How to Not Be a Loser

After extensive research, I've come to the conclusion that not being a loser really isn't all that complicated. I've compiled the top 60 ways of how to not fail at life. For some people it might seem obvious, but I'm surprised at how many people I've met that just.. don't.. get it.

1. Don't do drugs
2. exercise
3. Don't break the law
4. Save sex for marriage
5. Go to college
6. Do your homework and study while in college
7. Don't drop out of college.
8. Clean up after yourself
9. Don't disrespect your parents
10. Don't ask your parents for money after disrespecting them
11. Do your own freaking laundry
12. Get a job and buy things with your own money
13. Don't spend your paycheck the day you get it
14. Don't buy useless crap with your money
15. Don't buy useless crap with your credit card if you run out of money
16. Get a haircut and shave
17. Take a shower and change your socks.
18. Stop looking at pornography
19. Stop doing the things that are related to looking at pornography
20. Stop playing video games all night, get some sleep
21. Go to church, and learn stuff while you're there
22. Respect your girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband
23. Stop drinking craploads of beer
24. Don't brag about how many beers you drink
25. Stop drinking craploads of energy drinks
26. Don't brag about how many energy drinks you drink
27. Clean up the cans from all the drinks you just drank
28. Don't eat junk food
29. Hang out with smart people.
30. Take advice from smart people.
31. Try and be a smart person yourself
32. Don't brag about making stupid choices
33. Don't hang around stupid people
34. Tight jeans and guys DO NOT MIX.
35. Pull your pants up over your boxers.
36. Respect yourself
37. Respect others
38. Don't be around people who disrespect you
39. Don't try to get in fights
40. Don't brag about fights that you've gotten into
41. Don't invite dummies over who trash your house
42. Don't room with dummies who invite dummies over
43. Don't eat ramen noodles every night
44. Don't speed
45. Turn your high beams off around other drivers
46. Learn the difference between there, they're, and their
47. Don't be obnoxiously loud
48. Don't go tanning all the time
49. Get off your butt and do something with your life
50. Don't make innuendos with everything people say
51. Don't laugh at inappropriate humor
52. Don't make fun of people who are smarter than you
53. Don't try to act smarter than people smarter than you
54. Use proper grammar
55. Don't curse every other word you say
56. Better yet don't curse at all
57. Don't listen to music that promotes negative things
58. Don't brag about things you haven't or probably never will accomplish
59. Go outside and enjoy the fresh air.
60. The more you put into your life, the more you'll value it

I'm sure the list could continue, though these were the most evident. Even so there's one thing that tops all of these - the #1 way to not fail at life that overlaps everything else:

 -DON'T BE THAT GUY-

Breakfast

Breakfast is without a doubt my favorite meal. Usually if I'm in a hurry it'll be a simple bowl of cereal or some toast, though on occasion I'll pull out all the stops and make something really awesome. Usually it's my way to celebrate a day off, get ready for an especially stressful day, or just to change it up and have something nice once in a while.
I think it all started when I was in elementary school; At the time we were living in the English Village apartments, and things were pretty tight with my mom being single, and getting almost no child support from my father - but every Friday we started up a tradition where she'd make us both eggs and jelly toast for breakfast, and we called it a "special breakfast". Other people may have thought differently about such a tradition, but to a kid like me it totally rocked my socks. I think even 15 some years later and in college, it's kind of stuck.
I think what kept it going was what we called "Epic band breakfasts" when I hung out at Jon Carr's, which was quite often. He's have it with his band groupies the morning after they practice, and it eventually carried over to any friend that spent the night. Pretty much, it was a slew of eggs, bacon, cheese, any spices we could find, and any other random meat-type items that might be good. We'd cook em all together in one pan and serve it up. A bit later the tradition was shifted to eating at the diner nearby Jon's house, and later to breakfast diners in general. I think where the current tradition picked up is when we realized how much money we could save by making it ourselves - but since then we've become too busy to uphold the tradition together. Despite that, I've maintained it myself, and occasionally whoever else is around.
Morning time in general I really like as it's like a "calm before the storm" of a day full of potential. After taking a hot shower I'll put on some music and take inventory on what stuff I have that I can make breakfast out of. If nothing else there's always eggs and toast, and I try to keep a constant supply of taters and pancake mix around. If I'm really prepared I'll have some bacon in there too. Bacon is one of the greatest God-given foods to man, and life would be a lot less happy without it.
Making the breakfast is half the experience. I like taking the time as a chance to think, pray, and get in a positive attitude to face the day, even if there's nothing in particular to look forward to.
I'll start out by putting on music, depending on my mood I'll be listening to anything from metal to ska to Fernando Ortega. Taters take the longest so I start on them first; peel em and chop em, plunk em in a pan. Start up on the pancake mix, and if there's chocolate chips around I'll add those. Once the bacon hits the pan then the smell of breakfast officially hits the air.
Last but not least I'll put a put a pot of hot water on the burner for tea. Now, I have no problem with coffee, I just don't drink it that much. Also, given the choice I like tea better - it's a lot easier to make, especially while I'm flippin pancakes taters and bacon all at the same time.
Once it's all done I sit down with my plate full of flavorful goodness and pick up in my devotional, whatever chapter that might be; lately I've been going through 1 Chronicles. I'll also have my mini laptop on the table and I'll check up on the ol' Facebook, so as to maintain contact with all the awesome people in my life that I never see often enough.

