Final week

It’s a scary feeling knowing that I will be graduating in 16 days. There are so many thoughts going through my head. I know I need to get the best out of these final two weeks but at the same time, there is so much to do. Luckily I’ve already gotten three presentations out of the way this week. I still have a paper and three finals but in the grand scheme of things, that’s not much at all. Compared to many other people, I’ve got it very easy. I feel especially bad for the Comm Law students. Yikes.

Still, I can’t help but think back of all the great times I’ve had here at HPU. I also can’t help but notice that these past four years have gone by incredibly fast. My parents used to say it all the time. They would say “Enjoy it while you can. These four years will be the best and the fastest four years in your life.” I thought, “Oh, it’s still four years. That’s such a long time.” No. It’s really not. Four years blow by in the blink of an eye. I wish I had realized that as a freshman. At the same time, however, I can’t afford to think about what could have been or what I should have done to make things different. I just have to look forward to the future and think of all the possibilities it may bring. And at the age of 22, life is still very full of possibilities.

It’s exciting. It’s great to think that it’s now my turn to go out and change the world. It’s our turn to make a difference. I have a pretty good idea of what I’ll be doing for the rest of my life, but life is very unpredictable. That’s one of the most important things I’ve learned in the past month. You have no idea what you will be doing or where you will be in a few years from now. Life happens. The best you can do is deal with it and move on. Embrace it, even. My mentor at my job explained it to me very well. One of his clients was a defensive linemen from Uconn years back and that’s where he got it from. He said that life, just like the other players on the line, will keep coming at you. It will keep battering you and try to knock you down. The most important thing you can do is to push back and not let it knock you to the ground. However, if life does knock you to the ground, get back up. Keep trying. Learn from it and become a better person. Life is tough and there is no way around that.

Friends

I’ve noticed a trend in both high school and college. Your freshman year, you make tons of friends – so many, you actually forget their names. They’re good friends, too. Not quite the ones that you would spill your heart out to, but you’d have no problem sitting down with them for a good hour or two and talk while having lunch. As the years progress, however, you start to notice that number of friends diminishing. Whether it’s from them transferring to different schools (which happened to many of my friends after freshman year), going into a different friend group (fraternities, sororities, etc.), or you just maintain occasional contact, it’s just what happens. I’ve talked to many of my friends about this, and they all noticed the same thing. It’s not for lack of trying or any sort of malcontent for other people. There only seems to be one common reason: as your years go on, you find out who is most important to you.

You may have a ton of friends that you see on a daily basis, but how many of them are truly good friends? It varies from person to person, obviously, but it’s something to think about. How many of your friends, at the drop of a hat, would stop what they are doing just to help you in a time of need? These are questions that I think about all the time. I have plenty of friends that I can hang out with but I have a small group of friends that I truly care about. I know that they would do anything for me just as I would for them. It’s a very fulfilling feeling knowing that someone out there cares as much for you as you do them. I think it’s important to think about who is important to have in your life. You should not have anyone who’s negative around you. They can impact your success. As the quote goes: Show me the three people you hang out with the most and I can tell you everything about yourself.

Easter Weekend

This weekend should be a pretty amazing weekend. I am heading to my house in Charlotte with two great friends, Sarah and Paige, and I will be showing them the good side of Charlotte for two days. They’ve pretty much only seen downtown Charlotte at night, which is a shame because the best part of Charlotte is, in my opinion, South Charlotte. It’s the residential area of Charlotte. The interesting thing about South Charlotte is that it is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. It’s not like there’s one city and around that city is strictly housing and the occasional strip mall and other things like that. Each living community has been divided into its own sub-community. Each sub-community has office buildings, residential areas, strip malls, other commercial spots, and each sub-community has its own culture and style. It’s really cool to see. You’ve got Ballantyne, South Park, Myers Park, Quail Hollow, Gleneagles, etc. I live in Ballantyne, which is very far south of the city. In fact, I live maybe 3 miles from the South Carolina border. Words can’t express how great it is to live there.

Anyways, this weekend I will be taking my friends to a bunch of different breweries in Charlotte. Charlotte beer is great, and the people are pretty cool, too. On top of that, the weather will be great so we’ll be able to get in some much-needed pool time to relax. We sort of have a bunch of things planned out, but who knows if we’ll actually be able to do everything. We may just wake up and say “screw it” and sit out at the pool all day.

