College Admissions Counselors Will Love Me...

Sweet and simple. This is my college admissions essay.

Enjoy.

Honesty is Brutal

                The truth, like being stabbed with a hot rusty knife and falling from great distances, can be quite painful. However, unlike a hot rusty knife, the truth is something that people could potentially want, no matter how brutal it is. The problem is that the truth, like Osama Bin Laden, seems to be very hard to find now a days. It isn’t impossible, though. Just ask Seal Team 6. The problem about honesty comes from both ends, though. People don’t want to hear it and people don’t want to deliver it. Kind of like a new born baby.

                The first problem with obtaining the fantastic treasure that is the truth is that sometimes people don’t really want to hear it. Especially if the truth has the potential to be a little upsetting. Questions like “does this dress make me look fat?” have the potential to result in answers that people probably don’t want to hear. But hey, they asked right? I think a life lesson that society as a whole needs to learn is that it’s better to hear the brutal truth than it is to be lied to. Sure, you could tell the potentially large woman in the potentially too small dress that, no, it doesn’t hug her skin a little too much. Then she’d be really happy… until she got to whatever event she felt the need to dress up for. Then the whispers start, and you know the whispers are never kept a secret. She’ll hear about it, and boy are you in trouble when you get home.

                “Why didn’t you tell me I looked like a stuffed potato in my dress?!?”  Don’t deny it, the little voice in your head that is letting you read this essay read that as a shrill, yet feminine, shriek of rage. If you’re a guy, you might have cringed a little bit too.

                The other problem with being honest is that nobody seems to feel the need to be honest anymore. They don’t realize that if you don’t tell the woman that the dress is not for her body type, you’re going to hear about it later, and it will probably be louder. People need to stop digging themselves a grave and realize that honesty is going to save you from a whole lot of crap later on. You might have to deal with someone being upset with you for a few minutes, but in the end they’ll be glad you were honest. Nothing sucks more than being lied to by someone you thought you could depend on to be honest with you. So next time, before you tell someone a lie, ask yourself: “is the amount of rage I’m going to experience if/when I get caught in this lie worth it?” If the answer is no, tell the truth. If the answer is yes… please reevaluate your life choices.

                The truth has the potential to be slightly painful. Being lied to is significantly more painful. If you lie to people, you are destroying any trust they had in you. If they didn’t trust you to begin with then congratulations, you blew your chances. The compulsive lying that society seems to think is acceptable is going to end badly. If you don’t believe me, I’m sure Hollywood has done tons of movies on the consequences of lying. Go rent one, and then I’ll say “I told you so.” 

Friendships Are Mutual You Derp...

WARNING: This is one of my "I'm slightly pissed off so I figured I'd blog about it to release some frustration" blogs. So if you don't want to read anything like that... you should probably close this tab now.

I have a lot of pet peeves. Calling me by my last name is a pet peeve of mine. Being a hypocrite is a pet peeve of mine. Not following through on promises you make is a pet peeve of mine (it's a policy of mine to automatically be annoyed by any and all politicians).

The one pet peeve of mine I wanted to talk about, though, is people who try and successfully pull off what I like to call "one sided friendships." I think that it's within the realm of possibility that I could write a book on how much one sided friendships make my blood boil. If I could rate it on a scale of 1-10 for how much they make me mad, I'd rate them at a 19398293. True story, bro. If one sided friendships were a person, they'd be the ugly red-headed step child that nobody ever really wanted. If they were a day they'd be Mondays. Specifically Monday mornings. FACT: Mondays are notorious for being the day that heart attacks most frequent. Does that put it into perspective for you? I really hate one sided friendships. Like... if I could turn them into a person I would probably murder that person. But I wouldn't get in trouble. It would be labeled as justifiable homicide.

Maybe I'm just going about life all wrong, but I seem to encounter one sided friendships a lot. Usually I end them before they have the chance to begin. However I'm a firm believer that if you are going to be "friends" with someone, the feeling should be mutual. As in both of you should probably put in an effort to be friends. That's where the term "one sided" comes into account.

