Momentum

Out of all the experiences I’ve had in my life, all the moments I’ve shared with those close to me, and everything I’ve achieved… Nothing, and I mean… nothing, has compared to what it feels like to be surround by positive, successful, purpose-driven leaders. To be surrounded by such a powerful support structure of people, to talk about our futures and set huge goals, and just hearing success stories and watching people achieve their goals… I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend a weekend.
To top it off-  it’s incredible to have close friends right there with me, Whitney especially because she’s been such a close friend for so long. Having her there with me, being able to bounce ideas, share stories, and just share the experience… makes it that much better. I would still enjoy myself and I’d still gain a lot out of it but to know that I have someone who is on the same level as me, excited about the business and excited to change her life just as I’m excited to change mine. She’s a blessing.

It’s so awesome to go to these events and meet new people who are so enthusiastic and supportive. I honestly don’t understand why someone wouldn’t want to be in a similar position. Why would they not want to experience this, why not LTD?

I don’t know, I honestly can’t put the entire weekend into words because it just leaves me floating on cloud 9 – thinking about what’s to come for the next couple months… I can’t wait for Dream Big because I will be a new 1,000.

Quickie. Ha – Never.

Okay, so I have to leave for work in 6 minutes – so that’s all the time I have to type up a blog about? What? I have no idea.

I’m basically going to wing it with whatever comes off the top of my head – so essentially I’m having a conversation with the blog. I’ve been following The Walking Dead, specifically because it’s only one once a week – more then that and I don’t think I’d enjoy it because I’m really not that into watching tv… but it’s about zombies so I’m like hell ya! It’s been a pretty good show so far though I really thought the asian kid was going to die, they always seem to – they switched it up on me, I can appreciate that.

Last night I think I finally started to fall into my groove on Black ops though I still had some rough games. There are a few fundamentals that I just don’t understand about that game, such as the flow of most maps or how spawning really works. Besides that, they’ve butchered nearly any possibility of having any of the maps be suitable for the snipers out there. Snipers don’t like CQC, they don’t want to be in the middle of the action – that’s why we sit half a mile away and shoot you in the face from there.

I slept really well last night and had some bizarre dreams, but I forgot them – I didn’t write them down when I woke up, like I should have… Tomorrow I leave for TN! It’s about damn time, I have a lot to get done tonight so that when I get back on Sunday I’m not flooded with stupid school work. It’s going to be a good trip and maybe we should leave later in the afternoon so I can spend all night playing black ops… after the school work of course. haha.

Things are changing at a rapid pace. Relationships, friendships, all types of different dynamics are being introduced and altered – I don’t really know where I stand in some areas, while in others I’ve made my position perfectly clear. I wish more people could be more straight forward and stop beating around the bush all the time, waste of time.

Fall Leadership!!!

I CAN’T WAIT. Omg yes.

I can’t wait for this trip this weekend because I know it’s going to be the best thing to happen this entire month. I’m pumped because I have a 4hr drive down with one of my best friends and I know that drive is going to yield some great conversations – especially the return trip. I look forward to the positive atmosphere, successful attitudes, and support from everyone. I don’t know what to expect since I’ve never heard Terry Taylor speak but after listening to Dirk talk with such passion, I know it’s going to be an amazing talk.

I’ve let myself down last month by not really putting in the effort as I should have – I know that and I know there is no one else to blame but myself, it’s my own fault for not making the effort but hearing Whitney do so well made me realize that I can pick it back up and make this month end strong even if it didn’t begin that way.

I’m looking forward to being in Kingsport, TN with my team and good friends – I can’t wait to meet new people, hear no experiences, and come home inspired and ready to bust my ass to get this thing to the next level.
OTOV – One Team. One Vision.

Ninja Ninja

What a sick weekend… besides the fact that I got absolutely no homework done since I was so seriously side-tracked with my other tasks at hand – go figure.

Thursday, I went to firetop with Whitney and met up with some old friends from High school – before I knew it I was drunk and at iHop… then I drove one of my buddies home and came home myself – fun stuff.

