I've seen numerous blog entries of this nature from other writers. I'm not one to normally jump on trends as it relates to blog topics but it feels right at this moment in time. Seeing as how I'm coming up on my thirty-fourth birthday (I chose to spell it out because it looks more regal that way, obviously) and considering how I'm never too bashful about reminiscing, I figured I would try my hand at talking to a version of myself who, as I remember it, could've used an ally to provide advice about life, school, and a lot of other things.
Dear Robert,
If my (Our?) memory serves me correctly, at this point in your (Our? I'm going to have to settle this before the end of the letter, I realize.) life you're preparing for our (That didn't take long...) junior year of high school. Right about now you're dreading the idea of having Mrs. Courtney's English class because, as you will soon find out, everything you've heard about her actually is true.
Forgive me for doing so, but I'm not going to tell you much of anything specific in terms of what happens to us in the future. I apologize for that since I know we've never been too fond of folks who talk in vague generalities. Like Doc Brown said, a man should never know too much about his own future, lest he do something to change it.
I (We? Here we go again...) am on the cusp of turning 34
years old as I write this. What I mean to say with that comment is that
so long as you don't screw up we're guaranteed to make it at least this
far in life. That's right, I'm putting this on you because it's your
responsibility. Life's pretty darn awesome right now and I'd hate for
you
to miss out on the ride.
You've come a long way and you've been through a lot. I want to start this off by reminding you that you should feel fortunate and appreciative to be where you are. You may not realize it but there are a lot of kids out there who would do anything to have as privileged a life as what you've had. That doesn't mean you should be annoyingly snooty about who you are or what you have, it means you should thank the people who support you. You haven't done it yet but someday you're going to learn the value of having worked to earn something. Above all else, show respect to your family and give thanks for what they provide you with. As you already know, the people you love won't always be there - treasure them while they are.
The years you're experiencing right now will, at times, feel like they are dragging by because you have things to which you're looking forward. Try to enjoy yourself, whatever scenario you find yourself in. You've always been a worrier and that's not a good thing. (I wish I could tell you we move past that mentality, but I'm afraid I've got some bad news; stomach cramps are in your future.) Hear me when I tell you that stressing out over things you can't change is only going to make you miss out on that which you enjoy. Those things will come - maybe not necessarily as soon as when you'd like or in the manner you expected, but you'll get there.
School is what you're focused on these days, high school specifically. As I mentioned earlier, Mrs. Courtney is everything she's billed as being. That's a good thing, though, because she and Mrs. Thompson are going to prepare you more so for college than any other educator you're going to encounter. Keep working hard, because it's nice to be in your thirties and not be living with a mountain of debt related to loans for college tuition. Buford High School will be with you, always.
Speaking of college, it's going to be a real treat and for a multitude of reasons. You're going to meet a lot of interesting people and do stuff that you can only get away with when you're in your late teens or early twenties, and that's exactly how life should be. Still, you've got a lot of work to get done - some of it's going to be important, some of it you'll look back on and see was a waste of time. I hate to say it but based on where we are now, more of it falls into the latter category. It is what it is, though, a necessary part of your evolution.
After college is where life gets a bit weird. Not that it hasn't been weird to that point, mind you, just more weird. Weirder? I guess that's the best way of putting it. Remember, I'm doing my best not to be too specific here. Weird isn't necessarily synonymous with bad although there is going to be a stretch where you question everything you've done up until then because it's going to feel like all the effort you put out hasn't been met with an equal result. (In that regard, I'll remind you that internships aren't a bad thing and
when a friend offers you a paid gig you'd be well advised to call him
back, at the very least.) That's why it's called paying your dues.
Eventually the mundane monotony gives way to an opportunity. Keep in mind that there are a lot of factors playing into the why's and the how's of your life. The world gets whacky in the future and a whole bunch of very talented, highly experience people will be going through the same thing as you young kids who are also talented but not that experienced. Your time to shine (and to prove yourself) will come, you just have to be willing to accept that your path is definitely on the scenic route of life, if you catch my drift. You could say that it meanders - on that note, do try to take good care of your knees while you're at it.
