This is the beginning of the final stretch for myself and many of my friends, companions, acquaintances, and colleagues as we enter our last couple of semesters at our respective universities. It is so crazy that often I still cannot believe and fathom that I was a freshman just like so many of the newcomers at VCU. What really put this part of my life into perspective is when one of my former volleyball players that I coached last year at Midlothian sent me a SnapChat video of him moving into his dorm and gallivanting all around his campus with his buddies. All I could think of was when I was his age and doing the same shit that he is probably doing right now. Life is crazy!
School has started off nice so far. We went to some frat party, my Spanish professor is gorgeous and gave me a traditional Spanish name for class (Lorenzo), all of my classes are pertaining to my major and really have me interested and in-tune to what the professor is saying, and I finally feel like my education is right in front of me instead of somewhere far off in a land that is unknown. In the last few semesters I have had struggles trying to figure out what it is that I would like to do when I graduate, but as of late I have been setting time aside from the semi-chaotic schedule that I have at hand and digging deeper discovering my likes and interests. I also think that the classes that I'll be taking for the next few semesters will really open my eyes to some things that I have not seen before and give me an even better sense of what my true calling/passion is. Usually I would not be that excited for class to start or anything like that, so that fact that I can truly say to myself "I am actually looking forward to going to class today." really astounds me and makes me very hopeful of my future in and after college.
I have not been skating as much as I would like just because of the magnitude I believe my studies are carrying at the moment. I'm doing my best to skate at least every other day, but sometimes you have to make sacrifices to get what you want and need. Lord knows I would love to be doing some nose-grind 180's right now, but my grades say "look over chapters 1-5 and annotate key topics.". Hopefully I find some better ground in between the two and make happy balance.
I have also come to realize that I am not that much of a complicated person in regards to my daily routine and schedule, yet I have had multiple constituents bring to my attention that I am very "hard to read." I don't really care that much for other's opinions (I mean that in the best of ways), but I think it's just funny that some think that I am complicated when I think that I am pretty basic. Maybe I am wrong, maybe I'm not. No big deal. Also, this whole post was fueled by a large iced coffee that I purchased from Starbucks about 15 minutes ago. Coffee! Academics! Blogging! Yeah!
Sunday, August 27, 2017
Sunday, August 20, 2017
BumF*ck Middle of Nowhere, VA
This weekend, a few buddies of mine rented a cabin in Floyd, Virginia. Where is Floyd? Good question! It's southwest Virginia around the same area Roanoke, Christiansburg, and Blacksburg are, about an hour or so away from those places. Most cities in southwest are very small and antiquated, so if you are not familiar with any of the geography related to that part of the state don't take it too hard. If I had to point on a map where we were this past weekend I probably couldn't do it.
I almost didn't go due to my job(s). I completely forgot that I am a volleyball coach everyday of the week and can't really miss practice. Luckily, the head varsity coach came in the clutch and covered for me. I was hoping he would have told me earlier than Friday which is the day that I left for the cabin trip. My plan was to get confirmation from him sometime early in the week so I could pick up a server shift at Mellow Mushroom and use the money from that shift on miscellaneous garb. Since I couldn't work the day that I left, I spent the weekend with $10 in my wallet. But, I only spent 4 dollars and some change on a McChicken and medium fry from McDonald's on our way out of the small town of Floyd.
I drove with my pals Brittany and Brianna. They are both great people, but are maniacs behind the wheel. Speeding, swerving, you name it. They can't be too bad of drivers though since I made it home and back in one piece.
A quarter of the way into the drive we're on I-64 and Brittany's car starts smoking. We panic for a second, debating whether we should continue our endeavor out west. The ultimatum ended up being us turning around, dropping Britt's car at the auto shop, then taking Bri's car for the trek. With her kind of driving we at least shaved 30 minutes off of our trip time.
The last 3 miles of the trip getting to the cabin were treacherous. Paved ground turned into gravel, road got windier and windier, and the sunshine soon sifted away into the night sky. With our luck up to this point, all that we could think was "We're going to this cabin in the woods in the middle of nowhere and we are all going to die." Although that mental preset was the only thing going through my mind, once we stepped into the cabin all sense of fear went away. We were miles away from most civilization and our closest neighbors were about a mile away. We blasted music, cracked open a few cold ones, and just kicked it. I was enjoying myself with in the middle of nowhere with booze, bud, and my bros.
The next day we went hiking at Buffalo Mountain. This was my first hike and my excitement levels were off the charts. Once we got to the peak of the range my mouth was wide open trying to take in the beauty that was bestowed right in front of me. I've always wanted to go hiking just for the experience and to see what the world looked like from above. I was not disappointed whatsoever.
