My List

If you want some background info on why I'm doing this read the lengthy post that follows this one. My apologies to those of you who don't have the time or attention span to devote to reading more than a paragraph or two. 

The book inspired me to make my own list of childhood dreams, or goals, and to do a check-up of sorts to see how I'm coming along.

1. Become a professional baseball player.

~Status: Failed. However, I did just kick my floormates' asses in some MLB 2K8. I don't care if Sutie's never played before, I'll still be greedy on the basepaths.

2. Go to college. Don't drop out. (Sorry, Dad, but I've always been nervous that I'd take the same route you did. Hope you understand.)

~Status: In production. So far, so good, I haven't cracked under the pressure yet.

3. Get married to a woman that I love with all my heart.

~Status: Fuck, does this one seem like a difficult task at the moment. Maybe in a few years, these girls won't be so fuckin' self-absorbed. Or maybe I'll have the balls to pursue the ones who aren't so self-absorbed. By the way, your obsession with MTV and celebrity gossip makes you LESS appealing.

4. Have kids. Love said kids with all of said heart.

~Status: Complete step 3 first.

5. Go to Ireland.

~Status: In discussions with sister about proposed future trip to Europe. I'm confident this one will happen.

6. Write a book.

~Status: Well, I'm honing my skills as a writer through the employment of this blog as well as improving myself with the criticism and assistance of BU's writing faculty.

7. Become a famous musician.

~Status: Most likely not going to happen; however, striving towards this goal with my heart completely immersed in it for two years really helped me to mature and grow. My continued guitar-playing and songwriting is also an excellent release for everyday stresses and a superb form of self therapy. I'm a fucking artist. Two people will get that joke.

8. Be healthy (as far as it is under my control to do so).

~Status: In progress. I'm in shape, but not as good as I wanna be. Need to eat healthier and do more fun athletic things that I haven't done as much since coming to college.

9. Help People.

~Status: This one's a doozy. I really got ambitious on this one. I envision a future in which I have done everything in my power to alleviate any and all peoples from as much pain as it is in my power to do. If I can, then I should.

Okay, I'm really fuckin' tired; I'm going to sleep. Seriously, please leave comments, I'm curious to see how people respond to these last two posts. Any and all feedback and/or criticism is welcomed and appreciated.

Peace & Love,

~The Mick

Childhood Dreams

It's 5:32 AM, and I'm wide awake and feel inexplicably alive. I'm in one of those places mentally where you just feel like you're on top of the world. I read a book today called The Last Lecture. It was written by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow, a columnist for The Washington Post. Pausch is a computer scientist and professor who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2006 that would unfortunately spread to his liver and spleen. 

In August of 2007, he was given months to live and began palliative chemotherapy to try to ease the pain and buy him a few extra months. Anyway, Randy decided that he wouldn't just give up and so, in September, he gave a lecture at Carnegie Mellon entitled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams." He became semi-famous after giving this lecture, with an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show in October and an hour-long interview with Diane Sawyer that aired April 9th on ABC.

For Randy, he points all of his success to his upbringing and credits his parents with allowing him to achieve his dreams. He likes cliches and quotes from other people, because they are full of wisdom and when you say things that smart people say, it's easy to look smart yourself; so, as Randy says, "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." I, too, love cliches and really appreciate the fact that my parents impart their wisdom on to me.

So, here's my brief (pshh, yeah right, am I ever brief when I become impassioned?) summary of how I came to be reading the book today and subsequently writing this entry. My mom likes to send me chain e-mails with "uplifting" messages. Most of the time, they are written by middle-aged white women who, no offense, don't know shit and need to rely on recycled spiritual garbage to stay positive about their mediocre upper middle class existence. You know, the Oprah crowd. Anyway, sometimes mi madre can be one of them and she sent me a clip from Oprah that showed Randy reprising his "Last Lecture." Long story short, I'm a loser, and I was inspired by what he had to say.

Fast forward a few days. I feel inspired once again, but in a different sense. I just saw economist Jeffrey Sachs give a speech to some students about the economic health of this country and the things that can be done in order to end poverty. He has a new book, too, called Common Wealth. So after dinner, I decided to take a stroll over to the Barnes & Noble in Kenmore Square to pick it up. As I'm browsing through the shelves (one of my favorite pastimes), I stumble upon a copy of The Last Lecture and decide to buy it as a gift for my mother. To pay for my purchases that day, I whipped out my trusty B&N gift card, which I received when returning a textbook my father paid for and by using his membership card for 10% off. Thanks Mom and Dad, always there to help even when you are not really there.