Charlotte is a rapidly expanding city. People are flowing in every year. In 2013, 100,000 people moved to Charlotte. I can see why. It is the second-largest finance city in the country right behind New York City, and with Pat McRory decreasing the state’s corporate tax rate, Charlotte will continue to seem like an attractive place for people looking to expand their businesses. The cost of living is also significantly less than in the North, the houses are all much more new, everything is so prim and proper, the people are nicer, and tax rates are much less. What’s not to love, right? Between 2000-2010, Charlotte was the fastest growing city in the country. It even earned the nickname, “The orange cone” because there was always some sort of construction going on somewhere. Even still, there is construction everywhere. It causes a lot of traffic sometimes, but that just happens.

I am extremely excited for this weekend, though. I’m looking forward to being able to take a few days off and not worry about anything. I need a breather.

A small rant.

Yesterday morning, the BBC announced that they had sacked one of the long-time hosts of Top Gear (U.K.), Jeremy Clarkson. Of course, the announcement was received with lots of public backlash. I am one of those who absolutely despised the decision and thought it was very dumb on the BBC’s part. In my opinion, Top Gear is the best show that is currently on TV. With this news, however, it will surely go down the drain.

The thing that makes Top Gear so amazing is that the three hosts – Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May – are such great friends and they work the best together since they have been doing the show for so long. Prior to being sacked, Clarkson was placed on suspension after a physical altercation with one of the show’s producers. During his suspension, the other two hosts refused to film without Clarkson present. Who knows what they will do now that Clarkson is permanently gone. More importantly, who knows what will happen to the entire show, its profits, the amount of views it receives, everything. Bad move, BBC. Very bad move.

Reading

This semester, I’ve noticed that I have been reading more often than I can remember. It’s for a class, though, so it’s not like I’ve taken an initiative and started reading on my own. I’m not at that point yet. Thankfully, the book is phenomenal. It’s probably the best book I’ve ever had to read for school. The book is Atlas Shrugged. For those who don’t know what Atlas Shrugged is or know its background, it is one of the most popular books the world has ever seen. It is listed as the second-most influential book ever, right behind the Bible. It was published in 1957 and it took Ayn Rand 10 years to write. Ayn Rand and Atlas Shrugged are both seen as very controversial by many. Of course, the book is riddled with politically sensitive material, depending on which side of the political scale you belong to. I, however, love the book and everything it has to offer: its message, the quality of writing, and the story itself.

I missed reading a quality book. I missed sitting outside on a sunny, warm day and reading a book without a single care in the world. It’s peaceful. Maybe it’s because I associate it with sitting on a beach during some sort of vacation, but who cares? Reading is great and it is great for you. It expands your vocabulary and depending on which books you read, it alters how you think of the world. It alters your perceptions and expands your horizons. It’s not every day that you want to dig into an 1100-page book, but if you ever think about reading it, do it. I’d give it a 10/10. It is a completely unpredictable book. I have also told myself that I would read for pleasure more from now on, but we’ll see how that goes.

Moral of the story: read, and read a lot. It’s better for us which makes it better for the world.

Home

I originally grew up in Bethesda, Maryland. I was born in Virginia, but when I was 6 months old, my family moved into our Bethesda house. We lived there for 21 years until last April when we moved to Charlotte. I’ve never experienced a move before. It was actually Easter weekend, and the Thursday that we finished classes, I waited for my girlfriend to arrive in High Point from Greenville, NC, and then we drove to Charlotte. It was really weird to think that this was my new home. It was even weirder to think that I will never set foot in the house I lived in for 21 years. Our new house is great, though. It was in horrible condition when we moved in. If an appliance wasn’t broken when we moved in, it broke in the coming weeks after the move in. It’s funny to laugh at now, but needless to say, my parents were beyond pissed.

Throughout the summer, I can’t remember a single day where there wasn’t some sort of contractor, plumber, or handyman in the house. It was that bad. However, I was working 8-5 every day, so I didn’t even notice half of them. It’s a pretty cool feeling – having this whole new area to see what it has to offer. For those who haven’t been in the South Charlotte area, you’re severely missing out. I couldn’t be happier. It was a stressful summer but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. Towards the end of the summer we went to the beach for a week, and it’s funny to think that I was more relaxed when we got back to Charlotte than when we were at the beach.

