So dang...

I am so dang happy.  I am so dang random.  I am so dang excited for this weekend.  I am so dang inspired.  I am just so dang motivated!  I am so dang Dev!n it's not even funny.

Enough about me!  What are you "so dang" about?

Music has really been driving me lately.  I wish I was making it, but listening can be just as good.  Anyway, several songs really got me going today.  On my way to work "Raise your Glass" by P!nk was on.  The chorus goes a little something like this:

 

So raise your glass if you are wrong
In all the right ways, all my underdogs
We will never be, never be anything but loud
And nitty gritty, dirty little freaks
Won't you come on and come on and
Raise your glass!

 

 

My mind started thinking as I was shouting lyrics out my sunroof.  I thought, 'Why don't we just celebrate life everyday?'.  There are so many reasons to be happy, so many reasons to rejoice.  Who cares if you aren't the best?  That is a GOOD thing.  You have something to live for...to work towards.  (I just sneezed on my laptop.  Yummy.)  Accept who you are and wave your glass in everyone's face!

 

This guy knows what's up!

 

 

The other song that really got me today was Jason Mraz's "I Won't Give Up".

 

 

I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up

 

 

I could post the whole song because it's so dang fantastic, but I shall resist.  Basically this tune was pure inspiration to me, like a shot to the soul.  Try looking at things in a different way...you don't need to think of the song as if it was meant for a lover.  Sing this song to yourself!  Try it.  While I was singing along I texted myself.  "I won't give up on us." Deep right?  I think everyone needs a conversation like that with themselves.  When the song ended I got my text message.  It really hit me and I believed it. 

 

Your turn.  Believe in you!  Prove it to yourself daily.  Look you in the eye, raise a glass and just celebrate who you are.  Trust in your decisions.  Be you completely and whole-heartedly. 

 

With love,

 

Dev!n

 





I've Been Everywhere, Man.

I've been meaning to write for the last coulple weeks, but life has just been too dang exciting.  Not sure if I have any witty comments left in me so this will probably be as dry as my 3 month old loaf of bread. 

January is almost over.  Wait what?  That was waaaay to fast.  At least I spent time with some awesome people.  Lets get right down in it!  So a friend invited me up to the University of Northern Iowa to see STOMP.  If you don't know what that is, take this moment to go here and read up: http://www.stomponline.com/index-us.php  Seriously.  Do it.

Needless to say, I was kind of excited.  By the time the trip rolled around I had to pick up two people.  One person in Southwest Iowa and one at Iowa State University.  By the time I got to UNI I had already put in about 5 or 6 hours.  Yaaaay driving!  My friend at UNI lives in an all-girl dormitory so I definately got quite a few strange looks walking around in my PJ's the first night.  I met some really neat people and got the chance to get to know my friends even better. 

I woke up the next morning to someone poking the hell out of my back.  I'M NOT A TYPEWRITER! ...or a pedofile for that matter.  I enjoy pronouncing pedofile like peeeedofile by the way. Anywho it was a very exciting day.  We ran all over Cedar Falls, visited the pet store, ate some wings at BWW, and took hilarious pictures.  I may or may not have birthed a child in one photo... These adventures included dancing competitions inside AND outside of cars.  Seriously.  I looked back and my friend was dancing in the middle of an intersection.  (I think she won.)

STOMP was that same night.  Coincidentally I did stomp during the show.  Definitely reccomend it to anyone that enjoys music.  Great stuff.  I even got a picture with some of the performers after the show!  The next day we were off to the University of Iowa.  Talk about a long trip.  After everyone was dropped off I had driven over 900 miles! Wouldn't have traded that trip for the world.  I feel so much closer to some of my old friends and even made some new ones. 

Well...thats it.  Why are you still reading?  My writing is awful yo.

Peace,

-Dev!n

Reflections

This post is entitled 'Reflections' for good reason.  The past year has been a long one and I would be lying if I said it wasn't a struggle.  It's time for me to look back one more time before it all gets put in the history books.  Just thinking about last year leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.  I experienced the highs and lows of my life in those 365 days.  There is really no other way to describe it than to jump right in so...off we go! 

Twenty twelve started off like a really good dream.  I'm not talking about ponies and buttercups here...this was a really really good dream.  I had everything: great friends, a loving family, and a girlfriend that any guy would be jealous of.  This was quite litterally, my life. 

