Griffin's Thoughts

Why Everyone Is Capable Of Achieving Greatness, even when they're too lazy to realize it...

2012-01-11T11:37:00.000-08:00

I haven't written on my blog in some time now. I bad a big fiasco with goggle ad-sense where they pretty much screwed me out of $600, which is a lot for being a teenager. But money I've come to realized is a commodity. Sometimes it's there and sometimes it's not. And people will always have some time in their lives where they lose a lot of it. You just have to move on I guess. Suck it up and keep working for your next big paycheck which will eventually come.

Anyways, when I was a freshman in high school I somehow got put in this really dumb Global Studies class, ran by a teacher who I wasn't very fond of. I actually believed this was going to count as a world history credit, which is why put up with this bullshit class for so long. Turns out it was an elective, awesome. But anyways it was basically just another way for the US Education system to spoon feed me some more nonsense about how great China was and oh my teacher visited China and it was just a wonderful place with people with real wholesome moral values. Gee-wiz. You've gotta be kidding me. I'm straying way off topic, I just want everyone to know that this class was very annoying to me.

Back on topic, one day this teacher wanted us to go to one side of the classroom for a team exercise. She wanted us to go to the left side of the classroom if you believed there were people in America that aren't able to make of life for themselves because they were not given the chance. And go to the right side if you believed everyone had a chance or multiple chances in my belief. being a sensible and non-brainwashed kid I went to the right. The majority of the people went to the left, but I was happy to see a small group of people felt the same and came to my side. That happiness left me when the teacher started talking to the right side about if they were sure, and think about the children who are in the hoods and everything. She basically made them feel bad for their choice and I assume they felt alienated from the rest of the class since we were a small group. So they all eventually changed their minds and switched sides. Leaving me alone to explain myself. I stood strong and explained my opinion and made very good points. But when you're in a classroom full of lazy teens, a liberal teacher, and the occasional pregnant chick they don't listen to you.

I'm gonna tell you exactly what I told them and maybe you can also decide for yourself without this teacher hassling you. I feel everyone in America is given the chance for greatness and success. It is definitely not the same in other countries. But here in America land of the free, and home of the brave we have a choice to be productive, a choice to be successful and all it takes is hard work. In this country there are jobs and there are way to make money, there are also plenty of ways to make a name for yourself. Admittedly so they are not as easy to get as they used to be, but they are out there. And then there is always the military, and work outside the US.

Common Teenager: But Griffin what about all the dropouts our society produces? Me: What about them? My Grandmother got pregnant back in the early 1960's when she was only 15 or 14. This was at a time when it wasn't radically accepted in schools. She got kicked out and had to crawl her way up. She never asked for a handout by the government or anyone. She got her GED and worked multiple jobs and raised three kids that also were successful and got college educations. Eventually retiring at an early age.

One of my most hated shows is "Teen Mom". The huge majority of teens on that show just stick out their hands to their parents, the government, and the audience. The huge majority of them also have emotional problems and are plain PHAT lazy. Their is no reason why they can't make success for themselves. They can finish school and go to college and get jobs. Having a baby in the modern American society doesn't really effect very much as far a getting a job and education. But they act as if it does and need help from everyone, when they should suck it up and get to work.

Common Teenager: Okay Griffin, but that doesn't answer my question. Me: Yes it does. Let me explain it further. If as a dropout my Grandma was able to climb to the top even with a multiple babies tied to her side. Oh and did I mention she had a couple bad husbands also. If she could do that back in a stricter America, anyone can do it in modern America. Instead these dropouts often go to crime and/or become drug addicts. Common Teenager: But Griffin they don't know any better. Me: Don't give me that, with today's amazing technology that can influence to countries around the world. We have TV, the internet, News Broadcasting, Religious Broadcasting. People, even dropouts, have all the right tools to develop morals. In fact one of the best church programs I know about is in the hood. And plenty of kids have become great people because of that program. The reason these people turn to crimes is because it's easier and more comfortable, it's what they've known all they're life. It doesn't mean it's right and it doesn't mean they can't change, they usually just don't want to.

