Important things and stuff.

There are many things in my life that I could consider important. Whether the things be just a little bit important or something that means the most in my life. I have things and people in my life that have been here for a long time and I still consider of a lot of importance. The two things that I can think of off of the top of my head right now are my family/friends and my health/well-being. My family and my friends have always been the most important to me. If there was anything that I truly cared about, it was them. My parents have always and will always be there for me, no matter what the situation is or how much trouble I get myself into. I would definitely not be where I am today if it was not for them. My mother has always given me money, rides, advice, and help with whatever it is that I have needed help with. It has also helped that she has been on the Board Of Education the whole time that I have been in the high school. My father has always been there for me and always helped me in whatever sport I participated in, whether it was little league or high school. My parents have shaped the person that I am today and I would not trade them for the world. That is why it is easy to say that my family is at the top of the list for what and who is important in my life. The next thing of importance in my life is definitely myself. Not just me being selfish, but I truly care about my body, my health, and my own life a lot. For all of my life, I have been athletic and always worked out daily, whether it be running or lifting weights. I care about how my body looks and I think everyone should strive to have a nice body, or at least lose weight. No matter how hard I try, I cannot gain or lose weight. My metabolism is so damn high. I think that I will always be running and working out for the rest of my life. It keeps me healthy and fit. I will always try to keep myself as healthy as I can possibly me. I worry the most about myself because it is hard to trust a lot of people nowadays. The best thing you can possibly do is worry about yourself and how you are going to get where you want to go.
These things are all the most important to me because I care about them all the most. My family and my health will always be the most important things in my life, whether it be now or 20 years from now. They will still hold the same spot in my heart, no matter what happens or no matter where I go. I think a lot of people think the same things are important. In anyone's life, there is no love like family love. It is just different.

Courage

Courage can be found anywhere in any situation that you are involved in. It does not have to be something outrageously courageous where it is ultimately scary or nerve racking. I believe that doing anything outside of your comfort zone is an act of courage. It could be something very simple or it could be something that will get your adrenaline pumping very fast. I have always found myself to be a courageous person when it comes to taking any sort of risks. I looked up the definition of courage on the internet and what I found surprised me somewhat. The definition read "the ability to do something that frightens one". I found this surprising because I do not think that it is just frightening tasks that require courage when it comes to performing. I could say that it took me some courage to write this blog for you. There are people who do not find themselves to be quite the courageous person, so simple things can be considered courageous for them. If you look at the statistics, driving a car is one of the most dangerous and courageous things a person could do. There are so many people that are afraid to drive a vehicle just because of how many people get critically or fatally injured from doing so.
There are way too many things to sit here and named that I have done that I could consider courageous. All of the sports and activities that I have participated in are considering courageous things. I would have to say that playing football for 10 years has been the most courageous thing I have done. Either that or skateboarding for a long time and leaping down sets of stairs and rails. From each, I have broken bones and bled a lot of blood just because I love the adrenaline and love the game. There are some people who are born with courage and some who might have to develop it over a period of time throughout their lives. I would take some hard hits as a wide receiver playing football, but I kept doing it anyway because I would not let any type of fear stop me from playing the game that I love. Everyone in my life that I know is courageous in one way or another, but I would have to say that I am the most courageous person I know. When I used to skateboard, I used to toss myself down sets of 10 stairs and land on my feet as hard as possible. I would roll ankles and break fingers, but after that I would still keep on doing it. I used to cut my casts off just so that I could participate in pop warner football. It is the drive and the will of a person that keeps them going and keeps them being courageous. I like to think that if you are not being courageous, then you probably are not living your life to the fullest.

