What Eddie has Realized

I've come to realize that those who make it big in the corporate world possess 10% skill and 90% manipulation.

It is amazing what a little observation can do. Paying attention puts you ahead of 85% of the population and if you hone this, you can often realize how people tick and then use the aforementioned manipulative power to use them as a pawn in your game of life.

I look back to just a couple years ago and wonder how I got to where I am now. Everything has changed from my attitude on life to my style of clothing. Is it bad I am scared of how much I can accomplish once I have a real career?

Potential is one of those words that we use for people who are smart/athletic who never really apply themselves.

The older I get the more and more I can appreciate a good plot. A movie or book that sucks you in is one of the greatest stress relievers we have as people.

On the same lines video games can be a great stress reliever but damn if they don't make you lazy.

Everyone is great at beer pong until they play someone great at beer pong.

I was out a couple weeks ago and a few of my friends I met up with were blackout drunk. It was at this point that I realized "Holy shit, I am growing up" because I was slightly turned off by the way they were acting. Drinking, to me, is no longer "lets get drunk" but a way to sit and ponder life.

One of my favorite movies "Rounders" had a great quote "If you are too careful your whole life can become a grind." It just now hit me as I am writing this that this was the exact reason I left Ohio.

"I can just be me, whoever that is" - Bob Dylan

Day Off

So I've been struggling to come up with a new topic for this blog and today it finally hit me. I'm seven beers deep and it finally made sense. We as men, need  a day to remind ourselves we are in charge of our lives. As I sit here typing I realized that I am not worried about my diet or my life stresses but more the fact of how much I am going to drink today. Usually I reserve these days for Friday and Saturday however as my good friend Jordan Stevenson always says "Why do you need to be getting married to celebrate bachelorhood?" So today I am getting drunk for the fun of it and not worrying about the consequences of my actions. It feels good to be me today.

To Hell With Life Plans

You know those people who have deadlines for certain things; like those who need to be married by X or  be in position for certain jobs by X age? Of course you do everyone has at least one of these friends in their life and while I am not picking on them I just have chosen to take a different path. Does living in the moment have its disadvantages? Are there some things I should have planned for better to happen now? Should I have studied more on Thursday nights instead of going to bars when I had exams on Friday? Maybe. But the simple answer I have here and it is one that still defines me as a person is I have a lot of life experiences that I would not trade for the world. Countless people have told me to take my "life adventures" and turn them into a book. While I usually just laugh at this thought it has made me realize that I do in fact take advantage of the moment and despite not being primed to be married anytime soon or have a European sports car by 28 I do live quite an interesting life that many people who have their lives planned wish they could have. 

I have always been the kind of person that believes you can either learn from people or at least use them as a pawn in the game of life. So while I am out having fun and forgoing plan making I still can sit and hold an intelligent conversation about what the future potentially holds for me while at the same time I can show these "planners" how to have a good time in the moment and forget about life and stresses that constantly plague these people. 

It is kind of funny as I write this post because this very characteristic of mine leads a lot of people to resent me when they first meet me. (There is no humble way to put that statement) A lot of people seriously do not get how I can manage to have fun in any situation but as they hang out with me they cannot help but notice at the end of the day they know I can be serious. They know I am someone they want to keep around in their life, even if it is just as a distraction. My laid back personality can give them a break from their current misfortune or shortcomings and I provide the escape. 

The whole point of this post is that you can have a healthy balance in life and that life plans do not always work out so do not get disgruntled if they do not. Just get in contact with me and I guarantee the tequila, beer and witty banter will help you escape your temporary setback to you life plan. Unless, of course, that is not in your life plan.

Putting the Fan in Fantasy Football

So many different viewpoints have been heard in the last couple months regarding this subject among friends and coworkers. I have heard everything from you aren't going out because you have a fantasy draft to fantasy football is ruining the NFL.  It is funny to think about how we as  Americans (and others as well outside the US) spend so much time on a silly game. In my time waiting for my job to begin in a couple weeks I can honestly say I have wasted hours looking for potential waiver wire pickups and exploring trade options.

