Endless opportunities

This archived article was written by: Leland Lobato

Walking down the corridor, nonchalantly, thinking of almost nothing at all. Humming a tune to himself, letting his mind wander, mentally going over a few things that need to be done today. Thinking it to be the beginnings of a day such as any other, he goes about his business while just around the corner, waiting to blast him in the face with a dose of fate was … well, fate.
Passing by a quaint little shop he goes inside, as he does every so often when he has time. Looking over the inventory available, he wastes a few minutes before he goes to wherever it is that he has to be. Checking his watch he notices it is time to resume his daily ritual of going about his life, working to ensure a better future for himself, i.e., get his little rear end to class on time.
Swiftly he turns around, makes for the door and (insert explosive sound effect of your choice) there she is. Let me rephrase that for those who have not been paying attention. There SHE is.
In order to understand at least a little bit of what is happening to him, allow me to set up the scene. It is at this point that I would recommend, if you have not already done so, to imagine the tune of your favorite love song or even play it if you have the means to do so at this particular instant. I prefer R&B, or perhaps some old 1960’s and 1970’s soul music or perhaps some Motown. If that’s not really your thing, go for whatever does it for you. Basically just about anything you would imagine being in the soundtrack of a really good romantic comedy or anything you could make a baby to.
Everybody has had that feeling right? That feeling that you get when you encounter a particularly impressive specimen of the opposite sex. The feeling you get when you see someone for the first time and for whatever reason, something about them appeals to something in you. Deeply appealing the way that makes you just automatically want to know more about them. The kind of feeling that even those who don’t much care for their appearance start to unknowingly straighten their hair and make sure their clothes are straight, and then suddenly wish they were wearing nicer clothes so they could straighten those out.
This is that feeling that makes your blood rush just a little bit faster and makes your heart doing elaborate drum solos like you hear on some hardcore rock band’s album. The feeling that makes it so you can’t quite think straight for that few moments and all you can think is, wow.
Now let’s take it a little bit farther than that. Remember that feeling you got when you were really young, and some may still get this feeling as I do every now and again, when you met someone and you were all of a sudden just indescribably happy? You could not quite understand it, but for no reason, you were excited and could not explain why. All of a sudden you could not think straight and had absolutely no idea what to say. You had to take a moment to catch your breath.
Now on top of all this, think of every great love story you have ever seen, read or heard about. Every romantic comedy, or just every romance movie you have ever seen. Think of the feeling you got from those stories. Think of the feeling you imagined the characters in those stories had for each other.
Now take all those feelings and all the intensity of those feelings, multiply those feelings by several thousand, because any more than that, I believe some would explode, then imagine all that hitting you in a single moment.
This is just a little bit of what he was feeling at that instant. She was the loveliest, most enchanting being he had ever encountered. He had noticed her several weeks before, but it was just for a short period of time and was in no way able to approach her, not because he hadn’t the nerve but because of other circumstances. In the time between then and now he had given some serious thought to the fact she might very well be the one. But then again she could be a complete hag or a moron, who knows.
She could be everything he has ever dreamed a woman should be or everything he hates about people wrapped in a pretty package. What should he do? He has some important things to do today and if he does not get any of them done, there could be some pretty heavy consequences. But an opportunity like this may not come along again and she could be the one.
So the reason I am even bringing this up is that I have noticed a lot of people around me are going through some small and not so small life changes. People I know are getting new opportunities for jobs, meeting new people, or simply making the same old thing better and more prosperous. The only thing these people have in common in regards to these changes is that they have recognized opportunity and pounced upon it like a lion on a wounded antelope. Even I have suddenly had a few things happen to me for the better recently just straight out of the blue.
I find it a little funny and coincidental that this is happening to everybody around the time for a new year. Either a little before or after. Just simply for the matter that the new year is supposed to be the time for fresh starts and/or cleaning the slate. A time to look to new experiences etc. I find that to be a complete pile of bull droppings.
It does not matter what day, time, month or year it is for people to reinvent themselves, or look for a different route in life than the one they are traveling. Opportunity does not happen at convenient times and time waits for nobody. Life is a choice and full of decisions that need to be made. Granted, not all decisions are of the magnitude that our friend I mentioned earlier is faced with, but are decisions nonetheless. All I am saying is that one should try to recognize and grab whatever opportunity they can, and if none are being presented to you, then go out and make some.
Anything could happen to anybody on any given day. A way to make your job or schoolwork go better, a new job or school opportunity, or even that special someone may suddenly appear in your life like a rainstorm on someone that has been in the desert for a week with nothing but a stale bottle of soda. Now the only question is what are you going to do about it?