Transitions

Transitions, the monumental fiasco to the continuance of life. Transitions are what make us into the people we are and want to become. Once we make these transitions we expand our horizons physically, emotionally, socially and internally/externally. 

As we drift into other directions that seem less familiar than ever before, we can be certain that a transition is upon us. Some transitions will be harder for some and easier for others, but they must be done. They are inevitable!!! They are the chapters in our lives that makes us into the people we want to become. 

I speak of this now of all times because this is currently taking place in my life. I am graduating with my masters degree in Special Education and a bachelors in History, am a teacher in the SAS department at Grandview High School (Cherry Creek Schools), I just had my 2nd back surgery on my L4/L5 lumbar structure. It enables me to do the things I love the most!! Teaching is something that makes me happier than I have ever been!! The art of Muay Thai Kickboxing, creating and producing music and teaching/helping kids. I absolutely LOVE working with kids!!! I am physically incapable of doing any of the above for a short amount of time, but yet it feels as though it's forever. Without the support of my co-workers at Grandview, my Muay Thai and BJJ family, my family in general and most of all my loving and amazingly perfect in every way wife, this would be a LOT tougher! Instead, I have meditated (prayed 'if you will') on the positive outcome in a universal sense of the word outcome. I can let this bring me down and drive me crazy or...I can continue to fight through each and every step of the way! Os!!!!

Coming back stronger than ever, I have dedicated myself to doing at least 5-8 more amateur Muay Thai fights before doing at least 2-3 Pro fights and then help teach Muay Thai to some of my kids. 

I will be coming back to school with a new perspective on how to get certain academic and social information across to my kids and show them that anything is possible, as long as you apply yourself. Monumental and minute transitions will take place, but the person you want to become WILL unfold if you keep your head in the game!!

Last but not least, I will finally do what I have always dreamed of doing and that is making music for all to relate to. I will teach myself programming, variations of technique in sound quality and rhythm, as well as the most important piece to all of the above that I have mentioned PATIENCE!!!! Without this, things become...harder than they need to be. 

Life is ONLY what YOU make it to be - 2pac

One more round

I have been slacking with my blog writing, but this makes up for the other areas in my life which have been extremely busy, successful and future driven!! I thought I would give this blog writing ritual one more round and see how it goes.

My heart is racing, sweat is dripping down my face as my feet stick to my wooden floor. I have just returned from a run and am unwinding before I begin the last big assignments of my Masters in Special Education Degree. Gulp! After days and hours of holiday festivities, work and a good long procrastination (Call of Duty), I have sat my ass down to finish the haul. Once I begin, the words flow, the passion of my craft begins to surface and finally comes to light. Words written in APA format, 8 references on a word document, and it just looks as though it fits the perfect cliché for a college final. A 10 page literature review on academic instruction with students who have autism, or ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). The topic interests me and fuels the fire I have for working with my kids, but the mental stress of writing a paper because it justify's meeting the requirements for college level courses (masters seeking students) seems a little un-called for. I learn more in the field than I do behind these articles to begin with. This does not however work with everything of course. Although, teaching is something that you will truly learn by doing and practicing. Just as a doctor practices medicine, or a lawyer practices law, a teacher practices education and implementation of that education.

I can't wait to begin my new adventure in the teaching world. Tomorrow is the first day I meet my co-operating teachers and get the lay of the land too!! The cliché of making a difference is EXACTLY what I want and plan on doing. I hope, along with my wonderful wife who is already an amazing teacher, to be an administrator who gets to structure school/classroom settings more distinctively and appropriately for the betterment of students' learning. I have waited too long for this moment to come and have traveled many roads to get here, but I am finally here and I finally made it. Well, as long as I get through this last week of the semester haha. The three things that I pursue full heartedly in this life is Education, Music and Muay Thai. Now it is time to get everything in order and fully pursue these fields of interest with my heart fully attributed.

Learning

As most of you know, I am in school to become a teacher. My focus is in Special Education. This field is very diverse and deals with a numerous amount of kids and adults with learning difficulties/disabilities, as well as physical, emotional, social and mental within its context. My goal upon becoming a teacher is to help students learn and find their potential as a human being as my teachers did for me. 

