This evening MAJ Shumacker told us that the windchill for the next three nights is supposed to be around -40 degrees. He warned us to not go running outside.

Tonight I was talking to a friend on IM and our conversation really got me thinking. During the conversation he accused me of somewhat just accepting the views of the majority of society as my own. My reply was "i don't have to go through the experiences myself to realize that there are somethings that i don't want to do and that do not lead to happiness and a good life. i've watched my [extended] family be torn apart by drugs, alcohol, abusive relationships. close friends have babies when just the year before they said that they'd never have sex until marriage. In high school i looked at the lives of the people who partied all the time and did drugs and watched them go from intelligent human beings to vegetables who only care about the next time they can get high. talents wasted, goals flushed down the drain, happiness confused with lack of pain."

Mrs. Pinard really influanced my life in 7th and 8th grade during health class by challenging me to think and make long term and short term goals. When I set a goal for myself I stick to it and don't let anything stop me from achieving it. The only way that goal changes is after I've thought about it for awhile and talked to people I trust about it. I don't know if it's fair to do, but I think that some of the poeple I know let their goals slip away from them and instead choose short term pleasure and long term pain over short term pain and long term happiness.

In high school one of my goals was getting into West Point. Many people thought it would be nearly impossible for me, but that didn't stop me. I chose to ignore them and focus on the goal. That meant that I didn't participate in many things that I saw as possible deterents to my acceptance. True, sometimes that was taken to a bit of an extreme, but I don't regret anything. I've always leaned more to playing it more on the safe side.

I'm not saying that this is what everybody should live by, or that it is a perfect philosophy by any means, but so far it's worked pretty well for me. Sometime I think too much about things, but occasionally that's saved me. When have to make a decision I try and look at all of the possible outcomes and see if it's worth it. If the consequences are too high, then I don't do it. As my dad always said about risky stuff: "high risk, low return." Think about what is best in the long run.

What is happiness and a good life? That's a topic for another night.