Tag: Time

Top ten series: Top 10 things learned from wrestling (Pt.2)…

Posted on by anele25

Here is part of the top 10 series and this one has some very interesting things that I have noticed over the years as wrestling has evolved…

5. The person makes the title

Whenever a team wins a championship or a title it means something. The 2004 Red Sox after they had won their world series made that title seem important because they fought so hard to get to it. They had been in such a struggle to get to the world series in the first place that you couldn’t help but be proud of the team. They had the right cast of characters as well as the right amount of chemistry amongst all of them. In wrestling, one of the greatest champions of all time, Hulk Hogan, gave that title meaning because who didn’t like the guy growing up? He would beat every bad guy that stepped in his way and he made it seem so har to defend. It seemed as if every guy that came across his path knew they had a chance but he knocked them down before they had a chance to even win. He also gave the company where he had the title a little bit of credibility. He would appear on TV shows, ads, and what not. If you’re going to be that company’s champion you have to represent your company with pride and dignity as no one is going to give you chance if you don’t promote yourself just a bit. He basically built up the title and he carried it everywhere making it seem important. The length of the run also was very important because not only did he seem like a fighting champion but it was during a time when there was so much talent around the world. It could have been possible that any other guy would be champion but he carried that title with such a attitude and the way he got the crowd behind him was nothing short of amazing. He actually made you believe that he could beat anybody up without hesitation. Titles, I believe, were made to enhance wrestlers but the wrestler could actually enhance the title if done correctly. There are certain wrestlers that make the title due to the strong reactions they may get from the crowd that they are entertaining. Nevertheless, in our society today where we crave for change constantly it is much more difficult to have that title mean much of anything. We may get sick of seeing someone on TV constantly that has the title but that is our job as fans. The choice comes down between how we want to see our heroes and villains portrayed. This is what I mean by how the person makes the title which is constant enhancement and how they defend. They may see that title as a treasure, a special object, and once that is completed we can better identify how that character goes about his business. There are also certain figures in wrestling that keeps this going and one of my favorites.

4. Authority figures never get their way.

For some strange reason, authority figures never seem to get their way. This person can be the general manager, the commissioner, the person in charge, or just a president type figure. I don’t what it is but we as audience find a way to find this funny and tragic. I’m sure most of wish that our bosses or persons above us would stop bothering us and let us do our jobs. However, we really can’t say much back because we like making money and most real jobs have a steady income. One of the more memorable runs of an authority figure, Vince Mcmahon, came out on TV and declared himself as the CEO of his company after years of sitting behind an announcing desk. This resulted in one of the best of all time, Steve Austin, to make a run at him for being corrupt and taking advantage of his wrestlers. This included putting the classic shield that would block Austin to getting to Mcmahon and every week from 1998-1999 they would be up ending one another. It was entertaining television due to the characters involved as well as the realism that came along with it. It wasn’t so much that we wanted each person to lose but we kind of wanted the anti hero to get his reward for all the wrong that had been done to him. One of the examples that comes right to mind is when Mcmahon would send two of his top wrestlers, Kane and Undertaker, to essentially attack Austin and have him lose the coveted WWE championship. We badly wanted the authority figure to get what was coming to him but he always found a way to make sure that our hero was not to get his way. I can clearly remember him saying that you can either do things the easy way or the hard way. I find this amazing that even in the face of adversity that most of the time when our backs are against the wall we find a way to come up with other options or sometimes we make the wrong choice. The authority figure, seeing that he chose the wrong choice (the hard way), essentially didn’t get his way because the good guy always found a way to screw the boss over. As I heard a few months ago, everyone wants the be the guy shooting the gun from a helicopter, smoking a cigar, and getting the girl at the end. What’s interesting is that we follow our heroes and sometimes we may even want to be them. That is what is so cool about wrestling. We, as fans, get to see the impossible become possible through fake storylines. They may not always be truthful but in this case the authority figure acted like a dastardly bad guy and he got what was coming to him. Typically, this is what happens in movies as we hope that the story will slowly develop to include the struggle between good and evil. The good wins most of the time but the fact that we finally got to see and end always some sort of special ring to it. Lesson learned here: it is very hard being an authority figure.

3. You pay to see the bad get his butt kicked by your hero

Basically, I summed this up in the above post but I did want to add something. I believe that for this to happen right there has to be a reason as to why the hero wants to beat up the bad guy. The feud can’t just happen because there jealous of each other because then your audience would be very confused. There has to be a clear definition as to who the bad guy and who the good guy is. The classic example for me is when Eddie Guerrero was chasing the championship against Brock Lesnar. We wanted Eddie to succeed because he had turned his life around professionally and personally. The champion, Lesnar, was so good at being an asshole that he would be making fun of the Latino culture and he would give Guerrero crap for all that he had gone through. The line had been drawn as to who was who and we were given a reason to care as to why Eddie was going to win. The chase was on and we wanted him to see him win. The feud lasted a month but what came across as simple actually worked. As the saying goes, keep it simple stupid. The more logic and flow the storyline between the good guy and bad guy makes sense the more we understand each character’s motive. I can see why the bad guy what he does because he may have different motivations than the good guy. The good guy may want to redeem himself while the bad guy may want to teach the other guy a lesson. It all makes sense and it is nothing more than a pattern. It is almost like a cycle that never ends that keeps going.

