I was at my parents house last night and stumbled across our old home videos that were on an 8mm tape and then re-recorded on a dvd. These tapes start from when I was 6 (1989) until I hit about 14. I sat down for an hour or so and started watching them and they are really quite remarkable. I’ll upload a few of the more classic moments to youtube and post them on the blog so stay tuned. I have this one outfit from the early 90’s that you couldn’t imagine until you see it. Also there is a footage of a classic Stortz-Schmidt 2v2 bball game that I’ll add. It seems stupid at the time to record things but when you look at tapes 20 years ago, you start to appreciate where you are and where you’ve been. The present at the time seems so normal but viewing it 20 years into the future is nothing you could have thought of.
The thing I really took from watching the tapes is how care free and innocent you are as a kid. Life is just sports, hanging out and goofing around. No responsibilities. Just living life. When I think of the last 10 years of my life I realize how much they differed from the first 20 years of my life. Night and day. I had so much potential as a youth… and now I’m a fully grown ass man. It’s actually kind of depressing. Nevertheless, life is about the moment and not getting hung up on the past. Nothing comes from the past but memories. You can learn from it but the present is where your mind is and needs to be. These types of posts remind me severely of Calvin and Hobbes.
I would say that Boston is “not bad.” If you watch Workaholics you have to watch the link. I was away at a Roofing conference in Boston these past two days which made me unable to post anything. Fortunately I came away from the trip with many new ideas for posts and this particular post describing the trip.
First things first, Boston has no minorities. The northeast is compiled of all whites and a few Asians. The other thing I would say is that everyone was extremely pleasant. I stopped into about 10 distributors of tools and there wasn’t one asshole in the entire bunch who wouldn’t give me the time of day or wasn’t helpful. I don’t know if this was dumb luck or what but I’ve traveled south many times through Baltimore and DC and this was never the case. Maybe it was because Spring was approaching.
I want to expand a bit on this trip. I woke up at 4:30 on Monday and was out the door at 5 to attempt to beat NY traffic. It took me an hour and 45 minutes to get over the GW bridge and I was pretty much on the highway scot free. My fist stop was in Danbury, CT where I had two stops and ate some Dunkin Donuts. After that I visited Hartford, Worcester, Lowell, and finally Boston. I got to Boston at around 3 and my hotel was in the heart of the city. Not knowing my way in Boston I quickly found my hotel and got settled before rush hour started. I decided to take a walk around the city to get my bearings and definitely needed the GPS on my phone to find my way back as I was directionally challenged after 30 minutes of walking. I got back and took a nap because I was exhausted from the day. I awoke at 7pm and looked for something to eat and buy some running gear for the next day because I completely forgot long pants and a shirt. Being by myself it’s hard for me to just make friends at local places so I ate at a food court in the Prudential center and turned in relatively early.
I got up at 8:15 the next day and went for a run around the city. Once again after roaming the public garden and then the streets, I had a hard time getting back to my hotel because of my unfamiliarity of the city. I was back at 9:30, showered, and got my things together to check out. The conference started at 1:30 and I had some time to kill. I walked the main streets of commerce down Boylston and also hit the wharf area. There is a whole lot going on in Boston and the city is remarkably clean. It seems like there are a ton of people too which surprises me that Philly is bigger. The same way San Antonio is big population wise but the city is dead. I’m sure it counts suburbs as part of the population in these cases. Anyway, once the conference started I did my thing and it was worth the drive as relationships can’t be created any other way. At 5:30 I was finished and headed back home. I don’t mind driving much but I’ll add that NY drivers are the absolute worse.
I really like trips like this because they give me a chance to let my mind wander a bit. I have a flexible schedule and can think about ideas from a different locale. I spent a half hour in the book store writing down different books and thoughts that pop in my head. I also get a chance to do some reading while away which is much more peaceful and leisurely. These trips are more than just business but also bring a sense of relaxation and a feeling of satisfaction that you aren’t just stuck in one place. They are a must for the mind.
