Toby Keith's horses and Toby Keith's men

Hello.

I know it seems as if this is too soon for a new entry, but I was literally sitting on that other entry since late Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning. So. I feel like I've been more than a little neglectful. However, this will all change. I knocked out a good amount of the things I've needed to do lately, and even though I still have a lot more to do (memorizing a six page menu, applying for a loan that I've been delaying until the last possible moment, finishing the whole "cleaning the room" thing, getting new tires on my bike, etc), I feel like I've hit a plateau of effectiveness, and as such, need to slack off for a bit.

Being sick is never any fun I've come to realize. Lately, since I've come down with this weird chest congestion thing, I've been totally drained of energy. For real. I can't remember the last time I was up until 4 am. It's been a struggle to stay up until 2, which is really weird for me, because that is usually my peak hours of operation. Funny story actually, I hacked a loogie into my sink the other day under running water (which usually just shoots the little fucker right down the drain), and apparently, unbeknownst to me, most of the loogie just sat there, becoming one with my sink basin. Now, this isn't particularly harmful to me, but I mean, it just sort of shouts "this kid does not have his shit together". I actually prefer to appear as though I do have my shit together (however infrequently that may be), and this crusted loogie that just will not give way to neither Kaboom nor flamethrower is just ruining my whole vibe. Maybe that's why I've been feeling a tad under the weather: this crusted loogie is just throwing off my whole sense of orientation.

There is nothing fun about being around unexceptional people. Sure, I mean, I have plenty of people that I have absolutely no beef with who are unexceptional. But these are the people that I honestly could not see myself being anything more than an aquaintence with in a few years out. However, most of my close friends I believe fall into the category of being exceptional, and this is why they are my close friends. I think that one of the most important qualities that anyone can bring to the table with me is being a challenging and intriguing individual. I find the most interesting thing about people is security in their imperfection, and as such, I try to surround myself with similar people, regardless of what interests we happen to share or not share.

Being boring is no way to live life, and honestly, I find security to be a little overrated. If you never put yourself outside of your element, you'll never grow. It's very much like the risk-reward relationship. The bigger risk you take, the greater the reward will be. And if you fail, why should it even bother you? I've come to realize that fear of rejection is one of the most pathetic and inconsequential fears ever, and if you don't learn to conquer it while the consequences are menial, you'll fall the hardest when it actually matters.

I look at some of the people around me and almost feel badly that they aren't living as vivaciously as they could be. Obviously, this is only my opinion and I hope no one views this as an attack on themselves, but as a general statement. I mean, to me, it seems pretty boring to never push your boundaries and fail to do things that you might later regret. Yes, you might regret going out and getting completely shitty before a 9 am Spanish class, but how many times in your golden years are you going to look back at college life and go "man, that one night I spent studying for my western civilization test was so much fun, I'm glad I really took advantage of the time I had left as a youth before I had to succumb to being completely independent and couldn't go out even on the weekends".

Obviously, there is a time and a place for everything, and yeah, sometimes you have to give up a night of fun to make sure you're not going to fail a class or anything, but most of the time, being conscious in class is pretty unnecessary. And at that point, you have to ask yourself, "what is more important, living life and having a great time, or doing good in this class so I can hopefully get a good job, so I can make it through life?" If you spend your time worrying more about the latter than the former, I pity your situation and your outlook on life. And I don't doubt that a bunch of you are like "god Joe's an asshole, don't you know you don't have to get drunk to have fun?", but I'm pretty sure I didn't make drunkeness as a stipulation of having fun anywhere in here. I happen to have a lot more fun getting drunk and doing dumb things (and I'm also not bothered by the consequences of the morning after), but if being sober is your thing, then more power to you. But don't let my whole point be lost by that. Get out and live, or you'll have already died far too young.

I'm big on these lists, or so it seems. So to follow in the tradition of such lists, I think I'll start my own bucket list. As per usual, some shit is probably really cliche, but eh. Bite me.

Visit every continent
Visit all 50 states
Drive from one end of the country to the other
Live in Australia and Amsterdam
Drop mushrooms at a planetarium during a meteor shower
Skydive
Dive reefs all over the world before they are all gone
Dive an authentic shipwreck
Write a novel and have it published
Put out an album of original music
Make amends with the people I've hurt with no provocation
Never miss another NOFX, Against Me!, A Wilhelm Scream, The Lawrence Arms, or Radiohead show again
See the Mars Volta live
Go a month without using a car
Buy a sports car
Go to the Olympics
Eat a Chicago Dog in Chicago
Grow a beard for 6 months
Learn how to make sushi
Open a restaurant
Become a legitimate bartender
Get tattooed
Scratch out everything on this list (and any future additions) by the time I die

To be continued.

Anyway, I'm gonna go make dinner with a buddy of mine. Maybe we'll bone later? I'm not sure.

Peace,

-Joe