So Long, Raleigh.

I hate doing introductions to sentimental stuff like this...and I honestly couldn't think of a better way to start this.

Well, in just a mere few hours, I'm leaving Raleigh, North Carolina, the city I have called home for 21 and a 1/2 years, and getting ready to start life anew in Bluefield, Virginia/West Virginia (technically, my home will be in Rocky Gap, VA; much like my old home was in Wake Forest, NC).

Wait-a-minute...why did I type that? The part about starting life anew. Why did I type that? Just because I'm changing homestates and towns does not mean that my personality will change. I will still be as insane as ever. I will still love music, of most kinds, except country (despite that being THE genre where I'm moving) and some forms of rap. I will still be a hockey diva, at least in my mind AND in spirit. I will still be the nuttiest Ron Francis supporter and collector the man has more than likely ever heard OR will hear about at some point in his life. I will still be among the geekiest of geeks in my comic book/video-computer game/anime-manga/etc. fandoms.

Ok, I think you get the point...a move certainly won't change who I am, at least I hope not. BUT, there is no denying that moving is a change anyway. And it will be a change that while I have gotten better in my attitude towards it, I will still greatly miss Raleigh.

I said up there that I love music...it can convey so many emotions perfectly. It can bounce along with you when you are feeling good. It can sympathize with you when you are feeling pain, sorrow, and/or rage. And when you are feeling mixed, it takes just the right song to sum up how you feel AND to *really* make you think like you have never thought before. I found that song on the compilation of music I have been playing around with for my mountain trip listenings. It's a song I have always liked since I first heard it on Wishbone Ash's Argus (A HIGHLY recommended album, BTW, if you can ever find it), but it never meant a lot to me until the knowledge of the impending move became embedded in my mind...

"Time Was"

I've got to rearrange my life,
I've got to rearrange my world.
I miss you, i need you.
I've got to keep my memories aside,
I've got to try to live again.

Time was when there were things around
To be afraid of.
I've got cause, i've even changed my mind
To turn the tables.

Time was when there was no need to stop
And rearrange it.
Now i've got a memory
And i don't want to change it.

And there's a time for waking up
And feeling down,
It's when you have to pick your feet
Up from the ground.

Time was when i had you around -I was a strong (wo)man.
I need you to help make the change
And be a new (wo)man.

Takes more than a day and a night
For giving.
It's not so easy just to change your way
Of living.

Time was when there were things around
To bother me.
The crime was, i couldn't start
To change my history.

I know I just said that I'm not going to let the move change who I am...but it will be a change in living.

Enough talk about change...the song mentioned needing you. And I certainly need you now, people. I have made quite a few friends in Raleigh and North Carolina AND elsewhere, from Pennsylvania to Ohio to Michigan to California to Quebec to Ontario to British Columbia. Friends who are casual, close, have played/worked for the National Hockey League, have found that we have a common interest in hockey among other things, etc. Friendship of any kind is something that certainly does not need to change, regardless of where I find myself waking up every morning and living my life. And I want to share that life with you as much as I have shared life thus far in Raleigh.

To those of you reading this who have not been here before...don't be afraid to respond to my postings here. Nothing would warm my heart more than to hear from all of my friends, even those I don't hear from often. Don't be shy...let me know at one point or another that you are out there. Let's have a party in Rocky Gap, and y'all do not have to even be there for such a thing to happen.