Tag: humor

From Warrior to Citizen: Why leaving the Military (ETS) Has Been One of the Most Difficult Decisions of My Life

On By trustmeimnotadrIn Food for Thought, life, military, peace, Random ThoughtsLeave a comment

Leaving the military has been by far the most difficult decision I have ever made and I never really sat down to try and understood the real reason why it was so difficult until now.

For those of you who may or may not know, back in 2006, I had just turned 19 when I joined because I was flunking pretty much every single one of my college classes. The military became a “scapegoat” of sorts so I wouldn’t have to deal with the cruel, harsh realities of the real word such as studying (yuck) or growing up (booo!).

What I never thought was that after 11 years of service, and finally deciding it was time to move on, that it would be the most painfully difficult decision of my life.

I have been extremely vocal throughout my military career about the “best”and “worst”parts of my career choice, however I never really considered why it was so painful for me, as an individual. So much so that I wrote about some valuable lessons I learned during my military career which you can read about here.

My mother passed away of complications due to cervical cancer on Wednesday, May 30th, 2007. The last time I saw her I was in my Class-A’s (at the time we wore the Army Green’s) after graduating from Basic Training, the approximate date would be right around mid March 2007. This would be the last time I would ever see my mother before she passed away.

I had already made peace with every other part of leaving the military but the real reason it hurt so much was because it was the last thing I had left in my life that reminded me of my youth, most importantly, the last moments of a life that included my mother. The last embrace, hug, kiss, comforting words that I ever gave to her were whilst wearing my Army Green’s and that to me is something that I took so seriously for so many years.

Deciding to finally take off my Army uniform for good means having the courage of letting go of these beautifully painful memories and it was something that I was not ready to do for so long. Perhaps this is the most difficult decision I have ever made because of my fear of letting go and forgetting everything she has ever meant to me.

I promise you this, Sandra I. Lopez Castro (my mothers full name), I will never forget what you meant to me or my siblings. You were the light that filled my life with inspiration, you were the voice that whispered into my ear when I was about to give up over a million times and convinced me that I was way more than I ever imagined.

I will never forget your ever lasting love and I promise you, that I do not need a uniform to remind me of you and the grace you have placed upon me and all of my brothers and sisters. I love you more than you will ever know and that’s what hurts the most…

Written by: Del Rivers

20 Going on 30: Five Things I Would Travel Back in Time to Tell my 20 Year Old Self (PT. 1)

On By trustmeimnotadrIn Food for Thought, humor, life, peaceLeave a comment

As some of you may or may not know, I just turned 30 yesterday which means this past weekend was my last chance to do something crazily stupid, like lighting trash cans on fire, getting so drunk I piss myself, or taking a massive post bean burrito shit on someone else’s lawn and being able to blame it all on “being young and naive since I’m in my twenties”. I did none of that this weekend (unfortunately) but I’ll tell you what I did do, reflect on the last decade of my life in the most objective way possible. It’s only natural to look at your youth with nostalgia since these were years that you will never get back, however among all of the greatness that you want to think you had there’s a big heaping pile of shitty moments; you were just too much of an immature naive asshat to realize how shitty they really were. Although I don’t believe in having regrets, there are a few words of advice I would give my impressionable 20 year old self and cross my fingers that “younger me” would actually listen and not assume that the dude who just traveled through time (hopefully in a DeLorean!) to give him this list was obviously some whack job who is high on shrooms and PCP. With that being said, here are 5 things I would go back and tell myself 10 years ago:

