With college break in full force, I have started to reflect on what actually happened my first semester of college. I pledged a fraternity, i maintained a job and i held a GPA above a 3.0. Needless to say i am very proud of myself but this entry isnt about beating my own drum. This entry is about the way i learned to be thankful for what I have. This semester I survived on $350 for four months as opposed to $2500 I was supposed to live on. I have never felt so poor ever. Of course i had a meal plan, but most students know that it is very difficult to live on food that the school makes (not good food and im not exagerating... i eat anything). On top of being poor, i put up witht he horrors of pledging. With out going into too much detail, it was just the icing on the cake to make me feel like crap. I still wonder today how i made it through last semester but eventually i did make it through pledging and then i even made it through finals with B-plus grades. My mom came to pick me up later after my last final and she saw a zombie for a son. As worn out as i was i had to show her my most rememberable (or not so rememberable, if you know what i mean) spots on campus including my new fraternity house i inherited. Eventually i got home and it finally hit me... I accomplished all my goals and i am no longer poor. I have a  house and a refridgerator with food in it. Everytime this Christmas break, when i ate food or opened up a Christmas present i thought about how hard my parents worked for the item. This was the first Christmas i cried after opening up presents (and this is coming from a big bad frat boy). Im not saying that everyone needs to go through what i did, but with how bad things are  getting in the United States today and how a lot of people are still ignorant about how much they actually have, i reccomend somehow going into some kind of poverty or better yet, go help out at a soup kitchen, not for one night, but consistantly, every day for a month. Get a feel for what it really is like to be poor and then appreciate what you have. In a strange sense i feel like i earned life and i have nothing to lose. Success is my only object.

-phi phi kappa alpha
 

So yeah, I'm a new user to all this and according to my last blog, im in school and im just watching the days go by until i go back to school and live on my $400 a semester compared to $2500 (really not looking forward to it. i hope i can get through this semester and then the economy picks back up and i wont have trouble getting more money through a loan), but as always when i put my faith in Christ it all works out one way or another. Anyway... how about those Pittsburgh Steelers anyone? Playoffs are rolling around once again meaning it is time for me to go and socialize with family and friends while gathering around the good ol' TV to watch the pigskin get tossed around (here we go stillers, here we go!). Geez alright let me get to the blog part of the blog now that i got everything out of my mind besides a certain someone. So I'm a new user and i have been looking around on a lot of other people's blogs and i've noticed that im real different. I dont type things like everyone else does. I dont talk the same as everyone. I dont agree with a lot of things that people think (not that im not open minded). BUT DONT YOU JUST LOOOOOOOVVVVVEEEEE BEING AN INDIVIDUAL????!!!!!!!! (I know once again im going back to what i have learned my first semester in college but just hang on a second) Senior year of high school comes around and i was regrettably the typical jock football player. The last thing I liked out of a person was someone that stood out from other people. I never really came out and said it, but i think subconsiously i HATED the thought of any kind of individuality. I wore preppy clothes and the works (insert stereotype here). So i go into college as the preppy football player that is still way too immature. Four weeks of school go bye and i decided to pledge a fraternity because it seemed like me style. When i rushed i went up to our house and saw a plethora of athletes and i knew right away that i was destinted to join the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. So, I go into my first pledge meeting thinking that my new pledge brothers are going to be jocks just like me. I was in shock when i walked in the room. Yes there were athletic kids, but not a lot it them seemed like a lot of nerds to me (if any of my brothers are ready sorry guys, but we all were like that ill explain later love ya). I remembered that i wanted to quit because i thought everyone was a nerd and i didnt need to treat anyone with respect, let alone like a brother. Well through the secret magical wonders of pledging i bonded closer to my brothers then anyone. I can honestly look you in the eye and tell you that i would take a bullet for any of them and im talking about not only the jocks, but the my environmentalist friend (thegreenestamerican.com (site doesnt always work but check back sometime)), my best brother in college who is completely into computers, and then just the different personalitites that i never saw myself fitting in with. I love those guys and i love the fact that theyre all DIFFERENT! There is a reason why EVERY SINGLE brother is in my fraternity and it's because of their differences. So yes, i realize this is my second blog, but i want this to be my opening message to not only gaia, but to the world:

I'm different than you! You can't expect me to change or try to be like you! You are going to love me! I genuinely love everyone through Christ and I appreciate your opinions even if I don't agree with most of them. What I appreciate the most is the fact that I am going to learn something from you! I know I don't fit in with Gaia, because I'm in a fraternity, I love football and basketball, I listen to Lil' Wayne, and there really are a lot of issues i'm just moderate in, but that is why in the past two days I have learned to love this site! I don't mean this in an arrogant way so look into what i'm about to say , "I am the best thing to happen to this site and to you, as well as you all to me!"

So hater or not or even if i still have your attention, do me a favor. I want you to try and think very deeply. I want you to think about why all the people that agree with opposing views from you are the people whom you should love the most.

I know that this is a long blog and i promise i'll have something way better for you all sometime soon, but what i said is critical to the world. P.S. I'm sorry for being so ignorant growing up in high school, I was THAT guy.

-phi phi kappa alpha