Writin' Forty

So there's been this whole talk about the flag and the anthem. Who should stand and who shouldn't. How people feel about it. A whole lot about how people feel about it. I guess I should tell you how I feel about it. I'm over it. Entirely. What I have learned is that once you bring up certain issues there are going to be a large portion of people who will ignore it simply because of who is delivering the message. In this case, some will intentionally wrap themselves into how you presented the issue and really focus on how they feel about how you delivered the message. Anything but paying attention to the message. Of the large portion of people I mentioned if they do address the message they will turn it back on those who brought it up because the very thought that the large portion had anything to do with anything negative is simply too much to bear, apparently. They'll ignore a very simple truism that a minority can do a lot, can make leaps and bounds, but event...

I had three goals that I made in the last 10-11 months or so: Get a job. Get in the best shape of my life. Continue learning jiu-jitsu. I had a very specific reason for these three goals and maybe I'll get into that one day. Today ain't that day. The move up to Charlotte from Texas was and is a transition in so many ways. I have dabbled in some form of mixed martial arts since college. I put it together in 2004 when I unofficially began learning taekwondo. That became official in 2006. I kept that going through late 2010 and I stopped performing martial arts dude to work. At least that's the excuse I gave. I was a little burned out and didn't like the school I went to so I put work in front of me. That lasted until my last assignment on a small island called Ascension. A friend of mine, Colin, wanted to train there. My buddy Sean and I went, Sean having years of jiu-jitsu training. He made me promise I'd begin training when I got back to the states. I said I wou...

I've given it a good deal of thought and I think I should write every now and again. I've hesitated on doing this so many times and I think what it boils down to is that I'm afraid.  I've always been a risk averse person. If I think it's gonna put me out there too much chances are I'm not going to do it much or at all. I'm the dude you might see with a camera at a party but the reason I'd have it out is to show someone I was AT the party. I wouldn't do it to highlight one person in particular to show they were there, if you get my drift.  That's also another part of my fear. I worry if I talk about my life or the things around it I get other people involved in whatever craziness that I'm accomplishing by writing this in the first place. I guess that's like taking my party picture and accidentally catching the dude or girl who told their significant other they'd be somewhere else that was not that party. You get what I'm s...