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