We don’t know when we will meet people that will change our lives. I met somebody last year that has changed my life for the better and am looking to grow with her for the years to come. However, it is hard to meet male friends after finishing college. Most of last year I was telling my girlfriend and that I don’t have many male friends. She told me that I do have some close friends and that it will take time for you to meet people that you can connect with. I didn’t put much thought into what she was saying and continued to live my life. I did make it a point to hang out with my close friends.

You never know who you will meet when and where…

I met my girlfriend in a bar and most of my close friends I met in college. Some are friends that have fallen off because of their own doing and also because I was and still am doing things outside the norm of a engineering major should be doing. Most of my friends are working their day jobs, going out socially with their friends and girlfriends/wives, and whatever else. I was doing some of the same, however, I drifted in starting a failed business, wasting money on business courses, reading any type of book that I could get my hand on, and ultimately starting this blog that has got me here and will take me to new heights. I believe people go through this phase of their lives only to realize that they haven’t stopped growing and will eventually meet people that will help challenge one’s self and will continue to peel back the layer of orange skin that creates the zest of life that that person wants to truly live.

So get this my friend Rick and I haven’t seen each other in awhile and we decide to go to a bar to catch up. We order the same things: a shitty Budweiser dark ale (it’s free), 2 other beers that progressively get more bitter (not a fan of bitter beers, but willing to try anything), and a not cooked or microwaved enough stuff bake potato. Rick and I started to catch up and then all of a sudden a couple walks in. We start talking and I drifted in and out because of the football game that was on (fuck you Colts!) as soon as my game was done Rick and the couple are laughing and having a good time. Rick is an outgoing person so it is easy for him to strike up conversations, however, I was thinking that we came in hear to catch up and now we are talking or doing other things separately. I was still disappointed with my baked potato and didn’t want to keep on ordering beer, so I sat there. I haven’t had a moment like this in some time. To catch up with a good friend to relax and get away from an awesome routine that I had no problems continuing. In the back of my head I keep telling myself balance is the key to happiness. As I was day dreaming there walks in a shaggy fellow who was wondering which team won the football game. I told him who won and we proceeded to talk about the usual stuff; where are you from, school you went to, day job, and so on. Once it came time to talk about majors and real life’s journey’s and dreams both of us got rapped up in each others passions that it felt like we have known each other for a long time. We talked about english, books, writing, a little about passions and dreams, and some other stuff that has left my slowly deminishing brain already.

The conversation was going so good I had to get up and piss out the liquid bless in a typical looking dirty men’s rest room. When I arrived back there was no Shaggy fellow, but a Mexican guy my age occupying my new friend’s spot. He told me not to worry about that shaggy guy and that he was going to be taking over his seat. I was like damn, leave fool, did you beat his ass and than wanted to drink his beer? All that negativeness melted away because we started talking about random stuff and than Eric came in and said that this was also his friend. I got to give it up to Jose, he was interesting. He liked books, writing (in the process of writing a novel himself), talking about women, and whatever. There were many times where all 3 of us were talking about something and all of a sudden it always came back to how a book helped each other’s lives. Also, how the people we hang around with effect us and how we view and operate in the world. There was an interesting story Jose told about how he got his then girlfriend and now wife into reading. He threw her all the books that he thought she was interested in. That shit didn’t work, so he knew that she liked mystery shows and movies (something like that, again my memory has left me). He gave her a mystery book that was a part of a series. She liked that first book and continued to finish up the series, then moved on to other books, and now she can’t put her choices of books down and will here and there read some books that Jose recommends.

This experience was great and have followed up with both guys and also with the gentleman with his wife. All of us likes to read and write. Both of those 2 activities seem to go together like any cliche term that some one has used before. I think that it is true that we can’t choose our passions sometimes, our passions choose us, and when it does and we realize it our lives are changed dramatically forever. So I will do what I can to make these 3 people  a regular to bounce ideas off of, pick their brains about certain books and life’s challenging questions, and enjoy the common interest that we share, and explore interest that I don’t care about and they don’t care about to come to a better understanding of the view of the world through each other’s eyes!