Tons of other shenanigans went on like shooting .22 rifles. grilling hotdogs and hamburgers, and setting off fireworks in the middle of the night. Needless to say this was a fun ass trip and plan to enjoy times like this with my buds more in the future.
Also, school starts this week and summer is officially over. That shit just blows my mind!
I almost didn't go due to my job(s). I completely forgot that I am a volleyball coach everyday of the week and can't really miss practice. Luckily, the head varsity coach came in the clutch and covered for me. I was hoping he would have told me earlier than Friday which is the day that I left for the cabin trip. My plan was to get confirmation from him sometime early in the week so I could pick up a server shift at Mellow Mushroom and use the money from that shift on miscellaneous garb. Since I couldn't work the day that I left, I spent the weekend with $10 in my wallet. But, I only spent 4 dollars and some change on a McChicken and medium fry from McDonald's on our way out of the small town of Floyd.
I drove with my pals Brittany and Brianna. They are both great people, but are maniacs behind the wheel. Speeding, swerving, you name it. They can't be too bad of drivers though since I made it home and back in one piece.
A quarter of the way into the drive we're on I-64 and Brittany's car starts smoking. We panic for a second, debating whether we should continue our endeavor out west. The ultimatum ended up being us turning around, dropping Britt's car at the auto shop, then taking Bri's car for the trek. With her kind of driving we at least shaved 30 minutes off of our trip time.
The last 3 miles of the trip getting to the cabin were treacherous. Paved ground turned into gravel, road got windier and windier, and the sunshine soon sifted away into the night sky. With our luck up to this point, all that we could think was "We're going to this cabin in the woods in the middle of nowhere and we are all going to die." Although that mental preset was the only thing going through my mind, once we stepped into the cabin all sense of fear went away. We were miles away from most civilization and our closest neighbors were about a mile away. We blasted music, cracked open a few cold ones, and just kicked it. I was enjoying myself with in the middle of nowhere with booze, bud, and my bros.
The next day we went hiking at Buffalo Mountain. This was my first hike and my excitement levels were off the charts. Once we got to the peak of the range my mouth was wide open trying to take in the beauty that was bestowed right in front of me. I've always wanted to go hiking just for the experience and to see what the world looked like from above. I was not disappointed whatsoever.
Tons of other shenanigans went on like shooting .22 rifles. grilling hotdogs and hamburgers, and setting off fireworks in the middle of the night. Needless to say this was a fun ass trip and plan to enjoy times like this with my buds more in the future.
Also, school starts this week and summer is officially over. That shit just blows my mind!
Monday, August 14, 2017
A good weekend and a bad weekend
This past weekend was a blast, in fact in was fun as hell.
My really good and best friend Martin Stellato gave me the privilege to stay at his cribbo from Saturday to Monday. We drank a little, played darts, just bro things. Good times, good times..
Even with the fun times at McFly's crib, there was havoc raining down southwest of McLean in Charlottesville, where Neo-Nazis and White Nationalists/ Supremacists came together to reclaim what was rightfully theirs, at least that is what they thought they were doing.
The whole point of what they were doing was to conserve their culture, a culture that they demonstrated to be hatred and bigotry on major levels. I am not an anthropologist, a history major, but I am an educated young man who can see that what those groups of people who came to terrorize the city of Charlottesville had no right to be there doing what they were doing. Why go around telling others of different creeds and colors that they are below white people? Why attack peaceful counter-protestors that obviously had better intentions than those of their own? That shit doesn't make any sense to me.
It baffles me that grown men and women have the audacity to think they are in the right. It baffles me that KKK members can walk out without a fucking hood and their ugly ass getup and not receive any sort of punishment. The idiotic, unethical ideals that these men and women uniting together to preserve are sub par and are only fit for degenerates.
What could possibly be worse, a president who doesn't care about the condition of his country's states and the turmoil that has been left? Pff, that would never be the case!
Sike, because it actually IS the case.
Trump delivered two speeches, one of them on Saturday and the other on Monday. Saturday's address to the media about the situation at hand was absolute garbage. His delivery, his tone, everything about it was terrible. He didn't even make it known that Neo-Nazis and White Nationalists/Supremacists were and still are the root of the issue. Monday's speech was a notch better, but still nothing to be impressed about. This time he actually called out the two groups that were responsible for most of what has happened these last few days and struck down the ideas of racism, hatred, and all things evil. Still, the execution of his speech was trash.
