Tuesday, December 28, 2010

A Holiday Blog

Happy Holidays Everyone.

Christmas was good, spent a lot of quality time with the family in the basement, playing cards, and wii, and other sorts of games. But one thing I noticed this year is that Santa was really determined to get me to reconnect with old friends. Now I understand that kids always come back home for the Holidays, after all Christmas is the one time a year I used to come back home from school, so I guess it makes sense to run into someone every now and then. But almost every day there was a text message or a phone call or a "a saw your mom in walmart" conversation I was having with people who wanted to know how I was doing and who claim "its been too long." I don't know what brought on this blast from the past, but seeing as how I am still having a bit of difficulty forming a new circle of friends, why not have some people that were part of my old one.

Another interesting thing happened at about 2am my time, while I was already asleep; I got a text message. Usually no one texts me that late unless they're from Cali, which coincidently they were. I got a message from Helen, a friend of Wheeler's that we went to Wisconsin to visit one indoor Big Tens. She says that she's super excited because she just realized I live in Baltimore and she does too. Then out of nowhere the text " matt says hi and he's sorry he hasn't kept in touch." Now Matt is still like a brother to me, a long lost brother, but a bro none the less, but I still think it's sad that I had to hear it from someone who I haven't talked to since, well about Junior Year. And im somewhat guessing that alcohol was involved because later the "do not respond to matt" text came followed by a text from his number "i love u." Weird night indeed.

Moral of the story, maybe Santa really really wants me to take the reigns on this one and is given me a sign. After all this time of not hearing from him I admit this is a weird first form of communication, but its communication nonetheless. Seeing as how Mike D and I and the rest of 1502 have wanted to make a little Boston adventure for awhile now, I decided that I will try to make that happen. I'll call, and keep calling Wheeler for the next couple of days and maybe find out whats been going on in his life and what not, and see if its possible to go see him. If not, then I recommend a reunion in Boston anyway, and maybe he'll show up ha.

As for NYE, I have settled on a "party of the year" as my destination with my crazy and out of control best friend. I think I'm just bored and looking for some excitement and something different, so I'm almost certain this party with be something different.

To the rest of you, Happy Holidays again and see you in 2011....Hopefully Jan 2011.

Monday, December 20, 2010

"You do things when the opportunity comes along" - Warren Buffett

If you guys don't know who Warren Buffett is then you should look him up. The reason I selected him as a person to quote is because this past weekend my head coach, Doug, met with Mr. Buffett to discuss some business, and yes thats a pretty big deal.

A good amount of things have happened since my last blog, I almost feel bad for leaving them till today because I will almost certainly forget them, but I'll just give the sparknotes version of the important stuff.

We won our first game on Friday, and lost our fifth game today.

On Saturday Night I went out for the first time solo to a Christmas party. I went alone because 45 was at work and well I was curious to see what it would be like flying Stag. Its been probably over a year since the last time I was left at Ricks alone, which is the closest thing to going out alone that I've done, as you 1502'ers know. I must admit it was very fun. Maybe it was the fact that it was an ugly sweater party and possibly because the age group was mixed, from 21yr olds to about 30 somethings, either way I just seemed to mesh in well. The only problem with going to a party alone is that well at different parts of the night you end up exactly that, alone. I would look up and see that guys were with their girls, or friends huddled together and I was kinda just floating around. That was really the only downside, that and the fact that my random draw partner for the Beer Pong tourney decided to not hit a single cup. Lost in the first round, another shout out to 1502 ha. But I did manage to meet a couple of cute girls at this party, most of them taken however. All in all I realized that I miss house parties, at least college house parties. I miss the dance floor where I did most of my damage, and I  miss the keg talks and random drinking games we would start and join. More and more I see how different life is becoming now that we've moved on and yeah adjustment is going slowly.

Sunday was a football day of madness, but other than that not much to note of.

The other reason I selected that quote is because it makes me think about 45. Opportunity. I have one here with a good girl who really likes me and yet I hesitate. I don't want to hurt her, and deep down inside somewhere I feel like I will. It's because I know that no matter what happens, I won't want to cross over into that really serious phase of a relationship just because my direction in life at this point doesn't have room for something like that. What I mean is that I don't know where I will be next year, probably coming back home for the Holidays but I don't know where from. And to get serious now without a direct path in front of me just seems reckless. So I've decided to talk to her about it and just let her know flat out. I like you, like spending time, like hanging out and hooking up, but I do not want to get any more serious than we are now....How will that turn out exactly? Who Knows.

