Random Thoughts with Will

     At the end of the 2000 movie Cast Away , Chuck Noland (portrayed by Tom Hanks), finds himself at a crossroads. For over 4 years, he was stranded on an island and presumed dead by his family and friends. As he returns to civilization, he returns the last unopened FedEx package he has (imagine having a package returned to you 4 years later!). After returning the package, he ends up at a crossroads - figuratively and literally. Where does he go from here in his life? Which road should he take? Which road will he choose? While the movie ends before he goes down a path, it does hint at a particular path that he'll take.      Sometimes in life, we find ourselves at a crossroads like Chuck Noland did. We may have finished one journey or task, but aren't exactly sure where to go next or how to move forward. Crossroads can be a critical juncture in our lives because they offer multiple paths with completely different destinations. The choice is up to us with ho...

      One Sunday afternoon fifteen and a half years ago, I stumbled across a NASCAR race on television. I'm not sure what it was, but there was just something about watching that race that got me hooked and interested in the sport. Not too long after, I settled on Rusty Wallace as the driver that I'd root for. My Mom and I even got to meet him at an autograph signing a few months later (thanks Mom!). That being said, as I started following NASCAR, little did I know that the sport was about to dominated by one driver: Jimmie Johnson.     Tomorrow, the 2020 NASCAR season will come to an end at Phoenix Raceway in Arizona. While 4 drivers will be battling for the championship, tomorrow will also be Jimmie Johnson's final race. As a NASCAR fan, it's bittersweet to say goodbye to Jimmie Johnson. Johnson's career in NASCAR has spanned 20 years, over 600 starts, 83 wins, and 7 championships. Johnson's 7 NASCAR Cup Series championships are tied for first all-time with NA...

      This past Friday, I celebrated my 26th birthday. While I wish some of the circumstances surrounding it had been different (you know, being in a pandemic), it was a nice day filled with typical Will-things such as walking, good food, good friends, and of course cake. When I turned 25 last year, I wrote a blog post with quarter century reflections. In honor of turning 26 this year, I thought I'd do a blog post with...26 reflections (this time in number form, as opposed to paragraph form). I'm all about being consistent with blog posts. Well, here we go! Speaking of consistency, that truly has been a lesson I've been learning; consistency is key. In all that we do, being consistent is one of the best attributes we can have. It provides a sense of stability to ourselves and for others. You can depend and rely on consistent, faithful people. We all need people like that in our lives, especially right now. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says that "For everything there is a season, a...

    18 years ago, VeggieTales made the jump from direct-to-home videos to the big screen, releasing Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie. G iven that Jonah's story ends on a unique, not-so-uplifting note, it was interesting that  VeggieTales chose to make this Bible story into a full-length movie. That said, the movie  does end on a positive note with a musical number about Jonah's story and the lessons we can learn from it. Recently, I read through the Book of Jonah (both with friends at church and on my own) and I wanted to share my takeaways from reading through Jonah. Here we go: God Uses Us in Spite of Ourselves       Last year, I heard a sermon where the overall message was that God will use us in spite of ourselves and our actions. While the sermon itself focused on Samson and his life, Jonah is another good example of God using someone in spite of one's actions. When Jonah was instructed by the Lord to go to Ninevah, he went the exact opposite direction ...

     A little over a month ago, longtime television personality Regis Philbin passed away. While Philbin holds the world record for most hours on U.S. television, there is one particular game show that I most fondly remember him for: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (as a fun throwback, my family had a CD Rom of the game that we'd sometimes play). Over the course of Philbin's tenure as the host, there was one trademark phrase he'd ask contestants as they made a decision: "Is that your final answer?" The question would often be asked for clarification or as time ran down. Nonetheless, once the contestant said "final answer", their decision had been made -- good or bad.     While Regis Philbin never asked me that question, I have certainly asked myself that question countless times. A lot of times, that has occurred (but is not limited to) taking tests and exams. Before I'd turn in or submit a test, I would often review my answers (time permitting) to dou...

           There's no way around: this past week was a stressful one here in Houston. As one tropical storm (Marco) started dissipating in the Gulf, another storm (Laura) was strengthening and headed for Texas and Louisiana. Forecasts on Monday and Tuesday had Houston in the dreaded "cone of uncertainty", meaning that Hurricane Laura could make landfall near Houston. After a stressful few days leading up to Wednesday night/Thursday morning, when Hurricane Laura made landfall, Houston ended up being fine. However, this meant that East Texas and West Louisiana got hit incredibly hard by Hurricane Laura. Seeing pictures of the damage from Laura in places such as Lake Charles or Cameron, LA have been absolutely devastating. I can't imagine what so many families just a few hours east of here are going through right now. My heart goes out to them and I will be praying for them as they rebuild from Hurricane Laura.      As Hurricane Laura was in the...