There is one point that I would like to address though. Fantasy Football IS NOT ruining the NFL. In fact I think the NFL is what it is today because of Fantasy Football. I would argue that fantasy football has made the casual fan a lot more educated about the game then say even ten years ago. Never mind the DVOA stats and all that other stuff that has been coming out. It all boils down to the minimal to best research you do for your respective "team". Its near impossible to not know doing minimal research how someones offensive line is affecting your RB or how the rookie QB has great rapport with his TE. All these things make NFL fans pay attention to every team and I believe that is why the NFL is as popular as it is today. Well that and the hard salary cap creating parody but that is a different story for a different entry.

Finally Home

I guess this would be a sufficient title for now because lets face it I am now living in Raleigh. I still get people asking me all the same questions: Why did you move? Do you have a job? Arent you going to miss everyone? etc.. and the answer is simple really. I moved because I wanted to. End all be all statement right there. I felt that at this point in my life I accomplished what I had to in Ohio and now it is time to move on and conquer this new challenge. Im eager to take on the challenge of knowing no one but my roommate and for the new bigger city feel. So far some things have thrown me off, like the inability to make left turns at most roads (gosh u turns are fun), but I will soon figure out my way around this city and be able to call it "Home". Ill keep this one short and sweet today and end it here but to answer your question I know you want to ask...

I am still looking for jobs.

The End Of an Era

As we get older and start working we tend to bounce around from job to job and have different attitudes towards each of them. I have worked in retail, I have worked in sales and I have worked in restaurants. I have now been working in a the restaurant business for ten years of my life and it has become my comfort zone. I have a great personality and I am a good server and know how to utilize these to make great money. I joke with everyone I have worked with at the Old Firehouse Winery about how on any given night I know 10-20% of the people in the restaurant which got me to thinking. Tomorrow is my last day and it will conclude my five year tenure at the Old Firehouse where I have made lifelong friends and plenty of drinking buddies. Not to mention the fact that I got to work with people from all over the world. All of these thing are memories I will always cherish and be able to hold with me as I leave my comfort zone the last five years.

The winery has been a safe haven, my way to make good money, have a great time and have a really flexible schedule and now as my last day approaches in a short 16 hours I am stuck thinking will I ever find a place where I got along with the owners/managers and fellow staff as well as I did here? These five years at the winery have flown by and its hard to think that place has consumed 20% of my life year to date. Wow, think about that 20%, in a generation of movers and shakers how many people can say they have stayed in good graces with their employers for that long? This is not a subtle brag but more of a "Reflection" (my winery people who read this will get that joke I hope) of how the winery has shaped me these last five years. So as my tenure and reign as "zee best server in all zee world" comes to an end at OFW as we have affectionately called it these last five years I cant help but be thankful for all the memories and friendships I have made there.

A wave of emotion is hitting me writing these last couple sentences because as much as I hate the word "love" these days because of its vast overuse I cant help but say how much I have loved this place and the friends I have made here. There were so many good times that made this job worth it I can truly say I was blessed to meet you all. So as I leave my favorite job I have ever had I want what we have built these last five years to continue on here and keep the traditions we have engaged in from drinking at the foreign house, to partying at bonfires at the cottages, to all the nights we drank/created shots at High Tide, to working in the pouring rain and being absolutely miserable to everything we loved and hated about the job alive.

So to all my foreign friends, my wife, my best friends, the few people I couldnt stand you all have shaped my life in more ways than you will ever know and I thank you.

