~~~~~"BULLETPROOF....THE LIFESTYLE"~~~~~ rough draft

THESE ARE MY OPINIONS AND MINE ALONE.

     So typing seemed like my only option, Jenny can type but she works all day and I don’t want to bother her once she comes home, especially when I really need something to do anyway.  When I first started typing it would take me forever to find each key and I only used my index fingers.  Now I seem to have the keyboard kind of memorized and am using my middle fingers also.  Needless to say this still takes a long time, also I decided to add a heading every so often along with some bible verses’ and quotes I like.  Now I’m typing directly into the computer, skipping the paper all together.  I did correct a few sentences’ that seemed to run on or sounded funny to me, but the story is the same.  No one except Jenny knows that I’m trying to write my way through these problems I’m having and I plan on keeping it that way. 

~~~~~"BULLETPROOF....THE LIFESTYLE"~~~~~ rough draft

YOUR TRUE BEHAVIORS WILL COME OUT IN YOUR GREATEST TIMES OF STRESS!

     Doing M.M.A. style workouts has definitely helped me get my cardio up to the level it’s at now and just having one more person to critic me helps with figuring out better ways to improve.  It’s helped me to remember how important deep and steady breathing is in any exercise.  It sounds so simple, and like it’s something that would just come natural, and it does to people that workout all the time.  But as I said in a previous chapter when you stop doing something for a while the skills and knowledge of that event slowly disappear.  The other problem is that just remembering to do something is totally different than being trained to do it automatically.  This became painfully apparent to me when I first realized there was a problem with my breathing during my workouts.  I mean I had figured out the problem and knew how to fix it but without doing it over and over again, so it became automatic , I would soon get tired and start breathing erratically again.  This is the same type of thing that happens in everyday life.  I mean basically when your exhausted during exercise you lose your concentration and anything that you’re not programmed to do automatically is soon forgotten about. 

~~~~~"BULLETPROOF....THE LIFESTYLE"~~~~~ rough draft

IT’S GOOD TO LOVE YOUR WORK.

     The next year and a half became one of the best times in my life. I was busy doing my dream job. Not just putting the deal together, but also working as the general contractor. My job included getting bids from and working with the subcontractors, designing plans with the architect, working with the utility companies, securing permits, and organizing day to day events.  The people I worked with were pretty much all a pleasure to deal with and helpful too.  Working on a project that I believed was going to eventually generate a profit, along with being around great people is why this time in my life felt so right.

~~~~~"BULLETPROOF....THE LIFESTYLE"~~~~~ rough draft

CAR STEREOS ARE FOR WIMPS!

     Soon the excitement in the car calmed down, and the subject turned to stealin’.  I’m sure you recall the story of my buddy and me almost getting caught stealing stereos in High School.  Well, I was with that same guy and we were braggin’ about it. (I just didn’t mention the part about getting caught by my Dad!)  It was me, my High School buddy, and three wrestler’s, in Ramboski.

     Problem was, we had a MUCH more experienced thief in the car.  Of course I’m not going to mention his name, buy I will say he was from Iowa.  This guy would steal, unattended purses, items from the store, he would even go into people’s dorm rooms…..this guy seemed FEARLESS!  So that became our next mission…….to steal something…….and the bigger, the BETTER!  We were all feeding of each other’s stories and looking for that almighty ACCEPTANCE OF OUR PEERS!

     My friend from Joliet had drivin’ his van up to Northern (Ya, the same van that we hid from the cops in, when we were stealin’ car stereos) and that seemed like a better ride for stealin’ something big.  So after a quick trip back to the Wrestling house for another line of coke, a few more “Shrums”, and a change of vehicles……we decided to steal an “Interceptor” motorcycle!  

~~~~~"BULLETPROOF....THE LIFESTYLE"~~~~~ rough draft

I WAS SO SCARED, I COULDN’T EVEN TALK!

     A few days before the camp begun I attended one of those high school parties I was talking about, and ended up spending most of the night in the woods with a girl I met that evening, and to my surprise I ended up catching poison oak!  It didn’t get really bad until a few days into the camp and mostly appeared on my hands and feet, but I was not going to be able to wrestle in Iowa at the nationals with my hands full of a contagious sickness.

     The coaches wanted me on the team so they took me to a hospital in Champaign Illinois right by the college and asked the doctor if he could get rid of the problem by the following week so I could compete in Iowa.  Then it got scary!  The doctor looked at me and said “I’ll need to inject you with steroids son….you’re NOT talking any illegally are you?”  My heart started pounding, and I just sat there not knowing what to say.  After not getting a response he went on to say “If you’re talking illegal steroids, and I inject you with more your body could react….YOU COULD DIE!!!”  At this point I started to get severe hot flashes and thought I was going to faint!

~~~~~"BULLETPROOF....THE LIFESTYLE"~~~~~ rough draft

IF YOU REAL OWNED IT YOU COULD DO ANYTHING WITH IT!

     The last few weeks Dennis has been talking about how a person’s life is not really theirs to own.  God gave us this life on loan and we should treat it that way.  Basically this means God’s plan for us might not be our first choice, or our personal dream, but if you have faith in God you’ll understand the fact that he thinks on a scale we just can’t understand, and maybe your broken dream will give you the life’s experience you need to do something else later. Maybe even a dream that you don’t currently have or want will eventually be your biggest desire in life. I know that thinking broken dreams might help later in life is a hard pill to swallow because currently I am going through a big broken dream of my own and still have bad thoughts about it all.

~~~~~"BULLETPROOF....THE LIFESTYLE"~~~~~ rough draft

WHAT WILL YOUR DEAL BE FOR?

     I want to write one more thing I heard about creating memories a while back.  A guy once told me, and to be honest I don’t remember who, that someday when your laying on your death bed and you know the end is near you will wish you could cut a deal.  The thing is this deal will not be for more money, fame, or power.  This deal will be for more memories with the people you care about.  You’ll wish that maybe instead of working so much overtime or building corporate power you had spent more time watching your kids grow when you had the chance.  I think this makes a lot of sense because who would really wish for more personal accomplishments at the end of their life instead of more good memories with special people.  Once again I know there has to be a balance of making a living vs. quality time with family, but this is something I definitely need to work on more.