nice guys vs Nice Guys™

Everywhere I look there's always a few guys bitching about perpetual friend-zoning. I'll admit that I used to be in this boat too. However, now I realize that there are nice guys, and then there are Nice Guys™. Now nice guys are genuinely good people, they'll respect you, do nice things for you, and basically treat you like they'd treat any friend. The key thing here is that they won't expect anything in return (i.e. sex or romantic interest), nor will they get all passive-aggressive and whiny when they realize that they're in the "friend-zone". They'll just move on, because they realize that not every girl they go after is going to be into them, in addition some also realize that being friends is not the worst thing in the world if the girl is cool enough. These are the guys who are most likely to get into relationships with awesome, non-crazy women that have healthy levels of self-esteem.

Now onto Nice Guys™. Nice Guys™ like to portray themselves as kind and caring souls, shoulders to cry on, and guys who are always "there for you". They make it a point to go out of their way to help you out, but alas there is an ulterior motive. They think that by coming your knight in shining armor, they'll woo you into either falling for them, or at the very least, an all-expenses-paid excursion inside your pants. They put you up on a pedestal instead of talking and interacting with you like you're a regular person. They refuse to speak up when they disagree with something you say, but they won't forget it, oh no, expect it to rear it's ugly head weeks or months later. When they find out that you're not romantically interested in them, they'll throw public or private tantrums and blame it on your lack of interest or that you only like guys that treat you like crap. They're unable to see that their own behavior is disrespectful and dishonest and thus will continue to go after girls who just aren't interested instead of confronting their own issues. Thus, they can always paint themselves as selfless martyrs, hopeless romantics who've simply been played by evil girls who just go cuh-raaaaazy for collar-popping, date-raping, birthday-forgetting losers.

Now they key thing to do here is to analyse your situation and do a self-evaluation. Which one are you? I'm proud to say that I'm the former. Of course I didn't start on that track, rather I just... grew up.

Goals

Earlier today I was talking to my dad about goals in regards to where I want to be in life after college. In the midst of rambling on about majors and graduate school, I realized something epic. I realized that I want the world to know who I am. I want to make millions of dollars. I want to achieve greatness. Lofty goals you may say? Well I say: define lofty goal.

A lofty goal is a high goal isn't it? Well I say why not set your goals high? Of course there is a difference between setting a high goal that you know you can reach versus a high goal that's unreachable. Everyone really needs to look at their lives and see what they can really achieve. The conundrum here is that most people set their goals too low. They really don't see their full potential, they may think that they do, but they really don't. I think that out of a scale of 1 to 10, most people set the bar at 7. Honestly. That's a HUGE amount of potential leftover just because we don't truly see how much we can achieve.

I believe that ambition is the key to success. No scratch that. I believe that there are two main keys to success. One is the ability to set your goal, and two, is the ability to persevere in the pursuit of that goal. You need to be able to see what you want, set the bar high, and be willing to put in the work and effort needed to reach your goal. Seldom is one born with a silver spoon in their mouth. You have to work pretty damn hard if you want something. And you have to work even harder if you want something great.

Back to my epic epiphany. I've decided that I'm in a good position now. College freshman, one semester down, loads more to go. The keys to my future are placed back in my hands even after setting the bar at 7 in high school. Ladies and gentleman, it is time to set the bar at 10. No, fuck that, let's set it at 12 and settle for 10 if we really have to. I do realize how much work I have in store for me. I do realize how many nights I have in store for me where I sit there and bang my head against the table. But then that's what this post is for. This is my moment of inspiration. My epic epiphany. My Invictus. In the hard times that undoubtedly lie ahead, I expect to look back at this often to find the strength to fight on.

As for you, reader. Have a goal and follow it up with copious amounts of determination and effort, you'll be surprised at how much you can achieve.

