On the second Monday of the month I took a day off work so that I could drive north from San Diego County to Los Angeles.

Step back three days prior: one of my friends contacted me asking me if I wanted to attend a concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. I knew about this concert since it was announced a few months prior. But I didn't think I would actually be able to secure a ticket to attend. Well, my chance presented itself and I spent just a few seconds until I came to the decision to go.

The concert hall is an interesting piece of work. Curves everywhere. I was somewhat underdressed for the occasion but I didn't seem like the only one - there was a fair distribution of people in formal wear, casual wear and some even in mild costume wear.

Why the disparity? The majority of the audience was young. Not the average orchestral concert-going crowd perhaps.

The music wasn't exactly traditional either, but it certainly can be hailed as classic. The concert was titled "Dear Friends - Music from Final Fantasy".

The music was composed by Nobuo Uematsu, who also attended and was maybe four rows down from where I sat, somewhere in the center section not too far from the orchestra.

Mr. Uematsu is, for lack of a better analogy, the John Williams of role-playing game music composition and then some. Anyone who is seasoned in some electronic entertainment knowledge knows his name and knows his work. He is known mainly for his music in the Final Fantasy series.

I grew up playing videogames with his music in it. So this was a special treat.

The concert was fantastic. Hearing orchestral versions of popular themes from the various Final Fantasies was amazing. At first glance their full orchestra didn't seem like the number that would project such sound. But once they, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, began with "Liberi Fatali" (the opening theme to Final Fantasy VIII), the acoustics of the hall were guaranteed.

The event was emceed by James Arnold Taylor, the voice of "Tidus" in Final Fantasy X. With one intermission and more wonderful orchestrations, the two hours of the concert seemed to go very, very fast.

After the concert I ran into my old coworkers who still work at Square Enix. It was good to see them if only for just a short while. I was able to spend time with some others and even get some autographs. I left late from L.A. at midnight. I arrived back in Encinitas two hours later.

That evening began a better string of events down the week. The Electronic Entertainment Expo (also known as "E3") started on Wednesday. I attended on Thursday and spoke to my ex-girlfriend (also my close friend) for the first time in about five months. In a sort of role-reversal, I was the attendee and she was the person staffing. It was good to see her and we are now good friends again.

Later weeks were spent with friends, more so than in the previous months. Overtime was scant and eventually disappeared at the end of the month. Life was returning to something of normalcy.

The last few months were gloomy for various reasons. Financially, personally, what have you. May, though, was the unexpected month in which things began to turn around for me. As of this writing I am more optimistic. And, although there are quite a few speed bumps in life right now, I've been more upbeat than I have been since the year began. Good times, a personal closure, moving forward.

May was a good month.