  1. Learn to let go of people who are bad for you: When I was 20, I thought I had it all figured out and was grabbing the world by it’s sweaty balls. One of the things I struggled with was having the ability to be more selective when it came to the people around me. I would purposely stay in relationships that we were constantly lying, cheating, overall hurting each other in every imaginable way but somehow managed to stick together because “our relationship was the most important thing on the planet and we knew we were meant to be together” (or so we made ourselves believe). I would surround myself with “friends” (mostly drinking buddies which I’ll discuss next) that would get plastered every single night and neglect every other part of their lives because it made me feel cool and rebellious. As you get older, you learn to be more objective and less emotional about every single aspect of your life. You’re more careful about who you trust with both your friendship and you’re heart. If I could go back, I would tell my 20 year old self that if someone really loved or cared about you they wouldn’t constantly be looking for ways to hurt you. If someone truly cared about you, they wouldn’t drag you down with them to feel better about themselves. As the saying goes, “misery loves company”.
  2. There is a big difference between a friend and a drinking buddy:  During my college years I was quite popular (or so I liked to think). I had a huge network of people I knew and/or knew me and we’d all go out constantly and drink and have what we thought were the greatest nights of our lives. While this was happening I never realized that all of these people were not really my friends, they were just drinking buddies. A friend is someone you can count on and cares about your well being. A friend is someone you can call in the middle of the night after a bad break up and know that they’ll listen to you and have your back. A friend is someone who will go out of their way to make sure you are fine and will even sacrifice their very own wellness for yours. A drinking buddy is someone you can only count on to go get hammered with you every Open Bar Wednesday. I neglected and lost many friendships because I was too busy spending all of my free time with my drinking buddies getting plastered and “living it up”. As soon as I left my college town, I have lost contact with all of my drinking buddies whereas the few true friends I was able to salvage are still very important people in my life. So twenty year old me, I say this, there’s nothing wrong wrong with your crew of drinking partners for those nights you want to wreak havoc BUT never lose sight of who your real friends are. Never put those who only care about you when you’re “fun” ahead of those who care about you unconditionally.
  3. Protect your credit like your life depended on it: We’ve all been here right? That decadently sweet moment when you verify your checking account and see that the residual balance from your student loan was just deposited. Eagerly you withdraw as much as you can and hit up the town shopping, eating, drinking, splurging like a billionaire who gives less than zero fucks because you know you’ll never run out of money, right? Or how about that time you were convinced to apply for that credit card that you really shouldn’t get but it sounded like a good idea since you were a broke ass student who could use a little extra mullah on the side? “Besides, it’s free money so who the fuck cares!” Wrong! Wrong! One thing I never thought about when I was younger was that one day I’d be repaying my debts (student loans, credit cards, bills, etc.). The days of actually having to pay them back seemed so far away that it felt like a speck in the cosmos and even if it were tomorrow I didn’t care back then. I spent the last 4 years repairing damage done to my credit that could have been easily prevented if I would have been just a wee bit more responsible from the get go. So to twenty year old dipshit me, be mindful of what you can and can’t afford and ALWAYS read the fine print! There’s no such thing as free money and a short lived financial mistake can take years to repair.
  4. Appreciate every second you spend with the ones you love: This has to be one of the greatest mistakes I made during my younger years and even though I don’t believe in having regrets I would give everything to be able to change this. When we’re young we take for granted the time we spend with everyone because we assume that everything will stay as it is and nothing will ever change. The harsh reality is that time keeps ticking and everyones lives are in a constant evolutionary state. The ones I neglected the most would be my family. I lost so many opportunities to spend time with them and be the role model older brother and great son I should have been. Instead I found excuses to not travel home for the weekends (I was a 3 hour drive from home) and not go on family vacations so I could drink and party and literally waste my time away. My mother passed away in 2007 and instead of getting my act together then and realizing all the time I had already lost I decided to nearly remove myself entirely from my family’s life. Due to this I have shoddy relationships with my siblings and “courteous at best” contact with my dad. There will come a day where everyone you love will not be able to be under the same roof at the same time.  So please twenty year old me, I beg you, don’t wait until it’s too late to take advantage and appreciate every second you spend or could’ve spent with someone you love because in the blink of an eye you can lose that someone forever.
  5. Don’t choose your actions based on what others do: This is something that I learned really late in my twenties and in many ways am still learning. I had, for the longest time, revolved the things I did and didn’t do around what everyone else did. “Since friend X didn’t call me for my birthday, I won’t be calling him/her.” “Person Y asked me for a favor but since they told me no the last time I asked them for something, they can suck it!” Don’t decide how you live your life or do the things you do based on what others did or are doing. Be your own person and decide for yourself using your own logic and intelligence what is best for you. Just because someone else did it does not necessarily mean it was the right thing to do. Remember this twenty year old me, when you make choices based on what everyone else does you are losing who you are and becoming someone else. Never justify your actions using what others do or have done as an excuse. You are solely responsible for your actions so be sure to always do things for you and not thinking of what others did or will do.

