Serious Issues

Monday night I was able to participate in my own suspense thriller. I was in my car on my way to meet up for dinner with my friends. I was excited because I had just gotten off work. A couple of blocks into my journey I was stopped at a red light with my bumper touching the intersection. When the light went green my male ego kicked in and I put the pedal to the metal. Like most males my age, I didn’t want to be beat off the line, resulting in sudden bursting of my incredibly swollen bubble of “man-pride”. As I made it through the intersection I noticed that my lane (the right lane) would merge with the lane next to me within the next 100 feet or so. The car to my left, however, had the same inflated male ego, and was trying to catch and pass me to compensate for his recent schooling in the art of acceleration by Professor Nate. When my lane disappeared I only had about 3/4 of a car length advantage on the guy. Since I was ‘technically’ in front of him I started to move over into what would now be our shared lane. Instead of tapping his break to allow room, or moving over to the adjoining (and vacant might I add) lane, he jammed his fist into his horn for a good ten seconds allowing me the pleasure of realizing that I had pissed him off. He then flipped on his brights and began tailgating. He followed me for a good mile or so in this fashion. After another half mile, I realized that what this man was doing was incredibly immature and unnecessary. I came to the conclusion that I had two decisions. I could ignore the man, or I could give him something to really be mad about. I went with the latter. I decided that if this man wanted to be mad, I would at least validate his mood. At the next green light, I waited a good 5 seconds before I hit the gas to move forward. I only accelerated to about 20 miles an hour… in a 45 mile per hour zone. I checked my mirrors and there my pursuer remained. I kept up the slow pace for another two blocks. There he stayed. I tried a new tactic. I changed lanes. He changed. I sped up, he sped up. I turned right, he turned right. It was getting annoying and I started to get a little nervous. What if this guy has an anger management problem or a gun or a gang initiation to perform? What if I have a bounty out for my head and he is a bounty hunter? I called my friends who were waiting for me at the Subway a few blocks away and informed them of the situation and asked them to watch for me when I pulled in so this guy wouldn’t do anything he’d regret. I decided that I could handle some yelling and screaming, or even some swings, but I wasn’t in the mood for having to bust out my ninja skills to defend myself. The man followed me all the way to the restaurant (almost 5 miles) into the parking lot. I jumped out of my car and meandered to the doors at Subway waving to my friends. The man left (coward).

I have thought about this situation a lot over the past few days. We get ticked off way too easily in our society. If you ask me, it’s time to take a chill pill. Nothing good every comes from staling a stranger through the city. Even if you accomplish your goal, whether it be a kidnapping or a brawl, you always get what’s coming to you. The bad guys always get caught. It’s true… I saw it in the movies.

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My Luck

I am proud of myself.  This week I fulfilled two dreams that I have had for a very long time.  I recorded my first song (the first dream) and it was for/about a girl (the second dream).  I had an assignment to introduce a person in my communications class using my favorite method of communication.  My person ended up being a cute girl, and I figured that now was as good a time as any, so I wrote a song and recorded it for her.  We laid down the tracks in two takes (I played the guitar and sang the vocals), did a little editing and bam it was ready.  It wasn’t anything super special, but I was actually impressed at how it sounded.

I showed up to class the next day on pins and needles.  I was excited and nervous to debut my song in front of a bunch of people I didn’t even know.  When it was my turn, I took to the front of the room in a cold sweat.  I cracked some jokes and then stuck the CD in and hit play.  A minute and 10 seconds later it was over.  Everyone was clapping and I felt great.  I know you are all waiting for the catch.  It wouldn’t be my life without a catch or a weird twist.  The funniest thing about the situation … the girl the song was about wasn’t even there to hear it!  She dropped the class.   Hopefully if I ever write a song for a girl again, she’ll actually get to hear it. 

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My New Exercise Regiment

Last night I was bored and had a bit of extra energy.  I began to call the long list of friends on my phone to see if someone wanted to do something fun.  It took me all of 10 minutes to realize that everyone was either doing homework, spending time with their significant other or screening their calls.  I decided that I would try to be productive with my time and write down my new year’s resolutions.  I worked out some goals that I can work on to better myself physically, mentally, spiritually, socially and I also made some goals to accomplish some of the things I’ve always wanted to do.  I was getting excited, because I really want this to be a good year, and I realized that if I keep to these goals I will become the person that I really want to be.

As I was planning, my room mate Steve looked up from his Calculus homework and suggested that we combine our will power and start an exercise program.  We put our heads together and decided that we can get to bed every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday at 10:30 (nothing really happens those nights) and then wake up around 6:30 am and go work out at the gym.  We got all excited about our new idea and made a pact one with another that we wouldn’t bail out on our new plan.  Both of us are notorious for sleeping in, and not following through with our goals or other commitments we make.  We decided that something that might help would be to wake up to a favorite song every morning.  That would put us in good spirits and make us excited to wake up at the crack of dawn.  We chose a peppy song to wake up to the next morning and hit the hay at exactly 10:30.

I woke up this morning at 7:50.  Steve was already half dressed for work.  Apparently our alarm didn’t go off.  If that wasn’t bad enough, I had to be at class at 8:00.  I jumped in the shower and found that there was no hot water left (things just keep getting better, don’t they?) but I showered anyway.  I was out the door at 8:03.  I made it to UVSC in about 10 minutes and found that the parking lot was full.  I discovered a spot in the very back of the lot, ran to my class (on the other side of campus on the 7th floor) and found that there was nobody there.  I went into a panic.  Where would they have gone???  Then I realized that my professor had said something about class being cancelled today.

I now have a ninety minute break in my schedule that I can use to inform my dear readers about how incredibly funny my life is. The only benefit of the last 12 hours (besides the 8+ hours of sleep I got) is the thought that just entered my mind… I may not have woken up at 6:30 to exercise, but I did get a work out running to class up 7 flights of stairs.  Maybe I should reconsider my goals.

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The New Year

The cruel irony that takes place in my life never ceases to amaze me.  Classes at UVSC kicked off on Thursday.  I have actually been fairly excited to start, because I’m getting into my major and taking classes that I’m actually interested in.  I’m taking a couple of communications classes, some multimedia classes and even a ballroom dance class.  The first class I had scheduled on Thursday was cancelled by my professor.  I was ok with that because it meant I got to sleep in.  I did, however, get to go to my next class, Communications 1500.  My professor is amazing and has alot of experience in the field.  She has been a professor at some very prestigious colleges, a newscaster, a radio DJ, a nationally traveling standup comedian and has even worked for some newspapers.  It made me even more excited for the semester than I had been earlier.  I went to bed Thursday night excited for the next few days of class.  I woke up Friday morning… at 3 am.  I had the flu.  I have spent the past 2 days missing work and classes while my body naturally detoxifies itself (if you know what I mean).

It makes sense that the very week that I start a new routine with all of my new year’s resolutions that everything would be thrown off by some crap virus from hell.  On the bright side, I have a fantastic mother who has catered to my every need.  God bless mothers.

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