We Love You

Good morning everybody. I'm writing you live from the Fine Arts Library. I wasn't expecting to be blogging this morning, and thus didn't bring my laptop. But then I took my Physics midterm and it wasn't as bad as I was expecting so now I'm in a nice mood to write. So enjoy.

I had DLX this weekend. That's the wasted weekend I have directly after Spring Break every year that makes my life hell for two days over in Fort Knox. I still had fun, saw some military comedians perform at the local nightclub. And by the way, for those wondering, after seeing nightclubs in Spain, Morocco, Miami, and Hollywood; The Landing Zone nightclub in Fort Knox really doesn't do much for me. It seems that I'm quite spoiled for my age.

It takes significantly more to impress me than it does many of my peers. Take Alex H. for example, he and I could go do something together (whether it be a nightclub, flight, something touristy, sporting event, whatever) it probably wouldn't take too much to enthuse him. It sounds really snobby, but getting me excited takes a lot more than Daytona, Club Forte, Brunette's, or bonfires.

I started realizing this early on after wondering the streets of alpine Germany alone at age 11, repeat visits to Los Angeles in High School, or getting my pilots license before my driver's license. As I've matured, it's always taken more and more to floor me. There was a time when Amelia Island, Florida had me thinking I was high brow and living life as good it gets. Fast forward less than four years, and now I'm thinking West LA and Beverly Hills is just another one of those "oh yeah I've been there before, it's nice I guess" places.

Abroad, my thesis holds true to an even greater extent. Along with my classy personality is an adventure-chasing individual who enjoys the danger and exotic qualities of the world. For example, as much as I wish to see all of the world, Europe really doesn't appeal to me anymore. The coolest things that happened in Spain and Portugal three months ago couldn't even touch my experiences in Honduras or Morocco. If someone offered me a cheap trip to France for a week, it would have to be pretty damn cheap. It just takes more and more to wow me.

What startles me about this fact, is that I'm only 20 years old! I've lived less than a quarter of my life, only been traveling for half of that, and still I only truly look forward to the biggest and craziest experiences. What's going to happen when I'm 45 years old and have seen every continent inside and out? Will I be done? Will I pack it up, buy a boat, and just chill for the next 30 years? Or will I find even better experiences to top my old memories? It's an interesting thought that I could be chasing the highs of the world my whole life, and despite spending the past 19 years doing things most of the world couldn't imagine, I could be spending the next 20 years pushing the limit further and further with how I spend my money and time. The unknown of what's to come in my life gives me goosebumps. I can't even fathom what awaits me in my life.

But without a doubt the best aspect of a fast paced and exciting life, that which I look forward to the most, is that even if I die tomorrow, I will die satisfied. And that although satisfaction is nearly impossible for me to attain, if I spend my whole life chasing it I'll eventually get there.

So I hope that gives you/me something to look forward to. Changing gears here, since I still have a little bit of time to blog, I've run across an interesting thought. I was watching the 2012 Ultra video, which just highlights the super huge house music party in Miami for two weeks every year, the one I'll eventually go to. Anyway during one of the performances by popular DJ and producer "Hardwell" (The guy that made the masterpiece "Spaceman", which is a song that for the past year has been blasted down Ocean Drive by every bar and club on the neon-lit strip) I saw a sign in the crowd that read, "MIAMI LOVES YOU." Which I believe to be a really interesting notion.

The man who created a song which nearly everyone on South Beach loves, is being told that the city of Miami loves him. I think that's pretty cool! You can love a city, a person, a team, etc. as much as you want. But if that city or person or whatever doesn't love you back, what's the point? In fact when you think about it it seems that those who love something but aren't loved back are the most annoying people we deal with.

Think about a pretty girl. There's plenty of guys that love her, but odds are she loves very few of them. If you imagine for a moment the stereotypical love-struck, socially awkward, desperate guy who 'loves' this girl to death and is very public about it, he's usually not very popular. In fact he's typically the person who, bless him, has no friends and in the minds of most is very replaceable.

Think again about the city of Las Vegas, or anywhere touristy and racy. Now imagine the thousands of tourists who flock to Las Vegas every year with their "I <3 LV" shirts tightly wrapped around their pot-belly. They don't spend money at the bar, they don't make Las Vegas better for anyone, they're just a waste of space in the bar at 11:00pm while the locals and partiers who belong on the strip are begging them to leave. Or those who push strollers down Panama City Beach in March. The equivalent would be for Tom and I to go to Disney World, get absolutely hammered, and trying to pick up 14 year old girls while families are just trying to have a good time.

You can love a city all you want; but if you aren't loved back, if you're not truly welcomed into the confines with any chance at belonging and fitting in, then you're nothing more than the obnoxious freshman desperately chasing after the cheerleader.

That's why I get so thrilled upon finally reaching a point in which I fit in while traveling. It's the point at which the you're under an oak tree outside the Medina of Rabat smiling with the locals as you hide from the rain. It's speaking Spanish and laughing with your waiter in Salamanca, and not feeling like you're only being allowed into the restaurant due to America's spending habits. If I love a city but the city doesn't love me back, I probably won't enjoy myself or return. Why is it I literally go to my Miami nightclubs than frat parties these days? It all continues to explain my seemingly excessive fascination with Miami and traveling the rest of the world.

But my blogging time for today is up. Before I go, I want to offer a disclaimer: if you're gonna be the annoyance in cities, but you stay on the double-decker tour bus, you're fine. Just don't go to places you fucking don't belong. Thank you.

Until next time...