On a totally different note, as you know I'm mostly an optimistic person. When it comes to future events and finding the bright side and everything I'm mister positive. As you might also know when it comes to people I'm pretty negative. I almost never give people the benefit of the doubt because more often than not people suck. They are bad by nature and even worse in reality. But usually I look friendly and you'll never notice. I had no idea, couldn't fathom really how bad kids have gotten these days. On friday morning during a sub job I get called down to the principals office. Yeah like in High School as if I did something wrong or skipped class. I then watched a video of a class I subbed for previously, and in this video, in the middle of a classroom, two kids were pretty much dry humping and making out. Yes in the middle of the classroom. SoOOO many things wrong here: First, a girl was taping this whole event....kinda messed up.
Secondly, the entire class was watching and being quiet during the event....pretty messed up.
Thirdly, two kids were making out and dry humping in the middle of class....Very Very Messed up.
And Lastly, I was supposed to be watching the class and I managed not to notice this whole thing....unforgivably messed up.
I was speechless after watching the video. I had never imagined that people would ever even think to do something like that, much less tape it and watch it. And oh yeah, the girl who tapped it decided to POST IT ON HER FACEBOOK....ugh.

Moral of the story I got sent home for the day and I'm on some kind of substitute teacher probation. Don't get me wrong I took all responsiblity for that day. I'm supposed to be making sure kids are behaving correctly and doing their work and clearly I did nothing of the sort. You may wonder how something like this went unnoticed, well pretty much I was doing research of other Basketball teams on the teachers computer, and unfortunately for me, because I cannot multi-task, the computer was facing away from the kids. So for the 10-15 mins I was looking up the other teams on our schedule, two kids were putting on a softcore porno in the middle of my classroom....The life lesson I took away from all this is that kids are way worse than I ever imagined they could be. I do my fair share of PDA, stealing a kiss in the hallway maybe, but nothing in class and nothing near that level. Who even thinks to do something like that. It is beyond me.

Well I am currently awaiting a phone call to hear if i'm allowed to take my already booked sub job on Wednesday, which coincidently is for the same class where all this happened. I will update you guys on what happens.



On another side note, the party on Saturday was a BYOB party, which I found to be fantastic. Not only did they save on the cost of alcohol, but drunk people almost always leave their extra behind as we always buy way more than we need. Now they can drink for free for the next month at least. If we have a reunion party sometime in the future, let's apply this method.


Here's to hoping my kids learn how to become somewhat respectable adults, and learn how to win a basketball game.

Monday, December 13, 2010

I Can't Help It

So recently I've been hearing a lot about New Year's plans and what not and honestly I must say that this year I don't really understand all the hype. I mean sure I don't have my 1502 buddies to plan something crazy with, but just from my experience you don't need an extravagant night out to make New Years a good time. Don't get me wrong, I'm still all about dressing up and going to fancy parties, I'm just not that excited about doing it for myself. And for the record, I think your outfit looks good Chin.

So my quest to find new friends has been going. Not well or bad but going. I've met a couple of girls and a guy or two, but so far their personalities aren't ones that I "have" to be around. What I mean by that is that most of the time hanging out at home sounds more appealing than going out and drinking with my new buddies. Moral of the story is that I've done it all before, and most of these people I meet are still ripe college age and all about the "South U" scene so to speak. I guess the more time I spend apart from that world, the less I want to do it when someone invites me. Granted, whenever I go back to UM I will def go to Charlies and Ricks, but its really just not the same here.

In addition, 45's gf prospects are really looking down as of late. At the end of the day there's one thing that makes me realize this, I just don't want to see her all that often, or rather I don't get excited about the prospect of seeing her. I mean she's a nice girl, but maybe too nice. In her case the most surprising thing she's done is get in a fight with her best friend roommate and cry, other than that I know exactly what I'm getting. While I've been debating whether to make the next step into dating or not I've been thinking about my past girlfriends, all two of them at UM. I've realized that compared to 45, those girls were all around better matches for me as in what I like to be around day in and day out. Sure they didn't work out, but it just seems that 45 is like going backwards rather than progressing in terms of finding the eventual "one."

