From fraternity life to my career, I try to make my name with the association. A reputation based on works, not mere words. Anyone can make a speech and anyone can say who they are. When your actions dictate a presence that is unnecessary to justify, then that is where the success is.

In life, I want positivity, strength, courage, faith, wisdom, and honesty…..what is it that YOU want?

“you can’t teach a man to be a leader.”

I read this and it truly hit me. I realized why I always feel like I have to go all in on the things I do.

The Gym

Boy, I remember when I started. Mainly I was going along with a few friends, trying to play keep-up and match what was being shown to me. That got boring and went downhill faster than a rolling tire. It was not until January when something went off in my head. I wanted size, but I did not know what I was doing wrong in the gym. I found out that it was not the work in the gym that was the problem. It was my dedication outside. The diet had to change, as well as the rest. Also there was the drive to go to the limit. A lot of guys want the size, but they are too damn scared to pick up the weight. Screw the machines, grind the iron until you cannot do it anymore. Put your maximum into the workout and the maximum results WILL come.

Life

I wanted success, but I was too damn scared of failing. So, when risks came around, I was too passive. It was not until I was told I was too passive and even lazy when I realized, sometimes you have to point the 6-shooter to the head and play Russian Roulette. Good thing is that the bullets do not kill you in this version. You live, you learn, you keep pushing.

So how many times YOU have said, “I want” and the word “but” was attached to it?

I took another spin on this by relating it physically. Honestly, for Christmas, I really have not had a desire for anything in particular. I have been this way for the past two or three years. Basically it is because everything I could want, I already have. It makes me feel simple, yet effective at the same time. Since I do not have any impeding desires to get in the way, I can focus my energies on what is important: improving my life day by day. That is the only desire I have. For Christmas, I have family, friends, and life. Anything else, it is merely materialistic. As long as it is positive, I can go on. I already have all I need.

I generally do it because I think some people walk around and no one even notices them. Trust me, you are noticed and someone is always watching. They just do not have the courage to say they are watching. It is a genuine thing when I say “Hi, Hey, What’s Up, How are you, You good” or when I wave or shoot the deuces. I’ll take time out of what I am doing to show anyone respect because in order to get respect, it has to be shown.

I acknowledge the world because a small fraction of it acknowledges me.

I acknowledge the world because I am in it.

I acknowledge the people because I am not above them. I am one of them.

-AAVOL

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is what it is all about. It is a representation. This week, I represented my fraternity and myself, especially. The most strenuous activity I have ever done, but trust me, it was well worth it.

images courtesy of Pierre, The Camera Mane.

After reading a lot of stuff on shoryuken, it has brought my street fighter play to a level of its own.

Basically I’m still average and trying to improve, but I have been getting a lot of compliments on my game style with Ken. So, I guess I am improving. Time will tell.

I wanted a clear-cut life, where everything was organized and everything had a rule, a law, and an order. What I failed to realize is that my request was very difficult, yet impossible.

No matter what, this way of life was going to be difficult. If Christ’s life was not simple, how can I ask for simplicity? I guess exhaustion rears its ugly head after 23 years, 2 months, and 1 measley day.

Penny for random thoughts?

That horoscope was for a Gemini, with a Leo rising sun. Amazingly enough, I found a lot of the similarity. That’s why I disappear from people a lot. Its not that I don’t want to say or that I don’t want to be bothered. It is just that I feel like while dealing myself, I have to be alone, not burdening the world with my troubles.

I am a true professional with my life. I deal with my personal issues inside, away from the public eye. Once I close the door of my apartment and walk outside, my issues are tossed to the back of my head and I am about business.

Being a professionalist is perhaps my downfall as well as my strength. Who I am in public is who I want to be, but personally, I, just like any human, deal with my problems. Most of it is internal struggle, of course, so I feel as if the outside world does not need to know about them. I try not to plague people with my problems because everyone else has their own lives to contend with. In essence, once I leave my apartment, my problems go to the back of my mind because I have a world of other things to worry about. True enough, I should express my issues someday….when I’m ready of course.