Friday, I woke up super early and went to see the dr – then drove out to Richmond to meet with some friends for a photo-shoot. I shot around 300 engagement photos for them at multiple locations – the weather was decent, though a little chilly… so that’s a plus. I stayed with them that night and prepped for the next morning!

Saturday, I went to the Barnes Foundation in PA – wow. I don’t know anything about art but the place had this really awesome vibe and it was great to see all the artwork though the more expensive/rare pieces I didn’t really understand lol. I must say, it’s a whole new field to me but rather exciting – I think I’ll study more about it. Anyhow – I spent the rest of the day in downtown philly, just enjoying the sites w/ a friend – then crashed at a hotel for a few hours – got up earlllllyyyyyyy to drive back to Hburg so that I could be at work at 7am. I’m tired as hell but it was so worth it.

Now I’m simply prepping for the release of COD: Black Ops… who’s ready to get raped online? Anyone? Feel free to add my gamertag online if you think you can handle my thunder. gt: xGlasgowSmile

Just know, I don’t play nicely – I’m in it to win it.

I think at the end of this month, possibly the beginning of December – I’ll be in Longwood! I’ve never actually been there but there are a few faces I’d like to see, so I should totally take the time to go.

Also. The gamestop here is having gift card give aways – I think it’s like 20 cards… I entered about 12 of my friends in it without their permission… but no worries friends, I only used your name. I left the phone number blank and used one of my many many many email addresses – hahhaa, so I’ll win – not you. :D

They notice…

I throw my cash in the air, acting like money ain’t a thing! Anyhow. I’m officially back on Lineage 2 and damn does it feel good! I can’t believe all the awesome friends I left behind when I quit – such a douche move on my part. Oh well, it’s all said and done, I’m back to the grind and making the most of it.

This week has been fucking awesome – like no joke, fucking awesome. I mean, I getting stuff done – I’m back on Lineage – I’ve been receiving these badass emails that completely make my day and I’m just in the best mood all around… and now I’m spending part of the weekend in Richmond and the rest in Philly! Hell yea!!!

I’m pumped, I seriously don’t know what could make this week better – actually, I do… but there is no way in hell I’m going to be able to get something from China right now. hahah.

Rockin. Not to mention when it comes to flourishing/magic blah blah blah – it’s been a great week for that too! I’ve been super productive, creating new material, and so many of my closest friends are so supportive and giving their feedback on what I’m doing – you guys rock. <3

TONIGHT! OMFG YES! TONIGHT WILL BE AWESOME. Mostly because I haven’t done hookah in way too long, secondly because I just love hip hop/alcohol together. Apart from that, I get to see Whitney! Woooooooot – it’s always great to see my awesome business partner. :D

Gamers Unite

With the Schwarzenegger v. EMA case underway, gamers unite to stand up for their right to purchase violent video games and this case is heading in the exact direction I imagined it would. The supreme court is bringing up the points I hope would be made, points such as “What’s next after banning violent video games – movies, drinking, smoking?” and they acknowledge that the right to purchase violent video games is protected under the freedom of speech. As I figured, California is going to have a tough time trying to get his law passed because thankfully this type of case has been thrown out many times in the past and the supreme court knows that.

California is arguing that violent video games target minors yet I strongly disagree with that statement, simply because… of the rating system already in place. The rating system dictates what age group is appropriate for that game as well as what age group is really be targeted for the product. You don’t target certain consumers and then restrict them from buying the product do you? Of course not – Mature rated games are targeted for people 17+ because they’re legally able to purchase that game. Anyone under that legal age can only get the game if they have it purchased for them by someone who is over the age of 17+ and in my opinion – it then becomes that ‘adults’ responsibility as they purchased the game for them.

They claim there are studies that suggest violence in video games damage children yet there are plenty of psychologist and other studies that suggest the contrary. Lets say violence does damage children… we should then ban movies, tv shows, games, books, as well as some daily interactions that we could encounter. How’s that sound?