I will admit I am probably guilty at being the bad friend in a one sided friendship. A lot. This is me giving you permission to call me out on it. It is absolutely not fair to anyone to be in this situation.

However I also know that I have been and still am the person that is putting the effort into a one sided friendship. It freaking sucks. It's kind of like you'd jump in front of a bullet for that person without hesitation. But if it came down to them jumping in front of a bullet for YOU, you're not entirely sure they'd do it. If you're in that situation...




Signs you're the victim of a one sided friendship:

- You always have to start the conversation.
- If you want to hang out with that person, YOU have to ask THEM to hang out. They never ask you to hang out.
- You always seem to be giving the effort to maintain the relationship. The amount of effort put forth by the other person: goose egg.

If this applies to you, I'm sorry. Together we can find a cure. If you just realized that you're the douche bag in a one sided friendship... freaking fix it or stop leading that person on. Friendships aren't a light switch you can just flip on and off. If you were real friends, you'd go through some tough shit together. Not bail out when it gets tough, and them come waltzing back when the tough part is over.


In regards to the other end of my one sided friendship... 1. I hope you know who you are. 2. I hope you're reading this. 3. If you are reading this, we need to talk. 4. If you're not sure if it's about you, please ask. Because I do want to talk to you about it. Badly. To the point that it kinda hurts.

That's all.

Love,
JewFro

Life: A Race... With Hurdles... Crap...

So I didn't really expect to learn another life lesson while I was on my float trip. So guess what... I learned a life lesson. Crazy how that works, right? Right. You go on a float trip with two of your best friends and you expect to have fun and relax and life is like: "Lol, no, it's time to have another epiphany Tyler." It's a conspiracy. I swear it is. I really did have fun on the float trip, though. And this is me saying "thank you" to my friends who decided to deal with me for a whole weekend in the middle of Nowhereville, Missouri. In an empty raft, on an empty and slow moving river. The best part, though, is when the radio called us beautiful and told us we have that one thing that shot them out of the sky. OH! And if you need a good movie to watch, go watch The Client. It's an older film, but it's SO GOOD. I'm getting off topic, though. I could write a book about how the float trip was pretty much perfect in every way.

Digressing...

Most of you that know me know that I tend to think a lot. A lot of thinking leads to over thinking and in my case over thinking is bad news because 99% of the time those thoughts aren't what I'd like to call "balls of sunshine and happiness." Not even close. Well... bad habits die hard. However, this time my over thinking allowed me to arrive at another life conclusion:

Life is going to throw you a TON of shit. It's like you're running a race at a track meet, and the hurdles are the difficulties life sets in front of you. Now, you may be a great hurdle racing person, but for nonathletic kids like me, the odds are you tried to jump the hurdle and you face planted. Hard.

Now in this race that I like to refer to as "life," everyone face plants at some point. I don't care how good at running or how Kenyan you are. You're gonna face plant. An example of a "life hurdle" is over thinking. For some reason, I was blessed (cursed, but I'm trying to sound grateful) with the horrid fact that I over think EVERYTHING. Boom. Face plant. Times sixty-seven.

The fact that you're going to face plant and trip over a few hurdles is inevitable. How you deal with tripping over that hurdle is key, though. You can sit there and give up. That'd be the easy way out. Whine and complain because the big bad hurdle got in your way. Go run a different race, an easier, one without hurdles. Where's the sense of accomplishment when you finish though? You could also just lay in the middle of the track and become another obstacle others have to watch out for while they run their race. I did that. I hate to admit it, but I did. I still do on occasion.

OR you can get back up and keep running. Find some motivation. Give yourself a reason to keep running that race.

My reason is because every time I fell down, someone cared enough to help me back up. Especially here recently. I know I talk about them a lot, but I have four of the best friends you could ever have. EVER. Since I started my junior year of high school at least one of them has been there to help me up every time I fell down. Every time.

