Richness of the potential

Just the thought of how rich the potential is that resides in oneself, one’s ideals and the ideals of a community have the ability to set us apart from living as mere individuals and pseudo community leaders giving us the ability to transcend that potential by subtly taking society to the next level of what it means to have a sense of humanity and liberty throughout the world. 

Think of the most bio-diverse place you can think of. Picture that place as rich and full of life that thrives off of one another and depends on each other’s way of living to survive. Imagine all of that and then think of and then imagine it sat on a resource worth potentially billions of dollars. Would you uproot that place in order to make a quick few million? Well when I put it that way fuck it, right? Wrong. Remember the movie Avatar? Let’s think of the nature at that level, on a planet that has yet to be industrialized the way the majority of Earth now is. An area so rich and diverse with life that it seems inconceivable that anyone would ever try and wreck it no matter how profitable it might be. I know I wasn’t the only person NOT rooting for the greedy guy who was exploiting the Natives nor for the power hungry colonel in that movie, right?

Now let’s talk about Ecuador. Maybe you’ve heard about this on the news already or maybe you haven’t; more likely you’ve probably heard of the twerking of Miley Cyrus and that is straight disappointing. I mean Miley twerks and people lose their minds, but you mention Ecuador or Syria and no one gives two shits (not one or two). I mean Jay-Z warned us of this potential for Miley twerking in his album, we should have seen this shit coming. That’s how it is though, we (Americans) are warned of things far before the consequences are about to be reached from said warning, and then guess what, checkmate; thing happens and we react as if we knew nothing.

So the question is what the hell is going on in Ecuador? I’m not a journalist, so I’m going to pretend to inform you on this to the fullest, but I can just shoot you with these facts from various sources. The area’s estimated oil reserves could be worth more than $18 billion, according to Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa. The potential reversal of a policy to keep that same area for the potential preserve is eight times bigger than Los Angeles. President Correa did this reluctantly after presenting a carbon-dioxide abatement plan to the UN in 2007 that would have blocked development of these types of fields.

The point of this is that WE need to stand up for these types of issues. Standing up for Issues that exploit a Country and a people who are dependent on that land, issues that put the whole world at risk; if done it would put out around 407 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. That 1 degree rise that is the supposed boiling point for climate change will be that much closer to fruition and WE HAVE TO speak out against things that are more harm than good, not only for us, but for the future of the world.

Share this with your peeps. Let’s do something about this.

~B

I'm goin in

It’s August 27, 2013 and I am currently cruising through the air at about 25,000 feet, according to the captain, and I’m going to take his word for it. I’m currently on the way back from Cancun and I gotta tell ya, it was fucking amazing. Before I left I was in dire need of a little R&R and it was what I thought it would be and more. I went with my best friend/brother (when a friendship stays strong since 5 you can consider them family) Stefano and that dude is inspiring. He has been since we were kids. Always going the extra mile not to conform but instead blaze a trail to show that you can do anything if you’re willing to put the hard work and dedication in. Now he isn’t the only person in my life who has those characteristics, as the matter of fact most of my close friends and family are some of the hardest working people I know, regardless of the way in which they channel that effort, they are as successful as they want to be. 

Dedicating myself to a goal and reaching that goal has been something that I have tried to pursue regardless of any obstacles. I took about a year and a half off a school and then got back into it at Bellevue College and worked my ass off to get into the University of Washington at the Bothell campus. I came up from a 1.3 because I didn’t give a shit, to a 3.1 within a year. It felt amazing. I just finished my first quarter as the matter of fact. All that dedication taught me that I really can do anything if I put my mind to it. My parents did everything they wanted to when they were 23 and 24 raising two kids with no degrees, yet pursuing them while raising my sister and I. My best friends all chose to pursue some type of awe inspiring avenue and regardless of their success they stuck with it. From singing, to dancing, to modeling, to rapping, to writing, to working their tails off they find a way to win, they find a way to stay committed. I will stay committed with school and my studies but there is one hobby that I just can’t set aside for the perfect time anymore. I have to pursue comedy. I have to be honest, I have always marveled at comedians like Richard Pryor, Chris Rock, Louie C.K. and even Dane Cook. People have told me to do it for quite some time now and I have always set it aside, but I’m tired of that. I don’t care if I have no success, as long as I know that I am going to open mic’s and staying committed to my goals then who gives a shit. It truly is time to just take a leap of faith and see where it takes me. I recommend you do the same. I started this blog with the hopes of it keeping me honest and committed to a goal, and this is the goal; to get to a point where I am doing comedy consistently to the end of the year and beyond. I’ll keep you all posted with updates as well as put up some videos if and when they arise. I appreciate the support and hope that this type of thing inspires you to follow what maybe you have put off for the ‘perfect time’. There is never going to be a perfect time, only a positive mindset and a new found sense of bravery.

Till next time!

