I am a pair of reds...

Happy Valentine's Day...belated to you all :) The Finz and I don't really celebrate V-Day full out like many people do; we didn't last year really, and this year was even more low-key. I mean, it may also have to do with the fact that we've been working on our wedding invitations for quite some time now and we needed to work on them last night too, but we just spent some time together and said we'd go out after the invites are sent and make it a celebratory thing. So I'm looking forward to that; but again, a belated happy love day to you and your loved ones...

Of droppin them low
You know, I used to do it myself long long ago in a land not so far away...but I never really understood the whole idea behind sagging. Granted, I was a part of it in my younger years, but again, never really knew why. I was just a follower, blindly doing what everyone else thought was cool and looked good. I was insecure and a developing teenager, and very short. Yes, it is possible that I was even shorter back then...but I digress. Funny how as you get older, the sagging kinda disappears...you don't see any professional guys sagging their slacks or suits. Plus, I just don't think those types of clothes are made for sagging. I mean, what would be the first thought that crossed your mind if your doctor came in sagging his scrubs? I'd probably wanna get the hell out of there asap. Maybe it's a sign of youth; like the lower you wear your pants, the younger you are? I mean, it achieves no real purpose, other than making it that much harder to walk and to have to make sure you wear nice clean and stylish underwear at all times. Additionally, I do not believe there is any commando-going when one sags, not that I ever roll like that in the first place, but just an FYI for all you prospective saggers out there. Maybe sagging was just a complete misunderstanding. Maybe there was a young man in his formative years that was wearing pretty tight pants, but his tight pants were really exposing his endowment, and being at an age where again, self-consciousness rules all, probably sagged his pants to avoid people noticing and commenting. And then, said adolescent's friends thought that hey, maybe they can make it SEEM like they're hiding a larger than normal endowment by doing the same thing, and then the crazy took off. Yeah, that has to be it...some huge, no pun intended, misunderstanding. I look at it now and laugh; and still wonder, what on earth it's all about.

It's funny that I just mentioned risk-taking recently and then chanced upon this rather beautiful quote:
"The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, and is nothing. They may avoid suffering and sorrow, but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, and live. Chained by their certitudes, they are a slave, they have forfeited their freedom. Only a person who risks is free."

Written by an unkown person - and no lengthy, overly verbose, and un-ending rant, however insightful(I kid, I kid), would I be able to provide that would sum it up any better. Well said Mr Unkown, well said.

I am a sore and wobbly foundation...

Of mind over matter
The Finz and I ran the Surf City Half Marathon yesterday...believe it or not. And with minimal training too; the longest either of us had run was 4 miles, and that was HER. In the end, we tripled our longest run and lived the tale to tell it. Don't ever think that the mind is not stronger than the body; because I remember her telling me that at mile 9 was where her mind had to take over for her to finish the race, even with sufficient(or somewhat sufficient training). Because after mile 4, for me, it was ALL mind over matter. I just had to keep thinking one step at a time, because even for the most seasoned runners, everyone gets to the end one step at a time. So we did it, ran and walked, ran and walked, pushed and motivated, laughed and jogged our way to the 13.1 mile finish and in the end, can share our experiences about how NOT go go about successfully running one of these. OUCH!

Of little bundles of joy
My stb (sister-to-be) gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Kairyn Sophia, this a few weekends ago...and I was there at the house when she started having major contractions. Pretty crazy to see that happen, because at one point, I was able to tell her when the next one was coming. We had to keep monitoring it for an hour to make sure they were under 5 minutes apart before they left for the hospital. The pain looked pretty crazy - because you could see it on her face. Next thing you know, they were all out the door and I stayed behind to watch the kids while they were asleep. And then the little bundle of joy entered the world on an early Sunday morning, and all was right in the world. During the whole labor process and while I was sitting at their house keeping an eye on the girls, there was just nothing else on my mind other than this little baby; how fast she would grow up, all of the different things she would experience, her oldest sister now having two little sisters, and what was the youngest of two, would now be the middle of three..and that she too, now would have a little sister. How fast time would pass and so on and so on. Just made me realize how inimportant all the trivial stuff we deal with on a day-to-day basis is. Because when it's just you and your little one, you have to make sure that he/she is fed, changed, kept warm, and is sleeping with all of the protection you can provide. It doesn't matter what your boss asked you to do, or how your coworkers don't put in their fair share, or that you spilled coffee on your shoes; just that the baby is safe and sound. Man, those are gonna be some interesting times for me and the wtb...how exciting, and scary at the same time!

Of Risk-taking and making the jump
In gambling they say, to win big, you have to risk big. Now I don't know exactly who "they" are, but "they" are right. You can't win big unless you play big...but that can also lead to a lot of trouble...you still have to maintain a balance and stay in control and only play with what you can afford to play with. But that exact type of thinking extends beyond the realms of gambling, but into every day life. I have a few friends who have really taken risks, and not the gambling type, but risks inasfar as pursuing their dreams. Some have succeeded, some have failed, but yet I admire them just the same. Both types have dared to do what probably most people would not have dared to do; because they did not let the fear of failure ensare them into settling for just the ordinary. They stepped beyond what was comfortable and safe and really took life on and challenged it. And for those who failed, they just found another challenge to take on; and kept on going. And even in love; you cannot find true love unless you're willing to risk all of yourself - investing your whole being into it and not being afraid to get hurt. We can really learn from these types of people, because we can find out what it is that motivates them to pursue things in such a manner; devil-may-care almost. But to you risk-takers out there; you do it, and you keep doing it!

Technology
So Verizon got the iPhone, everyone's coming out with a tablet, and cars get more and more complicated each year. Hard to imagine that today's car computers have more computing power than it took to send man to the moon... and even probably your iPhone has more computing power than said sending. The internet, probably one of the greatest technological advances ever...and yet, just as they did in Egypt recently; there is a possibility of the entire thing going silent. And yes, to successfully shut down the internet accross the entire United States is probably one of the most difficult things to do; but to think it's not a possibility is simply ignorance at it's peak. It was done, albeit on a smaller scale, but done nonetheless. And what would we do then? When all is silent and our 4G and 3G lines of communications are no longer for the foreseeable future? Who would survive? How would we handle it? I know I'd have an extremely difficult time. As much as people make fun of me that I'm on my phone all the time and how connected I am to my devices; I don't know if they've taken a good hard look in the mirror and realized that they too are just as dependent on their own devices. I've even thought about the entire cloud-based system and how I have probably 12k pictures on there and what would happen if it all went down? And it makes me want to print all of my albums, one painful 4x6 at a time. But where on earth would I store that many pictures?!? ha ha ha. Who knows...i just hope it never goes out. Knock on wood folks.

Quote of the day
"The best way to make your dreams come true. To Wake up."
-Benicio Del Toro(Vincent; Excess baggage)