So this week my plan is to meet someone new at the Gym. Yeah I've decided to stop being lazy and start going to the Gym again. It won't be the same without having Chin with me, and frankly I'm pretty mad at myself for not capitalizing on having a willing, enthusiastic, and very capable lifting partner but I think this will be a good test for me. I've kind of settled in a lifestyle now that I'm home and I need to make sure I can still press myself to do certain things. Mainly my decision came from while I've been coaching. The kids I have seem to have a real losing mentality and lack of winning spirit, and honestly its pretty depressing. There's a lot of negative energy swirling around these kids so I've decided to just purge myself by working out, I'll let you guys know how it works out. Also as Chin may recall, one of my favorite places to watch girls, in a non creepy way, was the gym. Something about a girl who is willing to work out, likes it, and in athletic clothing just really gets me every time. Sure I have a distant hope that I'll meet some beautiful, funny, friendly, and cool girl while working out, but for once that's not my first and primary intention. Hm I just totally spaced out while writing this and have forgotten what else I wanted to talk about. Looks like the Ravens are trying their best to blow another lead. Till the next one.


Here's to being 0-3

No worries we'll win the next 17 and end up 17-3

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Box Out

So our basketball season has finally kicked off, and much like the seasons in the past, we start 0-2....Why then am I not sunken into a depression and staying in bed all weekend, well firstly because it's different as a coach, I mean I don't really feel like I personally lost the game. 2ndly, because of our situation. I mean yes the boys are playing at a very low level right now, but since it's a new system, all new coaches, and a new mentality, we expect the kids to get off to a slow start. Every game (2 a week) we see more improvement and learning on their side so after a week or so I think we'll start to hit our stride....Being a coach is kinda like being a manager, I mean you go through all the practices, do a lot of the hard work thinking of practice plans and activities, but at the end of the day, you have to sit on the sideline and count on the team to execute. Hopefully these guys will get their act together, but I have to admit, at the moment we are Mentally Weak.

On that same token, its not just the guys are weak as basketball players, most have a good amount of talent and all, its that they are weak as individuals. They have garnered this losing mentality for so long that they just fall back into at the first sign of any trouble. Being a substitute has really opened my eyes to the world of adolescence.  Back in my day, we were good kids in High School. I mean yes HS is a joke, but at least we went to class, did our work, and were respectful to our teachers. The kids today in my HS do none of the above. Its a very grotesque picture and image of what it used to be like in my HS and it really makes me sick. I don't know where this new generation started to go wrong, but it is very very bad. I spent an hour in the teachers lounge on Wednesday and hearing stories from the teachers just blew me away. When I was a kid I used to think maybe these teachers are just bad people, you know giving homework and stuff that was pointless, but at the end of the day I did it. Now that I'm learning how to be an adult I realize that all these teachers are trying to do is help the kids, and what do they get in return for their hard work, insubordination. Needless to say, those kids who are my responsibility, the ones on the basketball team, have a very hard lesson to learn about respect and how to act, and I will make it my number one priority to teach them. If they happen to not want to listen or learn, then they will by all means by the most in shape group of disrespectful kids out there.

On a side note, we played Patapsco high school last night. Just so you understand that this new generation lapse in discipline is wide spread...their coach actually let a guy START with an ANKLE BRACELET on. NO not the type you buy at Forever 21 or Limited Too...the type that is issued by the Police Department. yup apparently he is involved with some drugs or something, but the moral of the story is this coach not only let the kid stay on his team, he had the nerve to put him in the starting line up....What kind of life lesson are you teaching. "Oh hey kids, its ok to beat some kids up and deal drugs over the weekend, I'll just let you start on monday." This coach got a piece of our mind at the end of the game I only hope that he gets his act together.

For kids to learn how to do right it starts in the Home. When the parents are negligent for whatever reason, its up to Coaches, Teachers, and other Adults in their life to do our best to keep them on the right path. I only hope that we as educated people, understand our responsibilities to the future generation because when its time for me to bring my kids into the world, I expect that their coaches, and teachers, KNOW Better.


