My Revenge Tour is Coming to an End

My REVENGE tour is coming to an end, aka the school year is ending and I am excited/stressed about it. The looming omnipotence that finals has on literally everyone (including professors) is maybe my biggest fear next to my fear of getting stung by a wasp. Still, this year was a good one. Here's why:

1. I didn't really tell anybody or give any detail behind getting hooked up by Utmost besides an IG post, but I am flow for Utmost and it's like.....hype
2. I started "interning" for this small online publication, another banger I can add to my resume
3. I've made some of the best friends a laflare could ask for this year (Beamer Boiz/Mijo Means Well GC shoutout)
4. I got one D on a Spanish Exam
5. Greek Week 2 times in 1 week
6. MY FIRST FULL LENGTH VIDEO PART IS DROPPING VERY SOON........
7. REFER TO 6
8. I believe that I've found my knack with journalism/prose and am planning to have that direct me in some sort of direction a year from now when I graduate (oops!)
9. NO MEAT MONDAYs are here to stay (until further notice)
10. I didn't let my stress get to me this semester, or the semester before, which is a feat of its own because I usually cannot deal with any sort of stress without going bananas/brazy/boonk gang/gang sign John Wall on a ho(e).

So, my 3rd year at VCU/4th year in universtiy is almost complete, my resume is beefed up, my skateboarding is getting elevated, the greeb has been my friend, and my left hand won't stop shaking because today is one of the first days in a while where I've had coffee to start my day. I looked up on the internet why people get so many muscle twitches (not asking for myself, for a friend obviously) and something along the lines of WebMD said that excessive caffeine consumption makes your body twitch and make the possibility of an irregular heartbeat higher than normal. WebMD is your friend sometimes.

Also, the Cowboys released Dez Bryant and the Penguins are up 2-1 on the Flyers in the first round of the playoffs.

Revenge Tour 2k18, baby.

Comfort

Clothes. We all have clothes, right? I hope so. Outfits, shoes, pants, jackets, shirts, all that jazz. Do you feel comfortable in your clothes? Are your clothes a reflection of who you are, or are they a reflection of your environment? Do clothes mean anything to you?

For me, I am not too big on buying brand spanking new clothes. Unless it's been a multitude of months since I've shopped at an actual outlet store and am in dire need of a completely fresh fitted, most of my wardrobe comes from thrift boutiques, thrift shops, and any other kind of place that comes to mind when thinking about a typical VCU student's clothing. It's cheap, it's authentic, and there are more stories to tell behind a shirt that you bought from Rumors or Family Thrift than there is behind the Kappa jacket or Nautica long-sleeve from Urban Outfitters. This isn't to say that there's an issue with shopping at places like Urban, hell, if I had the money to blow at Urban every other weekend maybe I would be shopping there. But that's behind the point. Thrifting for cool shit is always an experience. You can fantasize about the story behind the "new" piece of clothing that you got and almost put yourself in that person's shoes. A little weird? Yeah, I'd say so. But it's my kind of weird. 

I bought this one flannel a couple of years ago, from Goodwill I think. It's a green, plaid, jaded piece of cloth that maybe an old farmer might have worn while toiling on the fields with his or her sheepdog and cows. It could have been in the back of some normie's closet, hell if I knew. Wherever this piece of clothing ventured from before me picking it up off the Goodwill gave it a narrative that only the former owner would know. A story that resonates only between the former and the clothing. I just think that it is really interesting that I am, in a slightly ominous vicarious way, coexisting with an object that used to be part of someone else's life as it is part of mine now. I've done so much in this flannel. I've given it to a girlfriend (but then took it back after we broke up, obviously), I've landed some of my best skateboard tricks in it,  I've traversed in multiple cities in it, the list goes on. 

This flannel, as insignificant as it might be to who is reading this blog post (if you're reading this blog post, please bring a bagel to Cabell library, second floor, with cream cheese!***I don't think anybody will get this joke, but that's ok***), has been home to many memories that predate my ownership of it and has allowed me to create a dialogue of my own with it as well. 