What am I up to?

I'm going to do my best to make the kickoff post an interesting read, else people probably just skim it over, say "that's nice" and then go off to some other site.
Probably the best direction to go is to answer the most common question people ask when they meet, being "What have you been up to?". This question usually includes things like job status, school status, future plans, do I have a girlfriend yet, among other things.
Sure you could probably go to facebook and find out the "what" for this stuff, though in this post I'd like to take the time to share the other w's. Not only as a chance for people to know, but also by typing this I think it's a good way I can evaluate these things for myself.
Feel free to drop comments!

"So how's the job?"
I'm still working at Heritage Christian Services, which is at a group home for people with mental disabilities. I work there as relief, which means any open shifts I am free to take or leave, and as such it's ideal for my constantly changing lifestyle. During college I could work on weekends, breaks, and summers. When there weren't enough hours there I picked up full time work and was still able to work at Heritage on my days off. When I got laid off or got hours cut from my full time jobs, I could still maintain a steady income by picking up more shifts at Heritage. Not to mention, I love working there.
Also since February I'd been working at Kimmins Coffee with Alex G, which is a delivery service centered around coffee products and those big 5 gallon water bottles that you plug into coolers. It was a great job, Monday through Friday 8 to 4:30 with the occasional opportunity to leave early if the day's work was done. As good a job as it was, I couldn't see myself doing it forever, and I didn't want to just leave college at the Associate's degree.

"So what about college?"
After officially graduating MCC in 2009 I took 2 years off from college trying to decide what I wanted to do for the future. I didn't want to put in all kinds of time, money, and effort until I had a clear direction and the motivation to know it was going to be worth it. The first year I took off, I got stuck rooming with some numbskilled twats -- I'll probably expand on this in a later post -- basically I learned what I DIDN'T want to be.
After the lease was up I moved into Aaron C's new house, rooming with him and Jesse C. Aaron, having been in the Army - not to mention Iraq - gave me a good deal of input on the military, and answered a lot of questions that I had if I ever wanted to join. At this point I became aware of the ROTC and how it worked, and it sparked some interest. Basically, ROTC is few extra classes of physical training and about being a leader in the military, as well as a couple weeks of training during the summer. These are taken while being a full time student, and usually over the course of 4 years; or less for people who are more ambitious. Upon completion of the ROTC you have a Bachelor's degree, and begin your official time in the military as a Second Lieutenant.

So, one guy I worked with at Kimmins had served in Vietnam and had been in the Air Force and Army, now retired. He looked me with a straight face and said "The Air force is the best thing you can do with your life"
I looked more into the air force, did some research and asked other people who'd been in the Air force. It seemed an almost unanimous thumbs up from everyone I talked to. I found that there was an ROTC program at RIT, and that I could do that program while attending Roberts Wesleyan college (where it seems every Christian in Rochester attends). After putting the pieces together, praying, taking advice from people I respect, I really feel this is something worth pursuing.

With that in mind, I quit Kimmins and moved back to my mom's. As of August 30th I'll be starting my 3 year journey taking Roberts Wesleyan and ROTC hand in hand, with a direction and a hope that it'll lead somewhere that I can be more than an average Joe.