One Year in the Making

Yesterday was my one year anniversary of being in my fraternity. I felt like time went by so slow because so much has happened this past year. Fraternity life feels like living in "doggy years": the hundreds of people I have met, many places visited, and several events attended, all would equal to five years of living. I do not know if that makes any sense, but that is how I see life right now. On the other hand, my bowtie experiment was an epic success. My first night wearing it was for my fraternity brother's birthday at a club. I wore a purple bowtie and when I got in the club, all the ladies looked at me more often. I was at the bar and a lady actually came up to me to compliment my bowtie. She told me she never seen guys rock bowties at clubs and that she thought I was brave. I also noticed females were more open to dance with me and I got rejected less than usual. I ended up having more fun than ever before. Then on Friday, I experimented at a college-like tavern where all the guys typically wore Abercrombie and Fitch and all those ridiculous brands. I decided to wear a bright,red dress shirt, jeans, and an ugly brown and blue, polka dot bowtie. One of my fraternity brothers picked me up and told me straight up to get out his car or take off the bowtie! I told him it was an experiment, so he ended up laughing about it, telling me I won't get any girls looking like that. One hour into the bar, I proved him wrong! Many females were coming up to me just to compliment my bowtie and told me it was hot! All my fraternity brothers were astonished and told me that they might start wearing bowties too. I will tell you this, bowties will be apart of my permanent wardrobe.

Rockin the Bowtie Tonight!

Ever since I have been introduced to bowties from Dhani Jones, I wonder if bowties are really the new fashion. I youtubed "how to tie a bowtie from a necktie" and after 5 minutes, I now know how to tie a bowtie! I am wearing a purple bowtie tonight for my fraternity brother's birthday at some club. Hopefully the ladies dig the bowtie! On another note, I passed my CWST! The five minute treading water was easy, but I had trouble passing the 15 meter swim with a rifle. I swear, swimming is so much harder with a rifle on your hand. I re-tried that part like 25 times and finally passed it! If the bowtie thing is a success, you will definitely see me wearing one on a regular basis. Wish me luck!

swimming isn't my thing

I have a swimming test for ROTC today at 2pm. We are required to take one every semester, it is called CWST (combat water survival test). I suck at swimming because I cannot float for a long time. One of the main parts of the test I cannot pass is the five minute treading water portion. If I do not pass this test today, I am subject to not commission as an officer. This morning during PT, I had to take a last minute swimming lesson from an experienced swimmer, but I kept on drowning. I kept on panicing whenever water got in my nose or if I felt like I was going to drown. Then the instuctor sat me down and physically showed me how to properly float. The main thing I learned is I have to focus and relax when it comes to floating. So I took his advice and next thing you know, I was floating like a champ. The main problem now is my arms and legs are sore and tired. Floating took a lot of energy out of me. So wish me luck today and hopefully I pass that stupid test! Other than that, my week is going good so far!

unstoppable

Today, I had a realization that I have been sick for the past two weeks. What is funny is that I have been ignoring it and living my regular lifestyle. I know a lot of people that get sick alter their lifestyle to accomodate their sickness, but I guess I am a new breed of sick people. For the whole spring break, I have been partying and living my life the same, ignoring my sickness and my mind still has the energy and strive to have fun. I constantly cough out green mucus and sneeze 24/7, but that does not stop me from having fun. I do tell people I am sick and not to drink off my beverages, but that is the only difference. My life lesson is do not let things interfere with my lifestyle no matter how bad it is. Always stay on the right path and never steer away, unless it is life or death. I feel like I am unstoppable and can accomplish anything no matter what the obstacle is. Hopefully, my sickness will just go away and let me be. It will. I am always moving forward.

Never Had I Ever...