Honestly, I think the liability lies on the parent for most of this issue – if the parent decides to purchase M rated games for their 10-year-old child then that parent should take full responsibility for it as it was their decision. A parent should be able to recognize whether or not their child is capable of handling those types of video games – they need to be educated on what they’re purchasing. Stop being irresponsible parents…

There are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands… of people who have been playing violent video games since they were young. I know I started playing DOOM when I was around age 6 – in fact, my dad use to sit right next to me and watch me play it and we’d switch off each level. Then we moved to games like Clive Barker’s Undying… and the list only continued from there. My dad often times bought me violent video games that were rated M and he did it because he knew I could handle it – he knew what he was buying because he was a gamer himself. I turned out just fine and today I still play violent video games with my dad, it’s always been a great way for us to bond.

My point here… is that people are at different places, mentally. Yes, there are children that don’t need to be playing violent video games because they’re probably not at a mental stage where they can handle it but there are also adults who shouldn’t be playing them either, for the same reason, but because they’re over the age of 17 they’re legally able to obtain those types of games.

Do these studies on “violent video game effects on children” take into consideration the other violent situations these children may encounter? What if they have abusive parents or abusive family members? What if they live in a bad neighborhood that is often times struck with violence? There are so many different scenarios and situations that I think it’s nearly impossible to state that violent video games can be a sole cause of violence in a child. Are these types of things taken into consideration when doing these studies?

Honestly, I feel that they’d need to do these studies on children that are locked in a bubble and know nothing beyond rainbows and unicorns – if they turn out violent, then we’re all fucked.

Sheep to slaughter

Past couple months now have been crazy for more reasons than I care to discuss and I’ve landed myself in quite a bind over the past couple days but that’s nothing surprising… if it wasn’t this bind it would have been another one in a few weeks, I suppose I like the risks involved.

Anyhow. Over the past couple months I’ve become more aware of my decisions then ever before and it’s starting to point out the things that really frustrate me at the core, about people. One thing that gets me… is “time” – I’ve grown tired of that cop-out. “I simply don’t have time”, unless you are on the go 24hrs of everyday, you’re simply making up an excuse instead of saying what it really is – “I simply don’t feel like it” – that’s what you should be saying. However, I assume most of you say you don’t have the time because you don’t want to hurt someones feelings but honestly, I think the truth will do a lot more for you. It really frustrates me when people don’t have the time for something simple… and by simple, I mean… SIMPLE – like takes 10 seconds of your day to do and would make all the difference type of simple. They give the excuse they don’t have time or they don’t think about it, when in reality I think they just don’t care as much as they should or they are being selfish and don’t realize the importance of it in regards to the other person. It’s a decision at the end of the day, you either do it or you don’t and whether you realize it or not – you still made a decision.

Lets put some thought into decisions for a second… seriously. Lets say that you have something you need to do this evening that is important but instead of getting it done, you watched tv most the night and then played on facebook for a few hours. Then the next morning you’re upset because you didn’t get it done… you’re a dumbass. It was your decision as to whether or not you were going to watch TV and your decision to play on facebook instead of doing what you should have done. I think you had in coming, maybe next time you should take responsibility for your actions as well as your obligations.

TV pisses me off – specifically because people waste so much time in front of one instead of doing other things that could actually improve their life, friendships, or relationships. If you watch TV for background noise while doing other things, then I understand more – because I like background noise as well while I do homework or even while I’m at work. I don’t like the silence, it allows me to be in my head – thinking and that is typically a bad idea. Yet, people who actively sit in front of a tv for hours on end just… watching tv shows… how in the hell does that improve your lifestyle? People bitch and moan about wanting better for themselves and their children – they’ll talk a big game and then at the end of the day, they’re stuck… watching tv on the couch. FFS.

I can’t say I’m completely innocent here, no one is – I personally don’t take all the initiative that I should at times because I’ve got other obligations or other things on my mind. My example of this is the LTD meetings as of lately, I haven’t been to a single one in a few weeks now simply because I’m so bogged down on homework and last week I was at the hospital. I realize that I’m not doing myself a favor when it comes to my business – I know that when it comes to my obligations with school, I made a good decision yet when it comes to my business – I made a bad one. Sadly life and the decisions in it can’t always be as white & black as we’d prefer them to be.