I have the friend who shares my love for music. We can fan boy/girl hard over classical music and Sarah Chang together. Nobody else understands our love for classical string music quite like the other does. But on top of that I can still count on her to have my back and exchange fears of upcoming chair auditions (THOSE ARE THIS MONTH, BY THE WAY), or contest, or other non-music related things. So whoever said a guy and a girl can't be best friends... you are an idiot... and I'm guessing you lived with your mom until you were 30. At least. So HA.

Then there's the friend who I can be totally loud and obnoxious with and we don't judge each other. We usually just try and be louder than the other person. Whether we're quoting Spongebob, Mean Girls, or talking about how we're going to be ready for the Zombie Apocalypse, it's just so easy for us to have fun around each other. We were probably related in a past life. Not siblings... we get along too well to be siblings. Close cousins is probably accurate.

I have to group these last two together. They're like the brothers I always wanted... but it would be unfair to any one set of parents to have the responsibility of watching after all 3 of us for any extended period of time that lasts more than 3 days. "LET'S GO ON A NATURE WALK, GUYS!" We then promptly get chased by what sounded to be like a rather massive and vicious dog. I don't actually know what the dog looked like. It was dark and I was hauling ass in the opposite direction. These two remind me, though, that I don't have to live life being so wound up and stressed all the time. They do a very good job of just mellowing me out. It's like an emotional massage... I just get to relax. And when I do start over thinking stuff they kindly tell me that I'm being an idiot and I need to just stop thinking for a little bit.

See, I never said you had to run your race alone. I definitely would have given up a long time again if these people hadn't cared enough to tell me to get back up and get my butt in gear. They serve as my motivation to keep running. And if I trip over another hurdle, they'll help me up again. Of course, as friends they're entitled to laugh at the fact that I fell down first. That's how it works.

Life, in its own way, is a race. There is no set distance. You just run. Hurdles are a part of the race. I hope you jump over most of them and they turn you into a better person with killer calf muscles. Some of them are going to pop up unexpectedly and knock you down though.  The stadium is jam packed with people. Some of them would love nothing more than to watch you fail. Why would you give them that satisfaction? You will fall down. People will be there to see it. I hope you have the motivation to get back up, though. Keep running, so that way when you do finish the race, you can look back at everything you accomplished and be happy with the race you ran. The only person you're competing with in this race is yourself.

How can you lose?

Chicken, Double Standards, and a Whole Lot of Stupid...

Normally I'd take a stance on this issue that sides with the gay rights activists. I'm firmly against discrimination because of things like sexual orientation, race, religion, gender, etc.

Let me just say, though, that I think the people that are totally flipping shit against Chik Fil A are way out of line. They've created a double standard.

From what I've read and heard, it sounds to me like all the owner of this chicken restaurant did was state that he is against gay marriage (and keep in mind, the dude IS a Christian, so yeah, there's a good chance he's against gay marriage. It's in the Bible... you know that book CHRISTIANS READ).

The gay community and their supporters have marched on the WHITE HOUSE. And now they're angry because people are gathering at a CHICKEN RESTAURANT? What?

No, I don't think Chik Fil A needs to be funding anti-gay movements. Not because it's wrong, but because there are better things that the money could go towards. You could help the poor, which is also Christ like, and actually benefits society.

But the fact that people of the gay community and their supporters are throwing a fit over people gathering at Chik Fil A is absolutely stupid and hypocritical. The right to assembly was guaranteed to everyone. So sit your overly righteous selves down, and get over it. Your rights were never taken away by a chicken sandwich. This whole issue was stupid from the beginning, and it needs to stop escalating. Agree to disagree and move on with your lives.

