Taking chances and burning yourself

Well,

It's funny, but, if you're a chance-taker, it seems that you pretty much live your whole life that way; you take chances when you're young, and you continue to take them as you get older, the only difference being the kind of risks you take.

If you're not a chance taker, you just don't get it. Unfortunately, that's pretty much the end of the story. I don't know if non-chance-taking-types can change their ways, but it seems to me that this is an innate characteristic of some, and not of others. In any case, I've always been this way, as if something unseen spurs me ever onward towards the unknown and untested. This is, in large part, why I got in trouble a lot growing up. I tend not to want to simply look at the rules and say 'OK, those are the rules, let's follow 'em'.

Well, needless to say, when you test boundaries you sometimes get burned. I believe this is one of those times. No worries of course! But financially speaking, things are very interesting right now. But I guess things are pretty interesting right now in just about every way, and that's really how I like it!

I forget sometimes that this is what I want. Do you ever do that? Lose focus on what you want your life to be like? I do that pretty frequently and have to remind myself that if my life were all in order and simple I would be bored. Afterall, that's why I pursue things which are outside of my current boundaries. Whether it's physical, financial, mental or spiritual, I pretty much am always looking to push the envelope. Maybe it's in my blood? I have heard that the Irish tend to have something like that in their blood (not just alcohol!!).

I hope this isn't all too vague for you, if it is, you probably aren't like me and just don't get it.

The tough part is, that when you play with fire, you get burned sometimes. And if you're someone who is naturally a little wreckless, well...

But! Who cares! The important things in life are your health, your happiness and your choices about how you treat others. So in regards to the important aspects of life, I'm sitting very pretty right now. And what more can you ask for?

Oh...that's right. There's that one thing: Ironman Hawaii babieeee. This Saturday morning, I will be up bright and early at 345 in the morning to begin watching the Ironman championships (perhaps next year I will be there? If not, the year after for sure.) It's going to be 8 to 9 hours of pure joy. How do the pros do it so quickly? You got me. But I'm damn sure going to try and figure it out over the next couple years!

Saianara (is that spelled right?) Don't let the details get you down! Life is too short, always remember that. When you start feeling overwhelmed, picture your life 100 years from now (that's right...when you're dead). Think about your funeral if you want...will they say, 'We always loved how he/she worried about money,'? Is that possible? I don't think so. Putting it all into perspective like that helps me. When you think about your life really being over, doesn't it just make all the useless shit in life just seem to shrink away and die?

Mike

The Brain-eating Amoeba and other tales

Holy crap! There is a brain eating amoeba that lives in lakes! The news story I read about it was extremely sad too. This dad held his 14 year old in his arms as he died from getting this brain-eating amoeba while swimming at the lake near their home. Holy crap! It goes up your nose and latches on to your medula oblongata or somthing else, and eats your brain! Now, I've never had my brain eaten before...wait, I take that back...Ok, so the closest I've come to experiencing this is when Tom Shane comes one the radio to tell me about diamonds and rubies...You have a friend in the...ahhhhh my brain is being eaten!!!

Did I get side tracked? Well, in any case, the only way to protect yourself it turns out is to wear a nose clip when swimming in these lakes or...by living in a frigidly cold, miserable climate where the water you jump into is never actually warm and inviting but only bitterly cold (Seattle area). Apparently the amoeba only lives in warmer waters(hmmmm...the amoeba is smarter than us?), but with global warming they say...look out, this fatal microbe could be infesting our northwestern waters by as early as, say, the year 2109 (warn your great grand children of their impending doom!). Things should be really warming up around here by then, my neigbor just bought yet another large suv, they have four!

Which reminds me. Isn't it freezing ass cold here right now? Hmmmm...strange. Something about the whole global-warming thing keeps sending me the mixed signals that the earth will be warming up on some kind of global scale. As in, this planet...getting warmer...right now. Is anyone seeing this? This summer was very mild, and it's freezing cold already. I think we should start cutting down some trees and burning them via fossil fuels. Whatever it takes, you know?

Lastly, work is hard and I want to move to France. I hear they only work 32 hour work weeks, take long lunches and have sex while on the job (ok...I didn't actually hear that last part..I may have just made it up). Why can't Americans get this figured out?