Greatest Halloween Story Of My LIFE!!!

definition of HallOUween:
beyond insane Halloween festival held at the Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, where hundreds of thousands of people, seeking alcohol, gather in costume and party all night long.


Soooooo last night, one of the parties my group and I were invited to was at my friend Kristel's house. I've only been to her house a couple of times, but I know exactly where it is and how to get there. So as we're walking up Court Street in our awesome costumes (Jess as Snow White, Nicole as Alice, Tessa as Esmerelda, me as the White Prince, Michelle & Sara as a Pop Group called "The Wrecking Crew," and Brice and some other kid as Vampire-things) we're hitting all these parties looking for alcohol

[because alcohol is the fuel of Ohio University Halloweeners]

and taking pictures with all the sweet costumes we saw on the way! I think the Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters was sweet, and the Buddy the Elf was terrific, but the House M.D. was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. The guy looked JUST like Hugh Laurie and had a cane and bottle of pills, and he was the shit!!

Anyways, so we're at the top of Court St. and lookin for a party when I announce "oh, I know of one just up that street to the right." The group was less than excited about having to walk up a hill though... but we eventually decided to just go, because alcohol is a driving motivation.

We finally get up the hill, and walk into Kristel's house. I'm yelling out her name and walking around the house... nobody. Except for one kid lying on the couch watching tv. I go, "we're friends with Kristel, where are they?!" He looked at me puzzingly and then said "well, everybody left like 10 minutes ago." So, a little bummed about walking all this way for nothing, I show my group to the kitchen. No beer in the fridge. Depression, and anger, setting in.

And then we see it sitting on the shelf.

A handle of Captain Morgan's spiced rum.

"Kristel won't mind!!" (which was true) "Let's have sum shots!!" So Coke is brought out of the fridge as a chaser, and we started downing shots. "Whose cookies are these??" someone asked, to which I responded, "Dunno, but they're my favorite kind!!" (those white ones with the pink icing on top... omg, yummm) "So I'm having one!!" So I ate two, and split a third with one of my sister's friends... all the while taking shots of spiced rum!!

Someone in the hall yells over to us, "alright guys, let's go find an actual party." So we finish our cookies and rum, of which half the handle is now empty, and decide to do the smartest thing possible: take the rest of the rum with us!!

So one of the guys poured the perfect ratio of Coke into the bottle to make a GREAT-tasting Rum n' Coke, and we pocketed the bottle.

As we're walking down the street, I finally got a call from Kristel. "Hey Kris! We were just at your house!! Where were you!?!?" She laughingly hesitates and says, "umm, we're still here! We're finishing some drinks before heading uptown!"

Bewilderment briefly flutters through my head...

"We were JUST in your house tho... there was only one guy there, watching tv on the couch."

"Umm, nope! We're here, and there's nobody on the couch!"

"Kristel, we were just there. I've been to your house a bunch of times!!"

"HAHAHA wait wait wait, you went to my house on Mound Street!?"

"Yeah!?!? I've been to see you before, I know where your house is!"

"WE MOVED!!!!!!!!"

".....what!?"

"I dunno whose house you were in, but it wasn't ours!!"



That's when the dawning occurred: we had just invaded a home and stolen alcohol and cookies from it.

Me and House M.D.

I would delete this post if I didn't feel I needed to write something out

*DISCLAIMER* This is a horrible post. I'm actually happy that no one reads my blog, because this post would disgust them.

Train kept a-rollin' all night long
With a "heave!", and a "ho!"
But I just couldn't tell her so, no, no, no

Aerosmith's version of Train Kept A Rollin'. For no reason at all, this song has been stuck in my head ever since I was in the shower.

It's Monday today! This means House is on tonight!! Such a great show. I've been watching it since its inception. My best friend Adam's aunt worked on it for the first few seasons, and I promised her I'd watch it when it came out. I've been hooked ever since. The writing has gone up and down, but it's a solid show. Very reliable indeed. I saw a picture on stumbleupon.com the other day (but stumbled on and, hence, lost it) of the episode of Friends where Rachel goes to London to tell Ross she loves him before he marries Emily, and she's sitting on the plane next to a snobby British man, played by Hugh Laurie. The caption under the picture read:

2001: Who's that guy next to Rachel?
2009: Who's that bitch next to House?

Definitely brought the lulz.

I feel kinda funny right now. I've got my reading done for class (which is in an hour) and I've organized my school stuff (books/notebooks). So here I sit, on our living room couch... which btw, is the second comfiest couch I've ever been on... and I have nothing to do.