Education comes in all shapes, sizes and forms in life. Education through the American school system has been taught explicitly in one direction until the 21st century. Before this, the idea of education and school was to sit in class take notes, listen to the teacher, work with others and obtain a letter grade (based upon a percentage) that is set upon the state, then the districts academic curriculum. We now know this to be less effective than once thought, and could possibly steer students in the opposite direction of wanting to obtain more knowledge within education (Academia).  Research shows that intrinsic and extrinsic motivation plays a larger role in receiving letter grades than most would think. This notion of learning in a competitive environment within school and capitalistic society causes the majority to fall within the 'normal' range on the academic scale. Thus, causing others to perform exceptionally high and others exceptionally low on the scale. Teachers like myself want to find that intrinsic motivation for kids to WANT to learn, rather than forcing them to gather information that they could honestly care less about and then spill it back out again on a test, only to lose the information within months or weeks time. A lot of students, once they reach a certain level upon the grading scale, perceive themselves to be this letter in life. They self manifest their ways of life through this letter grade. Most of these are labeled as average and so they see themselves as the average person with average potential. Spreading like a disease, it takes over the mind of an individual who has yet to discover what he/she is interested in and wants to pursue. The notion of average or less than average is ingrained within them.   

The point is that we ALL learn differently. Some are visual and some are auditory, kinesthetic or tactile. It took me my entire life to figure out how I learn and obtain knowledge in any degree at my best possible coherency. It wasn't until college that I took that road on my own and figured out how I learn best and differently than most. 

This comes through with EVERY single method of knowledge and education!! Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu, fighting as a whole, baseball, football and all sports! It also applies to relationships and working with others from a social aspect. Learning is a never ending process and can be pursued in a plethora of ways. Maybe a football player learns best by watching videos and then applying what he has watched/learned on the field. Maybe he runs a bunch of plays and learns best from his numerous times on the field (epistemology) through experience. We all learn from experience but NOT all have the same experience within the same context of understanding what is being processed or done. We must first SEE how each individual learns best and proceed with the facts and move forward. Collaboration is a way to test understanding and give that understanding, or lack there of, support from others in the same boat, but NOT ALL PEOPLE LEARN THE SAME!!!My fiancé Lyly is also a teacher for secondary social studies/history. We both have agreed that helping these kids learn is our main concern and what we originally signed up to do in the first place. Whether that is through any of these learning styles. 

                                  

Moving on Up in the World

It's getting to be that time in a man's life (my personal life and experience with 'things') where one must realize what he wants to do with his life from here on forward. Not just future, family, career, friends, likes, wants and all in between, but rather, where I make definitive choices in my life that will lead me to becoming the man I want to become and show the world as I am. Who I perceive myself to be and who the world perceives me to be. I am my own manifestation of myself amongst the rest. I possess the power to transform thought to action and discipline to practice. This notion of becoming a 'man' in pop culture and what a man's responsibilities are is bogus and blown out of proportion. A man takes care of his family AND friends and loved ones in his own way (how society has portrayed him to do so over many years) and a woman does the same. We do this because we love these people and the place they hold in our lives and are willing to do what it takes to comfort them, support them and trust/rely on them vice versa.
Just as my fiancé told me, a woman was going on about how a woman is supposed to take care of her man and give him things whenever he wants, asks or needs. A man provides for the family and woman and the woman does the rest. This has been placed in the traditional thought of many cultures around the world. Slavery was also a huge traditional and cultural essence among many cultures, but that too faded out over time. Soon the set gender roles of man and woman will do the same. Their is nothing wrong with these notions of gender and tradition, but the more we develop and transform psychologically, emotionally and socially as a species the more we discover about ourselves. We do this because we love these people and the place they hold in our lives and are willing to do what it takes to comfort them, support them and trust/rely on them vice versa.

I am moving up in the world, and it is better than I once amy have thought it would have been. Getting married to an amazing woman who will be the mother of my children, all the while moving into a new house with brand new everything is only the beginning of the rest of our lives. I could't be happier, but this is where the choices that make us into the people we want to become count!!

How Hard Are YOU Willing To Work??

What is the limit to a person who can handle numerous things at one given point in time of their life? How many items can one person juggle and keep afloat at a consistent rate of production?