Relationships of the romantic variety will come and go, meaning you're no different than anyone else in that aspect. You're going to meet a couple real doozies that will make you wonder why you even bothered, but you're also going to meet a few that will turn into really cool friends. Despite your take on marriage being an archaic concept, there's one you'll meet that, when you get to know her, you'll know is the one. You'll make her life an adventure, and she yours.
As I write this, she and I are on another great adventure, one that we hope will lead to our family growing - potentially substantially, depending on how things shake out. It's a process that we have endured because our desire to share what we've been blessed with means a lot to us. I can't tell you how much it means for me to have the chance to be what we never truly had.
In closing, I will tell you that I don't have that many goals left in life, be they personal, professional, or whatever sits between. Take that for what you will - and no, I'm not trying to brag. I'm merely stating the truth. You've got a lot to look forward to just as I have a whole lot of fond memories that I can look back on. If this has started to come off as something of a pep talk instead of an informative letter, that's because my intention all along with this was to let you know that you're valued, you're appreciated, and you will experience greatness in your life.
Regards,
- You
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Friday, March 14, 2014
An Update on My Life & Times - March 2014 Edition
I mentioned in a recent entry (this one, about my trip to Winston-Salem, North Carolina for an evening of professional wrestling action with Premiere Wrestling Xperience) about how I'd set a goal for myself this year to publish at least three blog entries a month. It was a do-able quota in my mind, seeing as how it wouldn't require me to be burdened with an arbitrary obligation to churn something out every week but it would also serve as a reminder to use this tool to document the major points of interest from my life (or at least those that I perceive to be as much). That's what an online presence is about for me nowadays, the usage of sites like Blogger, Facebook, etc. towards the purpose of creating a personal repository of memories and experiences. Call it a museum or whatever else you please, I think services like this are a dandy mechanism for recording the brief length of time we're given from the moment we first open our eyes to when they're closed forever that is our lives.
There's no ego in this statement whatsoever but who's to say that (hopefully) years from now (knock-on-wood) after I've long been buried that someone won't find entertainment, solace, or knowledge in my contributions? I'd hope that I've done a worthy job of leaving a lasting impression thus far and to continue doing as much.
Life In General
Things are going pretty well right now, although we're at what comes off as a dull point in the year as far as personal events are concerned. The Holiday Season is behind us, Spring and Summer are still on the horizon, and we're sitting here in the middle. It's not such a bad thing seeing as how it allows for a moment of respite before activities ramp up again once the weather improves.
One thing I can always count on this time of year is a dose of change-of-season crud, which is attributable to my lifelong battle with seasonal allergies. I took injections to treat them throughout my childhood but I get by these days with over-the-counter medication. I'm good for 2 or 3 sinus infections a year and right on schedule I came down with one last week, immediately after we had our first warm day in gosh knows when. I took advantage of the weather that day to start on a woodworking project for which I've had the materials for several months but haven't had the free time, opportunity, or gumption to finish. (I still haven't finished it, to be honest; getting a late start and a few equipment issues set me back, however I'm probably 75% of the way done.) I don't know if I got lambasted with the first dusting of pollen of 2014 or what, but the past week has been filled with sinus pressure, headaches, coughing, and apparently snoring more violent than my usual nightly output.
I don't know that it's ever been proven that people may have a genetic predisposition to snore but if it hasn't I think my family might add some credence to the idea. My Grandpa was a prolific snorer; I can remember seeing him many times napping in his recliner, still wearing his glasses, his mouth agape and the sound of the roaring snore that came from it. Likewise, my Mom is known to saw logs while she sleeps and I do as well.
