those of you that know me are well aware that music is a huge part of my life. the title of this entry comes from one of my favorite workout songs, performed by ministry.
i haven't done this in a while, so i present to you another in my line of workout playlists. as always, please feel free to share the songs that get your blood pumping and keep you jacked up while working out. here we go...
white limo - foo fighters
got no shame - brother cane
feel good, inc. - gorillaz
can't tell me nothin' - kanye west
always on the run - lenny kravitz
spin the black circle - pearl jam
i'm not a star - rick ross
on a plain - nirvana
my own summer (shove it) - deftones
b.y.o.b. - system of a down
bleed american - jimmy eat world
the taste of ink - the used
corduroy - pearl jam
thoughts and/or suggestions?
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Saturday, September 10, 2011
a moment to reflect and to remember...
september 11th, 2001 was a day that changed our world. i was 23 years old, out of college for a little over a month and not sure what to do with my life. the world was in front of me, and over the course of the next few hours everything would change.
i woke up and turned the tv on and couldn't believe my eyes. to this day it hurts to even think about the images i saw and what they meant. i lost a lot of my innocence that day, but i also learned a lot about humanity and the strength of a nation that won't back down from any challenge.
i don't think i can truly out into words how proud i am to be an American, about how proud i am that we live in a place where we can think and say what we want. we may not always agree, but at the end of the day, we're all Americans and we all want what's best for our great nation.
i hope that tomorrow you're able to tell a veteran, police office, or fireman how proud you are of the job they do; how without the sacrifices they make, we wouldn't be the country that we are.
this is my thank you. i am forever grateful for the honorable job you do and for the oath you all have taken to protect us from harm and fight for our rights. God Bless America.
i woke up and turned the tv on and couldn't believe my eyes. to this day it hurts to even think about the images i saw and what they meant. i lost a lot of my innocence that day, but i also learned a lot about humanity and the strength of a nation that won't back down from any challenge.
i don't think i can truly out into words how proud i am to be an American, about how proud i am that we live in a place where we can think and say what we want. we may not always agree, but at the end of the day, we're all Americans and we all want what's best for our great nation.
i hope that tomorrow you're able to tell a veteran, police office, or fireman how proud you are of the job they do; how without the sacrifices they make, we wouldn't be the country that we are.
this is my thank you. i am forever grateful for the honorable job you do and for the oath you all have taken to protect us from harm and fight for our rights. God Bless America.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
story of my life
tol·er·anceNoun/ˈtälərəns/
1. The ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with
sometimes i don't understand why we feel the need to constantly belittle everything we don't agree with. i do it all the time, and it's something i'm working hard to stop. is it something we're born with or something we learn? it's the eternal nature vs. nurture debate, and i can't say what the answer is.
what i do know is that it makes me sick to my stomach when all i hear is complaining and the ones doing the complaining never seem to offer solutions. they expect someone else to have the answer and all they want to do throw blame around.
i'm all for taking a stand for what you believe in, but do you have to always point a finger when it's not necessarily called for?
boom. knowledge dropped.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
toes
ahhh, if i could only get my toes in the water and my ass in the sand, things would be just about perfect. i am loving life, i'll tell you that much.
things change when you start to look at life differently. of course, a lot of that comes from the fact that i am literally a new man. i've lost a small, adult woman. that is to say, i am roughly 95 pounds lighter than i was at this point 5 months ago. i have a new lease on life, and it's funny how that will make a man appreciate the little things.
i've been to new orleans and galveston the last two weekends on distinctly different vacations. new orleans was to get away for my 11th anniversary with the most beautiful woman i've ever laid eyes on. and we got to go with two of our best friends in the world, to help us share the occasion. it was a wonderful weekend of drinking, eating and sightseeing.
galveston was the family vacation, with my 2 little hellions. i love those kids more than life itself, but i think they were specifically programmed to find my last nerve and jump up and down on it. having said that, it was still awesome getting to spend time with them away from home. they love it anytime we get to leave the city, so they had a blast. especially when they got to go to schlitterbahn and moody gardens.
and this weekend will be an entirely different getaway, as i head to college station for my annual fantasy football draft with my best friends. this will be daddy and his stupid friends time. hopefully nobody gets arrested. just kidding, honey. i hope.
so, there is a distinctly positive outlook on the horizon. life is good today. life is good today...
things change when you start to look at life differently. of course, a lot of that comes from the fact that i am literally a new man. i've lost a small, adult woman. that is to say, i am roughly 95 pounds lighter than i was at this point 5 months ago. i have a new lease on life, and it's funny how that will make a man appreciate the little things.
i've been to new orleans and galveston the last two weekends on distinctly different vacations. new orleans was to get away for my 11th anniversary with the most beautiful woman i've ever laid eyes on. and we got to go with two of our best friends in the world, to help us share the occasion. it was a wonderful weekend of drinking, eating and sightseeing.
galveston was the family vacation, with my 2 little hellions. i love those kids more than life itself, but i think they were specifically programmed to find my last nerve and jump up and down on it. having said that, it was still awesome getting to spend time with them away from home. they love it anytime we get to leave the city, so they had a blast. especially when they got to go to schlitterbahn and moody gardens.
and this weekend will be an entirely different getaway, as i head to college station for my annual fantasy football draft with my best friends. this will be daddy and his stupid friends time. hopefully nobody gets arrested. just kidding, honey. i hope.
so, there is a distinctly positive outlook on the horizon. life is good today. life is good today...
