The End of an Era

I want to start of by just saying, wow! I can't believe the time has come to end a chapter of my life and begin a new one. This chapter of my life began four years ago when I was merely a high school graduate. What was coming next? Would I go to college for academics or baseball? Would I stay pre-med or change my mind? Graduating from Baylor never crossed my mind as a kid; as a matter of fact, Baylor was not even on my college radar. However, I'm incredibly thankful that I decided on going to Baylor. Well here I am four years later, not following a dream, but chasing my passion. In the Fall I will begin my studies at Southern Methodist University, studying Modern Europe.

Everything that I have learned over the past four years has changed me and shaped the man I am today. I've found out who true friends are, what love is, what real hardship is, and how to overcome the toughest of times. A little story exemplifies how much I have changed in such a short time, as well as how much growing is still ahead of me. I recently reconnected with an old high school friend. I remember her as being nice, but she was of the religious, goody-goody, type that a high school boy would never really consider dating. Well, time changes these things and I learned how special her qualities are. Of course, being the "jump the gun" kind of guy I am, I asked her on a date. We had a wonderful time at my favorite restaurant and hanging out on a rooftop terrance in Fort Worth. I never would have imagined feeling that kind of connection with someone four years ago. Once again, this story taught me something about myself. One, that's the kind (not THE girl, but the kind of) girl that's what I want and need. Two, I have grown so much as a person and being with her helped me to realize who I have become; a respectful, kind, gentleman. While that sounds pretty arrogant, I'm proud that I can claim this about myself. So, here we are. The end of one chapter and the beginning of the next. Here's to the next years of this life I have come to love!

Updated plans...

Wow! The last Fall semester of my undergraduate career is quickly coming to an end. Time has been racing, so what have I been up to? Besides the sad ending to the world series, a club baseball team of my own, and the typical school work I have had the opportunity to stop and reflect on who I am and who I want to be. Many of you know that my whole life has been a dream of becoming a doctor for our military, God bless those brave men, but I spent the whole summer reevaluating that decision. As a result I did not apply for medical school this time around. As of now I am looking into graduate school for my passion, history. The whole world is out there for me to travel and study. I'm still young so why sit around and start my career now? I'm looking to take the year off before attending graduate school. The idea of this year off is to create a story and do my own personal research. Living for one year without any plans just mixing with people and hearing their stories will provide me with a better understanding of the human element and also some good perspective. I look forward to graduating this May and beginning my year of living with my main bro and learning who we all are.

Also make sure to check out the new blog co-written with The Wing Expert

IT'S TIME

It's baseball time to be honest but I have taken advantage of the 'creative' minds working in PR and advertising for the Rangers. It's time for me to get back to blogging. A lot is in the near future, what with baseball, stories, and dare I say love. Just pulling your chain but I had you all worried.

An ad fontes, if you will

As many of you know I am studying abroad in the land of the Dutch, the Netherlands, Maastricht to be exact. While I have had long weekends to do travelling and go on a certain number of adventures including nights of quite epic proportions I have had the chance to stop and reflect on myself among others. Now I have met some wonderful people on this venture that I may otherwise never have met while at Baylor and for that I am thankful. Also thanks to a certain someone, who has had previous mention on this site, most of the group has an idea of me and for that I carry a rather perplexing, somewhat interesting, reputation. Not to say that is a bad thing but I haven't been the nicest of guys during certain parts of my career. And so as things go I met someone, and while I'm not the one to believe in love at first site and other romantic ideas of that sort, and I developed a "crush" on her. Now that comes with it's own problems as she has a "significant other," to whatever extent you are allowed to use your own imagination. As the story goes we had become close through our conversations and we entered what can be called as the French say a drôle de guerre, or "phony war." History joke... meaning nothing was happening, just a build up. Much to my expectations when it came time to discuss what to do about this "forbidden love," we logically decided that nothing should come of it as she is involved and I had still been experiencing a degree of heart-break, see my other blog... So as I sit today I suddenly realized that falling for someone is not something that I have sought to do, as a matter of fact, historically, I would want the opposite. Thus today marks the end of my Middle Ages or medieval period and the beginning of my own ad fontes or "back to the source." A new era in which I am to be reborn and strive to reject the past era and return, if I may, to Classical me, a time when my mind and body were of utmost importance. This new "Renaissance of Me" as it's called, will not put me through any suffering, simply waiting for time to happen, but to be given a rebirth and the chance to truly live! This new way and outlook on life is inspired as one could guess, from the Italian Renaissance, but mine should prove to be much more interesting as I will bring about a new era, of course a slightly narrower scale than that of the Italians, but more a more important one to me personally. To wrap up this brief on the state of me, you can all expect a little something new to come, a boost of confidence and an air of elegance and appreciation for that of which I am capable.

