Failure must sometimes be an option

I know it's a strange thing to say. How could failure ever be a good thing? I will explain. Last weekend I was in Terrell, TX to go scuba diving.

I love scuba diving. I once swam with stingrays in The Living Seas at Walt Disney World. I was actually part of the attraction! I dove into the aquarium and slowly went to the bottom to prepare for our tour dive. After the tour we were allowed to do whatever we wanted, and being the showman that I am, I went straight for the glass to see my family and show them what I can do. I waved of course, but then I started to do some moves I learned during my buoyancy training. I did the superman, I hovered like a Buddhist during Nirvana, and then I flipped upside down and just stayed there. Looking at the world upside down gives you a new perspective on the world. Something almost seems so right with the world when everything has been turned upside down. After looking at the oohs and ahhs of the tourists, I decided to get close to the local wildlife. I found sharks, a huge sea turtle, a grouper the size of a Volvo rabbit, and then I met the stingrays. They are the most graceful animal of the ocean. They don't merely swim through the ocean, they cut through it. It moves out of their way. It ripples across the bottom of their body as if the ocean was created to hold them up. If you could have only seen it the way I had, you would have fallen in love too. If I did believe in reincarnation, that is the animal I would choose to come back as.

I digress back to Terrell, TX. When I went last week, I was to learn how to dive with a dry suit, deep dive, do some underwater navigation, and improve my buoyancy. As I began the dive, I was fine until I came back up. I went to dive again and I could not breathe. It was like my mouth became too small to hold the regulator properly, and my lungs could not get enough air. I was beginning to freak out, and that is the worst thing possible. I came back to the surface and decided to end my dive for the moment. I was pissed because it had never happened to me before. As I laid waiting on the surface for my mates to finish their dive, I began to cough violently and phlegm began to emerge. I realized the problem. The phlegm was blocking my airways. Before I dove I was fine, but as the water pressure squeezed me, my passages became blocked. If I continued to dive that way I might have died, so I decided that it was time to end my dive for good until I was healthier. I hated to drive away that day, but I cant dive anymore if I'm dead. It was truly a hard decision to make, but it's not one that I regret. Sometimes, failure is the best option.

Praise God!

Okay I know the title sounds a little preachy but I was looking for it to be uplifting. In case you were wondering why the Bear with the cap was so dressed up today, it's because I got a second job that will help to pay bills. Right now I'm told, I will have at least one day per week which will bring me to only 3 days a week, but it'll help pay the bills. So I praise Him for that. It's amazing how sometimes life makes you feel like it's turned a blind eye to you, but when you finally find that door of opportunity; Its' so much brighter.

So as for the first day of work, I was able to reach my goals, help some customers find gifts for their loved ones, and even got rewarded. My reward wasn't only the pay, but a pizza a customer gave to me for helping them. I may be reading to much into it, but it meant a lot to me when that nice woman gave me that slice. Lord knows I was starving by that time, and I thank her greatly for that token of appreciation.

I saw in a movie once that Acts of Random Kindness are truly what make this world go round. I know it doesn't make the world turn, but I know it makes it truly enjoyable to live in. It's always the humble things that make the biggest difference. An alcoholic was told by God to build a giant boat that floated for 40 days and 40 nights, and professionals built the Titanic. A Jewish carpenter told the world that he was the Son of God, come to save the world. Powerful men came up with the Spanish Inquisition and witch hunts.

I know that was a tangent, but I guess my point is to be humble. Your greatest moments can come when you break down and say "I can't take anymore, so let me try to give." I was given a humble pizza. I want to humbly give this blog and a prayer to all of you who read this, whoever you are, I pray God is watching over you. I hate to sound cliche', but even if you don't believe in Him, He believes in you.

I love you,
Ironbear.

Why are people scared of guns?

I was speaking to several of my friends the other day, because I had recently purchased a Glock .40. While texting this to my friends, almost everyone of them said I was scary. I don't believe that handguns are scary. The way people use handguns are, but the guns themselves are quite alluring. After I purchased it, of course I had to fire off a few rounds. I didn't realize how quickly you can go through a box of 50. I mean yes it was exhilirating to have the 13 round clip fired of in a matter of moments, but it wasn't scary. I have been firing guns since I was 6 years old with my grandfather and he made sure that I was taught properly.

I still remember the first gun I fired. It was a sawed off 20 gauge that grandpa had just "lying around." I remember how heavy it felt, and there was no way I was going to fire this thing. Sure enough grandpa taught me how to hold it, load it, and then he put me up against a tree to shoot a pie plate. I was 6, so you must realize I knew nothing of recoil. Sure enough I stood there, put the barrel to my waist, and BLAM! No more pie plate!

It was a rush to see that plate shred into 100 different directions after I pulled the trigger. When my heart began to beat normally again, I asked grandpa if I could shoot another one. We had plenty of plates so why not. I sat against the tree, loaded both barrels, took aim at the hip, and BLAM! I fired both barrels at the same time causing the recoil to lift the barrels and it struck me in the forehead. I never hurt so bad before, but after the initial shock; I loved every moment. I learned to hold onto a gun after that. I may have been hurt but all I wanted to do after that was feel that recoil and watch pie plates explode.

My recent purchase has gotten my friends to ask if I was going on a rampage anytime soon. Believe me, that is the last thing on my mind. I will say one thing. I understand why the police relieve stress by dismantling, cleaning, reassembling, and firing their weapons. It's a great stress reliever to feel a little "controlled" destruction.

Economical Woes

The very thing I never thought was going to happen, has. Why is it that as soon as you tell yourself that it could never happen to me, the very thing that was never suppose to happen, has happened.

I just found out today that my hours are being cut back to only 2 days a week due to cutbacks and budgeting. Don't get me wrong, I am thankful that I still have a job, but I wonder where the logic is that I can pay bills on only 2 days per week. Has anyone sat down and said, "With this failing economy, I know that no one can find work right now, but lets fire some people so we can fix our budget. Then, in order to save more cash, just so we're not totally evil, lets cut back the hours of our current workers, while we get others to work twice as hard."

I love the company I work for, but I don't understand the cutback. Why can't companies just stop hiring, instead of throwing people out on the street? The only people that honestly need to be cut from a job are those who aren't contributing to the company. If you don't report to work because today's just not the day, and days like that happen more than once every 3 months, I could see letting that person go. Why can't you just call in sick and then head to do whatever you want to do that day? I'm not condoning that idea by the way. I'm just saying life can get extremely stressful, and you need a break in the routine sometimes.

The problem with that idea is, how do you know that's the case, and there's not a real problem. I believe that companies should begin working with their staff, and seeing the individuals that work for them instead of being worried about the bottom line. Understand that they are a person, just trying to make it in this world, and not a number in a book.