Friday, February 28, 2014

The Lottery

    Today, I pulled into a parking space at Wawa and saw a woman in the car next to me scratching off her lottery ticket to see if she won. Did you know that you have better odds of dying on your way to buy a lottery ticket than you do actually winning the lottery? Personally, this makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Why not save that money used to buy a lottery ticket every day and use it for something beneficial, like paying off debt or saving for a new computer or really anything that doesn't involve the you throwing away your cash on the off chance that you win big? Now I am certainly not condemning everyone who plays the lottery, that's not my place. While I see it as a foolish way to spend your money, the fact is it's YOUR money and I can't tell you what to do with it. But this mentality of mine is derived from my hesitance to bet. I like to be sure of things and if I cannot predict the outcome of something with certainty, often I will fold. Now there are many exceptions to this rule I naturally live by but in general, I prefer to stay on the safe end than roll the dice and hope for the best. This thought process has many pro's and con's. On one hand, I don't take many unnecessary risks but on the other, I might miss out on a handful of opportunities.

    This way of thinking stems far past my unwillingness to gamble and impacts even my college life. If you know me, you might be aware I thoroughly enjoy to make music (check it out on my soundcloud if you'd like, the links are on the left bar or below). Since I was maybe 7 or 8, I played piano, eventually taught myself guitar (a novice at best), drums (barely enough to hold a beat), and am now trying to improve my bass skills. I started to produce music on FL Studio in my senior year of high school and upon a recent desire to take it more seriously, I switched to Ableton (which is a far better program in my opinion). Of all activities I surround myself with, making music is undoubtedly my favorite and when I was faced with the decision to pick my major, I briefly considered music production (or perhaps audio engineering). However, due to my "play it safe" nature, I determined that Electrical Engineering was the best course of action. This decision was motivated by a realization that a job in the music production industry is very hard to attain and there will always be a need for Engineers. It also doesn't hurt that I enjoy Engineering and its difficulty (who doesn't love a challenge)? I like to problem solve and find many of my classes rewarding. But despite my affection of Physics or Programming, these classes could never compare to a course involving music.

    What I am getting at is this, while sometimes I wish I took more risks, I realize that it is not always the best decision. Deciding who is right, the heart or the mind, is one of the hardest things I have to do on a daily basis. Is it worth the possibility of not having a job, being thousands of dollars in debt, and putting my future family in jeopardy? Ultimately, I have decided that it isn't. I may grow to regret not taking a chance on something I am passionate about, but it is a choice I will have to live with. Do I take this mindset too far? Absolutely. Sometimes I will back out of situations where I do not feel 100% comfortable, it's almost cowardly at times. But the good thing is that I realize it's something I need to work on. "To improve is to change, to perfect is to change often" is one of my favorite quotes by Winston Churchill, and he is right. Sitting by and wishing for your life to turn around won't get you anywhere. Self improvement is a natural desire for man but the trick is actually getting up and doing something about it. Albert Einsteins definition of insanity is "doing the exact same thing over and over, expecting a different result each time." Many of us continue to repeat our daily routine but at the same time hope for things to get better. But I believe that "hope" is for someone without a plan and I do not intend on letting that someone be me.

If you care to check out the music I make, feel free to visit these sites below! Any and all feedback/criticism is welcome! New music will be coming very soon! Thanks for listening!



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