Welcome to 2015!

Hello everyone it's me Christian! I know I haven't said much recently what with the holidays and all but now I figured it was time to check in. Since the last time I blogged a lot has changed at my home. For starters I'm moving to another room in the house, unfortunately it's due to the recent passing of my uncle. He passed away on Christmas morning, from complications related to a stroke and an infection in his heart. For the last year and a half he had been fighting cancer which at this point was in his bones. Doctors never thought he'd live as long as he did and for that we are grateful. In the end the infection is what killed him due his weakened immune system from all the cancer treatments. He passed away peacefully on Christmas morning.

Happy Birthday to Chatham's Train Station

On June 14th the Chatham Historical Society put together a bunch of events to celebrate the train stations centennial. One of the highlights was the railway museum inside the eastbound station. Comprised of 100 artifacts from the private collection of my father, it was well received by the public, committee officials, local politicians, and even the executive director of NJ Transit. Throughout the day we had people telling us how much they loved the little museum. Most were amazed to find out that this was only a small portion of my fathers collection. One aspect of this exhibit that made me proud was the fact that for the first time my father had an opportunity to show off items that he has collected over the last 40 years on a grand scale. The museum was his and everyone on the centennial committee couldn't stop thanking him. It was a long day for him, my girlfriend, and myself. By the time the day was over we were all exhausted but it was worth it to bring a little piece of railroad history to the citizens of Chatham. Below are some pictures highlighting the exhibit we set up that day.

Keeping busy having fun and loving it all

Well I told you I would write something else today and here it is. As many of you may have noticed I haven't posted since March. To be honest I haven't had motivation to do it recently. Between working at my new job and just being busy in general I haven't had time to write.

The Bell Award

The Bell Award on my desk.

Yesterday I talked about the first time I got recognized in school for something I had done. After looking around a little bit I was able to find the original speech that was given about me at the Bell Award ceremony. It's been a few years since I last read it and reading it again now made me smile so much. I have come a long way since my high school days but a lot of my underlying traits and personality were apparent even then. Enjoy reading about what I was like in high school according to my 10th grade English teacher:

Your life the book

I'm only 25, I haven't lived a full life yet but if a book was written about my life up to this point would I want to read it? Would I want to remember everything that has happened to me in the past? Every horrible day, every triumph, every failure? My quick answer would be no, why would I ever want to remember the past. It's the past no point in dwelling on it. It happened, you can't change it, why bother?

I've been asked about my past particularly my time in public school, I don't like talking about my life growing up and going to school. It wasn't the most perfect time in my life. I know we are lead to believe that school is great and everyone makes friends but that is a lie. I really don't have many great memories of school. I have blocked a lot of that time out in my mind. It happened, I went to school, I graduated, I left. Thats how I see going to school as a kid. Second grade to sophomore year of high school is mostly blanked out in my mind. It wasn't a perfect time in my life I was picked on a lot. I had a gym teacher in elementary school who started calling me Geisler and as such all the kids did. For the longest time a lot of kids didn't call me Christian. That always stung so much, not being called my own name.

It was right when I started sophomore year of high school that I finally started to love school. I had great classes, friends, and I was getting recognized for my work in school. It was a real confidence booster for me after years of being picked on. My english teacher at the time, nominated me for a bell award. It's a achievement award given to students who not only do well academically in a subject but also do more for the school and the classroom. I have to find the little blurb that was written about me it made me smile so much back then.

The last two years of high school were also much better then all my previous years of school combined. It was a nice time in my life, I was doing well in school, had a lot of good friends, and it was just overall a much better time then before. As senior year was coming to a close, we had the senior awards show, which as I saw it was a time to reward all the super smart kids and athletes. Not someone like me, a nobody. It was right near the end of the show, I was bored and tired of sitting there hearing about how all these people were better then me. I wasn't really paying attention to the teacher speaking at the time. They were talking about someone who had spent a lot of his own time working with the school during his lunch hour to fix computers. I didn't register till they said my name that it was an award for me and all my time working as a technology intern over the last three years. I was taken a back to say the least. For a few brief moments I was the center of attention it felt amazing.

When high school ended, I was glad to close that chapter of my life completely. It was the best time I had in public school but I wouldn't want to relieve it all again. I feel like anyone who wanted to read my life story would feel the sadness and pain I did on a regular basses. It wasn't great but it was a part of my life, its a part of my story. Those chapters are the foundation of my life now and my future.

It all comes back to, would I ever want to read my life story? Maybe one day when I'm old and grey I will. Just to see how far I have come as man and to see how much my life has changed for the better. Other then that time, I'd rather burn that book then read it.