Common Teenager: So then how can dropouts and teens go about with success? Me: The biggest thing is to find something you really enjoy. It might be a hobby, or a memory. maybe you don't know it yet. The best thing to do is follow your loves in life and they won't ever betray you if you do the proper amount of work. If you don't know what you like it's even more exciting, do a bunch of things. Do anything you think might be fun, and eventually you'll find a passion for something and it will become your life. As for education, in America there are tons and I mean an abundance of opportunities for the dropouts or teens falling behind. Programs that offer diplomas, GED's, and even college degrees. There is always a chance for education in America. Much like there is always a chance for anything in America. I can't say how America will turn out in the next 50 years. But I can tell you as of right now anyone can make a good life for themselves, anyone can get a good education, and anyone can have a family, all it takes is hard work and sacrifice just like our founding fathers wanted it to be.

-Griffin Balducci

Hawk Mountain, Cadet Ranger School - The Beginning

2011-05-13T10:26:00.000-07:00

For the next couple of weeks I've decided to post a mini story about a cadet leadership school I attended in the Civil Air Patrol back in the summer of 2010. When the story is finished I will post about the importance and great experience this school offered me. Perhaps it will help some other people too.

Day one, I awoke at 6:00am to take a shower, brush my teeth, get my uniform on and head out the door. I never knew what I was getting into; I thought it would be like NESA (National Emergency Service Academy) but living in a tent. Could you blame me? There was very little info on their website, and I didn’t know anyone that went to Hawk. I waited in the bag check line and surprisingly enough met a guy named Hunter Limb, a cadet that was also going to Hawk. I grabbed a bite to eat at McDonalds, and then boarded the plane. Limb never mentioned what I was in for; I guess he didn’t want to ruin the surprise. I talked to an elderly woman on the two hour plane ride about life and school, I felt relieved that I would land and have a great time. Later that effect would wear off. We landed in a small airport, about the size of my hometown airport. Limb and I called for transportation. We waited a while, and ate lunch. When the van was about to arrive Limb asked why I wasn’t shaved, I had forgotten to do it after my shower. He insisted on shaving or else I’d get crap. So I grabbed my travel razor, sprinted to the men’s bathroom and shaved, right on time too. The van was there and loading when I got out.

We traveled through small towns in an elevation I’d hardly seen before. The Appalachian Trail, I couldn’t wait. When the bus stopped I saw what looked like an abandoned training camp. Limb mentioned it was because not a lot of people came on the travel day. Most would come the next day. I stepped out onto the gravel hearing a crackling sound, limb offered to show me around. I was eventually assigned work with other basic and staff trainee cadets. For hours on end, we would move things. Scrub buildings, and clean anything else that needed cleaning. The staff trainee cadets had insisted telling me their stories of basic year. I was shocked. I had but one night to meet my maker.

Throughout the rest of the day more cadets showed up and were given work. Eventually more came than expected. The Hawk staff found it surprising themselves. They had no camps set up to sleep in, so they crammed us all under a small 40x40 foot pavilion. We set up our sleeping bags and waterproofed our gear. The screaming eventually initialized by the overwhelming amount of mess all the cadets had generated. It seemed this night was going to suck.

Throughout the night cadets poured in, more and more from late flights. I woke up along with another cadet named whose name escapes me. We both watched in awe as the first Hawk rain started pouring over the mountain. We then caught eye to a group of cadets trying to fit their packs under the tarps that housed our packs. What were we to do? It was an absolute mess. All we could do was hope our packs weren’t soaking wet by daybreak.

Alas, they were. After taking hours to scrounge through all the rubble of packs, we found all of our soaking wet gear and packs mud ridden. Dry clothes were not an option. In fact a large hole had been ripped in the seam of my duffle bag were all the clothes were. Everything was soaked. Training day one had officially begun.

