THE BRIGHT SIDE

I've been trying soooooo hard to come up with a post that isn't about something I HATE...and I'll be totally honest, its almost FUCKING impossible. With the amount of information that my brain ingests throughout the course of one day...that easily exceeds a TERABYTE, I struggle to incorporate optimistic ideals into the "TheBasesLoaded" Blog. I tend to chalk up my erroneous blog ideas to the astronomical amount of stupidity - that I CAN'T seem to avoid.

Now...I've tried everything, but somehow the only logical way of dodging INEPTITUDE, would be to lock myself in a wooden box in the middle of a cornfield; for 4 years, somewhere in the middle of South Dakota...

I don't mean to BILLYCLUB you all with another sequential entry in which I verbally define my moral boundaries, but if you've read this much, I'm guessing that your probably sharing some of the same feelings that I have already expressed.

As a kid, I was forced to write speeches in my grade school class for the local OPTIMIST Club and publicly give them in front of a panel of judges. The Optimist club was kind of similar to a localized "Lions Club" (These might not exist outside of good ol' PA) in that they sponsored local scholastic events, Charity events, gave scholarships to under privileged students for college, and had a gigantic mailing list to recruit donations.

One year I talked about Milton Hershey's financial success after he weathered a series of bankruptcies. The moral of the story was that his theory of NEVER GIVING UP has obviously paid off, and his optimistic ideals are a lifelong lesson that everybody can learn from.

The following year I spoke about Jack Dempsey; the early American prizefighter (1914) who was beaten TWICE by the same man, before he avenged failure and proceeded to win the middleweight title. Jack Dempsey was a "picture perfect" example of a man who confronted his obstacles in life, and eventually beat them - literally.

I was really good at giving these speeches, and believe it or not I placed in the top 3 spots every year I entered the contest - throughout PA, NJ, and DE...

There is a reason why...

You see, at this age I was able to get in front of a room full of people I've never seen before and SCREAM about how ridiculously happy and optimistic I was - because I didn't have BILLS to pay. Quite frankly...at that age, I had no responsibilities at all.

A NORMAL "schoolday" would consist of me arriving home from school, WD-40'ing the chain on my Diamond Back mountain bike, tightening the trucks on my NASH skateboard, and off to the park I went - with two packs of Camel Wides, a gold ZIPPO from "Things Remembered" with my initials engraved on it, and two cans of Ronson lighter fluid.


I had taken everything for granted in my life at that point, and although I didn't realize it at age 14, I was entombing life-long lessons into my "Trapper Keeper of life" by giving those speeches at the local Optimist Club.


Drumroll pllleaseeee.....


As my life goes on - I am becoming a PESSIMIST.

Shocking, huh?

I firmly believe that we all are. Throughout my life I've learned to expect the WORST in any possible situation. I never think of a TRAFFIC JAM as a great way to spend a Friday afternoon...I never think that my college football team (WVU) is going to overcome a 10 point deficit with 2 quarters of play left in the game...I am also pretty confident that the one GAS PUMP I choose to pull up to, will most certainly have that awfully disgusting - yellow DO NOT USE BAG hanging off of it...I'm almost POSITIVE, its going to lightning storm on the day I am supposed to play golf with the owner of Def Jam...Furthermore, when I go into Foot Locker looking to buy a pair of white Nike Air Force One's - size 10.5's, I am betting my 57" Sony Bravia flatscreen TV that the referee comes out of the back closet with the look on her face like she just lost her kid at the state fair, telling me she has no more left.


Now, I've tried "making the best" out of situations like these...but all its left me to do was pace back and forth in Best Buy's lobby saying over and over to myself..."Fuckin' A..." For me, the idea of making the best out of a bad situation sometimes, just isn't an option.

Obviously, the TRIVIAL examples listed above are not enough to make me go AWOL, but those experiences seem to make it easier to anticipate something of similar proportions to happen again.


Pessimism is beginning to become part of the WORLD we live in. Its a character trait that's prevalent EVERYWHERE I look.


Its a hell of a thing, but I look at it like this...


"A pessimist is NEVER disappointed..."