Camp Daze

Have you ever done something that seemed like a tiresome task at one point and then when you revisited that something at another time you were able to see it with a new sense of freshness and excitement?

I felt that very thing this past week. I spent last week in Annapolis Maryland at the Naval Academy (my soon to be new home) and worked soccer camp in 100 degree heat for five days. Ive always seen camp as a fun time to see friends, make some quick money, coach, and be outside. At the same time, I always left camp worn down, tired, and beat up from long days and little sleep. Not this time.

This time was different. I arrived at camp on 3 hours of sleep and a 10 hour work day the day before and left camp energized, excited, and renewed. Maybe it was because I was able to spend a week with some of my best friends. Maybe it was because I had a chance to make an impact on kids lives. Or maybe, just maybe it was because I was doing something that I love.

Moral of the story. Do what you love and love what you do and you wont regret it. Find your passion.

Ill leave you with these words from the late great coach wooden...

"You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you."
John Wooden

Positive moments

Getting gas. Most people dont view that as a good experience regardless of what type of gas Im talking about (Im referring to fuel as far as this blog is concerned). Its just not a good experience. Even if you can find a gas sale youre still spending anywhere between $30-$75 and you dont really gain any enjoyable benefits. Its almost like paying a bill. You get to drive your car from place to place but its not as if you could decide one day "hmm, I dont think Im going to buy gas today."

Well thanks to New Jersey (take note...its likely Ill never use that phrase again) someone must pump my gas for me. Now I wouldnt say Im a huge fan of this law but in this case it has made fueling up an enjoyable experience. One thing you must know is that in NJ all gas stations seem to be owned and operated by different races or types of people. For example, I could tell you what gas stations are run by middle eastern people, African American people, and English people. Well it just so happens that the gas station I frequent is operated by a few english lads.

I have made a new friend at my local gas station named David who has single handedly made getting fuel an enjoyable experience. Every week, I pull in, say hi, and he begins to pump my gas. As he pumped my gas we talk football (soccer) and discuss our thoughts on the English premier league, the world cup, and our respective national teams.

Its interesting to think about how such a small encounter can create such a positive experience for a person. We all know how a miserable person can make a good day into a nightmare in a matter of minutes. I think the same can happen on the positive side of things. If you and I decided that we were going to make a positive impact on every person's day that we came in contact with for one day I dont think we'd ever turn back. Im convinced that this attitude would not only create positive experiences for others but we would live a richer, more fulfilling life ourselves. Isnt that what we are called to do? I believe we are.

Later days

Growing up

It happens in a blink, it happens a flash, it happens in the time it took to look back.

Whats the deal with this fascination with growing up? It starts when we are young. People ask us who or what we want to do when we grow up. If we are immature or rude to someone we are told to grow up. And in time, eventually we can earn the label of a grown up. All these phrases or terms are used in a way that makes growing up such a positive thing. Personally Im starting to think Peter Pan had it right when he wanted to escape to never never land and not grow up.

Its not that I think growing up is such a negative thing. I am looking forward to things about growing up like getting married, having kids, a carrer, retirement (if that still exists when Im that old). What I don’t like about growing up is that if you ever take a look around in todays society, there isn’t a whole lot to be desired about what most would consider a normal life and growing up. Settling for an average job, working 50-60 hours a week, stressed all the time, and little enjoyment with life seems to be the norm these days. What happened to chasing your dream job? What happened to the 40 hour work week? Whatever happened to the simple life? Why are people constantly stressed if they have a family they love and a job they love? Have people given up completely on doing what they love and living the life we are called to live?

Maybe Im a naïve 23 year old recent college grad but If Im going to grow up I want to do it without being a ball of stress in a dead end job. I think the USA should take some lessons from Europe and learn to enjoy our life a little more. What would happen if everyone truly chased their dreams, worked jobs they enjoyed, helped people who had less, sought after true happiness and and were able to live without constant negative stress? Wouldn’t that make growing up sound more inviting? That’s the growing up Im looking for.

Counting sheep and Pimped out cars

Note: This blog is nothing close to serious so if youre looking for a good thought of the day.....maybe Ill leave you a little nugget at the end.

So last night I was having trouble sleeping. It may be because I had a lot on my mind. It may have been because I took a nap at 6pm. It may have been the 20 oz of caffeinated sweet nectar that I drank around 8pm. Anyhow, whatever it was I was unable to get my body to shut off. So I figured for some strange reason that I would try the old counting sheep trick. Now Im not sure how many of you have actually tried this but It certainly is an impossibility for me. Whoever came up with counting sheep must have had some sort of farm because I dont think its as easy as advertised.

First of all, the sheep in my mind are jumping sheep. They jump over obstacles like horses. Maybe thats my first problem. If I had walking or standing sheep it might be easier but mine jump.

Secondly my sheep jump way too fast. I cant count fast enough to keep up with them. If counting sheep is going to be successful at all I would have to have slowly moving sheep with huge black numbers on their sides to make the counting easier. Neither is the case in my mind.

Long story short I think counting shape is nonsense. Clearly somebody discovered this a long time ago and created other alternatives like Nyquil. Personally I think that works a lot better.

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On a different note lets talk about cars for a minute. Maybe I have a slanted perspective since my car is better than all the other cars out there but I cant seem to understand why people try to make their cars look really "cool". All it usually does is make that person look like a moron and their car look even worse. I was driving today on the highway and noticed this car driving recklessly in the far left lane so I had to take a closer look. Sure enough it was a tricked out car with one of those huge mufflers, a racing stripe over the top of the car and windows tinted far beyond legality. Wouldnt ya know it the car I am talking about was a Chevy Malibu. I have nothing against Chevy Malibu's (although I do dislike most American cars on principle) but if youre gonna get a car and go through all the trouble to TRY to make it look cool, at least buy a car that isnt your standard American family car. Why not just pay the extra money and buy a "cool" car to begin with? Again, I think Im just spoiled that I drive a car thats better than everyone else's. If I offended you with this tangent.....Im not that sorry.


Quote of the day: "What we accomplish in life is based less on what we want and more on how much we want it. The secret to willpower is what someone once walled wantpower. People who want something enough usually find the willpower to achieve it." - John Maxwell

Later Days

Time to clean up....

So I knew back in December that once I graduated I would have about 6 months to clear out my Messiah email account and make sure everything I wanted was either moved to another email account or deleted. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and soon enough 5 months had passed. Now I know everyone handles their email accounts differently but I personally tend to keep A LOT of emails around. Whether I need them or not they tend to pile up. Some I just want because they mean something to me, some I want because I can use them for something later, and then some just never get deleted because I forget to do so.

Well when April rolled around I probably had a couple thousand emails in my inbox from the last 5 years. Little by little I began to chip away at them. One night I was able to eliminate or move an entire years worth of emails. Eventually I had gotten down to two years worth of emails. I found it extremely fun to look through old emails and relive stories, time periods, and friendships that I had collected emails from over the years. Every now and then Id stumble upon a gem of an email that I was glad I hadnt deleted but at the same time had forgotten about.

I can proudly say that today my email account is void of all emails except emails that I have received or sent from a few special people. Its amazing how much work it can be to simply remove hundreds of emails without losing the important stuff as well.

The only question is....Did you send me an email or several emails that got rescued? :)


New email: brettfaro@gmail.com

Later Days