I would rather be extremely intelligent and average looking.

If I was a woman this question would be more difficult.

Women do not base attraction on physical appearance to the extent that men do.

An attractive woman can very easily be attracted to an average looking (not ugly, but average looking) man if he is charming, finds his personality appealing, and enjoys spending time with him.

A woman may be more receptive at the very beginning to an attractive man (or to use the question’s term, beautiful), but after that point he is on an equal playing field with every other guy and if he is dumb, chances are he is actually at a significant disadvantage.

In regards to other aspects of life, being intelligent is a much more a valuable and durable tool to be equipped with than very good looks. 

So in the end I choose extremely intelligent and average looking over beautiful and dumb.

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I have been hosting parties at my apartment for over a year now – once every one to two months. 

I have found that it is the most efficient way to stay connected with friends. 

Those that attend my parties have grown, over the course of this last year, to become some of my closest friends.

It is facinating to watch this mingling of friends, creating a melting pot of people from different parts and times in my life. 

However, sometimes friends of old are just not compatable with my current lifestyle. 

The sad, and hard part, is letting those friends drift away.

At this point in my life, when it comes to friendships I have three objectives:

1. Surround yourself with those who will make you grow and become a better person (e.g., those who are successful, intelligent, driven, etc.),
   
2. Distance yourself from those who will drag you down, AND
   
3. When relationships end, the other person should always have become a better person from knowing you.

Sometimes I see at my parties sides of people that are very unappealing and as a result I cannot let be a part of my life. 

I have made a very hard decision, but one that had been put off for quite some time. 

Those people that create negative energy (drama, issues, negative impact, untrustworthy, etc.) I’m just going to drop from my life.

I just do not feel the need to deal with behavior that is going to create negativity in my life.

On the upside, for those I don’t keep in my life or invite back to my parties, I am thereby making room for those that I would like to become closer with

I have decided that in the near future (5 years – hopefully maybe sooner) I will no longer have cable.

I think cable is a negative influence on MY life (to each his own) because of three main reasons:

1. It takes up way too much time: If you watch a particular show, generally I will be watching it until it gets canceled or concludes which generally is between 7-10 seasons if it has a successful run.  Each show on network television (NBC, CBS, FOX, ABC, WB) generally runs for 20 or so episodes and I generally watch those shows during the weeknights even though I save some time and give myself some freedom by using the DVR to pre-record them.

2. It creates unrealistic expectations: We watch television shows because it creates a fantasy world that we are captivated with.  We admire characters, wish we can have exciting lives like many of them or have the successes portrayed on the shows, which are all very much unrealistic to begin with.  I find that I live a very interesting and exciting life, but put up against many of the scenarios portrayed on television shows, my exciting life looks bland.  It is time to move on and focus on me and not the fictional portrayals of unrealistic characters.

3. It is a waste of money: Cable costs a lot.  I hardly watch anything on cable but the shows I watch, so I’m paying for a few hundred channels I don’t even look at.  Over the course of several years, the money saved from paying for cable can be used to pay for a vacation or even towards any other financial obligations I have.

Why the 5 year time line?

I still do watch several shows and my plan, which has so far been successful, is not to add any NEW television shows to become hooked on.

Some of you may be curious to know what I watch, most won’t be, but basically, at the end of this Spring Season, the remaining shows I will be watching are 5 shows: 24, Heroes, House, 90210 (I don’t even know why I watch this one), and The Ultimate Fighter.

There were several other shows I’ve been watching, but they are all either concluding this season or have concluded, or have not been renewed for a new season.

In fact, looking at it written out like that above, I may just drop cable sooner and pick up 24, Heroes, and House on DVD when their seasons are released and just drop 90210 and the Ultimate Fighter completely.  I have already dropped American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance which was a very good decision.  American Idol is a tremendous time waster.  Thank god I’ve moved on.

Anyhow, there is my plan.  I’ll give updates down the road when appropriate.

I believe that my back may be better.  I say may because I’m not quite positive, but I am sick of not being able to do the things I love to do, so I decided I’m done waiting.  Tonight I went to BJJ class and other than gasing out (becoming exchausted) right after the warm up exercises I did pretty well.  The gasing out is to be expected.  The classes are super intense and I haven’t done a damn physical thing since I pulled my back. 

I think I frustrated the hell out of a white belt there.  Even though I’m a white belt in BJJ, I’ve of course been training in a Japanese style in Staten Island for many years now, but to this fellow white belt, while grappling, I’m just another white belt who he had never seen before.  So after I submitted him twice, he must have been thinking what the hell is going on, but that just goes to show, you never know what someone’s background is so you should never take anything for granted.

Hopefully I don’t wake up tomorrow a cripple.  My lip is kinda busted up from class, but it really is nothing.  As long as my back isn’t in pain I’m going to start picking up everything again from my normal routine (Gym, Cardio, Zenbu Ryu Jujutsu, Tae Kwon Do, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu).

It happened two Saturdays ago.  About two hours after a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) class I started feeling a horrible pain in my lower and middle back.

So, of course I ignored it and continued going to the gym and proceeded to go to a Zenbu Ryu Jujutsu (ZRJ) on Monday and both Tae Kwon Do (TKD) and BJJ on Tuesday.  By Wednesday I felt like a cripple. 

I haven’t gone to the gym or done any real physical activity since then…other than the party I threw at my place on Saturday Night – which was a blast.  I had 16 people over for a night of just insane fun.  My back hurt so much the next day though that I was basically bed ridden all of Sunday.

Today I’m picking up my inversion table – it is a table you lay on that secures your legs and then allows you to hang completely upside down – at my parent’s house tonight.  Last time I messed up my back I recovered by using the table every day for a week and doing Yoga.  Hopefully it works again.

