Food for Thought: Part One

I feel like I have a lot going through my head right now and because of that I feel like any blog I'd try to write wouldn't have a definite linear feel about it.  SO... I decided to try something new with this blog by making it a sort of medley, a cornucopia if you will, of things I've been thinking about or discussing or experiencing in my life.  It's a compilation of serious stuff, silly stuff, and everything in between.  So I hope you enjoy this latest installment to my blog:  Food for thought.

I freakin' love Cap'n Crunch.  I know, I know, it's pretty bad for you.  I mean, the box says it has some essential vitamins and minerals, but it also has some unessential sugars and so on.  But it tastes soooooo good.  When I put a big spoonful of Cap'n Crunch in my mouth I'm filled with joy (and fat).  It's a little piece of childhood, you know?  But now they're discontinuing it.  And why are they discontinuing it?  Because it cuts up the roof of your mouth.  Okay, let's be real here by saying we all know it is kind of rough and may make the roof of your mouth hurt.  But completely banning it because of that is just silly.  We might as well get rid of tortilla chips and hot coffee and sour patch kids and so much more because all of those things can adversely affect your mouth.  Come on, Quaker... Really?  When I heard this news I wanted to snag up as many boxes of the delicious cereal I could.  To eat some, sure, but to package up the rest. I mean, who knows how much it'll be worth to cereal collectors some day, am I right?

Okay, this is really grinding my gears... This NFL rule change regarding moving where the kickoff is is possibly one of the most ridiculous things I've seen or heard in sports in my generation.  This is preposterous.  The NFL has spent the last few years systematically "attempting" to make the game safer.  Look, I played football (not the NFL, obviously, but I was damn close... I blame it on my lack of raw talent and ability) and I know that it isn't the safest game in the world, but for you to be able to truly not get hurt playing it there is really only one thing you can do:  Don't. Play.  It's a contact sport, and changing rules every year to baby those poor quarterbacks and make sure they don't get hurt was silly enough, but this?  Ridiculous.  Following this travesty there are some similar rule changes I foresee in the immediate future in various major sports:

• Hockey:  Soon you will not be allowed to fight in hockey, followed by not being allowed to hit in hockey, followed by the ice being replaced with water in fluid form, followed by the name of the game being changed to "Contact Swimming".
• Baseball:  Soon, due to the potential damage caused by foul balls, line drives, errant baseball bats and more, the entire crowd area at a baseball game will be protected by a giant net, followed by the baseball being replaced by a Nerf ball and the bat being replaced by a soft plastic whiffle ball bat, followed by "America's Pastime" being destroyed once the base paths are replaced by slip and slides and the bases themselves become giant ball pits like you find in a Burger King Play-Place.
• American Football:  Following the recent kickoff return rule, the NFL will deem it necessary to remove all contact creating a professional sports league involving large men attempting to remove a flag that is tied to the waste of the other large men on the field.  Sound familiar?
• Basketball:  Soon the size of the basket will be increased resulting in more long range shots being made and focus being taken away from post play, followed by dunks being made illegal and players like Blake Griffin and Dwight Howard being permanently banned from the NBA because dunking can hurt your hands and the dignity of others, followed by the sport itself being replaced by the professional "Throw the Ball at the Target and Let David Stern Fall into Nickelodeon Ooze Association" (the TBTLDSFNOA, for those of you keeping score at home, and what a great league that would be...)
• Real Football:  Soon the soccer ball will be made out of a softer and more pliable substance, followed by cleats being disallowed, followed by grass and turf being replaced by soft sand, followed by fans not being allowed to attend games, and soon the "Beautiful Game" will be nothing more than a drunken beach game with no audience.  And where is the fun in that?
• Boxing/MMA:  Soon you will not be allowed to punch or kick people in the head, followed by not being allowed to punch or kick the body, followed by not being allowed to even hit your opponent, followed by the creation of the MMACA:  The Mixed Martial Arts Chess Association.
• Nascar:  Will remain unchanged.

