What is a name? Have you ever really thought about it? When someone asks you your name do you understand what it is you’re saying back to them? If I tell you what a name is then you might have some understanding what it is to say you have a name. A name is a designation given to property by the owner thereof. Do you have an owner? I certainly don’t and therefor cannot possibly have a name. I am Jon AndUR?, it isn’t a name, it is who I am.

We’ve been told over and over since we were old enough to understand words that we had a name. Your parents were most likely the first to tell you this, as were mine. Then you go off to school (AKA: government indoctrination centers) were you were required to repeatedly write your name as well as respond to it for the next 12 years of your life. The part they forgot to teach you about, however, is that you don’t really need a name. When you really sit down and think about it, who are the people that most want you to have a name? That’s right, the government. They are your owner after all and want to keep track of you. They do this with three simple instruments you’ve been indoctrinated to know by heart and understand that they ARE you. A name, birth date and social security number. How many times have you wrote some variation of those three things on a piece of paper in your lifetime? I’ll go ahead and answer for you, countless times. Every single time without exception it is because the government wants to keep track of you itself or because it requires someone else to keep track of you. (ie: work, bank, airline travel, etc. etc.)

When was the last time you went to a convenience store and the clerk had to know your name? They don’t care what your name is if you’re using cash, they just want your business. They have no reason to want to track every move you make because they aren’t your owner.The government, on the other hand, desperately needs to keep track of its property.

Next, lets move on to the birth date. What is your birth date? Do you really know or is it something someone told you. Where you able to take note of the time and date just seconds after you were birthed? I didn’t think so. Someone told you but you truly have no ability to know for absolute sure. You only have a birth date if you agree to have one. You, also, really have no idea who your parents are. You simply have to take their word for it.

Lastly, the grand social security number. Did you sign the document while being fully informed beforehand of all consequences such a number would bring upon you? No you didn’t. Your parents did that for you.

With all that said, do you have a name and if so why? What benefits, and more importantly, what burdens does such a designation lay upon you?  Do you really know who you are? I say you have no idea who you are. You only know what you’ve been told and could you ever prove whether such information was absolutely correct? No, you can never.

I have my 10 year reunion coming up in July. I’m not sure who I’ll see that I haven’t seen since I graduated but it could be fun. It’s strange how long ago it seems we were in school having fun ditching classes and partying. It’ll be fun to see how different people have become, if they’ve changed much at all. It’ll be especially hard not to see those we’ve lost in the 10 years. I read a statistic somewhere that 1 in 4 will not live to see their 10 year reunion. Hopefully we beat those odds but I have my doubts. Either way, it should be interesting.

I’m not sure why or even how to fix it but I am one lazy fool. My job takes literally 30 minutes a day to perform and I can’t even be bothered with it sometimes. I seem to forget how good I really have it when the alternative these days is working crazy amounts of hours for shit money. Why am I such a lazy ass? Someone tell me!

We lost a great friend at just 37 years of age. He was my step-dad but more like the brother I never had. I met him when I was just 15 and I remember chatting out by the pool late at night. He seemed like an excellent guy then and even though we had our rough patches through the years, we eventually gained each other’s respect. He kicked me out of the house once, and even though I didn’t see it at the time, he did me a great service. I learned to do things on my own and be my own man. I moved away to see what life was all about and eventually moved back and got an apartment nearby. We talked about his decision to make me go and when I thought about it then, I realized he did me a great benefit. From that day forward I have had the up most respect for him and always will.

I hope he is cruising around the universe checking out all the places he couldn’t while here on Earth. Hopefully, someday we’ll meet again. Even if we don’t recognize each other in our Earth form, maybe there will be a familiarity. Until then, we miss you man.

As stated in my previous post, I’ve wanted to go to Costa Rica for some time now. Some diligent research over the past few days has led me to a Costa Rica immersion school. The Costa Rican Language Academy or CRLA is a private institution specializing in Spanish language instruction. They offer homestays in which you stay with an actual Costa Rican family. Spend a few hours every day in class learning Spanish and then take it home to your Costa Rican family and practice. This is perfect for me in that it will be a great opportunity to see what it’s like living in Costa Rica, which is my eventual goal someday if I end up liking it as much as I think I do.

