Is everything you say or do your fault…? Maybe maybe not

Everything you say to me
Takes me one step closer to the edge
And I’m about to break
I need a little room to breathe
Cause I’m one step closer to the edge
And I’m about to break

-“One Step Closer” by Linkin Park

Amazing what life brings you some days and I can say that sometimes things are meant to be and other times they are not to be. I know sometimes that I complain about things that have happened in my life such as opportunities that I could have had, arguments that I have had with family and friends, money, food, my weight, and other small things in life. The fact is that in my opinion these are things that I can change and as you get older you realize that it is someone’s choice if they want to continue the way things are. I remember almost three years ago I was sitting in my Psychology class and my professor stated that if someone has been at a job for a long time some people say that he is “loyal” but in other circumstances it could be that he has worries that he may not find anything better. I thought to myself that if this person continues to be there because he can’t find anything better then he may as well not complain about where he is. I remember that when I was getting out of high school and I thought about the many possibilities that I could have had in terms of a relationship (more on that on a future post), the friends that I had, and also the idea about finding a job finally. I remember that the whole summer I relaxed and rested up from the long grueling process of finishing high school. I had a good set of friends from high school left and I complained that they embarrassed me sometimes. I felt that was quite a jerky move on my part and if I felt that way then I should say so but the truth was that looking back I felt that me and my high school buddies were quite a great group. I told one of my friends that I felt embarrassed around him but he understood fully afterwords that I had my words to say. I remember when I was looking for my first job at the Big red Machine originally and I complained for a few weeks that I was deserving of the job. I told myself and I got encouragement from my parents as well that I should keep looking and I did. I got disappointment after disappointment and on most of them I wouldn’t get a response or I would get a “thanks but no thanks” type response. I was complaining after most of those times but when I finally got that opportunity to work at my first job I was proud and faithful that I would do well. I kept my head up afterwords and I can proudly say that I’ve done well being there. It hasn’t always been pleasant but I’ve made the best of it. But it is interesting when I hear people complain and myself at times as well. I remember a few days ago my mom was getting ready to go take a few photos with her granddaughter and I picked her up from her job in Palo Alto. The kicker was that she asked her granddaughter’s mom to give her a ride. I gladly offered that I would take her to my uncle’s house which is where the shoot would be. However, she insisted that her granddaughter’s mom would take her and she complained about how she is never ready and always doing things at the last minute. I listened and I made small comments here and there but I understood right there that trusting someone with a task like that is not easy. Hearing my mom say that made me realize that if we want to get things done in life we have to rely on those that you know you don’t have ask constantly. People have to be there for one another and it’s a task of wanting to do it and not having to do it. This is one example of complaining and it being your fault but I read a story the other day that was an eye opener. I was browsing across some wrestling forums and I stumbled across the topic of wrestling books. I found that former booker, manager, and writer Dutch Mantell had written a book about being in the wrestling business for so long. He so happened to post a sample chapter about a small but important incident that happened between two wrestlers. Two famous wrestlers from the 1980’s in the NWA were about to engage in a sort pseudo feud and this one was tragic and unfortunate. The names of these wrestlers were Ricky Morton and Tully Blanchard, one of the famous tag team the Rock and Roll express and the other of the famous wrestling stable the Four Horsemen. For weeks, it had been proclaimed that Blanchard was saved by the savior and lord and he had seen the wrongdoings that he had gone through and he proclaimed that he was going on TV to announce his salvation from lord. He was going to go on the famous Christian TV show “The 700 club” and announce his salvation. This show just happened to take place near the Southern part of the United States where back in the day not a lot of people were familiar with famous sports personalities and what not. Now, you ask where does Ricky Morton fit into all this? Well, the funny thing was that Ricky’s wife had been suspecting Ricky of playing her for a fool and messing around with other women. Ricky always proclaimed love for his wife and stated that he had never cheated on her while he was on the road. Usually wrestlers spend a good amount of time away from home and sometimes that paranoia comes into play where the husband or wife might suspect some infidelity. This is where it gets interesting as Ricky’s wife had stated that she had wanted them as a couple to convert to being born again Christians and Ricky felt he could go along with it if it pleased her. Everything was going smoothly and Ricky and his wife felt that they were doing something together rather than the bickering going on amongst themselves. However, it was time for Tully Blanchard to go on the 700 club and state his salvation from alcohol, drugs, pills, and women or ring rats. Tully went on there and talked about how he had led a life and wrong doing and all these things that were in his life were the work of the devil and he saw how much of a bad person he was because of it. He kept talking about all these things and how wrong they were but once he got to the w word then things got pretty interesting. He stated that he was several women most nights and some of them would walk around nude around his hotel room and what not. What I failed to mention was that Ricky and his wife were watching it right while it Tully was talking. Ricky, bless his heart, felt that maybe Tully was working the crowd and he felt that most if not all of what he was saying was a lie. Back to Tully, he was going on about these women and how dirty they were but he did something that would change Ricky’s life forever. Tully talked about these girls going to his room and then he said that they would go to “Ricky Morton’s room” and my jaw just dropped when I read that. Dutch went on to say that Ricky’s wife just stared at him and he knew right then his marriage was over and his wife and the kids ended up moving far away. Ricky never understood why Tully said what he said and he would not see him till about five years later. I found it interesting that Ricky kept his cool about it as he gave Mantell his blessing to write that as a piece in a book. He didn’t complain about it and he knew for a while that his marriage was on shaky ground as it was and maybe the whole Christian thing could have saved him. So maybe some things happen for a reason and sometimes we just take them as experience and life lessons. I can say that whenever I get into a discussion or an argument with my family or my friends I try to respect their opinion as I feel that if we let each other know what the other feels we won’t complain as much as we do. Once again thanks for reading and maybe if you ever feel sad or lonely about life just think it could be worse! Here’s an awesome video:

