My Life Rules -The MLR Manifesto

THE MLR Manifesto

MLR is a movement. 

MLR is a choice 

To be positive.
To focus on the good and not the bad. 

To be real. 

To choose your attitude. 

To let the bad go, learn from it, and move on. 

To live in the moment. 

To embrace life. 

To live life to the fullest, without regard for the consequences. 

To be true. 

To be a beacon of light to those in need.

To be encouraging.  

To be the helping hand and the listening ear. 

To be supportive.

To be positive. 

This is not to say that people who adhere to MLR do not occasionally have moments where they get down, or get negative. We're all human, we're not perfect. It happens, but try (and the effort is key) to move past, to not dwell, to learn - let go - and move on. This is also not to say that we don't give our friends a hard time, iron sharpens iron; My friends accomplishments make me happy, and that makes my life rule. 

My name is Zac, and My Life Rules. What’s your name? I bet YLR. 

Here I go sounding like Tony Robbins again

So I hear a lot of people saying "FML" these days (FML stands for F*** My Life). I'm against that. First off you should never think that, because life is precious and if you need someone to talk to there are people out there. And secondly and more importantly, why focus on the negative. 

For example: 

This week I had my tonsils taken out. So I could say, "Oh my throat hurts, FML." Or I could be like, "I had my tonsils out and I get to lay around all week, MLR!" Which is what I propose as the opposite and combative equivalent to FML. 

MLR stands for My Life Rules. Because even in the darkest of times, your life does rule. Why focus on the negative aspects of life. There are so many things to be thankful for. "I woke up today, MLR!" "I have a car, MLR!" "I have a job, MLR!" etc. 

And if you think about it, the toughest times, and the darkest days always make the best memories. When my band's van broke down in New Mexico 3 years ago and we had to drive 27 hours across the country to come home and get it fixed we were all down, but now it's 3 years later and I still look back on that and think, "MLR" At the time it was awful, but even a week later we were all bragging about how bad ass we were. 

MLR is not to be used sarcastically, it's to be used when you truly mean it.

Examples: 

"I just got paid, MLR!" 

"Dude I just called Stacy and she wants to hang out, MLR!" 

"YO! I got the job, MLR!" 

"Class of 2009, MLR!" 

So in summation, My name is Zac, I just had my tonsils out and MLR. And so does yours. 

NOTE: MLR can also be used as OLR (Our Lives Rule) or YLR (Your Life Rules)

Summer

So I'm going to take a brief respite from compiling and writing the findings section of my paper and address why I'm excited about summer. I shall do this in my favorite form.... a top (insert amount of things I'm excited about here) list.

1. No classes - simply put, it will be nice to have a break.
2. Being in the sun
3. Baseball (see number 2)
4. Recording a new record with Kiss Your Ghost
5. The Shiggety Shin will be in town all summer
6. Possibly helping J move from Connecticut to S.C., considering I had to bail on him last time, I feel like I owe it to him, plus it's be a great chance to force each other to bands we like.
7. Two words.... Team Dinosaur
8. Getting to go to Lodge
9. Learning my lectures.... again
10. Killing some practicum hours and/or doing serious work on my Thesis/Problems in Lieu, alright not that excited about it, but I will be doing some work on it this summer.
11. Also getting my tonsils out. While it will suck in the immediate future, it will not suck when I hopefully don't get sick 4 times next year.

Other things to come. Back to writing.

Zac J.

Longshots Pay Off Better In The End

To everyone who didn't believe in the Vols this year and didn't pick them to win at least one game. I would like to issue you this public statement:

You're all busters. I'm placing their poor performance not on Bobby Maze or the fact that they didn't have a perimeter shooter, nor am I placing the blame on their crappy seed because they're an SEC team and get no respect despite playing the toughest schedule in the nation this year; nay good sirs I am placing the blame on you, the unfaithful. Brackets be damned you've got to believe in your team and if that means picking them to win it all despite the odds, then call me a longshot.

And yes, I did have them winning it all. Call it superstition or stupidity, I feel like if I don't pick them to go all the way they have no shot. Maybe one day I'll grow out of it, but for the foreseeable future if the Vols are in the tourny I'm picking them over the 92 Dream Team.... alright probably not the 92 Dream Team, but you catch what I'm saying. And shame on those of you who didn't believe.

Next year fools, next year.

New Beard Names

I can't remember all the ones I got at our most recent show, but I did get called Rick Ross by the dude at taco bell, which was pretty rad.

blink

So about 2 weeks ago, blink-182 announced that they would again be a band. Awesome. So at first I was just like cool, I'm down with blink.

Then the other day, I don't know what happened, but I remember what blink meant, what they symbolized, what their music meant to me. And I got super freaking stoked. Actually, it was my friend Jef tagging me with one of those stupid notes, but this one much less stupid. Said note asked me to list 15 albums that changed me, that punched me in the gut, that meant something to me, that made me feel something. One of the first records I came up with was blink-182's "Enema of the State." I digress.

