Cliche Boxing Metaphor?

It's not about getting knocked down. Hell, EVERYONE gets knocked down but your life can be made or broken by what actions you take after you get knocked to the mat. In that moment you need to decide what you are going to do, this is harder when it happens during the worst moment of your life but it is important CRUCIAL. Do you stay down and wait for the count out or do you get back up and keep fighting?

You and you alone bear the burden for your decision here. It is easy to blame the person or thing that knocked you over and some people blame the 'counter' while being counted out. But those are just decisions you made to stay down and blame whatever you could. Me? I am a quitter from way back. In fact I have quit on almost everything I have ever started including my writing 'career.' What is worse is that I have blamed the entity that knocked me down for my quitting in the past. This doesn't make me feel like a winner, it only makes me feel like a quitter, and I hate feeling like a quitter.

I am making changes and they start with me.

Sunset

If all you have at the end of your life is your memories and experiences, it could be reasoned that life is made up of these moments. The number of people for whom there are monuments is minute. So I vow to work my entire life toward having a monument in my honor when I pass but I also promise to never lose sight of the moments that make up the path I choose to walk. Those experiences and memories I spoke of so romantically are important, so I will keep them in my heart. Then at the end of it all, even if I don't have statues or pages in the history books I will still have led the kind of life that is rich in those moments.

I Enjoy This

What is in your brain? A sense of urgency? A yawn? What am I thinking about right now? The issue is that you have to turn off everything to find out. You must eliminate all distractions, no matter how important. to find out what is truly on your mind. I hum sometimes when I am writing a piece that really means something and I feel like I am on a 'roll.' That is to say that I am humming along. Ah humorous word play. But the issue at hand before my distracting confession was how do you unplug sufficiently to access what is truly on ones mind? Since I was siting here and I couldn't figure out what to write about. Then is began to unravel in my mind that I was still to jacked in to concentrate on what I was thinking. And since you write with your heart and edit later, it would behoove me to figure out what was on my mind. My assumption being that by figuring out what was truly buried in the depths of my subconscious, I would somehow magically figure out what was in my heart. Or am I simply writing away some deeper pain? Wouldn't that be this risk of figure out what was in fact in my heart of hearts. This may read strange as hell and I will make no apologies as I am clearly working through something bigger then myself.

But then the like the song changing in the headphones and I am off the path I was bearing down and on to something else. Or am I? Since I never dove deep enough into my soul to actually figure it out I couldn't possibly know if I have change the path or not. All I know is that you can't force this out like toothpaste, it has to bubble up inside me and work its way out of my fingers when it is ready. Nothing sounds worse to me then when I am forcing myself to put words out on paper. This usually manifests itself in academic works that shall we say have a certain number of words required. Although I do count myself fortunate that whatever I vomit onto those pieces is generally highly regarded and is often successful in achieving the goal of a passing grade. I do listen to music when I write. I know some people don't but I find the music excites me and helps me punch the keys on the input device of choice.

Time Will Tell

I hate feeling like I am being forced to do something. Sometimes I feel that way about things I enjoy doing. I only wish I understood how to keep something I love from becoming a forced job. One of the great mysteries of my life I suppose.

New Posts Every Tuesday & Thursday

I have finally after going back and forth decided to post new content on my blog every Tuesday and Thursday. Look forward to writing again for you guys soon!

Ben Talks Contact Lens' Part 1

The Comeback Trail.

Could I possibly be making a comeback? Stay tuned.

Videos!

My New Videos!

Choice

Lately I have been thinking about how life seems to boil down to choice. And how often I have felt like I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. But these ideas are intrinsically linked. My choices in my life are part chance but so are everyone else's. I am not ballsy enough to say that anyone else who isn't sure of something is the same, but I was simply lazy. I realize with my perfect hindsight that I was just to lazy to make a decision. So for me at least it wasn't about not knowing as much as it was lazy. But that is no way to go through life and it isn't right. I guess sometimes you have to ask yourself is it uncertainty or laze?

