Season of Life

It's a Saturday night, and I have no intentions on doing anything productive, so why not blog a little? And as I listen to Cher Lloyd's sweet new single, Oath, I'll just pretend that my opinion matters, and comment on a few things that have caught my eye!

The first thing that aches me the most is the NHL lockout that has now been in session for just over an hour. I am not taking the side of the owners nor the players. I think that both sides are being difficult and just complete idiots. I don't need to say anything about commissioner Bettmen, because we all know he's not the brightest bulb in the box; but he's basically locking out the league for trying to fix a problem that he tried to fix seven years ago. As for the players, they're just being selfish and greedy. The players are asking for a 57% share of the income. When you compare that number to the 48-50% that players in the NBA and MLB get, which by the way are much larger markets, it just seems a little outrageous. I would have no issue if the players' association and NHL are actually listening to each other and their offers, but they're making counter offers based on their own previous proposals. Who does that?! Just absolute ignorance! I went through this once in Grade 9, and I don't want to go through it again.

I have no idea when this issue will get resolved; so while I wait, I'm going to attempt to fill the large void inside of me through various ways which are currently unknown to me. If I were to make a rough estimate on when there will be NHL hockey again, my optimistic answer is mid to late November. But it's okay! According to Gary Bettman, the NHL has the greatest fans in the world - in other words, recovering from all the lost money will not be a problem because the fans are mere doormats.

A second topic of discussion came up today in a conversation that I had. My response is pretty simple and straight forward: no, two years of Bible college has not meant that I now have a girlfriend. It's quite simple, I haven't really been pursuing this aspect of my life. I would be lying if I said I never think about it, but I just don't think that I've cared enough to be actively chasing after "potential candidates" or however you want to coin that term. Having learned more about the topic of love has really allowed me to gain a better understanding of what it means for me to be lucky enough to have a girl that would love me and for me to love her.

Relationships last a life time because you choose to love people - it applies to more than just husband or wife, just people in general - so this "falling" in love seems kind of bogus to me. It might seem like you get hit with a sudden wave of affection for someone, but it's because you've unconsciously allowed yourself to be blown away by him or her. So with that in mind, I kind of get the sense that when I can stop being a wuss and get out there a little bit, it'll come. I don't believe that God has prepared one person, and one person only, for me (or you, for that matter), it comes with the same idea as choosing to love the people in your life, so I do think that there can be multiple possibilities for each person. However, I can say in good confidence though, that if you ask people who have been married for many years, they would choose the same spouse every time, even knowing that there was possibility that they could have ended up with someone else.

I should also note that people should not get all worked up about not being able to find a girl or a guy for them, because God wants for you to find the perfect person so much more than you could even imagine. So I don't think we should lose hope or have fear of being alone, and it shouldn't be something we worry about. Rather, we should be excited, because God is going to provide for you everyone you need in order to live life to the best of your ability.

Man, I never thought I'd write about my love life in this fashion. Haha.

The last thing I'm going to talk about is my money management. I've always been someone that doesn't spend often; but when I do, I blow a huge amount. Everything I do, I do it big. Right? Haha. Just kidding. (I figured that since I referenced the Dos Equis commercial, I might as well reference a song as well) Right now, I am under tremendous temptations to be spending approximately $1000, or more. Normally, I just shoot these temptations out of my mind because I look at my bank account and I realize that it's not even remotely possible for me to spend any kind of money on a semi-large purchase. But because my bank account, at this moment, has sustained an amount that is larger than what I'm accustomed to, in the back of my mind, I am trying to justify buying certain things that I may not really have a need for - at least not at this point in time. Another factor that comes into the picture for when I make purchases is the ability for someone to somehow ALWAYS make me feel guilty about the money I just spent.

I've learned, from my previous spending past, of the certain things that is okay for me to spend a lot on and others that I really shouldn't be spending much on. A prime example is a house: you want to buy one as soon as you can. The flip side to that, some may argue, is a car: most cars have terrible resale value, and generally aren't the greatest investments considering what they do. Therefore, outside of reliable, I wouldn't spend much more on a car. So with me, still learning how to be independent, I'm going to see very soon how much self control I'll have in spending unnecessary money. So at this point, I think the chances of me getting my loop pedal (which would stick with me for the rest of my life - or for as long as I'm playing music, which is basically my whole life) is much higher than the chances of me getting a new computer (only to be upgraded for a better machine in a few years). Only if I were crazy, which some might say that I am, would I buy both. In the case that I did buy both, that would amount to $1000 or more.

I have to apologize for not following all the presidential speeches and stuff, so I can't comment on any of those items. =D

Hope everyone enjoys the last several days of summer!