A New Beginning

Hello Internet.

I'm back.

I had tried blogging a few years ago, but it never really clicked with me. I'm not a big blog reader to be honest (except for my guilty pleasure www.pinkisthenewblog.com where I get ALL of my celebrity goss). During my first attempt at a blog I felt like I was writing more of an online journal than anything relevant to society, and at the time I had just ended my long-term relationship with www.livejournal.com so I just didn't see the point.

I'd like to think I've become a more interesting person since my sophomore and junior years of high school, but I can't promise this won't be any more organized or relevant than my last attempt. I don't plan on using this as an outlet for my personal life and the way I deal with it, but I do expect for it to be an outlet for my ideas, interests, and emotions. Things I think will be worthy to blog about in my current summer vacay lifestyle:

• My job at a record store/skateboard shop/ bong boutique in Central Illinois (which is owned by my parents).
• Trying my hardest to catch up on TV series I have missed out on (including LOST, The Office, Weeds, and BIG Love).
• Getting a decent tan.
• Spending too much time reading reviews and watching youtube vids of video games when all I own is a Nintendo Wii.
• Trying to cram in as much "pleasure reading" as possible into my summer before I must once again to succumb (you have no idea how many times I had to try to spell "succumb" before I figured it out. There are two "c"s and a "b") to "school reading" such as my managerial accounting or quantitative business analysis text books.
• The ongoing struggle to deal with a town that does not have as liberal of a drinking policy as my school (Washing University in St. Louis).
  
• Also, you may be treated to a few short stories of mine. I'm trying to start writing again in anticipation of a fiction writing course I'm enrolled in for fall term.
  

I suppose I'll end this first post with an explanation of the blog title. I thought about using this space for a brief introduction to myself (eharmony style), but I think I'll let the blog speak for me itself. So, onto the title.

SEE: OH! ARE. WHY?

If you read those four words you will end up with four disjointed words, or the phonetic spelling of the letters of my name.

Cory = C O R Y = see oh are why

It's something I discovered a year or two ago and have been playing around with for awhile. I've added the punctuation (and changed them many a time) until I ended up with this. For me, SEE:OH!ARE.WHY? represents life lessons imparted to me through my name.

SEE:
I want to see the world. I want to see how other people live, and I want to see it for what it's worth. The Earth is too big and too incredible to be taken for granted. Just by leaving my home state (by moving FAR AWAY from Illinois to Saint Louis, MO) I have learned so much about the rest of the world works. I want to see more, and more importantly to learn from what I see. I'm hungry for change and enlightenment.

OH!
I think everyone should do something that makes them go "OH!" every single day. Now, maybe you're not one to exclaim the word "OH!" under any situation (I'm with you on that), but hopefully you get the gist. I'm not saying to do something scary or surprising everyday (though I can't seem harm in that either), just something that excites you. I never want to be complacent with my life, the idea of being satisfied is horrifying. Bring on the thrills, the challenges, the fun. I want to continue to grow and continue to be excited about life.

ARE.
This is a reminder that "I am." does not work nearly as well as "We are." Don't get me wrong, I celebrate diversity as much as the next guy (in fact I'd be surprised if a few blogs aren't focused on my Mexican heritage), but for every littler difference people have, everyone is unified by something more. I definitely respect people for their differences, but that doesn't seem as important to me as simply respecting someone because they're a person and deserve it. Because in the end, we're all in this together people.

WHY?
I want to ask questions everyday. I want to pursue my education both in a formal institute as well as in life. My dad always used to say, "If you're lucky you'll learn something new everyday." I've seen that the best way to learn things is to ask questions. Usually, people will not only be willing but will also enjoy giving you the answer. Asking questions is more to me than simply "challenging a status quo" but rather a way to enrich my life, and if I can pass on what I learn to others, I can hopefully enrich theirs as well. I suppose that's all for now.

I'll leave you with a teaser for things likely to come up on here in the coming week (based on my current interests and wonderings).