Different

I once wrote that if you asked me if I had ever been alienated I would lie and say I had not. When in reality I have been alienated over and over again in my life by almost everyone I have ever met. In fact most days of my life I am alienated in some way, shape, or form. But the truth goes much deeper then my pop psychology self diagnosis. I started thinking recently about why I feel this way and it suddenly dawned on me that it has to be me. I am almost thirty years old and it took me to this point to figure out that the problem wasn't the whole world, it was just me. I feel strangely free by this information, like a ton of weight has been taken off me. I feel slightly embarrassed that it took me this long to figure it out and I feel remorse for those who have yet to grasp it.

Pass It On?

I have this recurring idea of taking a notebook and writing a few pages in the book and then leaving it sitting somewhere like the library. It would have instructions inside the front cover for the next person to write or draw something and then leave the notebook somewhere. And in the back cover there would be a PO Box return the notebook to when it was full. I also have a similar idea of getting a group together and each writing a few pages and then mailing the notebook to the next person. I think both idea would be really cool and I would love to start one or the other. Or would it just be easier to do all this digitally?

I also think an online book club would be cool. That has to be a thing already isn't it?

New Camera

I got my new camera today from the UPS person (well they delivered it.) I was so excited that I borrowed a camera from a friend to shoot an un-boxing video. In hindsight it seems like that might be a silly idea but I will post the video whenever I get it edited. My new camera is very vlog ready and that is exciting. We are getting closer and closer to August and my promise to vlog in August. I will also be taking some classes on video editing and production to help out.

I had a productive day at the gym today but I eat a but of food when I got home, anyone have any ideas how to combat that?

Sometimes...

For a part of my life I thought it was easier to be mean to people then to let them in or to even feel my own feelings. It was easier to me to avoid getting hurt because I wasn't putting myself out there. But that isn't right or even fair to others. It didn't make me a better person or even help me cope. It just made me an asshole. But I am working on it.

The Stuff I Come Up With...

When is it the right way of the write day? The solutions aren't so simple.

The chains that bind my creativity are solely in my head and I am unsure how to shed my bonds. If my dreams are to be believed, one day I will have to make a difficult choice between two seemingly similar concepts. The similarities are only a facade as one choice takes me to happiness and the other leads into the depths of hell. In my dreams I always make the wrong decision. I wonder if this dream is an extension of my feelings that the world hastily left me behind. I am not Job and my faith occasionally wavers. I wish I could be more helpful to others who feel this way. I am no expert, but I am willing to give advice if it is solicited. On the other hand this is not a self help book. Where am I going with this? What is life? Life is the sum of everything you experience. Your hopes, dreams, thoughts, prayers, and feelings all rolled up into you. Combining the good, bad, and indifferent to make a bouillabaisse that encompasses us all.

Could I write a love story? I wasn't man enough to be what she needed. It haunts me as the single greatest failure I have ever achieved. Beautiful is a dime a dozen, easy going with a sense of humor is much more difficult to find. Add intelligence and a kind heart it makes the perfect person, but is nearly impossible to find in others. And if I ever found the combination again would I deserve the person who possessed it? So I came to the realization a few years ago but I put off writing about it for a bit. I think I am finally ready to put this into my journal.  I am the only person to blame for all the mistakes made in my life. Some of you might be shocked to hear me say this and still others are wondering why it took my twenty something years to figure it out. And I am willing to admit that I have been blaming my failures on other people for a long time. I still don't fell like I should have many regrets. I learned from this things that I screwed up and I will use that wisdom to guide me going forward. I did but a few bridges that would be nice to have available to me, nut since I torched them I have to live with that decision. It is time for Ben to place the responsibility on how he turned out on Ben. I am somewhat ashamed that it took me this long to figure this out.