BEEN IN A RELATIONSHIP!! I know it might sound crazy, but I have been independently single all my life. Females would always ask me why and I would tell them because "I do what I do." This means that I am so used to doing things my way without someone telling me what to do. I party when I want to party, go out whenever I want, and hang out with whoever I want. I am also too busy with my own life with school and trying to stay on the right track. Now don't get me wrong, I have dated girls before, but it never got serious. I do treat women with respect, for example I'll always open the door for them, pay for the date, and not treat them like pieces of meat. Sex is not that important to me. There were females I was interested in, but there was always something wrong with them. For example, they might be in a relationship, have kids, stuck up, too jealous, bossy, just broke up with their boyfriend and need space, or gave me the "friend zone" speech. I HATE that! Sometimes I think I am just too nice of a guy and that the good girls look for the bad guys. I guess I just have bad luck with girls. I am up to new relationships, but it has to be the right one and the right time. I am not that picky in looks, the personality is what matters to me the most. All I ask is to be "real" with me and down for whatever. Not with sex, but with time. They have to have time for me, just like I'll make time for them. I also never been in love, but that is a different story ;)

Frat Life

Ever since Spring 2009, I have been a member of Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity Incorporated. Our frat at UT was founded in 2005, so we are still young and growing. My pledge class was only the fourth line to cross into our chapter and consist of five diverse gentlemen ranging from Puerto Rican, Puruvian, Tanzanian, Italian, to Panamanian/Colombian/Korean. So far frat life has been good, I met so many people throughout the US and continue to meet brothers in my path. I love my frat for the simple fact that we are so diverse and multiculurally expanding. Last year, I went to a national convention in Minnesota where two members from every chapter in the nation had to attend. When we all were in one room, I could see the diversity my frat preaches. In California, there are many asian brothers. In Louisiana, there are the country, red-neck brothers. In New York, there are the "New York" brothers. In Texas, there are the Mexicans. Enough said. Being in this frat helps me open my eyes to different cultures. Besides the diversity, extra things we do for fun are stepping and strolling.

Spring Break

When I used to live in Tennessee, Spring Break was exciting because I always would leave the state to go somewhere else nice to have a good time. Now that I live in Tampa, my Spring Break consists of spending it with friends who came to Tampa for me to be their tour guide. It kinda sucks because my Spring Break is not the same experience as them. They want to go to the beaches, clubs, amusement parks, all of which do not exist in Tennessee. So for this Spring Break, I had to cater to 5 friends, all throughout the week. The first weekend of Spring Break, my friend Dawn and Sheena came down and I took them to Busch Gardens and to the beach. Then the third friend came down on Sunday, which I had to multitask myself to please all of them on the weekend. The following Tuesday, my boy came down and on Wednesday another friend came down. What I learned through this Spring Break is to not plan it with different people at the same time. I almost had a mental break down because they all expected me to show them a good time and I had to constantly think of plans throughout the day to entertain them with. The last weekend I ended up taking them all to Miami, where I am not familiar with, so we all could plan our Spring Break together. It ended up being more fun because I did not know what to expect and it ended on a good note.

Long week of accomplishment

After my epic half marathon and PT test for ROTC, I have completed my week's challenges. Now it is time for spring break! I have several friends from my hometown of Clarksville, TN coming to visit me today and I am very excited to see them. Usually when friends come into town, I try to show them a good time by being the best tour guide. This weekend's festivities consists of taking them out on the nightlife in Channelside and a day at Busch Gardens. One of my friends that are coming is my best friend, which is a female, and we been friends since middle school. She is also in ROTC and is commissioning as an officer this May. I have not seen her since my 21st birthday, so we intend on having a lot of fun. Another good note, my ROTC professor informed me that I will be going to Hawaii in June for Army training. Out of the 27 cadets in my class, I got chosen to go there for 21 days. I never been there before and I am very excited to see paradise. Yes, I will learn to surf when I get there and am interested in their culture. Life is going in the right direction for me so far.

On to the Next One

Yesterday I completed my half marathon race in 1 hour and 37 minutes. I was so proud of my time because I did not expect to run it that fast. My goal was 1 hour and 45 minutes. Victor's family flew down from Pittsburg, PA to support my race and that gave me enough motivation to finish strong. I placed top 25 in my age group and 188th overall out of 20,000 runners. What an accomplishment! My legs feel beat up right now because I never ran that much before in my life. I definitely tested my limitations and now I am willing to go further. My next goal is to run the full disney marathon on January. Now I have a Physical Training test tomorrow morning for ROTC and I do not know if my legs will be recovered by then to run the two mile test. Two miles is better than thirteen miles so I will just wing it and see how I do. Wish me luck!