Working... in progress

Recently I've found that it's hard for me to get any work done when I'm at home, so I've had to resort to going to places like Barnes & Noble and Starbucks so that I can focus. One key thing to note is that I can only get something done if I go alone, accompanied only by my trusty laptop and my dad's AT&T Wi-Fi log in. I mention this because the exact opposite happens if I go with someone in a study group, I end up half heartedly trying and failing to get anything done. I think my mentality when it comes to this is that when you're out alone in a place such as Starbucks or B&N, what is there to do but to work and focus on working? While if you go to a place like this with a friend or in a group, it feels more appropriate to talk, catch up, or gossip.

Of course, the question is what am I supposed to be doing right now? Well right now I should be wrapping up a website design for a client, but I took some time out of it to post this blog. No worries though, I'm still settling in. The basic scenario is: I walk into Starbucks, order my usual iced green tea latte, and pick a quaint little table to get settled at. I might spend 15 minutes checking my email, or any of the social networking sites, or updating my blog. Once the 15 minutes are over, I proceed into my most efficient state. For some reason at places like this and in cases like this, the usual desires to go on Facebook and Youtube every few minutes don't seem as important. They're easy to ignore and disregard. I used to think going to Starbucks was just a trendy fad, (or going to coffee shops to work in general). But it seems that even this has found a little niche in my day-to-day. I have a feeling that this is a work/study habit that will definitely stay with me throughout college, especially considering the fact that one of my roommates said the following:

"oh and just to let you know I hope you're cool with partying and stuff cus with that extra room we got we obligated to throw down big time."

Believe it or not, I'm perfectly happy with "throwing down big time" it's just I realize that if home is where I'm going to be throwing down, then I'll have to find another place to work. Because it's common sense that work and play do not mix... Unless you're a pimp... or a hooker. Then work is play, and vice versa.

[photo courtesy of my Nokia E71]

we're the kids in america, wuh oh.

Yes I realize my last post was about 30 minutes ago. Yes I realize I still haven't gotten anything done. No Mr. Speaker, I refuse to answer anymore of your inane questions.... -.- Movinggg on.

I was looking through my old photo albums and I found this little ditty:
Yep, that's me to the left... Now my question is... Uhm... What happened? Seriously, you see that smile that I'm donning? That my friend, is a carefree smile. The only thing I cared about when I was that age was waking up on Saturday mornings to watch Power Rangers. Dang. I miss those days. And looking back, I realize that I'm getting old... Like old fart old. I mean I'm going to college in the fall. And next thing I know, it'll be another four years, and I'll be going through the same hellish application process to get into a graduate school. Who knows what'll happen between then and now... Hopefully I can find some time to fit that carefree smile back in... After these next two weeks. This is a promise to myself and whoever's going to bother reading this. In the meanwhile, I don't really remember the last time I smiled and I didn't have anything on my mind. It's always school, family, money, people, college (yes college is in a different category than school for now), food, and even just figuring out what order I should prioritize them in... This is the part where I sigh. *sigh*

On a side note, there are three things I really want right now, and they all involve food:

Frozen Yogurt







Pho









Sushi

Looking out a dirty old window...

Someone I know once said that she blogs in order to have a reason not to do homework. Well that's my reasoning for this post. I do not want to study for AP Calculus. I do not want to do my make up work for AP Environmental. I do not want to get started on Paper II for Mr. Reid. Ugh. -.- I'll get to them eventually. I should probably get cracking on AP Calculus now though. Disgusting.

I have so many obstacles to overcome before I even think about reading the first paragraph of chapter one of the Princeton Review book. My guitar is to the right of me. My AIM window is open. I have three tabs in my reading queue from Wikipedia. And you know what? I embrace these obstacles. I enjoy every single second I have of not doing meaningful and productive work. Heck, if I tried hard enough, I could probably convince myself not to study or worry about anything at all. But that would be ill-advised. A revocation of my acceptance letter would be quite embarrassing.

Something tells me that I wouldn't be able to laugh about that even if I looked back on it 20 years from now.

Brando out.