Basketball

I used to play basketball when I was a little guy in elementary school, but stopped when I got into middle school. I never knew the reason for the ending of my basketball career. I wish I never stopped and kept working at it into middle school then sure enough, into high school. I don't think that I would have been a star or all-star caliber player, but I would have had a good impact on the team. Football was always my primary sport when high school rolled around for me. I got sucked into doing winter track by Mr. Jordan, just as all of the other freshmen football players did. I am not mad that I ended up doing track 4 years in a row, but looking back, it would have been cool to try something new out. I still play basketball a lot, even though I never participated in any school or league for it. My friends and I play almost every other day and it is one of the funnest things I do nowadays. I usually text or call Dan and then we start texting people to get a game going at Veterans park. Sometimes we take it serious when we play and sometimes we joke around a lot and the games don't last too long. We are not bad at all when we play serious, some of us could have actually played on the high school varsity team if we signed up for it. Today, we were playing at 5 'o clock, a little game of 2 on 2. Dan went to the hoop for a layup and Cody came out of no where and swatted it into the parking lot. We all went crazy because it was a legitimate block and Dan was a little embarrassed. He came up with a bunch of excuses as to why it happened, but we all just kept laughing and pointing at him. He then went on to say how he was going to take it serious now and go hard, but his team still lost by a large margin. We will continue to play for years to come and play at the same spot probably. Since Dan, Cody, and I are going to OCC, I am sure that we will be playing a lot more together when everyone goes away to college. Basketball is a hobby to me. I could say that it keeps me in shape, but it is a minor hobby to the other athletic activities that I do and how much running I do. It is the best when we get a game of 5 on 5 going because it gets pretty serious. Some of our games get quite physical, but it is just because we are all athletes and get competitive very easily. Gym class basketball is fun too. Sometimes Mr. Scran plays and we tear him up all period. He is good for his age, I must admit. We play at night at the local elementary school which is fun too because they have tether ball there. I hope that basketball never leaves me life, whether it is watching it or playing it.

The Young Me

Out of all the things I could say to a younger me, I would definitely greet the past me by telling him to keep on doing what he is doing. Over the past few years, I feel like I have done quite well in decision making and life choices. I have never gotten mixed in with the wrong crowd or anything like that. I have been able to stay out of trouble in school and maintain pretty decent grades. For all 4 years of high school, I have been a 3-sport athlete and varsity in all of them. I would definitely fill my younger self in on getting a job early and keeping it. My experiences throughout high school would have been much better if I had money of my own to spend on whatever I wanted. The issue was always that I never had enough time to work a job and participate in school and sports after school. The price of being a high school athlete breaks your pockets, but it has been well worth it. I saw kids who used to play sports but they would stop playing to work a job. I always loved the sports that I played too much to ever stop just for a job.
I would inform the younger me that he should try and focus more on his school work. I cannot stress it enough that everything from freshmen year will come back to haunt someone. I have always done just enough work to pass or just enough work to make myself feel content with a grade. I never really made it a big priority in my life to be an exceptional student. I have always been in the middle of the pack and did what the teacher told me to do. It would definitely be at the top of my list to tell the younger me to not slack off in any classes.
I might tell myself to try and play basketball instead of winter track, but I would still be unsure. I have always enjoyed the sport of basketball, but winter track has always been something that I have done. I am really into training and lifting so that I could be the best athlete for football that I could possibly be. I would tell myself to keep on doing football and to get involved as possible as I can with that. I might let my younger self know that I should join a few clubs for a better resume, but none of that stuff has really affected me. I would tell my younger self to stay single throughout my high school career because having a girlfriend is a waste of time during high school. All they do is cause drama between you and your friends and cause more stress. The last thing a high school kid should have to deal with is more stress. Just live freely and do not get tied down by a girl. Other than those few things, I think I am doing pretty good so far.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is found in a lot of people, but not every single person out there. For some people, forgiving is the hardest thing they can ever attempt. Forgiveness to me is a vital thing for a person to possess. It is obvious that there is nobody out there that is perfect; everyone in your life is going to disappoint you and/or make mistakes. It is very important to be able to forgive the people in your life for messing up, just like any other human being does. If you can never forgive someone, then you will end up holding grudges for the remainder of your life. Each person should be forgiven once for a mistake. But if you keep on committing the same mistake, forgiveness might not find its way back to you more than once. I think that if you are close with someone who preaches forgiveness, you should value that person and not take them for granted. There are people out there who will never forgive you for what you do. These uptight, narrow-minded people do not have much to live for or have any close friends. Being able to forgive is certainly a virtue in a great, working friendship. All of my life I have been someone that can easily forgive people for what they do. Even if someone does something pretty cruel, I have always been able to let it go and focus on the good stuff that is happening. It has the ability to hurt you in the long run though, as well. Some people are too nice and will end up forgiving people for everything and anything that they do wrong. When people start being too nice and too forgiving, that is when people start taking advantage of those types of people. It is a shame that there are so many people out there who take advantage of the nicest people that inhabit this country. Even when the nice people find out that they are being taken advantage of, they are still nice about it. There are people that I forgive, but I remember for the rest of my life not to trust them. My brother has done some pretty messed up things and I have forgiven him. We act cool and we're friends, but I know that I cannot trust him with a lot because I have learned my lesson. The thing is you have to be wise and forgiving. You have to know where to draw the line. There are obviously some instances where a person should never be forgiven. There are such instances like murder, rape, or abuse, those things should never be forgiven. Almost everything else should have a chance at being forgiven though. Under most people's circumstances, forgiveness is easy to come by. Forgiveness is most certainly wise and mature. Young children do not know much about forgiveness. But as you grow older, you learn to accept the inevitable and forgive people for things that they and you cannot control.

