Quality problems.

The way I see it, everybody has problems. it's unavoidable. People often get this idea into their head that if they aquire this, this and that(add in money, women, cars whatever),they will be definitively happy. when you get older you realize thats not/never the case.

life is a series of problems and challenges and solving one will only create another. But you know what? its not as much of a downer as you would think. Fortunately, some problems are better then others. Let me throw a few examples your way.

Would you rather be arguing with your girlfriend over not spending enough time with each other or lonely with no one in your life? Another example, would you rather be poor and starving or have trouble deciding which sports car you wish to purchase?

Its obvious that some problems we'd prefer to have over others. Given that our problems are in reference to our lives, shouldn't we be more conscious of whether we are dealing with quality problems or not? Quality problems AKA the American dream. Its our progressive nature that I think we should all encourage to reach higher, go longer and live better.

Quality problems, or better put, Mo' money mo' problems.

Self help.

I'm always looking to improve myself, absorbing information everywhere I go, figuring out the things I see. The people I enjoy the most are the ones who enrich my life with their own learnings. You're never too old to keep learning, that's something my dad always says. Hes a pretty old dude, but his mind is still sharp.

Sometimes you'll meet someone who's ashamed to learn. Someone who wants to carry the illusion that they know it all and there isn't much left to learn. I'm more the type that'll swallow my pride and dive head first into something if I really feel passionate about it. I adore constructive criticism. To me, this brings up the subject of strength. Though its an entirely different ball of wax, I believe strength isn't when you decide you are a certain way and stick to it, but instead when you have an opinion and defend it and when faced with over whelming evidence, you may reconsider your views.

I'm still young enough right now to where I can shamelessly learn about whatever and make mistakes here and there. I would hope by the next decade, when I'm 30, I'd be able to minimize this margin of error and come as close to perfection as I can be. Couldn't you imagine it being embarrassing to be 30 and still not know how to drive a car? Just throwing that out there as an example.

But at the core of what I'm saying.. We shouldn't be ashamed or embarrassed to seek information and knowledge. We have the Internet at our finger tips and a whole universe to learn about. We shouldn't be ashamed to be actively searching for ways to better ourselves. I wish we'd all agree to get our heads out off our asses and just do what we need to do to improve ourselves! I started pondering all this when I realized being in the self help section of a bookstore was slightly taboo and embarrassing. I don't feel like it should be that way.

Alone at a party...

We've all been there, assuming you have let's open with this..

Why is it that people text to make themselves look important at parties/or any awkward situation? We've all seen it/done it. Why do we need that sort of gratification? Why must we appear to other like were above what's goin on here and should be "over there" having a way better time? And most of all, who the fuck cares?

I'm asking a bunch of questions I know the answers to. Of course we want to feel important. Of coarse being alone sucks, though a lot of us deny ever feeling alone.

I have a better word for being alone. I call it being lonely, the two are different you know? You could want to be alone, privacy is nice right? But I don't think anyone wants to feel lonely. Lonelyness is a type of pain I suppose. That's why we try to cover it up with bullshit texting to a signifegent other or friend who is absent.

I was never for this sorta cover up. Anyone who knows me can see I'm not a big texter. Though I do write alot of these posts on my phone so that could be seen/taken in the same way. Whatever.

So next time you're at a party and, you don't know/like any body.. Or it could be all dudes.. Or like, there's an awkward mix of heads.. Or everyone there is ugly or something.. There are 2 things I would say to do.

One, you could really step out of your shell and make some connections. You could stop being that shallow empty person I know deep down you are and talk to someone you normally wouldn't talk to.. Note: someone being ugly is not a good reason to avoid them. It means your an ugly gross person on the inside and it will be that much harder for you to find people that will truely love you for you. Fuck you, I already hate you.

And the other is.. Just dip. Leave the party. Don't be rude and standoffish, just be like, hey, It was nice meeting you blah blah blah, I had fun(even though you clearly didn't, I don't think you will be punished for this sorta lie) and get going. There will be another party. I didn't beleive this at first but have come to accept it as a fact.

social (dick) climbers.

Attacking the feeble, talentless, short-cut-taking, rim-job-givers of our generation. Something that's been on my to-do list for a while now. Allow me to open with a little story.

Not too long ago, last week even maybe, I went to a party. This was a kinda crazy night. It started around 6 when I got out of class, it was a Friday. I had been invited to a fancy dinner and was wearing a suit. That night also happened to be my sisters birthday, so after the dinner party ended I went with my siblings and company to a bar in the city. I got in using my brothers old ID. Boy that was rad.

