Random Note

Tony G is doing this thing on his site that asked to " post titles of films they have seen that they think are wonderful, that they would watch over and over, but which are obscure enough that the average person probably would not know them by name." Well I thought a lot about it, and could seeing as how I rarely watch movies that are too far outside of the norm, I don't have a lot that I can mention. However, I was able to think of two. Both are foreign, but thanks to the wonders of subtitles, I understood them. They are...

City of God (Cidade de Dues) from Brazil

and

Nueve Reinas from Argentina

In that order, check 'em out if you get the chance..

FAT BOY

The November and December holidays have always been my favorites for several reasons. The main reason though is the feasts that are devoured on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day. I remember in years past eating plate after plate of all the things associated with these big meals. Things like turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, cornbread dressing, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, and pecan pie. MMM, what a wonderful time of year.

I could type about food all day, and my propensity to gorge myself with all the tasty morsels of the seasons, but this post is about the change my body has gone through in the last couple of months. I can't pin point an exact date, but I can pin point the meal. It was about a month ago, at this all you can eat pizza buffet. One of my all time favorites, an eat 'till you can't breathe establishment. Well I was doing my usual, eating piece after piece of pizza, a little spaghetti here and there, and wash it all down with a big glass of tea. Well I did the eat 'till you can't breathe deal, and left happy and completely satiated. I went home and started doing something, more than likely watch television or read, or something fun like that. Well about 2 hours after I ate, I felt miserable. Just a total blah feeling. I didn't feel like moving, I didn't feel like doing anything. I was completely and utterly ill. I didn't link my feeling to the amount of food I ate, I was thinking that it was just my allergies (which had been bothering me for a while).

I eventually fell asleep and got my 8 hours or so. When I woke up in the morning, I felt about the same. Still blah. I got up and went to class. After walking to and from, I felt a little better. Not hungry at all though. That's when I started thinking maybe it was the gluttony that went on the night before that caused my pain.

Two or three days later, I did it again. Not all you can eat buffet, but some big meal I had. I believe it was a steak or something I cooked. Once again, miserable because I ate too much...

Before I talk too much here, let me describe myself a bit. I live to eat. I'm not saying I'm a complete slob and always have one hand in a bag of doritos and the other wrapped around a big mac. It's just something that I've always enjoyed doing. I like trying different restaurants, different types of foods. I think that a meal is a wonderful place to bond with friends, a great place for a date, and a wonderful occasion for a family to get together. Without wanting to sound too much like a chub, a lot of my days are based around meals. I don't really eat breakfast, but lunch is pretty much planned out around the same time everyday, as well as dinner. All the other stuff that happens in a day is a filler. Simply put, I truly enjoy eating.

In the last couple of weeks though, I've gone from always looking forward to eating, to being a little careful with how much I eat. It's probably something that I should have done years ago, but I've never been affected like this before. Today for example, Thanksgiving, my all time favorite holiday, I had one plate, that's it. It was a full plate, but nothing compared to my usual amounts of food. After I finished it, I quit, I wasn't miserable yet, but well on my way to it. In the past I would have continued eating, and never felt miserable.

So here's my question. Is this something that happens once you get to a certain age? It was like hitting a brick wall for me. I was going 100 miles per hour, eating all I could, then BAM, I have to stop (or be completely miserable).

I could be the optimist in this situation, me not stuffing myself, might mean a little weight loss. I'm not saying I'm huge fat, but it wouldn't hurt my to lose a pound or 50. I'm just wondering if this is a full time change, or something that's going to pass in another month or so.

Life presents so many challenges to us. It's funny that this is the one that is the most puzzling to me right now!

Happy Thanksgiving

Quarters

In about 30 minutes, I'll be 25. Wow! What else can I say. There aren't really any other words to describe the big 25. From 22-24, birthdays came and went, no real wonderful feelings, but no bad feelings either. 25 though, it's kind of a flood of emotions. Not the "I wanna' cry emotion", but more like 25, I can't consider myself a kid anymore. Also at the same time, 25, what the heck have I accomplished at this point in my life.