Wild Card

The weather has been on and off lately, warm then cold. It seems like Mother Nature cannot make up her mind as she goes back and forth between temperatures. Recently, there have been days where the temperature could reach as high as 85 degrees then a few days later it will be back down in the 50's. On this lovely, lazy Sunday, it consisted fully of straight rainfall. The entire day there has been rain pouring from the clouds above, soaking the streets and front lawns of all of us. I am one of those people who thoroughly enjoy when it rains. I do not just mean drizzle, I mean completely downpour. I love when it thunders and lightnings and you can just stay in and do whatever you want all day. I am not sure if that says something about me or what type of person I am. There are so many people who are scared of the lightning and thunder, which I do not see the reasoning behind. I think I am just a fan of bad weather, in general. Sometimes I wonder why it rains and how the whole rain process works. I am sure that I learned the process or why it happens somewhere throughout my life in a science class, but who knows. Whenever someone thinks of rain, they usually think of sad stuff or depression. Rain is known to be a depressing and dark thing. I never really looked at it that way. I always saw rain as an excuse to sit inside all day and get some work done. Even going outside in the rain is fun and can give someone something to do. I think sun-showers in the summer are some of the coolest things ever. The sun is out and shining, but there is raining coming down, which does not make much sense to anyone including me. Do not get me wrong, I enjoy the sun and hotness just as much as I enjoy the rain. Summer is definitely one of my favorite seasons, I think tied for first with winter. I love going to the beach and getting as tan as I possibly can. I love the whole atmosphere at the beach and in Seaside on the boardwalk. It is a laid-back feeling place where people go just to get away and have fun. I go out there with my friends and we just chill on the beach all day, maybe make a walk down the boardwalk. During the summer, you do not even have to wear shoes. You can spend your whole day in a bathing suit and you will be fine. The warm weather and the sunshine just seems to have a positive affect on everybody. It is sad that the summer only lasts a few months, unless you live down south in Florida. As much as I love the hot weather, I could not live in it all year round. I enjoy the change of weather and the snow and the coldness. It gives Christmas the right feeling that it deserves and should always have for everyone.

Unfinished Business

High School, overall, has been a good time for me. Senior year has been one of the most enjoyable years, but it has also brought a good amount of stress upon us seniors. The whole college process wore everyone out and made it easy for senioritis to make its way into all of our minds. I do not really think that I have any unfinished business. Once everyone finished the whole college process, everyone just wants the fun to start with prom and senior week. All of the fun stuff at the end of senior year is kind of like a reward for lasting the whole 4 years, which is a difficult task itself. There was never anything that I really set out to do for high school. I had fun all of these years and I made a lot of friends and I learned a good amount of things, which I truly came here for. You could say that I sort of floated through high school and just did what I had to do. That might be something that I would want to go back and change. I never really tried to be a great, high honor-roll student. I was always in the B's range and kind of did what I needed to get by. It was never a great mindset to have, but I still learned a lot and was a good student. There are some times where I wish that I did basketball or swimming instead of winter track. But in the end, right now, I am glad that I always did track and stuck with Mr. Jordan through it all. If I could change anything about this year, it would definitely be the outcome of the football season. We ended at 5-5 by losing the last 3 games. We really showed the whole county that Central could play football with anyone again, but ended on a low note with losing 3 straight. I would also change my participation in the college process and applying to about 8 different schools. In the end, I will be attending Ocean County College for 2 years then transferring out. It is the smartest decision for me to make, financially, and in the end it was actually what I wanted to do. My future is what I am really excited for. I will still be around here, attending OCC, but after that is what I am looking forward to. I want to transfer a music school or an art institute and major in audio recording because music is what I am really into. I am really looking forward to seeing what all my close friends do with their lives and the amount of success that they have. The end of high school should be the best and happiest parts though. Graduating is bittersweet but it is time to open up a new chapter to my life.