2. Good crowd psychology means making the fans react to anything you do

I am fascinated as to how crowds and wrestlers can change the structure of a match by hitting the right moves and the right timing for everything. Bret Hart was a master of this as he would get the crowd chanting his name whenever he was down and he would do a good job at getting the crowd at caring about him. The facial expressions, the holds he would put on, the spots where he would work a different part of the body, and this all made sense. The greatest match I believe I’ve ever seen was done in the United Kingdom between British Bulldog and Bret as there was move after move that the crowd reacted to. Bret was working the back, the legs, the neck, and even the face. This is something that is important in any wrestling match because we start to understand the vulnerabilities of the opposing wrestler. Sometimes, fans complain about a certain wrestler’s moveset and the small number of moves they may do. The way Bret would pace himself made me actually care how he constructed his matches. He would do restholds and the restholds are very important because they make the crowd slow down. The slowing down is almost like in a movie where there is dialogue and little action. The action and highspots consists of us reacting and going geez that was such an awesome move. It is like Jake Roberts once said, we go expecting some fake wrestling but then we remark to our friends and those around us as to how awesome that particular move was. In most cases, the less you do the more it means. Another wrestler who was excellent at this was Rick Rude. Unfortunately, Rude had a somewhat shortened career but he was always one of my favorites. He would have very simple moves like strikes to the neck, back breakers, body slams, and and occasional move from the top rope.  I believe doing this is important because if the wrestlers care how they construct their stories the easier it’ll be for the audience to understand. One more thing I forgot to mention is the art of losing and how that may get the audience behind you even more. This is apart of crowd psychology because the loser of the match may come out looking stronger because he put up a losing effort but he gave it his best. We cheer for the guy that did his best which he calculated he would do based on how the match was going for him. All in all, psychology is the basis and ground as to how you build a match up and what the end result is as well.

1. The characters we see on TV are just exaggerated versions of themselves

The awesome characters we see on TV are built from the people themselves and that is something that is always welcome. One of the few times that I have observed that the term “be yourself” has worked was when they gave Mick Foley in WWE a chance to be a toned down version of Cactus Jack that was seen in Japan and WCW. This character was brutal and could fight a good match with just about anybody. What I believed this showed of Foley that he was very giving to the profession of wrestling and he cared about giving back to the fans in attendance. He put his body on the line almost every night as he was good at drawing a reaction from the crowd. You could see the development as to how he would have his hardcore matches as the match would go back and forth almost like a slugfest that had big consequences for both guys. Another fellow that was great at this was Jim Cornette. Even though he was just a manager, he would put over the next tag team over and you could see that he actually cared about the next match or event that was coming up. Little did we know, Cornette had an opinion for just about everything and this is what makes wrestling so great. You have these guys that are everyday people just like you and I. The difference is that they are actually on TV speaking about or talking about what is upcoming. The goal for most managers back in the day was to sell tickets and make us to go see shows. I can truly say the funniest and most random character that came across television was Brian Pillman. Pillman, who was small and had a heart condition, was very competitive for his size and he did it with precision. The way he came across was very one dimensional but there was something about him that made him different. He would wrestle big guys, small guys, and even medium sized guys. It was only a few years later that his character and wrestling ability came full circle. He had this crazy character that was on TV that was simple yet he would always shoot from the hip. He would say what was beaming in his head and he never let his guard down. I believe what Brian did was that he let himself loose, hence the name loose cannon. This character was the beginning of the many characters that would come across as being angry and pissed off all the time. The point here is that there are all sorts of characters that make us laugh, cry, cringe, get angry, be joyous, or just make us feel good inside. Sometimes, being you is what is important in life and so it is in wrestling. These guys didn’t get into it to please others as there goal was to be a fast rising star and the only to do that was to be their own character. If it is something we had never seen before, then bless you because you are so unique. The uniqueness of something or anything is welcome because we may just be surprised even more so than before. If it is something we have seen before, then bless you because at least you are putting your own spin on it. The very few that have attempted this have come across as resilient, upcoming, and trying to prove a point. Taking elements from different kinds of characters may also be something that is certainly welcome because who knows if you throw crap against the wall it may just work. Wrestling is something that is very special to me and I’m sure there is something that we all have a passion for whether it’s on TV or it’s something we do as a hobby. I can say that in almost 20 years as wrestling fan and all the technology we have now that I have not stopped learning about the sport and entertainment that I see. Wrestling rules!

Till next time on the Top Ten series…

 

Part 3 of Top 10 series 2011,2012, and a little 2013…

Posted on by anele25

Last time, I started talking about how some of the classes I had taken in 2010 had started making sense and at last 2011 was my last year at De Anza. I had many conversations with counselors, friends, family, and others throughout these years. 2011 was a fun year because of the new goals I set for myself and some of them I did accomplish. 2012 was the year I finally became who I wanted to be and I discovered a few things about myself and my peers. 2013 so far has been amazing even though there have been some ups and downs. So, in 2011 the revelation came to me that I was getting old and I couldn’t be at community college forever. I also started seeing another side of my job that I couldn’t possibly imagine. There was also a few things I wish I would have done differently but it was for the better and so 2011 began with a bang and a whimper.

