j2thesquared - Tumblr blog

[j2thesquared]

It’s Been Awhile…

‘It’s been a awhile since I could…’ Aaron Lewis w/Staind

I received an email earlier from tumblr letting me know that my account hadn’t been active in a while. Almost 10 years in fact. I read back over the limited things I posted, shared, word-vomited on this site and I must say wow. I think of everything that has happened in my life since my last post and I realize that in the last decade I have done my mind and soul and disservice not writing. I miss it. I write a lot but not much here. I think it’s time to get into it. Let the thoughts and history of a 5 decade old man run free. Get ready. I’m not sure what I’ll write but I do know this…some of the stuff I write will require me to say ‘it’s been awhile since I said I’m sorry’.

[j2thesquared]

My father had taught me to be nice first, because you can always be mean later, but once you’ve been mean to someone, they won’t believe the nice anymore. So be nice, be nice, until it’s time to stop being nice, then destroy them.”

― Laurell K. Hamilton (via psych-quotes)

[j2thesquared]

Perspective

"Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing" - Henry Russell Sanders

"If you ain't first, you're last" - Ricky Bobby

Two more truer sentences describing the prevailing mentality of the majority cannot be found.  Unfortunately, they leave out the biggest message that needs to be heard...it's ok to lose.  Now, let's back up a second.  I didn't say it's fun to lose or that it's the right thing to do in certain situations so little Billy can get a trophy or some self-esteem or anything like that.  I'm saying that it's ok to lose as long as you keep perspective about the loss itself.  Did you prepare in every way you could have, to fairly win the contest?  Then it's ok to lose.  Did you put forth the greatest effort possible in order to fairly win the contest?  Then it's ok to lose.  Did you do everything fairly?  Then it's ok to lose.

We often focus too much on the end result & then quickly brand it a success or failure based on if we won or not.  In a professional sports setting, that's fine.  But in any other setting, it isn't.  It's ok to lose.  It really is.  And in most of life, it's more important to lose.  Because in losing, we see more of what makes us who we are & we learn more about how we need to better ourselves so that we may one day win.  And when that one day arrives and we do win, it becomes that much more of a wondrous moment.  All because we lost before.

It's ok to lose.

[j2thesquared]

I think it's getting closer to tattoo time!

Not sure what I'm getting though.

[j2thesquared]

And I hate hotpockets.

“Scream 4 Was a waste of my time I could of been eating hotpockets instead”

[j2thesquared]

Dear Lord (an open prayer)

I'm approaching or have already passed "mid-life", yet I have not had my crisis.  Therefore, I feel it is still coming to me.  I would like to make a simple request for my mid-life crisis & hope you are able to allow this.

I do not want a fast car that goes 0-60 in 4.5 seconds.  I have a truck.  I like it.

I do not want a hot young girl to pleasure me whenever I want.  I am happily married to the hottest woman I have ever met.  She & I share more than intimate moments together that make me love her more everyday.

I do not wish for the trendiest techno-chic gadget that everyone swoons over to show their "coolness".  If I really want it, I'll buy it.  A few months later.  When it makes more economic sense.

No, what I want is for their to be a Zombie Apocalypse.  So I can legally kill some m*therf*ckers with a chainsaw.

Amen.

[j2thesquared]

H8ters gonna h8te.

[j2thesquared]

Wow.  Who knew he knew us so well?

[j2thesquared]

Now, it's about that time

To bring forth the rythym and the rhyme!

For some reason, that has been running through my head all day, which is very unfortunate.  The life I have lived (so far) has given me many wonderful & equally abysmal memories.  Experiences, movie quotes, vivd pictures of specific shots of my life, music, friends & family.  Events, the birth of my son.  Experiences, the first time I kissed my wife.  Life learning moments, Dale dropping $12 in quarters, dimes, nickels & pennies in the movie theater lobby while John & I (cruelly) laughed out loud.

And I end up with a Marky-Mark & the Funky Bunch lyric stuck in my head.

Damn you Mr. Wahlberg.

Damn you & your catchy white on rice rapper lyrics.

[j2thesquared]

Seriously...What if...

The hokey-pokey is what it's all about?

[j2thesquared]

SERIOUSLY.. What if

the asteroid that hit the Earth and killed all the dinosaurs was a UFO…

…and we’re the aliens.