Lately I’ve come to terms with the fact that many of the people I consider friends, are not as genuine as I first thought. It’s an interesting development, people are fake, and many of them seem to have a hidden agenda which ends up with you being taken advantage of – yet another reason why people suck. It’s crazy because some of the most incredible people I have in my life, I’ve met from video games – more specifically, Lineage 2. Honestly, I think that’s the number 1 reason I go back to L2 so many times – I meet great people who are genuine and helpful. It’s great because the moment you meet people in L2 you already have something in common… so it helps you start a foundation for a friendship so quickly. I have friends all over the world that I’d love to visit and even though I’ve never actually met any of them yet, I trust them and I know they’re not serial rapist.

I was told today that if I don’t vote then I should move to Canada, that’s an interesting frame of logic. I do feel that if you don’t vote then you shouldn’t complain… to those that did vote, because they’ll bitch at you. haha. Me not voting is my own decision, yet everyone wants to pitch in as if it were theirs… it’s awesome. I’m sorry to tell you but I’m not political – I don’t care about politics, just like I don’t care about religion… honestly, what I’m going to eat for lunch is of a bigger concern to me. Even though that’s my prerogative people will still try to push their views and logic onto me as if it’s their decision and not mine. It reminds me of all the people who got pissed at me for getting a tattoo – oh, I’m sorry, is it on your body? It isn’t? I thought so. If you want to give me your opinion, that’s fine – I accept opinions and I also accept intellectual conversations, I don’t accept bullshit and pissy attitudes.

Speaking of tattoo’s… I want another one, I just don’t know what and I realized yesterday that it’s been about 1 year since I got my first tattoo! How awesome!

Oh and lastly… I got a fb msg yesterday about someone complaining that I’m vulgar or they don’t like some of the things I say. Thanks for the laugh, seriously. I’ll tell you what I tell everyone – you have 2 options…

1. Hide my post from fb
2. Delete me as a friend

Because I will not change for you or anyone else.

You give me a feeling…

Moment of honesty, someones gotta take the lead tonight – who’s it gonna be? If you’ve got something to say, you should say it right now. You give me a feeling that I’ve never felt before and I deserve it, I know I deserve it. If you ask me, I’m ready. Time is only wasting so why wait for eventually, if we’re going to do something about it – we should do it right now.

Why give up before we try – feel the lows before the highs. I was wondering maybe…Why you treat me like you do? Can it just be me and you… How do you expect to grow, if you don’t let go? I wanna see how serious, serious you are bout us – I’m lovin what we got.

The game needed life, I put my heart in it… I’m tryin to do better then good enough. What am I afraid of?

 

There’s a baby girl… that I know and she’s so fine.  These girls ain’t got nothing on ya…. put that fucking dress on and work it kind vicious like somebody’s taking pictures. You would shut it down, you be the baddest girl around and they notice, they notice. Girl you the greatest and if he say you aint… girl he’s out his mind. What you want? What you need? I can be… your everything. I feel like when she moves, time doesn’t – why do I feel like I found the one?

The way I’m feeling, the things I say, all just happen when you pass my way. Promise I wont waste your time, girl you open up my eyes.

Yawn… another week down

Well, what a week it was. Clearly, the most significant thing to happen this week was the break up with Kelly. It sucks but at the same time, we both knew that it’d be better off this way – we’re both in a position in which it’s difficult to maintain a relationship. I know she was having a lot of personal issues which wont go away over night and it’s been driving her insane… such is life I suppose. Is it the absolute 110% end of our relationship? I dunno actually, we sort of ended it with the mindset of “perhaps in the future”. Does she actually feel that way, I dunno but it’s nice that things went so smoothly and that we could both be adults about it. Only time will tell.

Apart from that, back problems… woot.

I’ve also fallen behind some more in my classes, mostly because of my sporadic attention span over the past week and the inability to take a few different topics off my mind – rendering me completely useless to do any type of learning. Even though… I haven’t learned a damn thing in this class so far.

In other news… Fall Leadership! I’m pumped for that, especially because I know the car ride there will be awesome too. Another good detail was how cheap I got the hotel rooms for… man, hotel employee discounts are sick!