The moron move of the week goes to my brother Sam for his action at the bar on Friday night. While 4 of us were playing a game of pool, a random player put a quarter on the table to reserve next game. This was a rule unbeknownst to Sam who preceded to take the quarter thinking that he was being tipped for his “good play”. 21 years old…
Last night I had someone come up to me and say he didn’t know I was a good writer. After a moment of confusion and trying to decide whether there was a hint of sarcasm, I said thank you. He had read this article which were my thoughts on the Broad St Run Lottery. To briefly summarize the post, I took a stance that there should be a time ceiling that every participant should have to be under to run the race. To any casual runner, this would be a particularly douchey stance. Combining the fact that every single runner I know who wanted to get into the Broad St run did, I barely regret writing the post. My opinions for that post stemmed from the chance that I do not get into the run. The reason I give this backdrop is because I could sense the person was aware of my particular stance as we talked for a couple minutes. Almost like he didn’t want to upset me because he regards me as a runner with an opinion. It was the first time in my entire blogging career that someone’s opinion of me was altered due to reading my blog. I have mixed thoughts.
I want people to know me for actually knowing me in person and not knowing me from reading my posts. I know this is an impossibility but allow me to explain my concern. When I write that post on the Broad St Lottery I’m taking an opinionated stance. For whatever reason, I was taught that if you are going to argue a point, argue 100%. Even though I write my exact thoughts for a particular post, also consider that I write for an audience sake and that everything in my posts isn’t 100% how I think. It’s probably closer to 95%. I don’t want people forming an opinion of me from my blog because I’m deeper than my posts. I have the ability to think, adapt, change, evolve and things that are put in a post, aren’t gospel.
The thing that I liked about the conversation with this is person is that he was talking to me like I cared about running. That makes me feel good because I do. I’m not a regional runner but I’m also not your average schlep. He was speaking to me with the understanding that I put a lot of time into staying in shape and taking running seriously. He formulates that opinion based on my blog and knowing me from races. It was nice to see that someone could sense my dedication but I don’t want it to be like I take running that seriously. I take it seriously for myself, but to each their own. I don’t create opinions on people based on their times. Running just doesn’t mean that much.
I rarely write anything with the thought in mind that it will have impact. You can develop a following if you want to participate in a particular area. I’m sort of half way. I have thoughts but I don’t really care enough to stand behind them or share them. It’s weird to think that things that I write in this blog can be brought up in conversations with me. It hasn’t happened often and this was my first experience and my thoughts on how I think about it.
There is one great thing about getting older and that’s remembering shit you did when you were little. It brings a level of happiness when you think of things that made you happy. As a kid I’d wake up at 6:30am every Saturday morning and watch cartoons all day. These were days when I had something other than alcohol to give me excitement. All that being said, I’ve chosen some shows, games, movies, and people that will most likely go down in history as forgotten about unless people like me continue to use their blogs to promote them. Without further ado, I give you a list of things you would have forgotten about if I didn’t bring them up.
Snood
I was a little surprised to see Snood as an Ipad and Gameboy Advance game which makes Snood way more relevant than I thought at first. This game sticks in my mind as a game I played throughout high school computer classes. It was extremely challenging and you’d have to make precise shots off of walls to clear levels before the level crashed down. I spent countless hours trying to master this game. I beat level 13 for a smoking girl in high school and I’m pretty sure it increased my chance to score .0001%.
Denver the Last Dinosaur
Quite possibly my favorite cartoon growing up for a period of time. This or Ducktales. For some reason I remember the one character being named Shades but the others escape me. Denver liked to skateboard which I must have thought was awesome. Wikipedia enlightened me that “episodes often focused on issues of conservation, ecology, and friendship”, but that doesn’t ring a bell. I remember jumping around to the theme song fairly often. I was going to use Camp Candy for this spot but I may have been the only viewer.
Tag Team – Whoomp There It Is
For a few weeks in 1993 Whoomp There It Is was popular. This wasn’t a particularly good song but you just had to know about it because people would be saying it all the time. I recall listening to it in my Walkman thinking I was a badass. It was also the theme song for the 1993 Philadelphia Phillies season and was featured prominently during the 1993 World Series. Between innings at one game, Tag Team performed the song on the field, with special lyrics related to the Phillies. With 4 million views I suppose more people remember this than I thought.