I would be lying if I said I'm not worried about what the future holds for our society. For lack of better words, this shit is crazy.
My really good and best friend Martin Stellato gave me the privilege to stay at his cribbo from Saturday to Monday. We drank a little, played darts, just bro things. Good times, good times..
Even with the fun times at McFly's crib, there was havoc raining down southwest of McLean in Charlottesville, where Neo-Nazis and White Nationalists/ Supremacists came together to reclaim what was rightfully theirs, at least that is what they thought they were doing.
The whole point of what they were doing was to conserve their culture, a culture that they demonstrated to be hatred and bigotry on major levels. I am not an anthropologist, a history major, but I am an educated young man who can see that what those groups of people who came to terrorize the city of Charlottesville had no right to be there doing what they were doing. Why go around telling others of different creeds and colors that they are below white people? Why attack peaceful counter-protestors that obviously had better intentions than those of their own? That shit doesn't make any sense to me.
It baffles me that grown men and women have the audacity to think they are in the right. It baffles me that KKK members can walk out without a fucking hood and their ugly ass getup and not receive any sort of punishment. The idiotic, unethical ideals that these men and women uniting together to preserve are sub par and are only fit for degenerates.
What could possibly be worse, a president who doesn't care about the condition of his country's states and the turmoil that has been left? Pff, that would never be the case!
Sike, because it actually IS the case.
Trump delivered two speeches, one of them on Saturday and the other on Monday. Saturday's address to the media about the situation at hand was absolute garbage. His delivery, his tone, everything about it was terrible. He didn't even make it known that Neo-Nazis and White Nationalists/Supremacists were and still are the root of the issue. Monday's speech was a notch better, but still nothing to be impressed about. This time he actually called out the two groups that were responsible for most of what has happened these last few days and struck down the ideas of racism, hatred, and all things evil. Still, the execution of his speech was trash.
I would be lying if I said I'm not worried about what the future holds for our society. For lack of better words, this shit is crazy.
Thursday, August 10, 2017
3am Thoughts
My parents have started to notice that I never am home as much as I have been in the past. I don't think they have a problem with me being out late and doing other things besides staying at home, but I feel like I am in that part of a movie of a kid who grew up to be a semi-mature adult. Ya know, the part where the guy's parents are standing on their porch saying "They grow up so fast" while a tear drop falls from the mother's eyes and the father has to bring her inside so she doesn't make a scene in the neighborhood. That's where I am at right now, at least that's what I think.
A major reason as to why I stay out so late is because majority of my buddies are either working super long shifts or are asleep during the day, making the time frame of 10 pm to 2/3 am prime time for shenanigans.
Although I didn't hang out with anybody or do anything crazy last night, I just couldn't fall asleep as easily as I should have. So, I stayed up for hours upon hours just thinking about anything that came o my mind.
One of those random thoughts that came over me is how humans pronounce words. If you think about it, words are just a bunch of letters strung along one another and we pronounce them as such. It just blows my mind for some reason and I am not too sure why. Especially when you stumble across a word that you just said and take a second to think about why the word is like this. "Why does "especially" sound the way it does and why is it spelled like that?" Questions like that and others rattle my psyche to no end.
Another concept that I thought about is how great dogs are. They are some of the most pure animals on the planet. My dog is old and sleeps a ton but he is the apple of my eye undoubtedly. Most dogs that I have met are always so nice and genuine and like to make you feel welcome. And, no matter what, they are always by your side. There have been times where I accidentally have stepped on my dogs paw or tail and he just licks me as if I had just given him a treat. Needless to say, I love dogs. A lot.
In other news that is unrelated to this blog post, I am going to D.C. this weekend to see one of my best friend's new house that he and some others bought for this upcoming school year. I plan on getting very belligerent this weekend and hope others around me choose to do the same. Cheers!
A major reason as to why I stay out so late is because majority of my buddies are either working super long shifts or are asleep during the day, making the time frame of 10 pm to 2/3 am prime time for shenanigans.
Although I didn't hang out with anybody or do anything crazy last night, I just couldn't fall asleep as easily as I should have. So, I stayed up for hours upon hours just thinking about anything that came o my mind.
One of those random thoughts that came over me is how humans pronounce words. If you think about it, words are just a bunch of letters strung along one another and we pronounce them as such. It just blows my mind for some reason and I am not too sure why. Especially when you stumble across a word that you just said and take a second to think about why the word is like this. "Why does "especially" sound the way it does and why is it spelled like that?" Questions like that and others rattle my psyche to no end.