So I watched "The Adjustment Bureau" recently, and for the most part it was pretty okay.  I felt that it had the potential to be very powerful and intriguing, but the end kind of blew it for me (You can disagree all you want, but this isn't really a movie critique, so back off).  However, what this movie did do for me was spark a very intriguing conversation with one of my best friends, and in this conversation we dealt with the concept of fate.  I feel like the fundamental idea behind things like fate and destiny are cool and all, but in my opinion they really take the power out of our hands, it takes the power away from us as individuals.  Now, I realize that the general idea of what fate is can be affected by a number of things depending on your religious, spiritual, or emotional background, but at the end of the day no matter what you believe I think that the only thing that you can really rely on is: yourself and your free will.  There is always a choice, and I don't believe that the choice is a predetermined one.  If that's the case, then why the hell are we even here?  It's like, you don't teach a kid to build Legos by building the Harry Potter castle for her. No, you teach the kid by letting them build it themselves and guiding them along the way.  This is the same thing.  If all of these choices are already lined up for us, then we don't really learn anything from being here.  And at the end of the day you're here to live and to learn.  And I really think life works this way:  You can have whatever you want.  You can have the guy/girl of your dreams, the job of your dreams, the house, the dog, the hobbies.  Everything.  You just have to be happy, you have to grow, and you have to be persistent and you can get whatever you want in life.  "In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins - not through strength, but through persistence."

Who is the person who came up with the phrase:  "zomg"?  I'd like to find them so I can slap them in the face.

I'll close this Food for Thought on one last serious note.  In the job I'm currently in I've really been learning a lot, which is ironic because the job I'm in is one that has me helping children in need learn and grow.  Working with special needs children is one of the most fulfilling, yet challenging, things I have ever done and I truly do learn something from these youngsters every day.  Doing this job has given me a greater respect for the teaching profession.  Because when you look at all industries as entities that create products, I believe the teaching industry creates the most important product of all:  Educated people.  If it wasn't for teachers this world would crumble and fall apart.  Of course there are always your bad eggs, but imagine how many bad eggs there would be if teaching didn't exist?  Or how few good eggs there would be?  So I'm writing this as a thank you to everybody that has ever taught me anything, as well as a thank you to everybody I have had the privilege to teach.  I would like now to ask all my sexy beasts out there to do the same.  Because it isn't always about learning and moving on, it's about teaching people what you learn along the way.

I hope this blog wasn't too sporadic for whoever you are that happens to be reading it.  Also I felt this blog rambled on a bit, and for that I apologize.  But in the end I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless.  Until next time, you sexy beasts:  You're all going places!

Love,

JB

Be Yourself

I'm starting this blog off straight forward and to the point because I don't think people are often enough straight forward and to the point.  I see too many people close to me these days beating around the bush, pussyfooting around, tiptoeing, walking on eggshells, and so on.  I feel like these ways of handling things have their place, sure, but it shouldn't be the priority practice for dealing with others.  I know I do it myself; the idea of being safe rather than being sorry.  But sometimes you just gotta throw it out there, throw caution to the wind.

I think the reason why so many people take this passive approach to life is due to some lack of confidence.  Something that happened to them in the past, maybe, that makes them feel unable to "go for it" when it comes to things like family, friends, work, relationships, etc.  Which is understandable.  But, as is a theme with many of my writing/blogs/thinking, you are who you are because of all that stuff.  So why not learn from it and get better?  "To love is to risk not being loved in return.  To hope is to risk pain.  To try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing."  How true is that!  Because in those great risks you find the greatest rewards.

You see, life is filled with risks and pitfalls.  You might miss.  Your shot may miss the goal entirely.  But it might go in, too.  You can always be proud of yourself and strong knowing that you took the shot in the first place, but even if you do miss it you could always make the next one.  "Success is never final.  Failure is never fatal.  It's courage that counts."  That quote not only fits my "taking the shot" analogy because it was said by the great college basketball coach John Wooden, but it also fits this idea of going for it no matter what and having the courage to persevere, win or lose.

So I say go for it.  You might get hurt, but like Kahlil Gibran said "The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.  Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?"  You have to understand bad before you can appreciate good.  The more you go for it, the more you push and go get what you want, the happier and more fulfilled you will be.  If you constantly sit back on your heels you may not get hurt as much, perhaps, but you certainly won't be as happy as you could be either.

Are you upset with someone close to you?  Tell them.  Take time now to try and fix that, resolve that, otherwise it'll eventually crumble on its own and someday you'll look back wishing that bridge hadn't been burnt.  Are you nervous about a big move?  Don't be.  Anxious is okay, some nerves perhaps, but go for it.  Go out there and live.  Are you afraid of going for a dream job?  Do what makes you happy.  If you continue to strive to be happy in your career then someday you'll wake up in the morning and you will get to go to work instead of having to go to work.  Do you love someone?  Tell them.  Call'em up right now and say "Hey, you mean a lot to me and I love you."  If more people in this world were more straight forward and to the point in life when it came to stuff like this, I think a lot more would get done and people would be a lot happier.

"Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."  Take advantage of the time you have right now to just go out there and do whatever the hell you want to do.  Tell people how you really feel, and more importantly be honest with yourself about how you really feel and get rid of the things that drag you down and make you lose the confidence to just be yourself!  So I'm going to end this by being honest with all of you sexy beasts by saying:  I love you, and you're going places.

JB

Butterflies and Hurricanes

You want to know something?  I really like blogging.  I wish I had more to say and more to fill these pages with on a consistent basis.  But instead of blabbering on anymore than I already do trying to plug out a blog every day, what blogging has really done for me since the beginning of this endeavor is make me journal more in between blogs and in turn it's made me really retain and think about things that go on in my day to day life much more than I used to:  Conversations I have, quotes I read, movies I watch, songs I hear, etc.  It's really nice to become more aware of everything going on around you because it makes you more able to avoid the negative things while allowing you to really pick out and enjoy the positive ones at the same time.

Recently I've really been interested in all the little things in life that can turn out to have the biggest impacts.  What really made me think about this was a discussion I had with a friend of mine regarding the song "Butterflies and Hurricanes" by Muse, one of my favorite bands.  (If you're not familiar with the song I would suggest looking it up, or at least read the lyrics:  It's phenomenal)  Now while the lyrics don't explicitly come right out and say it, I believe the song is about, more or less, how the little things that one person does can be enough to change the world.  Granted this is my interpretation of the song but I feel that it is an accurate one.  Even the title itself, Butterflies and Hurricanes, illustrates this idea of something as small as a butterfly causing something as powerful as a hurricane.  I also think this piggybacks on the concept of every single thing that happens to you in life, every obstacle, every person you meet; is for a reason.  With that being said I know that every single thing you do in a day won't change the world (necessarily) but it will have the power to change your world, which is just as powerful.

If you don't know already I'm a bit of a quote collector.  Whether it's quotes that apply to what I'm going through now, quotes from people I admire, or simply random quotes that I find and like.  I find it refreshing and thought provoking to have a knowledge of quotes that can often times really put things into perspective.  Surprising to some, many of a person's day to day problems have been experienced by someone before them.  Who would have thought?  Anyways... I would like to share a quote that I recently found that I thought was very poignant and applicable to some recent discoveries I've made about myself:  "Without freedom from the past, there is no freedom at all, because the mind is never new, fresh, innocent."  This goes together with one of my favorite quotes: "Don't worry about the future.  Or worry, but know that worrying is about as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum."  These quotes coupled together make one really focus on being present, being focused on the right now, and this is something I've really been focusing on for myself.

But after a very illuminating and enlightening conversation with a new and wonderful friend I would like to add a caveat to this ideology:  Free yourself from the past but know that it is because of getting through the past that you are who you are right now.  Focusing too much on the future can sometimes be just as detrimental as focusing on your past.  But the most important thing is to never be too content, never settle, with where you are right now.  Mere contentment with where you are breeds apathy, indifference.  I mean, you're put on this planet to love and grow and learn.  People that say things like "Oh I know everything there is to know about that" are fools.  Because you're never done, you're never able to just say "I'm content with where I am, I don't need to do anything else."  You always have somewhere to go, and being happy with where you are and who you are is important, but it is just as important to know that there's always more to come.

In closing I'd like to go back to the Muse song I discussed earlier.  You never know what kind of impact you can really have on yourself, on others, on the world; and now is as good a time as any to start figuring that out.  You never know what kind of effect even the smallest ripple you make can have.  It can simply be writing something, saying something, or meeting someone new that really takes your life down a beautiful new path.  Like Richard Bach said (one of my most oft quoted authors/thinkers):  "Here is a test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished:  If you're alive, it isn't."  So if you're reading this, it's safe to assume you're alive, therefore you have more to accomplish, so go get after it!  As for me:  Life is amazing.  I've got crazy butterflies.  Butterflies like I've never had before.  I'll have to wait and see what kind of hurricanes they make.

I love you all,
JB

P.S. Hey you sexy beast, you're going places.

Winning?

In light of recent events in my life, and in the lives of others, I've discovered something pretty important that has already started to sneak into my every day life in a positive way.  That important thing is the idea of legacy.  No, no... I'm not talking about a Subaru Legacy (even though they are very affordable and an extremely reliable vehicle and I would suggest that everyone give Subaru a shot) but I am talking about the things you do in your life and the legacy you create and leave behind someday.