We were all given orders to sign in and report to our commanding squadrons. Mine was basic squadron Bravo. Thank god I didn’t get Charlie. We marched all of our packs, gear, and food a grueling quarter-mile up elevation into a heavily wooded area. We were instructed to make a pack line along the trail and waterproof. We unfortunately did not do it fast enough for the staff and were instructed to do it again about five times. Our gear only got wetter each attempt. We then were instructed to form a line and report in. If we did not report in with 100% pronunciation and in the right form, we would be sent back to line to do it again. I messed up by one word. I was happy to see everyone screwing up as well. My second time I got it right and acted as if I had won some award, I felt accomplished and relieved. That was until I met the next staff member that ordered me to dig a 4x4 four foot deep hole in heavily rooted ground with a two foot shovel. He instructed that I get my safety gear first. This included an orange vest, goggles, gloves, and an orange helmet. I remember that day; digging that hole making no progress. It was so wet. I distinctly remember water dripping onto my face with no dry item to wipe if away. I tried with my BDU’s only to get wads of mud in my eyes. The day was not over.

After reporting in was commenced all the cadets were given jobs of setting up camp. I was eventually relieved from my duty of digging to pick up sticks for the firewood pile. I was partnered with a cadet. I would hold the firewood and he would pick it up and set it in my hands, pretty easy job right? Wrong. Eventually a female expert ranger decided to come help us. What this really means is: screaming her head off at the other cadet about not going fast enough. I swear she wanted to beat him. At what seemed like eternity the firewood grew into a humongous pile. It still wasn’t big enough said the staff. So I was relieved of that duty and moved to lifting huge boulders and setting up a trail. That was fun too, ha, ha. My final task was to take parachord and help set up the supply tents, to waterproof our gear. Those things always leaked. Eventually hours later, after logs had been placed as fire seats, the firewood pile had grown to a story in height. The leafs had been raked. The boulders were placed, and the supply tents had been set up. We ate lunch and eventually were given an introduction by our commander, Lt. Krakower. He told us about how the rain was the naturally sucky Hawk weather and how we were officially into training day one. To explain why I’m glad I didn’t get chosen for Charlie comes in his speech. Throughout the entire day and night the Charlie basic camp were screamed at and torn apart as we watched adjacent to their camp. In Lt. Krakower’s speech he made it clear that if we did not want what Charlie had, we would put out maximum effort.

Toward the evening we had one last chore, set up the tents. Tents at hawk are a weird story. They only use what is absolutely necessary. My tent was not used, and neither were about ten others. The general rule of thumb is “A tent at Hawk is double the recommended capacity”. Suddenly a two person became a four person tent. A four and eight, And so on. I was packed into a Hawk rated five person tent with some of the greatest friends I’ve ever encountered. Charles Hancock, Kevin Reid, Matt Deaton, and Zach Perry. Those guys are awesome!

Anyways the first lesson we learned about the tents were, to keep them closed! The Hawk daddy longlegs love tents. And if you leave your tent open they swarm all over the place. And even then sometimes you just get unlucky with those things. You’ll be going to sleep and feel one crawling on your face. Sorry off topic. Anyways, the day ended with diner at the campfire. We ate our little MRE’s and canned food. At the end of chow firewatchers were announced for certain times during the night. Guess who name was first on the list? Mine.

Check in next Wednesday for the next chapter at Hawk.

-Griffin

The Key To Success

2011-05-09T20:09:00.000-07:00

Recently I watched a video on Youtube entitled "The Key To Success". The man in the video answered the key to success is simple. "Try Harder." I would agree with him 100% on that concept. But I also believe there are other things that are required for success. One of those things ladies and gentlemen are "Goals". Little ones and huge ones, they both play a major puzzle piece in your key to success. Think of success like this: You have an undone puzzle with the pieces all over the floor. Not only that but, those pieces are mixed in with puzzle pieces from 10 different puzzles. It is major hard work to find what pieces go where. That hard work goes into the "Try Harder" or "Never Give Up" analogy. Then the correct puzzle pieces can be known as your goals in life. Once you get them all together into a beautiful picture of a sunset, you have truly reached success. Boom, I just blew your mind, didn't I?

