Month: December 2019

Time is all we have

~ John Loraine ~ Leave a comment

I am sure I am not the only one who always gets some good ideas in the shower. Also, I do find the shower a great place to argue with myself, debating on specific topics that I am having mixed feelings about or I am virtually trying to argue with my friend, for example. There is something about that place or the process, something about showering that triggers certain brain receptors makes them produce some interesting ideas and thoughts. I’ve been in the shower this early morning thinking about life. What else can I think at 5 in the morning? I guess that’s all I do, thinking about life.  

I was thinking about life and reflecting on the past, as everyone should do. We’ve made it this far, it’s December of 2019 and damn it, this year flew by fast. I have been quite a productive year, in a way; a lot of great momentums were there. I have certainly achieved things that I never was able to on the personal level, health-wise, life-wise and so on. Fuck, I’ve even started my own blog. How great is that? I’ve been running it for about three months now and I enjoy doing it. I will plan to do more writing and more posts as I go along. I hope to get my message across to as many people as I can and to as many people who might find the topics I am talking about relevant and close to their own experiences. I am certainly more organized from the writing perspective now. Posting a new blog post every week or two weeks makes me do the work. 

The end of the year is a great time to reflect on past life, on the year passing and think about the future. In the shower this morning I thought about it. I thought about my future and how often did I find myself seeing nothing in there. It’s all kind of dark, there is nothing to be seen there. It almost feels like the light switch has been turned off. I need to find it and turn back on and see what’s out there.  

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Poem: Bored at work

~ John Loraine ~ Leave a comment

Bored out of my fucking mind
I sit here and wait 
For the clock  
To strike the
5 o’clock. 
I watch the time closely
As I breathe meditating.

The clock is the meditation at work 
That helps me to get through yet another useless day. 
The time seems not to care  
To move 
Fast
Enough. 
I guess I should be happy to have a job. 
5 days a week, 8 hours a day 
From 9 to 5 o’clock… 
Fuck! 

I’ve sold my soul to the devil, 
I’ve sold myself to the corporation. 
I’ve become who I was always afraid of becoming.
I am one of them, I am part of the system. 
I am yet another brick in the wall. 
Working towards my career, steady paycheck, 
401K, health insurance, job security, PTO’s, sick days, 
Corporate holidays, office parties, office meetings 
While wasting the best years of my life… 

Sitting here at work, bored the fuck out of my mind. 

My shit’s out of luck. Resolution. Part III.

~ John Loraine ~ Leave a comment

This is kind of ironic to write this follow up exactly two years after my shit went South. Yeh, it’s been two years already since I was fucked really good by the system. It’s been two years since life had really tried my patience; since gods tested my nerves and everything precious for me at the time was just gone. I do still feel the pain, but it is not what it used to be back then. I am a stronger man now. I don’t give a fuck any longer.  

I do like to reflect on my life looking back and analyzing what I have done, what I’ve learned, or what am I supposed to be? Just two years ago I felt like the Earth has moved under my feet; like everything I have been living and striving for all of my life just fucking collapsed. Looking back at those times today it certainly feels different. I have outgrown that. As they like to say “Whatever doesn’t’ kill you will make you stronger.” It did make me a stronger person indeed. I do think though that it is always a good practice to reflect back on the “good old days” and see how can I learn from that. I wouldn’t be a man who I am today if not for all that crap that happened to me in the past. 

My shit did have some luck eventually, but it took me a while to get there. I think about life as the picks and valleys. Back then in late 2017 and 2018, there were plenty of fucking valleys in my life. Losing two corporate jobs in one year or to be more precise in just under 5 months. It has been quite a fuck-up on my end. Not everything ever depended on me necessarily. There were other things in the background. There are always other things in the way. I did sign up to be a “normal” part of society and have a real nine-to-five-job and a stable pay and the benefits. I’ve sold my soul, kind of. But, why the fuck not? After all, I have graduated from one of the top Philadelphia’s business schools to get here. I still owe a good chunk of my student loans. Somebody has to pay them off. Somebody has to feed my family, my child, and finance my unknown future.  

Back in the day, I thought, I have to get a good education, I have to stay career-inspired, I have to do everything well, I have to do a good job and get recognized. I have to build my fucking career, in order to make a good living for myself and my family. These were the days when carrying a laptop around with you to classes or coffee shops was a strange new thing. These were the days with no smartphones, no apps, no SEO, no bullshit. Kids actually had to study and read the real books and write original essays and all that jazz. Having a good job after graduating from a good school was a sure thing. I could never imagine that with all that technological advancement everything will be shifting and changing so fast, that every day at your own fucking job can be the last one. As soon as all that shit gets automated and optimized for efficiency and cost savings to improve the “bottom line” there will be no need of you, regular working pal, you’re out. Nobody cares about the average man. 

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