So as the night progressed I had a good amount of alcohol in my system. Much more then is safe to drive with. So after spending some time in this bar I decide to leave to head to a friend's house party that I had previously agreed to attend. Normally I would be over it but I wanted to make an appearance for the sake of getting to know some of my newer friends at FIT.

So my brother gives me a ride to my friends apartment where the party is happening. Upon entering I am greeting with great enthusiasm, like I just performed a miracle or something. "Every jonns here!", I am really drunk at this point and all I could think to do is match the hype. I make my round giving high fives and hugs to everyone I knew. I was really excited and at that point really glad I came!

So I'm just hangin around for a while introducing myself to people I had yet to meet. For a moment there is a break in company and a young lady makes her way in front of me. I'm paraphrasing but she basically says; I noticed everybody was really excited when you came in, I like your suit, we must be friends! I thought she was nice but at the same time was received in a very artificial/superficial way. Clearly she saw my huge social dick and wished to climb it as if some sorta bean stalk leading her to a better tommorrow. Sorry, not this life time.

We made small talk for a minute and discussed school. We both went to FIT and If I remember correctly she was a fashion design major. I would imagine social climbing is encouraged in such a field, perhaps even taught as a curriculum. I guess what stood out to me about this particular encounter was how blatant here social climbing approach was.

I mean, we all do it, some of us even make a grand career out of social climbing. Take Cory Kennedy(not the skater) for example. She had to suck that gross Cobra Snake dude's cobra snake. If you don't know what I'm talking about, once again, do your pop culture research.

So the issue here that I'm addressing is really that, sometimes when we social climb, we lose sight of our self worth. And others who find themselves constantly at parties "making connections" end up just being worthless all together. Who wants to stay connected to a useless loser whose only "talent" is uploading pictures of parties to his/her Tumblr?

we met on the train. [part 3]

previously on [part 2]

Part III.

As I was approaching my stop I let her know what a pleasure it was to meet her. Being trapped on a subway train durring rush hour is a miserable experience-any New Yorker will tell you this. A saying that comes to mind is "misery loves company" and it's true what they say-bad thing really do bring people together. When we were talking it could of been 3 hours that passed-I wasn't paying attention. Though it was probly alot less then that.

When I got off the train I was just reflecting on the moment. Grinning at the thought. No matter what happends, I can't take back the moment, why would I want to? When I got home I saw my sister and told her of the entire incident in an excited stupor. She's great with listening to my childish adventures/coming of age stories.

As far as ever seeing Zoe again goes, I can't really say. Back on the train ride I gave her a peice of paper to write her name on so I could find her on facebook. You know it's all just a game-whether you play it or not. So I wait till the next day's afternoon to add her on facebook, any longer and I might seem like I don't care at all-or something like that. We'll see how it plays out or if anything happends at all. you can never really say for certain what could happend next.

To be continued...

[part 4]

Cereal is a cop-out

A lot of controversy behind this one. Listen, cereal is Delicious, we all know, but should you really be eating an entire box in one sitting or even having it for more than just breakfast?

Why are you eating all that cereal for anyway? Is it cause you just smoked a fat bowl and cereal is the only thing you can "prepare" that you won't fuck up? Or maybe you're an uncultured dumbass whose idea of "gourmet" is sold in the frozen foods section of BJs/Costco.

You see where I'm coming from? Of course you don't. Alright, so maybe it was a long day and you're too tired to fix yourself a warm meal, perfectly acceptable...once or twice a week. But we both know cereal is your breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack.

You can't help someone who doesn't want your help however you could make 'em feel like shit till they see the light. Beats the hell out of watching on the sideline agonizingly as someone blows it. or you could just not care all together, but then what kinda friend are you?

If you keep up with this blog you might be thinking that I'm overly critical of "losers". That's cause I am. I am because I'm overly critical about myself. A few months ago I was a total loser. Right now I'm working toward being as awesome as I think I am. Consider this my renaissance.

So I'm proud to say I've had the same box of special K on top my fridge for a month now, it's a little more then a half box. It was hard, had to seek rehab, attend cereal anonymous, milk arrest.. Tough habit to break. At some point I needed it so bad, I used water!

Just kidding, I would never do that. Boy I'm kinda a snobb huh?