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
sick of myself
my favorite matthew sweet song, and one of my all time 90's favorites is this entry's inspiration. the song has nothing to do with this, but the title is appropriate considering the information i'm about to divulge.
a little over 4 months ago, i weighed the most i ever have. i was literally sick of myself and i knew something had to give. either i was going to be dead by 35 or i was going to stop being selfish and make some changes.
407 pounds does weird things to a person. it makes them feel completely worthless. it makes them wonder whether they deserve to live. it makes them question why they can't seem to make seemingly simple decisions to stop eating. but most of all, it makes them feel disgusted with what they see in the mirror, no matter what's on the periphery.
fast forward to now. there's about 90 pounds removed from that 407. it's a different person occupying my body and my attitude is pretty much that i can conquer the world. granted, i know there's a long way to go. but the hard part is over. wrestling with the decision seems so stupid now.
it's like someone handing you 2 guns. one's real and it's loaded. the other's a water gun, also loaded. then they tell you, "okay, pick one and point it at your head; now pull the trigger." it's a no brainer (pardon the pun). but when you're in the position i was in, that loaded gun just seemed like it couldn't hurt me. until one day, you fire a shot into the air and you realize "holy sh*t, that thing will kill me."
so here i am. wiser, stronger, more focused. the world is mine. i hope you guys are ready for the ride.
a little over 4 months ago, i weighed the most i ever have. i was literally sick of myself and i knew something had to give. either i was going to be dead by 35 or i was going to stop being selfish and make some changes.
407 pounds does weird things to a person. it makes them feel completely worthless. it makes them wonder whether they deserve to live. it makes them question why they can't seem to make seemingly simple decisions to stop eating. but most of all, it makes them feel disgusted with what they see in the mirror, no matter what's on the periphery.
fast forward to now. there's about 90 pounds removed from that 407. it's a different person occupying my body and my attitude is pretty much that i can conquer the world. granted, i know there's a long way to go. but the hard part is over. wrestling with the decision seems so stupid now.
it's like someone handing you 2 guns. one's real and it's loaded. the other's a water gun, also loaded. then they tell you, "okay, pick one and point it at your head; now pull the trigger." it's a no brainer (pardon the pun). but when you're in the position i was in, that loaded gun just seemed like it couldn't hurt me. until one day, you fire a shot into the air and you realize "holy sh*t, that thing will kill me."
so here i am. wiser, stronger, more focused. the world is mine. i hope you guys are ready for the ride.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
little wing
listening to the srv and hendrix classic has got me to thinking about how precious life is and how it can be taken from us in the blink of an eye. stevie ray is my favorite guitarist of all time and i still remember the day he died. a few years later, i would hear about kurt cobain's passing, then tupac shakur, then layne staley and the list goes on.
musicians and other celebrities dying seem to hit me pretty hard. but what about the other so-called "regular" people who leave us unexpectedly everyday? where's the feelings of sadness for those people?
i guess what i'm saying is that we should treat all human life the same way - christopher wallace was just another person before he was the notorious b.i.g. - should i honor him any differently if he was chris the mailman as opposed to chris, aka big poppa?
people's music and art touch us and inspire us, but so do those who teach us and relate to us every day on a more personal level.
just something to think about...
musicians and other celebrities dying seem to hit me pretty hard. but what about the other so-called "regular" people who leave us unexpectedly everyday? where's the feelings of sadness for those people?
i guess what i'm saying is that we should treat all human life the same way - christopher wallace was just another person before he was the notorious b.i.g. - should i honor him any differently if he was chris the mailman as opposed to chris, aka big poppa?
people's music and art touch us and inspire us, but so do those who teach us and relate to us every day on a more personal level.
just something to think about...
Friday, June 3, 2011
tiny dancer
sunday is my wife's birthday. i've known her since we were 11 years old. we started dating 18 years ago. and we've been married for almost 11 years.
there's nothing about me that she doesn't know, and vice versa. we are that couple that completes each other's thoughts, but we've always been careful about not crossing over into creepy or gross lovey-dovey, schmoopy territory.
this is my attempt to explain to her (and those of you reading) how much she has impacted my life. i try to be a better man, husband and father because i'm scared to disappoint her in any way. if she wasn't here with me tomorrow, i wouldn't be either.
some things transcend explanation or simple logic and i think our relationship is one of those things. i try to make her mixtapes (or cd's) to give her some insight, but they never fully capture all of the emotions running through my little brain.
i've written prose to try and adequately express my feelings, but there's a disconnect between my brain and the pen in my hand that could never allow those thoughts to mean the same thing that they mean in my head.
so my actions are ultimately all i have, and i hope those actions do some justice to the way i feel. i know i'm not perfect, but to me she is. and i'll do my best to make every year she celebrates better than the one that came before it.
happy birthday to the perfect woman. love you.
there's nothing about me that she doesn't know, and vice versa. we are that couple that completes each other's thoughts, but we've always been careful about not crossing over into creepy or gross lovey-dovey, schmoopy territory.
this is my attempt to explain to her (and those of you reading) how much she has impacted my life. i try to be a better man, husband and father because i'm scared to disappoint her in any way. if she wasn't here with me tomorrow, i wouldn't be either.
some things transcend explanation or simple logic and i think our relationship is one of those things. i try to make her mixtapes (or cd's) to give her some insight, but they never fully capture all of the emotions running through my little brain.
i've written prose to try and adequately express my feelings, but there's a disconnect between my brain and the pen in my hand that could never allow those thoughts to mean the same thing that they mean in my head.
so my actions are ultimately all i have, and i hope those actions do some justice to the way i feel. i know i'm not perfect, but to me she is. and i'll do my best to make every year she celebrates better than the one that came before it.
happy birthday to the perfect woman. love you.
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