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I just came back from Oaxaca, Mexico after celebrating the Day of the Dead and had such a great time that I wanted to write an article on how to do it. Please recommend me or comment if you like my article. Thanks!

My Grocery List

• 1 lb. bag of beans
• Cantaloupe
• 2 lb bag of carrots
• Celery
• potatoes
• bag of onions
• eggs (dozen)
• sweet potatoes
• oatmeal (1 qt)
• loaf of whole wheat bread

This summer after work at night, I learned a bit of html and created a website on Notepad . For a while though, I kept putting off getting my website online since I had no idea how to get started. Thankfully, a few friends started helping me out with referrals so I HAD to get it up. It’s actually much easier than I thought and this is coming from someone who knows close to nothing about this kind of stuff. Anyways, after an hour and a half of clicking buttons, I got it online here. In case others have this same problem, I will outline what I did.

Bringing website online for first time on GoDaddy.com

1. Go to GoDaddy.com.
2. Type in what you want your domain name to be where it says, “Start your domain search.”
3. Once you have one that you can use, click shop on more products.
4. Click on the “Hosting” tab and choose what you want. (I chose the website hosting.)
5. Click on your plan and your operating system. (I chose the economy plan for 1 year since I only wanted to start a small business. In addition, the Linux operating system is on default so if you have Windows, change it to Windows.)
6. Click on Check out.
7. Follow the check out instructions. I created a new GoDaddy.com account and I didn’t get any extras (since I don’t need anything fancy.)
8. Pay for it.
9. Once the confirmation shows, go to “My Account.”
10. Click on “Hosting” and add your domain to it.
11. Click on “Manage Account.”
12. Sign up for GoDaddy’s FTP Client through the Hosting Control Center.
13. You should be sent an email within 24 hours.
14. Go back on GoDaddy’s Hosting Control Center and upload your file. (I created mine on Notepad.)
15. Rename your first file you uploaded as “default” or “index.”
16. It should show up. Mine did. 

**This information is just for informational purposes only and if you have any problems, talk to someone who really knows what they’re talking about. For example, GoDaddy.com customer service representative or a professional website designer**

Some choices I will have to make are: staying here or moving to Miami with my parents, what I want to study for grad school, and whether graduation is the best option. I will meditate on this.

Today we learned about the elements of design, which are space, line, shape & mass, texture, light, color, and pattern. Though it doesn’t seem as exciting once I write it down, when our class was discussing it, it seemed oddly so especially when she gave examples of how each space came together. I am looking forward to reading the book I ordered and hopefully, I will get a better grasp on understanding interior design as the course progresses. It’s still too early to tell but this is something that possibly may develop into a passion for me.

My parents wanted me to look into a few things for them, namely, finding a probate lawyer and writing a will for them. I looked into writing a will and getting a lawyer to do it would be best but with the gas station being sold, my parents should wait until all their assets have settled and all the money has finished transferring hands. Besides, they might move to California so things would change and the will would too. I will look back into this in a few months. On the other hand, I don’t even know where to start looking for a probate lawyer especially since I don’t feel comfortable with being able to discern a good probate lawyer from a bad one. I will keep looking but I need direction.

I received a call from one of my best friends, Jibu, who I haven’t talked to in a couple weeks. He has been busy with wedding errands but he has also started a forex trading system that I may want to look into. Anyways, I don’t have time this semester so I’m not going to worry about it until next semester.  However, some things I do need to look into right away are talking to an advisor about whether I will be forced to graduate as I have fulfilled all my requirements to do so even though I haven’t completed all four years.  Maybe I can take on an interior design minor so I won’t need to graduate? Anyways, I’ll have to see if that’s allowed. In addition, should I choose to go to graduate school, what should I study? I have no clue.

To do:

1. Make appt with advisor concerning graduation.
2. Prepare for career fair.
3. Make detailed plan for Job Shadowing Project (JSP) that I thought of over the summer.

Because I liked this video so much and it has personal significance to me, I’m posting it again below.

Lyrics by Baz Lurhman:

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of 99…Wear sunscreen

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years youll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you cant grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked…Youre not as fat as you imagine.

Dont worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing everyday that scares you

Sing

Dont be reckless with other peoples hearts, dont put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss

Dont waste your time on jealousy; sometimes youre ahead, sometimes youre behind…the race is long, and in the end its only with yourself.

Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch

Dont feel guilty if you dont know what to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didnt know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still dont.

Get plenty of calcium

Be kind to your knees, youll miss them when theyre gone.

Maybe youll marry, maybe you wont, maybe youll have children, maybe you wont, maybe youll divorce at 40, maybe youll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, dont congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody elses.

Enjoy your body, use it every way you can…dont be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, its the greatest instrument youll ever own.

Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.

Read the directions, even if you dont follow them.

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.

49 second break in speech — Quindon singing

Get to know your parents, youll never know when theyll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography in lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths, price will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do youll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Dont expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.

Dont mess too much with your hair, or by the time its 40, it will look 85.

Be careful who advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than its worth.

I have not posted anything for the last few weeks because I’ve been getting ready for school and thinking about things. I have decided to change a few things about this blog and give an update on my life. Before, I was trying to hard to blog about something that would have some form of value to others. In my opinion, this was actually taking away value because even though I always believed in what I wrote, I didn’t always write what I believed. As a result, this blog will become more of a journal about my personal life with my experiences of self-improvement and wealth creation woven in – not the other way around.

