Club SEBU

One of the most commonly used phrases when something is flying through the air into a mass of people. Heads up. I'm sure that many of us have noticed the irony of everyone putting their heads down when they hear heads up, or maybe I am the only one who thinks about that... Nonetheless, it is an intriguing phrase. Regardless, calling 'heads up' is just a suggestion that increases awareness of whatever is coming your way. Furthermore, keeping your head up is more common and necessary than sometimes meets the eye.  It does not have to be a literal object making its way towards you...it can be much more. Figuratively speaking, there will be several things 'thrown' your way that will require you to be alert.  Knowing how to maneuver through these challenges can and will be difficult at times. No matter what though...keep your head up. It is much easier to be engaged when things are going well, but the true test is when they are not going your way.  Thos

In the first week after quarter 1 of my reintroduction to school, I was given an opportunity to compile more material for the blog.  I was not able to write too much throughout the semester, but I am still here. The semester was a learning experience that I don't take for granted.  There are several lessons that I picked up that will propel me into my future, not only with academia or a career, but also in everyday life. Some of these lessons include: Never assume that you know which classroom is yours if you haven't fully retained that information to memory.  It's not fun walking into the same wrong classroom multiple times in a day or semester. Furthermore, not everyone knows the campus like you may think.  Be aware that some directions, if followed exactly how described, can get you more lost. If you decide to ride your bike to class, be aware that that is a physical activity, and the first few weeks of the fall semester may still be warm.  Pack accordingl

I frequently talk about my niece and nephew because they have quite the personalities. In the most recent episode, my sister informed my siblings and I that our niece had determined what career path she had decided to follow as she continues to grow. This revelation came with video evidence, where my niece was asked which career she preferred; a princess or a dinosaur. With no hesitation, she confidently said 'dinosaur', as she continued to hoard whatever food she was devouring in her chipmunk-like cheeks. Although this may not be a rare career choice at this age, it never ceases to amaze me just how unique the statements can be. With her conviction, I probably wouldn't challenge my nieces' assertion in fear of a dinosaur-like response.  She knows what she wants. So why is this important to me? I find it terribly intriguing that a two-year-old has such a grasp on decision-making at a time where it is easy for people older than them to write them off.  N

I pretended to be a track and field athlete for a year of college...oh what an experience it was. I only participated in field events because that's where my expertise was... Or because I was not the fastest and that was the only place where I thought I could hide my slow-twitch fibers. Considering the fact that even the events that I participated in needed speed, I will let you conclude why my career on the track was cut short.  One thing I learned on the track more so than anything, is that you cannot.. I repeat... You CANNOT hide speed, or in my case, not having speed at all. On the basketball side of the world, there are ways for me to disguise my lack of straight away speed.  These ways include the amount of direction changes in a game, the smaller dimensions of the court compared to on a track, and running away from heavy footed post players I've had to avoid my entire playing career so I don't break any bones. The thing with track is there is only o

I learned this was my fate at the age of 11. I was in the middle of my annual back-to-school haircut, when a man in his mid-20's came into the shop to cause trouble. I say cause trouble because he did not stay long, or get his haircut... He walked in, said a few hellos, then vanished. Right before he vanished, he came up to the man who was cutting my hair, they spoke, and after he looked at me with a puzzled stare. He backed up to make sure that I knew he was trying to get my attention. I looked up at him, and he said, in a confident and matter-of-fact fashion, "Oh no...he's not going to have that hairline very long...you can already see the Batman symbol in there". Before I could jump up and challenge him to a duel, he was outside of the shop and on his way to another barbershop to probably ruin another child's day. When I returned home, I went to the bathroom and took a good hard look into the mirror.  I had some self-talk to do. "

