5 Thoughts For the Day 3/31/2011

So I'm having a much better day today so I won't put you through any rants about teachers or rain, but I'll try my best to keep you interested nonetheless. My mood has improved in large part due to it being one of my favorite days of the year, yes that's right it's Opening Day folks. Can't you smell it? I sure know I do, as I sat in my dimly lit classroom this afternoon my thoughts strayed wildly to anything but the test I was about to take. Actually my thoughts transported me into that uncomfortable plastic seat we all call home during baseball season, and as my mind's eye continued to wander it jumped from the smell of the fresh cut grass to the roar of an enthusiastic crowd to the all too familiar calls for peanuts and ice cold beer. Then, without any warning, I was pulled from my delightful daydream by a noise reminiscent of a pistol marking the start of a track meet. I looked around and disappointedly realized that I was not in fact at the ballpark enjoying the view with a hot dog in one hand and an ice cold beer in the other. No, as it stood I found myself to be sitting in the back corner of terribly dreary corner classroom preparing to remember all I could about the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation. Alas we can't always get what we want, and that brings me to my thoughts for the day.

1) College really isn't as hard as its cracked up to be. I mean for four years of high school I listened to the preaching of numerous teachers as they did their best to paint a gruesome picture that had me thinking I would scarcely get a chance to sleep let alone have a social life. So with four years of relentless indoctrination and a nice shiny diploma in hand I made my way south to Valdosta State University only to make a startling discovery. What was that discovery you ask, well much to my surprise I found that college was, dare I say it, easy! Indeed it soon proved to be easier than I could have ever imagined, and even though my GPA didn't exactly support this revelation (I'll blame a brief stint in a fraternity and the culture shock of going from living with my parents to being on my own for that) I still found myself failing to break into anything resembling a mental sweat. I raise this point mainly due to the fact that I took a test today for which I studied minimally for and ended up making an A on.

2) I have a friend, let's call him Jack, and he happens to work at KFC. Well it just so happens that every night when he comes home from work he brings with him about twenty dollars worth of "complementary" food. I guess I'm just wondering how a business can afford to lose that kind of product without taking some kind of financial hit.

3) I'll have to admit I wasn't exactly riveted the first time we flipped through the channels and landed on HGTV's House Hunters, but I'm more than willing to own up to my mistakes and say I'm now a fan. I honestly don't know what it is about the show that keeps me coming back night after night, but the fact remains that it does and to be honest Taylor and I can't get enough.

4) I love to cook! I don't know exactly when my passion for the culinary arts was cultivated, but I can say that in the last two years my skilled have seen vast improvements. If it were up to me I wouldn't have a single second thought about throwing caution to the wind, and dropping out of college to open my own restaurant. However those plans will have to be put on hold for quite some time, unless of course the Georgia lottery gods start showing me some favor that is. For the time being I'll have to be content with my retaining my amateur status as personal chef, and merely watching as Bobby Flay and Guy Fieri move in on my territory. Well that last part may be a bit of a stretch but what's wrong with a bit of optimism? Nothing right, my thoughts exactly, so in the mean time I'll continue to hone my skills to the tune of whipping up whatever cuisine I can for my family and friends and hope, as all dreamers do, that one day I'll catch my big break.

5) For my last thought I think I'll take the conversation to a more serious level, and that level is religion. I will gladly tell any who ask that I am a believer and that I have accepted Jesus as my personal savior. However, you will not find me on a street corner nor will you see me going door to door telling people that the way they live their lives is wrong and that they're going to hell. Even though biblically and spiritually that may be the truth it isn't my, or anyone else's place for that matter, place to make a judgement on someone's relationship or lack there of with God. I am a firm believer that a person's relationship with God is just that, a relationship, it is personal and it's just between you and God. I'll be the first to admit that I'm far from where I need to be in my relationship with God, but I know that he understands my struggles and that he'll never forsake me. I guess the thought is that if man were perfect, if I were perfect, then why would we need to rely on God as we do? That's just it though, we are anything but perfect, and all our hope must be placed in him we have any chance of navigating the obstacle course that is our daily lives. Just like life is a journey I believe that a believers' relationship with his savior is also a journey, and it is one filled with peaks and valleys but that doesn't mean that you should lose hope or despair because he's always there to be your guiding light and get you through what you might think to be the impossible. I'll conclude on this. I love God and I'm not ashamed to say it, and ever since I was young boy I've believed in him and nothing in this world has been able to shake that faith. I make my mistakes, but he is always there with love, compassion, and understanding which is why I know that nothing is impossible.