I guess it's a bit of a give and take struggle there. Every kid always wants to grow older fast, be more respected, or plain enough, just grow up. Now that I'm at this spot though, I'm pretty sure I don't want to be old. I'm ready for it and all, but I'm to the point where my mistakes can't be pushed off as immaturity. That's a scary concept. The descriptions will no longer be, "crazy kid", they'll be what the "HELL are you thinking?". I guess I could cast all the societal expectations aside and remain the kid I am at heart, but then again, who really does that?

Then the other part, what have I accomplished at this point in my life? I can look back at the last 25 years, or the bits and pieces I remember, and come up with 3 or 4 things that I feel are great accomplishments. Does that mean that the next few years will be a plethora of amazing feats completed by me? No, probably not, but let's hope that I am able to get thing done.

The things I feel I have accomplished at this point are the same that most others have. I feel that most importantly, I've been a great son. Some may look at this as a "well duh" kind of statement, but look out there at all the people in the world who've messed their lives completely up by the time they are 25. Look at the ones who've been caught up in so many bad things that they've been completely disowned by their kin. I would have to say that to my Dad, the most disappointing thing I've ever done is getting caught up in a stupid prank war at an out of town basketball game. It's not like I've ever been convicted of a felony, or for that even a misdemeanors. I could go on for hours here, about how great I am, but I'm tired, so I'll leave this one here.

Another accomplishment that I have at this point in my life is that I'm a good friend. There are a lot of people that I've lost touch with over the years, but I think things work that way for everyone. There are a few friends that I have that I've been friends with forever, and there are those friends I haven't known as long. To this crew of friends that I consider my own, I think I've been a good friend to them, and they to me. It's inevitable that friends get on each other's nerves at times, so even though this can happen, we're still all good friends. To have the friends I do, I feel is a great accomplishment, and behind being a good son, it's the most important thing I've done at this point in my life.

I don't know if anyone noticed or not, but neither one of those accomplishments sounded anything like, well I made my first million, or I have this wonderful job, or this wonderful wife, or 2.5 kids and a white picket fence. I hope that those are things are around the corner and over the hill. I've got some friends that can say those things, I am behind the times I guess. It doesn't bother me all that much though. I can sit and dwell on those things, I can be sad, feel sorry for myself, but I won't. The reason I can't say those things can be attributed to one person, Me. Sure most of my friends graduated college and are on their way to great things, and I'm 20 minutes away from 25, and am finishing up my 15th year of college. Everyone is different though. I still don't know what I want to do with my life, and in 2 weeks I'll be to the point where it's put up or shut up.

Instead of living life in the planned out, this is what is expected of you, cookie cutter style, I'm going to have to actually put myself out there a bit away from the norm. If I want the next 25 (hopefully 2 or 3 though) years to be more productive than the last 25, I'll have to tear myself away from this comfort zone that's known as my life, and actually do something. Anyone ever heard the term "nut up or shut up"? It's like the other one I said earlier, but geared towards the XY population. Well that's what I see on the horizon. It scares the crap out of me, but it's part of the progression we know as life.

So while to this point maybe I'm not as far along as I should be, I can say that I'm happy with myself in these past 25 years. I've got unbelievable friends and family, and a passion to live life to the fullest, what can go wrong when those things are going my way. I'll have to prepare myself not to feel hurt if rejected, but that's part of life, you gotta' go with the flow. Let's hope the flow comes my way. (Cash flow my way would be great).

So now it's 12:00, I'm 25. Welcome to the rest of your life Sancho....

Little Test

Two posts in one night, crazy 'eh? Well I found this while I was looking at other people's blogs. I thought it was interesting.

http://www.okcupid.com/politics

My Results:
You are a
Social Conservative (36% permissive)
and an...
Economic Conservative (65% permissive)
You are best described as a:
Republican You exhibit a very well-developed sense of Right and Wrong and believe in economic fairness.

After it give you your scores there is a tag with famous people on it...I'm right between George W, and Ronald Reagan.

