What I've Learned 001: Initial Attempt.

Esquire magazine has a regular feature called "What I've Learned" in which a celebrity, businessperson, athlete, academic, musician or other influential person dishes out words of wisdom, interesting anecdotes or life lessons. In this post I'm doing the same thing, only I'll be using the first few words of each paragraph of the feature (in italics below) as prompts for my own answers. This time, I'm using Rick Rubin's interview for my template.

just chillin' in the fridge
on a hot-ass day

• What I've learned about myself in the past seven months has mostly been encouraging. I guess I'd never seriously really gone "soul searching" before and asked myself if I could be a better person. The answer, thankfully, is "yes."
  
  
• When you're a kid, nothing makes you feel like more of a bad-ass than being part of a bike gang in your neighborhood, even if you don't happen to have the cool BMX.
  
  
• At one time, I really believed that everyone liked and respected me all the time. I was eventually dismayed to find out that this wasn't in fact true.
  
  
• Making art is something I wish I had more time for. For now though, I'll settle for having a deep appreciation for other people's art. This is a win-win situation.
  
  
• What I've learned about changing to a pescatarian diet and restricting my calories is that it's much better to view the change not as a form of self-denial, but as one of self-discipline. Self-denial will only lead to ruin -- and a lot of cheeseburgers.
  
  
• My job is to make sure I don't fuck up as colossally as I have over the past three years anymore. I'm tired of disappointing myself and people around me. It's a hard job but the benefits are freaking fantastic.
  
  
• If I were to make anything out of Legos right now, it would be a giant, sturdy armored vehicle that I'd jump over ramps made of my books over and over until it started to break apart. Then I'd rebuild it, make it structurally stronger, and repeat the process until I had an INDESTRUCTIBLE ROLLING FORTRESS.
  
  
• I was talking to a coworker today and she suggested that I start listening to country music (she's pretty into it and often sings along to the radio we constantly have playing in the background). I do appreciate the ability of the genre to tell great stories. But I'm currently heavily involved with electronic and indie music -- and many of their sub-genres -- and as much time as I spend listening and searching for new stuff, I just don't have room in my brain. I did get a couple of recommendations, though.
  
  
• So much of my work is a process of self-discovery and learning. It's incredible how much I'm learning during a 10-hour shift in the hospital. What's better is that I truly enjoy the work. I can't say it's evolved into one of my "passions" quite yet but there's something to be said about looking forward to the day.
  
  
• With many artists, I think there's a reluctance to cut down on the amount of garbage tracks on their projects. I'd rather get an EP of quality songs than a full-length album comprised mostly of forgettable filler. I'm not trying to pick out 4-5 good songs from a double album either. Kill that noise, literally.
  
  
• I don't know anything about love. Well, only that I'm not that great at it. I like to think I've had flashes of brilliance and understanding of how it works, but mostly I'm still in the dark. Someone help me out.
  
  
• It's not fun to be your buddy's wingman for more than seven hours during a camping trip, especially when you have absolutely ZERO intentions on making a move on the friend of the girl who your friend is trying to hook up with. (Read that again, it'll make sense.) But yeah, really no fun AT ALL. I feel for you, Mike.
  
  
• I was with this group of friends at an all-night diner after getting out of the club. What is it about breakfast food at 3am when you've had a few drinks? I had an omelet stuffed full of veggies, a massive side of hash browns and a couple slices of buttered toast. The plate was huge. I finished all of it and probably could've smashed some waffles after that, but it was time to go. Needless to say I slept like a damn log and wasn't hungover. Calories were off the chain though.
  
  
• Put it this way: I haven't learned much, but it's a start.

Upon re-reading, I really like this format. Look for more WIL entries in the future.