Joe

Hi all.  I'm still working on the first big piece of "my goal", but I wanted to get this out tonight.  Two burritos and a liquid-shit later, I bring to you - Joe.

Anyone who knows me well would probably agree that I'm a Taco Bell connoisseur of sorts.  While this isn't something to brag about, there's a TB two minutes away from my job, and another one two minutes from my house.  I like to think that destiny predetermined this fate, and it is my obligation to partake in their beautifully disastrous creations.  That, and I'm a lazy guy in my twenties.

That said, Taco Bell is a place you go to when you're drunk, broke, or hungry maaaannnnnn, and not typically an establishment where you can expect to take away anything more than a bag of food-ish meat paste in a wrap.  But then again, most Taco Bells don't have a Joe. 

Fellow South Daytonians undoubtedly know about this legend already, but for those who don't, Joe is an older gentleman that works at the Taco Bell in South Daytona.  He typically works during "Fourth Meal" at the register taking orders.  You'll know if he's there, because he greets all of his friends before asking what they want to order.  No matter the weather, the amount of time you take, the amount of questions you ask, it's always a beautiful order to Joe.  Sick as a dog and barely able to talk, and Joe will be there smiling merrily as he sincerely wishes you a safe night through a hoarse whisper.

I don't know Joe outside of Taco Bell, and I'm quite sure I've never seen him anywhere else. He could be homeless, alone, and poor for all I know.  I mean, think about it;  he's an older guy working graveyard in a line of work that is often seen as the lowest of low.   It would make perfect sense for this to be a fitting scenario, but I can't be sure that it is.

I can talk to someone random in a bar for five minutes and usually get a pretty good idea of how happy they are with their life (belligerent drunks aside).  Body language, facial expressions, tone, choice of conversation...it's easy if you break it down.  If you need practice, just hop on the ol' Facebook.  I'm sure you'll find someone complaining about something in their life within a scroll or two.  We live in the age of whining, bitching, and misery.

People have become so dependent on such trivial bullshit, they've forgotten that happiness is a state of mind.  When someone surprises you with a gift that you've wanted, that feeling of happiness didn't come pouring out of that box.  Your mind instantly synchronized with a feeling of pleasure before it even had a reason to exist.  If you're happy, it's because you're allowing yourself to feel happy.  If you're unhappy, it's because you're allowing yourself to feel unhappy.  Life is what you make of it, not what you can't make of it.  Smile, and be happy with life because you want to be.   Even if you don't really think the order is beautiful, you just might make someone realize what true happiness is.

Joe, if by chance you ever see this, thanks for inspiring me to be a better person.  This probably seems like a lot to pull out of mere drive-thru interactions, but I promise your magic is there.  Please never change.

-RG

P.S.  If anyone does know Joe personally and know about his personal life, please don't tell me.  Just grasp the fucking message I tried to convey and have a great day mmkay?

Rebirth

That was a snazzy title, eh?  (that's eh as in the sound you make when someone asks if you want a bite of their food right after you just ate, not the Canadian one, buddy)

So this is it.  The beginning, all over again - but the way I wanted to all along.  I started this as a project a few years back that I could anonymously ramble onto, but I've since had the realization that if everything goes as planned, I'll be eventually...revealing myself anyways - so why not now?

 To those who have been keeping up on here, Reddit, and over at BC, you know my aspirations.  I've been working on a book for quite some time now, and just recently got back to it.  My goal is for the end of the year, but we'll see.  I'll update that as it comes along, but that's not my main intention for the change.

Since I began this, my life has developed in multiple ways.  I've been in and out of a couple relationships, moved to a new location, started a new job, and become much more active in...activism.  I've always had my thoughts on touchy subjects, but it wasn't until a couple months ago that I began to really do my research.  I wont make this post too long, so I'll let the song playing on my Pandora station at the moment that is (very scarily) summarizing what I want to say: "It's so loud inside my head, with words that I, should have said" (Lupe Fiasco, Words I Never Said).

I've got some really big plans, and well developed goals now.  I'm a Leo, a born leader, and I wont stop until I'm where I want to be.  I'm going to leave that a bit vague for now on purpose.

That said, thank you to everyone that's inspired me to finally do this.  To the new, the world, that knows me as Aaron....thank you for checking this out.  I've put a lot of effort into, what I intend to be, a huge part of my life - this project.  It's more than this blog, and it's more than I can say in an introduction.  If you stick around, I promise you it'll be worth it.

I just wrote this in a single draft, so I'll apologize beforehand for the disorganization.  My next post will be stamped Rabal G.

-RG

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