~B

Conquer yourself first

For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories.  Socrates said that. He didn’t write it, because he didn’t do the writing, Plato did. There actually isn’t any evidence that Socrates, student of Plato did any writing at all (fact of the day). What is truly crazy about this, to me, is that he has to of said that sometime 470 BCE and 399 BCE and this is still true today. That is the beauty of such a statement, it’s timeless. Socrates believed in a philosophy that promoted practical results that would eventually lead to the greater well-being of society.

Some days sitting by idly and waiting for something to materialize sounds amazing. Why not just chill out for a few hours and watch some Dexter, seems legit. But at the same flip of the token, it doesn’t. There is far too much going on in the world and in our own respective lives for us to EVER sit idly by and wait for something to happen. There is always something that we can be doing to make ourselves get out and stay ahead of the curve.

I think that when issues stack up against us and we feel as if we are powerless and have no control over any outcome. I’m here to tell you that that rational will not get you far; in fact it won’t get you anywhere. I have been through life altering experience that have tested my patience, persistence, motivation, dedication, and overall ambition; but when I realized that the only thing I have to do is embrace the change and ride it out, it became all the more beautiful during the process.

When you see storm on the horizon, don’t run from it, run towards it. If you do decide to run toward it, not only will you come out of the situation as a whole as a better person, but you’ll be better for it. You’ll come to realize all of the things that wouldn't have fallen into place had negative situations x,y, and z not occurred. 

All I’m saying is embrace the challenges and changes in life, they make us better. Don’t get down on yourself if it takes longer than you thought, life is a marathon, not a sprint, and in the end it’s only with yourself.

Take some words of wisdom from Socrates and go forth.

~B

Ride that wave

The more and more I go through changes in life, the more and more I realize that life is what you make it. You don’t like something, change it.. Life is too short to sit and wallow in your own misfortunes. I am and have been guilty of that before and I probably will be again, but the family and friends that I have been blessed with (you know who you are) have always seen me through whatever negative perception I was having.

          There is always a reason to be down and out. Getting out of relationship, losing a job, losing a friendship or any type of life changing event that seems to be unfathomable at that time can be a reason to lose hope. But here is the thing. Don’t. Let it motivate you. Let it piss you off. Let it be the fuel that stokes that internal fire. In my life there have been many things that have come up that have seemed too difficult to be able to realistically come out better on the other side, but they always have.

       The thing that I have noticed in my 24 years here is that we are all in control of how we react to situations and how we react to those situations tell more about us than the situations themselves. I would love to sit here and tell you that I have always been able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I would be lying. There have definitely been areas in my life that I wish I would have handled differently to this day.

      A perfect example of that is past girlfriends I have had that haven’t necessarily ended the way I would have liked them to. Sometimes I feel nostalgia and feel like reaching out to prove that either I have changed or that the situation at hand (whatever it was) was an anomaly, but I can’t. That’s life. I think to be successful in life you have to be able to live with those regrets and learn from those mistakes. At the end of the day those past girlfriends that I have had have led me to the point in my dating life. I can’t be angry and regretful (that’s no way to live) no, but instead I have learned to appreciate what each of them taught me (respectively) and move on.  That goes for anything in life. Don’t be hateful and hurt about what others may have done to you, instead take ownership and responsibility for what has happened, realize that ultimately it was meant to be and move forward with a fresh and new perspective.

       Life is like an ocean my friends and we are merely the surfers. The waves that come at us are the problems we face and we can’t control how big or small those waves may be, all we can do is just embrace them and ride the hell out of the biggest wave so that we can become legendary in our own way.  

~B

Champagne taste with only beer money, and one cool spider :)

So this is going to sound a little ‘whatever’ for a bit, so don’t judge and try to stay with me. But I was noticing the other night while smoking a cigarette, again please don’t judge (it was after a few brews), that there is a spider web on a lamp post near the ledge of my apartment. Now this particular spider web I have noticed before, but I actually noticed the spider this time and I thought to myself, while actually saying it aloud as a pseudo soliloquy, “Spider-bro you have the life, you catch your own food as it comes to your home, you have a perfect cover for when it rains and you live there rent free, we fucked up.”

Let’s just go ahead and break that sentence down so that I can better explain where I am coming from. See, I am looking at this particular spider, his home, and his potential meal, as symbolism for where we may fucked up as a society in the Western world. I know this may come across as somewhat philosophical (maybe even out there) and I hope it does, that is my intention.

 In a sense we are all just like this spider. We eat, but instead of setting up an intricate web to catch our meals as they fly by, we do the things that best set us up to get those meals bought and paid for. We do those things like having a job, going to school (be it a trade or university) to get better a job basically doing anything to get that dollar. There are people who are completely happy that have no materialistic needs in their life, and god do I envy those people. They’re necessities  don’t require having a lot of  money to do these things, things like farming for themselves and neighbors and living off the land primarily. Even the agricultural industry in the US is incentivized with subsides to produce mostly major exports leaving other sustainable crops on the back burner and underutilized.

Money makes the world turn. Look at all the trouble it has gotten us into, but it would be foolish to not also account for all of the good it has done the world. The innovations in technology have a direct influence on every part of our daily lives, which is brilliant and detrimental to where we are in the 21^st century, which required money. But with a lot of money people can acquire a lot of power, which can potentially lead to corruption. That is an old story though and one that is quite obvious.