So I was having a good day today, the weather was beautiful, why not take a few minutes to glance through a few pages, see if it's any good? Two hours and 206 pages later, here I am, with a newfound sense of hope. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that my grandmother passed away three years ago after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. If you want to make a donation or find out more about the disease, check out these charitable websites: The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, and The Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research because c'mon, seriously, who doesn't wanna help cure cancer?

Okay, so, wow, I've been rambling. Anyway, if you wanna read an excerpt from the book or see the reprisal of the lecture on Oprah, check them out below. And be sure to read my list of childhood dreams up above and leave a comment on your childhood dreams.

New Link Posted; Je ne sais quoi

Hey guys,

My friend Jill (who can apparently look sexy and creepy all at the same time--see right) is going abroad to France in the spring, and we will all dearly miss her. Anyway, she will be chronicling her zany adventures commencing in September of this year. She speaks French and has recently come to the conclusion that all of the electronics in her life have decided to revolt against her, for serious.

Wicked sweet!

What's the equivalent of  Spanglish when combining the French and English languages? Frenglish, perhaps. Anyway, I assume that her entries will be written in Frenglish. As always, ridiculousness prevails.

Good luck, Jill!

With nothing but love and support,

~Your friend Michel (Je parle Francais?)

P.S. See you in a few weeks at the GSU Tech Rock Band Party!! Augh Yeeaah!!!!!!

Freedom

So, in case you hadn't noticed, my previous post was an exercise in free speech and I suppose also freedom of the press--which, for the uneducated or unappreciative, gives me the right to employ the use of any words that I desire in order to express myself. This right is monumentally important in understanding why America is such a great country to live in as well as something that we as Americans tend to take for granted--especially in times like these when we feel oppressed by our government (and rightly so) when we should be looking towards the future with hope for change.

It's why I am able to verbally litter all over the internet despite the fact that what I have to say may not be important to anybody but me. But I am allowed to say it, for whatever reason, even with malicious intent in my heart if I so choose. Unfortunately, I oft times choose to express myself with a cynical view of the world. Over the last few days, however, I've been in a much more positive place, and I now strive to embrace the rights given to me by our forefathers and potentially give thanks for the protection I am granted by the government (when they want to--that was a joke, people, loosen up; I can still make them). 

I believe in an America where our children can grow up without fear, an America where people of all different ethnic backgrounds

and heritages can live together in harmony, and an America in which I can express myself freely, profess faith to whichever god I choose, or even no god at all, an America where I have the right to my privacy, an America in which I am given the opportunity to live freely in the pursuit of happiness for both my family and myself. 

Never give up on America. We are more than a country. We are a beacon of hope, a light in the darkness. We are built around ideas and the free expression of those ideas, whether someone else likes it or not. We are leaders for the world over. And now more than ever, it is crucial that we display our values. The world's getting smaller and that means that our generation is presented with the unique opportunity to help save it. Everyone's watching, let's try not to fuck this one up.

~Michael Carlos

P.S. You see how I slipped the expletive in there at the end. Yep, I still got it. 

Fucking Retards!!!

Bill Gates is not giving away his fucking fortune you mindless fucking idiots. Why would he pay everyone thousands of dollars to send out an e-mail when everyday billions of e-mails are sent anyway? Out of the kindness of his heart, he just wanted to repay all of the fat lazy Americans
who made him rich in the first place. NOT!!

Okay, now, if you get an e-mail telling you this, and you send it on to people, then you are only furthering the perpetration of fraud against the general public. I don't really give a shit if you do that because the general public is amassed of other mindless fucking idiots like yourselves.

This bullshit chain letter has been circulating on the internet for over four years now. But here's the kicker: at current count 97,397 people are in a group on facebook dedicated to this. First of all, even if you were dumb enough to believe the story, how does joining a group on facebook make you any money? And don't say you joined it because you thought it was funny, you know that deep in your heart you actually sort of believed it, you greedy fucking bastards.

Anyway, the world's gonna fucking end, we're all gonna fucking die, and it's all your fucking fault.

Thanks again.

See you in Hell,

~Michael Fucking Carlos 

New Link Posted; Check This Out

So, a friend of mine from high school is not quite as lazy as I am and began writing a daily rant on facebook. His rants are hysterical. He has now decided to post them as a blog on this website. So for anybody who visits my blog and is bored because I never update it, check his out. Be careful, though, because he might take a picture of you in the mirror.

You can find the link to his blog, Jacques Daily Rant, on the right hand side of the page under the title (duh?!) 'Links'.

Cool. I'm done. More later...