Gangsta Mittens
Words combined to express thoughts. Pictures displayed to convey emotion. Opening my brain to the world.

Nov
19

It’s time for me to go back to seeing a doctor of some sort because I’m honestly overwhelmed.  There’s nothing I want more than to just sit in a quiet house and wait for my head to stop pounding.  My mom isn’t doing well… at all.. And honestly neither am I.  Everything just seems to be falling apart and that’s a terrible feeling… the sad part is, I really don’t know what to do.  I feel completely helpless.  Torn between feeling selfish and feeling like there’s nothing i can do.
My body hurts… i mean it truly truly hurts.  Every movement hurts.  I don’t talk about it because i don’t want to bother anyone.  Mostly i just try to sit around… preferably somewhere quiet.  There’s a lot of noise around me lately… and i just don’t like noise.  All i know is that i need to get a handle on some things or else I’m going to go crazy… and honestly, i don’t even have time to be crazy.

Pray for me.

Nov
08

I can eat apples now… and plums… tomorrow i think i will try a pear.  I’m sure that “accomplishment” isn’t nearly as exciting to others as it is to me.  But the truth of the matter is that I’ve spent the vast majority of my life wishing i could eat fruit.  A random allergy has meant that for the last 20+ years i just haven’t eaten some of my favorite foods… peaches, pears, plums, apples, cherries… i’ve just had to do without.

A couple of weeks though i had a slice of apple… and nothing happened.  So i had another and another.. and then saturday I purchased an apple and a plum at the grocery store, and I ate them both, and again nothing happened.  Then today I got hungry and so for breakfast I bought and ate an apple.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my life and what I want my legacy to be.  I don’t need to go down in history books or to be widely known, but i do have a strong desire to accomplish something.   Well a lot of somethings.  I want to leave a mark on this world, and I’m starting to feel like i’m running out of time to do so.  My father first began having issues when he was in his mid 50s.  My brother, 55 likely has Parkinson’s disease.  I am just a couple of months shy of 36.  The idea that I could go long before I am ready is starting to weigh on me.  In addition to motivating me to take better care of my health and start good exercise and eating habits (yay apples!), that reality motivates me to put some serious effort into finding my way.

I can’t say I have it all mapped out yet, or that i’m even close, but I do know that no matter what, I don’t want to live with regrets.

May
03

On September 11, 2001, when the towers came crashing down and firefighters were working to put out the fire at the Pentagon, the news was full of images from various middle eastern countries showing people taking to the streets to celebrate the devastation in America. The images made me physically ill. I couldn’t imagine celebrating the death of other human beings. So when Americans took to the street on the night of May 1, 2011, after hearing that Bin Laden had been murdered. I was equally disturbed. I’ve heard many arguments for why it was ok to celebrate… this is war… he admitted to planning the 9/11 attacks… the casualties inflicted by Bin Laden are far worse than what we did… and worst of all that this was justice for what he had done.

I don’t support the war, so the war argument falls on deaf ears. Bin Laden did allegedly say that he was responsible for 9/11, but he also said he wasn’t. People choose to believe what they want. If he had said he did at first and then tried to take it back people would still choose to believe he did it, so that argument holds little weight with me at all. If you want to weigh the events of 9/11 with the events of 5/1, then yes, that’s thousands vs. 1. But that’s a reckless way to approach it. Especially with little to no consideration for what drove Bin Laden to “allegedly” attack the US in the first place. I need to make this as clear as possible. I am NOT and have not ever been a sympathizer. I do not in any way shape or form feel that the actions of 9/11 were justified, but to act like Bin Laden just woke up one day and said “I just feel like bombing the US” is ignorant. Years of US foreign policy led him to believe that these actions were somehow justified, and those policies led to several civilian casualties in countries many of us had never heard of before 9/11.

But even with all that, the thing that bothers me the most is hearing his execution referred to as “justice”. I don’t believe in the death penalty to begin with, but to call an execution with no trial “justice” upsets me more than anything.

I guess this is just a rant of sorts. The whole thing has left a bad taste in my mouth and I hope that people consider how those “celebrations” must have looked to the outside world… especially since we’re such a “civilized” country and all.

Mar
29

It’s no secret that one of my long-term goals is to start/run/manage a school. The ultimate goal is to get parents invested in their kids’ education and focus on improving financial literacy/life skills for the entire family… yes, i realize the irony of me wanting to educate others on financial literacy, but whatever. I feel like i may be one step closer to the mission with my new job. No plans to get into detail but it’s in the education realm. I don’t see it as my “gateway” job, but I do feel that it will allow me to at least begin to understand how the education system works and allow me to make some good contacts… That being said, I wouldn’t be me if that was my only endeavor occupying my time. In addition to working with Cap Citi, and still planning to someday tackle the bar exam, I am also considering becoming certified in project and program management and working to become debt free asap so that I can go into business for myself in some capacity sooner rather than later. The rationale is that the less debt I have the more risks that i can take…. I just don’t feel like i’m cut out to work for someone else…
Ideally the best friend and i will come up with a business plan and it will make us filthy rich… i’ll keep you posted on that…

Feb
08

I’ve strayed away from some things that are important to me lately. Been neglecting the photos and the studying and just a lot of other “me” stuff. I’m working to get back to that. I miss music most of all though. I miss hearing new music. I miss just being caught up in something that means so much to me. So i’m working on getting back to it.

I’m also working on tying up some loose ends. That means studying for and passing the bar exam and the constant struggle to find some direction in my life. That can be the source of a lot of stress for me, but the reality is, that’s just what life is for me. I’m not comfortable sitting still. i need to be in constant motion. Now i just need to figure out how to make that work for me… updates forthcoming lol