I think if people were actually being discriminate against, I'd be a little more sympathetic. This isn't discrimination though. I'm sure that a gay person could go into Chik Fil A and still BUY some chicken nuggets. And if Chik Fil A is like "Nah, dude. You can't have any nuggets." Take it up in court, not on my Twitter feed.

This is an incredibly pissed JewFro. Stay in school.

Deuces.

That Llama Was Rad... Those Pews Are For Sale... And if Mother Nature Let's It Rain This Weekend She's Going On My Bitch List...

This summer. I don't even... gah. A warning of how much I was going to learn this summer would have been helpful. I wasn't prepared at all. Which is fine. If you like fighting monkeys with flame throwers.

Okay, I didn't fight monkeys with flamethrowers, but that's definitely what I'm going to tell people I did on the first day of school when teachers are like "what did you do over the summer? Share it with the class. NOW." So much for confidentiality. Jerk. However, I figured I would share with you guys what my summer has consisted of so far. And if you don't want to hear about it... well that's too bad. It's my blog. I'll do what I want.

Let's start with the end of the school year. I took tests. A lot. I flipped my lid because I was stressed. A lot. I skipped classes. Twice. One of the times was for Chipotle. IT WAS JUSTIFIED. The other time was for a nap. Who cares if it was justified? I chilled with some friends and Chinese food and reinforced the theory that I can't throw objects with any degree of accuracy. Unless you count sarcastic insults as objects. Heh. BULLS EYE.

Then I started working. I really ruin the whole stereo typical lifeguard ideal. Muscular I am not. Hawt blond surfer I am not. Chiseled I am not. I sit in a chair for six hours and blow a whistle when little children get the idea that it might be okay to run. NO. Stop running. I love it.

The first huge event I had this summer was StuCo camp. And to all of the poop faces who say that StuCo camp sounds lame... well I'm sorry that you were never held as a child. Don't take it out on us. StuCo camp literally is the most life changing experience I've ever had (sorry mission trip friends. Silver medals are purdy, though). When you get 500 of the most outgoing kids in Missouri and you put them together for a week on a college campus... dear God. I don't know how I lived through that. First you have to learn a crap ton of camp songs. Let me share with you the lyrics of one of those camp songs.


Dough - the stuff they put in twinkies
Ray - the guy who buys me twinkies
Me - The guy Ray buys twinkies for
Fah - a long, long way from twinkies
So - I think I'll have a twinkie
La - La la la la la twinkie
Tea - no thanks I'll have a twinkie
And that brings us back to dough
Twinkie, twinkie, twinkie, DOUGH

What? WHAT?! Who is Ray? And why is he buying me twinkies? I don't remember asking Ray to buy me twinkies. I don't even LIKE twinkies. This song doesn't even make sense! But singing it in an auditorium at the top of your lungs is fun. It's fun because every other person in that auditorium is singing along. Nobody else cares that you look like an idiot. Everyone else looks like an idiot too. StuCo camp is the one place I have been to where our differences meant nothing to anyone else. White, black, skinny, fat, gay, straight, smart, not so smart. It didn't matter who you were. It didn't matter where you came from. The only thing that mattered was that you were there, and your life was going to change with everyone else's. I assure you that I have never been to any other place EVER where you can just be you and not one person judged you. Not one. The acceptance that we showed each other that week was incredible. I wish everyone could go to Fulton. It changes your life.

Another thing I learned about at StuCo camp is the word Gusto. Living with Gusto and how important it is. I'll explain that later though.

P.S. ...

MASC HOW DO YOU FEEL?! I've missed screaming that. So much.

P.P.S

FAMILY K I MISS YOUR FACES COME BACK INTO MY LIFE KTHXBAI.

Oh and if you've ever told me that StuCo camp sounds stupid... I've probably visualized pushing you down the stairs... multiple times. Good day.

The other event I got to take part in was a mission trip to DeSoto Missouri. I think there should be a limit on how many life changing weeks you can go through in one summer. I was so overwhelmed. I learned a lot on the mission trip, too. No I'm not going to preach to you about how awesome God is (although He is undeniably awesome). I'm probably not the right person to do that. I'm still new to the whole religion thing, and I'm working those kinks out.