I guess I could re-string my guitar, seeing as I broke a string a couple days back. I was playing a Dave Matthews Band song (naturally) but it wasn't the normal "break a string when you play me" tune. I almost always break a string when I play the jam ending of Rapunzel because I usually feel like playing that when my strings have an old sound to them. Seeing as that only occurs when the strings are themselves old (and in need of replacement) it is easy to end up with a broken string.

Rapunzel is an excellent song.

12:30... gotta leave in half an hour.

ooooooooomg

i'm drinkin Blue Moon and hangin with my roomies.

my roomies are Jess and Nicole.

that's right. two girls.

(note* my grammar might be kinda crappy tonight)


ummm... i don't know what to write. cuz i'm just letting things out.

what's that type of writing called? free lance? free style?


FREE ASSOCIATION

...i think.

where you just write, and write, and write, until your subconscious takes over? that's what i feel like i'm doing right now. except i'm conscious.

and somewhat tipsy.


we started to watch the movie Scream, but 3 calls on 3 cell phones all at once put that on pause... that was an hour ago. since then it's been drinking (beer for me... mike's hard pink lemonade... but don't diss... the pink lemonade is in support of breast cancer research, so fuckin rock on!) .... bad use of parenthesis right there. big time. my apologies.

Nicole is upset this girl changed her profile picture. My nails are wet. And I want a bowl of cereal. ... Thoughts of a girlfriend at 10:15 at night.

yup, that last insert was Jess. her first words on my blog. more than likely, not the last either.

nobody reads my blogs. ever. and it kinda bums me out. although, (wow, can't believe i spelled that out instead of "altho") the point of my blog isn't to entertain others (mild lie) as much as it is a release for me (truth).

i love writing. i really do. i don't do it as much as i used to. and my stories/lyrics/poetry aren't published as much as they should be. Decrescendo Without Excedrin, for example. that was a good poem. two professors told me to publish that. but i never did. and i didn't, because it was too personal for me. i never thought it was good. it was long. too long. i'm not fucking Homer after all.

....it's hard to blog when two girls are giggling about "in the butt" next to me on the couch. evidently her mom was pissed? i dunno. i'm trying not to listen. altho "his friend Mo" is hard to miss. Mo is a funny name. Like Larry Curly & ____ .... who? MO!!

i call my mother "mo".. my dad called his mother "mo" so i follow suit.

..... "not every girl swallows" .... not my thoughts... the girls'



i want to write out everything they're saying.. but i'd lose more readers than i could EVER gain lol "cream-colored dildos" for example...


that's wrong.


a woman named Faith owns that. yikes. i could probably have fun writing about the irony in that, but God (if there is one?) knows that would be a long blog.



.....honestly tho. i love my life right now, and that's not just because of the Blue Moon, like, not just "beer honesty" but actual truth. and i love that.

i love you. for reading my blog. thank you. and i apologize for this entry.


but it's my thoughts. whether clear or cloudy, they're still mine. so yeah, buon appetito.

David Duchovny... get out of my Cracker Jacks!!!!

Cracker Jack, The Original
caramel coated popcorn & peanuts


It's a classic snack. It really is. Been at ballparks for most of the century; being immortalized in the third verse of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." As it's written on the back of the bag (yeah bag, the cool box package has sadly been scrapped), it "HAS DELIVERED GREAT TASTE AND PRIZES TO MILLIONS OF KIDS AROUND THE WORLD." And dammit, it's truly tasty. What upsets me, though, is the prize. Cracker Jack prizes used to be exciting! When I was a wee one I actually got a decoder ring once!! I thought it was the greatest snack ever.

I don't want pictures of David Duchovny as my Cracker Jack prize.



Double D is a good actor, I enjoy his film Evolution immensely. But the man has absolutely no business invading my Cracker Jacks.

If I ever had the opportunity to meet Sailor Jack I would, without hesitation, ask him "why has the quality of the Cracker Jack prize declined so heavily??"

I've done some research...

Cracker Jacks of today are not the same product that they were when they first started advertising their "A prize in ever box" slogan back in 1912. Created in 1893 by F.W. Rueckheim and Brother, Cracker Jack was sold to the Borden, Inc based in C-Bus Ohio in 1964!! The company was bought out by Frito-Lay in 1997. Frito-Lay, of course, cuts its costs as greatly as it possibly can. Ie, just finished my bag... 3 peanuts. That's it!! ...Granted I don't even eat the peanuts, so from my standpoint it was kinda nice to not have to pick 'em all out of my handfuls... but still, not even the point.