Enjoy it...if anyone does read this thing, and does the test, let me know the results...if that's cool with you...Adios again

Hill Country Here I Come

Wednesday night, another pretty unproductive day here in the LBK. I did laundry, I studied a bit, and got my stuff together for the trip back to the Hill Country for Thanksgiving. Compared to the usual Wednesday, I guess you can say I was super productive.

I'm so ready to get the hell out of here. Not just for the weekend, but for the long haul. I'm not necessarily having a bad time, I'm just getting to the point where I'm bored with myself. This is all territory that I've covered time and time again. I'm sure I'll miss a lot of things like the friends, the fun times, and so much more. Sheesh though I need to get out of my comfort zone.

That's one of my biggest problems, I'm so content with things that are normal to me that I rarely step outside of my comfort zone and try new things. I don't really have a good answer for why either. I wouldn't say I'm scared to try new things, it's more like I don't have any motivation to do so. I've tried to change that so many times, but I always resort back to the way I was before.

I'm not really putting myself down here, it's just the realization that I've had a million times, written down, right in front of me. I'm happy with myself, and have no doubt that when I do step out of the comfort level that is my life that I'll be successful.

Anyway, enough of that. Tomorrow is a big test for me. I'm doing okay in my eco class, but a good grade on this test would put a lot less stress on me for the last few weeks of school. Then it's back into the great wide open, for the second time, this time for real though. I'm ready for it, I need it. I can't wait for it....Adios

Another Sleepless Night

It's really not that late, but with the bits and pieces of sleep I've been able to hold on to for the last week, I'd figure I'd be gone as soon as my head hit the pillow tonight. Guess not though. This weekend was a fun one. Nothing super exciting, but I can't exactly say it was boring either. Last night, everyone was bummed about the game, so we decided just to have some people over. Well that turned into a crazy game of beer pong, yeah, I'm good at it. We also threw washers for hours on end. I'm on a bit of a losing streak, I've lost like 3 games in a row. I'm not sure if that's happened since I started playing. We stayed up until about 2 in the morning, and then all crashed. I decided I'd be a nice guy and go with one of the roomies to drop a friend off at the airport this morning, at 6:15. I don't know what I was thinking, that's way too early. After that we came back home and I couldn't sleep. So I cleaned up from the night before.

I feel like I'm always cleaning, but I've got a good thing going, so I can't complain. In all my years of college, and paying rent and all that fun stuff, I don't have to pay any rent here, and it's the biggest bedroom I've had. After cleaning I crashed for a few hours, and then woke up to watch Cullen and the Vikings. Last year they had the Vikings on TV just about every week. I guess having a horrible season, like they are this year, will keep you off of national television. Anyway, they were playing the Giants, and everyone's fascination with Eli Manning gets the Vikings on my Texas TV.

Since the Oilers left Houston, I haven't been much of an NFL fan. I think college ball is much more interesting and exciting. The crap that T.O. is pulling right now only makes me feel stronger about that. I call myself a Vikings fan though, just through association with Cullen. He had a good game today. Good snaps, no, Great snaps. He got lit up on a punt return though. They showed it several times. He got blind sided and knocked on the ground. He bounced up quick though. I don't think it hurt him, because he was there to snap the winning field goal. Everyone talks about the nerves of a kicker before a long field goal, or a game winning field goal. The snappers are taken for granted. It's a no news is good news kind of deal. More often than not, it's no news with Cullen (which like I said is a great thing). He got a special teams tackle today too. Somehow the Vikings who started out horribly have won 3 of their last 4 games and are in second place in a horrible division. They're two games behind Chicago, and if they keep playing defense like the have been, they'll pass them up before the end of the season. Earlier in the season, it didn't even seem like there was an outside shot they'd be able to do that.

Wes Welker is playing well for the Dolphins. He and Zach Thomas are more than likely the 2 most popular players ever to be here at Tech, so I'm glad to see him doing so well. I had him in a class several years ago, he always seemed to be a modest guy. I remember the teacher calling him out in the huge lecture hall one week after he had a big game, and he just sat there. I guess he didn't really want to be recognized in front of everyone. Welker had 186 all purpose yards today, not too bad for a guy who was too small to play in the NFL.

