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| Well it's been ages since i've typed on here...so i'll continue with the chapters from my journal on things in life that are irreplaceable. The first two were smiles and confidence. Chapter 3: Creativity "The very essence of the creative is its novelty, and hence we have no standard to judge it." -Edward Steichen Within the dating world, there isn’t a great deal of things an individual can do to set themselves apart from the competition. If you go out and buy yourself some of the hip new fashionable clothes from a mall, odds are someone else (actually, a lot of someone else’s) went out with the same idea and bought the same stuff. When asking someone out, people will always go with the same ideas of a dinner and a movie, or something along those lines. This is the classic date, and it can be quite effective if used in the right situations. This right situation isn’t every single time you take out a girl. Girls appreciate creativity and a change of pace from the normal dating scene, the dinner and a movie fix. Your creativity, even if it sometimes blows up in your face, can cause you to stand apart from that same-old run of the mill guy that lives down the street. As stated earlier, there aren’t a lot of options someone has to set themselves apart from the competition, so take advantage of this great chance. The first thing people need to realize about creativity is that it won’t make them any less of a guy if they are creative. I swear at least 50% of my friends when I ask them why they always go to a dinner and a movie say “it’s easy and everyone does it.” PRECISELY!! Why follow the norm? Guys have this subconscious innate sense that if they become creativity and change it up it makes them less of a guy. Well, I’ve done several creative things in my lifetime and I’m still as much of a guy as I ever was. Being creative isn’t something that is extremely feminine and you won’t find yourself actively looking to shop at Hobby Lobby from now on (not that there is anything wrong with that). The second problem with being creative is that fear of the unknown. Perhaps the greater issue then the whole I’m becoming a woman fear is that they will get laughed at if something goes wrong. If this girl is worth the risk and the time you put in to give her a creative date, she definitely isn’t going to laugh at you (maybe with you) and she won’t point her finger and make fun of you with her friends. If she does---you saved yourself several weeks, maybe months, of wasting time with a girl who isn’t worth it. Fear is a difficult thing to overcome, and the only way you’ll ever really overcome it is to just bite your lip and give it hell. It’s a risky thing to do, being creative with a girl, but the benefits far outweigh the risks in the situation. The following is a story that is more recent about being creative. March 13, 2006 As I laid in bed, I contemplated my options for the FarmHouse Spring Term Dance. I could go with several girls, but none of them really were all that appealing to me except one. Rachelle and I had such a strange relationship, where we would talk like best friends for several weeks, then stop talking altogether. It was very risky because I might ask during the time when we weren’t talking and it could look very embarrassing to me. I decided, however, after several minutes of intense internal deliberation to ask her anyways, because she was the person I wanted to take the most, and I wouldn’t’ have a good time with anyone else. Now that I knew who I was taking, I needed to ask her in an elaborate way to avoid being shot down. Lucky for me, my roommate was dating her best friend. As I approached Justin about the whole prospect of double dating, I still was drawing a blank on how to be creative in asking them to go with us to the dance. He said the idea sounded great, and he was definitely in for the creative asking, but also was clueless on how to accomplish it. As the days wore on, we were pressed for ideas and finally one came to me while watching late night movies on the USA Channel. They movie playing was “Love Actually,” a very good movie for ideas on how to woo ladies. A man wasn’t able to say things to a woman, so he knocked on the door, and had about 30 tag board signs that he showed her one by one, saying exactly what he always wanted to but didn’t know how. Immediately I decided that’s how we should ask them to the dance, but needed something else to go along with it. The day finally approached, and we were ready. We enlisted the help of Mallory’s (Justin’s Girlfriend) roommate to help us with the plan. She let us in the house at 4:00, as they were expected to return at 4:30. We quickly setup candles in the living room by the doorway, and then set them up in the kitchen, and on the stairs leading them downstairs to the room we were setup in to show the signs. We filled the room that we were planning on using with several candles and roses. The final step was to leave a trail of rose petals along with the candles to make the perfect surprise. It was all setup perfect and we heard them open the door… The previous passage was a very risky situation for us to attempt. We could have easily failed and looked stupid holding signs stating “will you go to the dance with me?” We didn’t have the fear of failure however, because Justin was already dating Mallory, and she wasn’t going to end their relationship over a botched attempt at asking her to a dance. I was also confident that this was the grandest gesture that I could ever show Rachelle that I truly cared for her and loved her company. The other common problem, that it’d make us less of a guy if we did this was also completely thrown out the window in an unorthodox fashion. Justin and I received the FarmHouse Fraternity Stud of the Week Award for our “creativeness in asking our dates to term.” That was one of the best awards I have ever received, because it reinforced that people appreciate creativity in every facet of life, and that others that observed it appreciated it instead of criticizing it. Not much else going on...my family moved to Dickinson so that's where i am this summer...it's kinda boring, we finally got internet today, hence the posting. Feel free to drop me a line on email or msn, i'd love a chat. I'll be in Fargo sometime this month to makeup a final and have the long awaited lake party. | | |
