I Am LovIang

LovIang things happen everyday. People think that there are so many different things that change a person's lives and that is being kind. And loving. Being loving changes a person's Iandividual life and makes people proud of each other and caring characteristics. Whenever I laugh, I am being loving, but the thing is- how do people react? Do people change their perception? Do people think you are weird? Do people think you are crazy? Or too friendly? The answer is sometimes all of them. But more often than not, you will find that people are drawn in by emotion, by having their day made, by changing the power of their heart. No matter how people react I will not change my persona. I am who I am. I am lovIang.

Who I Am (An Acrostic)

Intelligent
Activist
Nice

Jolly
Advocate
Meticulous
Energetic
Silly

Barrier-Breaking
Ornery
Timely
Talkative

How Others See Me:
Interesting
Attention-Seeker
Nice

Jolly
Activist
Merry
Energetic
Sarcastic

Bonding
Ornery
Tall
Troublemaker

LeadsatIan

One of the biggest compliments I can give to a leader is that they are a leadsation. That is my word for a sensational leader. I see that in plenty of leaders in Boise State and in the self-advocacy community and I have seen plenty of growth in leadership in these areas. I have seen plenty of people grab the bull by the horns and continue to strengthen their own leadership skills. I am a leadsation or a leadsatIan because of my genuine leadership and because of my strengthened ability to do plenty of training and always learn more. However, a leadsation doesn't just go to training and learn more and then stop there. No, a leadsation genuinely cares for people, is counted on wherever they go, and is a great infectious personality that grows on people and they just want to be around. I have seen plenty of leaders be genuine and have that personality and then let it go to their own head and change them. I have been all over the place in leadership, the media, and training, but I think that people are genuinely drawn to me because I am a genuinely warm, nice guy. People are going to eventually show appreciation for who they care about. There are very few people who don't like me and if they don't, it's because of my sarcasm or my mild arrogance that only shows up every once in a while. When I temper that, I am a genuinely kind person, warm, huggable, and interested in people with much hope to spare. My hope is that all leaders can learn to change into people for the better. I am a leadsatIan and there are plenty of room for leadsations in the community so that people don't always get asked to do the same thing over and over.

My Mom Is My All-Time Hero

For all that she has gone through and has yet to go through, my mother is someone who is my all-time hero. For the fact that she raised three kids as a single mom on low-income for quite a while and now provides for herself greatly everyday, my mother is my all-time hero. For the reason that she is practically my clone in so many ways and has been caring, tough, honest, compassionate, loving, and so many other adjectives that are mostly good, my mother is my all-time hero. Even the reasons that she dealt with as my siblings and I were teens and in some cases were challenging and we can continue to be, the fact that her hair is still brown, my mother is my all-time hero. the fact that she is passionate about so many things and will do whatever it takes to be involved in things that she cares about while having time for herself, my mother is my all-time hero. but the biggest reason why she is my all-time hero is because she has never given up on me.

One Moment

One moment everything changes:
When people want to see me succeed, there is a lot of hope and a lot of clamor and faith. That one moment when life throws a curve-ball and you smash it out of the park. That one moment when you think you will fail crazily and you end up changing someone's life. That one moment when you are having a bad day and need someone to come into your life and say everything is fine and maybe if you like touch (because everyone is different) give them a high-five or hug when they need it. The moment when you feel like a failure and someone tells you to pick up the pieces and move on. The moment when you feel awful and you want some redemption and end up getting strengthened. There are many moments in my life like this and for this I feel brave. But we shouldn't dodge these moments, we should embrace them.
Sometimes life gives all that we can handle:
But it's our choice what we want to do with it. We can either choose to do the great things we do on a day-to-day basis well or crumble. We can love people and bring understanding and share opinions or wither around time. And we could very well be crumbling and nobody would know. But we have to be authentic in how to live life. As genuine people, we should be continuing to love and be loved. And we should strengthen our own character too.
How Can We?:
Everyone has a sense of belonging, you just have to find it. It really is that simple. When you want to continue to put together a long sense of determination and fortitude, just continue look at others lives. But more importantly, be selfless and full of appreciate for yourself. True beauty is found in your own heart. And then you can touch people's lives (just don't push boundaries too far, everyone's different.)