    To Be Continued…

    Written by: Del Rivers

Forgotten Song of The Day: Oasis-Don’t Look Back in Anger

On By trustmeimnotadrIn humor, life, music, peaceLeave a comment

As the last drop of vodka from the “screwdriver” I’ve been trying to finish for the last hour  drips down my chin I can’t help but think of that special moment in my life where nothing yet everything mattered all at once. Sure it may sound cliche as fuck but the reality of it all is that we all get older, we all get just a little bit more fucked up with every passing day, and we all care about it no matter how much we pretend to not give two shits.

Everyone and their mother hates Oasis because, let’s face it, the Gallagher brothers are the biggest dicks alongside MANDINGO (if you do not know who Mandingo is, consider yourself lucky) that ever existed.

Aside from the bands relentless “GOD” complex, they are undoubetly one of the best and most important bands of the last 25 years. One of my personal favorites is “Don’t Look Back in Anger”.

Although the song essentially says nothing, it does so in such a way that makes you feel like you just witnessed the Mona “Fucking” Lisa through your auditory tracts.

The band may be trying a bit too hard to be “The Beatles” (which I loathe, might I add) but they definitely find their own voice as much as they may hate it.  It is one of the most influential bands of the 90’s and still continues to be on plenty of film soundtracks to date.

If you have not heard of them, I beg you to put down POKEMON GO and listen to some “OASIS”, I promise that it will forever change everything you love and/or hate.

 

Written by: Del Rivers

Forgotten Show of the Day: Nip/Tuck

On By trustmeimnotadrIn film, humor, life, seriesLeave a comment

Bold, visceral, evocative, beautiful, artistic, naughty, chic, cruel….these are all words that can be used to describe the most superficial yet surreal rollercoaster you can ever ride.

Nip/Tuck follows the lives of two very successful plastic surgeons and their misadventures in Miami (and then L.A.). As cliché as it may sound, you have the single playboy (Dr. Christian Troy) who spends his nights out on the prowl using his wealth and status to prey on only the finest Miami has to offer while on the other hand you have his partner (Dr. Sean McNamara); the family man who’s marriage is falling to pieces due to reasons I will not spoil for those who have not seen the series.

Let’s get something straight, I LOATHE medical shows; they’re so predictable and full of unnecessary clichés but what sets Nip/Tuck apart is that it’s less about the drama that revolves around being in the E.R.and more about the exploitation of how superficial human nature really is and what we all deep down truly hate about ourselves. Also, did I mention they have one of the best soundtracks of any show…ever?

Consider yourself one of their many patients as you join them on their crawl through the tunnels of both love and depravity. As the protagonists of the show would ask right before a consult, “Tell me what you don’t like about yourself?”.

 

Written by: Del Rivers

Around the World, Sort Of: Venice and the Debunking of a Few Myths in the Process

On By trustmeimnotadrIn humor, life, travel, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Venice is an amazing city, no doubt, but after spending the better half of the last few weeks reading blogs and articles on what I needed to know before coming here I still feel that I was a bit unprepared. I am originally from Puerto Rico but now live in the USA and although things are different in PR than in the US there are a lot of similarities due to PR being a US territory. Looking back now, the problem with everything that I read was that the information was either dated or biased. I think it’s time to create a straightforward, easy to comprehend list of notable key differences and debunk a few myths about Venice. To clarify, when I say Venice I mean the actual canals where all of the cool stuff to see is at not Mestre or the city like areas around it. Of course, as with everything, this is based on my own experiences and perhaps yours was different. Feel free to share your experience as well:

  1. Your legs are your primary form of transport: Venice, at least most of it, does not allow cars nor bicycles. The only other method of transportation is by sea where you can take a water taxi or public transport boat which are pricey. Prepare to walk everywhere and over long distances! The locals have an expression, “the more you walk, the longer you live.”
  2. Water is gold: In the US, water fountains are on every corner and you can pretty much pickup a bottle of water on every corner for about $1usd. In Venice, water fountains are very few and far between. In fact, I don’t recall seeing a single one! If you get thirsty (which you will after walking all day everywhere) you’ll need to buy a bottle of water which average at about 3 euros which is about the same price as you’d pay for a drink or beer here so you’d be better off getting hammered throughout your stay but that will also prove troublesome because…
  3. You need to go on an archeological expedition to find a bathroom: Ok, perhaps that was a bit over the top but truth be told there isn’t a bathroom on every corner, at least not an accessible one anyways. Unlike the US where there’s a toilet pretty much everywhere (pretty soon all Fords will come with standard backseat urinals), Venice has limited bathrooms available. No stores have bathrooms for customer use and even some restaurants don’t have bathrooms. In fact, bathrooms are such a pain in the ass to find that a common question you will find yourself asking when deciding at what restaurant you will choose to eat will be “do you have a toilet?” Now that we mention restaurants, let’s debunk something…
  4. Venice isn’t cheap but it isn’t batshit insane either: One of the most common things I’ve read on nearly every single blog or article is everyone bitching and moaning about how expensive Venice is. If you’ve ever been to any major US city than the prices in Venice should not be any surprise (I live in Atlanta now). In fact, I spent twice as much money in the same amount of time in Miami (Florida) than I did in Venice doing just about the same shit. If anything, Venice is a bit cheaper because alcohol is a lot less expensive than it is in the US (major cities). You can get a nice cocktail at a nice restaurant for about 4 euros (approx $4.51 USD). Tell me where the fuck in Atlanta can you get a top shelf drink for $4.50 that isn’t some shithole? I’d be lucky if I can get rat poison on the rocks for that price back home! I am under the assumption that people are comparing Venice to other parts of Europe but if you’re from the US and you’re comparing apples to apples than please realize that you are actually getting more for less in Venice than back home. Continuing with the topic of restaurants and bars…
  5. Tips are a lot less: In Venice, tipping isn’t commonplace because most restaurants and bars automatically add both a service charge and cover charge to your check. Service charges range between 10-15% but I’d say 12% is the most common. As for the cover charge, honestly it’s a BS charge that you are billed at most places if you decide to eat at their facilities vs taking it elsewhere. Not all places charge it BUT be very wary of the places that don’t as they tend to upcharge everything and by a lot if you decide to eat there. If you decide to eat outside with a view, here is my personal favorite to debunk…
  6. Venice Does Not Stink Nearly as Bad as The Critics Say: There, I’ve said it! Every single person I know that has been to Venice bitches about the “nasty ass smell” that lingers in the air. I will say it once; Venice does not smell like fucking roses but it does NOT smell like a rotting corpse either! In actuality it smells like any fisherman town I have been to such as Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Please stop spreading this BULLSHIT!!!

To be continued, When in Rome…

Written by: Del Rivers

Six Degrees of Separation…Perhaps?

On By trustmeimnotadrIn Food for Thought, humor, life, peace, Random Thoughts, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Another day has gone by; another story to be told has been written. As I sit drinking my coffee at the nearby café, I can’t help but look at everyone around me and think how we all have our own stories, our own memories, our own problems, our own daily dilemmas and issues.  To think that I got it easy compared to other people makes me feel somewhat blessed but it also leads me to think about how things happen and how we are all linked in some way or another.

The guy that is sitting in the table next to me at this very moment, scrolling aimlessly through his laptop, quite possibly might have ten times more problems than I do and to be honest  I might never know. Although it does get me to think; could someone that knows him, know someone that knows me and could said person be what causes him some of his problems? Crazy to think how it really is a small world. With all of its vast oceans and continents we still  can’t escape the lingering fact that we are all connected in some way. I remember a song by a band I loved in my college years that  said “Seeing all those people on the ground, wasting their time.” Looking back now I find that song very interesting because a lot of people are literally wasting away their lives and weathering away in the tunnels of time. Funny how there are billions of people on this planet and we don’t even know 1/1,000,000th of them all and even funnier is that we may all be somehow connected. Perhaps it’s time I get up and introduce myself…

Written by: Del Rivers

The Pajama Chronicles: Why Working From Home Sucks More Than You Think!