My wife has dealt with my snoring to this point but apparently while I was sick it was so bad that she couldn't sleep in the same room as me. (She makes her share of noises at night but not always snoring; my wife's known to talk in her sleep, as in she'll carry on full conversations with whoever while she's unconscious. It's woken me up quite a few times as I can't always tell if she's trying to legitimately get my attention.) Similarly, there were nights in that stretch where she'd wake me up and I would go sleep in our guest bedroom. All I can say is I guess it's good that we have that room, otherwise one or the other of us would've wound up on the couch or in the bathtub (yes, believe it or not I've slept in a bathtub before). As a result it's been a frustrating week as neither of us have gotten what we should be getting in terms of rest. I'm finally coming around from the infection, though, so with any luck we'll be back to where we were before in relatively short order.
The Adoption Process - Where Do We Stand?
Plenty of friends and co-workers ask me for updates on a regular basis about how things are going with our adoption proceedings, and I appreciate their concerned interest in these matters. The answer to those questions here lately has been to say that we're playing the waiting game.
Jill & I had our home study conducted a few weeks back. It was handled by an investigator contracted through the Department of Social Services who came to our home; it was an invasive conversation but on a cordial level, which was exactly what I expected it would be. The kind of questions you get asked during the interview deal with everything from your childhood to your personal career goals, but the interviewer isn't just listening to your responses - they're watching your reactions and body language at the same time. It's a very interesting process, if you're into psychoanalysis at all. (Trust me when I say it's more fun to be the one doing the analysis than the one being analyzed.) The session lasted in the area of 3 hours and by the end of it my wife & I were both relieved to be done with what was the last piece of the paperwork/pre-approval end of becoming adoptive parents.
The investigator went outside of protocol in telling us that she was going to approve us to adopt up to 3 children. Normally when this interview is done you have to wait to receive an official letter back from DSS before you'll know whether or not your home study went well. I gather that that can take quite some time in certain instances seeing as how the investigator has (believe it or not) several months from the point of time they've made contact to when their report must be turned in.
Our investigator said that she usually submits reports no later than 10 days after the interview. I don't know if she was blowing smoke up our rear ends or not but we've not received any notification of our home study having been accepted and our caseworker has been on vacation here lately, meaning our requests for status updates haven't gotten a response.
All that said, we are where we are. "Hurry up and wait" couldn't be a more appropriate sentiment at this point. We're confident, regardless, because we knew going in that this is a process that can take some time. Now we have to be patient - we've done all we can to prove that we want this to happen, it's up to other people to allow it to happen.
My First Gamecock Baseball Games of the 2014 Season
I have the good fortune of knowing and working with a family who has access to tickets for University of South Carolina Gamecock baseball games, and they're generous enough to offer them to me on occasion. My wife & I went to quite a few games last season and we hope to make it to a few this year as well. I have a lead on my wife at this point in time seeing as how I took in a double-header last weekend while she did her duty to the ladies of Girl Scout Troop 471 by assisting them in selling cookies at a booth set up in front of one of our local grocery stores.
For this pair of games, the Yardcocks (as we affectionately call our baseball team) took on the Bears of Brown University. Brown is an Ivy League school out of Providence, Rhode Island. They're not an untalented team but they're not exactly up to the level of play USC encounters from some of our in-state and regional schools, and certainly not what we have to contend with in the South Eastern Conference or other Division 1 schools from around the country. That's my nice way of leading into saying that the Gamecocks defeated Brown handily in the two games I saw as well as the third game of the series which was held the following day, but what's more is the fact that Carolina didn't allow a single run to score during the trilogy. For that matter, USC has held its opponent to zero runs in 9 of the 16 games they've played thus far, and the Gamecocks are a perfect 16-0 on the 2014 season as of this writing.
What else can you say to that other than HOW 'BOUT THOSE GAMECOCKS?
Impressions on the Opening of Columbia's Destination XL
For as long as I can remember, I've been getting my clothing from a chain called Casual Male that specializes in big & tall styles for men. What can I say, I've always been big and tall? It's been a long time since I've had the luxury of being able to walk into a Walmart or any other store and grab something off a rack, unfortunately.