Aligned with the theme of youthful mistakes from the last post,  Stomach Bug in my Knee , here's another mishap... In this story, I didn't fake a sickness but I almost caused a real one. To start this story with a vague and ambiguous opening statement, we had a project in school where we took home a potato. I am sure there was a more involved lesson with the potato before we took it home, but clearly, I did not grasp the applicability of it. So, for me...I just had an extra potato at home that I would eventually eat once my mom cooked it, and I was okay with that.  I felt that I was participating in that weeks' grocery shopping and was proud of it. We all put our potatoes in small paper bags, and I shoved mine into my book-bag then got onto my bus. Somewhere between putting the potato in my book-bag and sitting on the bus, I completely forgot that the potato was in my possession. Roughly 15 minutes later when I arrived home and got off the bus, I followed my

I raised my hand in class as a young elementary student and asked if I could go to the nurse's office... When asked what for, I complained of a stomach ache that was inhibiting my learning. Once my request was granted, I slowly walked to the nurse's quarters, as I tried to develop symptoms of the sickness I claimed to have caught a few moments earlier. I entered the nurse's office, was greeted and said that my stomach was bothering me.  She graciously let me rest on one of the beds to see if it would get any better, which I was sincerely appreciative of... Not because of the concern for my health, but because this bought me a few more moments of quiet time to think up a story that will ultimately make or break my claim. I laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling with my hands on my stomach, contemplating whether or not I should just throw in the towel or continue on this risky and dishonest path. At that naive age, I felt that I dug the hole too deep and had to c

Throughout my undergraduate career, I rode my bike everywhere.  It was the single greatest investment I made while in college. Now, before I continue, I would like to preface this by saying there may not be any substantial takeaways from this post, but it has been on my mind for a couple weeks now. This post will be more on the 'rant' side of the Club SEBU spectrum... Continue reading at your own risk... As stated above, riding my bike is a past-time of mine that I thoroughly enjoy. Since I have started school again and have been treated to some good weather, I have revisited this past-time and indulged in some bike-riding to and from campus. What is a relatively short ride is also a sincerely calming one... That is until I get to campus... As I approach the sidewalks, I am always met by a host of students walking around from point A to point B. No problems there... The problems arise when I am on the narrow sidewalks and realize that 95% of the students a

Hello again...it's been a while, but don't you worry. Speaking of worry, school is back in session, and of course...don't you worry. Literally.  Don't. You. Worry. Grab your book bags, pens, and pencils, and don't you worry... I promise the teachers and the students are both humans, just give them a chance.  Don't you worry... Okay...enough with the "don't you worry's", but you really don't need to.  Getting back into the routine can be difficult at times and that is understandable.  Just stay the course...it will only get better as you move forward. That being said, make sure you are giving an honest effort while you are moving forward.  This way you can ensure that you are improving throughout the year. When things go right, try to make them better... When they go wrong, try to make them better... Pretty simple, but I must admit it can be challenging at the same time. Naturally, one of the two suggestions above

Public speaking has consistently been a fear of many. Often times we fear speaking because there may be others who are actually listening to what we are saying, and if heard, those words can be forever connected to the speaker; a daunting and typically unfavorable realization we endure. Words that may be cherished by the speaker, and genuine in their intent may be taken out of context or deemed irrational. A passionate thought that likely could be influenced by the current climate it is expressed in could come off as 'overly emotional', leading to a lack of confidence in delivery.  Lack of confidence can be magnified when the possible rejection in a rebuttal is acknowledged. Every word bares a vulnerability of one's mind that we would rather not share at times. We choose not to share them because they may be a snapshot that could change within an hour, or even within minutes.  With that, too often we chose silence. Unfortunately, silence does not fix any fault

This is our 50th post and it is nice to reach this milestone. We appreciate your viewership. As a token of our appreciation here at Club SEBU, we have decided to run down all of the previous posts, providing a brief summary containing the focal points of each. I am going to try to keep each synopsis to only one sentence, but forgive me when I likely go over that quota. I have a tendency to over explain... I also hyperlinked each post so if you are like me and have forgotten what each title means, you have the luxury of refreshing your memory with a simple click of a button... Without further ado, I present to you This is 50 . -- 1. The Real is Back. Revamped. Refreshed. I returned back from a very long hiatus; only to share long-winded stories that make me laugh more than they make anyone else laugh. 2. Never Forget the Roots This is all of the old blog posts from the college version of the Club SEBU blog; raw and unfiltered.  Forgive me and my youthful ways... 3.