Land Before Time
When reading about Denver I came across this “the show ran for two seasons, as the dinosaur boom that had followed The Land Before Time waned, causing viewership to drop.” So I obviously wasn’t the only kid into dinosaurs in the late 80’s. This movie was my watch that put me under hypnosis. I specifically remember having 5 plastic cups with Littlefoot, Cera, Petri, Ducky, and Spike and every morning my mom would give me a glass with a different character. Days with Cera were the absolute worse. Ducky also carried the catch phrase Yep Yep Yep which I’m sure I said adorably cute at 7.
Clarence Weatherspoon
Baby Barkley really gets lost in the mix of 76ers history. I’d put him a notch above Sharone Wright in the remembrance category. He was the best player (or close to) for many years while the team just sucked completely. The real reason I have him in this post is because Evan used him in Scattergories for things found in a Gym and the letter was C. I believe he got vetoed (Evan is the king of questionable answers) but I believe this should pass. It’s not like Spoon is relevant but the C things in gym is too tough to veto it. (chest press, cybex, collar…)
Here were some more cartoons that brought back a lot of memories. If the show wasn’t animated, there was a great chance I didn’t watch it.
I feel obligated to post material to this website. Successful and popular websites are usually posting several times a day to maintain the interest of the people. I know with the websites I visit frequently (barstool, yahoo, pornhub), they are constantly being updated. Unfortunately, my time is spread to thin for me to post as often as I’d like. After work I’m heading to the gym, eating dinner, and then usually have a couple hours of free time which I usually don’t feel like dedicating to blogging. As of late, I’ve noticed that I need to need to put aside a solid 2-3 hours of time to sit down and write. I try to use those hours to create as many ideas for posts as possible to minimize my work throughout the week. The hardest part about a blog is finding things to post about on a regular schedule. With that aside I’ve still been able to create this. It’s hard to justify 4 years of work worth $450 dollars but at least it’s not 0.
It’s always been a thought of mine of how I spend my time. What if I didn’t have a job and I could do whatever I wanted 24/7. How would my life be different? Would I get more joy out of being a full time blogger? Would I visit more places and enjoy life more? Would I have more creative thoughts? The daily routine has a lot to do with how you act. If you work a 9-5, five days a week, there’s a good chance the weekend is your time to let loose. I know for a fact I have some friends who’ve never seen me other than on a weekend when I’ve been drinking. Working a schedule like this actually propels me into drinking on the weekends because it’s the only time I get to do so. A different schedule would lead to a completely different life. How you spend your time in life is perhaps the most important, overlooked feature of life. Amazingly, it passes you by without even know what’s happening.
I had a very strange experience happen last night that brought back a variety of memories from my past. A few of us pooled some money together and bought an NES & N64 for the fun of it. The console arrived and last night was the first night that we got together to play. After a few minutes of trying to set up the system, we didn’t have the right components for the TV. This caused a minor delay as we ordered the proper part from Amazon. However, while trying to set up the Nintendo, it brought back precise memories on playing the system as a kid. The reason I’m using this idea for a post is that the way I remember the memories became clearer and clearer the more I used the machine 20 years later.
My memories in present day of playing Nintendo are all glorious occurrences. Touchdown passes to Drew Hill, swapping out Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles never getting past the rooftop, finding nuke, warp whistling past world 4, and getting bull rushed by Bald Bull. The TV was 96 inches, the graphics are crystal clear and the machine always works and has no load times. If I had never attempted to set up a Nintendo for the rest of my life, I would go on living in a false reality. Last night after attempting to set up the NES and getting to a point where we were blowing into the game crossing our fingers that the Tecmo Bunny (Adam called him a little buddy) popped up on the screen, I began to actually remember my childhood past memories.
There were good Nintendo games and there were bad Nintendo games. Some you’d put in the system and have no problems. Others you’d have to adjust, blow, and use every trick in the book to get to work. The TV I played on was a 17″ POS that you had to sit 6 inches from to see what the ant like characters on the screen were doing. Some games would be so hard that you’d never play them. At 10 years old it was most likely that you didn’t have the intellectual fortitude. Bayou Billy sticks out as one of those games. A testimonial to this point is that I played the Oregon Trail (Mac not NES obviously) for the first time since my childhood and floated my wagon down the river to close the game on my very first time through. The point is though that if I had never sat there last night blowing into the game, these memories would have been distorted forever. They’d still be my memories, but they wouldn’t be truth because I’d forgotten truth.