Love you all,

Eddie

Gripes About Moving

We all hate to pack this is a given. However, now as my move gets closer I am looking a little past the packing and figuring out all the other stuff I need to take care of as this move gets closer. The biggest one is closing out my bank account and deciding when I want to do it. This is problematic for a couple reasons the first being I need time to get it closed out and the second is what about my paychecks I have that are direct deposited? I could not think of a single downfall about direct deposit until I came upon the realization that I need a new bank. Also, what do I do with the money I am withdrawing? Do I take it in large bills? Do I take a cashiers check? Do I do a combination of both? The whole process is just pissing me off because of the waste of time this is going to create for me.

The other major gripe I have is what exactly I am going to be bringing down with me. I have a 98 saturn and renting a UHaul is a ridiculously expensive option that I wont even consider. So that leaves me with a couple options in how to approach the situation. I am leaning towards bringing the computer and TV/360/BluRay and a suitcase with some clothes and a suit and having the parents bring everything else down when they come in a couple weeks. The fun part will be sleeping on an air mattress for those couple weeks as well as living out of a suitcase. Does notexactly spell "W I N N I N G" to the opposite sex those first couple weeks I am down there. However it also seems to be the most practical, for those first couple weeks I get by and I don't have to worry about spending any of the savings I have accrued these last few months.

What about all of my readers? Anything you hate about moving?

Insert Cliche Here

As we grow up we constantly hear things like "If its meant to be it will be" or "Fortune favors the bold" but let's be honest with ourselves for a moment. Do we really buy this crap? I am sitting here a mere two weeks away from moving and beginning a new chapter in my life as I head to North Carolina and it got me thinking. This is a pretty big move I am making and now my success or failure is squarely on my shoulders. If I failed in the past I had my friends or family or coworkers to pick me up and help me get back on track. Now I have myself or my roommate and that completes the social circle I will have moving. The reason I bring this post up is because "Fortune favors the bold" really started resonating with me as I have got closer to my move date. Could it be that this is where I will find out how much meddle I truly do have? Have I had it in me my whole life or have I vastly overrated my knowledge to this point? Only time will tell but for now I would like to think "fortune favors the bold"

Eddie

Who is FiveThous?

     I do not know how many times I have heard this these last few years. This is the question that I hear the most when I hand out my twitter handle or when people see my custom url on Facebook. I myself often wonder when and how this name originated, but I like to think it was somewhere around my junior year of college. At this time in my life my roommates and myself were partying quite a bit and I had noticed that as the night progressed I tended to become life of the party with my shenanigans and loud mouth. This cocky, confident "monster" that I created had began its manifestation into turning me into the guy I am today.

     This nickname, I believe, came about busting balls with my roommate and good friend Dustin O'Neil. Little did I know at the time it would come to fruition in becoming my full fledged alter ego. It is kind of funny to think about how this transition has happened but at the same time "FiveThous" has really pushed me out of my comfort zone and made me a lot more confident with where I want to go with my life. Now most of you who know me know that I am a pretty reserved first guy when you first met me. (Ok if you have known me for more than one month I know you probably already forgot that.) I have always been a pretty modest guy and content with just getting by doing the minimum. These past couple years have made me realize that I was selling myself and my talents short. I was stuck in this personality of idly sitting sitting there watching everyone else go get what they wanted when I finally realized that I can have that too if I just "sacked up" for lack of a better term. However, as the years have gone by since the revealing of FiveThous, I have kept my core values and have adopted the outgoing, confident, sarcastically charming persona of this alter ego.

     I know at this point you are probably thinking why do I care about your alleged alter ego Eddie, and to be honest I completely understand that. I am a big believer though that if you are not learning as you get older you will get left behind. So this "alter ego" has been a big part of my learning curve these past few years. "FiveThous" has made me stand behind my ideas and also hear and try to understand others which has influenced a lot of what I think about the world and the people in it.

     So for those of you wondering who FiveThous really is, this post was for you. FiveThous is more than an alter ego it was a short and sweet coming of age story of another 20something who did not know what he wanted to do with his life and how now he has an idea of not only what to do with it but how to approach and tackle the situation with confidence.