The last time I was in Maryland was in late June and that wasn’t even for 48 hours. I’ll be going back to Bethesda with my girlfriend for spring break to see all our friends and visit her family. Originally our plan was to go to Florida or somewhere in the Caribbean, but we quickly scrapped that idea. I do miss Maryland, though, so we decided that would be better. We would also save tons of money. As much as I would love to dip into my savings and take out a whole bunch, I really wouldn’t. This way is much better though. I may live in Charlotte and I absolutely love it, but Maryland is pretty much all I know to be my home. Since I don’t live in Charlotte ’round the clock and even when I did, I was only home at night because I worked during the day. I didn’t experience what it was like to live there day in day out. I plan on living in Charlotte for the rest of my life, so one day I will find out.

My grandfather

This past weekend, I went down to Charlotte to see my family. Originally, that wasn’t the plan, but my mom called me earlier in the week and told me my grandfather would be spending the weekend with them. What was I going to do? Say no? Absolutely not.

I arrived in Charlotte on Thursday evening at about 6:30 P.M. I had told my mom that I was going to arrive Friday afternoon, but I decided to surprise my parents. They were extremely surprised to see me walking in the front door with my dog and my bags. It took them a few seconds to realize it was me. We hung out for a few hours, had dinner, and then they went to bed. It wasn’t so great for me in the end because I forgot to do my 6 tweets for my Social Media Marketing class for the week, so, whoops.

I woke up the next morning at about 10, and within 30 seconds my dad comes in and says that he can’t pick up my grandfather at the airport and that I had to do it. Okay, no problem. For those of you who don’t know, my grandfather is one of my favorite people in the world, if not the most. It’s not only that he’s extremely nice, patient, and very caring, it’s also that I have nothing but the utmost respect for him. He has quite an interesting story.

My grandfather was born and raised on a farm in Eldon, Iowa. It is a very small town. In 2010, the population was 927, just to give you a frame of reference. His mom passed when he was 6, and he cared for her very much. She was very sweet and taught him some very important lessons. Every day he would wake up at 5-6 A.M., take care of the farm until about 11 P.M., and would continue the cycle day in day out. In high school, he met a girl who became my grandmother. They stayed married until she passed about 12 years ago. They were together for a very, very long time. There is a lot to his life, and I don’t want to have to put you through reading 10 pages worth of material, so I’ll cut to the chase. He went into the US Air Force and became a lieutenant, and fought in the Korean war. After leaving the Air Force, he went into the life insurance business and started working for Penn Mutual. Now he is 85 years old, and still works for them. He serves as their executive consultant. Basically, he goes from agency to agency telling them how to become more efficient and how to improve. He travels usually 3-5 days a week. Just last week, one of his work days went from 6 AM until 9 PM. How many people even in their 40s do that?

He is a large reason why I’m going into the life insurance industry when I graduate. I couldn’t be more excited. I’ll be working in the same place I worked this summer. Everybody that I’ve met that works in the industry is extremely nice because they all are in it for the same reason: to help people. Anyone who goes into life insurance for any other reason doesn’t last. That’s a fact. Anyways, I’m getting off topic.

I had an incredible weekend with my family, and seeing my grandfather made it all that much better. He is my role model.

Snow day

I’ve noticed one thing about the South that makes me laugh: it is the ability (or lack thereof) to deal with snow. Go into any grocery store before a snow storm hits and you will see people stocking up on milk and bread. It’s hysterical. Last year, just before it snowed 6 inches, I went into the beer section of Harris Teeter and it was nearly empty. Glad to see people have their priorities in order (no sarcasm).  Let’s face it – what’s a better way to deal with a snow day than hanging with some friends? Of course, after some homework, I took advantage of a day off.

