Baseball

While reading some of Tom's blogs tonight, the subject of baseball came up. Although hockey is now the sport that consumes my life, baseball is the sport that gave me my start in athletics.

When I was a kid, I felt like I was born to play the game of baseball. I loved everything about the game; the fresh cut grass, the warm summer sun, and the feeling of connecting with a fastball and sending it over the outfielders head. I made more memories playing baseball than I can even remember.

As I got older, politics started to define the teams I was on. Suddenly, it seemed that talent level was no longer a criteria for playing time because someone else knew someone to keep them in the starting lineup. Anyway my baseball playing career ending very bitterly and because of that I really stayed away from the game for a long time.

Sometime last year I watched the movie Moneyball. I thought it was great. It reminded me about everything I love about the game. From the thrill of winning in extra innings to the heartache of losing a one run game, baseball has taught me so many lessons about myself and about life.

Since then, I have been fully back into watching every game of the Bucs and watching baseball all the time just like I used to. Tonight I went to the game with my dad and it was the best memory I have from this summer. We saw an unbelievable game and it was great to spend time with him.

When I look back now, all I see are the great memories and friends the game has given to me. There is an old saying that asks "Ain't baseball great." My answer is that it truly is.

I'm Back!

Hello readers! Just like I said I have been blogging frequently and giving you a lot to read! Or maybe I haven't posted anything at all since then, who's to say really? Anyways I'm once again going to attempt to start blogging more frequently.

Today was a pretty good day. School was fairly uneventful except we had an assembly about dating violence. It was pretty depressing but it was also powerful and I hope it reached the kids it needed to. After stats, I went down to watch my girls swim in WPIALS with Tom which was fun. The girls swam well and are poised to take another WPIAL championship which I am extremely proud of them for. Tom had a good time BS ing and playing blackjack while the boys events were going on. Watching the WIPS made me think about the upcoming hockey playoffs and how I would do anything to win this year. I feel like my whole playing career will be defined by what my team and I does in the next month. After words we all went to dinner at Bravo and pretty much talked about how tired we all were. Even though it turned out being a long day, I can't wait to do it all again tomorrow.

I realize this isn't the most riveting blog post but I'm just trying to get back into the swing of things. Also, always feel free to comment on my posts about anything. I always enjoy feedback or your thoughts on other things. So keep reading and god bless!

Social Media

I remember when I first registered for facebook about 3 years ago. It was fun to see my friend count rise and then get jittery when I got a friend request from a girl a liked (ha just kidding, but not really). Over time these devices like facebook and twitter have turned into a way for people to have an alter ego. A personality that is now suddenly capable of taking on the world because they can get away with dishing their thoughts into cyber space.  Also, it is not the websites faults', but the users'. Most people would never say half the things they say on social media networks if they were talking to someones face. These social media sites let people off the hook of handling their problems like an adult. It is my personal belief that technology is making people anti-social rather than connecting the world like it claims. We can message a person half-way across the world in a second but yet we are incapable of having a conversation with someone sitting across the room from us. As some of my friends know, there is nothing I hate more than going somewhere and having everyone just sit in a circle and stare at their iphones. Why did you even invite me here if we're just gonna sit and text other people and play Temple Run? We should enjoy each others company while we still can. I laugh when people post things on twitter that I know a future employer can easily find and use against them. We get it, you get drunk on the weekends. Social media has now become a tool for people to complain because it will help them stay miserable because happiness is boring to them.

As for me I am going to attempt to practice what I preach by extinguishing my involvement in social media. They just cause much more problems then they do positive effects. My twitter account will be deleted later tonight and I will keep my facebook for the sole purpose of keeping in touch with my friend Moritz from Germany but will not post in it. I do not want an alter ego, and I do not want a platform to complain on. If people want to talk to me I would love to have them call or text me. Preferably call because like I said, we should be able to talk to each other.

I have decided to keep this blog though because this is not an alter ego. This is me Jared DiSanti, not Draino or some other personality to hind behind telling you my feelings. So if you wish to keep up with my blog, you will still be able to. And I also challenge you to make an effort to maybe skip a tweet for a night and call someone to ask how they are.

Thanks for reading!

My View on Feelings/Emotions

Emotions are both a blessing and a curse. Some hide them, some make theirs very apparent to others. Which one is better?

