Leave of absence

Everybody has something to say,
a point,
a belief,
an opinion,
a problem, WHATEVER
and I've realized that
it's not about what you say
but how you say it.
They say quality beats quantity,
but thats pretty much bullshit when it comes to
getting things to happen and people to know it.


Throughout 2008 too many things have happened to possibly reflect about in a blog, but here are a couple important things I've learned, in no specific order:
1. Everybody exaggerates, to some extent or another. People freak out over little things, blow things out of proportion, blow things under proportion, this is human nature or maybe just American nature, I don't know.
2. People lie. There are always reasons for their lies, protecting something, trying to gain something, trying to hide (very similar to protecting) something, it doesn't matter. There is not one person who hasn't lied.
3. Everything has a reason. Philosophically and physically. Aglets hold together strings or cottons and the smallest jobs hold together society. There is an old rhyme that dates back to 1390 saying "For want of a nail the shoe was lost, for want of a shoe the horse was lost, for want of a horse the rider was lost, for want of a rider, the battle was lost, for want of a battle, the kingdom was lost. All for the want of a nail." People fit into this category as well, everyone will serve a purpose in their life. After high school or college, people will start carreers, some higher ended than others, but who's to say a mechanic does not matter in comparison to a CEO? One might be able to buy any kind of car at whim, but the other will know how to fix it when it breaks down.
4. Small things really do matter. The small things you do or happen to you in a day can make or break your mood. I read a story (I can't seem to recall the source) where a college professor put a rather peculiar question on his finals, "what is the name of the weekday janitor?" Of course, the entire class failed that question. The point of asking it though, was that along the road you will always encounter many people in life. These people may be able to help you in the challenges that life brings and that you should always appreciate the hard work people do for you. Now, the way I describe the story is terrible, so all there is to remember is to appreciate the small things as well as the big ones that come through your life.
5. Some things are just not meant to be. If there's anything I learned from public education, is that it is not created equally. Some people are just not meant to be scholars. Others might take to scholarly exercises like a duck to water. I, myself, am no idiot. I've traveled to seven different countries and six different states. I can adapt to environments with ease, and I know how things around the world, and in my local area work. I have a GPA of 3.20. School isn't really a big interest to me. In class, I wouldn't do assignments that didn't interest me. At home, I could never focus on the assigned reading because it too did not interest and had no significant value to me. I have friends though that do the work, read the readings, and do well on tests. I realized a while ago how different I am from them and accepted the fact that I am just not meant to be a scholar like them. I should focus on my strengths anyway because I couldn't stay like that forever, school only lasts 12-16 years (generally).
6. Emotions ruin everything. Thinking with one's emotions is not thinking clearly. It does not give priority to what's best in the situation, it gives a bias. If you need to break up with someone in order to do better in life, and you let yourself get caught in your emotions, you don't break up with them. You want to be selfish and feel loved by them. Garbage.
7. Play things off. This is pretty much self-explanitory. In order to save face and not look like an idiot, playing things off is the way to go. Lets say you're walking down the mall and you see someone you know and you both are walking towards each other. You don't make eye contact because you see that they're not. You don't call their name out because that might initiate a conversation and you don't really talk to them, so you'd like to avoid that. So you try to wave but they didn't see you. You need to slide that hand over and make it look like you're about to sneeze or something, you never know who else is out their watching.
8. You need to be dedicated to get things done. I wanted a camera, specifically the Sony A350. This camera costs nearly a thousand dollars and since I had a job, I figured, no sweat. I did some math an calculated that it would take forever to get the right amount of money, so what I did was save every single paycheck for nearly three months in order to have enough money. Do you realize how hard that is? I didn't eat out, I barely bought gas, I was pretty much living off tips from work and thank God for that. Real dedication is hard work, but in order to get what or where you want, you need to do work and soon enough, you'll be rewarded.
9. Retail is expensive. Don't pay retail prices. Working in retail sucks for the most part and if you can help an employee out by making their day better or just saving it from being boring, they will almost always return the favor by giving you discounts on whatever you buy. If they can't do that, the worst thing that could happen is that they'd be your friend instead and who couldn't use an extra friend?
10. Everyone smokes marijuana. Well, not everyone, but a large amount of people do. No, they're not all druggies, hippies, stoners, and teenagers either. Adults of all backgrounds, ethnicities, religions, and income smoke marijuana. Chances are if they smoke cigarettes, they either have or still do smoke marijuana. Managers, bosses, CEO's, business men, smoke marijuana. It is not a drug. It is a plant. This plant grows and when this plant reaches maturity (similar to flowers blooming), people dry it, roll it up or put it in a pipe, and smoke it. Or of course turn it into hash, oil, or confectionaries. But anyway, marijuana doesn't do what schools tell you about it. It's less harmfull to your body than alcohol and if you consume through a medium other than smoking, it may not even be harmful at all. I've studied with Roger Christie from the Cannabis Ministry of Hawaii and he confirms that in multiple versions of The Bible, the words canneh bosem, literally translated into "cannabis" is mentioned by Jesus. So marijuana isn't bad for you, marijuana doesn't turn nice kids into bad kids. Kids turn nice kids into bad kids. I met a couple of professional skaters a while ago after a competition, while hanging out, I found out that all of them were users of marijuana. Celebrities, professionals, doctors, nurses, dentists, bus drivers, managers, CEO's, librarians, retail employees (especially them), truck drivers, and pretty much anybody you see go into a smoke shop has, does, or wants to smoke marijuana. Of course no one talks about it though.


Well, I've had a great time this year, good things, bad things, down right terrible things, it all comes together in the end.

Goodbye and as they say in South Central, Holla!