Below is a picture of an inversion table:

Since starting law school I have been very frustrated that I have not been able to attend my Japanese Jujutsu (Zenbu Ryu Jujutsu) classes in Staten Island consistently.  There are really no schools that are relatively close to me that even remotely come close to teaching what is taught at Zenbu Ryu Jujutsu and therefore finding a substitute has been unsuccessful.

As a result I have decided to start training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) at a very well known and respected BJJ school that is less than 10 miles away from my apartment.

BJJ is a sport derived from Jujutsu that emphasizes takedowns, and submission grappling (using chokes and joint locks), while Zenbu Ryu Jujutsu teaches on top of what BJJ focuses on, stand-up submissions (using chokes and joint locks), throws (the entire Judo throwing curriculum) and real world self-defense.

I will still travel to Staten Island as often as I can, but at least I will be receiving top notch training instead of twiddling my thumbs on days I cannot get to Staten Island.

I am almost midway through a very enjoyable vacation in Florida.  I am laying in bed, enjoying the cool breeze of a lake that sits within a stone throw from my villa.  I’m still fairly awake from spending some time with friends from New York at Orlando Magic game – which being my first basketball game was very exciting.

Prior to leaving for Florida I came up with updated set of goals for the new year.  You can see my full life goals and accomplishments list along with all my yearly goals dating back from 2004 on my personal website. 

For 2009 I plan on becoming recertified in CPR and First Aid.  I had let my certifications laps while in law school and it is about time I get them renewed.

I wish to obtain the rank of green belt in Jujutsu and also Tae Kwon Do.  Obtaining my green belt in Jujutsu that is something that has been haunting me for awhile now.  All that it basically requires is for me to find ukis to practice with on a consistent basis for about a month so both they and myself will be ready for the test, but because the school I take classes in is in Staten Island, and I live in Long Island (about an hour commute without traffic), and because of my work load with law school I have not been able to manage to attend class consistently enough to take the test.  Hopefully I can manage this early in 2009, before finals are looming and then the bar exam.

I want to fly more often than I generally have.  The goal for 2009 is to fly at least once every two months - increasing to once a month when I am finished with law school and no longer receiving financial assistance from my parents. 

Depending on where I am working and my schedule I will attempt to complete the final level of improv classes towards the later part of the year.  

In 2008, I set a goal of reading 10 fiction and 10 non-fiction books.  I read 26 books.  Since that seems like an obtainable goal while contending with a law school work load I will keep that same goal for 2009.

I’m expecting to really amp up my plans for 2010, since I won’t have the confines of law school to work around, but in the mean time I have quite a bit of work ahead of me to complete the goals outlined above 

On Saturday there were two Jujutsu exams that I participated in as an Uki.  An Uki is a student on which techniques are demonstrated on.  In one of the tests I was an Uki during the mat holding portion of the exam and during the other exam I was an Uki during the strangulation/chokes portion of the exam.  Below you can find the portions of the videos in which I participated.  To view the full exams please visit http://www.zenbujujutsu.com/.

I’m sitting in class, the professor is saying something important, but I haven’t a clue what was just said because I was checking my e-mail, surfing the internet, or chatting with someone on AIM. 

This has been my daily experience since the start of this semester of my third and final year of law school. 

I don’t know if my heart just isn’t in it anymore, I’ve developed a bad case of ADD, or I just have classes that bore the hell out of me to the point that if I wasn’t checking e-mail or chatting on AIM I would be at risk for becoming comatosed.

My first semester of my first year of law school I took notes solely by pen and paper, so no distractions other than the occasional doodle or note passing.  This was my best semester of law school.

I did have a laptop that first year, but I didn’t use it in class that first semester.  I began using the laptop during my second semester, but the wireless internet card was external so I would leave it at home or in my car, so I never went online while in class.  This was my second best semester of law school.

During the summer between my first and second year of law school I replaced that laptop with a new one-and in hindsight, sadly-an internal wireless card. 

Now thinking about it, that is when my focus began to drift.  I didn’t use the internet during class as much as I have been this semester, but I was using it quite a bit.  My entire second year was my worst year of law school.

Fast forward to the present.

It is a damn good thing I record my classes, otherwise I would be neck deep in excrement.

So, short of putting a bullet hole through the spot where I think the internal wireless card exists in my laptop I have come up with the next best solution and hopefully the problem to my lack of self control.

I created a new user login on my laptop completely stripped of EVERYTHING but Microsoft Office Word.  Nothing else will open, not the internet (thank you parental control settings), not AIM or AOL (hallelujah), not even solitaire.

I’ve done this for two days in a row and I must say, I never focused so much on class this semester than I have during those two days. 

Hopefully it works, otherwise I’m going to have to go back to my old school laptop that barely has a pulse and takes 20 minutes to boot up.

I have banned myself from Barnes & Nobles and Borders Books for a year. 

Simply put, my book buying is seriously out of control. 

I’m addicted to buying books or something.

I think I may have spent about a thousand dollars on new books in the last 6 months. 

Yes, I do read a lot. I’ve read 22 books this year and 264 in the last eight years.  So that is on average 33 books a year. 

The problem is however that I own probably at this point hundreds and hundreds of books.  I have no idea how many I own, I just know it is a lot.  I have an entire room in my parent’s house lined with books (which my family and I just call “the library” at this point) and part of another is starting to fill with books.  My own apartment has an entire bookshelf full of books as well as the last six months worth of purchases which I have no place to really put, so I keep them in a coffee table/chest thing that is in my living room.

See, obviously I have a problem.  It is the single largest cost I have.  I practically purchase nothing else but food and necessities.  Sure I have large costs like flying, martial arts, gym, etc. that add up over the year, but those are different.

So, no more Barnes & Nobles and Borders Books for a year, maybe more.