I’m thinking a month-long stay will give me a good idea if I will like it or not. Plus, I will be learning Spanish at the same time and killing two birds with one stone is usually a good thing. I would leave this week but apparently my Mother would like to tag along to Paradise for a week or two so we are waiting on her passport to get here. Once that is here then we can get the ball rolling with airline tickets and the like. The excellent thing about the CRLA is, there is no set schedule you have to abide by. Basically, all you have to do is fill out the form on their website or give them a call and let them know when you are coming. They will have someone at the airport to pick you up and take you to the school or your Homestay house if you arrive on the weekend.

Hopefully we get the passport in the mail sometime early in September and then hop on a plane and get our learning on! I just hope it’s as great of a place as I imagine it to be.

I’ve always wanted to visit a Latin American country and through tons of research have settled on Costa Rica. It is a beautiful country by all accounts I have read. Those that live, work, vacation or split time there have a very positive attitude towards it. The only negatives I have seen discussed are crimes such as theft and burglary. I guess that is to be expected when you have a relatively poor population and a thriving tourism industry. Most Ticos think all gringos are rich and sadly to say, from what I’ve read, we do not help that perception very much. I’ve read stories of gringos being mugged and it is usually because some lady thought it would be a good idea to wear her massive diamond earrings, carry a designer purse and video their adventures with a $3000 video camera. They make themselves a target and pay the price with lost material possessions, a skipping heartbeat and possibly worse. Most people have enough sense not to walk down dark alleys in poor neighborhoods with diamond earrings and other flashy things here in the States so why they think it’s a good idea in Costa Rica is beyond me.

I have had my mind made up on Costa Rica for close to a year now. I’m not a world traveler so I had to get my passport and finally received it a few months ago. I would like someone to tag along and see the country with me but at the moment it seems I can’t find anyone with a desire as strong as mine. “Sure, I can go next year.” or “Earliest I could would be fall of next year.” are typical answers I get when asking if someone would like to join me. It’s frustrating because I would leave today if someone would tag along with me. Sure, I could go it alone but as I said earlier, I’m not a world traveler and visiting a country for the first time and not being able to speak the language could be a bit overwhelming. It all comes down to how desperate I become. If I want to go bad enough then I’ll head out alone. My online job would allow me to spend as much time there as I wanted as long as Internet access is available. More and more it appears the best option is hoping on a plane and heading down there myself but , still, I’m hesitant.

I have been trying to learn Spanish for years now and I’m to a point where I can understand certain words in a sentence and somewhat guess what they are talking about. I have the hardest time trying to respond back. A lot of it, I think, has to do with me thinking how completely retarded I must sound. When I’m talking to someone trying to learn English, I don’t think they sound retarded and generally appreciate that they are making the attempt to learn so it could all be in my head but it’s tough for me. I have been able to learn this much completely on my own. I’ve never taken any classes or courses to help me along other than my Junior year in high school when I dropped Spanish class one week into it. At that time, it was the furthest thing from my mind and had no interest in learning it. I probably need to take some courses or hire a tutor but to really learn it I want to do an immersion in Costa Rica where I can hear and speak it daily.

Ideally, I would like to bypass the tourist areas on my trip because I really want to scout what everyday life is like. Where locals go to eat or what type of stores they prefer and things such as that. Someday I would like to live there for six months or a year so these types of things interest me more than tourist areas simply because I can do those if/when I stay for an extended period of time. The other problem with taking someone along with me is they will want to do touristy things and that cuts into my information gathering time.

I’m not sure when or where I came to the conclusion it was a good idea to try my hand at life in another country but that is exactly what I want to do most at this point in my life. It may be the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever had or it could be a positive life-altering challenge. As with most things in life, you never know until you try it. I want to try it!

I just redesigned the site so hopefully it looks better and also motivates me to get back to updating this hole again. Maybe I should start writing about how much I hate lazy people.

In other fabulous news, I’m learning Spanish for my upcoming trip to Costa Rica. Heading down for a couple weeks and see what it’s like. If that goes well, I’ll be moving there for six months or more to see if I’d really like to live there. I’ve done a ton of research about moving/living there so at this point I’m pretty sure I can dig it. Culture shock is my biggest fear right now. It can hit hard if you’re not prepared so hopefully by the time I’m ready to move, I’ll have a good understanding of what it’s going to take to make it there.

Oh well, hopefully all goes well and I live there rest of my life there. I could handle marrying a Tica linda (Pretty Costa Rican Woman) as they have some of the most beautiful ladies you’ll find on the planet. One of the blogs I was reading about CR said the women there have nice asses because they walk everywhere and it’s usually uphill. I’m an ass man so it’ll be just live Heaven.

iAdiós!