From A Flat Broke Joke……..

Six years ago, Matthew Lopez was broke and desperate.

He was 24, living with a former college roommate in Southern California. They were being evicted, though, and Lopez had nowhere to go. His weekly income was $50, which he earned from teaching a handful of private youth wrestling lessons.

So, for several days after the eviction, Lopez, who now fights in the UFC, remained in the residence as a squatter. It was one of the lowest points of his life.

“I was flat broke,” Lopez told ESPN.com. “My roommate would take me to Taco Bell every morning and I would buy two $1 burritos. I’d eat one for lunch and one for dinner.

“When we ended up getting evicted, I stayed in the house for days with no electricity or water. I didn’t have anywhere else to go. That was low, low, low. You feel like, less than a man, you know? I didn’t have anything to my name. I had an ice chest full of pictures and some clothes.”

As crazy as this might sound, Lopez (9-1), who faces bantamweight Johnny Eduardo at UFC 212 this weekend in Rio de Janeiro, sort of chose to live in poverty. Or at least, he chose a path in which temporary poverty was a very real possibility.

Lopez, 30, wrestled at Arizona State University and Cal State Fullerton. His collegiate wrestling career ended in 2008, but he did not immediately transition to MMA.

He says he continued to live a “college” lifestyle, putting more thought into what he was doing that night than what he was doing with his life.

Around 2011, he took a summer job at a copper mine in Arizona — and that’s where his whole mindset changed.

“Basically, my job was to stand in these long, clay fields and lay hundreds of yards of pipe that a chemical would run through and drip into the ground,” Lopez said.

“One day, we were out there, and there was this guy who was like 55 years old, doing this work. And it’s not backbreaking work, but it’s not easy. And I just said, ‘I don’t want to be that guy.’ I went home that day, sat on my couch and said, ‘F— it. I’m out of here.’ I put all my eggs in one basket, moved to California and started training full time.”

Brett Okamoto

I Thought It Was Because Of Dogs!

I always noticed I give money too homeless people who have dogs. Dog lover, kind of makes sense I suppose, more sense then what I have done with the past twenty years. I thought it was because I was a good person and I cared! I thought a lot of things. I thought about how I’d been there and how I had to live in my car. I thought about how I would be back there right now, but somebody didn’t give up on me. I start thinking about Lincoln and him saying, “I’m a success today, because a good friend believed in me, and I didn’t want to let them down!” Let down is all I have done my entire life, I’ve toed the edge for so fucking long that I feel the next step could be the one. Not walking on eggshells, but walking on my destiny and what is left of this life I created! Disgusting actions have disgusting consequences whether we like it or not, we usually make are own bed! Time to become friend with that monster and those voices inside of my head Eminem, why the fuck not? Why not completely lose your shit and let people see it for what it is. See how one person can systematically destroy themselves and everything that matters to them. Watch them fade away and do nothing about it, when they had those moments to seize and instead chose to squander! Chose the drugs, chose what was easier, chose to lay in bed, chose to let others deal with the consequences of your actions, and what’s left now? Blank stares on the dogs face, yep, you guessed it, the one person you never thought would be disappointed in you finally is! I’m back or I’m busted, two choices when there really isn’t a choice at all. All your addictions and idiotic choices have led you to the point where enough was enough a long time ago. And it’s no longer laughed off or brushed aside, it’s disgusted looks of amazement at all you have done and wasted. It’s what the fuck is wrong with you and you chose to be this piece of shit, it’s not who you are! It’s who you created, because it was easier than dealing with what you were supposed to! I don’t need a miracle, the miracle is the fact that I’m still here, I just like you need to do something about it, because there’s one final move to be made! And that move, if you make it, will be all that matters in the end! I made a mess out of this life, but even at forty, I have a shot to not fix it, but to stop it before it can’t be stopped! I have a chance to be a voice to stop all the madness and violence going on, I have a chance to be bigger than it all for one instead of letting it become bigger than me! In the end as in life, the bigger man or woman always wins….

The Grew Up A Fuckin Screw Up, Sure Screwed up

As I hear Biggie Smalls say, “check it, I grew up a fucking screw up!” I think about how badly I screwed it all up! I think about the things I did to people, the mess I left behind and walked away from while others didn’t! Others doing the same blow I did, didn’t wake up at 23 like I did, worse, someone had a chance to save him and was too high and sacred to call. His brother you ask? Murdered a guy last summer high on meth, one of the dudes who was right next to me doing line after line of coke until our noses bleed uncontrollably. I’ve come to that point where the only way to beat it, is admit a long time ago that I lost the battle with myself. Funny thing is, people lose battles everyday, but the way I have to think now, the war is still winnable! The war is what it’s about, anybody in the moment can win a battle, but it takes guts to survive the war that is coming! The last chance, the only shot to prove everybody wrong, the time to tell Coldplay that maybe your name was up on that list and they were wrong. Fuck Batman, fuck Hercules, be your own hero, put your own name up on that list and watch what the fuck happens! It takes a second to decide, superhero, or super destructive for the rest of your life. This keep doing it the same way and thinking it ends different way of bullshit living has to stop. I can play the last ten years over and over again and it’s always a horror story where the bad guy wins in the end. Hmm, maybe that’s the problem, maybe I need to embrace the bad guy I’ve been, maybe I need to go too a place so dark there’s only one choice to find light. Maybe I quit talking about it and do it, it takes seconds to make a decision to change your life. It takes dedication to stay focused and stay the course and finish the job. Put your name up on that list, or duck and run and cease to exist!