I know that everyone is different and some people can handle more things than others can, but every single person has their breakdown point, do they not? We seem to be naturally built like that from the way society has sculpted us. There are curricular activities and processes that mold you otherwise so you DON'T break down while taking on too much. They seem to teach us to take one step at a time and do what you can with what you have. Things like physical training, which teaches you about your mind and body alone,  psychology, which focuses on the mind and even things like school and work. They all collaborate and teach us certain things about ourselves that further develop us into the people we are and do become.

I am currently juggling multiple items in my life. Before these events all happened at once, one by one, I thought I was ready for it and prepared. "I can do ANYTHING I set my mind to," I told myself. "This will be hard, but I can do it and will do it." Well, things aren't always what they seem are they? I sure enough became overwhelmed and ready to explode. Not quit, which is a first reaction for anyone who gets overwhelmed, but fighting (Muay Thai) has taught me otherwise.  I knew that what was all happening were all good and beneficial things to/for my life, but I just bite more off than I could chew....at least at first I thought I did. Sooner than later, I came to an understanding with myself and my mind that I have taken this on because I know I can do it, but nothing is quite what it seems from an exterior perspective. We all think one way about something until if hits us in the face or doesn't work out the way we thought it would. We learn from this and MUST take things for what they are and deal with the things that are put right in front of us at any given moment in time. Because it CAN be done. It just depends on how hard you are willing to work for it and make it happen.

On June 30th, 2013 I asked the most amazing, beautiful, perfect, kind, loving, caring, generous, respectful and hottest young woman I have ever met to marry me. I personally never thought I was the type of guy who would EVER get married and have a family and fall in love. But I have and I will. And since then we have been planning, planning and more planning for our big day. On top of this, we are both is school. She is currently student teaching and getting her degree, along with a teaching licensure, in history. This is what I got my bachelors degree in as well and one of the main reasons we kicked it off so well from the beginning. I am getting my masters in special education and teaching licensure too. So we are both pretty much constantly busy keeping up with school work and the whole nine yards that comes with it. Including 30 hours of field experience...On top of this, I am working two different jobs and work about 4-5 days a week. My dog just had knee/ACL surgery, which is easier to handle than I thought because I moved back in with my parents, until February when I move into our new house that Lyly's parents got for us, and they help keep a good eye on my other best friend BoB the bulldog :) With this, I am constantly studying and working, trying to get to training or at least work out so I don't get stressed and all the while keeping my head on straight. These days I barely have time to myself, let alone with my fiancé. It is all NOTHING to bitch about, but rather something to be grateful for and reminded that I am thankful to have the people in my life that I do. You all know who you are because you are in our wedding, coming to our wedding, or I have let you know where you stand in my life and without you all I am nothing. So thank you for being you and extending your support to LyLy and I whenever it is needed.

My conclusion with and to my thesis is that all men and women are created EQUALLY! Some may be academically smarter, physically smarter or faster/talented, better at other things than we are, but we are ALL the same!! Although coming in different shapes, sizes, colors, ways and approaches, we are all made from the same thing and come from the same place. Not the same woman, or same culture, ethnicity or even from the same ideologies, but we either walk, talk, move, look, turn, sound, sit and yearn for the same things. Who doesn't want a successful life? Who doesn't want to eat, drink, survive and and enjoy each day and have a smile on their face? When people don't it's because they are doing something that is NOT making that happen or smile appear.

Live, Love, Laugh, Dream and Shoot Big!! YOU are in control!!!

Back at it!!

Well.... I have been gone for some time now and it has been eye opening for me on a numerous amount of levels. So many things to tell and yet it is ALL summed up into a few words....."I am the happiest I have ever been". I am getting married to the most beautiful, loving, caring, kind, generous and loving human being and best friend a man could ever dream of in 9 months (or so). That is the first and most important news.