Another concept that I thought about is how great dogs are. They are some of the most pure animals on the planet. My dog is old and sleeps a ton but he is the apple of my eye undoubtedly. Most dogs that I have met are always so nice and genuine and like to make you feel welcome. And, no matter what, they are always by your side. There have been times where I accidentally have stepped on my dogs paw or tail and he just licks me as if I had just given him a treat. Needless to say, I love dogs. A lot.
In other news that is unrelated to this blog post, I am going to D.C. this weekend to see one of my best friend's new house that he and some others bought for this upcoming school year. I plan on getting very belligerent this weekend and hope others around me choose to do the same. Cheers!
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
Coffee
We all start our mornings out in our own unique way. It could be your mom yelling at you for not doing the dishes the night before, birds pecking at your window, or having the sunlight peek through your blinds enough to force you out of your slumber. While all of those ways one could start their day sound thrilling, I think a lot of people turn to coffee to begin their day instead of those mentioned previously.
Why coffee? Is it the taste, the aroma? Does drinking coffee make you feel smarter? All valid reasons, especially the latter.
I enjoy drinking coffee to start my mornings because it is an instant pick-me-up. As soon as I feel the coffee hit my body I am automatically locked in for what my day (at least a few hours of it) has in store for me.
The amount of flavors and tastes that reside in the coffee spectrum are almost endless. French Vanilla, Brazilian, Colombian, the list goes on. Plus, you can get your coffee in more ways in than one. Frappe, frappucino, latte, you name it. There is always something right for everyone when it comes to coffee. Some people don't like coffee and that's ok, maybe they're a tea and crumpets type of person. Who knows...
A fairly big reason as to why I enjoy drinking coffee so much, paired with all the others that I have named, stems from the fact that there are coffee shops all over the Richmond area. It's really cool going to different places and trying new types of coffee and just taking in the experience you're having while you're there. It truly is a great feeling. Maybe I am going too in depth about a drink that I sometimes spend way too much money on, or maybe I am just giving the nectar of the gods its rightful credit. Either way, I foresee a long and everlasting relationship with the coffee and all that comes with it.
Why coffee? Is it the taste, the aroma? Does drinking coffee make you feel smarter? All valid reasons, especially the latter.
I enjoy drinking coffee to start my mornings because it is an instant pick-me-up. As soon as I feel the coffee hit my body I am automatically locked in for what my day (at least a few hours of it) has in store for me.
The amount of flavors and tastes that reside in the coffee spectrum are almost endless. French Vanilla, Brazilian, Colombian, the list goes on. Plus, you can get your coffee in more ways in than one. Frappe, frappucino, latte, you name it. There is always something right for everyone when it comes to coffee. Some people don't like coffee and that's ok, maybe they're a tea and crumpets type of person. Who knows...
A fairly big reason as to why I enjoy drinking coffee so much, paired with all the others that I have named, stems from the fact that there are coffee shops all over the Richmond area. It's really cool going to different places and trying new types of coffee and just taking in the experience you're having while you're there. It truly is a great feeling. Maybe I am going too in depth about a drink that I sometimes spend way too much money on, or maybe I am just giving the nectar of the gods its rightful credit. Either way, I foresee a long and everlasting relationship with the coffee and all that comes with it.
Monday, August 7, 2017
Vacation
These last few days have gone by so fast, and I don't know why. Could it be due to the fact that it's starting to get darker earlier, or could I have slept majority of those days away? I can't even answer that question.
School starts back up in about two and a half weeks and I'm more excited than anything. I told myself that this year was going to be excellent for me academic wise and hope that I can hold myself accountable. Jesus, I hope so... (I mean that in the most lighthearted way possible).
I'm going to visit one of my buds in Arlington/D.C. this upcoming weekend and the weekend after I am going to Willis, Virginia (???) with a few of my other friends. We booked a cabin that has five acres of space which is more than enough for recreational activity of all sorts.
It's crazy how summer is steadily coming to an end, but I am pretty sure I say this to myself every year at the end of summer so I'll just end on that note.
School starts back up in about two and a half weeks and I'm more excited than anything. I told myself that this year was going to be excellent for me academic wise and hope that I can hold myself accountable. Jesus, I hope so... (I mean that in the most lighthearted way possible).
I'm going to visit one of my buds in Arlington/D.C. this upcoming weekend and the weekend after I am going to Willis, Virginia (???) with a few of my other friends. We booked a cabin that has five acres of space which is more than enough for recreational activity of all sorts.
It's crazy how summer is steadily coming to an end, but I am pretty sure I say this to myself every year at the end of summer so I'll just end on that note.
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