Nothing

I have reached a pivotal moment in my life. I am a sophomore in college a time that is often described as the best time of your life. Yet I have nothing going on. I walked back from a wet and cold practice today and attempted to think of ideas I could write about. I had nothing. So I will write about that nothingness.

I don't have much going on in my life. My weeks repeat themselves. My boredom rises. Every week follows the same schedule (no actually our coaches send out our schedule every Monday). That is the life of a student-athlete. Classes repeat over and over again I struggle to find news and sports articles to read to avoid paying attention in class. Workouts three times a week at various times fill free hours before or after classes. School work falls low on the priority list as you write blogs about how you have nothing going on.


Filling the time left is quite easy for me. I have four options that I keep on a constant cycle. Food is always near the top of the list. Food is double edged sword as you kill more time to both find the food and then eat it. Sleep has become one of my most treasured time killers. The amount of times I wake up in a day can range anywhere from 2-5 times with naps scheduled throughout my entire week. I often hear "all you ever do is sleep" from my friends who know me best. Netflix follows in the cycle and it often is combined with second on this list. As we come up on the anniversary of my best friend Nick and his family allowing me to join their Netflix account I want to reiterate to them my thanks for allowing me to be part of their Netflix family. Lastly is the most boyish of time killers. Video games whether I am playing alone or with friends time seems to slip away as you play video games.

Maybe at some point my life will pick up. I turned 20 in august and maybe my life with take a trip to the roaring 20's it just hasn't started yet. I will enjoy my predictable and scheduled life. As people walk in and out of it maybe certain things will start to change. For now, it is time for a nap.

One Goal, To Be Alone

When I was 13 I came up with my biggest and most challenging life goal to date. It is a dream and goal that my mother will never let me forget. She uses it when she first meets friends of mine I think she likes to show the caring side of me and embarrass me like only mothers should. The dream has evolved and developed over the past seven years but the premise remains the same. I want to own a private island.

I have done more research into this topic than any 20- year old should. I get monthly newsletters from Private Islands Inc. I have looked into the cost and locations of islands across the globe. In the Caribbean you can get a 2-acre developed island for about $400,000. Sounds like a great deal to me. Islands can also go for tens of millions of dollars.

Forgotten however are the details of owning a private island. Purchasing an island is the most unique real-estate purchase possible. Before even buying the island going to a "showing" of an island can have difficulties. Location can determine how accessible the island is along with the weather. When buying an island yes the land is separate and private the mainland is still relied on. Day to day life still requires the amenities of living in a town or city. The infrastructure of the nearby mainland is key.

The benefits of living on vacation are easy to see. The vacation lifestyle most wish to achieve is often difficult to execute. Mainstream power or plumbing being readily available on islands is an added bonus that comes with added cost. The dream island away from all civilization is hard to find and leads to a lonely secluded feeling that some turnout to be unable to handle.

I hope to own an island at some point in my life. I could go off to a secluded island and not have a care in the world. As I write this in my dorm room I wonder how good my writing could be if my writing scenery was a beach and not a dorm. Island lifestyle and island time is not for everyone, but it will always be for me.

The End, or Just the Beginning

I am in no way a gamer, but when a game takes over the world it is hard to miss. My first interactions with the game Fortnite was actually on a football recruiting visit to John Carroll University (who coincidentally we play this weekend). Fortnite took the world by storm no that is not a typo I do not mean the gaming world. I can safely say this because of one thing. My parents knew about it! In recent news around the game of Fortnite it blew up. Unannounced and unexpected keeping with what has made the game so popular, being different.

Fortnite is free. In the world today anything being free is unheard of. That is how the game got its initial take off. Free grabs attention! When a game you can play with all of your friends is free it speaks for itself. Currently around 250 million people play Fortnite. At a single time over 10 million people have played at once. In its most popular month Fortnite had over 80 million active players.

Epic Games the creator of Fortnite sensed a drop in popularity for its once star game. Their fears were confirmed as reports came in showing for the first time since the games creation decrease in popularity in the month of August. How do you respond? You blow up the game of course. 5.5 million people watched as the Fortnite shut down. For two whole days the game wasn't available.