     Today's calendar reads August 15 - and Houston's temperatures would certainly agree with that. Warm temperatures aside, there's a different date that's been on my mind for the past few weeks months: February 2, a day more commonly known as "Groundhog Day".     Groundhog Day is synonymous with the 1991 comedy film of the same title   starring Bill Murray. In Groundhog Day, Phil Connors (portrayed by Murray) finds himself reliving the same exact day over and over again: stuck in Punxsutawney, PA covering festivities for Groundhog Day. Although it is not clear how long Phil Connors is in this time loop, it is estimated by some that he was in it for 30-40 years.     Think about that: Phil Connors was stuck in a time loop reliving the same exact day for over 30 years . Everything around Phil unfolded the same way each day -- the only difference between each day was dependent upon how Phil acted and behaved himself. When Phil realizes that his acti...

     Nearly 10 years ago, a high school teenager in Virginia wanted to create a blog filled with song parodies, including ones of John Lennon's "Imagine" or "A Whole New World" from Aladdin . The blog was titled "Bringing the Wheat", as Wheat is said blogger's middle name. After a few posts though, the blog fizzled out and became mostly forgotten. Flash forward to a few years ago, and that blog was resurrected and re-branded into "Random Thoughts with Will". Flash forward to today, and here I am writing my 100th post for that blog. What a ride it has been!      For today's post, I wanted to do a tribute "100th Post". After all, the 100th Day of school was a day we celebrated in elementary school and TV shows celebrate their 100th episode with entering syndication reruns. In addition to that, this can serve as an early celebration of the blog's 10 Year Anniversary. Feel free to call this post "Random thoughts with Wi...

     Growing up, when I was watching TV shows such as Full House or  Darkwing Duck , there was one way I hated seeing an episode end: on a cliffhanger note with the words "to be continued..." on the screen. Instead of finishing with everything resolved or ending with a witty one-liner, the episode ends unresolved and on an ominous note. Although "to be continued" provides reassurance that the story arc itself is not over, it still signaled that the singular episode was. Even if I knew that everything would get resolved, I would still be unsure if everything would truly be okay or if this would be a turning point in the show -- or even the end to the show. Rest assured, there would be a "Part 2" for that "to be continued" episode where the conflict does get resolved and all is well again (granted, some shows have ended with a cliffhanger).      In some ways, it has felt like we have been living in a "to be continued" episode. For the pas...

    About 12 years ago, I visited Death Valley National Park with my father. Death Valley is known for two distinctions: one, it holds the world record for the warmest recorded air temperature at 134 degrees Fahrenheit (though that temperature has been disputed, as well as unverified claims of warmer temperatures). When we went in August 2008, it was "only" 121 degrees Fahrenheit. For as hot & humid as Texas summers get, I can still take solace in the fact that it's cooler than Death Valley. The second distinction Death Valley holds is this: it is home to Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America (282 feet below sea level).      Literally speaking, visiting Death Valley was the lowest point in my life. And unless I travel to an even lower point in the world or explore the deep sea, that will be the lowest my life ever gets. While Death Valley may have been the "lowest" point for me, it's certainly not the lowest that I have ever felt, nor was it ...

        As many may know about me, I have a goal of visiting all 50 U.S. States. Thanks to trips my family took growing up (as well as some personal adventures I've taken in recent years), I'm pretty close to hitting that goal. Only 3 states remain: Alaska, Hawai'i, and Rhode Island. Given that the first 2 are bigger, more expensive trips to take, I've always viewed Rhode Island as "next in line", so to speak. Last year, I considered taking a trip up to the Northeast so that I could knock Rhode Island off that elusive list, as well as explore nearby areas such as Boston. However, that trip never came to fruition last year. But why was that? Why did I pass up the chance to explore the Northeast and say that I've visited all of the Lower 48?       Well, it ultimately came down to this: my heart just wasn't in it. While I do hope to make that trip one day, the thought of visiting last year felt more forced than fun. It felt like I wanted to go just t...

    In the classic Arthur episode "Buster's Growing Grudge", Arthur's best friend Buster holds a grudge against fellow classmate Binky Barnes. The reason for Buster's grudge? Binky "stole" his joke about King Tut and shared it with the class, a joke Buster was planning to use for his presentation. For the rest of the episode, Buster goes from being a normally cheerful class clown to bitter and petty, allowing himself to be derailed by Binky using his joke.       While Buster's grudge may seem silly, we've all found ourselves in Buster's situation before and held a grudge against someone or something. Grudges have a way of hurting people, but not the people they're against. Buster's grudge didn't hurt Binky; it hurt himself. Buster was only able to get over his grudge when he talked to Binky about the issue (to which Binky apologized for using his joke).When it comes to holding grudges, we have two options: let it go or let it grow...

     If you were to ask my family about my lexicon, odds are they would mention specific words or phrases that I like to use. Some phrases, such as "anticipate my whim", stem from movies or TV shows (that one is from Muppet Treasure Island ). In other instances, there's words such as "parochial" that I learned in school and will use, even when it doesn't make sense (Inigo Montoya would be disappointed). There's even words such as "chicane", a word that I enjoyed so much I even made a blog post about life's chicanes . At one point, I did a de facto word of the day at work, coining it "Whimsical Words with Will" and featured words that I've encountered and liked, such as gravitas, harbinger, kvetch, or trope.      Whimsical words aside, there's one word that I've found myself saying a lot lately: weariness. Weariness is a word that's been on my heart even before staying at home in quarantine started. After 2019 being...