So yeah, between the changing of the economic times under the ownership of Borden and the cheapies at Frito-Lay, the American public has gone from receiving actual prizes in its Cracker Jacks to plastic-paper pictures of David Duchovny.

And it saddens me.

My Girlfriend: A Photo Blog

If you've been reading my blog, and judging by the views, you haven't, you would know that I promised my next blog to be of my lady. I've been thinking long and hard about how to do it. What should I write about? Should I just describe her? Write about what she likes to do? My favorite memories of her?

My conclusion, was to have a bit of fun with it, and make myself a mini photo journal of some of the things I simply adore about the girl. My girl. My Jessica.

She always keeps things exciting

On our spring break trip to Florida, we went to Epcot and swam with the dolphins! This one's name is Kuiper. We love goin on adventures with one another.

She always wears the nicest clothes

She finds fun in every place she looks, even in my drawers!
(yikes, unintentional double meaning on that one)

She's always gorgeous, even when I'm being a goof

We took this while lyin on a hammock after we ate at Ohana at the Polynesian. We were foolin around before the Wishes fireworks show started at the Magic Kingdom.

She wears the presents I get her, and makes 'em look gooood

Pink scarf.. mm mmm

She's an avid sports player

I think the final score was like 13-4 me... she's gunna get her revenge one of these days

She sometimes eats (and chokes on) olives when we webcam

When we haven't seen one another in a while, we like to webcam =) it helps with the whole distance thing... but that ends in just 10 days, cuz we're finally moving in together!!

She makes the cutest faces I've ever seen

I especially love when she squints her eyes and squishes up her nose =) hehe "lovez it!"

Well...maybe not the best of drivers

...who am I kidding, I do it too =/

She's such a chameleon!

hehe again with the cute faces

"I, I'm thinking it's a sign, that the freckles in our eyes are mirror images and when we kiss they're perfectly aligned."

These are from the song Such Great Heights by The Postal Service. It was what she wrote in her away message when whe first started dating, and I loved it. This song will always remind me of falling in love at Disney World.

She's very good friends with Pooh

I bought her this little Pooh when we were at EPCOT in the UK watching the Beatles cover band "The British Invasion" =)

She's got the greatest bowling form I've ever seen!!

We like to yell out stuff at one another to try to make the other mess up lol I'm sure we get eyes from people all the time.

She likes my guitar, but loves it more when I'm playing it for her =)

She likes to spit at me when we swim

I've never had more fun swimming in my whole life than the times I swim with her. I can't wait to have my pool built in next summer so we can do this all the time =)

She looks great in a bikini!

...even when she's putting hermit crabs on my belly and they start pinching me =(

She loves the beach, cuz she's Queen of the Seas

For one of our earliest dates, I surprised her with a trip to Cocoa Beach <3 style="text-align: center;">She loves to have fun with me
For our first Valentine's Day together, as her figt to me, Jess got us a canvas and a bunch of paints to make our own picture together! Needless to say, we had fun painting on things besides the canvas lol

She's quite the musical talent

She put that Guitar Hero drumset together all by herself!! And later rocked out on it ;)

Don't EVER touch her dessert without asking first

She's a sweetheart, yes... but she'll mess you RIGHT up if you try to touch her food. Especially if it's chocolate ;)

Teh Cutez

She jumped out of the car and then onto my back while I was filling up on gas on our way to Florida. Yup, that's right, we drive to Florida... from Ohio. But we just enjoy one another's company THAT much =)

She's my favorite cook

She made these cheesy meatballs for thanksgiving lasat year, omg, I could eat a thousand of 'em!! Oh, and she also made a couple of punkin pies =)

We could do this literally all day long and not get bored

One of our favorite Disney quotes is from Scuttle in The Little Mermaid, when he says "they used to sit around, and stare at eachother all day.... that very boring."

When it comes to Disney, this girl really knows her stuff!!

Obviously, Disney is important to us... see below the last picture for the story of why.

She's the only girl for me

I'm going to love her my whole life.


So... why Disney is so important to us...