2011- Taking small breaks can set you up for failure or success

At the beginning of the year, I started by looking at the classes I was taking and my life. The classes I was taking were for fun and for what it was worth I felt less motivated than I used to. The Anthropology class that I took was taking the perspectives of culture and how they were integrated into our society. My geography class was taken from a perspective of looking at the world and how it functioned from the rivers, the locations, the weather, and the populations involved. The Latin American class was so much fun due to the interaction and the chemistry that the professor implemented amongst everyone. However, during Valentine’s day I started feeling a little pain in my kidney and on the left side of my body. I knew what this was but I had no idea how to control this because it was during a school day. I had had kidney stones before but I had no idea how to let it go other than drink lots of water. I called my doctor’s office and he made me an appointment for the next week. I saw him and he sent me to a specialist that dealt with this kind of issue. I found out a few weeks later that I had Polycystic Kidney Disease which I have documented before on this blog. I take medication for this and the good thing is that my blood pressure has gone down immensely since then. Of course, I remember the lesson I learned from this was that some things are better left unsaid because I found out some time later that it was a hereditary disease. My mom had it when she was pregnant with me and so there it was that I told myself that I had to start eating healthier and doing more exercise. I had my gym membership but I kept making the excuse that the gym was too far and I couldn’t make time. I started making time before midnight and/or during the weekend at night after work. Ever since then, I have made vow to at least go 3-5 times a week and I have felt great ever since. I also started figuring out that I had to start building my bank account back up because at this time I had little to no money. I wasn’t afraid any more of saying no to someone at the request of spending a substantial amount of money. So, the fun part was saving money and making sure that my money was being spent carefully instead of being taken for granted. I was so happy at this point but my classes were taking a toll on me because I really didn’t know where to go after this quarter. I had taken virtually every class necessary that I needed but I had no clue what else to take. One day, I got on assist.org to check what I needed to transfer and I thought nothing of it because I was afraid of how I would do in the classes. I thought I would be able to take Intermediate Algebra in the spring quarter but because I had already dropped it four times I was unable to take it (although at the time I was unaware of this). I ended up taking three pretty useless classes in the spring (Political movements, Environmental science, and Weight training). Once again they were fun but I had already gotten to used to this routine and I really had to do something different. If I wanted to get to that next level, I needed help and that I did get. When the quarter was coming to an end, I had a long talk with a good friend and a few other people in my life. These talks resulted in me coming to the realization that A) Maybe I was just burnt out from all these years of taking these classes which amounted to a lot of units (180 or so to that point) and B) There were really only four more classes I needed to take (two of which I dreaded and two of which were stimulating). I was ready for a new challenge and I started thinking that De Anza was the answer but it was not to be. I went there once to see if I could take Intermediate Algebra one more time and one counselor said it was fine but when I went to take my paper to see if I could the admissions said that I couldn’t so I was super pissed after this. I sat down for the next few days pondering what I should do and I went to see another counselor but this one encouraged me to take Intermediate Algebra at Mission College and stay there to take Stats. Of course, the other option was to take it at Mission and come back to De Anza to take stats. This would be the beginning of a long year in 2012. So, from June 2011 to January 2012 I took an almost seven month break and to be honest I did need it. I got to see my job from a morning perspective and I was seeing what it was like to start at 6 in the morning. Looking back at my project 365, I see how my idea of memory and mind stimulating pictures can bring about a moment and a time in life. Some of them make me think that 2011 was a fun and strange time because the breaks in life are far and few between. I would be working out and working most of the time making me think that I was doing something wrong but I said to myself that this was necessary for myself. I had no time to breathe and this was the first time I saw from another perspective what it’s like to just relax a little bit. I started doing a few things on my own like cooking, cleaning, and helping around my house. I also took a long vacation to Mexico and afterwards I started applying to colleges which, I didn’t know this at the time, was a test run to filling out an application. The ultimate lesson that I learned from these down times was you really need a short break sometimes to see what it’s like and if you need to figure out a few things then so be it. You may not always succeed but you’re not always going to fail either. I started looking at 2012 as a challenge and as a chance to succeed at a higher level. I read a few books on Algebra so that helped out a little bit because I was challenging myself to do better than I should be doing (boy it was fun in 2012). The new challenge was preparing myself for a new school which I knew little about other than a few meetings with a good friend there. Mission college, I was there for a year and a half and it was some of the most fun I had. I saw the school and I started wondering what kind of people I would meet here? I was getting better at meeting people and introducing myself to others. When I sit down somewhere or I go to a function I know where I want to sit and I give myself a bit of time to observe the situation that is ahead of me. This is something I was getting myself acquainted during these down times as I started meeting and working with others to better myself. My personality started coming out and from this I learned some great things. 2011 was a great year and some of this is documented in my project 365 which is something I look back on to remind me of all the fun and weird times. 2012 was a different and complete 365 due to some even stranger people I met. Let’s just say that it was from this year that I finally accomplished a few goals and I made a 180 on a stance I had.