Most people have no trouble expressing the common emotions such as happiness, sadness, joy, anger and so on. The things they tend to conceal are the things that should be expressed or examined the most. The main one  is love. Love isn't always finding your soul mate, most of the time it's having a deep bond with the people who are closest to you. There is no such thing as too much love, and showing it doesn't make you weak. Over time I have learned to be able to tell the people closest to me that I love them and care about them. To answer my opening question I feel that there are different times when both should be exercised but usually showing emotions is much better than hiding them. I challenge anyone who reads this to tell someone how you feel about them tonight. Most likely it will make you feel good as well as the person you are talking to.

Weekly Review

This week went by pretty fast and there isn't too much I have to say about it. I am definitely looking forward to a break though cause I've been pretty busy lately. Also I need to start listening to more Christmas music. With this schedule I haven't had much time to enjoy the Christmas season as much as I usually do. One of my favorite things about Christmas is traditions. I think since I remember doing things the same every Christmas, I also get a since of nostalgia with them. Whether it is watching a Sesame Street/ Muppets Christmas, watching home movies, or listening to timeless Christmas songs I can't help but reminisce about the great times I have had in previous Christmas's.

I am a very nostalgic person which is both good and bad. I love the way things used to be. In many ways i still am a child. I think that it is important for all of us to keep a child-like attitude at the right times in our life. The reason this is bad for me is because it makes me fear change. One of my biggest fears is getting older. Even though I have convinced myself that i am ready to face the world as an adult, I face the common issue of the fact that I don't feel like one. A song lyric that always stuck with me comes from The Killer's song "All These Things That I've Done." The quote says "These, changes, ain't chance in me, the gold hearted by I used to be." I feel that in my life so many people have changed, but I have always been who I am. For example, I became shocked and appalled when all my friends started to party and drink. Mean while, I was still playing xbox and playing with nerf guns. (and still do today) I often take ridicule for my belief that if drinking is the only way for you to have a good time, than you need to find a new group of friends. In today's society I am in the vast minority of people who feel this way. Because of this I don't get invited to parties anymore and no longer hang out with some of my old friends but I feel I am better off for it. Over time, I learned to accept that what people do on their Saturday nights doesn't define them, it's how they treat others.

I realize that I started to ramble towards the end of this post so I'll end it here. Thanks for reading and come back soon.

Musical Friday: Part 1

From now on, every Friday I plan on taking a song that I enjoy, and either analyzing its meaning, describing what it means to be, how it has effected me, all of the above and more.

Song: Hallelujah, Leonard Cohen

This song is one of my favorites. My favorite version is by Jeff Buckley. The song is about the desperate search for true love and salvation but a man who is unable to find it. In the first verse, the man describes a heavenly chord that could "please the lord" but the women he is in love with doesn't care for music. This questions makes the narrator question what the purpose of art is if he can't express what he is feeling to others. Much of the rest of the song talks about how even though a physical relationship may exist between two people, that does not mean that love exists. In one of my favorite verses of all time, the narrorator concludes that "Maybe there's a god above, and all I ever learned from love was how to shoot at somebody who outdrew you. And it's not a cry you can hear at night, and it's not somebody who's seen the light it's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah." He is saying that the only thing he has learned from his experiances in love is the pain and heartache it has caused him. He concludes by saying that even though this heartache exists there still is a broken Hallelujah which means "praise the lord." I think that he is telling us by this that he will try to push through his struggles in love to find love and salvation.

As I stated earlier in this post, I enjoy Jeff Buckley's version of this song the most because rather than Cohen and Wainright's smooth melodic flowing renditions, Buckley's is beautiful in a different way. It is choppier, edgier, and darker. It is a perfect depiction of the struggle that the man is actually going through.

Listen to it and tell me what you think. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIF4_Sm-rgQ

Where I Am Right Now

Things have been goin pretty well lately. Keepin the grades up, into all my colleges, and the hockey team is doing great. There is nothing that made me prouder than earning the captain's "C" this year. I have watched West Allegheny Hockey since I moved here and have always admired and looked up to the players that have worn that letter before me. It is an honor to know that my teammates and coaches thought enough of me to determine me as the leader of such a proud organization, especially because I am not the most skilled or best player on the team.

Tonight I had a fun night with my friends. The funny part is that we didn't really even do anything. I just enjoy being in the company of people who I care about and who I hope care the same way about me. I guess the phrase I would use to describe the night would be "Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." - John Lennon