My Sixth Sense

Empathy. It's a great thing to have:
When someone is having a rough day, I ask them why or let them know that I care for them either with kind words, a hug, a high-five, or whatever they need. Some people call it being psychic or being empathetic. I think that it's a combination of empathy and my sixth sense. Some people don't understand how I can be so in tune with people when I have autism. I think that with that and an ADHD sub-diagnosis, I am able to hyper-focus on empathy and zero in on it. I think that things make me strengthened with empathy and that it helps me strongly work through my empathetic love for all.
Empathy is a choice:
People all have ups and downs it is what we do with them that matters. I feel like empathy is a choice because with empathy comes love and obedience to all who strengthen our own love for others and become even more engrossed in our own appreciation for how others feel. No one thinks others feel like they do until they have seen it happen. More so, empathy is something that is learned. As Robin Williams said in Patch Adams when he was in a soliloquy with God, "you spent six days creating the Earth, I think that you should have spent the seventh day on compassion." I think that should have happened for us all.
Empathy is learned:
The reason I have this sixth sense and others don't is that I have an understanding of a tough life and a strong sense of living stronger and with a purpose. Empathy isn't something everyone has. Some of my best friends don't and I am able to calm them down by showing empathy. Empathy is something that people learn with time and show appreciation and full valor throughout their love and acceptance for full appreciation and kindness and generosity. I choose empathy because I strongly strengthen my own love for all.
Works Cited:
"Patch Adams", Movie, Universal Studios, 1999.

Bottom Of The Fourth Quarter And It Counts

My basketball career is over:
One lay-up and one tip-in. The two most typical shots for a center/forward, but the two last shots I made in unorganized and organized ball. Before that, I was able to be an unofficial top twenty individual in many categories in noon-ball and an unofficial top-fifteen in points in Special Olympics basketball, and in the top-five unofficially in fouls, rebounds, and blocks. If there were enshrinement in career Hall of Fame's for those particular basketball places I would be in them. And I was a winner: my pick-up ball teams won 40% of the time at last count, and I won 5 gold medals, 4 silver medals, and 1 bronze medal in basketball alone in Special Olympics, not counting my school-ball days were the teams were 5-3, 11-2, and 9-2 in three years of sporadic time on the court. I have won numerous one-on-one games and some two-on-two games, but despite all the teammates that I have touched, all the camaraderie of it, all the great memories I've had, all the friendships I've made, I'm done. I don't like it, but my body's happier, I'm at peace with how my body feels, and I'm at peace with what I had accomplished in my close to twenty years on the court. I have seen plenty of nicks and bruises and sprains in my time and my sense is due to doctor's telling me to quit, I can do that and be happy with it. I want my body to be able to walk and hike and dance when I'm my Mom's age, and I can't do that if I sprain my ankle every month. I may be able to produce, but at what type of cost? I just want to believe that I have done enough to count and give it my all.
Have I made mistakes?:
Sure I have. I haven't been the kindest player on the court, I have been hyper-competitive to the point where people don't want to guard me, and I have played too hard when it doesn't matter score-wise. I have looked selfishly and tried to argue my way into playing time when we were ahead by a lot and I was a star. I can say that there have been a litany of mistakes that I've made and I've gotten pulled for some of them, but it is safe to say that even last year when I sat out parts of the second half as an injury precaution and still got injured, players sometimes have to sit when they have done nothing wrong. No player is perfect, not me, not Kevin Durant, not Michael Jordan even. It gets to the point where when they are mistakes such as my disqualification, my extended exuberance on the game we won last year, or my intentional foul (OK, the only one that was called, I'm sure that the refs in games I've been in were just a lean bit lenient) were choices and the mistakes that I've made with my behavior off-the-court, especially in high school, it seems to me that I have become the person I have today and wouldn't be any less of a person or a ball-player on the team without them.
Basketball players lead interesting lives, even if it's just on the recreational level:
I have been able to share stories with friends years down the road, and it becomes like legend. There are people who still talk about "the shot" versus my arch-rival in Freshman ball half a lifetime ago. Some of my friends talk about moments from way-back-when I did some stuff that I legitimately regret. One story that is still brought up is when I tried to shave my head "for the team" when I was 17. I was too young to do stuff that was that out-there but I didn't know it then. People still to this day talk about Christian Boise State Rec Ball and my prowess there and my memory for details with scores. I think these days though I'm able to be at peace with semi-forced retirement. I don't think that there is anything else I can accomplish that I have yet to besides an unbeaten season which is almost impossible to do. Most of all, I have done the best I could do when I could do it and I have almost a whole book of interesting stories to tell. I truly have, even though some people due to my over-aggressive demeanor don't want to hear it, have given my all to it.