I think the thing I liked the most about DeSoto was the people. I went with a youth group full of people that I love (dear friend, thank you again for forcing me to spend time with your youth group... you were right and I was wrong and this is the ONLY time you'll witness me admitting it. So HA.) so I was already prepared to have a blast. What I didn't expect was for our youth group and the First Baptist Church of DeSoto's youth group to get along so well so fast. Holy friendship Batman!

The most significant lesson I got out of the mission trip to DeSoto was that you only get to live on this earth one time. Just once. Don't waste it.

I don't think they intentionally tried to teach me that, but that's what I got out of it. Now I want to take this lesson, and I want to pair it with the word I mentioned earlier: "Gusto." Personally when I hear the word Gusto I think about just enjoying life, but at the same time giving 110% at everything you do.

Those two weeks combined taught me that, because you only live once on this earth, you need to enjoy your life and give 110% for everything you do. Otherwise you're just wasting your time. It's a simple lesson, but it's a significant one.

My two big trips for this summer have come and gone. They're over. That makes me a little sad. The last thing I'm getting to do is go with two of my best friends on a float trip for a weekend. I'm so ready to just float down a river and relax. It'll be good thinking time. But not my usual kind of thinking. Only happy thoughts. So friends going on the float trip... I'm counting on you to make me think happy thoughts. Not the usual negative bull shit that runs through my head. Please and thank you. Let's float.

This summer has been freaking crazy (in a good way). I'm so glad I got to meet and grow close to so many new and awesome people. I'm even happier that I got to grow even closer to people I already knew. I feel absolutely 100% ready to take on senior year, and I'm kind of excited for school to start.

I hope all of you have also had a satisfying summer.

Don't do drugs.
Don't have sex, or you will get pregnant. And die.

--Tyler

Junior Year: Reflections and Final Thoughts

This post means that my junior year of high school is over... I couldn't be happier. My junior year has had some major highs and some very low lows. In hindsight, I don't think I would have traded this portion of my life for anything in the world. At all. I have grown into a stronger and arguably different person in the past 9 or 10 months. I've had experiences that have been incredibly life changing (both good and bad). I've met people, reconnected with friends, and I've refortified relationships with people that I was already blessed to have been friends with before this year started.

If I've learned anything in my 17 (almost 18, hallelujah) years of walking this small piece of the world, it's that you're never going to just have rainbows and smiles in your life. There were things that happened this year that were not so great. Hard classes, a lot of stress, depressing moments, among other things. However, I'm a firm believer in the theory that the sucky things in your life are there to make you stronger.

I've concluded that there were too many important things that happened this year, so I need to keep record of them, because these are moments I can't afford to forget. So here it goes. My list and analysis of the good and the ugly things that happened during the '11-'12 school year.

PLEASE NOTE: Not one of the things I'm about to discuss are being directed at any single person.

I prefer to start with the ugly things, so I can end on a good note.

The ugly:

-Stress. Stress stress stress stress. I don't think I've ever had so much stress in the course of one school year. Orchestra, youth symphony, grades, student council, people, myself. All of it was a contributing factor. Did I handle it well? You tell me. I don't trust myself to evaluate my stress management skills accurately.

-Silence. This was probably the hardest thing to deal with. More than once I endured (and caused) the silence and creation of barriers between me and other people. It sucked. Luckily I think most of those barriers were torn down. The silence left wounds though, and even though the wounds healed there are scars to serve as a reminder. Those experiences are a part of me now, and I'll carry them with me for the rest of time. Things probably won't ever be the same, but they're better than they were, and I'll take what I can get.

