I am the single greatest example of how confidence conquers (no, that’s not boasting). Do I have talent? Yes, but there are plenty more with greater talent than me. Am I good looking? I’m alright. So what is it that separates me from everyone else? What makes me me? Why am I going to be making formidable money one day, and so many others that have more talent and looks won’t be?
Complete, utter, unshakable confidence in myself, confidence that is so high it borders on delusional hubris. I guess it all starts there. Mark Twain, arguably the greatest American writer ever, said it best, “With ignorance and arrogance, success is assured.”
If you sit down and always consider all the possibilities, if you waste your time worrying what others will think, if you ponder whether or not you are good enough, then you never will be.
How does confidence come about? I don’t know. Confidence comes from who you are and a belief in yourself. From within. If you don’t have anything to believe in yourself, then find something or do something that can give you that belief.
When I first started writing, I couldn’t land a writing place anywhere. I kept getting turned down by several different websites, many saying that I would never have the talent to become a writer, that I didn’t have it in me, that I had no ability to interpret prose.
Look at me now.
In the words of Kevin Garnett, NBA champion, who said, when the Boston Celtics won their 17th title this year, “What can you say now?”
Hard work. Passion. Perseverance. An unknown, infused and inflicted belief in yourself that is so impeccable that you are in a zone of believing you’re so immaculate that nothing, no matter how big of a force, can stop you. You can’t rattle that. It’s confidence.
If you’re trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I’ve had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.
I’m never afraid of failure, because I know if I want to succeed, I have to fail.
I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: books, cat, laziness, library, reading, sad
I went to the library today for the first time in over a month, and, as always, I was appalled by the laziness of the people that go there.
I walk there from my house. It’s not TOO long of a walk, only 30-45 minutes or so. If I took the highway (which I am NOT planning on doing) it would be shorter. I only get a ride there when I’m sick or if it’s 50 degrees outside.
However, some lazy asses that live RIGHT NEXT DOOR to the damn library drive there, leave their cars running for the WHOLE time they’re in there (which is usually about an hour), and then drive their gas-guzzlers all the way back to their houses.
That’s not even half of it. South Lake Animal Protection Services has a thrift shop in downtown Clermont (where I live). If you volunteer there for 84 hours, they’ll PAY for you to get your pet fixed and get all of the necessary shots. I did this when I found my cat, Felix, at a construction site, and it was totally worth it. They paid $250 just because I volunteered for a couple of hours for two months. It wasn’t a huge deal, and it was a lot of fun. We recently had a kitten dumped on our doorstep. We were going to give it to a family of 5, three of them being teenagers, but they refused to take it because they didn’t have the money to get the shots. I told them about the South Lake Volunteering program, and they said they were “too busy”.
I have Colorguard practice for 3+ hours 6 days a week, and I’m making time to volunteer there.
Like Troy always says, the world’s going to hell in a handbasket.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Basketball, Bullies, Dirty, National Basketball Association, NBA, Phoenix Suns, Physical, Portland Trailblazers, Sports
In an article written by Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic, he states that a few of the Portland Trailblazers players said the Phoenix Suns ‘bullied’ them and their play was physical.
What?
Are we talking about the Suns? I’m delighted to say we are. For the greater part of 20 years, the Suns have been labeled as soft. The closest they got to being tough was during the Charles Barkley years and that was basically only because of Sir Charles.
To have teams/players say (and to the media) that the Suns bullied them, frankly, makes me very enthralled! The NBA can be so physical, you have to be tough if you want to advance. The Celtics are tough, the Spurs are tough, the Rockets are tough, the Jazz have always been physical, and the Lakers are (I guess) tough.
But the fact is they do have a tough, gritty team. Shaquille O’Neal, Amare Stoudemire is playing more man-like, Steve Nash has always been tough, Matt Barnes is a scrapper, Raja Bell, Robin Lopez etc.
Personally, I’m not ready to label them as being a ‘physical’ team, but to have other players/teams think they are is definitely a good sign.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Boston Celtics, Comedy, Humor, NBA, Satire, Sports, Sportswriters, Sportswriting, Thoughts, Writing
Nobody realizes how much the people who write about sports despise the subject they write about. There is nothing they hate more. I know that seems paradoxical, and most of them would never admit it in public. But give them four drinks in a deserted tavern, and you will hear the truth: The people paid to inform you about the world of professional, collegiate, and high school athletics would love to see all sports — except for maybe the NCAA basketball tournament — eradicated from the planet.
What’s depressing is that this was not always the case for people.
So if you want to become jaded and bitter in the shortest period possible, become a sportswriter. You will spend your Friday nights trying to write up some grueling pseudo-informative SLAM Online article until you’ve reached the point where hitting the backspace key wants to make you throw a deadly dart doused in poison at the people or things you are writing about.
That’s not the worst thing about it all, though.
The worst part about being a sportswriter is that no one will ever have a normal conversation with you for the rest of your life. Everyone you meet will either A.) want to talk about sports, or B.) Assume you want to talk about sports. Strangers will feel qualified to walk up to you somewhere and complain about Rasheed Wallace; and if you’re trying to be frank with your ex-girlfriend’s parents, her father will immediately ask you oddly specific questions about the New York Yankees. Just a couple of examples (the last sentence is an experience of mine).
