the ever so familiar twang in his voice. He would throw off the slight OGT. I had a suspicion. He seemed interested in Greg. He was staring over our way a lot. I would look over to where he was and it seemed like he was totally staring our way. When we got our bill I paid mine, gave a tip and wrote at the bottom "keep it in the family". I figured if he was gay that he would know what I was saying, if not he would either be confused as hell, or would still know what I meant and be pissed that I would say that.

We then walked to the convention center. We were waiting outside. Tim showed up, then Matt came by. We all hung out until they started to seat people. There was a huge room full of tables. Hundreds of tables. I was one of the first to finish my test. I went through it pretty quick.

I went outside and waited for Greg. While waiting for him Mirenda who was waiting for Chuck came in and we talked for a while. Then Matt came out. Followed by Jason, then Chuck, and finally Greg.

Greg and I headed back to Colfax. I dropped him off at the fire station and continued to my house. I got changed and headed to Pullman since I was on call. At this point there were only six more hours of being in my twenties. I went to the station and we headed down to station one for cascade system training. That was a brief training. I watched TV and worked on my computer a little bit at the station. I watched SouthPark down there and then headed to my office.

When I was there Meredith and I chatted online for a while. She asked if she could bring her new boyfriend and Nick along. i said that would be just fine. We chatted until about eleven thirty. Only thirty minutes of me being a twenty-something. I was thinking about going to bed, but I decided to stay up and wait out my twenties. Soon it turned midnight. There settled it. I am no longer a twenty year old. I am now the big three-oh.

I headed off to bed.

===written early today===
As I write this I am in the waning hours of my twenties. I am only a short period of time away from being the big three-oh. It will be strange for me to never again tell anyone that I am twenty-something years old. I guess it was bound to happen, but many times as a youngen I would want the time to fly by so I could be older, now I would be happy for it to slow down so I am not older. I have many friends in their twenties. Most of them in the early to mid-twenties. So being in the late twenties, I was always was older than the others. But being around them I never viewed myself as being "old". But it is hard to get around it when you are thirty.

I suppose I can make friends with a bunch of forty year old people. That would make me seem younger. I would feel younger too.

What is interesting now that I am thirty does that mean I need to be in bed by midnight now and no more all night drinking. I surely hope not. Because that would be no fun.

My twenties have been an interesting time in my life. I have seem my later years of college. I have been able to go to bars. I went through training to be a county deputy. Graduated from the academy only to miss the run by fifteen seconds. So, I went to work in the jail Which in of itself changed my life. It became a career for a while. I worked there full time and part time. I went to the corrections officer academy. I saw myself get really big into softball. I worked for a computer company and moved to California. I because a fire fighter. I bought a truck and a house. I got a dog and a cat. I came out to myself. I came out to my friends. I came out in the school newspaper so then my co-workers knew. The only ones who don't know are those at Colfax and those at the county. I have seen friends come and go. I have seen a lot of things happen to me and for me.

I got a Corvette then a few years later traded it for a boat. I because really good friends with a gay guy, something I would never have done ten years ago. My life perspective has changed but still is very much the same. I became a college graduate. I chose to leave Renton and live in Whitman County.

If you would have asked me when I was nineteen if I would be a fire fighter, a jailer, a gay man, a East-sider. I probably would have said no to all of it. I am finishing up another ten years of my life and I think I have more to do, more to accomplish, but I am proud of what I have done so far.