One Mistake

One mistake, I make one mistake and I'm the bad guy. My bad I said wander instead of wonder, but whatever, get over it.

Library: Study or Social?

Being such an outstanding student, I often find myself seeking refuge in the library. You might wander to yourself why I would write such a statement. To fully understand you need further back story. When the confines of my house become too loud to maintain the proper mindset required to read history or solve organic chemistry questions, I go to the library where one would imagine to find a nice and quiet sanctuary. This however is not the case. The antagonist that I am faced with, loudness, has followed me to the library. In this instance the annoying laughter and murmurs come from Baylor's asian population. I understand that they are the best students through tactics of focus acquired in their communist homelands, but most of us need peace and quiet to study. They seem to believe that the freedom they gained by moving to America includes the right to be a nuisance in what is a "monastery quiet" floor of the library. They fail to comprehend that this is study time, not social hour. While in a state of tremendous turmoil, my mind began to drift and I may be taking this to the extreme, but I can understand why we dropped the bomb.

My Absence, Updates and Pitching?

First and foremost I would like to extend my utmost apology for my lack of correspondence over the previous months. For those of you who have never been in my situation I hope to gain your understanding in the succeeding sentences. The life of a pre-med biology and history major is not one of leisure so I have found myself in the library late at night, yes, including the weekends. It seems that there is little time to play now that I have so many difficult courses to pursue and conquer. I know what you're thinking, is this not the great thinker who has dominated the classroom with little study, relying strictly of superior mental skills and perhaps good looks (flirting with professors works, btw)? It is in fact, the very same guy who has awed audiences for years, however I have decided to focus deeply on my work as I prepare for wherever my road takes me. It is my deepest hope that I have appeased you all with this explanation.

Now for a quick update! Besides spending my nights studying I have found some time to have some fun. I can't be expected to study all the time. Apart from study breaks with a little senorita who you may have heard about, I have been busy with running club baseball and the start up of flag football. The first game was when the NIM took on Alexander the Great. After valiant efforts from the boys of Alexander, the NIMs (me) took the field with a 24-0 victory. You're probably thinking, "wow you had 4 touchdowns? You really are the star of the team!" Unfortunately, I only had one catch for 8 yards due to a lack of communication with my quarterback. I did however have an amazing catch in the corner of the endzone in which both feet were inbounds while maintaining complete possession. Too bad the officiating crew called me out of bounds before the catch, claiming that I could not be the next one to touch the football in question. I am proud of the NIM as we are 1-0 and look to take on the Penland Pigskin Posse next week.

Now for pitching. It has come to my attention that a certain someone will be giving pitching lessons to one of the youth. While some may doubt this new found coach and his pitching skills, I predict that he will give useful knowledge to this young slugger. You see, I believe in an old saying that goes, "those who can't, teach." If this holds true, someone will make an excellent coach. Lastly, I would like to comment of this "double" down the "line." I remember crisply a bloop single dropping into left field where the left fielder, who's mind capacity can be compared to that of a juvenile australopithecus afarensis, kicked the ball around allowing the batter to cruise into second base.

I leave you with this final thought. 1 in 8 women will someday suffer from breast cancer. I urge you to do all you can to promote research by joining local events such as the Race for the Cure and giving Yoplait yogurt tops to a lovely ZETA.

Thank you and God bless

Subtraction from Vocabulary

try- verb. to make an attempt or effort; strive

I am tired of seeing the word try. "I am trying this, I am trying that." The truth is that I don't try, I do, and so should you. Do- verb. to accomplish; finish; complete. I do good in school, I don't try to do good in school. See this is the difference between bros like me and bros like the self-proclaimed "wing expert." While he tries to do certain things, I do them. Failure is not an option for me, success is the only way.

I would like to propose that the verb try be expelled from our vocabulary. It is about time we teach the youth of the day to do, not to merely try.

Update on LIFE... and why I'm winning

Ah yes the age old question. Why are we here on this Earth? What is our purpose?

Well my friends, let me tell you! Life is a game, it is just a simple game we play. Of course there are various ways to play this game. You can go through life and take it as it comes, or you can go out and make something of it. The latter is the life I have chosen and am glad to say that my main bro has decided to take the same path. Now that he is on board, we can make our twenties the most amazing years of any one's life. The next and coming years will be filled with moments of fun and wild ideas culminating in anything and everything imaginable; road trips, women, booze and whatever else. While this may be of some concern and frequently poses some decisions that may be in a morally grey area, it results in one amazing story. And that is why we are here, for the story!