...the time where everything seems perfect. No arguments, no disputes, no issues. This phase is most commonly used when discussing relationships, but can be used when referring to a new job, new team, or any other setting where people from differing backgrounds come together as one. Typically, the honeymoon phase is viewed as an unavoidable step, with the power to make or break any relationship. Since we hear so much about this phase, it can become a daunting task to enjoy the simple joys of life as we are shadowed by the constant question of "well...what if this is just the honeymoon phase?" If you think hard enough about this phase, it may come true, which probably was not your original intentions at all. Your thoughts become actions. What happens when rather than overthinking and worrying, we remain encouraged by the new opportunity and look forward to ways we can harvest a longer lasting phase?  How can we avoid this seemingly unavoidable period of time? If

I couldn't have been any older than 7 or 8 years old during this story... I also couldn't tell you what made me so upset on this particular day of my childhood... A group of friends and I were enjoying a regular day of elementary school, when out of nowhere we were engaged in a full out verbal altercation.  Once again, I have no idea what the argument was about and am certain that it was not as hostile as I am detailing, but I was angry nonetheless. Just like all grade-school battles, this was going to be settled on the blacktop. Whether it was a foot race, swinging contest, or football games...whenever an issue reared its ugly head, playground was the answer. We reached the playground and our battle of choice was basketball.  Surprise, surprise... I figured that I had an advantage in basketball for some odd reason, but let me detail the disadvantages I had so you can truly understand this poor decision... For starters...I did not hit a true growth spurt until r

So, guy meets girl... Or girl meets guy... Or person meets person... Whichever way you spin it, you are approaching the first date. You've just met each other, so naturally nerves and anxiety are sharing a prolonged high five at your expense. You've already told your respective group of friends that this "is not a big deal", consequently wasting your Phone-a-Friend option if it suddenly becomes one...so you are on this island alone. You prepare yourself by completing your necessary hygienic routine and then by putting on one of your finest outfits...one that was most likely laid out on the bed before placed over your freshly cleansed skin. This is serious work. Anticipation calls for action when you sit down across from that special someone as you prepare to embark on the beginning of a truly amazing journey... Or the beginning of a slow and embarrassing hour that your group of friends will make fun of you about for years to come. You are both seat

A century ago, someone living today was born... And they obviously existed in a completely different world then they are experiencing today. I was at dinner a few weeks ago, and my brother, father and I were discussing the advancements of technology over the course of our lifetimes.  The new age ease of communication was one of the most heavily discussed topics that night, and how it appears to be moving faster than any of us can handle. It dawned on me that one day I may be looking around like a lost child in a world that I've lived  much longer on than any of the youngers who are trying to bring me up to speed... That has to be a terribly strange feeling. It's wild to think, but it is likely a reality considering that at times today I already feel like I have fallen behind. The pace can sometimes be a little too fast for my older fashioned ways. Now I do have my favorites, such as Facetime which I have been on record adoring, but am still marveled at its exis

When climbing a tree, I think we can all agree that the worst thing that can happen is starting over. Usually there is a branch that you are trying to reach and when you lose focus, you may miss a step, take a tumble and be forced to begin again. The idea is to stay concentrated on the particular goal and trust the training you have done. Oh...you don't climb trees anymore? Neither do I...just bare with me for this analogy. As you make your way up the tree, there's obviously going to be different forms of nature that get in your way. You'll have branches, leaves, and maybe even animals, but what should always remain constant is the goal... That is if you still climb trees of course. The higher the branch, the harder the journey. With that said, the accomplishment will feel much greater once the stars align properly. No one climbs up small trees because there is not much of a reason to.  Relatively speaking of course, everyone can reach the branches of sm