Now this dream of mine hits a high point pretty early on...right around Valentine's day.  Everything is going my way.  School is rolling along pretty well, biology sucks, and I'm in love.  Wait did I just say that?  Go figure!  A teenager who thinks he is in love.  Crazy.  When I look back though, that really was the truth.  I had completely fallen for someone.  Don't confuse me for a starstruck teenager.  This definitely wasn't a 'make-out in public' relationship.  We were grown-ups!  We knew each other on a much deeper level.  Nothing could stop us right?  ...right?  I think there is an echo in here.  Echo!

So I set that up pretty good right?  You know the bad part is coming, but you have no idea when or how its going to happen.  Yay foreshadowing!  Lets put it like this.  I'm up high on cloud nine and I've somehow decided it would be fun to hop on this slide right next to me.  It is obviously going to take me to an equally fluffy and white cloud so I just get on and let it take me away.  The funny thing is...slides are one-way trips.  Good 'ole gravity and what not. 

I stayed on that slide for five months, watching all the pretty clouds float on by.  In reality it wasn't the clouds that were floating by, it was me spiraling downward.  I never liked those spiral slides.  Cheeky Bastards.  Anyway, this is where the dream goes sour.  Remember when I had it all?  Well, I took 'it all' for granted.  I thought I had somehow earned my happiness and nothing could take it away.  Nothing could be further from the truth. 

The day I got dumped was the day the slide ended.  You see, there was no fluffy cloud at the end.  Not even a ball pit.  Just open air.  I fell fast.  That feeling of falling has always woken me up from a bad dream, but not this time.  I was living in a true nightmare with a world that seemed suddenly against me.  Nothing on earth would be better than to wake up from this haunting reality. 

My twentieth birthday rolled right on by.  Summer was trickling away.  You couldn't have paid me enough to stop crying and moping around.  Sometimes money isn't the trick though.  When I hit bottom several things happened.  I recieved three phone calls in the span of a week.  The first was a close friend of mine, the second was my mother, and the third was my grandfather.  These people were quite litterally the angels that pulled me out of a bottomless pit.  Now usually I don't buy into magical fixes, but let me tell you, this was the stuff of legend.  I talked, I listened and I cried during all of it.  This is the first time I can ever remember crying with my mom.  See saw her son lying on the floor broken and started putting him back together before he even knew what was happening.  That day changed me.  The flaws are still there, but so are the good things. 

After I pulled myself back together, I did some thinking.  I analyzed everything that happened, that brought me down so far, and figured out that while I was at fault for some shortcomings, it wasn't all on me.  This isn't a blame game.  This is a time for learning.  An event that shook my world has actually made me stronger, wiser, and maybe, just maybe a better person. 

Friends and family are now the center of my world.  They truly are angels.  I have learned not to take those angels for granted.  Sometimes we need to show others what they truly mean to us.  Keeping to yourself is a slippery slide.  Believe me, you don't want to take the slide.  Remember to keep your loved ones, your angels, close.  They can take you higher than even the clouds in the sky. 

With love,

-Dev!n

Short and sweet!

This was one of those days you want to remember for a lifetime. Just like that time when you won Garth Brooks tickets or kissed in the rain. Plain 'ole good memories.

I stepped into a new world today...and I liked it. Reminds me of Katy Perry's one song...yeahh. So needless to say I got to spend time with great friends. It feels like I'm finally living in the moment again instead of observing everything from a distant window. That was deep.

The only bad thing about all this is that it keeps getting harder and harder to say goodbye. I LOVE my friends. I would go through hell and back for each one of them. How do you say goodbye to someone like that? Hmmm something to ponder.

Like the title says, I'm keeping it short and sweet. Not sure how sweet it was, but I have the short part down!

Peace,

-Dev!n

G'day Ladies & Sirs! Enjoy the free muffin.

Welcome! Where to start?  It has been several years since I've actively blogged.  When I say several...I mean more than 3 or 4...something like that.  Here goes nothing!

Worst intro ever.  Get used to it.  My full name is Devin William Lyons.  Not Lions, but it sounds the same! Rawr.  Most of the time I go by 'DevDev'.  It's a nice nickname.  Sounds youthful, fun and down-to-earth to me.  'Big D' just makes peoples' minds...well...wander.  Awkward.  Moving on!

There are some reasons behind me posting these glorious combinations of words, the largest of which is a need to speak my mind.  I don't think I have ever had a close enough friend to share everything with.  Part of that is just because I am who I am.  Definately not sure the word introverted comes close to illustrating me.  Basically this is an opportunity for myself to talk about everything on my pea-brain mind instead of holding it in.  (Maybe a few witty comments inbetween the lines.)

Again, welcome! I appreciate all of your time spent here. You rock! Here is a muffin for your troubles.

-Dev!n