2life+

There is NOTHING fun about being woken up at 3 a.m. by cops at your door, but it could DEFINITELY be worse than why they came to mine Tuesday night.  I was the victim of a hit and run, and my 1999 Jetta was totaled.

 You may be thinking, “that sucks,” and it does, but it’s all about OPTIMISM, right? Looking at things HALF-FULL.  Believe me, it’s the only way to roll through life happy.

 But let’s get back to the knock first.  I was out COLD for the night, dreaming about not being in school, when something woke me up.  I have a wrap-around porch on my duplex that ends with a window attached to my bedroom, and somebody was RIGHT OUTSIDE. Whoever it was had a flashlight and was waving It around my window.

 Then “BOOM BOOM BOOM!” Somebody was pounding on my door! I freakin’ froze up in bed, but I knew I had to answer it, not knowing what the intentions of the person would be.  I got outta bed, left my lacrosse stick behind like a sleep-deprived idiot, and yelled, “Yo!” 

“Police, open up!” they said.  I was awake now… 

“Oh,” I said, and opened right up. My mind was racing, having NO CLUE what was going on.

 “Are you the owner of the black vehicle outside?” 

“Yeah. What’s up?”

 “You’ve been the victim of a hit and run.”

 Shitttttttt, I thought. I walked outside, and sure enough, I was the victim of a hit and run.  Cops don’t really lie about these things, but I was tired, dammit, and had to see it.

 The guy who did it slammed into my car and fled on foot.  My poor Jetta was pushed up onto the sidewalk with a snapped axel and a caved-in passenger side.  One of my wheels was parallel to the ground, “Back to the Future”-style (You know, like when the Delorean flies in the second movie).  It was totaled.  And damn, it’s cold out at 3 in the morning…

 Anyway, fast-forward real quick, and everything is going to be ok…for me at least.  We got the kid’s insurance from his dad, and they’re going to come give me a quote on how much money I’ll get for a new car in the next day or two. 

 The KID, though, is screwed.  Besides being drunk and committing a hit and run, the police found pot and pills in his car, AND he had expired tags.  There’s a warrant out for him now, but I don’t if they’ve gotten him yet.

 Crazy, right?

 There are several things to take out of this, though.  First, thank GOD no one was hurt, past the surface injuries the driver sustained.  A car is a car, and it sucks, but everybody is ok.  Second, I hope the kid will be all right. What I hope he gets out of this is a life-changing experience. I hope he looks at it as an event that turned his life around, and starts living it RIGHT. Moments like these define character, and the way you handle it can determine the rest of your life, so I hope he looks at it as a second chance instead of a terrible night.

Drunk driving is no joke.  I know there have been a few times where I shouldn’t have been behind the wheel, and I’m SUPER-thankful and lucky that I’m here today to write this admission.  DD’s and cabs are awesome, and 20 bucks on a safe ride is a lot cheaper than the cost of a lawyer. Or your life.

My car will be taken care of. Things are cool. We’re all still here. The rest doesn’t matter. Just gotta keep truckin’ and keep it half-full. 

True.

D.

I need something to write about.

Anything. I’m kinda lost at sea.  I mean, is writing about not knowing what to write about a topic? I’m drawing blanks here. My creativity is being sucked dry by shitty theory writing for school. The time I put into writing about what I LOVE is being traded for time writing about communication theory and hypothesis.

Not trying to bitch. I guess it’s not truly writer’s block, but “intellectual writer’s block.” My creative mind is currently possessed by a demon made up of textbooks, scholarly journals, and computers.  I need an exorcist made up of Nature, Music, and Free Time.

The Music is there. I listen to it on the way to and from school and when I work out.  I do my best thinking on my 35 minute drive to school.  The ideas flow between chords and songs, and I feel inspired with my coffee and my sunglasses.  It’s my second-favorite time of day, besides seeing my lady.  I feel happy and ready to take on anything, knowing my ideas will be successful.  Only problem is, as soon as I walk into school and turn on my computer, they’re gone.

I don’t really know how to fix this problem yet, and I wouldn’t be writing about it if I did. I’ve always heard that it’s good to “visualize” what you want to happen before you get a chance to MAKE it happen.  My lacrosse coach always told us to do this before games, and they say it’s good to do so before interviews.  Kind of like a psychological warm-up.  I visualize all these ideas, but I can’t make them happen due to lack of Nature and Free Time, so they disappear.