2012- Being optimistic but cautious brings about a smart and creative thinker

The first thing I learned about 2012 was that you’ll never fail unless you really try. The months of January-May was filled with self doubt and optimism. The first reason I say this is because at work I started having fun and most of self doubt was gone. Most people at my job seem down most of the time and I started taking on the role of vanguard. This was because I hated seeing people down in the dumps about the job I had to do but I kept reminding them that they were getting paid for this. I started by inquiring about people’s lives rather than talking all the time about myself. Those first few months had me thinking that challenges were mounting because at first when I took Algebra at 8 in the morning I wouldn’t be able to do it. But, most of the time when I was taking it I started asking myself how bad did I want it? How bad did I want to graduate from college in a degree in Psychology? I would ask a good friend in that class about some of his study habits and we would share about some of the issues we had with the material. The professor was helpful if you asked and that’s what I most enjoyed when she would teach. She wasn’t great but I believe she actually did care about the class she was teaching. The key in this case was trying because I would try hard in the class and I believed my professor saw this as she would give me some compliments on my problems that I did on my homework and quizzes. It was some of the most challenging material I have had to grasp in my life and I wasn’t afraid because if I failed I knew I at least tried. I would do horrible on some of the quizzes/tests but on some of them I would do great as some material was easier to grasp. I ended up taking a less than favorable grade into the final and I knew that if I wanted to get past this I needed to pull an all nighter. The day of May 20th-May 21st is a day that will go down in infamy as it was the longest night of my life that lasted until 5 in the morning. I looked at everything and realized that I wanted this badly and I started getting it as test time was approaching. Once I sat down, I knew the material and what was even better was that she gave us the choice of choosing the problems we wanted to do on the test. I ended up doing better in the class than I had anticipated and I got a C which was good enough to move onto Stats (more on this fun and strange situation later). The other two classes (Psychobio and weight training) were both great to learn a little more about our functions of the body and in one of them I ended up meeting two very cool classmates that worked in there just as hard as I did. The class was weight training combined with cross training but I learned so much about what a true workout really is. I didn’t think about this until now but taking that class made me a much more enthusiast for exercise. It doesn’t matter how in shape or out of shape a person may be but what matters is that you try your hardest to give all the effort you can. Psychobio was simple and easy because it was online and all we really needed to do was three exams, a question every week, and a paper. This class was one of the classes I needed to transfer and it was much simpler than I would have thought. I was a little afraid because Mission was so close yet so far away at 8 in the morning. It was a whole new school but I did meet some great people in that first semester. I ended up making a good friend in Algebra that helped me a little bit when I had a question and vice-a- versa. What motivated me towards the end of the semester was a good friend that I met at work which I have documented in an earlier blog post about and I have to say it was so fun hanging out with her as I learned how to live life again. We would do all sorts of fun stuff together like eat out together, watch a few movies together, and share a few laughs at work. I figured that I needed to do well in my classes of doing well in my classes for her because I didn’t want to look defeated in her eyes. I learned from this whole experience that friendships can only take you far and sometimes our emotions get the best of us. I would write more about her but the past that her and I had is something I’ve already let out enough about here and it was a very small period in my life that lasted  8 months. Anyway, in the summer was the first time that I happened to take classes and one I did well in and the other was just a blurb. Human Biology was the first of classes that I realized that not everything is easy as they say it’s going to be. So, what do you do? You find a group of people and you form a kick ass group. I happened to get lucky with mine because I saw the middle table where I picked to sit and I said this looks right. It was a group of girls and I was little intimated at first but I said maybe they’ll help me with my fear of talking to girls consistently? As the semester wore on, our group got smaller and bigger as it became clear that this class was not cut out for everyone. I was lingering on the border of a B and a high C for the longest time in  the class and so were both of my group mates that remained in my group. This taught me that if you want to perform well in a summer class (or any class for that matter) you have to find the right people to get into your circle and integrate them with a system that you all find fitting. For example, if we wanted to do well in our class we had to study in the morning and in the afternoon together because if we all studied we knew what we were talking about. I ended up getting a B in that class with the help of my group mates and a little bit of handy writing on a term paper that took me 5 days to write (and it wasn’t easy material). On the other hand, my basket was full with doing Stats almost every day this time last year and I was completely lost because of the online class portion. I didn’t know what certain symbols in stats meant and this hindered me for most of the session because I really didn’t know where to go to ask for help. In those 6 weeks, I did horribly on the quizzes and the tests and I ended up failing the class. I gave it a try but what was most important was that I tried and I got some experience under my belt. But, a great opportunity arose with the integration of a fall class that was hybrid and it met once a week and it happened to be on my day off. I was stoked to have this opportunity once again and the good thing was that this was the only class I needed to transfer to a university and it was 16 weeks instead of 6. I ended up grasping the material much better this time due to timing, studying, not stressing about other classes, and getting plenty of rest along with the homework, tests, and quizzes. The best part was that everyone was helping each other out in the online portion and the professor was more than willing to help out anyone that had questions. In this class, I ended up with a much better grade of a B and because of my confidence in my ability to finish this class I ended up applying to two universities. One I got into (San Jose State) and the other was only taking AA-T degrees so I think I ended up making a good choice. I started realizing that my journey at community college was surely coming to an end. All the tests, presentations, quizzes, homework, and papers written had been worth it as I had a clear variety of skills. I didn’t slack off in the dire time when I had little reason to take these classes but I just wanted to learn. It didn’t matter if it was a speech requirement that I had already fulfilled, I just wanted to see the other side of what this field was like. I took so many classes that life became fun. I believe that is what life is about as I stated in the title that you have to be optimistic but cautious because you never know what may hit you. It could be personal, you may have to take a journey that takes you somewhere into the unknown, or you may just be looking for answers. Being a smart and creative thinker can also add fruits to life because when a bad situation arises you identify what you need to do and realize that there are solutions to almost every problem. I have come to know who I am these last ten years because I went through so much, personally and professionally. It doesn’t matter if it was good or bad. What mattered is that you saw what came and you took care of what needed to be done in your life at that point in time. Hopefully in 2023, I’ll be writing a blog on the years of 2013-2022 and just maybe I’ll be married, with kids, and a great job but until then here’s a bit of 2013 has brought me (a list to look back on in 2023)