The bombings in Jordan have really frustrated me. Actually everything going on in the Middle East has been frustrating me. I'll be the first one to tell you that I'm a Republican and a very strong Bush supporter. I wouldn't necessarily call myself a super conservative person, but when straddling the fence, I tend to fall in that direction. I feel that in the long run, some good will come out of this war. It just doesn't seem like that's going to be any time soon. It's actually almost to the point where I wonder if we should just get out now, and leave things how they are. If the people of Iraq want to keep moving in the direction that we've moved that country, then they will. If not, we shouldn't try to force something that won't stick. I won't get into too much politically here, it's like me going out in the middle of a blizzard with my bathing suit on. I'm not adequately equipped to survive. The last thing I'll say is that I don't know what to think about the main cause of the war, is it Good vs. Bad? America vs. Terrorism? Democracy vs. Dictatorship? The United States and it's allies vs. Saddam's old regime? Or is it Christianity vs. Islam? I hope it's not the last one because nothing good can come from that.

So like the title says, I can't sleep. I'm in an awkward state because it's cold outside, and semi-cold in the house. Yet from my neck to my ankles I'm burning up. My head and face (thanks to the awesome mountain man beard I'm growing) are perfect, but my feet are like two 10 pound blocks of ice. One thing I've noticed in the last couple of years, is that I can't stand being cold like I used to. I used to have to have a fan blowing on me when I sleep, but now if I did that, I'd wake up freezing. I rarely use the air conditioner in my truck because I get too cold. Am I getting old? More that likely. I'll be 25 in 7 days. Mother truckin' O-L-D man. My Dad pointed out that I'll be a quarter of a century. Thanks a lot. I think I'll start doing what he did when he was 19, don't celebrate any more birthdays and stay young the rest of my life. If you ask him, he's still 19.

Well I guess I'll give it another try. If I could move my TV out of my room, I'd probably get a lot more sleep, but I have to know what's going on in the world. Until later...

Reality Check

Sometimes dreams are shattered in a matter of seconds. That was the case today. Tech was looking good, well on their way to a 10-1 season, and a spot in the Cotton Bowl. Even maybe an outside shot at the Fiesta Bowl. I'm not usually the one who gets too far ahead of myself, I was guilty of it this time though. I wasn't looking ahead to the great bowl game, but the game next week against Oklahoma. A battle for the 2nd spot in the Big XII south.

No one told me about Oklahoma State though. We didn't deserve to win, we played horrible. I bet the alcohol sales at the strip have increased 10 fold since the end of the game!

Who would have thought that the team without a Big XII win would be the one to ruin it for us? Not me. Oh well, what can you do???

I really like OSU though. When we were doing our camp recruiting in Oklahoma, I was really impressed with both OU and Okie light. They have awesome campuses, and seem to be great college towns. That whole trip made me wish I'd looked around a lot more when I was deciding on which college would be lucky enough to get me. OSU had the nicest students, a great place...

I just wish my memories of them were for the nice visit I had there, and not the shattered dreams that they will now be associated with...

Lottery Time

Well once again, no one won the dang lottery last night. Any time it gets over 130 million or so, a couple of friends and I play 10 dollars worth. I've gone into all of that before I believe though. I'm one of these people who sits and wonders what the hell I'd do with that much money in the bank.

I think of cars, and houses, and trips that would be in the works, but most of all, I figure I'd probably be dead after a few years. I would more than likely do all kinds of stupid stuff, and with each new adventure, more and more danger would be involved, and before you know it, kaput.

I'm not necessarily saying that I'm a danger freak, but I would always want to top the last thing I did though. There's some figure that I've been told before that says a majority of lottery winners actually file for bankruptcy not too long after winning the lottery. I would hope that I could put enough of it in different places so that I wouldn't have to worry about going bankrupt. At the same time though, there sure are a butt load of things I'd like to buy. I'd probably first put a Taco Casa in my house. That would be tight.

