Hiatus Over...Adventure Time Begins

Picture source: www.iswimforoceans.com

When you have things planned out to the tee, life sure likes to come in and shake things up. That has been my story for the past few months. Just when I thought I had things figured out, a monkey wrench is thrown into the cogs and really puts me in a bind.

First I should say, it’s good to be back and writing. I forgot how therapeutic it was to put all that craziness, that is my mind, into simple words. Many times have people told me that I should be posting an entry once week and trust me I would love nothing more than to be posting something hilarious and thought provoking once a week. But sometimes I go through a period of time where there’s nothing that interest me or life has me so busy that I am unable to write or even take a simple nap. I’ve let the cobwebs settle enough in my head and it’s time to clear them out.

If I want to be a writer as much as I say I do. Well then, I need to write more, there’s no way around it.  I need to write about everything and anything. There are times when I write about something and I find myself holding back. I worry that someone’s feeling might be hurt or that I’m opening myself up to something far worse than Pandora’s box. But those are just fears, which are nothing more than barriers in my way to accomplishing my end goals. And if I plan on accomplishing any of my goals, those barriers will have to be removed at all cost.

So I raise my glass to good fortune, and ask that it leads me down a path that is worthwhile and fun.  

Being an Uncle.

"A new baby is like the beginning of all things - wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities." ~ Eda LeShan

I am an uncle! 
And that's kind of a big deal!

Now I could talk about how this moment in time was so precious to me that time seem to freeze, the air stood still and the crickets stop chirping. Or that when I saw my little nephew who was just trying to adjust to his life on the outside after being paroled from my sister's birth canal. That the first thought running through my head was, "Damn that's one big ass baby!" (side note: He came in at 9pounds 13ounces...as I stated BIG! most def no where near the 14lbs baby that was pushed out earlier this month). 


Now, one assumes when holding a newborn in your arms, looking into those eyes of a new life I would be filled of this...sense to have a little one of my own. Well those warm fuzzy thoughts quickly evaporated as soon as my nephew decided to burp and release his warm fuzzy feeling in his diaper when I first held him. I'm not mad at him, he doesn't know any better. But I will remember this day and make sure he owes me one down the road.


However it does but things in perspective. Basically when we are born, we start off with a blank canvas. We have no morals, no prejudices, no sense of love, no sense of hate. We start off as just an organism that is basically trying to survive and adapt to our surroundings. It's not until you hold another human being in your hand that you realize that you basically have a part (either large or small) in how this kid will turn out to be. I know my sister and her husband are looking at their son with nothing but love in their eye and who can blame...the kid is cute. 

The Underground: Politicians launch Occupy Televison

picture taken from Mike Luckovich @ www.gocomics.com

On January 3rd a new movement began to sweep the country. Just as the Occupy Wall Street died down and people returned to monotonous life. A new movement lurked in the shadows to hog the attention, bask in the limelight and change the way Americans behave in the privacy of their own homes. Spearheaded by the likes of Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich and those calling themselves...Suhpah Pack, all have one agenda, to make you hate watching TV in your own home.  These protesters have taken their cause out of the streets and in to your homes. FBI, Homeland security and CDC have commented on the growing numbers of this occupation. First starting in a small time in Iowa, it has gradually spread throughout the continental US.


A Matthew Liechter stated, "The reason for the Occupy Television Movement is that Americans have for far too long watch so much TV. We want them out of their homes and being productive members of society and the only way to accomplish that end goal is to make television so unbearable that the normal viewer has no choice but to turn it off. Where the Occupy Wall Street fought against the 1%. The Occupy Television Movement wages a war against the 99%"


Jake Elwood, a thirty-six year resident of Detroit, Michigan expresses his frustration over the current ads that have flooded their airwaves, "...The ads would just not stop. Day in and day out, having to listen to the same crap over and over again. My wife and I have decided to toss the television out of the window and go back to reading books and newspaper. At least that way I don't have to hear their voices everytime I go to sleep."


As the protest spreads, other states start to ramp up their efforts to prevent the mass hysteria of these Occupy Television Movements. Georgia states that they will run 24/7 marathon of the "Dukes of Hazard" in order to combat the Occupy Television Movement. Researches still do not know of anything currently on television that can stop this movement from ruining so many families across the country. 


If you like this story, please take the time to read more items on my blog: Daily Gregisms Blog

Social Commentary: Humanity

(this idea came to me while taking one of my many interesting "customer" calls at my desk).

For those that know me personally, I think they would say I am a balanced person. The type of guy who is known as a optimist pessimist. The type of person who saw the cup as neither full or half full, but just a cup with some water in it. However, today, I can honestly say that I feel that the scales of my indifference tipping towards one side. 

As I advance in my years on this planet, my hopes for what could be the full potential of humanity and people all together, starts to wane.  Common sense would lead me to believe that this far into our brief existence we would have shed our negative behavior and attitudes that would hinder us to move forward to a better place.

Do I have hope for humanity? The easy answer would be no.  Now, do not get me wrong, there are moments where humanity show flashes of potential. For example, my mother while walking her dog fell down on the street, dislocating her shoulder. Now if it was not for the kindness of her neighbors, my mother could have been seriously hurt. But seriously how long can those flickers of hope last to ward off the impending darkness.

I see the path on which humanity is going down. I see the pain, the hate, the bitterness that is to come. I thought that when the world became more connected and more open, we would see people coming together to advance the common goal of man. But it seems what should bring us together, seems to be what pushes us apart. 


But in the end...I still hold on to hope. 