2013- Only expect the best possible effort from yourself

  • Another strange disease (keratoconus)
  • An awkward friend
  • More stimulating conversations with baseball fans and others
  • The Oakland A’s proved that 2012 wasn’t a fluke
  • This time around I’m on my way to a university to get my bachelor’s degree
  • Long walks to Mountain View and Los Gatos
  • More time=longer workouts
  • Helping out more than usual at my house
  • Becoming a little more helpful to others
  • Knowing how I became who I am

Top ten series: Part 2 of 3 2008-2010…

Posted on by anele25

Here is the second part of 3 installments of the top ten things learned from 2003-2012 and it is going to be rocky, polished, and some feelings will be hurt. The funny thing is that in the span of these three years I learned so much about myself, others, and just how political friendships can become. So, here goes nothing…

2008- Good things come in small doses

At the beginning of the year, I ended up getting my first job and my only job that I have had since then. I remember going through the interview, thinking that if they didn’t hire me I was going to quit job searching and hope that a low end job somewhere else would hire me. The interview, for what it was, went quite well and I answered the questions as honestly as I could and I really couldn’t do much else. The way the interview was constructed made me think that the people at the company were gracious and nice enough to hire someone like me. Once the words were said, “you’re hired”, I was excited and I did my best to contain my feelings towards the opportunity. Starting off, I didn’t know what I was getting into and little did I know, it would be the beginning of many great things to come. My family was very proud of my getting a job because I had been getting my school paid for and they were happy that I would now be able to pay for it on my own. Unfortunately, I also decided to take 4 classes this quarter at De Anza in the winter and one of them ended up being an afternoon class (Intermediate Algebra). The problem was that one of my first shifts was from 2-11 and I had my first test on one of these days. I had to end up dropping the class and this would have a big impact on my future. The quarter went well in terms of what I learned and also what came about in terms of what I wanted to do in terms of a career. I had taken the second level of English and I realized I was a pretty decent writer. I saw that I was able to relate real life situations to literature and this was very important in terms of my development. For example, if I was to write a paper about some short stories I was able to see how one character’s dilemma may translate in real life or how one character’s trust of someone could garner discussion whether it was right or wrong. This was one choice but I also came across some very interesting fields as well. I ended up taking a creative thinking class which helped expand my knowledge and “distinguish bullshit from the real arguments”(according to my teacher). I also saw that business really wasn’t what was for me because it seemed boring and you had take a bunch of math classes which wasn’t fit for what interested me. Later in the spring, I saw what I wanted to do and for good reason. I also got social in terms of meeting tons of new people and understanding how other people work. I saw that making friends with others takes time and talking through more so than ever. For example, when I started getting to know everyone I saw what interested them and I would get into the conversation somehow. The term “be yourself” was something that I would hear later on in life and it really mattered here. I would inquire about certain topics because for one they sounded cool and you wanted to not seem out of the loop. I would also start talking about things that interested me because you never knew if they liked something similar. I can remember meeting two of my good friends at my job and one of them happened to have an Oakland A’s lanyard on their piece. It was so awesome to finally meet another A’s fan and just talking about the team made me realize that sports bond people together. The year I met my friend set the stage for how he and I would become best friends for the next year and a half. We would begin slowly with after work dinners and I must say they put a heavy dent on my wallet. After that, I saw that we were becoming actual friends instead of co-workers. I shared a lot of things with him, including my first crush at the workplace. I would share with him how shy I was and I really wasn’t experienced in approaching girls. He taught little by little that it takes time and fine tuning in order to get that first girl. I must say in that first year we became best buddies and there was more to come. One of my good buddies that I still talk to is an A’s fan and this is where we met. I started realizing that just by talking to both of them raised my confidence a little because they listened to what I had to say. We and a handful of other co-workers were really the core of the place where we worked because we all got along and there was hardly any bad mouthing. I have to say that first year at my job is a run I will never forget because we were a cohesive unit. Learning little by little, you see that hanging outside of your job after work is really good bonding time. You see how the politics work and who is good people in the building. An experience like that kind of set me on my way because I changed my attitude a bit towards how I became approachable and whether I could get along with people or not. In the spring quarter, I took 3 classes and one of them was a personality of psychology which really had me changing my gears in terms of what I wanted to do with my life. It gave the notion that people are so interesting and studies can prove one thing but they can really mean another. I saw how the human mind can work and whether or not we like it, we’re a little crazy and simple minded. I put the wheels in motion of what I wanted to do and it was a while before I really finished what I started. The other two classes (one I dropped due to the class being too early and my stubborness), were fun but the environmental history one with my brother really had me bonding with my brother because we were much older and wiser than we were before. He had helped me a bunch when I was younger so I really got to know him in this period and we would always watch wrestling together or we would just sit down and eat during most afternoons after school. I can remember doing a school project with my brother where we picked up cigarette butts off the school grounds and it was a little pointless but it was for a better cause and a grade. That was seemingly something that I enjoyed and an experience with my brother that I’ll never forget. That summer I took my very first vacation from work and I felt horrible doing it but it was for the better due to my being a month away from school. I realized after that taking time off isn’t necessarily a bad thing because your brain needs a break once in a while. The fall was sort of a blur due to me not being engaged as much as I used to in school and I don’t know whether it was being dragged down by work or by personal needs. Work had taken over at this point and school was just shuffled off into the background. I kept shoving off intermediate algebra because I knew I sucked at it and this would prolong my stay at the community college level. In the fall, I realized that if I had taken all my math in my first year I would have been done with it but I kept holding it off. That left me with 2 classes once again, one in which I did poorly and the other I did great in, and once again I dropped Algebra because I was too afraid to ask for help. This would be something that would play a very important part in my progression as I believe this happened for a reason. The Christmas break was the first time I had received a dog for free and she was so adorable to my family. I was reluctant to have a dog at first but I saw that she gave our family laughter and she even started liking us after a while. I grew to like her too as she would love to play outside and provide us with entertainment. The year 2008 was one I’ll never forget and hopefully one I’ll look back on wondering what lessons it has taught me in the long run. Now, the year 2009 provided us with hilarity and some questionable feuds…