What in the world was I doing around this time in 2009…

I’m never fessin, possessin the tools that it takes to rock
I think it’s time for the new kid on the block
With a style that’s wild yet so unique
I can’t be stopped from reachin my peak

-Kid on “Kid vs Play (The Battle)”

As I’m writing this I was wondering the other day what was I doing a year ago? I remember that I was embarking on my journey of still working at the big red machine and the stress of Christmas was hindering on me. I was always a second floor person and working with my buddies always seemed more important than actually working. I clearly remember my one time friend Malcolm X was training this guy in the Christmas section named Mark and he seemed pretty decent yet I wasn’t too sure what I thought of him. I remember we were fixing up the store and it was pretty trashed yet I was still intent on working to keep it looking sharp. I also remember being pretty stressed about some assignments that were to be due the following week. I had to do a 10 minute speech in Psychology of adjustment, had 2 papers due in History and I was also had my Psych final the following Tuesday. I knew I had always had a distinct awareness of how much I enjoyed school yet I think the stress I created had a lot to do with how I imagined others would view me. I wanted to do well in everything I did and I was afraid that not only would I fail miserably but I would be letting down everybody that cared about me. I tried my best to manage everything so that I wouldn’t have to do everything at once and what ended up happening was both hilarious and eye revealing. Over the next few days I started writing my first paper on “Coming of Age in Mississippi” and I started getting more and more confident as the writing of the paper continued yet I still had the thought in the back of my head that my speech on “Just Friends” that monday would bomb. A few days prior to the actual speech I had no real plan on what I would say because I had to give a summary of the book and the strong points of the book itself. I had no powerpoint which I thought would just be a waste of time and I had no desire to show my book through slides and pictures. I also was nervously waiting whether my friend who had just quit the Machine would ever come back or was it just an illusion to make me think he was my friend? I tried my best to stay in touch with him but I thought at the time he was adjusting to his new job and he was striving to stay on the right path. Anyway, I also remember the Thursday before finals week my last class with John Gravener consisted of him giving us a low down on what was to be expected for the final. He wanted us to write ANOTHER paper which blew my mind because I couldn’t believe how many papers I had to write. It was take home and it was due the next friday which I found fine but I was stressing having to believe that I now had to write a total of three papers in the span of one week! So, now I had a full workload and I also felt I had to this for myself as well. For me, staying busy is the number one goal people should strive for yet there is room for relaxation when everything is dealt with. I also remember my brother telling me that Sunday that we should take our dog Paloma to get her yearly shots for Rabbies and what not. I was in complete awe of what was ahead of me for the next week but I prepared myself like a beast. I thought the best way to do the essay on the Anne Moudy Mississippi book that I had to read it before hand and I could half ass it either. So, I finished reading the book then I began writing the essay which wasn’t easy but it wasn’t difficult either. I wrote every word like I meant as I learned from there that you have to write every word with pride. I also planned something foolish as well which was to prepare my speech for Monday and know what I was going to say then do my Cold War paper the next day Tuesday. The preparation of the speech was the most challenging one because I had no idea how Dr.Ward would respond to my speech as I knew she had must have been exhausted from watching a great deal of speeches about a different variety of books. So, what I did was I had gone through the chapters the week before jotting down notes on what was important and how that it is related to the field of Psychology. I knew I should have done it while I was still reading the book but it worked out fine. Then came sunday which was one of my favorite days from last year. That day was special because not only did the Raiders come back that day and handle the Steelers a loss, but I saw my dog get her shots and got to see her interact with other dogs and that is always a treat because she rarely gets to do that. That day, I also got to close electronics which due to Anele, I was given the chance to show my skills and how I would handle it. I was proud of myself that day because I worked my ass off and I was ready the next day for my speech as I had done my best to at least memorize some parts of it and when I got home that night I looked at key parts once again and I started repeating them to myself. I remember I had just that class that day and I dawned my Arizona jeans with my anchor blue sweater and I got a haircut that my classmate Matt applauded me for. I felt nervous but when I got up there I felt comfortable and ready to speak. As soon as the first words popped out of my mouth, I was rolling and that had to be the most challenging part of that week because I couldn’t bear standing there and speaking but I ended up doing very well and getting a 115/120 total. My other papers seemed to be a breeze and I couldn’t put my finger on it but when I finished that finals week I felt I had done well enough to say that I’m doing well in life. I told myself after that, no matter what happens, this had to be one of the best things that could have happened to me. It’s always good to remember these old memories so if you ever find yourself in stressful situations, don’t put yourself down, if you keep getting knocked down, try again and you’ll be fine.