Man, it's been a long time, huh? Where to start? Well, first of all, I left school half a semester through my senior year and joined the Marine Corps. I'll be honest, that was the best decision I have ever made for myself. I know it is the perfect career choice for me right now. I just look at how it fits my personality and... it's a great fit. I mean, a set schedule is what I like. For the most part, the annoying people I can't stand don't have the balls to join the military, let alone the Marines. Granted, I'll have to deal with dicks like Cisnero (the brown-nosing little bitch squad leader from my platoon in boot camp) but hopefully people like him will get weeded or get the shit kicked out of them and knock them back down where they belong. Even so, I can handle them by just ignoring them as much as possible. That's another thing. There's something called Military Bearing that the Marines pride themselves with having. Basically, it's keeping your cool when you are stressed to the max. That's something I'm pretty good at, always have been. Then there's discipline. According to some, I was pretty disciplined through boot camp so that wasn't really an issue with me getting in trouble a lot so... Okay, I just got distracted by a very attractive girl in a commercial (that doesn't count as a loss of bearing because any man who does not get distracted by a pretty girl should not call himself a man) so I forgot where I was going with all of this so I'll move on.
Now, I am a very strong advocate of joining the military for all it can do for you but it is not a decision to be made lightly. I did not fully think about it but my dedication was solidified during boot camp. However, know some of the bad results. Many of your friends will fade away. Your good friends will remain but the rest that you think are friends will merely become acquaintances. I found this out when I went back to my college this weekend. I found that most of my friends only cared about saying 'Hi' before they moved on. Some of those I consider to be good friends turned out to be too busy to see me. That's okay, I won't be back there for probably six months to a year and by then, most of them will be gone. Their loss. I know this sounds discouraging but think of it this way. You will learn who your true friends are and they won't go anywhere. That's what counts.
Finally, along with a change of careers, I've been told I've changed in the last three months. I'm a little more talkative but not as excitable (understandable since we got in trouble for smiling/laughing/ect for the last three months.) Also, someone told me that I've become an asshole. Maybe that's true. I know I've become far more confident, thus far more cocky but I hope that I haven't become an asshole. Then again, girls like assholes, right? Nah, I like to think of it as me being more playful. Whatever the case, I'm not going to apologise for changing. It happens and if you don't like me the way I am, well, all you have to do is ignore me long enough for us to drift apart and then you're home free.

Have you ever thought that your best friend will never cease being your best friend? Have you ever said "We're going to be best friends forever, no matter what?" Maybe some of you know where I'm going with this already. It doesn't usually work that way. See, a friendship, or a relationship of any kind is like a campfire. They don't just happen. Somebody went out of their way to say something and the other person responded. From there, the friendship grew and grew, just like a fire that is continually fed with logs to keep it burning.

Unfortunately, the same is true the other way. If you don't keep adding to the fire it will slowly die out and you'll miss the warmth of the fire but it takes a lot of effort to get that fire going again. Don't let that happen to you.

Now you may be wondering why I am saying this. Well, to be honest, I was watching Bridge to Terabithia and towards the end, I just started thinking about my childhood friends. You don't know this but in grade school, I had two best friends, and two other really good friends. Now, I see one of my best friends MAYBE once a year and that is only at the sunrise service on Easter. The other friend, I only see if he has time, so I've seen him also only once in the past year. The other two, I haven't seen nor heard from in over three years. You want to know the sad part though? I don't even miss them anymore. Sure, I would love to hang out with them again and I will try to get ahold of them this summer yet but it's almost over and I'm not so sure that will happen.

My warning to you. Keep your friends close. Talk to them as often as you can. Hang out with them whenever you get the chance and don't give up on them if they become busy or if they move away, or if you move away. They will always be your friend if you continue talking to them and feeding that fire. Feed that fire, and know this. No matter how close you get to this fire, it will never burn you because a real friend will never hurt you.

I have no doubt in my mind that you have heard that at least once in your lives. Well, I heard it today. In fact, I heard it just after swerving into the street on my bike to avoid getting hit by a car coming out of an alley (yes, same alley, different car). I didn't really think anything of it at the time but later, I heard the song, One by Simple Plan (if you'd like to see the lyrics, http://www.lyricsstyle.com/s/simpleplan/one.html ) and then I started thinking about it.

Older people are always looking down on us because we are younger and "more rebellious" than they are. In truth though, we're no different than they were. I mean, weren't our parents in the generation that smoked pot, listened to obnoxious music, and practiced free love? What makes them so much better than us?

No, my point to this, since after all, it is MY blog, is that I have finally realized that I am the future. In a few years, I'll be teaching a younger generation about the mistakes of the past that will inevitibly be made again in the future. In a few years, I will one that must be a role model to the next generations.

But why start now? I've still got a few years. :D