Monday, September 23, 2013

For the Love of Basketball

Basketball has taught me many things: discipline, trust, composure under pressure, and confidence in myself to just name a few. But the best thing basketball did for me was being able to build some awesome friendships with so many people. Be it a small town pick up game, league play, foreign collegiate team practice, to any place that has a court, I've met a wide variety of personalities and people. The greatest thing is that it never mattered about who we were or what we did, but how we played the game. And that's one of the reasons I'll never give up this beautiful passion of mine.

But today, the basketball world loses a great individual. And I, (and many-many others) lose a great friend.

It's crazy and sad, that I now, only think back to all the great times we've had. Not realizing that we go way back, farther than I thought. Playing for the 7th grade B squad baseball team and having a blast. Those summer traveling leagues and school ball up until 9th grade. So much time spent in the dugouts spitting seeds. Crazy.
You were my fullback for my entire RB career when I played football. To which, I would have never been able to pull those sweeps & blasts without you leading the way. Thanks for being a member of Team Morale our junior year. One of my favorite memories of high school football.
After college, who would have thought we both end up in our hometown still. But now I have no regrets moving back home. Those 2 years we got to play basketball every Sunday and the occasional Thursday will be cherished and missed. Your technique to beat me 1v1 all those times we played at the very crappy double-rimmed-waterpark-courts will bring a smile and great memories. I honestly couldn't fathom how much time we spent on those courts playing 1v1, trying to dunk of the 8ft hoop and laughing at how humanly impossible it was to sweat as much as you. 
All those times we yelled at Tony {dude from p90x} as we suffered through workouts at snap, to doing a stationary bike race while watching, Johnny Tsunami, and those times you called me a girl for not being stronger, will be remembered every time I step into that gym or see a Snap Fitness.

It's heartbreaking to lose another great friend and basketball teammate. I'm glad that I bought a replacement phone in time to have one last conversation with you. Especially since you told me, "I laughed so hard at your fb status." and prompted in asking me how my trip was. I couldn't have asked for a better friend and teammate.

I'll miss our woodville pick up games, all the late night workouts at snap, 1v1 at NE park, and just hanging out drinking beer and playing vids.

RIP Adam. I fuckin' miss ya.

Much Love


Thursday, May 23, 2013

Long Time, No See [好久不見]

Dust off this ole' keyboard. Boot up that pasty-white macbook that WSU gladly sold me for a measly $25, after stealing thousands of dollars for a laptop during my awesome 4.5-5 year jaunt. Time to lay down some thoughts on this darn site, since it hasn't been updated since Oct. 16th, 2012. (which is totally a bummer to see. I was doing so well) To bring my spirits up at least, there are about 5 short posts that were either half written or a mess of splotchy thoughts and corresponding pictures. Which shows that I'm too ADD to sit down and finish out my ideas/thoughts thoroughly without getting distracted by the millions of other things that can/could/will be seen on the internet.

They say that, you should concentrate on the moment or else the moment will be gone. That your focus should go into what you can do now, instead of what you could do later. And more similar statements of the like... (seriously, there are way too many statements that portray this theme... it's a little scary)

Sorting through all this: do that or this will help you succeed, eat that, not this, blah, blah, etc, etc... I've realized it's best to just leave it all in question, and ramble through this journey as you see fit. Mistakes they come and go, lessons are taught and forgot, while the sun goes down all that matters is that you are at peace with yourself at the end of the day.

It's sad, that I've just come to the realization of not succumbing to the excellent million-dollar-marketing that makes me feel like I am not the average American and I need to step up my game. Granted, we've been blessed to be able to learn from almost every single individual that lives on planet earth, and see how/what/and where their path is leading them as they solve problems on the way. So who needs to experience life, when we can learn from other people's mistakes? Makes more sense right?

That's how I was kind of cruising through life for the past 7-9 months, reading a ton of books that were recommended as "must reads", "true life changer", "break out perspective" and so on. I fell for the trap. (but, don't get me wrong. There were some great quotes that changed how I viewed my life and the outside world that surrounds us.) I blasted through 6-7 non-fiction books about different aspects and industries. [For example] Every time a loan payment came up, I'd worry about how my financials were doing, and if I was doing the right thing. I'd stock up on a few "financial books" from the local B&N, and zoom through those in a few days. After a few months of that, I've realized, 1) I'm smarter in financial knowledge than I thought, because I barely learned anything from these books, 2) I'm blown away, at how simple the ideas that are referenced in these, #1 best seller financial books. 3) The key factors in becoming financially fit. Save, know where your money is going (whether it is coming in or going out), and staying out of debt... <---- Brain Buster right there

All of this really caught up with me, as last week came upon us. May 15th. It gets me every time. This time though, it's been 5 years. 5 unreal years, that I haven't had one of the greatest influences in my life, in my life. It's uber sad and leaves me speechless. It makes me ponder, what the !@#$ am I doing with my life, and I think that train of thought may be my worst enemy and best friend.

Worst enemy: because it makes me want to rush into things and make things happen right here, right now.
Best friend: because it cuts out the bullshit and helps me realize what matters and what doesn't (As BHP would say, Don't sweat the small shit, Nate.)

The saddest part is, that life keeps truckin' on. There are literally are no pauses in this game of life.

Which brings me back to square one with those silly phrases:

Situations only align themselves perfectly once. Don't let that moment slip, as you won't receive another like it. Luck may be cursed by many, but what is luck without proper sight for opportunity.