I could try to write them down and save them for later, but then others will pile up.  They’re like dreams deferred, and they kind of fade to quiet like the end of a good song.  The thought stays, and then the chords of the next one begin and it’s gone.

I’ll figure it out, though.  I’m in this thing for the long run, and while I feel like I’ve been a little mislead, I’m still on a path to better things.  In the meantime, I’ll keep searching for a way to tip the scales in favor of creativity.  I’ll MAKE it shine, damnit.  Love it too much not to.

Eight months left, and miles to go before I sleep.

D.

Ever listen to the song “Penny Lane” by The Beatles? It sounds SUPER happy, but when you listen to the actual lyrics, it takes a turn and becomes ominous REALLY fast.

  “The Story of Stuff” reminded me of a cartoon version of this. It looks and sounds happy and fun, but when you really LISTEN to the message, it’s scary and sad.

This animation is something I think everybody should see.  It’s important enough that I’m even going to post this into my fun, non-school related blog. It’s educational and enlightening, and it freaks me out.

  I took notes throughout the animation of the facts that really stood out for me. How about knowing that of the 100 largest economies, 51 are corporations!? I bet the conspiracy theorists LOVE this one. Really makes you think about the whole BP situation in the Gulf. Sometimes you gotta wonder who really is running everything…

And America, come on! We really do think we own the world, don’t we? The fact that we would need 3-5 Earths if everyone consumed the way we do really caught my attention. We also consume twice as much as we did 50 years ago, and release at least 4 billion pounds of pollution a year!

Oh, and how about the fact that we have more stuff than ever, but we’re also unhappier than ever. There’s GOTTA be a correlation here. We have more stuff, but less time to use it. Apparently we have less leisure time NOW than we did during feudal society, and when we do have free time, we waste it on television and retail. The fun and real things in life, like family and friends and love, are overlooked, and we keep trucking forward and piling up the money so we can pile up the toys we’ll put down after a week.

All of this is ridiculous, but I can’t say that I’m any better than everyone who falls into this equation. This weekend alone, I went through a pile of my old “stuff” to find things to give to Goodwill.  I rummaged through stacks of old t-shirts and analyzed which ones I could stand to part with. A lot of them were stupid graphic tees with cool logos or catchy messages, and even though I hadn’t worn them in a while, I thought, “man, I might want to wear this again one day.”  I managed to overcome this for the most part, and ended up giving away about 30 shirts.  Thirty shirts! I certainly don’t NEED 30 shirts, but it’s not my fault, right? Nope. It’s not my fault that I’m exposed to 3,000 ads a day, and told to buy new things because we’re groomed with perceived obsolescence to believe that the newest trend is the only way and that anything else is shit.

 So no, it’s not my fault.

  But yeah, it is. I don’t NEED to fall into this. And this little presentation certainly encourages me to avoid all of this to the best of my ability. I want to be a representation of this and go out like a soldier for sustainability. I’ve gotten better in the last few years because I’ve learned more about the situation and everything that’s going on in the world. Half the time that’s what it’s all about.  We NEED to be educated on this stuff, because knowledge of the problem is the first step in the direction of fixing it.

  Once we gain the knowledge, it’s up to us to act.  You guys think we can do it?

NC State just put a beating on Cincinnati, and I’m happy.

We’re 3-0 for the first time since 2002, and it feels like my freshman year of college again. We’ve got a strong offense (maybe not as strong as with Rivers that year, but strong) and a good defense (better than freshman year ‘03), so it balances out pretty well.

It’s pretty fitting. Good Wolfpack team. I’m like a “freshman” in a new school. Fall fast-approaching. Life’s a wheel that keeps on TURNING and it always amazes me how things come around again.

So much happens this time of year. To me, the start of football season triggers the beginning of the fall more than the start of school, and I love it. I’m a sucker for spring and the weather getting warmer, but I’m deeply in love with autumn and the changes the season brings. It’s nostalgia and cooler temperatures and beautiful.

Looking forward to seeing how my Wolfpack respond to this start and to what the autumn will bring us all. These kind of feelings definitely make the rest of the pressures I’m feeling seem a lot lighter…