While I try to always use "please" and "thank you" whenever possible in order to be the nicest guy I can be in public, I sometimes overlook a lot of the little things that happen in my life, sometimes indirectly. Take for example the following people that need thanked.
Ryan O'Shea: I never had a chance to properly thank him for hiring me into the Systems Department at Meijer in 2003, but this event was quite a life-changer for me. Having spent nearly two years at Meijer as a bagger and a cashier, I was becoming extremely sick of working there (boredom, mostly). Once I was hired into Systems, I got to experience a very different kind of work and expand my knowledge of the store as a whole. I further learned management skills of all types, improved my people skills tremendously, and got to practice what I preached by working with computers all day. The Systems pay scale allowed me to earn raises rather quickly and push me above $10 an hour at Meijer, which was a major milestone for me because I was able to stay at Meijer throughout all of college and stay stable with work. Thank you, Ryan.
Laura Kolpien and her brother: This is rather embarrassing. Believe it or not, Guitar Hero - the game series that has meant more to me than any other in recent memory - was a bit beyond my understanding at first. While I loved GH2 from day one and got quite good with it fairly quickly, I never did bother to read up on the technical details that the gameplay was based around. Case in point: while I was pulling off some badass hammer-ons and pull-offs right away, I didn't reailze that the game Guitar Herodesigned these into the note charts. So lo and behond LoLo herself is playing Guitar Hero with me one day and casually mentions that her brother taught her that "lit" notes are playable as hammer-ons and pull-offs. "What? Well that makes sense," I said right away. Turns out she was right: although this was a detail I would have learned in time, I was able to immediately grasp many more advanced GH concepts right away, and immediately surged from Medium / Hard difficulty songs to Hard / Expert and haven't looked back since. Now with Rock Band and its extension of GH2-based gameplay taking over my life, I sometimes think back to that moment in my life and say "thank you, Laura."
Melissa Bruno: Sure there was a lot of fighting going on between you and our parents, and sure you were more annoying than not at times, but you did eventually do what I did not: gave our parents the middle finger and moved out against all their wishes. And you didn't just do it, but you did it with all the drama and style I would expect from the Internet generation: you met someone online, found a great place to live that's a strark contrast from home, and didn't look back. You now support yourself, have a well-established life in Middletown, and are getting back on track to be your own person, not what mom and dad wanted you to be. Making your own choices despite anyone else's will is the quintessentially-defining characteristic of what defines a person, and you, my sister, have done it pretty damn well so far. While you may want to go to college one day and get a different job or move into a house, at least you know that every one of those decisions are now made by your own will and no one else's. For demonstrating independence, choice, and freedom above anything else I've done, you are an inspiration to me, and for that, I thank you.
And finally...
Lacey McDonald: Yeah, here's a name I don't mention enough on Critically Correct. While Lacey was mostly a pain in the ass to me for a long, long time after we broke up, she is essentially what defines who I am today. Lacey was my first serious relationship, my first love, and ultimately my first heartbreak. The Lostprophets said it best: "You'll never fall in love if you don't fall at all." That is, one cannot understand what he has until it is gone; one cannot experience pleasure until they experience pain. By getting my heart broken, I learned a lot of valuable lessons, particularly with regards to my role in a relationship, my own independence, and what I ultimately want out of any relationship in the long-term. I took a big fall after Lacey, but when I got back up I stood taller than before. Corny but true. Thank you, Lacey.
I'm sure there are plenty of other people that I need to thank in my life, but this is a small sampling of the kinds of things I'm beginning to really analyze and make sure I set straight before I get too old. I'll be 25 this year.
On second thought, I'm sure I'll have a lot more thanking to do as I get older.
B3 out.
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