On By trustmeimnotadrIn Food for Thought, humor, Long Reads, Random Thoughts, successLeave a comment

Now before all you “regular worker bees” go and grab your pitchforks and get the lynch mob ready to exact some “vigilante justice” let’s get something straight: working from home is pretty great and has many advantages and perks. There, I said it! Sure you get to rock your Batman pajamas all day (not that anyone would do that…) and theoretically get to pretty much do whatever you want and you don’t have that nosey co-worker who sits in the cube next to yours listening in to everything you say and do just so he/she can go tell everyone about how all you do is crack jokes all day while he/she is actually getting his/her work done and how unfair it is and blah blah blah! BUT, despite all of the good things that come with working from home, they’re quite a few downsides that only the 2.5% (latest statistics from globalworkplaceanalytics.com) of us who actually DO work from home understand and the other 97.5% don’t even know about or shrug off. So before you decide to break your bosses door down and demand that he/she let you telework before you go apeshit and burn his/her house down read on to learn why working from home actually does suck more than you think:

  1. Getting into a routine becomes an IMF (Impossible Mission Force) Task: The most difficult thing to accomplish whilst working from home is getting into a routine because, let’s face it, you no longer have a strict order you need to follow. Most home jobs are pretty flexible (most times) and if you lack discipline you’ll find yourself struggling. Let’s say you you start your work day at 8:30am and have a 20 minute commute; that means you would need to be up by 7:00am at the latest to have time to kickstart your day. You get up, brush your teeth, shower, get dressed, have some breakfast, grab a cup of coffee and jump into your car to beat the traffic. It’s this kind of routine that helps you maintain order and productivity and doesn’t vary much from day to day. When you work from home you can lose a routine very easily and become, for lack of a better term, extremely lazy. It’s very easy to just get up 5 minutes before work and then just do everything in between phone meetings which in turn leads to a severe loss in productivity and lack of motivation. If you’re trying to work from home with the intention of doing the aforementioned “waking up 5 minutes before work” I suggest you don’t even consider it or you’ll find yourself looking for a new job in no time (which we’ll discuss why below on number 4).
  2. Your social skills/life go down to about 0.017%: It’s a glorious Monday morning and the clock just hit 8:30am as you’re walking into your cube; as soon as your workstation comes up and you check your email you’re off to the break room to grab a fresh cup of coffee and shoot the shit with whoever is there about how the weekend went and how you’re all excited about this years Christmas bonus and what you’re going to do with it. This may sound extremely dumb but as soon as you start working from home these tiny interactions that help keep you sane throughout the day no longer exist. Your cube becomes a home office (which is really just a fancy way of saying “some empty room in your house that served no purpose until now”), the break room is now your kitchen, and the only ones who care about your weekend are the Lego’s you’ve placed on your desk to help simulate some form of humanity. Everyone, no matter how anti-social you may think you are, needs human interaction and this is something you will loose almost in its entirety once you begin to work from home full-time.
  3. Nobody understands that you are ACTUALLY working: This has got to be BY FAR the most annoying part of working from home. Everyone including brothers, sisters, girlfriends, boyfriends, husbands, wives, friends, your dog, that dude you met one time at the taco stand, literally EVERYONE will all of the sudden count on you to help them out with shit because according to them “no one actually works from home they just collect paychecks for sitting around playing Xbox all day”. Your “honey-do” list will go from 3-4 items to about 1,345,897 since you now have all of this “free time”; everyone suddenly has 1,500 errands they haven’t been able to take care of because they don’t have the time but hey, you “work” from home right? You’ve got all the time in the Universe and then some! Flash? Fuck Flash! Who needs to be the fastest man in the world when you have time on your side and according to everyone, way too much of it! I know this may be hard for a lot of you who work in an actual building or establishment to understand but YES we do actually have to work to get paid just like hmmm…. you! Working from home just eliminates the need to have to dress up in the mornings but other than that we do still have to attend phone meetings, finish projects, and pretty much all the shit you have to do at your cubicle except at twice the speed because…