-Depression (not clincial... I don't think). I was depressed this year. A lot. My biggest enemy has always been my own thoughts, and the things I say to myself in my head. For the longest time I've constantly told myself "you're not good enough," "your friends don't really like you," "you'll never be the best," etc. It's a lot to recover from, but a lot of people have helped me do it, and I don't think they realize they did. So to those people: thank you. A lot. Now I know better. I am good enough. If my friends didn't like me, they wouldn't stick around. I'll always do my personal best.

The good (let the record show that I have no idea where to start):

- Youth Symphony. Hot damn. It all started with a 2 day retreat. I became a part of a group of incredibly talented and incredibly fun people. Sundays are so much fun, it's crazy. Whether we're talking about how badass Team Badass (that's the name of our group) is, or stabbing a certain someone's name-tag, we're having fun. It makes putting on that damn tux and playing in those concerts (which are fun, Kauffman Center waddup?) that much better. It's practically perf... ect (see what I did there, Sarah? HA!) Every time I hear the Tanhauser Overture or Scheherazade my breathing stops. I got to be a small part in making those pieces come to life. I'm so blessed.

- Student Council. I can't express how awesome it is to work with a group of leaders like the Liberty High School student council. There isn't a lot of groups that I would willingly get to school at 7 AM on a MONDAY for. We've all worked together to put on Homecoming, Courtwarming, Prom, and countless other events throughout the year. You're all fantastic. SPOILER ALERT: Next year is going to be off the hook, and a lot is changing. It's a good change though, I promise.

- Orchestra. So many good things happened during orchestra this year. I'm going to have to break it down even further.

* The viola section is doooooooooooooope. In a good way. Every piece for every concert the viola section gave 110%. On top of that we all got along really well, which was very very nice. I've never been prouder of a section. We took the Holberg Suite and made it our b****. Measure 21 was no match for us. HA. I'm so pumped for chamber orchestra next year. It's ridiculous.

* The quartet. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh quartet. Who gives a poop what that judge said? We sounded awesome... because we're awesome. We overcame the difficulties of rehearsal C and rehearsal D. Even if we don't do contest next year (sad day), I still think we should do something.

* Contest. After a dismal solo performance at state sophomore year I redeemed myself. I love Suite Hebraique. It's going to be a significant piece for me throughout the rest of my music career, I think. Yes, it's Jewish. Ernest Bloch was a genius. Thanks, Mr. Bloch. You're almost the best. My loyalties still lie with Max Bruch, though. That's next year. I'm excited.

* All-state. If you asked me if I thought I would qualify to All-state orchestra at the beginning of this year I would have laughed in your face and said no way would that happen. As first semester progressed I realized that I really wanted to make it, with a passion that was arguably unhealthy. I'll admit that everything besides viola took a back seat come November. Things like eating and breathing became insignificant. State was my goal. I don't know how I did it, but I did. I qualified to play a piece that I'm convinced was symbolic to a dead Russian composer's acid trip and spend 4 days living off of Burger King. Add that to the fact that I think I had the most obnoxious room mate possible, and I can attest to the fact that it was quite the experience. Would I do it again? Yes, in a heart beat.

- Religion. So for anyone that's known me for a while now probably knows that I claimed to be a hard core atheist. Ha. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Anyone that's bothered to continue to know me  would know that all of that stuff changed recently. I think I've finally discovered God. I'm not entirely sure what that means yet. I know that I'm a lot happier and my life feels a lot more stable. I know that I've been introduced to a youth group that has taught me a lot about what religion and a relationship with God means, as well as indirectly led me to discover a lot about myself on a more personal level. Hopefully I'll learn more over this summer. That's the plan, at least. Wednesdays are one of the days I look forward to the most now.

- New people. I've made quite a few new friends this year. Some have changed my life in a way that I don't think they'll ever quite understand, and I can't even begin to explain it. I owe you people a huge thank you. From the very bottom of that place where my heart is supposed to be, thank you so much.

- People that I already knew. The people that I knew before this year started... I feel like I've gotten a lot closer to some of them. There's not much else to say about it... heh.