Basically what I am saying is that having Champagne taste with only beer money only gets you so far. Our country and most of the world was affected by the recession in 2009 (except you Australia, you sexy country you) and without getting too political, but staying just positively philosophical I am saying we all need to be more like the spider. You see the spider appears rough on the outside and they aren’t necessarily the prettiest thing to look at, but at least it’s honest and I think sometimes money can take that out of people. But if we all stay true to ourselves and figure out a way to get that dollar but getting it in a way with grace and patience we will all be better off and never let corruption and influence from any social construct get in our way, because then the potential flaw in society might take the win.. We can’t let that happen.

B. 

To surf the net or let your voice vibrate…how about a bit of both?

Its 1:56 AM on what now is technically May 26th of 2013. I didn't go out tonight with the hopes of being productive throughout the evening and then possibly catching up on some sleep, but I can't seem to catch any Z's (maybe I should grab a cold one). And I can't put a finger on why I'm tossing and turning on this particular evening, but I'm pretty sure it’s the world. I'm not talking about the cars that are driving along the busy street I live on, nor am I talking about people now walking home from the bar (they close @ 2 in Washington). No, you see, I am talking about everything that is going on around us and the things that are going on constantly whether we are aware of it or not. (The Universe and all its glory)

I'm sure I'm not the only one to think about the future of the world after I'm no longer in it (then again I could be) but nevertheless I think it’s important to critically think about things like that from time to time. I mean, we constantly think about our own futures (respectively) logically it would only make sense if we all did the same   when it comes to progressing society both while we're living and after we're gone, right? Whether or not there is a need to convince you of that, I do promise, it seems to be like the waves slowly coming up on a sandy shore and slowly being pulled back by the sea, there will be generations after ours have gone.

The question is how you want to be remembered, I suppose. And the truly hilarious thing has to be the fact we'll have some type of social media outlet still up and view-able to our kin, which is pretty sweet. It will be the first time pictures, videos, podcasts; blogs (any other crazy shit they come up with) will have been accessible to generations of family after we are long gone. I mean hell we could still be getting happy birthday’s sent exclusively to our profiles.

The point of this rant I seem to be on is that I realized that I am not satisfied with that, the idea of just being a persona on a website terrifies me. For me it’s the thought of being summed up by a post, a tweet, a blog post, or even clicking a like button (that’s how FB advertising works). I guess what I’m trying to say is that we all are capable of such great and awe inspiring things, that it would be criminal to be comfortable going through life without facing the world, not from beyond a computer (I realize I’m saying that ironically) but with our senses and our voice. Don’t get me wrong, technology is amazing and is only getting better it’s an inelastic resource that you should always use, but use it honestly, sparingly  and for purposeful things.

Maybe if we use technology like that, we can all become our best selves and change the world because of it.

I will now step down from my insomnia induced soap box and let you fine people carry on. Till next time! 

It's either brilliant or ridiculous; could be a little bit of both..

  5-21-2013      

       I think I've done it ladies and gents!! I do believe that I have figured out why some guys (definitely not me) have trouble while swimming in the high to low tides of the dating pool. You ready for it? Here it is and it's pretty simple, hell I even came up with a name for it, 'Knight in shining armor syndrome'. Ya see, we're taught from a young age as men, that women want (read with a old cockney accent)," a handsome articulate guy who exudes chivalrous acts, and sets out a bed of roses for his lady to walk on" (back to your normal way of articulating your thoughts), hell if you don't think that's somewhat accurate just put in a VHS of any Disney movie with a princess involved.

       Now I know what you're thinking, "Bryan, you just described yourself, why don't you have a girlfriend?" and that my friends is a valid question. The answer to that question is I tried to portray that too much of K.I.S.A.S at times.But, the good news is I've taken a pill of reality, so I no longer have fits of K.I.S.A.S just manageable calculated and optimal symptoms of it. To clarify I'm definitely no relationship expert (that probably needed some clarity). No, "I am just a guy"  as the great philosopher Ernie L. would say. I just think that sometimes man wants woman so badly, that he tries to be something that he isn't, the same could maybe be said from a women's perspective, but I don't think I'm qualified to speak to that..  

      Don't get me wrong either I think that relationships are great, and if you're in a good one, by all means stay with him/her and live in the moment with one another, appreciate the nuances in the relationship and with one another, love and hold each other. I'm just merely trying to get the word out that K.I.S.A.S is a real epidemic; oh and by the way, I hope you're enunciating it kisas, or similar to kiss-ass, because that old adage really encapsulates what the syndrome can become, a bunch of ass kissing, that leads to you becoming a person you aren't in a relationship that is no longer genuine and that my friends, is a slippery slope that leaves you falling on other areas you'll hoped it hadn't .. 

      Thanks for listening to my banter, please comment if you took the time to read this!! I would definitely appreciate any constructive feed back. Till next time! :) 

B.