2009- Have fun but don’t assume anything

The first thing I remember about 2009 is sitting outside a IHOP with my good friend. We talked about what it meant to not be lonely and to be able to pursue a love that mattered. I agreed with him all the way because I was searching for that special someone that could bring me peace and happiness. That was one of the first of many crazy adventures I had. These did not include all the wal mart trips, the gym trips, the eating out, the movies I went to see, the conversations I would have outside of Starbucks, and the other random places I would head to. One of the crazier trips I can recall was July 14th 2009 and this day really holds a special place in my heart. It was the first day of my gym membership and it was also the day the MLB all star game took place. Me and my two buddies happened to go everywhere that day. One of my buddies and I hit up Chevy’s after he signed me up for the gym and I was just having so much that day thinking “I finally am being accepted for who I am”. That was one of the main factors that really drew me to these two individuals. It is true now that I am writing this because if anybody is your friend they will accept you for who you are and for not being anybody else. We also happened to go to a pet store which had all kinds of cool stuff and it was the discovery for the awesome pet store Pet Club which has a few locations around the bay area. After this, we met up near my friend’s house and we headed out to Wal Mart where we had a real deep conversation due to some issues that we had between this other friend and myself. This issue had been a result of my being left out of the guy’s life due to him getting a girlfriend and I was really down in  the dumps because I felt I wasn’t as important. I realized that I had been a real jerk to this friend of mine and he also happened to see that he was wrong on his end for having flaked on me so many times when he said he would hang out with his guy friends. We talked it out a bit and from that point we have seen each other on a regular basis (at least once a month if not once every two months). I can say that was one of the more memorable trips and adventures because it meant something and it also felt authentic as well. I also got into it with another friend of mine that was just as strange as I was. We got along but we had differences in terms of how we saw things. I believed he saw me as an annoying person and I saw him as a nobody. This is where cultures and personal differences are hard to settle because sometimes you never know what you’re fighting about. I tried my best to be cool about it but we never seemed to work it out because I was in the wrong. I couldn’t admit some of my mistakes because sometimes when I say that I’m sorry it is difficult to make it sound sincere without the other person being defensive about what I’m being sorry about. We would get into arguments about the dumbest stuff and I learned a few things from it. Some people just never get over the fact that you matter less to them than you think and it’s best to just let things be the way they are. If you stay friends, then great if not then things just didn’t work. I would head everywhere that year from eating at random places such as chinese food, diners, and little treasures in San Jose. It served as a reminder that life is meant to be a ball and you also have to keep in mind that it may not be around forever. I also started becoming a little less paranoid and more positive when it came to completing tasks. I would say that before that some things were impossible. These situations are impossible because I the person made it seem like an unachievable goal. For example, me signing up for a bunch of random classes and doing well in them was something that I saw as impossible at first. I took developmental psychology, humanities, and sociology made me a student that was capable of taking on challenges and thinking it was ok to fail sometimes. I still had a little bit to go in terms of transferring to a university but these classes in that frame of time served as a reminder that the skills you acquire from them can help you see a broader view. These classes counted and what mattered was that they all counted towards getting credit at the college level. In the spring quarter, I once again attempted to take algebra but I knew I was doomed once the professor said he couldn’t read my writing on the problems. I realized that taking fewer classes while taking math would work but I found out that taking it at another community college was  the answer (I wouldn’t come to this realization until much later down the road). I did fairly well in my two other classes which counted for credit and I told myself that as long as you take classes that count you’ll be fine. The fall quarter was probably the most fun I’ve had the community college level because I got to see the many different intricacies of the world through psychology, english, and history. The English and History classes were fun because the professors would really not care how you handled your business as long as you got the work done and the best part was that there was hardly any homework as there were just tests and papers. The psychology class tested my knowledge because I really couldn’t understand adjustments of it until I got to this class. I saw how the mind operated and how different things in our lives were wrapped not just one idea but many different ideas. As the year winded down, I realized how proud I was of what I had accomplished as I became much more well rounded and I had changed my perspective on a lot of different things. I finally had become a much better version of myself and even to this day I strive to become better in many aspects of my life. The one thing I have to constantly remind myself of is that some people come into your life for short periods because your life is defined by eras. You may have a certain time in your life where you were really high on a band or a certain hobby that you may have had. At that time, me and my friend were always hanging out going to the most out of the blue places just to have fun. My wallet wouldn’t agree with period but I learned about time management as well as how to save your money. At one point, I would look at my bank account and realize that I have x amount of dollars and I have to spend this amount in order to hang out with this person. I saw that as being careful as well as seeing what takes priority over your life. If it is hanging out with that friend, then that’s what it has to be but I also saw myself as being slowly immersed into my friend’s world instead of the other way around. He would help me with certain aspects of my life but I spending time with him so much that I forgot about other people in my life. I would be neglecting my family as they really didn’t matter as much as they did before. I would also get into more arguments with my mom about how dirty and unclean I had become. Taking the blame is one thing, but the responsibility that I took was none as I had little to show for it. Looking at it now, taking my friend places and driving him around everywhere was a little bit of my fault as I had the choice to choose between hanging out with my friend or disappointing him at the same time. Usually when people guilt trip me, I have a hard time giving in because I know what I should do but do I really want to hurt that other person’s feelings? I learned after this that sometimes it’s ok to say no to certain requests because you can’t let others control and manipulate your frame of mind. 2009, what a year, and I’ll never forget it…