Life has taken the biggest turn of events in the sense that I have a fully loaded plate and a new found life and beginning. Currently taking my master program for Special Education, which couldn't be more exciting and fun, but extremely hard. I have told some people that this is by far the hardest semester of college I have ever had and it's only the beginning of the 2nd week. All the while I worked both of my jobs today, one is at a high rise condo building in down town where I am currently a concierge (for the past 3 1/2 years) and is great money, then I headed to one of my clients house to work on his socio-cultural interactions in the home, school and regular environment, a job working with kids who have autism couldn't be more rewarding and fun. After working 13 straight hours I had to pick up my dog and stop by my fiancés house (took an hour nap) and finally got home to do some homework at 11pm. An extremely busy day today. Also having my best friends wedding this previous weekend, in the midst of moving out of my house back to my parents house for 5 months until I move into our new house that my baby's parents got us. I couldn't be more excited to do this and start a new life with her. It is truly a blessing and gift to be able to spend the rest of my life with my best friend and soul mate/life time companion. These two jobs, classes, homework (nuts), training (when I can and have time to breathe), studying, taking care of my pup BoB who is going into surgery on Wednesday, spending time with my boo bear and planning for our wedding and engagement ceremony which is this upcoming weekend, all the while making sure all my stuff gets done is tiring and can ware you down in the snap of your fingers. I have never in my life been this busy and it's great, but overwhelming as well. It IS all worth it though because our future is bright, our future is successful, our future is togetherness and most of all it is happening right now as I speak.

I hope everyone is doing well out there and you're making the most out of life, even when it gets hard it's all WORTH it and worth the fight and struggle at times. We must find it within ourselves to find the light at the end of the tunnel (if necessary) and we must look for the answer within ourselves to get to where we want to be and where we belong. Keep your head up and eyes open because you NEVER know who you're going meet or what's going to happen next :)

We ARE who we ARE (day #19)

I wouldn't expect for you, or anyone for that matter, to try and be someone other than themselves. But, with what is going on in today's world, that's pretty much all people do, trying to 'be' someone who they think fits their own personal M-O. And, as we have discussed here before, our own outlook on particular ways in life are accumulated by those strong outfits in society. You know, the ones at the top of the money pyramid who say what is and isn't cool or hip or in style? Ya, those people set the tone in things like fashion, idealism and fundamentalism. We also know that younger adolescents who just want to be 'cool,' and fit in with the crowd. The definition of cool is also set at different degrees according to age variety as well. What does it mean to be cool at the age of 7-10? These have multiple variations within meaning of particular social circles. Being 'cool' during middle school or even in high school tends to correlate, to some level, with one another? The spectrum is always changing and becoming more or less evolved as one's age group progresses. Some of us find ourselves through the chaos in the world and tend to develop at a 'natural' state, meaning that as society helps to shape our self of being, our friends, activities, music, education and surroundings, it also plays that beneficiary role in evolving the person we are. While having people to look up to, who inspire us and who have influence on what we become having also take part, they only have these things in common in the shaping of idealism, not entirely or specifically making you who you are!! YOU are the one who chooses. We all choose & take our own paths in life. It's not the path in life that decides who we are as individuals...We ourselves make that decision when choosing the paths or tasks that present themselves to us as we progress. The choice itself IS our development, progression and understanding. 

How does a man/woman truly and honestly develop and judge him/herself in this world? Is there a social curriculum that you choose to abide by, evaluate yourself and to progress on this type of fundamentally constructed non-sense? People are always judging us in one way or another, saying one thing, but actually meaning another even. One can never really trust/rely on another human being unless it is a loved one, but even then the circumstances are still slim that whatever the deed at hand may be, it will most likely not go the way you had hoped or imagined it would go. Which brings us to the very thought of expectation itself and how we arrive at the specific ideal.  The next question would be 'do you even need to expect or rely on another human being other than yourself?? In surroundings such as the work setting you can and must because one must keep their job (if it is a necessity to maintain a particular lifestyle), but then again they honestly do not have to be reliable. As human beings we build relationships with others to enforce or ways of life so we can construct a monument of lifetime 'trust'and companionship that exceeds in numerous amounts of ways making life what it is today, tomorrow and 30 years from now. If we were to take this all away, we would have something completely different than we do today. Insofar as we need relationships to further develop our societies and civilizations into a progressive ideal state. That's the goal of most 'developing/developed' cultures and societies right? That and the betterment of the human being itself. 

How would you want to change things in your life for the betterment of oneself and/or others? DO the relationships in your life count and stand for something certain in your journey/path and tasks through life?