You may have insightful thoughts on the Middle East, religion, or racial disparity, but no one will care; they will be interested in your thoughts on middle relieving or the premise of the designated hitter.
Over time, you will see your life disappear into sweat and depictions of Plaxico Burress contract negotiations and descriptions of the wishbone offense. And you will hate it. And normal sports fans deserve to know this. SO NOW YOU KNOW IT. They deserve to know that people telling them about the Boston Celtics or San Antonio Spurs enjoy pro basketball as much as Christians enjoy watching George Carlin’s Religion is Bullshit.
But I feel like the one guy who accepts one very important truth: The single best part about loving sports is hating sports.
Filed under: Love | Tags: boyfriend, cute, definitely not, Funny, Love, Troy
Let me start out by saying that Troy Layne Sparks is delusional. He thinks that HE’S lucky to have me, when, in reality, I’M the lucky one to have him.
We met on Yahoo Answers. I don’t care if you think that’s “stupid” (or, in Troy’s words, “stepid” ;]), because it’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me. I signed up one week when I was sick with some killer flu (or some shit like that–I don’t even remember. It was in January. 
) and I mostly “hung out” in the Books and Authors section. Everyone there was obsessed with this book called “Twilight” by Stephanie Meyer (except for me and a few other people). One day, I clicked on a question that said “Z0MyGAWdD WuT Sh0UlD I R3Add 4Ft3R I F!n!sH Tw!L!gH+ LAwlZ?!” (Okay, it wasn’t typed like that, but, whatever. Deal with it.). Some people listed a bunch of other books that were similar to that god-awful book twilight (I refuse to capitalize the name of it), but one answer, from a person named “Gonzo Celtic”, said “Read ‘I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell’.” I laughed about it and added him to my contacts. He added me back, and we didn’t really talk much until I started posting questions and he posted really long answers. One day, he added me to MySpace. Again, I didn’t really think much of it, and we didn’t talk much, until I decided to send him a comment that said “Team Edward or Team Jacob?” (The main “rivals” in Twilight. Please don’t ask.). He replied saying, “Team Edward or Team Jacob. Hm. I’d say I’m on board with Team Twilight Sucks, if I do say so. ” (I actually went into my comments and pulled that up, too. ). A few days later, he sent me this message called “That Twilight Junk”, telling me why he hated Twilight and why it was a stupid book. We got to talking, and we fell in love.
Some people say I’m crazy for having a long-distance relationship. I definitely do NOT agree. I trust Troy, and I love him with all my heart. I’ll never leave him, and I’m confident that he’ll never leave me. I can’t wait to physically be with him (right now we’re looking at 2011, but if it takes longer, that’s fine too. I’ll wait for him, I don’t care how long it takes. He’s more than worth it). It frustrates me that no one (except my best friend Lianna) takes us seriously, but there’s nothing I can do about it. I love him, he loves me, and that’s all that matters.
I love staying on the phone with him into all hours of the night. We talk about everything under the sun, from politics to Steve Carrell. Any other guy wouldn’t have stayed on the phone with me from 10:30 PM until 7:30 AM (and the only reason I got off then was because my parents were up!). I think it’s amazing that he never gets mad at me when I fall asleep on the phone (I’ve done that a few times, actually ). He calls me back, laughs it off, and calls me “sleepyhead”. He’s just so great, there’s no one else like him.
Another thing I love is the fact that he actually reads. I don’t know ANY guys who read just for the hell of it. I know several girls who read occasionally, but NO guys, so I was really impressed when he told me that he reads often. In fact, one of our first conversations was about the book “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger. He’ll never cease to amaze me.
He wrote in his entry about me that he loves the way I say “Definitely not”, “Oh My God”, “Really?” and “whatever”. Well, I love the way he says “beCAUSE”, “seen” (he says seen instead of saw, it’s so goddamn cute), “alright”, “host”, and “sure” (I say it like SHORE, he says it SHER. ). I love the way he impersonates everyone he knows, including me. 
I laugh so hard when I’m on the phone with him that my neighbors think I’m insane (although, according to him, I am insane, so “it’s all good in the hood”).
I love it when he tells me that he wants to marry me, have kids with me and grow old with me. It just melts my heart (in a good way!). Just like when he tells me that someday, my name will be “Mrs. Rebekka Ann Sparks”. I smile like a retard everytime he says that to me. Actually, no, I smile like a retard whenever I hear his voice. He will literally spend ten minutes telling me how much he loves me, and all the reasons why. I’ll literally kill myself if I ever lose him.
The thing that seperates Troy and I from all other couples is the fact that we trust and love each other. You see girls all the time getting mad because they think their boyfriend is cheating on them. Well, I don’t have to worry about that, because I KNOW that Troy will NEVER cheat on me, and I will NEVER cheat on him. Our love isn’t the spontaneous teenage love that happens everyday in America, no, it’s pure, strong, unchanging love. I know that sometimes, he gets nervous, because he thinks I’ll change, but I REALLY wish he wouldn’t worry about me, because I’m NOT going to change, and I know he won’t, either.
I think it’s funny how girls my age say that they “love” their boyfriends when they’ve only been with them a couple of days. I’ve been with Troy for two months on the 11th, and I can honestly say I love him with all my heart and soul. There is no one else I’d rather be with than him. I’ll wait for him.