Then, on Tuesday night, after a tiny bit of snow that gave us a great snow day, I went to a concert with a few friends. I had an amazing time. I got to see Fallujah, Revocation, and The Contortionist. No worries if you don’t recognize the names. I don’t know many people who would – unless you’re into metal. Fallujah and The Contortionist are two of my favorite bands, and I had been waiting to go to this concert since it was announced three months ago. After one of the bands went up, I saw that Fallujah’s singer was at the bar, drinking a beer, while talking with some people. I always seem to forget to unbelievably humble these people are. They are always glad to talk with fans, and they’ll always have a giant smile on their faces. We chatted for a minute or two, and I was on my way. More people wanted to talk to him and I wanted to let other people have a chance to talk to him. After the final two bands went up, the concert was over. I got to talk to the singer of The Contortionist, as well as get a picture with him. He and I talked for quite some time. Incredibly nice and grateful person, despite his fame. I was talking about it with my friend afterwards, and we both agreed that we always tend to forget that they are everyday people, just like you and I. They have families, hopes, and worries just like we all do.

Anyways, that was my snow day. I can’t think of a better way I could have spent it.

Just an observation

One of my biggest pet peeves is when you’re out for drinks or dinner with some friends and a few of your friends are constantly checking their phones. That just bothers me. Why would you want to be there and yet, not be there? If you’re out with friends, be out with friends. At this point, it doesn’t even anger me anymore. It’s more of a growing concern now because as I look around restaurants, I see all the people who are doing the exact same thing. When did this become such a huge problem? I feel as if it happened overnight and suddenly, boom. Everywhere.

This is something I feel very passionately about. In my opinion, it is contributing to the degradation of society. People don’t seem to value other people anymore. They don’t seem to understand how important friends are as well as how important it is to be a good friend. The worst part about it is when you point out to your friend that it’s rude to bring out their phone, they get very defensive and angry. Maybe I’m one of the few that feels this way – not sure. However, here’s the solution: when you arrive at the restaurant or bar or wherever, establish that the first person to pull out their phone has to buy the next round for everyone. It solves everything instantly. I strongly believe that this is one of those behaviors that needs to stop. When you’re in the room, be in the room.

Final semester

On Tuesday, I bumped into my academic advisor in-between classes. He asked me, “How does it feel now that it’s February and it’s your final semester?” In a nutshell? Shocked. The fact that nearly four years has gone by in the blink of an eye and here I am at 22 years old is mind-blowing. Despite all this, I’m comfortable. Sure, it’s sad that I’ll be graduating in three months, and there are plenty of friends that I will not be able to regularly see after this, but it’s a new chapter in my life. I’ve learned that instead of focusing on the past and how much fun I’ve had here at HPU, it is now my time to look ahead and see what the future has in store for me.

I’ve got plenty of reasons to be excited. But then again, who doesn’t? It’s all a matter of perspective. If you’re a graduate and you’re constantly focusing on how you wish you were back in college or how you could have taken an extra year, you’re bound to be miserable. If you’re spending your time thinking about all the possibilities and things you can change for the better, you’re going to be very happy. As one of my favorite quotes says,

“Good and bad days happen. But life is about a billion little moments that add up to all the things around you. If you let one of those moments have too much control then you are bound to be mostly miserable.”

As I said, it’s simply a matter of perspective.

So, instead of getting caught up in the idea that you’re going out into the “real world” soon, just embrace it. While you’re here, though, please do whatever it is you want to do during your final days here at HPU. Enjoy it and live it up while you can. If there is a time to do stupid stuff and get away with it, college is that time. But when you’re walking on that stage and you’re handed your degree, things change. Last May, I went to graduation to see one of my best friends graduate. It was this very odd and yet very exciting feeling to think that was going to be me next year. Maybe it was me subconsciously accepting that my time at HPU was coming to an end. Anyways, it’s our time this year.

My senior year, I was a teacher’s assistant for the English department. One of the teachers whom I helped very often was a very nice lady. Still one of my favorite people on this planet. When we started talking about me going off to college, she talked about how important it is that I take it seriously. She said something that has stuck with me ever since. She said, “With privilege comes responsibility.” Since we are fortunate enough to go to college and get a degree, it is now our responsibility to go out into the working world to get good jobs so we can provide for our families and our children can continue the cycle. It’s tough to believe that things are changing for us, but it’s also interesting because we have so many possibilities right now. So be happy, and go change the world. It’s our time now.