DC30: Reflections on 30 Years in the Life of DC

By DC Cueva

@DC408dxtr

And so, here we are. The day has come - Wednesday, November 13, 2013...one that has been exactly three decades in the making.

It was 30 years ago on this very day, on a Sunday night in 1983 at a hospital in San Jose that I entered the world as the 2nd child to two proud parents and a daughter. That month, the country's government shut down, the made-for-TV movie The Day After depicted nuclear war, Larry Holmes became heavyweight champ, and Miranda Lambert was born, 3 days before me and just before now-disgraced major leaguer Ryan Braun. That year, we saw what would become two huge parts of our lives take their first baby steps, the mobile phone and the internet, along with the moonwalk, the space shuttle, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the McNugget. And in events, there was a U.S. embassy bombing in Beirut, M*A*S*H's farewell, Australia II winning the America's Cup, and the AIDS scare was just beginning.

What has transpired in the course of the last 30 years is worth a whole lot of boxes to put these memories in, both in the world and in my own life. I have lived through five U.S. presidents, five schools in the Milpitas school district, 16 Olympic Games, trips to the Philippines, Las Vegas & New York, countless number of relatives and school friends too many to mention on here. And of course, there's been a whole lot of memorable events that we have lived through from that decade of the 80's, into the 90's and to now in this 21st century, both good & bad, triumph & tragedy, again all too many to mention in this post.

As I wrote on my opening blog post last summer, I'm just your typical person who's living life as much as I can. I have a great loving family, great cousins & relatives who care about me, and a great group of friends who know who I am, people who I now talk to again regularly thanks to this platform known as social media. Though I sometimes might be shy and don't spend as much time going out as much as everyone else, I'm someone who likes to be friendly with everyone, and is that guy who people can trust & talk to. I'm, as my twitter profile likes to call me, a people person.

Something I talked about in my opening blog post was that I have a symptom of autism carried over from when I was born. As everyone is aware, it is a serious disorder that affects many children & families, and my family has dealt with not only one, but two people with this condition, the other being my younger brother which affects him much more seriously than I am. Over time from when I was in my early childhood, I have gradually grown from being very autistic to becoming far more high functioning, right to the point where people can hardly think that I had autism at one time.

I have lived through a lot of my own personal events over the last 30 years: the aforementioned trips to the motherland, the big apple, sin city, SoCal & Hawaii. There's those weddings that my family have had in the last several years: my sister & bro-in-law on 7/7/07, and recently with my cousin Jeff last year. There's my strong relationship with the sports world & many sporting events I've went to, starting with that very first one, a Warriors game on Halloween 20 years ago. I got to meet Linkin Park almost a decade ago that ranks as my all-time favorite celeb & music moment, matched now by the many dealings I have everyday with MTV people on twitter. And the moment that tops them all, graduation day back in June 2001 when me & 561 people got our diplomas at Milpitas High School. I've was great friends w/ a lot of them back then and, now through Facebook, I'm able to talk to them regularly, just like those good old days.

Thanks so very much to everyone from the bottom of my heart who have sent me happy birthday greetings today, both from the inner circle of people who know who I am and for whom I'm proud to call my family and friends, as well as a new group of people who I've never met in person but have become good friends with in the social media world. These messages mean so much and it makes me feel good and thankful. The great support & respect I have received from you all - whether on my birthday or during the year - is very gratifying, and as always I'm most appreciative. It has been an amazing ride over the course of the last 30 years, and of course we can only wonder what the next 30 will have in store.

From me to you, here's to 30 years, and here's to 30 more. And once again, thank you for all of your birthday wishes. I cannot thank you all enough.

- DC