Casual Male has gone through a number of permutations over the years as it was originally called Casual Male Big & Tall. Later on it transitioned to being known as Casual Male XL as the company seemed to want to modernize its image; suddenly there was Shoes XL and Living XL, two offshoots that existed mostly as catalog operations that were specialized in what they offered (footwear & gadgetry, respectively). At some point all the various XLs were collected under one banner, that being Destination XL, and over a period of time the Casual Male XL stores were converted to Destination XL.
This conversion has been good in that the variety of clothing styles and labels offered has grown substantially, but it's had more than a few drawbacks as well. It's been bad in that the number of stores in this region has dwindled to merely a handful. To my knowledge, there are only two XL stores in the entire state of South Carolina, those being in Columbia and Charleston (there may be one in the upstate but if there is I've never shopped there). To make matters worse, when the local Casual Male XL became Destination XL it seemed as though all the existing staff were let go. The new folks who've been installed are decidedly more "uppity" in their presence and tactics, which is a far cry from how laid back the previous staff had been. The icing on the cake is that they now have personal stylists.
I mentioned the additions to the stock in terms of more styles and well-known labels, but what I didn't mention were the price points of these wares. The XL stores have never been cheap, however the kind of prices they're charging now are mildly insane - $50 for a shirt, $80 for a pair of pants, and what have you. Suffice to say that there's more than one reason why I don't go shopping for clothes all that frequently.
It's not that I'm resistant to change, rather it's that the DXL store hasn't grown on me yet. I'm very unaccustomed to walking into a store that looks flashy and modern like an Abercrombie or Aeropostale. I'm used to my store being dark and uninviting, the staff being the same people I've shopped with for 10 years, and the experience being comfortable instead of pushy. Most of all, I don't think I have it in me to admit that I've ever been associated with a personal stylist. That's one of those things where you have to turn in your man-card immediately and forfeit the right to all your beer & chicken wings.
I'm going to keep shopping there, though, mainly because I don't have a choice. It's either go there or use catalogs and I dislike catalogs seeing as how I prefer to try on clothes before I buy them.
Upcoming Events
Free promotion for the following - you're welcome!
If you're not in the know when it comes to independent professional wrestling, you probably have no idea what Omega Championship Wrestling is OR what it was. Omega is actually an acronym for "Organization for Modern Extreme Grappling Arts", and it's the company that was founded by Matt & Jeff Hardy way back when they were both still in their teens. Omega was the genesis of their careers as well as those of talent like Shane "Hurricane" Helms, Shannon Moore, Christian York, Caprice Coleman, Joey Matthews, and others. I don't know that Omega ever truly died but it has certainly made a comeback as Shane Helms has resurrected the company and begun holding events regularly. CHAOS IN CAMERON will be happening on April 26 and I'll be there - the allure of seeing the Hardy Boyz take on the Briscoe Brothers (best known for their work in Ring of Honor) in what may be a once in forever match is too much for me to pass up.
There's no ego in this statement whatsoever but who's to say that (hopefully) years from now (knock-on-wood) after I've long been buried that someone won't find entertainment, solace, or knowledge in my contributions? I'd hope that I've done a worthy job of leaving a lasting impression thus far and to continue doing as much.
Life In General
Things are going pretty well right now, although we're at what comes off as a dull point in the year as far as personal events are concerned. The Holiday Season is behind us, Spring and Summer are still on the horizon, and we're sitting here in the middle. It's not such a bad thing seeing as how it allows for a moment of respite before activities ramp up again once the weather improves.
One thing I can always count on this time of year is a dose of change-of-season crud, which is attributable to my lifelong battle with seasonal allergies. I took injections to treat them throughout my childhood but I get by these days with over-the-counter medication. I'm good for 2 or 3 sinus infections a year and right on schedule I came down with one last week, immediately after we had our first warm day in gosh knows when. I took advantage of the weather that day to start on a woodworking project for which I've had the materials for several months but haven't had the free time, opportunity, or gumption to finish. (I still haven't finished it, to be honest; getting a late start and a few equipment issues set me back, however I'm probably 75% of the way done.) I don't know if I got lambasted with the first dusting of pollen of 2014 or what, but the past week has been filled with sinus pressure, headaches, coughing, and apparently snoring more violent than my usual nightly output.
