Whats the current song of your life???

[Drew Mendez WTR]

So there's the title, I like getting to know people, so I know who to ask for advice or suggestions. Before I get to that.

What started out as a joint hobby between my wife and I, has turned into more one sided, I have learned to let my wife pick things out and agree so we can buy them. lol I've tried incorporating her into the tank maintenance but its more or less that I'm micro managing her (I hate that). I'm envious of Chad & Belinda they have a great and comical relationship in regards to their hobby. My wife and I don't share that as much as I would like. Yet

She has realized the overall amount of money I spend, new friends that I have, and increased happiness because of ARC. She is seeing the connections that are being made (you know who you are) and new found friends (Subsea biggest shout out and hydro) Your advice and suggestions are always thought provoking and I appreciate them being shared with me. I do listen, complain but listen

Thank you Austin Reef Club, you've done so much without doing anything at all

I'm not from this area and still new, I don't have very many "friends" here

My wife is looking for couple friends currently, and I think this would be a great place for it

We're going through some changes in our lives right now with rent and living

My wife and I have been married 3 years now and together 5, I figure if she hasn't left me yet shes prob not going to. Thats why I think we're ready to buy a house, I don't want to fill up the extra rooms though. lol

We're going through a rough time financially but I always come up with money for fish stuff. Its true its my escape from the world. I don't smoke and drink occasionally, I did get hooked on lottery for awhile but just bc of its false hope. I admit that With as much time, love, and care I put it, I spend lots of time just siting in front of my aquarium.

I'm starting to realize that my ship is not going to sail in- I'm going to have to build it and sail out.

Theres so many things wrong with this country, but its ours. I don't like getting into politics partly bc I don't vote. Therefore I don't b**** When I was deployed for my first presidential election 2008, I filled out everything for absentee etc. and I didn't receive my ballot until January after the elections and inauguration were over. Prob the mails fault but I've never gotten over that.

I'm just trying to vent because things are looking bleak for the time being.

So right now Pat Benetar "Love is a battlefield" is sticking out

[Niko's Reef]

Great post Drew.

Welcome to this area. You are right, a lot of great people on ARC. I'm hooked on this site. I never had facebook and fooled around with that for a few months, but was too much drama. This is my facebook, even though I don't know the majority of the people on here. Everyone I have met however, has been incredible. I thought I knew stuff about this hobby, but I didn't know and still don't know jack. Thanks for everyone who has shared some ideals and processes with me. Ya'll have been so helpful. I love what I learned, and my tanks have taken off from it.

I can feel your pain in a lot of areas Drew.

My fiancé had an ectopic pregnancy in Feb and almost lost her life. We had a misdiagnose from S&W, and our OBYGN saved her life. That was a real awakening to almost lose her. I always wanted to marry her, but after that I asked her immediately to marry me. This Sat is the big day. The time frame/$ has caused a lot of stress on us, but I will be the happiest person in the world on Sat. She is an amazing lady.

I broke my big toe and had a hernia recently too. Had never had anything besides a concussion previous to that in my life. Both required surgery and I was off of work for months both times. I was in Puerto Rico at the time when I broke my toe on a trip that I had already booked, but couldn't really afford due to the hernia surgery. Not the place you really want to break a toe either.

I just got done knocking out our hospital bills, except for S&W. Sorry, if anyone on here works for S&W and this offends them, but they are a joke. They are not getting a penny from me. They almost caused me to lose my fiancé. Have currently hired 2 lawyers within the last few months. When I know more about the law then a lawyer he has to go. Worse thing is he admitted it to me. This time I hired a really highly regarded lawyer. S&W is going to get theirs.

I had bought a CTS a month before all of my medical mishaps. Always wanted a Caddy, even though I had the same year model of a Buick paid off. It's the same car, except for the frame. I thought the Caddy was perfect, besides the leather being cracked. The place I bought it from was a high end dealer, and they had a place to redo it. They missed quoted me by 2,000$ because they had to custom stitch it. Cadillac didn't have a pattern due to the air bags. Wish I would have known that before they ripped them out. Then I had 2 blowouts. It came with 20's, so I don't know if that was the problem or what? The warranty covered 1, but when I blew out the 2nd 1 in less then a month that raised some eyebrows. The tire completely separated and I had a lot of body damage on the car due to it. They considered it a manufacturer defect, and I never heard anything back from the manufacturer. So, I had to pay my insurance deductable. Also, had a piston that wasn't firing right, and had to have that replaced. Warranty covered that, besides deductable. Think I should have just kept the Buick. At that time my fiancé lost her job and went months without a job as well.

I dropped my laptop last week. Had to buy a new LCD and Bezel. They tried to charge me an arm and leg, so I decided to do it myself. Took it to a couple of place to have it fixed, but I would have been better off buying a new 1. Should be in tomorrow. Hopefully that goes well. Taking it out wasn't too bad. Kind of nervous about putting a new 1 in though, because it's not broken. Since I work at Dell, I have someone that's going to help me with it. I haven't dealt with laptop repairs too much. Just getting the parts to build them and fix them ordered. Dealt with desktops/storage systems/server repairs more in my past.

Seems like when I take care of 1 problem, something else pops up. I could go on for days. Dog keeps tearing up fence, so on so on.

I'm the same way about my tank. It takes me from reality and my problems. I get lost almost on a daily basis in it. It just consumes me. It's like I have an ocean in my house. I watched the movie Oceans the other day, and it made me want this even more. Feels like something happens in the tank everyday that amazes me. To justify my spending on the tank, I take every hour I can get at work. I work 9.5 hours everyday and the weekends. Kind of hard to do that when you don't like being at the job, but I love my tank. Also love my 2 dogs. They are spoiled as well.

I didn't really have a hobby before it. I wasted a lot of my time and $ drinking. I stopped drinking totally 8 months ago, and don't plan on going that route again. At least with this hobby I have something now to show where my $/time went to. My fiancé likes the hobby, but isn't that engaged into it. She likes to look at it, but that's about it. I do all of the work and buying the tanks items myself. Working on a seahorse tank for her, which I've been cycling and setting up for a few months. Hope that changes some things. To be fair, a lot of her time has been going to have a princess wedding.

Finically times have been better for me then they are currently. However, I can feel that black cloud disappearing. I've recently been reestablishing my relationship with the lord. With him on my side, it's hard for me to lose in any battle.

Right now there are currently 2 songs of my life. It's my wedding songs. It's "You look so beautiful tonight" by Eric Clapton and Young Jeezy "I Do". That's our wedding dance. Can't wait to see how my DJ mixes that up. Will found out when we meet up with him on Friday.

Well, that was a lot of venting on my behalf.

Good luck with everything Drew and god bless you and your family.

Niko

[Drew Mendez WTR]

Niko I put myself out there while still being a little guarded and you followed right afterwards with your heart and soul. I appreciate that lets get together after your honeymoon at onion creek dog park. Thanks for letting me know I'm not alone. My aquarium is my ocean also

[Drew Mendez WTR]

Littlewing SRV

[Niko's Reef]

No problem Drew. United we stand, alone we fall. Feels good to get things off my chest. This website serves that purpose for me. Sounds good. We'll hook up soon.