Comfort. 

Pre-Game Speech

Just when I thought that winter break would last forever, the harsh realities that come with school starting have emerged from the abyss. Books will need to be bought, classes will need to be attended, toleration of classmates will be mandatory. A solid three and a half weeks away from school was definitely something that we all needed, especially myself. Still, I'm excited to get back in the groove of school.

Winter break this year was awesome. I took a little skate trip to D.C. with a friend, threw down on New Year's, created semi-professional relationships with individuals who have the potential to direct me in the right direction in regards to a career, and had an interview for what some would say is my first "actual" job. Quotations around the word actual because of the magnitude that this position (Non-Profit Admin at Think Of Us Organization) would have on my resume and experience for possible careers in the future. It looks like my life is slowly and steadily shaping into a mold that I hadn't planned for, but what's the fun in going into every situation in your life knowing the exact outcome?

I woke up today around 7:20 after falling asleep at 3:30/4ish in the morning, and throttled my way to the library to get an iced coffee from Starbucks (ironically I am in the library now writing this blog post). That cup of coffee held me down for several hours, and by several I mean seven hours. Why did I decide to eat so late? Not a clue, but that Chipotle burrito definitely played its part by filling me up.

Recent efforts have been made on my end to stop eating so much meat/animals and eat more plants. I had to google the difference between being vegan and vegetarian, and hundreds of others probably had to do the same. I get the two so confused just because they both have similar concepts, with one being a more strenuous diet than the other. Whatever.

There's still ice on the ground

I sent in a photo that my friend Dillon took of me doing an ollie to flat in Richmond a couple months ago to several magazines, and one of them already hit me back saying they'll try to get it into an upcoming issue. My reaction? Well for one, I was surprised that they got back to me within a day. The magazine who hit me back so fast is Skate Jawn, based out of Philly. Being that they're east coast, they probably saw "Richmond" in the body of the email I sent them and were like "east coast!". As corny and unlikely as that scenario sounds I hope it went something like that. I have a heavy intuition towards me seeing that picture in an issue of the mag in the near future...

There's still ice on the ground and the local community college and other institutions like Old Dominion University are going back to school today. I cannot relate, due to the fact that VCU doesn't start for another week and I can laugh at those who are tripping on the ice around their campuses until karma hits me with a baseball bat and has me on the ground wallowing in pain. Global warming is real! It's about to be in the low 60's for a day or two this week. Usually, I'd say this is just a normal depiction of typical Virginia weather since we as a state do have a tendency to mix all 4 seasons into 1. But, scientific research says otherwise. We really have to stop killing the earth.

Lastly, the Panthers and Bills lost today. Cam Newton is one of my favorite quarterbacks, and the Bills were in the playoffs for the 1st time in almost 2 decades. My heart and my ego hurt for both of the teams yesterday for a smooth 30 minutes after the game, but then the cold weather outside completely shifted my mind from sympathizing for them to finding ways I could be warmer in a car that took forever to heat up before driving home yesterday. For a lack of better words, it's brick outside.

chamber of reflection

The time is about 5 am and I really don't know why I'm awake to be completely honest. I fell asleep around 9:45, expecting to only arise when the clock turned 7 the next morning. Turns out that I was soundly wrong...

A new year has come upon us! New Year's festivities that happened this past January 1st were jubilant and joyous, nothing that I didn't expect though. I threw a bottle off someone's porch stand, someone accidentally peed on my Dale Earnhardt shirt that my really good friend Heather gave me (it's a staple to my wardrobe), and a bunch of the Midlo gang pulled up out of the abyss. Twas' an exciting night if you were into beer, ladies, screaming, and stepping on people's nice shoes.

School starts in 11 days exactly and I'm more excited than anything. Winter break has treated me well, but I want to be back on the daily grind. As weird as it sounds, going back and forth to school and immediately after to work is easier for me than sitting around and galvanizing with my friends. Let me rephrase that: having a definite schedule for the week is useful for time and money purposes, and I am slowly learning that my friends will (hopefully) be there and understand that we are out here grinding and trying to get this schmoney, education, and rest. Now THAT sounds tons better.