We're both seasonal cast members at Walt Disney World. While riding the cast bus from the safaris (where I work) to the cast exit, I saw my friend Kelley. So we talked for a few minutes about how we should get together and hang out. Well, I noticed she was sitting next to a very pretty brunette. I remember thinking "damn, I'd really like to get to know her." A couple of days later, I made plans with Kelley to hang out. She told me that her "friend Jess is gunna hang with us too, if it's ok!?" Always being up for meeting new people, I responded, "of course that'd be great! I'll bring my roommate Clinton then too!" So Clinton and I headed out to Hollywood Studios to meet up with these girls. When we found them over by the Aerosmith Rockin Rollercoaster, I immediately recognized the girl in the green shirt sitting on the wall next to Kelley as the brunette girl from the bus!! I was thrilled!!! The whole day I kept fenagling my way close to her, in line or in the tv room at the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. We laughed about being from Ohio, the OSU Buckeyes ruling all, and spent our time together being silly.

It was an immediate attraction.

Not two days went by before we started talking. Alot. She told me when she was working and suggested I go up to see her. So for her last set one night, I showed up for some hugs. She loved it. The next day (or perhaps the day after) she showed up on my safari. The whole safari was spent looking into my rear-view mirror at the beautiful smiling face of the angel in the 3rd row, back and to my left, who never took her eyes off of me. I've never told her, but it was that day that I knew I was going to fall hard in love with her. From then on, it was all down hill. We will have been dating one year at the end of this month.

And it's been the most incredible year of my life.

I love you babyboo.

The first ever picture of us together <3>

A Wise Old Owl

A wise old owl sat on an oak;

The more he saw the less he spoke;

The less he spoke the more he heard;

Why aren't we like that wise old bird?

I was awoken by something. I don't know what it was. Don't think it was a dream, because when you awake violently while dreaming you tend to remember what it was you were dreaming of. Right? Eh, whatever. I've been away from here all week. Little computer time, I guess.

Won't say many words. I've just got some things on my mind. Amazing how that happens after being awake for only 18 minutes.

Sidenote* CoasttocoastAM is on! My all-time favorite radio show is Coast To Coast AM. It's out of the west coast, so it airs here from 1am to 5am. It's all about ghosts and aliens and stuff like that. When I used to go with my dad to work (he's a hypnotist, btw. Been doing it for over 30 years. Travels all over the place) we'd get Wendy's baked potatoes and chili on the way home and listen to it. It always gets me through long night drives. So here's my shoutout to Art Bell and George Noory, for keeping me entertained and enlightened throughout the years.


I don't get angry easily. It takes some serious sh*t to get me to a point of being outright and visibly upset. I'm also a person who doesn't let it show, when I am upset. I figure, "why upset someone else by the way I'm feeling?" So I just deal with it on my own time without making a fuss about it.

It would be nice if more people in my life were this way. Oh well, I'll deal.

Libby just howled at something downstairs. Time to put my investigative gear on... be back momentarily.

.................
.................
.................

No need to panic. It's only my sister. She's got a boyfriend now, so coming in late at night is becoming the popular thing to do. Good thing I only have to put up with that for another 2 weeks. Cuz then I move into Ohio State with my girl!!

Good times that will be =)

Libby's with me now. I love cuddling with her. She does this deep moan thing when I rub her ears. It's so cute.

Me and my Libby

My sister, Tessa, just IMd me from 20 feet down the hall asking how to start a blog. I've created a family trend =)

Time to fall back asleep tho. Iz pretty tired.

Footnote* I just realized I had promised Jess my next blog would be about her, and then I wrote this. So baby, I'll get you next time <3

"Music is the soundtrack to our lives."

If I were to have "a thing," going to concerts would be my thing. I've always been surrounded by music. My mother was a renowned actress in Cleveland when she was younger. Her voice was stellar. And my dad... well, my dad is cool too. His input consisted of the oldies. He introduced me to Elvis Presley, Smokey Robinson, and The Temptations.

My first concert was a rock n' roll show in Cleveland called the Moondog Coronation Ball. It was started by Alan Freed (if I remember correctly) many years ago, and consisted of many of rock n' roll's "greats." Lou Christie singing "two faces have I" in his falsetto started the show, and to end the show, symmetrically, was Frankie Valli. I remember the beat of "Grease" pulsing inside my body. I was hooked.

I don't know how many of us still purchase physical albums, but I know I'll never stop. My CD collection is gigantic. My collection of 45rpm vinyls is kept in our jukebox in the basement. My 33rpm vinyl collection is growing lol with all the repressing that's supposed to occur over the next 5 years, I'm hoping to expand it greatly!

Back to the concerts though...


The summer of 2003 was my "rebirth" in live music. My girlfriend at the time won tickets on the radio to see a rising band I'd never heard of called Coldplay. So I went, and enjoyed myself greatly! I recognized the one song "Clocks" from an HBO promotional commercial. But other than that, it was all new. After the show we went backstage and met the band. Very nice British guys indeed. The lead singer Chris signed my ticket stub and laughed at the fact we were wearing the same shirt. It was fun.