2010- The end of an era doesn’t mean the end of everything

The beginning of the of the end was 2010 as I started experiencing new things and my niece had come into the world. I also saw that school was becoming more about taking classes for fun than it was about finishing up and the problem was that I had no way of knowing how to do that. I wound up taking Biology, Speech, and Philosophy. The three classes were fun because I had help in all three classes whether it was from classmates or from friends outside of class. The classes that year were so interesting because we looked at cells and molecules in Biology. It was something we had studied in high school but it hadn’t been as deep and decisive as it would be at the community college level. Doing a project on organic food, I saw how weird and open our world had become in this field. The speech class allowed me to be immersed in group work and I saw how well I could work with a group because you have to lead but you also have to be apart of success as well. Writing a speech paper one night, the friend that I mentioned earlier rolled up at my house to convince to hang out with him which I found to be particularly strange. I saw it as someone trying to convince me to do something I didn’t want to do.The funny part was that my friend that I mentioned in the previous year had become a bigger part of my life and I tagged along in his adventures. I started realizing that I would follow whatever he would say and I would do it. For example, I remember him telling me that same year that I was a raw version of him. It was more about him than it was for me and there were some writing done here about him early in the beginnings of this very blog.  The next day I learned that Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc was truly something that rang true sometimes. I had written a good paper about health care and I had a good time after with my buddies at wingstop. It might have been that  because I had written this paper I had a right to hang out with my friends. It became apparent that hanging out with friends should be seen as somewhat as a reward for the work you have done. Later on, it was almost like going to school was just to hang out with friends. But, I started seeing that doing this could hinder my academic performance. Philosophy was the one class that kept my ethical mind afloat and I saw how crazy the world in ethics is pretty crazy. The one prime example that sticks out in my mind is giving up one’s person’s happiness for everyone’s happiness was one that made me cringe and be happy at the same time. Another one was using science to create humans and also the idea of psychological egoism. I saw how awesome the class as it related to my life and there was little I could do in terms of how unmoral or how moral I may be. This blog was something else that was started in 2010 as on July,20 2010 I started this blog and ever since then it’s been rolling along. I have gotten my thoughts out there since then and I am less quiet than I used to be. It used to be that my thoughts would be jammed up inside of my head and it would be hard to get them out there. It was almost as if there was a problem that I had with speaking out because people would call me dumb or stupid. But, seeing the error of my ways, I have been more open and less prone to letting anger ruin my life. For some odd reason, the big theme of the year seemed to be the truth hurts. I saw that little by little I was letting my life be run by people that I didn’t need to listen to. My friend was largely the reason for this and I would take classes or go somewhere because he told me to. The truth was finally told to me on that July day and I don’t know why my other friend that hung out with me told me this but he may have had a need to help. I had signed up for the gym a year earlier and I hadn’t made that much progress in losing weight or feeling any better about myself. Feeling better about yourself is something that I really wanted because I was so moody at the time. I would be really happy one minute and sad the next which I had no idea why that was happening. I saw exercise as one option but the gym was only fun if someone went with me which was the excuse that I would use over and over. Time is so fascinating and there was that need to find time to work out which could be during any time of the day. It could be at night or it could be during the day but I said to myself that I really needed to crunch down and find that time. My friend told me after he had revoked his gym membership that I wouldn’t go now because he didn’t go. In the back of my head, I was out to prove him wrong. Once again the truth hurt and it would be six months or so before I really sat down and pondered my future at the gym. Towards the middle of the year, my friend and I took some classes together which were sort of helpful in transferring but I didn’t realize it at the time. He would tell me constantly that I needed him but I was getting better at seeing that wasn’t true all the time. If I wanted, I could make friends and acquaintances in a setting but it takes me a while to get going because I usually just like to observe. The truth hurt in this instance because I thought he was my only friend that would be there for me in any situation but I knew better. One instance where the truth really hurt was when the San Francisco Giants won the World