As Thanksgiving approaches us and people rush to stores to spend money, I thought I would jot down some things I and everyone should be thankful for. Here they are:
Money:
You might be thinking this one is obvious but I have seen that over the past year that saving and spending money are two different things. At the end of last year, I went with my mom to our favorite store, the Big Red Machine, and I ended spending a good chunk of money. The ironic part was that I had no idea that I was paying that night because my mom had not informed me of that part. I went off on her and I told her about the fact that I have no money at all and why should I be paying if it’s not for me anyway. I regret that because I felt so horrible after that and I realized that was probably my fault for assuming that my mom was going to pay for everything in my home. Ever since then, little by little, I have realized that my mom isn’t going to buy my food and assume right away that I’m going to like what she cooks to eat. I have taken initiative to look up recipes and see which ones are within my range and how I can work with it. That’s obviously one piece of a puzzle, but another one was saving up to go to Mexico which ended up being not bad at all. I remember my mom told me in June that she was thinking of going to Mexico in August which I said ok whatever I’ll stay here and hopefully wait for a Math class to open up. The problem was, I wasn’t ready for a math class even if I didn’t go to Mexico because of all the classes that got filled up pretty fast and also the fact that I wasn’t ready mentally as well in terms of what problems looked like. So, the money I used for Mexico could have been used for school as well which could have gone either way in terms of how it went. Once I started seeing that Mexico probably only would cost me about 400 Bucks I said let’s do it and bam before you knew it I was there. I saved and I did it by looking at what was necessary and what wasn’t. For example, my dog needs a haircut and shower every four months so that’s a good 40-60 bucks along with her food which I now buy every three months instead of once a month. The little things end up adding up so making 5 trips to the same gym a week adds up on gas mileage and instead the easiest way is to reduce that to 3 trips and then go to the other gym right next to my house 2 times a week. This made it easier and now I have started saving 50 bucks a month and putting it into savings just to be safe. I may never know if I might get sick like I did a year ago or I may not have enough money to pay for something really necessary. So a big lesson I have learned from this is saving money can lead to great things if used properly.
My brother
Many people can’t say that they like their brother but I do and I almost consider him my best friend. I have been to three wrestling shows with my brother this year and they were all loads of fun. I have been especially curious about the fact that we hardly get mad at each other and I think that has to do with the fact that growing up we didn’t fight that much. Other than the fact that we have had a few disagreements, we always stay in touch and text each other almost every day and I see him about two or three times a week. (My parents as well but they are just awesome all together)
Netflix
Say what you will about the price increase of netflix, but I have gotten to enjoy it because of the fact that helping out my brother paying for it has been something I feel great about. Not only do I get to pay about 8 bucks a month, but I am the only person that has any interest in ordering movies and I can order whatever I feel like. It has really been great being able to view films such as 17 Again, Gran Torino, Cape Fear, and a host of other films that I have ordered through the service.
Optimism
I am glad that this thing known as optimism exists because without I don’t know where I would be. Sometimes, I get down about situations where I failed and think back well at least I tried my best without at giving up. A good example is one of my goals this year of losing 15 pounds by the end of the year and as most people know you have to eat. When I do eat, I might gain that weight back that I already had burned off. I enjoy going to the gym despite this, but it is good knowing that I do go to the gym and I am doing something well for the gym. I get optimistic about the various ways that I can also lose weight including doing intensive work at my job instead of complaining about the fact that there is nothing to do. Another way that I have been able to be optimistic is when I end up reading a book and I am optimistic about the fact that I have learned something or I have gained some sort of knowledge from so many words and pages that have been written on paper. Whether this is a book for school or for my own personal interest, it doesn’t really matter because either way I have wanted to be engaged in that form of storytelling. There are many ways to be optimistic and everyone should try it sometime.
Wrestling:
Say what you will about wrestling and the prototypical sayings about it but what I have seen in wrestling this year is a different way that wrestling has impacted me. First, there is the strange new way of the introduction of social media into wrestling and the many new avenues of integrating into life. I remember earlier this year I was doing an assignment for Geography and I said to myself, there is always a way to entertain myself when doing homework so I started my ritual of taking a break. I looked around the pro wrestling forums and saw that former WWE writer Dave Lagana (big shout out to Lagana you helped me get through many mornings of schooling and what not) had started a podcast dedicated to having former writers on there. He had names that you would never hear about but when you heard there stories, they made you feel like any work environment is just like the WWE. I saw this then translate to another avenue such as Twitter and hearing celebrities and wrestlers alike impact people with small news feeds and tweets, it made me feel like everyone has a voice and hearing it you can agree with it or not. Another way that I am thankful for it is having the many great wrestling matches that I have seen whether it has been the great series of matches between Randy Orton and Christian or watching the best of WCW Nitro on a plane on the way to Mexico. There idea was to convey a story onto a screen and they did such a great job of it. In most ways, watching these wrestling matches you gain a sense of thankfulness for how hated or how likeable a guy might seem. I still cheer in my heart for guys like the NWO because you wanted to wreak havoc just like they did back in the day when you were younger. Watching now, it has an even bigger cool factor to it because they were from the other company and you wondered how they pulled that off. One of my favorite moments in particular that I have been thankful for however, has been when CM Punk on June 27th 2011 had a worked shoot and it was ironic because I feel asleep right before he cut the promo and I was upset that I missed it. The next day I woke up the and put it on again this time not being disappointed. This gave me hope for wrestling even it just was for a bit and I have been a fan of his work for the longest time but this made me an even bigger fan at this point. When I saw him in person, it was awesome just to see what he would say and he said it with pure honesty and vigor that you felt the emotion. The “Summer of Punk” was one of the favorite times of this year and I continue watching just to see what he’ll say.
As you can see, I have been quite thankful fora few things and everyone should be so let’s thank those we see today and next time I’ll be posting my “Soundtrack of 2011”.
Just Another Day... 