I don't know that it's ever been proven that people may have a genetic predisposition to snore but if it hasn't I think my family might add some credence to the idea. My Grandpa was a prolific snorer; I can remember seeing him many times napping in his recliner, still wearing his glasses, his mouth agape and the sound of the roaring snore that came from it. Likewise, my Mom is known to saw logs while she sleeps and I do as well.
My wife has dealt with my snoring to this point but apparently while I was sick it was so bad that she couldn't sleep in the same room as me. (She makes her share of noises at night but not always snoring; my wife's known to talk in her sleep, as in she'll carry on full conversations with whoever while she's unconscious. It's woken me up quite a few times as I can't always tell if she's trying to legitimately get my attention.) Similarly, there were nights in that stretch where she'd wake me up and I would go sleep in our guest bedroom. All I can say is I guess it's good that we have that room, otherwise one or the other of us would've wound up on the couch or in the bathtub (yes, believe it or not I've slept in a bathtub before). As a result it's been a frustrating week as neither of us have gotten what we should be getting in terms of rest. I'm finally coming around from the infection, though, so with any luck we'll be back to where we were before in relatively short order.
The Adoption Process - Where Do We Stand?
Plenty of friends and co-workers ask me for updates on a regular basis about how things are going with our adoption proceedings, and I appreciate their concerned interest in these matters. The answer to those questions here lately has been to say that we're playing the waiting game.
Jill & I had our home study conducted a few weeks back. It was handled by an investigator contracted through the Department of Social Services who came to our home; it was an invasive conversation but on a cordial level, which was exactly what I expected it would be. The kind of questions you get asked during the interview deal with everything from your childhood to your personal career goals, but the interviewer isn't just listening to your responses - they're watching your reactions and body language at the same time. It's a very interesting process, if you're into psychoanalysis at all. (Trust me when I say it's more fun to be the one doing the analysis than the one being analyzed.) The session lasted in the area of 3 hours and by the end of it my wife & I were both relieved to be done with what was the last piece of the paperwork/pre-approval end of becoming adoptive parents.
The investigator went outside of protocol in telling us that she was going to approve us to adopt up to 3 children. Normally when this interview is done you have to wait to receive an official letter back from DSS before you'll know whether or not your home study went well. I gather that that can take quite some time in certain instances seeing as how the investigator has (believe it or not) several months from the point of time they've made contact to when their report must be turned in.
Our investigator said that she usually submits reports no later than 10 days after the interview. I don't know if she was blowing smoke up our rear ends or not but we've not received any notification of our home study having been accepted and our caseworker has been on vacation here lately, meaning our requests for status updates haven't gotten a response.
All that said, we are where we are. "Hurry up and wait" couldn't be a more appropriate sentiment at this point. We're confident, regardless, because we knew going in that this is a process that can take some time. Now we have to be patient - we've done all we can to prove that we want this to happen, it's up to other people to allow it to happen.
My First Gamecock Baseball Games of the 2014 Season
I have the good fortune of knowing and working with a family who has access to tickets for University of South Carolina Gamecock baseball games, and they're generous enough to offer them to me on occasion. My wife & I went to quite a few games last season and we hope to make it to a few this year as well. I have a lead on my wife at this point in time seeing as how I took in a double-header last weekend while she did her duty to the ladies of Girl Scout Troop 471 by assisting them in selling cookies at a booth set up in front of one of our local grocery stores.
For this pair of games, the Yardcocks (as we affectionately call our baseball team) took on the Bears of Brown University. Brown is an Ivy League school out of Providence, Rhode Island. They're not an untalented team but they're not exactly up to the level of play USC encounters from some of our in-state and regional schools, and certainly not what we have to contend with in the South Eastern Conference or other Division 1 schools from around the country. That's my nice way of leading into saying that the Gamecocks defeated Brown handily in the two games I saw as well as the third game of the series which was held the following day, but what's more is the fact that Carolina didn't allow a single run to score during the trilogy. For that matter, USC has held its opponent to zero runs in 9 of the 16 games they've played thus far, and the Gamecocks are a perfect 16-0 on the 2014 season as of this writing.