There are times when I wish I could get the phone numbers of every telemarketer and call them back as many times as they call me. I would tell them that I don't want what they are selling, nor do I care, and in the event that I want something, I will call and ask... Stop calling me. I understand that everyone has bills to pay, and telemarketers are just doing their jobs, but sometimes I get frustrated with their calls. Correction...all of the times I get frustrated with their calls. But I was thinking...what if it's me? If I can confidently conclude that it is solely their job, and they have metrics to meet just like anyone else who is employed by someone...why does it bother me so much? What is the underlying issue that makes these telemarketers so irritating? Is it because they are interrupting us while we are doing something extremely important? Is it the pushiness of their sales pitch? Is it the fact that we thought it may have been someone calling from

One thing you probably won't catch me doing again is refereeing... I was a young middle school student and was asked by a former coach if I could referee a game of elementary school basketball. Green behind the ears, of course I obliged.  I was excited to get my feet wet in another aspect of the game I love, and to learn as much as I possibly could. I made my way down the street to the gym and greeted my coach.  He gave me a few brief instructions, a whistle, then let me loose. Pretty confidently, I went to the center circle to toss the ball up and begin the game... For those of you who are Club SEBU regulars, this game took place at the same gym where I was Posterized at.  A lot of "great" memories on that court... Anyways, the game began and I figured it would be easy because the kids were so young.  They were all smiling, laughing, and just having fun.  None of them were taking the game too seriously; they were just out there going through the motions.

I park my car somewhere virtually everyday, so I am pretty familiar with this process. That being said, it is almost guaranteed that every time I come out from wherever, I will not know where my car is. I don't know what it is, but I can never find it. To make matters even worse, I will not use the alarm or the lock/unlock buttons on my key, because naturally once I have lost my car (again), my pride kicks in and it becomes a challenge/game.  I typically walk around aimlessly for several minutes, and have no idea where to start the search.  It would be great if I could have a GPS locator for my car... Furthermore, I'm generally too stubborn to use GPS while driving, so consequently I probably wouldn't use a GPS locator to find my vehicle in the sea of cars anyway... Once the "not again" realization settles in, I always tell myself "you are smarter than this car Richie...just think...you know how to do this". Thankfully, I always find my ca

There's no such thing as a dumb question. Or is there? That's a great question. I do enjoy the freedom of asking any questions that I would like to ask, but when on the outside looking in, it is terribly annoying. I was a fly on the wall of a conversation, and heard "that's a great question" at least 40 times and thought to myself ..."We must not be hearing the same questions...", because there was no way that all of them were even 'good', let alone 'great' questions. Hearing people say "that's a great question" for everything cannot be real. When I was in school, sometimes I would intentionally ask stupid questions, just to hear if teachers would say "that's a great question".  It was a research experiment that I was conducting for my own entertainment. Did it work? That's a great question. Sometimes it did. What I found out though, was when my shameless attempts to be funny were identi

I made some poor decisions when I was a child... When I say some, I mean a lot...  Don't judge me. Usually these decisions resulted in me breaking something. As a young boy, playing outside was a staple of my daily routine, and when the summers hit, I obviously spent a lot more time outside. This meant I was probably going to make a lot more ridiculous decisions. As I was shooting hoops one summer day, a friend of mine came up the street to enjoy some time together. "Hey Richie" he said. "Hi Friend" I replied. As he approached, I recognized that he had brought up his lacrosse stick, which I had no business using.  He was really good, but I was really bad. Anyways, he put his lacrosse stick down, and we started shooting some shots with the basketball. Naturally, we made our way further and further from the basket, even though we were not making any of the close shots. In time, we were across the street, trying to heave one armed cannons fr