All NES talk aside, it brings up an interesting idea on what is the truth? The way I remember something is my truth, but your truth may be something completely different because you remember it differently. If two days ago I told you about my NES remembrance, it would have been completely different than the ideas I’ve put in this post. Is it better to remember things in a positive light even if it’s not the truth or to be disappointed with reality? Sort of follows the cliche “ignorance is bliss”. I think it’s important to keep in mind that everyone has a varying viewpoint and keeping an open mind for EVERYTHING is important. Living in the present is a weird thing when you compile so much information over a lifetime. Everything you’ve been through shapes you into what you are today. I just veered off on a tangent and am going to end this post before I force feed it with more mindless drivel.
This weekend I did something that I don’t normally do but found it entertaining. After going out on Friday night I woke up and Jeff and Pat were going to Tir Na Nog at 11am to watch some soccer. I don’t really give a shit about soccer but decided it was something different. I threw some action on Man U and Arsenal and was all set. When we got to the bar it is apparent that soccer wasn’t the main draw but Rugby was the main attraction. We sat at a back bar and ordered some eggs and Guinness watching soccer. The atmosphere was really great and getting buzzed early in the morning is refreshing. After our games ended (I went 1-1 for a +30 spot) we met up with one of our newly acquainted friends who was from South Africa and learned a bit about Rugby. It was England vs France and was surprisingly entertaining. We ended up leaving at around 2 and I crashed at about 5 to wake up at 7 and go out again for Saturday night. This morning soccer/rugby actually created a pretty ideal Saturday. I actually liked it enough to say I would do it again next weekend. I believe the Erin Express is starting up shortly and that will lead to a mass shit show in the city. That’s what I was told will be crazy Rugby action at Tir Na Nog. Just a quick update from a time when I have no new ideas and nothing good to post.
I have an array of ideas that all are factoring into this post. I watched some of the Charles Barkley turning 50 program and he said that at a certain point in his career he hadn’t developed the self confidence to know he was the best. This got me thinking about how good MJ was at being clutch and all the big shots he made. Then I remembered a WSJ entry documenting who the best and worst current NBA players were at making last second shots this year. Believe it or not, Kyrie Irving was the best and Paul George was the worst with a surprise Kobe being terrible as well (this year). Next I brought these ideas into my own life and how good I am at last second shots and how rarely this moment occurs. This was probably the only time I’ve been clutch in my life (there was also a shot I made on the Bball Travel team against PW that tied the game). My lack of opportunities throughout my life is the case for a specific reason, I don’t have the self confidence in these situations to succeed. Why?
There are certain people who are either born with self confidence or are able to cultivate it throughout their life. It’s probably one of the most important attributes to have. The ability to do something successfully isn’t as easy as it sounds. Everyone can talk about doing something but when it really comes down to doing it, your self confidence is on display. I personally don’t have the self confidence I should. Just some examples, when I play basketball my mind thinks about how I’m going to miss this lay up opposed to how I’m going to make the layup. When I try to pick up girls my mind concentrates on what is wrong with the person rather than right. It’s just a mindset. If for some reason I just decided that I’m the best person to give the ball to at the end of the game and I fully believed it, I’d probably get some opportunities. As is, I know I’m not that good and don’t want to be responsible for missing the last second shot.
That’s where the enigma of self-confidence comes into play. I know people who are terrible at things but they don’t know they are terrible at it. So their self confidence is unrealistically higher than it should be. I’m not sure if that is good or bad but it’s worth noting. My mindset tends to be overwhelmed with reality and past results. This leads me to have lower self confidence than I should. If I just flicked a switch and started believing more in everything I do, I’d probably achieve more. This of course is a complete mindfuck because it doesn’t always work. I was playing Jeff in Ping-Pong and in my mind I was continuously telling myself I’m better and he has no shot at winning. Once the game gets started and I catch some slams in my grill, no self-confidence in the world can overcome being outmatched. It’s almost like you have to trick your brain into not only having self confidence, but then trick it again into doing something skillfully. Repetition can help with the second part but the first part has crippled many a people.