  4. You have to work twice as hard to justify your job: Although this is something that with time and proven work ethics begins to go down a bit it is still a notable nuisance especially for the first year or so of your “at home” job. At most jobs, letting you work from home or offering you a position which allows you to tele-work requires building some trust and establishing yourself as a tried and true reliable and knowledgable asset to the institution or company you work for. It is EXTREMELY rare to just land a job that lets you work remotely from day one. With that being said, once you are granted the “privilege” of working from home you will be expected to have the ability to take on twice as many projects and be able to complete them in half the time because hey, you work from home so you got nothing but free time anyways right? Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if working from home eventually turns you into a TARDIS wielding TimeLord that can bend time to his/her will! Remember that meeting you normally skip because you’re slammed with work and your attending that meeting is really just pointless? Yea, expect to never be able to skip those ever again no matter how swamped you are. Got a project due tomorrow but woke up feeling like shit and need to take the day to go to the doctor? Yea, how about you take your laptop with you to the hospital because hey, you work remotely anyways right? Things like being over worked, sick, victim of an earthquake, etc. all become things of the past and excuses to everyone around you. You are now expected to perform no matter the circumstances because you have all your work with you which also leads me to my next point which is…
  5. You no longer have regular office hours: At a “normal” job you’d have pretty standard hours such as 8:30am-5:00pm; they’ll occasionally vary due to work requirements and such but for the most part they’re non-variable. Not anymore! So your boss needs someone to overlook an overnight data migration? Have no fear, “work-from-home-dude” can take care of it! I’m sure that since he works from home he has nothing better to do anyways! Someone is falling behind on their projects and they need someone to wrap it up because it’s due tomorrow? No problem, just shoot it over to “work-from-home-dude” and go home knowing that someone else will do your shit for you, besides I’m sure he has nothing better to do because he works from home anyways, the way I see it we just did him a favor by giving him something to do! All jokes aside now, say goodbye to having a regular schedule. Anytime a project needs some extra or irregular hours to complete you will be the first choice; you’ll quickly find yourself working 50+ hour weeks with sometimes weekend work tucked in between! Oh, and by the way, most (not all) “work from home” jobs are fixed salaried so guess what? You cap at getting paid for up to 40 hours a week, anything more and you’re working for free. But hey, you work from home so that shouldn’t be an issue right?
  6. You have no Sanctuary to retreat to: It’s finally 4:55pm and you start sending out the last bit of emails and reports before heading out for the day. You start getting your things together slowly to kill the last 5 minutes at work and before you know it’s 5:00pm and you’re home free! You rush to your car before anyone stops you to ask for a favor and get home by 5:30pm. Finally, time to kick up your feet and grab a nice glass of scotch while sitting in your living room couch listening to some Chris Botti and relax after a long day at the office. Doesn’t that just sound amazing? Oh wait, you work from home so that sacred sanctuary of Zen and relaxation is now also your fucking office so guess what? You never get to leave work! As stupid as this may sound, it is very difficult to separate your work from your personal life when they are two and the same. When you work in an office or any establishment you look forward to that time when you can finally leave and retreat to your home BUT when you work from home you’re stuck at the same exact place where you worked and it becomes very hard to differentiate the two. Your home will no longer be where you can retreat to relax because it looks exactly like where you work at! Hmmm, how can we get around this? Oh, I got an idea, let’s leave the house! Let’s call your buddy Erick up, I’m sure he would love to go out and grab a beer with you since I’m sure he’s had a long day at work too! Oh wait, Erick is tired and tells you that he just wants to go home. The very place you are trying to leave because you’ve been cooped up all week is where he wants to go! And here is the grim reality of it all, EVERYONE IS ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE FENCE THAN YOU ARE!!! What does that mean? That you are the only person you know that wants to get out of the house to relax whereas everyone else wants to get home TO relax! So now after a long week of being at work, guess what? You now get to keep staring at the same fucking walls you’ve been staring at all week! Doesn’t that just sound amazingly relaxing?!

Written by: Del Rivers

Be Grateful For Every Breath You Take: A Story About ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis)

On By trustmeimnotadrIn Food for Thought, humor, life, Random ThoughtsLeave a comment

As some of you may already know, just a few weeks ago  (August 29th, 2015) marked the 10 year anniversary of the disastrous Hurricane Katrina that caused massive damage to the coastal city of New Orleans, Louisiana here in the United States. Hundreds of people, including celebrities, came together to share stories and anecdotes of their life experiences both before and after the powerful storm transformed the city forever. One of the stories that really drew my attention was that of ex pro-football player Michael “Steve” Gleason.