I couldn't really wrap my brain around how excited I had suddenly become. I had never really gone crazy about blink, I mean I'd bought the records, I'd gone to see them, and I'd learned their songs on guitar, but never really got up in arms about them. Then all of sudden last weekend (before I got deathly ill), I got so excited about them making music again I could barely stand it. And here's what I came to realize.

blink-182 made music at a time when I needed punk rock. More importantly when the world needed three dudes playing their own instruments, writing their own songs. They played this insane brand of pop-punk with their own crazy element of humor, giving anyone and everyone the finger on their way to platinum status. And most importantly, they meant it. It wasn't about dressing cool, it wasn't about eyeliner and skinny jeans, it was about t-shirts, long shorts, and hats. The music (although very tongue in cheek at times) was real, it wasn't fake it was real. Now I'm not saying that every song on their records is based off a real expeirence but they were believable. The songs were about real things, not stabbing your ex or doing drugs, it was about partying, falling in love, heartbreak, apple shampoo, and star wars. The real deal.

So in summation, I am stoked that blink-182 is making music again. Call me a kid, insult my taste, make fun of me, but by God, I'm freaking excited about a real band making real music again.

Dislocated Elbow

On Jan. 13, I was longboarding to work on my sweet Kahuna Longboard. Going through Lot 9, well then I decided to weave through some parked cars....and the wheel of my board hit the wheel of the car. This caused the board to stop, but I exhibited Newton's First Law of Motion, that an object in motion will stay in motion...etc. I hit the ground, HARD. Dislocating my left elbow. Not the worst dislocation in the history of human existence, but pretty gnarly. I caught a little road rash on my face and hand, which of course was secondary to the dislocated elbow.

My injury was complete with my first and (hopefully) last ambulance ride (with my Rural Metro team of Russ and Dan), and (something like 5th trip to the ER). Thanks to adrenaline, I was very aware of my surroundings and remember almost everything that happened and everyone I met. Here it should be noted that when I have to go to the hospital, I try to be as happy as I can. I greet everyone by name, I mean they wear name tags for a reason right? I digress... I was wheeled over to x-ray where Scarlet did a fine job of photographing my arm in a number of painful positions. Then they wheeled me back out to my spot on the wall, to wait with my Mom. Then Dr. Patel comes out and says, "good news, it's not broken badly, we're just going to put you in a sling and send you on your way."

At first I was stoked, but immediately realized he was wrong, I KNEW my arm was out of socket. Dr. Patel said, so just go ahead and put your arm like this (90 degrees across my stomach) and we'll get the sling ready. At which point I said, "That's not happening." As any person with a modicum of common sense or medical training knows that bone/joint victims keep their affected limb in the most comfortable position possible when it's hurt. I knew I couldn't bend my arm, I knew it was dislocated, the cop on the scene knew it was dislocated, my Mom, my boss, the transport (David), the x-ray techs, the Associate Dean of Students at UT, all knew my arm was dislocated - everyone except the freaking doctor. So he proceeds to grab my arm, move it around a little bit, which I assure you was a delight for me - then he called over a nurse, they felt my other elbow, and he said, "Maybe I better have another look at the x-rays." Yeah, you do that, I'm going to lie here and plot your demise, DUDE it's out of socket, put it back in, let me grab some food and go home. More x-rays. More pain. "All right, you dislocated your arm, we're going to put you in this room right here and I'll be along in a few minutes to set it." Thanks Doc.

In the room I go, with Amber. No other way to put it, Amber is the nurse you dream about. She was, as I so eloquently told her whilst under the effects of morphine and whatever they knocked me out with, "very pretty." So what do I do as a single young man? I immediately begin chatting with her. Long story short, they knocked me out. I beat-boxed for Amber, I pulled out my International Brotherhood of Magicians Card, I plugged the band, I plugged our shows coming up, I later quizzed her on remembering the show. It was, I'm sure, hilarious to watch. And, I assure you, is hilarious to remember.

Mom took me home, got me some Krystals and I laid on the couch. I didn't pass out, or take a nap. I just watched The West Wing. Later Doug and Chase came to my aid to help me get my car, because once I was home, Mom and Josh left town for a family emergency and Dad was out of town on business. It was lame.

But that my friends is the story of my dislocated elbow.

As they say in the Rap game, Big Ups to Anton R. my former supervisor at in the Student Activities office, and Ron L. associate dean of students at UTK for coming to the hospital. I know it's protocol, but it meant a lot.

Unrecognizable

Last night I saw a friend of mine, who I've known for more than 8 years at least. Anyway, I saw him at the bar and in typically dude fashion called him an inappropriate name. Well my friend is a bartender and apparently just took me for a drunk being a jerk. I thought maybe he was just really busy until I looked around and noticed they weren't that busy. So I walked over and (for all intents and purposes) re-introduced myself. We shared a good laugh about this.

Thought I would share. 

More Names

So I've gotten a few more great names since last I posted... on a side note I feel like all of my posts center on my beard, but then again so do most of my waking moments. 

The names I've gotten lately. 

Zakk Wylde (with a haircut)

Grizzly Adams (which I find to be very cliche)

and finally, from the great Nathan Fortenberry....

Robin Williams Knuckles. 

Bearded Names

So I can go almost nowhere without a conversation starting because of my beard. I am not complaining, I am in fact bragging. I'm very proud of my beard, as evident by the numerous posts about it here. Lately I've been keeping a tally of different names I get as a result of said beard. Here is my current list. 

Of course I get standard things like, 

Hobo - 

Panhandler

I think it's a little off color to make fun of them by calling me such names, they're just trying to make their way in the world. But enough of my social injustice rant. On to more name I get regularly. 

Steve Zissou - 

Chewbacca - 

Jeremiah Johnson

David the Gnome

And finally

ZZ Top