What If

What if children weren’t dying right now of starvation? What if children weren’t being raped right now in the sex trade? What if the leader of the Philippines hadn’t just said Rape is okay under martial law! What if you and I got tired of it all and did something about it? What if I’m wrong about that Heaven place and this God guy and this is all we get! Lot a what if’s to start out your Memorial Day weekend, but hey, we have to start somewhere. What if I told you it’s all about money and bottom lines and nobody gives a fuck about anything but themselves anymore? What if I told you I could hardly blame them with the state of the world today? What if I told you I took to Twitter to save the world at three in the morning? What if I told you that the problems with the world exist because we refuse to see other people’s side and judge instead? What if I told you Mr. President, the real problem is blaming everybody else and taking  no responsibility for your action? What if I told you that everyone is doing it! What if I told you……

No Ride, Just Feels Like Die!

Like that moment you woke up in the hospital from that car wreck with a fifteen percent chance of living. Machines keeping your collapsed lungs breathing, tubes draining blood and giving you a nutrient mix to keep you alive. Begging God that if he lets you live that you will knock off the bullshit, be a better person. You pulled it off for show and what everyone sees is this great fucking guy, but God and you know what goes on behind closed doors! It’s that go to church and believe in God on Sunday and then do whatever the hell I want attitude the other six days of the week that has brought me here. A stalemate, life and the people you care about calling you out and wanting answers, and there you sit again with none. Making all the ones that gave up on you and laughed at you right one more time! The whole he had so much potential thing kills me now. That what he could have been and the look at him now rolls off their tongue so easily now, their expecting you to die. Their expecting you to not cash the check your mouth wrote once again, their just waiting on a funeral. Like vultures in the desert circling, waiting for you to gasp your last breath and be a carcass! Searching for answers and knowing the whole time you have them, you just don’t like them. You did this, every single time you had a chance to ride, you chose to do the things that pushed you closer to die and now you want to feel bad about it! Now you need that God guy more than ever, now if miracles exist, well that’s about the only hope your sorry ass has left! Repentance means nothing, if you keep doing the same shit someone told me today……

Facebook Stalking, Asshole Bleaching And….

Facebook stalking and holding on for dear life that there is something left. Something left leads to seven hours of drinking and screaming and yelling and running before the cops show up. Why do we always fuck with a past that is bad for us? We know better, or so we say we do. I guess we say a lot of things, we do a lot of things and WE write our own stories! We do our own deeds and we suffer or sometimes others suffer the consequences for our choices. The last 18 years have gone by in a blur of bad choices, addiction and things lost that almost broke me. Now, I don’t even know if there is enough of me left too break. Less sure now as I approach 40 of what I want then I have ever been in my life. Confused about how I could let it all pass by as if I could give a fuck less like some asshole bleached affliction asshole! These demons we let get into our bloodstream make us or destroy us. Do you dance with them? Or do they dance on the ashes that have become what is left of our lives. This is how it ends, Facebook stalking hoping for miracles, sitting on your ass social media wasted just waiting for the other shoe to drop. What if? What if you made the move instead of having one made against you. You find out some of the most solid people you know are going through it just like you. The guy with the doctorate who is without a doubt one of the best people you know falling apart in front of you. Choices, thought he wanted out of a relationship so he made a move he now regrets at thirty. Tricky thing is trying to go back, as I said see that drunken running from the cops mess Monday night I was talking about! The rich friend who is spending every dime to look that way. The friend who posts, “who wouldn’t want to go to the beach after work!” Then privately texts, “I’m miserable, I have nobody and he moved me to California to isolate me!”  Live it, try to love it, try not to waste 18 years as you’ll learn you 65-year old diabetic mother won’t age well. The dog you used to love walking who carried you through some of the worst times will start to shut it down. You’ll grow up, the ones at 10 won’t be the ones at 20! The ones at 20 won’t be the ones at 40, you’ll be hurt by and lose some people you never thought you would and sometimes you’ll just grow or move apart! Life’s too short for Facebook stalking and bleached assholes, speaking of bleached assholes, how you doing these days Donald?

“Sometimes Things Don’t Mix Like Ya Hoped!”

“Like you and me and diamond rings and old bar stools!” “It ain’t like midnight cigarette smoke, it ain’t like watered down whiskey and coke.” Chasing your past and running away from the demons in your past at the same time has consequences. Sometimes we are hurt worse than we realize, then Jack Daniels gets involved. Sometimes we can’t fix it and we can’t go back no matter how badly we want too. Sometimes you realize too late that it is what it is and none of this that you’ve made okay in your head is really okay in reality! The Tim McGraw song I just quoted and the Cowboy in me keep running through my head. I’m getting tired of riding and not worrying about the cost Mr. McGraw, it’s catching up with me. If you haven’t heard the cowboy in me or diamond rings and old bar stools you should. Don’t chase your happiness, don’t try to find it in a bottle, a cloud of smoke or your past! Because sometimes things don’t mix like ya hope!