What else can you say to that other than HOW 'BOUT THOSE GAMECOCKS?
Impressions on the Opening of Columbia's Destination XL
For as long as I can remember, I've been getting my clothing from a chain called Casual Male that specializes in big & tall styles for men. What can I say, I've always been big and tall? It's been a long time since I've had the luxury of being able to walk into a Walmart or any other store and grab something off a rack, unfortunately.
Casual Male has gone through a number of permutations over the years as it was originally called Casual Male Big & Tall. Later on it transitioned to being known as Casual Male XL as the company seemed to want to modernize its image; suddenly there was Shoes XL and Living XL, two offshoots that existed mostly as catalog operations that were specialized in what they offered (footwear & gadgetry, respectively). At some point all the various XLs were collected under one banner, that being Destination XL, and over a period of time the Casual Male XL stores were converted to Destination XL.
This conversion has been good in that the variety of clothing styles and labels offered has grown substantially, but it's had more than a few drawbacks as well. It's been bad in that the number of stores in this region has dwindled to merely a handful. To my knowledge, there are only two XL stores in the entire state of South Carolina, those being in Columbia and Charleston (there may be one in the upstate but if there is I've never shopped there). To make matters worse, when the local Casual Male XL became Destination XL it seemed as though all the existing staff were let go. The new folks who've been installed are decidedly more "uppity" in their presence and tactics, which is a far cry from how laid back the previous staff had been. The icing on the cake is that they now have personal stylists.
I mentioned the additions to the stock in terms of more styles and well-known labels, but what I didn't mention were the price points of these wares. The XL stores have never been cheap, however the kind of prices they're charging now are mildly insane - $50 for a shirt, $80 for a pair of pants, and what have you. Suffice to say that there's more than one reason why I don't go shopping for clothes all that frequently.
It's not that I'm resistant to change, rather it's that the DXL store hasn't grown on me yet. I'm very unaccustomed to walking into a store that looks flashy and modern like an Abercrombie or Aeropostale. I'm used to my store being dark and uninviting, the staff being the same people I've shopped with for 10 years, and the experience being comfortable instead of pushy. Most of all, I don't think I have it in me to admit that I've ever been associated with a personal stylist. That's one of those things where you have to turn in your man-card immediately and forfeit the right to all your beer & chicken wings.
I'm going to keep shopping there, though, mainly because I don't have a choice. It's either go there or use catalogs and I dislike catalogs seeing as how I prefer to try on clothes before I buy them.
Upcoming Events
Free promotion for the following - you're welcome!
On March 30, WrestleForce returns to The Hangar in Cayce, SC for UNLEASHED. I attended their February event and was pleased with it overall. The big draw this month is that this will more than likely be Steven "The Fever" Walters final appearance in WF for the foreseeable future as he has gone and gotten himself a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment. (Great to hear of a local talent getting to live out their dream!) Seeing as how he and his tag team partner in The Love/Hate Machine "The Southern Savior" John Skyler are the current WF tag team champions, I would expect something to go down leading to them losing the titles but who knows.
If you're not in the know when it comes to independent professional wrestling, you probably have no idea what Omega Championship Wrestling is OR what it was. Omega is actually an acronym for "Organization for Modern Extreme Grappling Arts", and it's the company that was founded by Matt & Jeff Hardy way back when they were both still in their teens. Omega was the genesis of their careers as well as those of talent like Shane "Hurricane" Helms, Shannon Moore, Christian York, Caprice Coleman, Joey Matthews, and others. I don't know that Omega ever truly died but it has certainly made a comeback as Shane Helms has resurrected the company and begun holding events regularly. CHAOS IN CAMERON will be happening on April 26 and I'll be there - the allure of seeing the Hardy Boyz take on the Briscoe Brothers (best known for their work in Ring of Honor) in what may be a once in forever match is too much for me to pass up.
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