I will help you a little with organizing your goals. I like to keep my goals in something called a "Bucketlist". Perhaps you've seen the movie. A Bucket-list is basically an imaginary bucket full of the goals you want to achieve in life. Because humans naturally have so many goals it takes a bucket to fit them in. There is a website I will list at the end of this post, where you can start your own online bucketlist, and I highly encourage it. Perhaps you would like someones else's goal, so make it your goal. Or set your own goals. I will also link my very own bucketlist. Keep in mind there are goals I've already accomplished that I didn't find the need to put in my bucketlist. I would say the same thing to my followers, only put your future goals in the bucket; the other ones have already left the bucket. However, there is a feature where you can mark an item from your bucketlist and detail how you accomplished the goal that which is optional. If it motivates you, feel free to do it.

The final tip I can give all my readers is "Do what makes you happy". I give this tip to my mother as she has always instilled this life value to me. Life is one big game. Play what makes you feel happy. Don't think of life as a job or a burden, or life will soon pass you by. I love water and the military. Therefore it only makes sense I have a job in one or the other. Perhaps both. These goals and passions make each and every one of us different. That's once again where the bucketlist comes in handy. Maybe one day you want to follow your passion in cooking, so attend a cooking school. Perhaps you are just interested in cooking, don't let that interest fade, take a college class on cooking. Maybe, it's a passion in disguise.

For my Christian Readers I feel God is also a huge factor in success. If you put him first he will always put you first. Don't forget he's there to help you. The one who allows you to fail is yourself and the devil. Remember the quote from the bible Proverbs 3:6 "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." This quote is especially important if you believe in god. As it gives you trust and motivation, that if you put god first he will surely give you success in return.

My quotes for the day are

“When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.” - This quote is said by Confucius an ancient Chinese Philosopher. Once again it goes into the "Try Harder" analogy. Remember kids, the goals that are worth it, are usually harder to get too.

"If life were a string, without goals it would be a yarn ball." - This quote is from myself. Hopefully noone will plagiarize, as it is very valuable to me. And I shared it with everyone in hopes it will help someone. In short it means that without goals, your life is unguided and often can result in failure and feeling lost.

Thanks For All The Support So Far.

-Griffin Balducci

Bucketlist.org

My Bucketlist

The Teen Decision Process

2011-05-06T14:02:00.001-07:00

Being a teen myself I have a pretty broad spectrum of what the teenage world is like. To be honest it is more complex and simple then most people imagine. Today I will be talking about the teen decision process of this world. More specifically for teens in the modern US.

There is a big problem with the teens of today. It's all based off of the decision process. This process is mainly influenced by the typical hormones. But also strongly influenced by parenting and experiences in the teens life. Let’s admit it, American parents suck these days. They don't know how to be strict enough, or laid back enough. I either see the DI (Drill Instructor) type of parents. Or I see the hippie parents, that just don't give a “you know what”.

To figure out how this affects a teen thought process we must first look into the brain of a teenager. A National Institutes of Health study shows us that the human brain does not develop until age 25. Which means in the teenage years, it is still building. And during childhood is when the brain develops the most. We treat our little kids like retards, when in actuality they are little geniuses. Ever wonder how you learned your first language, but how it's 100X more difficult to learn another language? It because your brain was absorbing more when you were a child.

