RIP Sheila

Today has been kind of  hard for me, I lost one of my best friends after about six years the best friendships I have ever had. My dog Sheila died today after getting hit by a car just on the main road from our house. I wasn't there to  witness the death because I am  at college, but I am really sad that I lost her. She was my best friend and absolutely amazing, she was always there for me and such a wonderful companion and little bugger.

I loved he from the day that I met her, I was the one that brought her home from when I worked as a landscaper back in Georgia. She was just a little puppy then and absolutely adorable, I have always had a soft spot for animals, and she just stole my  heart away the instant that I laid eyes on her. I got her for free from this family whose dog had just given birth to a litter of puppies and the couldn't keep them all. I knew that my  parents weren't animal people, but I figured that it was better to  ask for forgiveness rather than permission at that point. I had always wanted a dog and I thought that it would be the perfect opportunity to actually get a dog.

I brought her home with me after work and my mom was furious, I can still remember her face contorted into an angry brow and all she could say was “No” over and over again. I really wanted my dog and convinced my parents to let her stay until I could find her a decent home. My  mother’s heart was eventually softened when the poor little puppy walked around my foyer and just collapsed on the tile flooring. She was so cute and my mom agreed that she could stay, if only temporarily. I was so ecstatic because I  had managed to  get a dog into my home for the first time in a long time.

We kept her for a few days and my parents kept telling me that I couldn't name the dog because we were not going to keep her, I really wanted to  keep and eventually I broke my parents down and we finally got to name the little Australian Shepard. I don’t remember the exact circumstances as to why we decided that we were going out to eat, but that night we went to Outback Steak House. We were celebrating something as a family and the main thing on my sibling’s and my mind was what to name the dog. Picking out a name, even for a dog can be a tricky business, so we heatedly debated about what it was that we wanted to name her.  Our answer came when I went to  the bathroom. For those of you who don’t know the bathrooms of Outback Steak  House have slang terms written on them from Australia. Blokes for guys and Sheila for girls, when I saw that I knew instantly that I had a name for my  dog. She was going to  be called Sheila.

She turned out to  be an amazing dog and I  have so many  memories of her. She loved to play catch and she was a little stinker. She would often times do something that she knew was wrong and in the end feel really bad about it. So she would punish herself by sitting by the garage door until we would open it so she could go into timeout in her kennel. She was awesome, and I am truly going to miss her. It’s quite sad that I  won’t be seeing her again, but I know that I will see her in heaven.

Playing the Date Doctor

I love Valentine’s Day, I am a romantic and I love the idea of spoiling a girl, it’s fantastic. I love coming up with cool ideas and surprising girls. It’s one of my hobbies, I love to plan exciting new activities and adventures when I am in a relationship. This year was different, I am single and there aren’t any girls that I am trying to date. All the girls that I have been interested in are either in a relationship or very close to getting married. It’s just my luck. So instead of feeling bad for myself I counted my  blessings and decided to play  the date doctor instead.

                One of my favorite romantic comedies is Hitch with Will Smith. I think it’s one of his best movies by far and I  love the story behind it. The main character is a guy who helps other men be the best that they can be so that they  can get the girl of their dreams. That’s pretty much what I did this year, since I am  single I decided to try something different than feeling sorry for myself.

 I decided that I was going to give as many girls that I know a great Valentine’s day. Many of the girls that I know are single and I realized that they needed to have a special day, even when they don’t have a boyfriend. So I set out to making Valentine’s Day cards out of the some canvas and red fabric I had left over from some other art projects that I have been engaged In. I have also made them some delicious chocolate chip cookies, because no  girl can resist chocolate or cookies, especially when they  are combined together. It was a huge success, and I know for a fact that my  friends loved them.