| hmm....not sure what to do with my life...i can literally do anythign and it scares me because i don't like the prospect of change..i love routine but i also enjoy pushing myself to do something new...guess i'm indecisive...everyday i feel completely different and it scares me that i'm never just one emotion...i see others and it seems they are always happy..b.ut i'm all over the place like a smudged cd trying to replay the same part of a song but just doing nothing but hopelessly skipping over and over again...i walk through this phase of my life alone...i have m yfriends there i know...but i want something more out of life... it's like i'll never find her...i'm tired of people saying i will...but i just can't find anyone that gets me..just gets me..knows who i am..knows what to do...what to say...when to leave me alone...when to stay close...it's frustrating...because everyone says how good i am at everything and anything...but i guess the the rest of the world i'm just obsolete and here for the ride and to provide humor when someone is down..even though i'm really the one down in the back row slumping to hope that no one can see how down i really am...somedays i feel like i am watching my life on a big screen..and can't do a thing to change what i know is coming...i can't do a single thing...i can sit there and yell at myself..but i always do the exact same thing wronga nd i don't believe i'll ever change...i don't think people change to be honest....that also irritates me..people want to change and have great intentions...but they don't ever do it..they are always the same people deep down and never deviate from what they truly are...i miss my family...but i won't go home because when i do it scares me how much i really do miss them, but realize i can't be successful doing anything when i'm near them, because all i want to do is play with goobs and hang out with my dad..but one day i'll look back and hate myself for not going home enough to take goobs to thepark or golf with my dad when he could golf...but i'll be successful...but the success that i have longed for my entire life will do nothing but ultimately make me realize how big of a failure i am in all the other aspects of my life....i hate all the tradeoffs that are a part of life...it's just horrible how we can't have it all...and that i always pick the wrong door in the giant game...and i'm honestly wondering when i'm going to pick the right door | | |
| Hey all;
everything is going pretty good...school is school...nice to see everyone around again...i miss new york already...well not new york specifically; because everyone lacks manners and common sense there...but i miss the people very much so; including a select few who know who they are...that's all for now; my life is as interesting as always...
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| Hey;
It's been an insanely long time sincei 've updated...so i'll catch everyone up, hopefully; I'm in Birmingham, New York working at Camp Echo; a private sports camp. My job for the first part of the summer was a Cabin Counselor; working with a specific group of kids (7th graders) and taking them to their activities, living with them, the whole deal. I have 3 other counselors living in my cabin, Jon Cooper, from London who is a Mountain Biking Specialist; Ian Beavers from Colorado, who is a Cabin Counselor, and Justin Taub, a Tennis Specialist from Atlantic City, New Jersey. We have 12 Kids in our cabin for the month of July, with 4 of them leaving. I posted some pics of them up on Facebook; they are awesome, always challenging, but it's great to see them grow. One of my kids, Brian, turned me onto some phenomenal music, and i love his ridiculously awesome variety of band t shirts including, but not limited to, Taking Back Sunday, The Academy Is, Fall out Boy, Motion City Soundtrack, and Deathcab for Cutie. Our typical day is as follows:
7:30 Staff Wakeup
8:00 Camper Wakeup
8:20 Flag Raising
8:45 Cabin Cleanup
9:15 Breakfast
10:00 Activity Period 1
11:00 Activity Period 2
12:10 Rest Hour
01:10 Lunch
02:10 Activity Period 3
03:10 Activity Period 4
04:15 Snack-and-go
04:30 Options
05:30 Twilight
06:30 Flag Lowering
06:45 Shower-Hour
07:45 Supper
08:30 Evening Activity
10:00 Flashlight Time/Lights Off
The Activity Periods include all sports like Golf, Basketball, football, Baseball, Soccer, Tennis, Mountain Biking, Hockey, and Lacrosse. They also include hobbies like Arts and Crafts, Woodworking, Ceramics, and Horseback Riding. We also have "adventure" series, which is our challenge course, consisting of high ropes, low ropes, zip line, and the "leap of faith" which is basically jumping out of a tree 45 feet in the air. During Options they pick their "specialty" or the area they came to camp to focus on. The days fly by rather quickly, which is pretty cool, but sad, as life always is. One of my guys, Marc, had serious anger management issues with sports that he would play, when he would play he'd yell/swear loudly, and become very angry and physically aggressive. After working with him all summer, he has now learned to just walk away and do breathing exercises, which is awesome that he has changed so much for the better.
The staff here are awesome, i must admit, and they do a great job of going out and enjoying ourselves during our time off, and even when we are at evening activities. I've met some really special people that will be a part of my life for a very long time, sadly one of them is Jon haha. The only problem is they make me realize how many people i have at home and how many of my friends i truly take for granted...and it really sucks and i apologize to all of you that i have done that to, and probably will do again, just be patient with me, i'm trying to change...and the best part of that is, my campers here have helped me change, and made me want to, to be the better person and the best role model that i can possibly be, and to set the right example. As i'm here in the staff lounge on my day off, i'm paging through the journal i've kept since i got here, and realize that for the first time in about a year, i'm on the right track...i feel something that i haven't felt in a long time since i've been here (it's probably the humidity) but yeah...the beauty of grace---it makes life unfair. I wish and hope that each of you that read this in some point in your life get to sit on a deck chair overlooking a lake and read the Catcher in the Rye (great book fyi), or experience Times Square at night, or have a camp out with a bunch of ridiculously awesome 7th graders...i'm done rambling now, and if you made it even 1/2 way through this, congratulations!! I miss you all incredibly; don't be afraid to drop me a line, see you soon... | | |
| "Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."
The previous was a quote from a very good movie...for those of you who know which movie i'm referring to, you know the exact mood i'm in as of late...complaining about life doesn't really get you anywhere...so just live for the moment and enjoy the ride...(amazing all this wisdom came from a pracs study!!) | | |
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