TOPIC THREE

1) Have children
2) Have a good steady job that I love
3) Play guitar as well as Eddie Van Halen
4) Have lots of money
5) Learn how to cook

One thing I want to do before I die is have a family. When I get older, and before I die I want to have children. Hopefully I’ll be able to have children with a woman that I truly love and want to spend the rest of my life with. I would still want kids even if it wasn’t with the “love of my life.” I absolutely love kids. During the past two summers I worked as a Camp Counselor at Orange Parks & Rec. I got to spend all day with kids, luck me right? Some people can’t stand spending all day with kids, but I had a good time playin’ around with them, having fun, but also laying down the law. Don’t get me wrong, some kids can really be a pain in the ass, but that’s only until you get past their “wall.” Once you get to know them, I mean really know them, (not just their names) you find that they are extremely unique and loveable. I think the reason I love working with kids is because of the relationships that I shared with my counselors when I was younger and attending camp. My counselors made my summers the best they could be; I had so many good times there. My boss this past summer was one of my counselors when I went to camp, and to see him now and realize the kind of impact he had on me is remarkable. I want to be able to make that kind of impact on my children. To think that, if you become a good father and push your children to be the best they can be, at whatever they want to be, they will never forget you. You could be the single most influential presence in that child’s life.

When I get older it’s important to me to have a good steady job that I actually enjoy doing because if you think about it, a person is going to spend most of their lives working. I can tell sometimes that my dad does not always enjoy his job, the stress, the pressure, sometimes it can be overwhelming, and if you don’t like your job, it makes it that much worse. I want to find a job where I can get up in the morning and look forward to going to work. Life is too short to spend it at a job that you absolutely hate. Eventually the hatred for the job will start to creep into your social life, and you’ll just be miserable and pissy all the time, and it’s just not worth all that trouble to me.

Just a few years ago I listened to my very first rock album. I had heard PLR played on the radio growing up, but never really paid attention to what was being played. On a trip to New Jersey once, I stole a few of my parents’ CD’s to listen to in the car to pass the time. One of the CD’s that I had taken was Van Halen, Women and Children First. That was my first real taste of rock and roll, and I loved it. Now music is pretty much my life, I don’t know what I would do if my computer crashed, or if my i-pod was stolen. The first CD’s that I ever put onto my computer were those of Van Halen. Day after day I would sit mesmerized by the “sick nasty” guitar styling of Eddie Van Halen. I was amazed at how well someone could play the guitar. Music in general along with food is a gateway to the entire world. Anywhere that you go in the world, cultures are going to have music, they may be different from one an other, but music is such a powerful tool that it’s something people can stand behind and follow. Eddie, with some help from Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix inspired me to start to learn the guitar. I have been playing for almost a year now and still have a long way to go to be as good as Eddie Van Halen.

Wanting to have lots of money seems a little materialistic, I know. But if you have lots of money, you can do anything you want. Now when I say lots of money I don’t mean Bill Gates money, I mean several million, or just enough so I wouldn’t have to work ever again and could buy what ever I pleased. Of course if I had a real lot of money I would definitely go the charity route too. If I had that kind of money now, I would sit on my deck (on the nice days) and play guitar and eat all day long; that right there is the most perfect moment that I can think of. Could you imagine how nice it would be, to not have to worry about how you’re going to pay your bills, or not have to worry whether or not you’re going to have enough money for gas the next day, or whatever? Not a care in the world, just me, on my deck, with only the sound of the wind, and my guitar.

I love to watch people cook, on TV or in my own kitchen, I think it’s an art form, and the people who do it well, are truly artists. If all that they played on the Food Network was Emril Live, Good Eats, and Iron Chef America, I would have no need for any other channels. The people on those three shows are pure geniuses. They can combine and create dishes that tap into every culture across the globe. In Iron Chef America, the chefs have to be able to look at a counter of assorted foods and create a masterpiece, and they do. Not only am I amazed at their tremendous knowledge about all kinds of foods, but cooking opens up a path to the entire world. Cooking is something, and one of the few things that is shared in common throughout the world. Every corner of the globe has their own traditional recipes, and their own take on how to make it.
I truly believe that all life, no matter how insignificant it might seem has some value. To understand what the value of that life may be, you might have to follow a person around from the time they were born. Sometimes it is quite easy to figure out if a life has value. I am an only child, and I know for a fact that my parents see me as the most valuable thing in their lives. To my parents my life has value, I am their child, I am their son, I gave them a purpose. As a child and until you become a parent, you really won’t understand the value of life that your own parents saw in you. The impact you make as a child or baby on your parents’ life is so significant, and as a child or a baby you really have no idea, how significant.