Series. It took a while for that thought to settle in but it really happened when it was all said and done. They had tremendous pitching that year and they played when it mattered. I remember my friend asking me if them winning the world series would cause less A’s fans to support the team and this hurt because my team technically (Oakland A’s) is the inferior team when it came to attendance and popularity. Watching the world series made me see that baseball is unlike any sport where you can go and sweep a team just like that. Hockey or basketball is hard to sweep a four game series because those teams that have gotten to the conference finals or the championship really have a chip on their shoulder to perform well and those athletes are primed for those kind of games. I was also struggling to understand how my money was going to waste because I was constantly living from paycheck to paycheck and I figured out that I needed to start saving money. The truth hurt here because for one I couldn’t spend money on what I really needed (gas, food, family needs) and my brother had just left our household. Our family couldn’t depend that much longer on our brother anymore and we had less one person to help us out with rent. I remember one case where my cheapness about spending money really hit a peak. My mom and I had been shopping at a local retailer when she asked me if I would pay which kind of came out of nowhere. I did end up paying but it hurt me because the truth wasn’t being told me in this case. My mom told me later that she didn’t have money and I was livid afterwards which I really had no right to do. I told myself afterwards that I should become better at saving money and I should appreciate my mom for what she has done for me in the past. The truth hurt and that seemed to be the lingering theme throughout other cases as well. One last instance where the truth hurt is me having one of the most memorable nights with a couple of co-workers at a local bar. We had just opened up a new workcenter at work and some of the people were new. We happened to say that we should all get together and we did just that. The bar talk was fun and everyone was having a great time. It occurred to me that some of these people may not be around forever and these memories that we preserve are for the better. I remember walking across Campbell and wanting this experience not to end because we were in the moment and not worrying about the next day or the next night. My friend and I also had a fantasy football draft coming up so we didn’t want to miss that either. The truth hurt here because I didn’t want the moment to slip away from me. Rainy days also seem to be the theme here as well because every time I would see the rain in the fall or in the winter I wanted it to keep going as it was peaceful and humbling at the same time. It was almost as if that rain was calling to me to be one with it and get lost in that moment. The weather has always seemed interesting to me as the summer weather and the winter weather both called for something different. The summer was one where I saw the warm and blue sky as the changing of the guard and I needed something else in my life. At the time, I didn’t what it was but I would begin searching for it soon after this. The winter months of hot and cold told me that staying at one place can bring about great memories with friends in far away places. It can also make you become complacent. The spring weather told me that you’re on your way to a warm setting but you still need time. The fall brought about the leaves and dry spells of just being in that time. I can say that the year 2010 was the end of one era and it was the baby stage that set it up for the next two years. School had finally started to make sense that fall because it was more about the expansion of my field than it was about taking silly classes that didn’t matter (although 2011 was much different as I was lost, more on that later). My motivation each morning for that year was to do something good or at least learn something that could stick out in my head for that period. The important thing that kept me going was someone or somebody telling me in year’s past that I couldn’t do it and this wasn’t the first time this would happen. Life is split into eras and each one has a different theme which helps you a better person and each has a learning experience as well. 2010 will be the year that I had arguments, laughs, adventures, side talks, loafing, learning, and sometimes an occasional heart to heart. 2011 would be the year that somehow I saw as the breathing in stage and the break that I needed to reinvent myself a bit because I needed a change and this change would be positive. As the year ended, I remember one good friend and I hanging out at Mcdonald’s and running into an older gentleman. This gentleman happened to teach at a university or a local college and I saw how old and happy he was. I told myself that if I really wanted to get out of community college, I needed to look at what I really needed and so it began with that older gentleman because he was ordinary. That’s all I needed was to be ordinary and be the best person I could be. So, with that person’s kindness I set 2011 as the year that I needed to get the ball rolling on a few things and though I failed in some aspects I knew what I needed to do….

Next time, 2011, 2012, and a little bit of 2013. Stay Tuned!