So I really have a problem with the whole lottery thing. I always have. I guess being from a town on the bottom end of the economic table, I've seen the lottery take away a lot of money that could have been used elsewhere. When you see a person spend the majority of their last paycheck on tickets, hoping that their luck will turn around, well it makes you think if there was no lottery, that the money spent could have actually helped them.

I guess I'm not so against it that I won't play though. Heck no, not when I can throw in a dollar and come back and win 262 million! That's the problem. Low risk, high reward. I actually am hoping that someone wins it this next week so I don't have to play anymore. If not, I guess I can throw another 10 bucks in, for the chance at nearly 300 million dollars...

This is kind of a random post 'eh? Well I just saw some old man buying 30 dollars of scratch off lottery tickets. Then after leaving the store, I saw him walking home. Maybe one of those tickets will buy him a car...

Messy House = Great Friends

There is an old saying that goes something like, "I'm glad to clean up the mess after a party, because it means that I was having a good time with my friends." Well, that seems to be a true statement, but I don't think whoever said that had as messy of friends as I've got. I'm not sure I've ever done more dishes than I did this afternoon, and in what can best be described as a group effort, the house is just about as clean as it was Wednesday before people started showing up.

What a weekend though. It kind of made me forget about being the "old man" up here. A few older friends came into town, and we had a blast. We went out Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Friday we had a little shindig here at the house. Thursday night was probably the most fun night that I've had since I've been back up here. There wasn't really just one thing made it fun, it was more like everything. There were 9 of us when we started out at Rocky LaRues, and more and more friends came later. By the end of the night, we owned the dance floor, and the better part of the front half of the bar. I won't go into the all of the debauchery that went on, but it sure did remind me of Crider's back in the day. When the group of us that hung out in high school would come back from college for the summer. We'd start out at Cullen's house, go to Crider's, then go back to Cullen's house. Crazy fun nights....

Speaking of those High School friends, I ran into one on Thursday night. She goes to Law School up here. We were really good friends our Senior year of High School, and kept in pretty close contact during our freshman year of college. Since then though, we haven't really kept up, or spent a lot of time together. I feel bad because she goes to school up here, and we were so close, but we don't ever communicate with each other. Well we talked about this for a while the other night, and she was telling me how she can't figure out how our group of friends in high school could have been so close at that point, but now, hardly ever talk. She also said that she doesn't understand why some of us are such good friends with people from Kerrville, or those from Ingram who graduated after we did. Reading that, it probably sounds much worse than it actually was. She wasn't mad or anything, she was just making the point that several of us keep in better contact with the younger folks than we do with each other.

The best answer that I could give to her is that she and I (and our group of friends in H.S.) grew up together. The group of friends that we have now, we also grew up together, but with these newer friends, we gained our independence and the identities that we now carry. I'm not trying to get all deep here, but I think it's a legit claim. I mean, in High School, we stuck with a lot of the people who were like us. People who played the same sports, or had the same classes or interests that we had. From a small High School, to a huge college, there are tons more people out there to meet. You don't ever really forget about your past friends, but you meet so many more people that those High School friends that you had then, become one of the many friends you have now. I also told her a lot of it has to do with who you are close to. After leaving H.S. we all dispersed to different places around the state. So naturally, we become friends with those that are there with us. I guess she understood that point, but it looked like she was about to shed a tear, so the best answer I could give her at the time was, I really don't know. That, followed by a quick, I gotta go to the bathroom.

Way to go Sancho, get yourself out of that uncomfortable situation! I think the subject merits a lot of thought though...

I think another thing that bothers her is that several of us from that High School class have remained really close. We don't talk all the time, but enough to always know what's going on in each others lives. I don't think she has that with anyone from the past. I think I may have made her feel a little better when I told her that we don't always have to talk, but we both know that if either one of us needed something, we wouldn't hesitate to ask the other. Its hard to explain all of these friendship conundrums. I don't imagine anyone knows all the answers.


On a completely unrelated note, let me say something about the ninjas. Yes, I know I'm about to turn 25, and most 25 year olds aren't ninjas, but it's gags like that that keep the mind and soul young. So there may be more sweet ninja rolls (or roles) on the way....