Then, 11 days later... on June 21st... I saw Dave Matthews Band for the first time. That day changed my life. From tailgating with my best friends to the opening band M.O.E. who were joined by Dave Matthews himself on the song "The Weight" by The Band ("take a load of fannie, take a load for free") to the first chords of Don't Drink the Water, I could feel myself being altered in a way I didn't fully understand. More on this band later on...


8 nights after DMB I again joined friends downtown on the lake to see another artist I had never heard of before. Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals... but I was surprised to learn it was a dual concert, with a second artist sharing the stage before Ben Harper. So I was graced with the sounds of both Ben Harper and Jack Johnson in the same night. Not to mention their support act was Robert Randolph and the Family Band... a band I would see another 4 or 5 times down the road.


After the sun rose and set only 3 more times I again found myself downtown. This time I was indoors, in a tiny little venue called The Odeon. One of the most fun concerts I've ever been to. Guster. The drummer didn't have sticks!! He used his hands!!! HAHA I thought it was hysterical... but only for about a minute, cuz his greatness was simply awesome. Their encore was down unplugged, and the audience was huddled tightly as bristles on a toothbrush against the stage to listen to the gentle acoustic jam.


The very next night my father graced me with tickets to see Smokey Robinson. The night was jam-packed with all the best oldies. I learned, also, that Smokey wrote many songs performed by other groups... ie, My Girl. Meeting Smokey after his show was one of the highlights of my life... even if he was wearing a bright purple sequined shirt and silver pants. Peace Love & Soul.


Finally a break in the music. 30 whole days!!

Aerosmith and KISS... one concert. The "Hottest Band In The World" went first. And after blowing 25,000 people away with their GREATEST hits I was actually believing there was absolutely NO way Aerosmith could out-do KISS. Have you ever believed something to be true... and then you were proven wrong... but it made you feel better to have been proven wrong?? Yeah, me neither... until that night. Aerosmith, from behind a big curtain with their "wings" logo gracing the front of it, burst into Same Old Song And Dance. Brian Kramer's two big drum hits and Hamilton and Whitford backing up Joe Perry's ridiculous guitar hits as the curtain exploded outwards and down to the stage was only outshined by Steven Tyler's stage-presence. This show, is in my top 5.


Over the next 6 years (up to today) I would see Dave Matthews Band a total of 23 times. Each one being an incredible experience of its own. Been dating Jess for 11 months (today actually) and she's already seen 'em 3 times with me! Greatest touring band in the world right now. Their music touches me in ways only The Beatles can. My mother saw them... the Beatles. She was in class, in like 8th grade or something, and the girl in front of her turned around and said, "my dad bought me tickets to see The Beatles tonight, but I have no one to go with me. Would you like to come?" My mom thought for all of about 45 milliseconds before accepting the tickets with extreme excitement... my mom is lucky. I myself have only seen ONE of The Beatles live in concert. Ringo... ahh what a show. HAHA just kidding. I saw Paul McCartney with my girlfriend Jess, only a week and a half ago in Piedmont Park in Atlanta. 40,000 people screaming and singing EVERY word to EVERY song (minus the 4 new ones). Midway into the set the heavens opened up and the rain came down as hard as a tropical storm, which only fueled the dancing.

my girl Jess and the Paul McCartney stage

But I'm getting ahead of myself... I skipped over 5 glorious music years!! Although, this is getting to be pretty long, so I'll paraphrase 04-09, giving recognition to the concerts that deserve it, skipping DMB and the all-time single greatest concert I've ever been to, Sir Paul.

NOTE* when i mention "top 5" it doesn't include DMB, because they're a whole different list ;)

Rascal Flatts - saw them twice, 2005 and 2008. Was better the second time around w/ my sis.
Eric Clapton - the first time I saw him was number 4 in my top 5. "Badge" live is $$
Neil Diamond - #5 in my top 5 for sure. Went with my boy Adam. "Desiree!!!"
Crosby Stills Nash & Young - twice with my dad... twice incredible shows. tied for 3rd.
O.A.R. - great jam band for college kids. seen 'em a bunch, always fun to sing along
Bela Fleck & The Flecktones - they didn't play "Sinister Minister" =( but they did play "Puffy" =)
Kenny Chesney - best part was when Uncle Cracker came out and they did "Follow Me" haha
Tim Reynolds - saw him twice in Athens. met him once. awesome guy.
Mike Genovese - opened for TR, have become good friends with him. great tunes. look him up.
Vanilla Ice - ... I experienced Vanilla Ice do "Ninja Rap" and "Ice Ice Baby" live... life is complete.
The Police - 2nd greatest concert I've ever been to. "Message In a Bottle" -> "Synchronicity II"
Dashboard Confessional - twice. once acoustic, once full band. got a pick, drumstick, & setlist.
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd cover band, they did "The Wall" in its entirety =) AWESOME



So there, in a nutshell, are my favorite concerts. Music affects me in ways I can't really describe.