“Chris Singleton!” A Love Or Hate Situation

Love over hate is what the kid on T.V. said. Whatever right? People say things like that all the time. Not necessarily when they are from a teenager who just lost his mom to senseless violence! Violence, Syria uses chemical gas attacks, we come back with the second biggest bomb in history. Forget talking about it, Russia will protect their asset, like we the people protect Israel! It used to be easy to drink and smoke all the shit I’ve done and the shit going on away. Sober scared the fuck out of me, until that one day I realized time didn’t give a fuck about me! I’ve wasted years and years and lost so many good things along the way to get too the misery of today! I’ve Trumped myself, opened up my mouth and wrote checks I knew that it couldn’t cash! But boy I’d sure tell you I would and yell at you if you questioned me, sound like anyone?  At least I can admit it, instead of taking to Twitter to act like a little bitch about it! Speaking of bitching about it, that seems to be all we do! Tell me what your endless Facebook posts have done about it? I hate Trump, but I’m not willing to do anything about it! Then let’s march thru the streets destroying shit, which is exactly what your marching to oppose! Corporations destroying shit, please explain that too me and oh by the way you have something on your Tom’s! Oh and that Unicorn Frap in your hand, that’s fucking cute princess. Fuck Starbucks and that dickwad Schultz, ha, it didn’t auto correct dickwad! I live in the Pacific Northwest and there used to be this thing called the Seattle Sonics! See, at least I’m honest, I call out my biases! A kid seeing hope on the worst day of his life, love not hate! Hate is why we lose good men and women in our military! Hate is why gangs are killing each other at alarming numbers, beyond hate, greed! Greed and hate are what did in the world if you believe in Jesus as I do so be careful! Greed, the taste of power and the want for more and not understanding something took them all down before, it can take us down again! How about we try love over hate, instead of killing each other over religious beliefs and greed!

Don’t Play Victim To Circumstances You Created!

Wow, that one sure  hits between the eyes as I have come to a crossroads. Last chance, last shot at any kind of fucking life at all and in slow motion, watching yourself piss it away one more time. Telling yourself  you have to somehow stop it and caught up in the middle of all the lies and bullshit, it seems like there is no way out.  Always is, just depends on how bad you want it and how bad you want to quit. I can tell you all about second chances  and  pissing them away,  I can tell you all about cocaine addictions that should have killed me, drunken boozy car rides I don’t remember. The women who gave a fuck about me and I could give two fucks less, I could tell you a lot of things! I could  tell you that time slips away at a pace that you can’t believe, I could tell you that people you care about move on because they’re tired of  watching you destroy yourself. I could tell you all these things that I could play victim to, but who is the victim? Surely not me when I created it all, all this potential and yet nothing, that 50 cent line, “damn homie, in high school you was the man homie, what the fuck happened to you.” Plays over and over again in my head  like a cruel joke reminding me  that I had all the chances in the world to grab it and yet here I sit. Stale,  getting older and for sure not  wiser by the day, what a waste. Wow I heard someone say, what a waste, what he could of been. Ugly scene when you  hear words  like  what could  of  been. It’s a little too late to say your sorry at this point, it’s a little too late to make excuses, been to hell an back, have the scars to prove it. Not proud of any of it, more disgusted truth be told, but decisions were made and things  were done and said and you cant worry about that shit in the past anymore. It’s about moves to be made now, it’s about getting out of your own way, its about letting it go no matter how bad you wish you could change it. Some people die that way, holding on to something they just cant have or a situation that just didn’t work out. Out work whatever you are up against, believe that shit about being better than you were yesterday, if it comes out of your mouth, make sure it happens, life is a lot easier that way. It gets harder chasing your  dreams in the wind when you  are chasing your tail building it all on lies!

Testament To What?

To chemical attacks over Syria? To the peace in the Middle East we were going to have after we got rid of Saddam and Bin Laden? To the state of the world today! The biggest ass clown in history that I voted for, controlling the most powerful nation! A testament to making America Great Again? Going to take whole lot more for that to happen then a catchy slogan! But apparently you can ride that catchy slogan and some sketchy email accounts all the way to the White House! Is that a testament to us, or had bad shot has really gotten? Two woman, Palin was a joke and Billary lost to a joke, “you didn’t realize it was going to be this hard?” At least Bush had an excuse to not have a clue, no President has had to deal with a 9/11! This clown pushing Russia and China, uh boom you idiot! Syria doesn’t scare me, I feel bad for those people, and let’s face this fact! North Korea knows better, we would turn him into Kim Jung Dead! Our biggest enemy at any level is us! I can’t, our mind defeats us first, they’re better than me. I’ll never be able to do this, letting our words get in the way and control are thoughts! How about a testament to being better, not having those moments where we slip and then try to justify it! Don’t lie, don’t slip up, and Lear to fly!