Summertime!!!

Well it's summertime and I am in school. Don't let this get you down though, for this is also the time for new student orientation. Yeah, that's right, I will be scouting for the upcoming school year. This way I get a head-start on everyone else. The lesson of today is that being in summer school means that while I get the lemon, I also get the squeeze.

What have my friends become?

Well finals are coming around and it's getting to that nervous time when everyone asks me for help with their classes. Of course I thoroughly enjoy the looks of confusion on my peers' faces when they don't understand simple ideas such a Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism. Haha, poor kids. Unfortunately it is such a busy time that I have lost track of some of my friends. Gosh I've heard horrible things ranging from "relations" with 5 pi kapps over spring break to the development of a dear friends first drinks to full blown alcoholism. But through all of these awful occurrences the worst by far is my dear best friend has been using a mac. While this may not appear tragic, it is. This is a man who once stood in front of a pc with a webcam and uploaded a video swearing allegiance to the pc. His exact words, and I quote are, "I'm a pc and I am The Wing Expert!" Now that he is using a mac, I have begun to doubt other qualities of him. Perhaps he is NOT The Wing Expert...

It's a Great Day to Be a Bear

How 'bout them Baylor Bears. If you haven't been paying attention to the Big XII Basketball Championship, Baylor was named the 9 seed. They didn't let that get them down as they advanced past Nebraska and "upset" the 1 seed, Kansas in a thriller. Being the first 9 seed to advance to the semifinals they had to play Texas, a team they haven't beat since 1998. Despite being down by 6 at halftime, they came back to win in the closing minutes of the game. Now, they are playing for the championship tonight against Missouri for a chance to make it to the big dance.

Sic Em Bears!!!!!

also, root for our lady bears as they are in the semifinals of their Big XII Championship

Re: Google and Baseball!!

Au contraire my silly little "wing expert!" Not only can you google me as well, I am in the new dictionary, see "balla."

Ah yes, it is that wonderful time of year when the snow melts away and the springtime flowers begin to blossom. I am referring to baseball season of course. Baseball is the reason I am alive. It is my passion and through all the years the one constant in our lives is baseball. God Bless Baseball....

God Bless the USA and God Bless us all

Wind, Cold, Golf.... Bad Combo

One thing about me is that I love the game of golf. It is my passion! Now, the only problem is that golf is expensive and I don't know when to stop. Also, anytime someone asks if I want to play, I do.

Now that you have the background info, I played golf today! And while I should be excited I'm not. The day before, it was 75 degrees here in Waco but the day we played was 40 degrees! To add insult to injury, the wind was blowing like crazy. As a result my bro and I were frozen and numb. Unfortunatly, that doesn't mix with golf. It is demoralizing when your 5 iron only goes 60 yards one way, 200 yards the other while is goes left or right all over. Needless to say, it was a bad day. I can't help but think that the weather is punishment for spending $40 when I don't have $40 dollars. I'd much rather pay a overdraft fee...

A New Beginning

Well as of now I am bro-less. Yes, my main bro is gone and the search for a new bro is underway. Of course, being as I am (classy, charming, charasmatic, cool, the 4 c's I'm like a diamond in the rough) I don't need a bro. However, the laws of nature demand that I have a wingman so I must find a poor lost bro, missing his wings who I can teach to fly high with me. Going back to Baylor will definitely help the search, it seems as if the metroplex is full of fake bros. Anyways this new adventure in which I am destined to discover my new bro is going to be de- wait for it -lightful!

"Bro"-stabbing

This week I had not one but two important SUIT UP opportunities. They were elaborate plans to venture into a nearby Dallas "cougar bar." However, the first one, this monday, was cancelled by my main bro (askthewingexpert.blogspot.com). He blamed it on a slight freezing rain that was coming down. After that we planned to SUIT UP on wednesday. I had some important business plans in Ft. Worth and Dallas that suddenly came up and I asked to postpone the suiting up in question. Later after some of my plans were cancelled, I was ready to SUIT UP! Unfortunetly, my main bro decided to go into work and ruin the plans for our attack on a nearby "cougar bar." As of now, the "bromance," a sacred wingman bond was torn apart.

Until next time.....

The Changes We See

Well I was having a good New Year until I found out the awful truth of one of my best friends. Ever since she moved away from Texas, she has been acting very strange and I hardly ever hear from her. However, the other day when I was cruising the sexual predator website, I came across her. Yes, my best friend from high school is a child molester! I know, I was dumbfounded by the fact that she has changed this much. I am in a stage of bittersweet shock. If the ones I hold close are this perverted, what chance does the rest of the world have?