Life

It is sad that I feel this way now that I am in my last year of college but I am making an effort to live in the moment and enjoy what the people and opportunities around me have to offer. As a matter of fact, I have started setting aside a day on the weekend and an hour each day for myself to relax, have fun, or even do nothing. As a matter of fact, today I floated down the peaceful Itchetucknee River with some Hartman boys (Steven F, Kyle M, Jon H, Paul T, and Zach H though Zach left at the Midway Point to go to the library to study). We left at 8am, floated some, ate our packed lunch at the midway point, and got back in to float until 4 pm or so. When we got home, we had our first dinner (spaghetti) made by our cook crews at Hartman and then some of the upstairs guys (who also went on the river) chatted until 1 am about relationships and exciting things that we wanted to do in the future.

Scheduling & Organization

With school in session, having “me” time will become difficult at times but I have made a semi-flexible schedule centered around my workouts, judo, and school to more easily visualize what I have to work with concerning free time.* Unfortunately, it is not much. In addition, on my ancient Blackberry 7290, I have made 2 tasks “Study” and “Errands” to keep me on top of my studies and what I need to do. In “Study,” I have included all my classes in the notes section and I enter my homework next to each class. In “Errands,” I have included all the little things I need to do such as grocery shopping, treasurer duties for SSF, writing a monthly email, and so on. Also, though I had high hopes for polyphasic sleep, I decided not to do it because of my rigorous workout schedule. This is especially important since sleep is needed for injury and muscle recovery so I will try to sleep about 7-8 hours of sleep per night.

*If you click on the picture of my weekly schedule on the left, you can see what my week looks like more clearly.

Massage

Yesterday I gave a hour massage to Paul T – my first fully paid massage. I hope to put up my massage website up by the end of this week.

School

Since I put myself down as pre-med in my freshman year, the advisors for my business administration major decided without asking me that my specialization would be Chemistry. This means that I need to take Analytical Chemistry with lab to graduate. Oh fun. It’s funny since now that I’ve finished all my pre-med requirements, I’ve decided that I probably will not go on to medical school. I am hoping that maybe it won’t be as tough or boring as it sounds. We’ll see.

On the other hand, the other classes I am taking I am extremely stoked about. One of them is Anatomy, which will be a great review of what I know as well as provide more depth and detail in my understanding of the human body. Another class is 19th century Intellectual and Cultural Movements in Europe, which will go into detail of many of the thinkers of the time – something I find very interesting. My last class is Introduction to the Design of Architectural Interiors, which is an interior design class. Our teacher Dr. P has already assigned us a project in which we pick a place to analyze. I am turning in what I wrote on Wednesday. We will see what she has to say.

Before I post how I did today at the Dragon’s Challenge Judo tournament in Delray Beach, I’d like to explain a bit about Judo, a martial art called the “gentle way.” It is a beautiful way to train your body in balance, timing, and power. Some principles of Judo are:

• Seiryoku zenryo: strive for maximum effect with minimum effort
• Jitta kyoe: strive for mutual welfare and benefit
• Jika no kansei: strive for perfection as a whole person

These principles are a testament to why I love practicing Judo – not only to kick butt, but for the philosophy of self-improvement.

To start off my day, I went up to the tournament with Phillipe and the rest of the Baragua Judo Kai, one of the best Judo clubs in Miami. Not only do they have solid Judo and many high-ranking belts, they love helping you improve. I will be sad to leave from such a welcoming yet competitive atmosphere that has been so stimulating to my growth in Judo.

[Warning: Boring Judo Competition Excerpt below if you don't know Judo]

Anyways, today I weighed in at 60 kg and actually didn’t eat anything except a small pear and a pack of 6 Captain’s Wafers until after the tournament. I had seven fights – two against a 55 kg judoka and four against three different 66 kg judokas. My first three fights ended without too much effort for a win so I was able to conserve my energy. My next fight I was ahead by a wazari and yuko but after the tournament was put on hold for a few minutes, my opponent was able to capitalize on the distraction with a morote-gari for ippon. He played smart and since he was down, the morote-gari was one of the best choices he could’ve made. I fought against another guy for second place and I beat him. Then I fought the guy who beat me again for first place. I was ahead like last time and then got thrown with the same move. Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

Conclusion: 60 kg Gold medal, 66 kg Silver medal. My personal success of the night is when I threw ippon seoinage on one of the guys since it was a favorite throw that I was never able to really make effective until recently.

I love Judo.

Since I have come to terms with that, a problem I’ve had is when I try to fit the large variety of my diverse interests (from Judo to cooking to photography) all into my schedule at the same time. This method mirrors time periods in high school where we had a subject an hour. While this structured type of learning gets more done, I find that I personally learn better in waves as once I’m on a roll learning about a subject, I don’t like to stop. Each wave puts me in a zone where I just soak up everything I read or watch about that subject for about a week or so. This depends on how many other interests I’m looking into at that time. I limit what I study to only a few per week to prevent myself from being bored and to keep the rate at which I absorb, understand, and process information high. Like everyone else, my efficiency drops as my motivation cools. In a few weeks, I will usually be as excited to learn about that particular subject as ever. For example, a couple weeks past, I had a home improvement obsession which I satisfied by taking notes on marathon viewings of HGTV every night. After a week, I didn’t have the same curious drive to learn about home improvement. Now I’m on my real estate phase with an occasional viewing of HGTV sprinkled in.

Though the possibilities are endless with so much to learn, my point is that instead of trying to change how I learn, I believe that it’s better to take advantage of how I learn best. In my case, I’m good at digesting a lot of information on the same subject for about a week until I burn out. Then I come back to the topic when I’m feel excited about that topic again, which usually takes a few weeks at most. This ongoing process is what works for me. What works for you?

Weber’s Partial List of Interesting Subjects

• traveling
• home improvement (landscaping, interior design, etc.)
• personal finance
• stock market
• real estate
• cooking & nutrition
• productivity
• judo
• relationships
• massage