Big ups to the UM Soccer Team for blowing a 1 goal lead and giving up 2 straight to almost make it to the college cup finals...Maybe they should watch a video on Akron rather than making Youtube Videos in their spare time....But I can't completely hate on the team that woke me up at all hours freshman year to fight my roommate; As a Michigan man I have to say Go Blue and congrats on even getting to the semi-finals in the first place.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Entertain a Grenade

What a successful weekend I would say, I forgot how much fun it is to have a wingman with you. I'm pretty sure Mike D had a good time too, while we weren't winning any rounds on the golf course, we at least got to see some very attractive ones and held our own. I think Mike D would do well to live in a big city some point in his life, it would be interesting since he's used to towns like Ann Arbor Wittenberg and now New London.

Does it count as "New Friends" when they're friends of 45, if so then I met a good number this weekend, if not then I have failed. But while we're on that subject one thing that I find myself lacking with 45 is the ability to be a "fun loving" group. What I mean by this is that it seems all of 45's friends are really apprehensive when talking to me, like they won't dance with me and keep conversation topic to that of people you're friendly to but don't plan on really getting to know. For the first time this was different last night, but the ladies in question were just work buddies of 45 and not her close knit friends. It just sucks, I'm used to friends of Dawson's who were great, I mean when we all hung out together no one was feeling uncomfortable or worrying about if it was ok to touch or dance or be flirty friendly. I know she likes me, a lot but there are still things I'm not ready to commit with in terms of the whole relationship...Like last night she came out to meet up with Mike D and me, but had an alternative plan the whole time. She didn't tell me about her plans until after 1.) I had already committed to spend the whole evening with her and 2.) before I had a chance to plan accordingly. It wasn't anything dramatic, but she wanted to head back uptown to Towson, where I live, and we were in the city, Baltimore where Mike was staying. I just felt bad having to make Mike D drive all over the place and it ended with him driving back to his hotel alone at 5 am in a city he doesn't know....And to top it off she responded to me being slighty agitated by this with saying "well you didn't have to come with me...." Like She really would let me know both nights in the weekend without hanging out with her. Oh well If this were a weighted scale of whether or not to be ready for a relationship, the scale is def tipping in the friends direction.

Thanks for finally talking to us Cass and I wish you were here too. Also can't wait for another reunion...I'm thinking a weekend in Jan perhaps?

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Taylor Swift

Ok so the title has nothing to do with this post but I just watched some of a E Special on Taylor Swift so I couldn't get her out of my head. She is single handedly my favorite celebrity crush right now, in case you guys were curious.

Neways, Mike D came into town yesterday and for the weekend with a coaching convention downtown. So naturally I had to head into the city as this marks the first time any of my Mich buddies as actually been in my hometown or relatively close to it. We went into Fed Hill, which as I explained to Mike is like the South U of downtown. It's where all the cool college kids hang out and as I learned, a good group of older kids hang out too, like 25-30. While I was having a conversation with this very attractive girl she stopped to ask my how old I was, naturally I upped my age a little bit as I could tell she was of the older variety, but still 24 wasn't quite old enough for her. Since I've been in the semi professional world I've had a couple of these encounters, where at the end of them I feel like I want to be older. BUT for the first time I thought about it and asked myself, Do I really want to be 27 in a bar looking to pick up girls? and my answer was NO...So I guess its really not all that bad, and I really need to enjoy these young years we have in front of us.

Another issue im dealing with is 45. She expressed to me her notice and discomfort with my lack of effort towards the relationship as in never wanting to drive to see her or what have you, and I guess the time for a talk was overdue. So this thing can go one of two ways, it seems like I've worn out my grace period for just "dating" or the timeline for being in an "unofficial" relationship; It's either we progress forward, and make things official, or we head backwards, to the realm of friendship....This decision is usually simple enough, I almost never want a relationship so I usually open all interactions with the same script. This time though I'm not sure what I want. I'm not against a relationship, in fact I've contemplated just going into one many times already but somewhere something inside me hesitates. I don't think its the kind of hesitation that i might be making a mistake on my part. Like I'm not thinking about who or what else is out there for me. I think its more Im concerned on her part. Once we make this leap, once we allow ourselves to really get emotionally committed, then there's no turning back from heartbreak, from the pain of fighting and all that other jazz. I'm certain I can handle all that but do I really want to put her through it.....I know its not my place to decided for her if being vulnerable is a good thing, after all I'm pretty sure she's a big girl and if this is what she wants I shouldn't stop her, but history is a circle and I feel like in the place I'm in now, there is no end for a relationship but a sad one.