[j2thesquared]

Knowing what you know is a powerful tool, but knowing what you don't know is even more powerful.

Franki Moore

[j2thesquared]

The NBA...it's boring-tastic!

Can anyone explain to me why a slam dunk regularly makes ESPNs top ten plays most nights? It is an athletic play, yes, but in all actuality, it takes more athleticism carrying 2 full hampers of dirty clothes down the stairs while trying not to trip over the shitzhu who happens to be chasing the cat up the stairs. Lebron, Carmelo, Wade, I'm not impressed. Do what I do for a living and the housework I do to help out my wife, then I'll be impressed by your leaping ability.

[j2thesquared]

Do not pray for an easier life. Pray to be a stronger person.

John F. Kennedy

[j2thesquared]

The Dumbing Down of Duh-mer-ih-ka

See what I did there? Or if I was posting this on Twitter, it would read #seewhatididthere. And that my friends is the problem. Twitter, Facebook, texting, even blog sites like Tumblr all share a common goal. A cooperative direction one might say. The dissemination of information. This information can be anything from what time to meet, the score of a game, breaking news of an ultra-radical group attack or a cute photo of a cat hugging a dog. Now the beauty that is seen in the information being shared is up to those that receive/choose to read it. In the click of mouse or the press on a touch screen, the originator of that piece of information has essentially put their intelligence on display for what could ultimately be, 1.8 billion people. I say 1.8 billion because that is the estimated number of individuals who happen to be fluent in English as either a 1st or 2nd language. I remember getting sweaty hands standing up in front of 24 other 3rd graders when it was my turn to spell Connecticut in the class spelling bee. To misspell a word in front of 24 other 8 year olds & my teacher as well would have been mortifying! Recess would be unbearable. I could hear them all in my head, “Don’t play with him, he can’t spell.” “He probably smells too!” “Smelly can’t spell! Smelly can’t spell!” (Smelly was a popular dig back in my day). And I am now & forever to be known as ‘smelly’ all because I couldn’t spell Connecticut. I spelled it right & the legend of Smelly never came to be, thank you very much. But in this day & age, almost everyone can & should be called smelly.

I have three beautiful children. All at various stages of physical, mental, emotional & spiritual development. One just starting college, another about to finish middle school & the youngest one just started said middle school. I received a text from one of my children last week. ‘Hey Dad were r u at? Mom wants 2 no if u got the milk to.’ I sat in my car stunned. Ok, I just lied. I was not stunned. And I was not in my car. I was in my truck. And the reason I wasn’t stunned was because this was the norm for communication in my family. At least with the kids it is. You see, taking shortcuts is a part of everyday life. Getting there quickly because you left late, finishing a project on time even though you suffered through several delays & getting your point/message across in as few characters as possible. This has made us lazy as a society & stupid as an individual. We need to take back what is right with the human spirit…the quest for perfection. What I mean by perfection is not the definition everyone believes it to be, what it actually is. The definition of perfection is as follows: The condition, state, or quality of being free or as free as possible from all flaws or defects. Please re-read the bolded words again. As free as possible. My children have always brought home good grades. A’s, B’s & a rare C. So, for my child to have texted me a grammatically, incorrectly spelled & very poorly worded sentence, I know that with the intelligence that that specific child has shown in the very recent past, that text was not an attempt at perfection. I know it was not as free as possible from flaws or defects.

My point is this, I do not know what it will take to get us off of this runaway train of stupidity that is screeching down the tracks towards Idiotsville. I do not bash ‘tween’ books like The Hunger Games or Twilight or the Harry Potter series due to the fact that they bring the future adults of tomorrow into a literary world where sentences aren’t fragmented, words are spelled correctly and abbreviations are used when necessary & where they make literal sense, not because we’re being lazy. I do not claim to know all of the rules of proper english mechanics. I still have to recite ‘I before E except after C’ or something like that. I just want to be able to stop shaking my head in disgust when I see things like a local restaurant advertising a PPV event by having a 12’x6’ banner made that reads ‘LIVE APRIL 21TH’. April twenty-oneth? Excuse me, but for the last 40+ years of my life it’s been called April twenty-first. But, the odds are, someone, somewhere, typed April 21th and no one thought it looked wrong. Because we’re not getting lazy, we are lazy. We no longer strive for perfection. We make perfection fit into whatever situation we happen to find ourselves in and we are stupider because of it. #seewhatididthere