I'm not sure if any of you have read or heard or seen any of these interviews with Charlie Sheen but they are something else.  Currently they are quite hilarious and the guy is making a damn fool of himself.  Now I'm not saying that Sheen's career was ever an extremely accomplished one (I mean, Hot Shots! Part Deux was cinema gold and a definite Academy snub...) but the fact of the matter is the guy was the son of a pretty quality actor and it's pretty obvious that the he had a lot of things set up for him.  But instead of using that positively he let himself blow up much bigger than he deserved to be.  And now he's banging 7 gram rocks with his prostitute girlfriends and demanding three million dollars per episode for his low quality Sitcom when he was already getting paid a ridiculous two million per.  The guy's legacy is thrashed, and instead of perhaps saying "oh, the guy was a decent actor who did a few good movies, shows, and was a funny guy, etc", we're going to say "that guy was totally bonkers bananas and it was really fun to laugh at his warlock ass before he O.D.'ed on his self proclaimed 'Charlie Sheen' drug that made mere mortals faces melt off."  See what I mean?

Now, you may be wondering why I just ranted for a paragraph about the legacy of a piss poor actor.  Well, I really feel bad for the guy, to be honest.  And I've seen things in my life recently that have made me really examine what I'm doing with myself, and what others are doing.  Granted Charlie Sheen's legacy really doesn't matter much to me, but this idea that things can be destroyed so easily can tend to make one take a closer look at things that you have yourself.  It really makes you want to make lasting impressions on people.  It makes you want to make sure that when you're gone people will look back fondly at everything that you've accomplished in a positive way.  And it's something that doesn't come easy.  In fact, I feel like sometimes it's easier to have a poor impression on things than it is to have a lasting quality impression.  It's hard.  Like so many things in life:  If it was easy, everyone would be great and life would be boring

A friend said something to me this morning that kinda rang true with me and it was something that I really liked and wanted to share.  She said that beautiful things take a lot more time and effort for upkeep than less beautiful ones (this was said in a completely and totally non-narcissistic way).  Take, for example, a really beautiful flower pot filled with really vibrant and exotic plants.  Chances are those plants require diligent upkeep in the form of watering, certain types of plant food, etc.  Then think of a rock garden.  Granted, yeah, some people really like their rock gardens but let's be real about the fact that they're not as cool or as pretty as beautiful vibrant plants and they most certainly do not require similar upkeep.  You can look at a person's reputation the same way.  If you have a poor reputation and affect people negatively, you don't really have to try too hard.  But if you really want to make lasting impressions, leave behind legacies, etc, you truly do have to work at it.  But good things like that are definitely worth the time and effort in the end.

So I'll leave you all by saying take the time and effort to be the best possible "you" you can be, and if you feel like you're creating a negative legacy for yourself it is never too late to make changes.  Because in the end you want people to say "that person was an amazing part of my life and the lives of others" instead of people saying "That person was a real Charlie Sheen".  Oh, and by the way:  Hey you sexy beasts, you're all going places.

JB

The one that started it all (Hey you sexy beast, you're going places!)

March 1st, 2011.

You know, a year or two years or three years ago I'm sure I never would have put much thought into where I'd be on March 1st, 2011.  But as I sit here in Nikiski, where I grew up, listening to my entire iTunes library on shuffle/repeat, I get the feeling that had I put much thought into it, I would have seen myself somewhere a lot different right now.  But things are funny that way sometimes.  I've been in Alaska for 10 months now and over half a year longer than I intended to be.  But sometimes you can intend all you want, and life puts you wherever the hell it wants to, and you just gotta deal with it and keep on fighting the good fight.  Of course nobody expects obstacles to come their way, but they do.  Just like we don't hop in our car expecting to get into a car accident but we put our seat belts on anyway.  So here I am, sitting at a kitchen table finishing off the last of the Pete's Wicked I've got in the fridge, pondering where I think I'm gonna be in a month, 3 months.  Where I'm gonna be March 1st, 2012.  Chances are I'm gonna be somewhere different, in a different frame of mind, but I'll be a lot better off thanks to where I'm at right now.  But instead of hypothesizing about where exactly I'll be in a year, it's a story from my past that's inspiring me at the moment.

When I was 15 years old I was a chubby super awkward pre-pubescent boy who carried around a small Buddha statue in his pocket.  My mother had given me this statue to hold onto, to carry with me, to remind me to always have peace of mind.  To remind me that through difficult things come good things, that everything happens for a reason.  You know, all that cliche stuff.  However, when I was that age I really, really, really needed to hear that, and I really needed that security blanket.  One day, though, I was at a speech and debate tournament and I lost my little Buddha.  At first, I was really upset and freaked out.  But soon, I learned a really valuable lesson:  I didn't need that little Buddha to remind me to remain positive.  I didn't need that security blanket anymore.