Life is simple, make choices and don't look back live with the consequences. Wasn't the choice to live the life or give up? It is never that simple. We live in a world that is itself grey. The options are many and sometimes difficult to distinguish among. What happened to doors 1, 2, or 3? Now the number is nearly infinite. I sometimes feel like the choices themselves have become the prison. It is almost as if they gave us this many options to keep us occupied. It is a damn fine strategy if I may say so. What better way to bury a person that to do it with the illusion of choices? The prison is then in the mind of the individual and not made of actual stone. The digital age was supposed to bring new freedom not admonish it outright.

I am a hypocrite. I reap the full bounty of this world we live in on a daily basis. If it wasn't obvious by this point I have no formal training in prose. I mostly cobble together thoughts, dreams, and rants into type form as a means of dealing with life. I do think I would like it very much to be a writer one day. And by that I mean to support myself totally just by writing. If it never happens then that would be okay as well. I would like to hear from others about what and why they write so don't hesitate to contact me.

I have decided that with my time in the dating pool that dating for looks is foolish. I feel like I wasted too much time going for people that I considered 'good looking.' And if it was painfully obvious to everyone else but me then I am the fool. It is so very much more important to date someone based on mutual interest and hobbies. Now I need to figure out where to meet single women who like to write and read. When I was in school I used to write about Poe a lot. I wanted to write like him and tried to model my life after his (not my best idea.) The funny part is that all that 'dark' writing these days would get a young person in trouble.

Love Story?

She was the most beautiful girls I had ever seen in my life. Her flowing golden hair danced just off the top of her flawless alabaster shoulder. She was wearing these squarish black framed glasses that tied together her round face beautifully. And her smile, oh lord her smile, it was as if all life came into existence because of her smile. In a room of thirty students it was simply her and her alone that I couldn't keep my eyes off. If I were a fourteenth century painter looking for a model of an angel she would've been it. I should have bent over backward to show her that I was interested. But I was seventeen and not old enough to understand the difference between love and lust. She wasn't looking for a single use guy, she was looking for a partner. I have never been good at dating, I am brash, rude, and sarcastic  A terrible recipe for a potential partner.

Sadness

Something that comes up from time to time that makes me completely sad is when people get down on themselves and act like they can't do something. It makes no difference what the something is, it just really gets me down to see people down on themselves. You can do anything and that is the mindset I wish people would keep about themselves. It isn't going to be always easy but you can do it.

A Personal Code: Part One

For awhile now I have been turning this idea over and over in my mind about having a personal code to live by. It seems noble and somewhat romantic to have a set of virtues that govern your life and truthfully most people have some rules that they follow. I just want to tap into that and write out my own code. This won't be a single blog but something that I work on and evolve on over time. Where do I start? My usual logic would say at the beginning but that is somewhat ambiguous on this project.

I feel like respect would be a good place to begin as I have somewhat different ideas about respect. I believe that respect should not be given freely for any reason and that it should be earned. However that doesn't exactly work because when you meet someone new how would they earn your respect? So I think that a compromise would be wise. For my code I feel like people you meet for the first time should be give a small amount of respect on a trial basis to determine if they are going to earn it.

So the first part is, respect should be earned but people should be given a chance to show that they can earn your respect.

As always remember that it is okay not to like something just don't be a jerk about it.

-Ben

Workshop Ideas

The very best thing about the internet is that it gives everyone a voice. The very worst thing about the internet is that it gives EVERYONE a voice. Why do need always have to assign blame? It is a fault that our society has this need to blame isn't it? What if right and wrong are just words? The constructs of our complicated brains trying to justify our actions.

UGH..Is It July Already?

So when I said I was going to try and write everyday in July I forgot that I was going to be traveling until the 6th. And then I spent all day today writing this short blurb because I am so drained from being out of the country. /excuse

Why do I have to recover from my vacations? Does this happen to anyone else? It's like relaxing for any amount of time causes more stress when you return.

Delayed Adventures - Vacation

I am so glad that I am finally finished with the crazy part of school for the summer and I can get back to writing more often.

I am on my my way out the door to make final preparations for departing for the Cayman Islands on Sunday so I will update everything when I get back on the 7th of July.

I wanted to clear up that I really wanted to be at Vidcon this year but I couldn't pass on the chance to go island hopping. I didn't want to sound like I was complaining, that is all.