Fortnite had the attention of the world again. Trending on twitter and even becoming the talk of my dinner table this fall break. Perhaps that is the genius behind it all doing things that have never been done before. Creating talk and marketing they don't even have to advertise. So far the perfectly executed end and then beginning has done just what Fortnite needed reawakening the gamers who had let the game slip their mind.

The end, became the new beginning.

New York Times Article

The Most Watched Event This Year

CNN Article

McAda

As I pulled through one of the most hopping dining spots in the bumping town of Ada, OH. I followed the line that crossed out in to main street. To the road that then funneled into the drive through lane. I put in my order as well as for my two friends. We all have usual orders that each of us know by heart.  For myself gourmet chicken nuggets and two steaks with buns. Dom a deluxe chicken sandwich with shredded potatoes. Austin chicken pieces with a honey barbecue side sauce.

When we go for a meal depending on our schedule we will dine in and enjoy the beautiful atmosphere on main street of Ada, OH. Or we will ride through the drive through with great service no matter the line they always get us our food fast.

I looked into the history one of Ada's finest establishments and learned that it opened in 1955. Students are a main source of income at this local eatery with stops throughout the day between classes, as well it being a frequent for late night meals. Serving over 140 items and annually making over 2 million dollars a year this staple of Ada will be here for years to come.


Now for all of you who are just dying to come drive through the small town of Ada and try out all the food stops Ada has to offer there will be a lot of options. With local pizza shops and our very own improved Chipotle (Jalepeno's) there are countless places to indulge your taste buds. The stop you just won't miss however is the fine dining establishment under the golden arches!

There Go the Leaves

As I walked the half a mile from the Dial-Roberson Stadium to my apartment I noticed one little thing had changed in the past day. No it wasn't a crack in the sidewalk or that the ducks were gone. It quickly became a dark and gloomy day when I looked to my left and saw a tree with a leaf turning a shade of yellow.

While fall has never been my favorite time of year. I will always prefer 90 degrees and sunny over 60 and leaves falling. People love this time of year. As spooky season, and the beginning of the holiday season comes near. You can see autumn lovers looking to the trees as the leaves change to reds, oranges, and yellows. For those of you who would consider this your favorite time of year. Here is a list of what might make it your favorite.

1. Staying inside all day as the temperatures drop and the cold rains roll through nothing wrong with a great day inside wrapped up in a blanket.

2. Doing anything involving apples, eating apples, picking apples, drinking apple cider, one way or another apples are a sure fire way to start your fall off right.

3.Doing anything with a pumpkin, going to a pumpkin patch, picking a pumpkin, carving a pumpkin all ideas to get you in the fall state of mind.

4. Anything involving leaves never has anything been more applauded for dying. Every year we celebrate the death of all the leaves around us. Whether we are jumping in them or just admiring them leaves have become a celebrated hero of the fall.

5. In many homes the start of fall is the undocumented permission to start having fireplace fires. In my home as soon as it drops below 70 degrees fires are permitted but that comes down to personal preference.

6. Sweater weather, every where you look it seems everyone has found new sweaters left and right. Somehow people don't have to repeat sweaters for weeks.

7. Another unwritten permission of fall, hot chocolate is now available in all shapes and sizes in all kinds of restaurants and cafes.

8. It is officially L.L. Bean season! To those of you who don't live on a college campus or in the presence of those who own these boots I have attached a link. If you go outside after the first inkling of fall weather I promise you half the people you will see will have these boots on. The crazy part is they are not worn before fall then boom it all happens at once. Besides the leaves changing L.L. Bean season might be the best way to tell when fall is coming.

The best for last.

9. Flannel, plaid, anything that makes you look like a lumberjack is officially fair game once the leaves change colors.

Now you may wonder why this list is only 9 things when most of the time I do top 10s. The answer for that is 9 is a scarier number than 10 and it is officially spooky season and this is how I get in the spirit.