Quote of the Day

An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.                   

                             -Buddha

Too much schoolwork equals less time to update my blog. I apologize and promise there will be a new post in the next couple of days. I hope this quote will suffice.

Beautiful Mess

It's Sunday. My room is in a state of chaos. The weather this afternoon was chaos as well. Walking from the caf to my room I was drenched from the monsoon (torrential rain) that was executing its fury outside. Upon returning I hurriedly changed and walked across the hall to say hello to some friends. In the process of being so hurried I left my key in my room. OF COURSE I'm locked out on a day where my roommates and suite-mates are gone. Just my luck.

What a mess you are Tampa. A beautiful mess that I now call home.

Quote of the Day

You will never find time for anything.  If you want time you must make it.  

                    -Charles Buxton

Woke up at 10:00 this morning. Did my homework, laundry, went on a run, and to the pool. I find it best to make the most of the day. Sometimes time by yourself is better than time with anyone else.

Adjustment

    "A city full of people and my favorite is that waitress" -Atmosphere

Waking up this morning I had the weirdest realization. Where was I? And how did I get here? I wondered this aloud trying to be as quiet as possible in fear of waking up my roommates. Being 1,500 miles from home wasn't too much of a surprise but it can be a little weird for adjustment purposes. For 18 years I had a set way of doing things. A routine of sorts. Back home I knew where almost everything was. I was familiar with the area. Scratch that. I knew the area like the back of my hand. Minneapolis is a beautiful and very underrated city. Thinking about it I miss it. More than I did before I left.

Most of all I miss Sunday breakfasts with my family at the CC Club. A local dive bar which you wouldn't suspect has the some of the best breakfast in all of Minneapolis. One of the waitresses there, actually I think she's the only one there, greets us, and without even having to tell her what we want she already knows. My dad is always ecstatic when she recites what I want word for word: "a chicken tenders basket with waffle fries". It might not sound like normal breakfast but who needs normal? The CC Club is far from normal. The bar front might fool you, maybe even turn you away at 10 a.m. but to me it's one of my favorite places. The grungy atmosphere adds authenticity to an establishment that's been around for years.

Quote of the Day

I've decided that I'm going to post a quote each day. One that I think all of you can relate to or live by in some sort of way. I'll start off with my favorite of all time.

                                "Don't let people belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that. But the really great, make you feel that you to, can become great."
                                                           -Mark Twain

The pictures below illustrate some of the people in my life who make me feel great.

A Better World

Today in my communications class we watched Bowling for Columbine. The film centers around violence and gun control in our society. Statistics show that 11,127 people are murdered in the United States each year from guns. The number in Canada, 165. After seeing this I want to move to Canada. The man behind the documentary: Michael Moore went around Canada and interviewed its citizens. He finds that many leave their doors unlocked and never have the feeling of being unsafe. Moore states that the reason behind this is the dramatically different impact of the media on their society. Our media and news constantly focuses on the negative and violent while in Canada their media centers around bettering the community (education, roads, childcare, etc). By focusing on the positive the people of Canada have more of a positive outlook on life. They're not always leaving their homes scared, feeling the need to arm themselves, or lock their doors.

After watching this documentary I'm moving to Canada. Until the United States improves, Canada seems like a better world to me.

Purpose

As I write my first (and hopefully not last) blog post I think about why I am doing this in the first place. I used to not understand the whole purpose of a blog, sort of shrugging it off, and thinking of it as silly. Feelings are something that I'm not always willing to share, especially in such a public forum. However in time we all grow up and shed the insecurities we once had about "sharing our feelings". I for one, feel it essential to express yourself through writing. Writing helps get what your thinking off your chest and it's a chance to reflect on what's going on in your life.

Currently there's a lot going in my life. I just entered college which has been a whole new ballgame. I'm a freshman at University of Tampa. A far cry from the land of snow & ice (Minnesota) where I came from. This dramatic location change has served as more of a blessing than a curse. Going out of my comfort zone is something I wanted to do for college. Granted, Florida isn't far from comfortable. It's different and I like that.

This blog serves many purposes. One of them being reflection. I reflect, tell you what's going on in my life and hopefully you can somewhat relate to my experiences. Enjoy.

Gus