The seasons of change

“Plans are nothing; planning is everything.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34^th President of the United States

Here I am, once again. I’ve been in this spot before. The time where plans don’t work out like you want them to and I’m left changing things last minute. Hey, I’m not upset. In fact, I’ve been kind of expecting this and I actually welcome a bit of change. Too much of the same thing can be boring anyway. Change isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

What Ted: the Movie can teach us about manhood

I went to see Ted: The Movie Sunday because it seemed like an awesome movie and had really high hopes for it. Even though my love for Family Guy is lukewarm at best (Seth McFarlane created both "Family Guy" and "Ted"), I still had a feeling that Ted was something right up my alley.

Ted: the Movie didn't only meet my expectations (I can be a demanding person that will get disappointed if my expectations are not met), but it passed them by a good margin. This is impressive considering that I think Family Guy is something that can use improvement, although it has a lot of potential. Sometimes, I feel that Family Guy tries too hard with the jokes. One thing with Family Guy is that the jokes are made so rough that it loses some laugh value. One example is this clip of Peter getting a prostate exam here, then reacting to it here. It's just a borderline deranged reaction that makes him look like someone that's mentally deficient (a guide for that particular episode is available here: http://familyguy.wikia.com/wiki/Stewie_Loves_Lois). At other times, they make jokes so obscure it requires a "mini-flashback" that seemingly comes out of nowhere so the joke can actually have a punchline. Things like this is what probably keeps Family Guy from being utter genius, since jokes like this seem too try-hard.

I may have appeared on YouTube and travel the world, but I'm not special

"Even if you're one in a million, on a planet of 6.8 billion, that means that there are nearly 7,000 people just like you."

- David McCullough Jr. during his now famous "You Are Not Special" Wellesley High School commencement speech

This post is very much going to be based on this viral video, so I might as well embed it in this post.  This video, albeit far from the prettiest graduation speech, has a refreshing dose of reality that the speaker delivers to the audience.

He brings up a very good point that's not really thought about.  We are not special.  However, it's not what you think it is in that he's basically berating everyone and saying they suck (this was what I first thought when I heard the title).  He's basically saying that being "special" is just a title that's bestowed upon people just to brand them unique or better than others.  He uses valedictorian as an example, where there can only be one, but there's also many other valedictorians from other high schools just like that one valedictorian.  As he very eloquently states, "If everyone is special, then no one is.  If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless."

What an NYC street performer taught me about the power of perseverance

"I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

- Michael Jordan

NOTE: This was originally posted on my Tumblr (agentarmando.tumblr.com)

I was headed home with my friend Jonathan after watching Jesus Christ Superstar off Broadway (I’d rate it 6.5/10: Good).  We hop on the E train headed back to Queens when lo and behold, a street performer comes along sure to be soliciting money.  Big surprise, right?

Now this guy’s gag was apparently doing magic tricks.  I saw this guy and figured “What else is new?”  I mean, you live in New York City long enough, nothing surprises you anymore.  I basically blew it off at first because I figured the man was just performing for money.  The man didn’t even look that presentable.  He was somewhat unkept and his clothes had that used, beaten-up look.  Yup, he fits the street performer bill all right.

The Art of Wasting Time (and why it might be a good thing)

“Focus on mastering the correct technique, not the end results. Once you master the basics, the good results you seek will follow on their own.”

- my own personal maxim (now known as Rule #1)

NOTE: This was originally posted on my Tumblr (agentarmando.tumblr.com)

Sometimes, I find myself in an office getting that huge workload off my desk.  Finally, after so much time and effort placed on work, I can finally breathe.

But wait a minute!  Now that I’m finishing up on work, I all of sudden feel a deep sense of dread coming on.  What am I going to do now?  If I have nothing to do at work, I’m going to be dreadfully bored at work!  Damn, that’s probably worse that being worked to death.  I HATE being stuck in an office having nothing to do.  I can’t leave my post or start doing other things on my “to-do” list for the day.  I’m not going to be able to be productive now!  I can’t take this!  I’m getting stressed just thinking about the multitude of things I need to do, and I can’t even do a damn thing.  I have this “free time” and it’s killing me!  I want to take it easy but I can’t!!!  #@%!*