Why do I share this story?  Because I feel like it applies to me now, and it can apply to anyone.  Obstalces come your way, very specific obstacles, because you are the one that's supposed to overcome them.  I'm not saying it's fate or something divine.  I'm simply saying that we choose a way to go, we take a walk in a direction and we must deal with the obstacles on that path, and we do so because in time the later obstacles will be easier to pass because of those we have already overcome.  We leave security blankets behind along the way, we lose our little Buddha statues, because at some point we don't need them anymore.  All we really need is love, tenacity, and the person in the mirror.

I looked at myself in the mirror today.  I flexed a little bit.  Yeah, I flexed.  And I told myself "hey you sexy beast, you're going places."  I didn't need anyone else to tell it to me, just me.  I didn't pull a Buddha out of my pocket, I just said it.  And I meant it.  And it's because of this that I know that once this portion of my life is over I'll go some place else.  Some place better.  Is it going to be easy?  Absolutely not.  Better doesn't mean easy, but that's good because it means life won't ever get boring.  If things were easy, this life would sure be a boring one.

So I'll end this rambling text adventure by reaching out to the people I love.  It's been a bit of a nostalgic night spent reminiscing and talking to some really good friends, and I can say this to all of you:  If you're not where you want to be, then change it.  If you are where you want to be, then cherish it.  If you're on your way there, enjoy the journey.  If you have someone that loves you, and you love them back, appreciate it because it is much more rare than people think.  If you don't have someone that loves you and that you love back worry not, because the minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for, and in the end:  Good things come to good people.

And I want you to look at yourself in the mirror and say:  "Hey you sexy beast, you're going places."  If you can't say that, then figure out how to say it.  Because if you can't say it to yourself, then how can anybody else say it to you?

And to all of those people out there that take advantage of the good people, that push people and lie and cheat and steal and hurt: I hope you figure it out now.  Because if you don't, then you're the one that's really in trouble in the end.  And to you, I lift my left pinky finger.  And trust me, if you saw my pinky, you would know that it's a lot more offensive than my middle one would be.

Will all the love my little heart can muster,

Joshua

The first of many!

So here we are!

You know, I always wondered what it would be like to have a blog, to have tens of people reading my ramblings on a regular basis.  I wondered what exactly I would blog about, whether it would be about sports or arts or video games or something else.  So I've decided to write about anything, about everything.  About life.  After several years of dabbling in notes on Facebook or back in the day writing silly stories on MSNSpaces, I've made my official blog.  

Inspired by some recent events in my life, and inspired by a note I wrote recently on Facebook, I am calling this blog "Hey you sexy beast, you're going places" because I think at the end of the day it doesn't matter who we are, who our role models are, what we're reading, what we're watching, etc, it comes down to what we can do and what we can say to ourselves at the end of the day.  A good friend of mine told me once "If you can't be honest with yourself, who can you be honest with?"  So that, along with growing up with my mother who instilled in me similar concepts about how to live, has inspired me to begin to really look at myself and who I am.  Because it doesn't matter who I'm with or where I am, the only tools I actually need are with me at all times.  They are in my body, my voice, my life experiences, my mind, and so on.  It's all up to us, and if we have our proverbial ducks lined up then the odds are we will bring people into our life that will fit in with those tools we already have.

I'm not sure what people should expect when reading these blogs of mine, and I'm also not sure if many people will, but what I can say is what I'm writing will mean something to me, whether poignant or funny or witty or emotional or everything in between.  And chances are if it means something to me, it may mean something to someone else, even if it's just one person.

A short story I'll share that is a part of all of this involves my 5th and 6th Grade teachers who incorporated theatre into their day to day elementary curriculum.  At that point in my life I had no idea at all what I wanted to do with my future (and even at that young age I was really freaked out about that), but they put me on a path that led me to where I am today.  Their help, their advice, and their confidence in me helped make me the person I am today, and for that I will always be grateful.  After this experience in my life it has been a goal of mine to have the privilege of knowing that by my existing in someone's life I have made their life at least little better, because like the author George Eliot said: "What do we live for if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?"

And with that I'll bring this, my first blog, to a close.  Thank you to those who are following this, whoever you are.  I love you all.  Oh, and by the way:  Hey you sexy beast:  You are going places.

JB