Goaaaaaaaaal!

I think people might have liked me more than I give myself credit for, but I never felt like I fit in when I was a kid. In elementary school I was pretty insecure and it took me until I was about 13 years old to finally begin to understand how to operate socially. I feel like I have been excited about chasing after the hearts of people since the day I realized I could. Now I just wait for opportunities.

Highschool was magical for me. To be with 2000 people every day was undeniably one of the greatest gifts of my life. What intrigued me the most was how different people are. Sure, everyone is different in personality, but what caught my attention was how people fit into different social categories. People defined themselves by the things they participated in, and the lifestyle they chose to live. I was determined to break those social walls.

My whole life I have found absolute joy in bringing people together. It is my passion and it is my gift. Nothing is more meaningful to me than introducing friends, who wouldn't otherwise know each other, and giving them something common to strive for. I have been fortunate enough to be a part of some really cool experiences, including weekly meals with 30 guests, Sunday night dinners at Old Chicago, and random events including slip and slides, bbq's, glow frisbee, etc. I love having fun. I love having fun with people I love. I love having fun with people I love, having fun with people that I love.

It was a blast to watch a community form around all of this, to watch people band together and go beyond events; they started doing everyday life together. But even this created a clique and left a lot of people out. Some people simply didn't desire to be a part of it, and that is okay.

Soccer wasn't something I was ever interested in growing up, but I got to start playing with middle-school friends at an after school program and decided to start a soccer team for adults. This has become the absolute joy of my life. Sure, soccer is a blast. I love the game more than any other sport (to play). Yes, running is fun and free, and competition is addictive. All of these are reasons to love soccer, but that isn't enough for me.

People are why I love soccer. And while, given my health issues, it may seem unwise for me to play as much as I do, it is the best thing for me. I have gotten to see people come together who would never be in a room together, and laugh, and play, and compete. Not only is everyone in the same room, but the group is fighting for a common cause. Nothing brings people together more than that. Those who would never come to a bbq, will come to a soccer game. I have gotten people to play that I haven't seen since sixth grade. I have witnessed people with very different walks in life, celebrate together, cheer each other on. It is absolutely beautiful. We even have a teammate that I met at a breakfast restaurant that I frequent.

Being on the field is fun, but if you see me on the bench I am just as happy. I love watching. I love sitting in the presence of the people I love, together fighting for something. I love watching us win together, and lose together. So when you hear that I am on four soccer teams don't worry about my health or an addiction problem. It isn't for soccer, it is for people. People are a worthy cause, and I will give all of myself away to see the boundaries of love transcended for the people in my life.

Come watch us play.

Craig, I Want Off Your List

Melissa called me on Friday. I couldn't answer because I was at work. She left a message and told me that she would love to watch my kid on Wednesdays from 6-9, and she left me her number and asked me to call her back. There were a lot of candidates really, from young to old, but all of them were female. The most qualified and top runner for the position was Karissa, who graduated with honors from Berkley, is trilingual, can cook, clean, has great references and agreed to a meeting before hire. I can honestly say, it wasn't a tough decision for me to make in regards to any of them.

You see, I'm not married, I didn't just recently move to California, and I don't have a kid. If I did have a kid I certainly wouldn't pay someone $150 dollars to watch them once a week for three hours. I felt bad that I couldn't hire any of them, because they all wanted the job and Berkley was obviously the best choice. But I can't hire someone for a job that didn't exist.

Melissa was helpful enough to inform me that she got my info on Craigslist, and so I googled "Craigslist (And my phone-number)." I found the article about my wife and kid and moving to long beach. Phone number and name was correct and everything. My phone continued to ring, and eventually died. When I got home from work I plugged it in to find that I had 30 voicemails. About 10 voicemails in, the messages started to sound like this, "Hey, I'm interested in the Ford F-150 you have for sale. Is $250 dollars the correct amount or is that a typo?" The last twenty messages, and about 30 texts were about the truck.

I got a great lead when someone said they were referenced to me by my roommate Lance. A text came in from him from a few hours ago that read: How is your day going? I replied: Interesting that you ask, how is yours? We talked on the phone and he admitted to the Long Beach Babysitting Craigslist ad, saying that he and Flu came up with it. He asked how I found out, and I told him that someone mentioned his name in the truck messages. He told me that he knew I had posted the Truck ad on facebook to get him back. I hadn't. Someone had posted a truck ad on Lance's behalf, and thinking it was me, he made his answering machine say, "Hi you've reached Lance, if you are calling on behalf of the truck please contact Sean at #." He told me he had gotten 80 calls in 90 minutes.

We knew it was Flu, so Lance changed his answering machine to Flu instead of me. Flu eventually called me, asking why he was getting calls about a Truck, and after a long arguing match, he proved to me he didn't post the ad about Lance. Turns out one of Lance's friends did, who Flu and I hardly even know. I laughed a lot that day. It was a very fun April Fools day, to say the least.

I am still getting phone calls about the Truck.