News?

So I forgot to write last week, my bad. I am getting killed by summer school. (/excuse) But I wanted to take a moment to share the news that I will have a new post every day in July and I am going to try and have a Vlog everyday in August. Woot! See you guys on Sunday.

-It's okay to not like something, just don't be a jerk about it....

I Feel Fit???

I would like to weigh-in (pun intended?) on the new discussion on weight that we seem to be having in the world these days. I was thrilled to hear that some people want to tear down the ideas of 'perfect body' image that society has long held. However some of the ideas that are floating around I am really unsure of. If you were not aware I am not a skinny person, I am in the 300 lb region most of the time on my 6'2" frame, so I am bigger then average. I do occasionally workout and my work keeps me on my feet most of the day so I never felt like I was out of shape.

Until one day a few weeks ago when I was running very late to my early morning Business Management class. The class is on the third floor and I always take the stairs, but never at a dead sprint to make a class in five minutes (the teacher locks the door when class starts) By the time I ht the third floor landing I was pretty sure I was gong to die (aren't we all?) I was sucking oxygen hard and it was not fun.

It was about the same time that I was reading up on this idea of redefining beauty and I got to thinking about my experience on the stairs. I am not in shape and that is not okay with me. I have always hated my doctor telling me to lose weight considering he is my size or bigger. But the truth is I think that he was right all along. I have heard in the past that no one understands healthy fully so you can be healthy even if your doctor doesn't think so and I still believe that our understanding of health is subjective. But if your life depended on running up three flights of stairs, could you?

So where am I going with this? Big is beautiful and I think that is cool but I think maybe it should be handled on a case to case basis. I do not feel healthy and I am going to do something about it. Not because I feel pressured to by society or some standards of beauty, but because I freaking want to. A popular zombie movie told us how important cardio is to survival.

Losing weight is hard but so is almost everything else in this world worth doing. You will have to want to do it for yourself, the odds of failure are higher if you are doing this for the wrong reasons. If you have been putting this off for awhile DON'T! You can do it and I believe in you. I will be putting in the work and you can to.

It is okay to not like something, just don't be a jerk about it.

-Ben

I Don't Even Know...

I am headed for a slow down. Not to be confused with a country crooner who would settle for a slow down. The poor soul that convinced me to work a full time job and go back to school owes me some sleep, oh wait that genius was me. It is fascinating that I constantly talk about 'making up' sleep, wouldn't sleep be one of those things that is just gone? I am counting down to the Fourth of July and the week of vacation I get then. I am all over the place tonight. I am work-shopping some future ideas that I think you might like. I have also shot a ton of video lately but editing is taking so long it is causing a backlog. Sorry.

Faith

I have been vexed lately and possibly in the mood to wax poetic for some time. I have been turning the topic of faith in my mind over and over as of late. It is a seemingly simple word but it carries some weight.  Go back a few seconds and remember what the first thing was that came to your mind when I said faith. Or rather wrote the word out, but that is not the point, you thought of something when I wrote it. I have a hunch that almost everyone thinks of something and likely no two people have the exact same reaction to the idea of faith. For some people faith is a religious construct and the nonreligious have another reaction. Some people put their faith in themselves, how many times have you read or heard about someone making it “big?” Now how many of those stories used the expression ‘bet on themselves’ or some other sentence syntax meaning something similar. One of the things I feel about faith is that anyone who ‘bet on themselves’ put their faith in themselves to succeed. Some other analogous notions could be when someone tells you to be patient, to wait your turn, or that your time is coming. To me these things all have different meanings but they all involve a small bit of putting faith in yourself. But what about religious faith? Some people put their faith in a higher power and that is also wonderful. I don’t know if this is the kind of thing with right and wrong answers. It feels like no matter what you think of when I write faith, it is just great that you have some. And if you ever find yourself all out of faith, sit down and do everything you can to get it all back.

It’s okay to not like something, just don’t be a jerk about it.

-Ben