- I've changed as a person. I'm not sure how many times I've said it in this post yet, but I'll say it again. This year I have changed a lot, and not just physically (my man boobs are gone, I've been told). I used to be a total people pleaser. Last year I became that sarcastic ass hole that was only concerned about myself. I think I'm starting to find a happy medium. I'm living my life for me still, but I've realized that my happiness comes from the happiness of the people I care about. I'm pretty much killing two birds with one stone at this point in the game. Winning.


Honestly I could sit here and write for days about how my life has changed this year, but I think this post is getting long enough. This year is probably the most influential year I've ever lived through... at least that I remember. As I'm sitting here writing this, I'm listening to the conclusion of the finale of Bruckner's 4th symphony, and I think it sums up what I'm feeling better than words can. So please, feel free to take a listen. It's honestly one of the most beautiful pieces I've ever heard and had the pleasure to play.

Check it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhRRvGZMgPY

Like I said, it sums up this whole year in a little under four and a half minutes, and it was written way before this year even happened. It's like magic or something.

I can't help but feel like this year was a major turning point. A door in my life has closed, and another one was just unlocked. I'm absolutely terrified to turn the handle and see what waits on the other side, but my only option is to continue moving forward, because I refuse to be stuck in limbo.

I don't know how to end this, because I think this signals the beginning of something new. I have a lot to learn still, and I don't think I'll ever stop learning.

 Here's hoping that this summer and senior year are everything we want it to be. It's a time for loving deeply, laughing often, conquering challenges, and spending time with the people we want to be around. A time to grow, make mistakes, and learn from them.

A time to have fun.

Our time.

This has been your friendly (usually) neighborhood Jewfro, signing off.

Stay classy.

--Tyler

With Arms Wide Open

It's been my experience that you make two kinds of friends in your life. The first group is simply friends. People you share common interests with. You might hang out occasionally. Play a game together, go to the pool, or whatever it is you and you all do. That's cool. This group, though, isn't a group that you open up to. It's not someone you would share your deepest fears and desires with. For me, anyone I'm friends with automatically gets thrown into this group until we have some magical moment of love and friendship (sorry if that's cliche) that moves them up to the next group...

The next group doesn't really have a word to describe it; at least there isn't one I can think of. They're your friends... but they're also a lot more than that. They're the people you can go to for anything. They're the people you share your thoughts with and they don't tuck tail and run away from you screaming. For me this group is tiny. Minuscule. On the atomic level. It consists of one maybe two people. Now don't get me wrong, I didn't just meet these people and think "hey, I'd like to confide in that person whenever I need to get something off my chest." Nope. Tyler tests the water before he swims. It takes time to connect with someone on that level and build up that kind of trust.

The biggest problem is that sometimes people are afraid to open up to another person because they'll realize that they belong in the "just friends that have things interests and go to the pool together" category. Hey. S*** happens. Either way you win because if you open up to someone you'll realize that either A. they're a person you can confide in or B. you can cross them off the list.

THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU GO AND CONFIDE IN THE RANDOM MAN DOWN THE STREET YOU'VE NEVER MET BEFORE.

You should have established a level of trust with the people you want to confide in first. Otherwise all of your horrible little secrets aren't exposed to the world. Friends don't make secrets, but real friends break the rules for you. Right? Right.

I think it's important to know that not everyone you confide in is going to open their arms wide and just let you right on in. Been there. Tried that. Doesn't work that way. Sorry. Meeting the people that do though makes it worth it. It offers a lot of support and structure for you mentally and emotionally to know that you have those people you can just fall back on.

Hopefully you already know someone that you can trust entirely. Personally I like to put that trust in someone I'm not related to and is closer to my age. They're a lot less likely to be biased or sugar coat things for you.

Yep. That's the end of my post. Not a dynamic ending, I know, but I got lazy and I really need to go to bed.

Don't do drugs.
--Tyler