                That didn’t end my escapade of setting people up I also helped several of my other friends who are either in a relationship or married. They all had one thing in common, they were all drawing a blank as far as what to  do for this special day. One of my friends in my spinning class had no idea what to give her boyfriend so  I told her that she could buy him a pocket watch and inscribe their names in the inside of it.  I also helped another friend of mine pick out fabric for a blanket that she was making her boyfriend. The last thing that I helped with was my friend from work who  had completely forgotten about Valentine’s Day and had signed up  to work extra hours. It would have been late to actually do an elaborate date, so instead I suggested that he set up a bubble bath by candlelight and have some drinks together in the apartment.

                Each one of my friends was very happy with the results of the their dates and activities too. I think I did a pretty good job at helping these people out, and I got to be a date doctor for a day. I should really start charging people money for this service and start living off of this talent.

Fashionably Fasionable

Life is a very interesting experience; you never know what is going to happen or where an adventure might take you and who you might meet. It is specifically why I try to always be ready for whatever comes my way. I love spontaneity, and I never know exactly what a day will bring me. I like it that way it keeps life interesting and always a fresh experience.

                A while back, my mother asked me why I was dressed in a tie on Christmas morning when I am usually in my pajamas. I never really got to explain this to her, but my reason that I do it is because I like to look classy at all times. Image is important to me, and I feel like I need to always be ready for whatever comes along my way. I don’t know what is going to  happen or who I am going to meet so I feel like if I at least care about how I dress then I will always be ready for whatever comes my way.

                I know several people who don’t do that they don’t care about how they look, and I wonder how they can do that. I feel like it would be very hard to get anywhere in life without dressing nicely. How you present yourself says a lot about who you are and what you aspire to. I want to people to  look at me and my style and want to  get to know me and what I do.  I aim to stand out. There is a saying that goes why blend in, when you were born to stand out. I don’t like being like everyone else, I am Joshua D. Zuluaga, and I am uniquely me! My style is a way of expressing that to the world and it is constantly evolving into something that I hope will help me get noticed.

                I love fashion anyways and being able to play around with all the unique clothing that is out there. Most of the guys that I know dress so plainly usually with a tee shirt and jeans, which can be nice and can create a nice look every once in a while, but there are so many things to try together in endless possibilities.  I started shopping about two years ago and I love finding great clothes for reasonable prices. Usually by the end of it I find some sort of great finds. It’s one of my favorite adventures.

                Little adventures like that make me happy, life is so full of them, I invite all people out there to have fun with  life and dress uniquely. Life is so much better that way and you get so many  compliments too.  I get told a lot that I look a lot like Neal Caffrey from white collar, and you know what, I have no problem with that.

Waffle day

                I just finished another wonderful International Waffle Day celebration. I love this holiday, I have been celebrating it for years and it gets better and better each time.  For those of you who are unaware what International Waffle Day is it’s a personal family holiday that was created back when I was 14 years old and we have been celebrating it ever since. 

                There is a story behind it too and for those who are unfamiliar with it; it all started when I was 14 years old I was really craving waffles and so on the way home I told my mom that it was waffle day. That of course was a lie, but I was really hungry and waffles sounded so delicious. My mother was pretty gullible about it and believed every word; she agreed to make us the best waffles ever in celebration. They were amazing and we even had ice cream with them!

                The story continues on a couple years later when I finally told my mother that waffle day was a lie, and that I had made the whole thing up. I thought she would be upset, but my mom just laughed about it and we have continued it ever since. 

                It’s just one of those fun family traditions that have continued almost a decade now. It has evolved into a huge celebration actually where we gorge ourselves on waffles, ice cream and a whole bunch of wonderful toppings. I love it, and I have a little claim to fame by creating a very random holiday. If you ask me its things like that which make life truly livable, life is too short to take it seriously. Sometime you have to be willing to celebrate the fun in life. For me things like waffle day are an absolute necessity.