Is it taboo if I leave my room right now, 5:25 AM EST, and make a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats and wake up everyone in my house with my munching downstairs? Does the fact that I would be using vanilla soy milk make it more feasible? How do I fall back asleep? If there are any suggestions or remedies, please feel free to interject.

Lots of good music has been shown to me in the past couple weeks. RICEWINE, TOPS, Porches, older Mac DeMarco and new Trippie Red have been playing on my Spotify as of late. I've also come to recognize how important music is, man... If you're listening to shitty music you gotta step your game up. But, then again, who am I to tell you if you're music taste is shitty? HA! Do what you want, I'm honestly just rambling at this point.  My stomach is rumbling and I don't know if I can hold off on this bowl of cereal. I think this is my queue to jet!

Mason Inn

Coming into 2017 I told myself that I would break out of my shell when it comes to attending different social events. Typically, the extent of socializing in a group setting for me would be myself and a group of my friends that all know each other with maybe one or two individuals who I am not that close with. But, with the determination and peer pressure applied per my friends who don't have any issues with socializing in large group settings, I have learned to slowly chip away at the anti-social shell that I sometimes blockade myself within.

December 21, or this past Friday, I was invited on a trip to D.C. with a couple friends to see Don Fredrick play at a local bar. No prior planning was made and no adjustments were accounted for, as this was a last minute trip for myself and probably others. The normal LJ would have declined due to the ambiguities that lie inside of a non-well thought process. Instead, not so normal aka socialable LJ decided to go and he had a blast (sorry for talking in third person right there). Maybe it's only me who thinks that they have this outer shell that they still need to break out of to reach their full potential, or maybe I am overthinking it like I do with 98 percent of my life. Only time will tell!

I stopped writing this blog post right before I went to bed I think 2 nights ago, and now it's Christmas Eve! An acquaintance of mine threw a Christmas party at her crib and it turned out to be a lot better than I expected for reasons I choose to keep to myself (lol). The holidays are such a trying, yet rewarding time of the year.

First Week Out tha Feds

First week out of school I meant.

Well, the first couple days out of school. I've just been relaxing a lot to be honest, something that I find myself straying away from in the form that I need to be doing more on a consistent basis. There's nothing wrong with being busy all the time, but it's really good to dedicate a day or two just to recuperate from all of the shit you put your body through. One could go about it in several ways, whether it's eating at home for a few days (we should all eat at home more frequently, though), staying in bed and watching videos of your choice (for me that's basketball/hockey highlights or watching skate videos) or just taking a couple hours out of each day at a time for yourself. Ya know, not texting anybody or worrying about who is gonna retweet your last tweet. Take some time for yourself and only yourself, become one with your element, whatever that is.

It's actually the first time I have done this in about a month, I'd say. My dog is laying on the floor adjacent to my bed as he snores louder than I do. I am also pretty damn sure that he farted twice as I was watching Girl, Interrupted also. Winona Ryder, a god amongst women... just saying.

I am starting to see that proactivity in your daily life is really important to becoming an adult. It doesn't matter per say what you are being proactive about, hell, it could be you being proactive about brushing your teeth every morning (ok, if you don't brush your teeth every morning that is a little wonky). But you get my point. Proactivity is proactivity and taking mindsets that you have while you are being proactive in one area of your life can translate easily and effectively to other areas where you need to be proactive as well. Proactivity.

I am supposed to be meeting a local journalist for coffee in these upcoming weeks and the owner of an art gallery in Richmond to talk about volunteer work. I've never actively volunteered anywhere, so I might as well do it in an environment where I feel will be enriching not only to myself but others. And who knows, maybe it can turn into an opportunity in the future.

Winter break has just begun and I am currently loving it. The fact that school will not be here to haunt me for the next month is only but a dream. It's imperative to enjoy these moments while they last.