This one is for the basketball fans out there... Does everyone know what it means to be 'posterized'? Being posterized means you've been dunked on in a game, and if someone were to take a snapshot of the event, it would make a great poster for someones room; hence the phrase 'posterized'. As a basketball player, these types of things can happen to anyone.  Most of the time, if you were the victim, you will try to find every excuse to deny the dunk ever happening. With that, I bring you my excuse... I could not have been over the age of 16, and was playing in one of my first summer men's league games. At the ripe age of about 16, I had a healthy dose of confidence that some would call delusion.  Either way, I was prepared to bring havoc to the court. When I arrived to the game, and we approached the center circle for the jump ball,  I scanned the other team, player by player, to determine which person I was going to destroy that night. While scann

Sir Charles Barkley has always been a polarizing figure. Throughout his playing days, and into his broadcasting days, Barkley has never been one to bite his tongue.  Love him or hate him, Barkley consistently speaks his mind in a straightforward fashion. As I was fumbling through YouTube for a few moments, I came across some NBA Playoff videos that naturally caught my eye. There was a Game 4 post-game recap, which included Sir Charles. He and his co-hosts were discussing Game 5 of the Finals. While going back and forth about the game, Sir Charles decided to reveal a particularly personal plan for the summer on national TV. Once the co-hosts gave him the opportunity to speak uninterrupted, Barkley let them know that he was planning to go to a ' Fat Farm' . Clearly, an unscripted addition to the show, the co-hosts were tentative to engage in the conversation.  Given the sensitivity surrounding the topic, the reluctance was evident and Barkley assured them that he was

An apple a day keeps the doctor away is what they told me.  Although I have never actually asked a doctor how true this statement is, I have always assumed that it was... Contrary to what some may believe, I don't think anyone has ever heard that "a chicken nugget a day..." or "some pizza each day..." could serve as an effective doctor-repellent. Furthermore, sometimes I risk having to go to the doctor's office more frequently if it includes chicken nuggets, pizza, or just about anything with BBQ sauce on it.  I like to live on the edge. The fact of the matter is that we generally know what is good for us in the long term, but can also fall into the trap of choosing what serves us in the 'right now'. It is no secret that microwave dinners are 'prepared' at a quicker rate than the comparable homemade meal, and can save a significant amount of time... That being said, there is something about the picture on the box, the size of the ac

There's an elephant in every single room. In most rooms, that elephant is conveniently ignored or passive aggressively acknowledged.  Now I don't know about your experience with elephants, but I have never seen an elephant that I could ignore and there is nothing passive about their aggression. So what is it about elephants inside of rooms that makes us so uncomfortable? Is it the conversation surrounding the elephant that we are avoiding? Or is it the possible reactions once the elephant is called on that we are afraid of? I'll be honest in saying that I still struggle to pinpoint which side of the spectrum is the real reasoning behind this obvious discomfort. In either scenario, one thing I am confident about is that I think the elephant should be recognized.  Personally, I find that the recognition encourages more open conversation. Although delicate is rarely a word used to describe an elephant, it is necessary when dealing with these types of elephants...

On this day last year, Harambe was the talk of the internet. As an unapologetic super fan of Caesar in the Planet of the Apes , and with The War for the Planet of the Apes movie on its way this summer, I'd like to express some thoughts regarding this subject. For those who are not familiar with what happened this day, here is a brief synopsis: Good old Harambe was casually hanging out in his not so natural habitat, located in the Cincinnati Zoo.  While him and his gorilla friends were enjoying some fresh air in their faux pond, and talking about gorilla things, a young child watching the exhibit became increasingly interested in participating in said gorilla things with Harambe and the boys. Just as any young child would do when this type of curiosity strikes, the young Tarzan decided to take matters into his own hands, scurried under the gate, over some shrubbery, and leaped (aka fell) into the water where Harambe and his boys were cooling off. Startled by the splash, Ha