To be honest… I want to talk about Lineage 2 mostly… and I want to talk about how things have evolved in comparison to what it was like when Joe and I first got started several years ago. Now, I’m going to throw out terms and names that many of you wont understand… but I don’t care – those of us that play L2 will enjoy it because it’s new to them or enjoy it because they remember those days.

Firstly. Lineage 2 is a MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) – when I first got started there were about 7 servers to play on, now… there are 2. One of which is for USA and the other is focused on Europeans. However, there are actually people that play it from all over the world. I’ve met people from Russia, Bulgaria, Albania, Guam, Japan… etc.

Back when I got started… leveling was so much harder then it is today. I remember my first character being a human mage and it took nearly 1 week to reach level 10. The highest level character I was able to achieve before quitting (the first time) was level 32 and that took me several months. During this “learning phase” as I call it, because there was still so much I was unaware of… anyhow, during this phase I was using whatever equipment I could find and I wasn’t aware of soulshots… at all.

I met someone and they were kind enough to give me an “Assassin’s Knife” which is a dagger, because I was a dagger class. Now you hardly ever see this thing now, because no one uses it – they’re able to afford better. However, I didn’t know how to make money – I was barely making it by. This dagger cost 500k which sounded like a TON of money at the time, I was so scared of that game and never felt like I’d be able to get anything better then that dagger. I kept at it for awhile and go basically, no where. lol. I then quit.

Now there are a lot of other things that were different back then… Joe and I couldn’t afford to teleport from Talking Island to Gludin Town. We had to take the boat – well it took 40 minutes for the boat to get to the harbor… and then you had to sit on the boat and it was another 40 minute ride til Gludin. I remember the first time I took this boat ride, I was lvl 11. I got onto Windmill Hill, saw 1 mob – died and realized… I was too low level for this area, so I jumped back on the boat. We also had to run from town to town because teleporting caused too much. We would run from Dark Elf Village to Gludin (30 minute run) and from Gludin to Gludio, Gludio to Dion, Dion to Giran… it took us over an hour to reach the marketplace in Giran.

So I quit and decided I never wanted to return – but during that downtime I was reading and learning about L2. I was studying the economy and realizing that it was basically supported by the players. I was learning how to increase my money and get better gear. I was reading about which quest would help me get there. About 2 months later I looked at Joe and said “I’m going back to L2 and I’m going to make it work.” I jumped on L2, logged into the Hindemith Server and started a new character, which I wanted to be a gladiator. By the end of week one I was lvl 40. It took me about 4 months to reach level 32 and I did level 40 in 1 week! I was stunned and I was money to purchase gear and keep growing my character. I went from not being able to buy a 500k dagger to purchasing dual swords that set me back 20 million. Then, another week went by and I was level 50 and started to see how difficult leveling really was… the grind started to slow down. At the end of my first month back, I was level 61 and I had good gear for my level though some of it was loaned out to me by helpful people I had met along the way.

When I first started… I never knew the highest level you could reach. I was stunned to meet people level 20+ and then I found out that everyone from 40+ goes to Cruma Tower and I had never met anyone above level 45. The massive number of low level people during that time was incredible too. They were everywhere! It was so awesome to see so many people raiding and such at the level of 20+ That is not something you see today, you only meet a handful amount of people who are between 20-40 because the general population is now65+ AT LEAST.

 

I miss those days. lol

Sigh, thanks stress.

Earlier last week I started getting this sharp pain in my lower back that went down my entire leg. I ignored it and assumed I slept wrong but as the week progressed the pain got worse and last night I just couldn’t handle it anymore – so I went to the dr.

Apparently my body has finally had enough of all the stress I’ve been having. I was told that the stress has caused my muscles to tense up and start causing very painful spasms. I was told that I need to relax and see a chiropractor asap… at least I was given painkillers in the meantime.

Pretty rough night, I must say. Small things are really starting to get to me more then I would usually allow. I need a vacation, from everything. As much as I would love to vent about all the frustrations and stressful things happening in my life right now – I don’t know who does or doesn’t read this, so I’d like to avoid stepping on toes.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.