revolution

long time no see....whoever is reading this. :-)

It's been a while so this is yet another sorta long rant. Yet again about how I want to better myself. I kinda do this alot because, well, it's tough. Going from good to bad is as easy as one little decision. But I think going from bad to good is harder because it requires tons of good decisions to overpower temptation. I keep praying that I can get through it though. I absolutely loathe quitting. It's almost not an option.

So, lately I've been playing the Sims 3 alot with Andrew and Cory. (i didn't play today though; progress? i hope so) I realized while playing, my ' SimSelf ' gets more done in one day than I do in a week! What kind of life am I living? I always talk about how I long to have a great job that I love and I want to be self sufficient and prove that I can live life on my own without going back to my old ways. And yet I spend 1-5 hours a day on this stupid game...making my digitally produced self BETTER!!! I'll ask again, What kind of life am I living??

I've been a big fan of zenhabits.net for a few months now. It's an awesome blog to read. Anyways, i was reading the latest entry on it tonight and it was talking about the solutions for feeling "stuck" in life. Now I don't necessarily feel stuck, because I know it just takes some hard work and I'll be right out of the hole I'm in. But it taught me a little bit about 'giving up'.

This doesn't mean what the general meaning might seem like. It wasn't about giving up and just taking an "f' it" approach to life. It was about giving up caring about all the little unimportant things in life and actually focusing on what's important. I'll name a few to give some examples of what I'm trying to explain. (the bold ones are the one's that really stood out for me)

• Give up achieving ego-driven goals
• Give up caring about owning a lot of cool things, which keep you distracted from acknowledging that you don’t like what you’re doing with your life
• Give up needing a reason to share your love. Being alive is reason enough.

• Give up trying to have a flawless body, perfect face, or an impeccable wardrobe. Care more about beautifying your mind and being a person who takes beautiful actions.

The last two were totally awesome to read. It changed my thought process quite a bit. I really would like to change my life now. Really. And I want to be done with laziness. I am almost 20 ( yeah i'm a youngin ) and I need to start being responsible, dependable, and have the right mindset. I'm a work in progress. But I'm gonna be praying that I don't get distracted or led astray. I've said "i'm gonna do this, i'm gonna be better" way too many times and not put the amount of effort, that I know I have, into my goal.

It's time to change.


If you've gotten this far, thanks for reading. I appreciate you taking the time to read about my life and stuff.

Have an awesome week everyone. I'll post up soon.

Hopefully announcing progress.

smells like teen spirit

alright first off the title has nothing to do with this blog. i'm just jammin out to Nirvana and couldn't think of a title. :-)

So,

Going to cypress affords me many connections, ie. being a Toyota employee (not paid of course), having access to their database of information on every car/truck they've made (Toyota, scion, or Lexus) , and a faster means of attaining a job at a Toyota, Scion, or Lexus dealer as a mechanic. This semester a friend of mine took 3 of 8 of his certification tests, passed them, and within 48 hours he had an interview at Lexus of Westminster. This got me pretty excited that I'd be in a similar situation myself once I took my tests. Well, I took them. I passed 2 of 3, and i'll be retaking the third one next month.

I e-mailed the Toyota director at my school and he told me there are no job openings right now. Bummer. So now, after 4-6 months of thinking my long awaited career is going to begin this summer, I have to go find yet another temporary job until I can find an opening somewhere. I've been jobless since January. Thankfully my mom has the heart to support me. But I'm getting tired of it. I want so badly to be self sufficient. And to use my own money instead of asking for it from my mom.

So now that we got that covered. I am gonna go on a big diet plan that I've been putting off for a while. I'm gonna try and lose around 20 pounds, it's not alot but it's a start. Hopefully i can do it by the end of the summer. I'm hoping I can get a new bike for my birthday so I can decommission the explorer hopefully for a good portion of my commutes to friends houses and stuff like that. As for now i'm gonna stick with eating right and exercising like 3-4 times a week. Wish me luck.

Have an awesome day peoples.

what lies ahead

The title of this made me laugh because Out of Focus had a song with the same name. Anyone who reads this and remembers OOF should feel free to laugh :-) I did.

Anyways,
So i've been thinking of the future alot lately. Within a week I should be receiving my ASE test results on whether or not i passed my certification tests. Nervous as heck about that. It pretty much determines my elegibility for a job whereever i choose to apply. aka everywhere related to toyota/lexus within 30-40 miles of here. I'm still confident of my scores though so it's all good.

Sometime during summer break, me and justine are driving to colorado to look at schools for her. And jobs, apartments for me. I don't plan on moving there asap, I want to work here and save for at least a year before i make that jump. But i've decided colorado is my destination. I'm tired of the orange county lifestyle. (even though i will never ever be happy about moving away from the beach) My big stress about moving is what kind of jobs and salaries will be available to me over there. This is why we're making the trip over there. I obviously won't be making as much, but living there is a fraction of the prices here (in most places). But think about it, everyone needs a mechanic. Don't they?

What the future holds excites me. I'm almost 20 and I cannot wait to be independant and living on my own. Basically I can't wait to be making my own money again haha but I would really like to be self sustaining as soon as i can make that leap of faith.

Have an awesome afternoon everyone.

-Ricky

just today

Hello all,

today i got up real early (845) to help, more like watch, "led to victory" take band pics. It was pretty fun. I missed hanging out with these guys so much. It was rad. I miss being in a band really bad. I'm considering making some solo stuff and putting it out there for fun. Most likely just acoustic stuff. The only problem I've had is writing lyrics, it's been so long since I used to do that so i've lost what little talent i had in doing so. I guess we'll see what happens. I just need some new inspiration.

If anyone has any suggestions on some great acoustic music, aside from Jack Johnson, John Mayer, or Dave Matthews, that'd be awesome. I need some more influences. :-)

Have a great day everybody!

-rickity jay malmsteen