"Music is the soundtrack to our lives." - Dave Clark

fountainhead

There are certain people who, through their actions and mannerisms towards themselves and others when in observable situations, are naturally mysterious. Mysterious in a way that is almost sexy. Seductive. Yet on a completely unsexual level. I love these people. In my life, there are a few names that immediately come to mind when thinking about this esoteric group of people.

I won't list them, nor will I subject them to scrutiny, because I value them as friends and I wouldn't want to make them uncomfortable.

I'm a very open person. Perhaps overly at times. I'm sure not every old man I sit next to wants to talk about the happenings of my morning. I believe myself to be relatively difficult to read. At least that's not what I've been told. "Nicco, you're always putting yourself out there. We all know what you're thinking about." (in high school and most of college, according to people who can "read me," all that I was thinking about was girls and or sex... this was not always the case. Only some of the time.) The thing is, I'm really not that easy to read. The few people who have been curious and/or intrigued enough to get to know me on the sub-dermal level were shocked to learn that I am actually multi-dimensional... and not the paper cutout they had first assumed I was.

I wish I had more people in my life who were like this. Who wanted to get to know me on a deeper level. It's comforting to have a conversation with someone you have known only as an acquaintance and discover you have very little in common. It reminds me of the individuality we each possess. At the same time, to talk with someone you hardly know only to discover you are both secretly addicted to classic novels or have both seen It's A Wonderful Life over a hundred times since december of 2006 is comforting as well... because then you have a connection to something outside of yourself.

And to have a connection with another person is to understand the meaning of life.

So many hours of my life have been spent lying on my back on my bedroom floor, looking out my picture window at the trees bending to the wind, while I ponder the most maddening questions of life and existence I can imagine. "Why should I be hypnotized by the promise of a long life." These unreleased lyrics from Dave Matthews Band opened my eyes to the understanding that existence is not guaranteed. Life is not a given. And because of this, there isn't any answer to the question "why." Why are we here? Is it just to procreate? To continue the survival of our species?

No.

We are here because of a chain of evolutionary mistakes, and we will continue to evolve (which means the eventual dissolving of our species) into something else.

What we do while we are here, though, is what matters. "No day but today" is a good quote, because it reminds us of how our future isn't guaranteed, and that we need to make the most of the moment now, because it might be all we have.

If the world ended tomorrow, would you feel your life has meant something?

My answer is yes. I have touched peoples' lives, and others have touched mine. And it is because of these connections with other people that I can say I have lived.

I want to be a teacher. I'll be one within the next 5 years. But what if the world ends tomorrow. I won't ever have the chance to be a teacher. But have I ever educated someone? Yes, I have told countless groups of 30-36 people that the Okapi was only discovered in 1901, and that before that it was believed to be a mythical creature, seen mostly in cave drawings.

Live your life so that you are touching the lives of as many people as possible, and you will discover the meaning of life.


This is why I am so intrigued by persons that have a hardened exterior. A shell. For whatever reason these people choose to create them, these protective outer levels break the chances of making human connections into fractions.

Think of a person you know who is like this. Have you ever seen him or her smile? It's beautiful isn't it? It's almost seductive. I sat there for months, trying to invite this person out with friends, or ask this person about what's been going on, and never got more than a few sentences. I never broke through that exterior. But one day, I said something (of which I cannot remember) that released a smile so hearty and honest that it could only have come from the depths of the soul... and when I saw it, it took my breath away.

A connection. An unforgettable one.

I would be lying if I wrote that after this momentous little event this person and I were the best of friends. No. It was immediately back to the mysterious. Darkened sexyness I could call it.

And I love that. This person has absolutely no idea that my life was touched this way. That this person brought out of me a reaction so honest and pure that I'll never forget it.

This is what life is about.




And this is the kind of catharsis I hope to bring with my writings in this blog. I hope you enjoy it.