Gleason was a professional football player for the New Orleans Saints who at the age of 34 was diagnosed with a super rare disease referred to as ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. In a nutshell ALS is a degenerative illness which slowly causes you to lose voluntary movement. From the ability to walk and talk and speak all the way thru to your ability to eat and breathe. He came to the peak of his career n 2006, just a bit over a year after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, and gave the devastated and demoralized city hope by blocking a punt from the opposing team. This in turn lead to the first score in the Saints first game in New Orleans in nearly 21 months due to hurricane Katrina having devastated both the city and the morale of the team. Unfortunately his heightened career ended when he was diagnosed with ALS in 2011; right around the same time him and his wife were trying have a child. Despite his everyday battle with ALS and being confined to a wheelchair, Gleason’s spirits are high and his optimism and passion for life have all but been lost in the midst of his struggle with a widely misunderstood disease.

Imagine wrapping your arms around your significant other and feeling the warmth of there skin tightly pressed against yours, imagine walking down the beach and feeling the cool wet sand beneath your feet, imagine driving down the highway with the windows down and the warm summer wind caressing your face, imagine eating your favorite slice of chocolate cake and savoring it within every corner of your mouth. Now imagine what it would be like if no matter how hard you tried you couldn’t wrap your arms around the one you love, imagine not being able to walk down the beach because your legs won’t move, imagine not being able to place your hands on a steering wheel because your arms refuse to respond, imagine not being able to enjoy your favorite chocolate cake because you cannot chew. Imagine that one day, everything you normally do, everything you take for granted, all become things that you will never be able to do again.

If you haven’t been grateful for anything in a long time I implore you to walk outside and while you take a breath of air and feel the warmth of the early morning sun on your face you can at least be grateful for the fact that you were able to step out that door on your own two legs and live to see another day. As Carlos Mencia once said, “What makes life beautiful is the essence of the fact that it can go away”.

Written by: Del Rivers

Forgotten Song of the Day: Elton John- Rocket Man (’03 Remix as featured on Californication)

On By trustmeimnotadrIn humor, life, music, peaceLeave a comment

Wow, it feels like forever since I sat down to write anything (I’ve got over a dozen drafts on here but haven’t sat down to finish any of them, shame on me!). I’ve been going over my favorite shows since I’ve missed a few episodes here and there and one in specific popped out at me, Californication. If you haven’t seen it then you are missing out on a truly unique experience.

The show is about a man named Hank Moody, played by David Duchovny, a quasi-successful writer with a bad case of writers block who looses himself in the world of fame, sex-addiction, alcohol, and the occasional drug abuse. Basically it’s David Duchovny playing…… David Duchovny! What makes the show very appealing is how the super charming protagonist (Hank) truly has good intentions at heart but always finds a way to mess everything up. One of the most memorable moments in the show is at the end of Season 3 when something (no spoilers!) huge happens and there’s nothing but “Elton Johns Rocket Man” playing with barely any dialogue; just a beautiful yet tragic season finale (you can check out the song Here! ) If you’re looking for a show on Netflix, I encourage you to pick this one up, you will not be disappointed.

Written by: Del Rivers

Forgotten Song of the Day: Debussy- Clair de Lune

On By trustmeimnotadrIn humor, life, music, peaceLeave a comment

After a long week at work and my brain having to soak in about 25678799898 TB of information I needed a moment to recollect my thoughts. So what did I do? I pulled out my trusty rusty Ipad 2 (yes I’m a heathen,  that’s right, I still own an Ipad 2) and instead of doing what I normally do, which is put on Pandora, I started browsing around to see what I already had (which had been on it for years untouched) and found a playlist I created during college named “relax”. A playlist full of orchestra, piano, and jazz trumpet music to help unwind after a long day. I’m  glad to have discovered it once again after about 6 years of it just sitting there because it was exactly what I needed!

If you haven’t heard “Clair de Lune” by Debussy you truly are missing out on one of the best songs of all time. The French really have a way of pouring their soul out onto every form of art they touch and every page they write. From composers such as Debussy all the way through to  the literary works of Alexandre Dumas, every single word or note written is more beautiful then the last. If you haven’t heard this song go ahead and pour yourself a glass of wine and click Here .

Written by: Del Rivers