With this concept in mind if a child learns very rapidly around bad parenting, that child will grow up with bad skills of their own. They learn from bad parents to be bad people. But, if you are a good equal balance of strict and loose enough it is expected that your child will grow up more successful. I find myself to be more successful than the average teen. My parents and grandparents were just like that. Sometimes they would kick my butt. But sometimes they would let me stay up late to watch a Scooby Doo movie. It's all about balance.

But I've stayed away from the topic at hand far enough. The second largest factor in the teen though process is hormones. Hormones have always contributed to bad behavior and thought processes. But could the hormones be getting more severe? Multiple studies have indicated that milk and other meat products which contain growth hormones can lead to earlier sexual maturity and a larger hormone growth. My point, teens are getting hornier. Combine that with the amount of porn on the internet. Amount of drugs available. The undeveloped brain. And the amount of bad parents. And you have a big pile of stupid people. And it has only been getting worse every year. In fact I'll admit as a teenager sometimes I feel like going crazy.

With this kind of thought process our children of America are going to grow up spoiled, mean, disrespectful, and unmotivated. It seems more and more to me that these teenagers don't think of the future. They act like a person would if he knew he was going to die. News flash, Most of these teenagers will live for another 60+ years. Do they honestly think that funny tattoo of the word S*#) is going to be funny when they are doing that in their pants at age 75. Or maybe the huge amount of pot they're doing will just magically have no effect. IT'S SMOKE!!! Usually when you escape out of a house fire they tell you not to breathe the smoke.

By far the worst effect is that these teenagers don't set goals. Why would you set a goal if you figured "Hey I'll be dead in four years"? That's their thought process. They can't think ahead. No goals. No money. No future. One more thing I'll add: Not all teenagers are like this. First I've met countless intelligent teens in my cadet program. And second, look at me. Unfortunately the majority of teens live by this thought process. There must be some solution? Any solutions, Comment Below.

-Griffin

Inside The Mind of a Micro-Manager

2011-05-05T12:59:00.000-07:00

This is my first post to my blog and I thought I might post something that has been pressing on my mind quite a lot lately, “Micro-managers”. I'm sure everyone has had to deal with one of these at some time in their lives. I have to deal with one on a semi-normal basis. Anyways, I will explain my experience with these types of people and how I've dealt with them.

Micro-managers are quite possibly the most annoying people for me to deal with. They are perfectionists, autocratic, and very anal. There is either their way or no way. You have to understand their mindset to truly deal with them. Somewhere in their life they flipped a switch and decided to be paranoid about everything. Trust is what it boils down to. Micro-managers have no trust. They are paranoid about anyone but themselves. It doesn't matter if it's a job, a situation, or an event. They will try and control every detail, even when they aren't in charge. They're control freaks! Quite possibly the worst scenarios are when these people are in leadership positions. Whether it'd be a job, group, whatever, this is when micro-managers inflict the worst damage.

The reason damage occurs from micro-managers is simple. They think they know what's best when they really have no idea. I can tell you I have never held a full time job or been in a full time group. I'm still a minor! But what I can tell you is I've been in part time jobs and groups where micro-managers run rampant. It doesn't matter how long and successful you have been in your job or specialty. If a micro-manager is in charge and they don't like something you do, they will block it and force their own idea of how to do it onto you. Get this, "Even if they have no experience in that particular field!"

How do you deal with these types of people? That is not an easy question to answer. And to be honest I still haven't fully found out how to deal with them 100% of the time. I can provide some tips that should help at least some of the time.

Ignore them the best you can without risking loss. They hate this and often feel helpless if they can't get you to do something.
Try and reason with them. While this doesn't work nearly as much as it should. It does sometimes have a good effect.
Don't put up with them. Most are insecure and unsure of life. Confront them of their screw-ups. Sometimes showing a little teeth is necessary
If you have to do it their way, try to bend the rules a little bit without risking loss. If they told you a pepperoni pizza would be the best for the office party, get a box of sausage pizza too.

Anyways I really enjoyed writing today; look forward to more topics to come.

Thanks,

-Griffin