A Case of The 3 AM Thinks

"Well" I thought to myself lying in my top bunk in my apartment, "this has been unsuccessful. I have been lying here for over a half an hour now and I still can't fall back to sleep. Sometimes I don't understand you brain, Here I went to bed at ten because you told me you were done with thinking for the day and that you just wanted to go to bed and catch up on sleep then you wake me up at 2:45 in the morning for a glass of water and then decide that it will be more fun to keep the rest of me awake for the rest of the morning."

 I sat there arguing with my brain trying to  tell it that I needed to  sleep so  that I could function today, but it was to  no avail; my brain won the argument and it told me that I needed to  write this instead, Sleep can wait apparently. It’s peculiar how you think you need one thing but you get told otherwise. I am learning to deal with it and I am dealing with it because sometimes you need to post something on a blog that you haven’t written in in over a year. This is a horrible case of the 3 AM thinks.

It’s strange, I am not that I worried about anything or stressing about homework or my job with The Home Depot, these thoughts aren’t worrisome at all; in fact they are far from it. These thinks that plagued my mind this morning were one of philosophy and hope. It’s about how I have been living my life for the past month with my new year’s resolution. I guess it comes with any new change but I have made several changes for the better.

For those of you who don’t know me very well might think it’s strange that say this, but I love life. Despite all the evil and malice in the world there is so much wonder contained in this world that it is very hard for me to  become disillusioned with it. I love life and I am truly grateful to be alive. To me life is one very big adventure.  I can truly say that I am happy about who I am, and what I am becoming.

 For years I lived under a very simple illusion. Life was simple, I was one of those guys that would spend most of his days inside the four walls of his house playing video games and watching TV. I was so engrossed in that simplistic way of life that I missed so much more that I could have been doing.  It wasn’t until I learned to step outside my front door that I have truly begun to realize what it really means to be alive.

I know, scientifically if I am breathing I am technically alive, but I would like to submit to you otherwise. I believe that there is a huge difference between living and actually being alive.  I believe that we are on this world for a reason and we have only a few short years on this Earth. Most men and women live and die and only see a fraction of it. I know several people who have lived in the same town all their lives and have not ventured forth to explore much beyond their front door. What is it that draws men into their home so much, that they neglect the beauty and the wonder that is spread forth before them all over this world? Is there that we can take in that is beyond our front door?

Deep down I have this burning desire to see so much of it, it’s like this beautiful present that has been set out before me and I have only begun to pick at the wrapping paper. I want to see what I have in front of me, but I know that I must be patient in order to receive the whole gift. Then there are the people who don’t even touch that gift, the let it sit on the table left to collect dust with all its wrapping paper intact.

This, my friends is what I would like to submit to you between living and being alive. Who in their right mind would leave such a gift unopened? We have such a great present before us, and it takes us to open it and access its potential. If we lock ourselves in our room all day then we miss out on a world of opportunities that are before us. I love to  seek these opportunities and that is why  I am up in the early morning hours to  write this blog,  I personally believe that there is so much that we are capable of achieving in a day and we can have so many  wonderful stories to tell if we just go outside our front door.

So, here is my proposition to all of you who read this, make every day an adventure. Don’t be afraid of living. We were meant to be alive and to gain experience, which is why we are here on this earth. My plea to all who read this case of the 3 AM thinks is that they live life in a way that each day is an adventure. Step out beyond your front door and do vary from the beaten path that each person chooses to follow each day. There is so much more to  see just beyond our personal horizon lines, all we need to do  is take a few minutes to  actually do something different and break down those walls that we have so diligently built up for ourselves.

I would like to ask all of you who read this blog to love with me, I am going to live my life in a way that every day is an adventure and in the end when all is said and done it is something worth reading about. I implore you to do the same and post some comments on the internet about what you did to expand your life beyond the walls of our current realms. I will be increasing the upkeep that I have on this blog and I will post more as I venture forth into the unknown.

I love life and I invite everyone who reads this as well to discover the beauty that is out there.  Remember; adventure is waiting for you, it is up to you to seize it. Carpe diem.