The Underground [Revisited]

"Sometimes you need to take your cause Underground, in order to make a difference."

For a long time I've been meaning to write about one of my earliest foray into writing, my first attempt at humour[sic] and producing material for public consumption. 

Not so long ago, in a city that's not actually too far away. I created an inter-office newsletter entitled, 'The UnderGround'.  The newsletter consisted of made-up gossipy stories for the workplace. Now since the stories were about people within the office, anonymity was the key. So to make sure I or anyone else in my party were never caught, there were a few simple rules that needed to be followed: no copy was ever allowed to be saved to the computers, hardcopies were only personally handed to a few and like Fight Club no one every talked about 'The UnderGround'. In the literally sense, the newsletter was an underground cause. It never saw the light of day and it gave me an opportunity to cast aside my introvert ways and showcase my humorous style.


So why am I talking about an old newsletter? Beside that one of my good friends [Ali] who I worked with, still remembered the old newsletter. For a long time I forgot about the newsletter and simply moved on. I created newsletters for other properties, which then lead me to create the blog that you see today and the one good thing I like about my blog and how I operate it is that it is always evolving.


When I started writing this blog about a year or two ago, I had the mission to make this blog  about expanding on the little quips or Gregisms that I posted on my facebook page. It also gave me the chance to expand on ones some ideas that I genuinely thought were funny and need more of a through explanation.  Then, I found myself adding Random Thoughts to the blog. Which I equate to taking a side journey off the main trail where I get to talk about things that pop up in my head, situations I find funny or things in the world that just do not make any sense whatsoever.


Now that 2012 is here front and center, I continue to take a look at myself and at the blog and feel the need to evolve and improve ever so slightly. As you saw earlier, I introduced Social Commentary to the blog. With Social Commentary, my goal is to put a flashlight on a subject matter where humanity needs improvement on. Now I am far from perfect, but that doesn't mean I want the world to go to shit. 


And finally, I want to introduce the last new section to the Daily Gregisms blog, The Underground. It will echo the previous version of the past Underground, where the stories are purely made up and are nothing but sarcastic. Will I try to compete against the like of The Onion or Andy Borowitz....umm no! Those guys are nothing short of fantastic, but  I can try to become just as good as they are.


Well I thank you for taking the time to read this blog and hope you are excited as much as I am for the new things, ideas and thoughts I will be writing about this year. 

My Thoughts on Turning 31

“When I turned 30 the first thing I did was watch the sunrise over the water, while in The Keys. Who knew that the sunrise I saw that morning, was the sunrise that showed me a way past the horizon and onto a new adventure in life. Now and forever I will always look to chase that sunrise.” ~ Gregory Modé

When one turns older you start to go through that phase in life when you start putting things in perspective. You look at your own mortality as if it was a fragile egg in your hand, worried that any tremor, ding, bump or accident will cause it harm. You look at past and current accomplishment and compare them to other people. Sometimes you feel proud of yourself, other times you feel like you are limping behind the pack.

You look around at all your material wealth, the people around you, where you are at that moment in time and wonder out loud, “Is this it? How many times can I get by and be lucky, before my luck runs out?”

And there’s that one question everyone seems to ask. “What is my purpose in this world? Do I have a role to play, a part to play on this stage?”

Too much do we look to the future and worry of things that have yet to be and too many times we look at the past and try to grasp at wisps of memories of the way things use to be. Yet we always forget to live in the present. We do not take the time to sit down and enjoy that sunrise every morning. To appreciate the little things that life has to offer.

No matter how you dress it up…

I am 31 years old.

I have been alive for 11,334 days

For 272,016 hours, my eyes have seen many life events, some happy some sad.

And it was not until I hit 30 and I saw that sunrise, that I finally understood what the meaning of life truly was.

Cheesecake and Paradise

Now I don’t normally take on requests when coming up for my next blog topic, but this time I made an exception since it centered around the devious…cheesecake.

First, who could have ever guessed, that going out of your comfort zone would taste so delicious. I may claim to be an adventurous eater, but in reality I stay pretty close to foods that have been proven time and time again to taste good going down. However if I were to compare to that to how one should live their life, I always say to go outside that comfort zone and take a chance. Life is about taking risk and experiencing new things. Not reliving the same old tried and true methods over and over again.

So while out on a date I decided to go out of my comfort zone, both with how I approached the date and with the tasting of my first true cheesecake.  For those that keep up with my blog will know my feelings on the dates, (and don’t worry, what I am currently writing now was already brought up during my date…yes I’m serious!), are basically job interviews.  But I am not here to recount that night’s date. I am here about the cheesecake. There are certain foods I’ve placed on a list that I will not touch (Ranch, Feta Cheese, Deer meat, Cheesecake, and etc.).  And if someone tries to get me to eat it, I politely turn them down and go on my merry way.  But that night I decided to try something new, with of course some prodding by my date to try the cheesecake [side note: tried my first true cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory]. When the cheesecake came out, I have to admit I was nervous. The first thought that popped in to mind was that I really hoped that I don’t throw up cheesecake over my date. But luckily after that first bite, I felt what amounts to an orgasm in my mouth (okay maybe not an orgasm, but it was enjoyable). 

Now as someone who enjoys eating the right things (from time to time, I still do treat myself to a burger every month) and staying in shape. It is a very dangerous thing for me to start loving Cheesecakes. Also I can finally understand why people seem to go ga-ga over this delightful dessert.

In all, the lesson that I left with that night was that…When you start to become comfortable and use to certain things. You close yourself off to some beautiful things around you.