I’ve decided that my main goals for this coming semester are to have more self discipline and continue working on being social, but this time I want to try to really get to know more people and not just know then superficially.

I’m thinking discipline is important for me at this point in my life because it’s something I’ve lacked for a long time and could help me accomplish my other goals. The last time I remember being completely disciplined was when I was in sixth grade. I don’t know exactly what happened that first week in school, but I simply decided I was going to start coming home and doing my homework. That year I was in the Honor Roll every bimester, I was the Mrs. Woods favorite student, I also was appointed a C.O.D. (Cuerpo de Orden y Disciplina) (Body of Order and Discipline), which is sort of like a student aid for the teachers/example for the rest of the students to follow and the next year I was assigned to the Plan Piloto (Pilot Plan) program, which is the classroom where all the smart kids go. It’s meant to increase competition amongst the students and help them feed of each other. I know there are similar programs in schools here in the states, but I don’t remember their names.

My point is that discipline has been good to me in the past. I am disciplined only with the things I care about the most and even then not all the time. I get this great ideas for business and I start working on them, but there’s always going to be some obstacle that is just too boring, hard, detailed, technical, whatever… and I eventually drop the project. If I had the discipline to just continue working on them even if it is just a little bit at a time then I can see all of those projects realized. At least that’s my theory right now.

I just finished doing my Finance homework. Something that I’ve done three times out of maybe ten times the professor has assigned one. It felt good just having something completed. If I would only do all of my homeworks and study a little bit every day, I know I would be getting straight A’s in this class.

So those are my goals.

Peace,

Tags: Antonio, Bullen, coming home, disciplina, finance, homework, honor roll, last time, little bit at a time, long time, main goals, mrs woods, obstacle, pilot plan, self discipline, sixth grade, smart kids, student aid, three times

I went to the gym last night and woke up this morning with my muscles sore. To me that means I did a good job. I went to bed around 4 or 5 a.m. this morning and I just got up, so I’ve slept for about 12 hours. I’m noticing that these are the amount of hours my body naturally needs some days, without schedules forcing me to get up or anything. I don’t stay up for 12 hours though, it’s usually 15 or 16 so I imagine I sleep the longest when I go to the gym. I did get up a couple of times in between sleep to go to the bathroom. The supplementary protein I’m taking to help the muscles grow was upsetting my stomach. The thing is expiring next month so it could be that.

I want to start going to the gym just three times a day. I’m convinced that it’s not so much what is done at the gym, but what is done before and after. Sleeping enough and eating the right things is what is most important. Going to the gym is just to trigger the muscles to want to grow.

Tags: Antonio, Bullen, good job, muscles, protein, sleep, stomach, three times

When I first came to the U.S. from Panama, I remember I had $30 in my pocket. I crossed the border with my dad and my little brother and we stayed for a couple of days in Miami before my dad and brother went back to Panama because my brother was still studying down there. I hopped into three more planes and went down to live in California with Tracy, now an ex-girlfriend. If it wasn’t for my dad giving me a check for $700, I don’t know how I would have made it that first month. But nevertheless I was still broke.

My first memory when I arrived in California was of me going to this fast food joint called “In-N-Out”. Tracy had picked me up from the airport in Los Angeles and it was a two hour drive till we got home. I was thinking that the food was only going to bring me down maybe $6. At least that’s what I would have paid in Panama. But I remember how worried I got when I heard it was over $10. I couldn’t believe it. Now I just think it’s funny, but back then coming straight out of Panama that was like a slap on the face. I mean, we are talking a third of my money, gone in one meal! And I still had 29 days to go with that cash.

I gave Tracy the check my dad gave me and she deposit it to her bank account. I’m no sucker though, I just trusted her like that.  It paid for my half of things that first month and after all, she had been waiting for me to get my green card for more than a year and a half. It was hard to communicate with people because their English was too fast for me to understand and there were so many words I didn’t know. Not to mention my accent was hard for others to understand to. I usually had to repeat things two or three times. Tracy was good for me though. I was like a little kid absorbing everything around me. From how to use a debit or credit card to pay at a grocery store to how to get a job.

Tags: accent, Antonio, Bullen, couple of days, credit card, dad, ex girlfriend, fast food, green card, grocery store, how to get a job, little brother, little kid, memory, money, Panama, planes, slap, sucker, three times