***“…This Is A Soul Dance…
…Embracing Me…
…This Is The First Chance…
…To Put Things Right…
…Moving On…
…Guided By The Light…
…And The Spirit Of Love…
…Is Rising Within Me…
…Talking To You Now…
…Telling You Clearly…
…The Fire Still Burns. …”***
*** *** *** ***
"INSIGHT" Is Off DEPECHE MODE's 1997 Album "ULTRA"
*** *** *** ***
There’s Something I Wanna Talk About, Since Some Of You Would (likely) Understand…
…Maybe?
Fair Enough?
Okay Then…
…That’s It.
We’re ON!
😉
You’re Already Very…
…Very…
…VERY Aware That Words…
…Are…
…BOTH A Proverbial AND Literal BLESSING…
…And…
…BOTH A Proverbial AND Literal CURSE.
They Help AMAZINGLY…
…And They DESTROY So SO MUCH MORE.
MY Words Are What I Have To Offer.
Period.
They’re All I’m Really Decent With…
…Especially When I’m Being Awful…
…Or Hateful…
…Or Evil…
…Or Charming…
…Or Caring…
…Or Loving…
…Or…
…Sheesh…
…You Get It.
I Know.
Moving On.
You See…
…I’ve Spent 90% Of My Academic Life Cultivating My Command Of The English Language.
I Love Literature.
I Love History.
I Love MOST SUBJECTS…
…That Don’t Employ Many NUMBERS.
That’s My Biggest Embarrassment AND Failure.
I Don’t See Numbers In My Mind.
I’ve Never Really Been Able To.
BRADLEY + NUMBERS = EPIC FAILURE
Even As A Child…
…I Did NOT Fail To Take Notice Of A GLARING Issue.
I Was The Kid With Like 5 Friends…
…Yet STILL Had To Carry Around A Pocket-Sized Phone-Book…
…Just To Remember The Essential Numbers I Used ALL The Time.
Now Remember, This Was At A Time When EVERYONE Seemed To Remember EVERYONE ELSE’S Number.
I Skated Along Through School…
…Never Having To Explain Myself…
…Until HIGH SCHOOL…
…And Onward Into College.
I Really Started To FREAK When I Arrived In My Very First ALGEBRA Class.
After Just ONE-Semester Of It, I Was Scramblin’ HAAAARD.
Then, I Discovered The One MAIN DETAIL Of The Graduation Requirements That Honestly/Truly/Totally…
…SAVED. MY. ASS.
…
To Graduate From Our High School…
…A Student Only Needed TWO (2) Total MATH CREDITS.
You Got 1/2 A Credit PER Semester.
FOUR.
FOUR Semesters.
That Was It.
…
Needless To Say, I DID Get My TWO Credits…
…By The SKIN Of MY TEETH.
TWO Credits…
…Of 24-TOTAL Credits…
…Encompassing The Entire FOUR Years Of High School.
Can You Say…
“OVER A DOZEN ENGLISH CREDITS ALONE”
?
Or…
“EVERY HISTORY, SPEECH, & THEATER CREDIT AVAILABLE”
???
Yep.
Figured You Could.
(SIDE NOTE: Best Final Grade = "A+" (104% In A History Course (Bonus Bonus Bonus)) & Worst Final Grade = "F" (53% In Algebra The 1st Time))
(SIDE NOTE To The SIDE NOTE: When The Algebra Teacher Said, "You Finished With A 53%, Brad." My HAPPY Response Was Something Like "So I Got MORE Than HALF RIGHT?! SWEET!!!")
Sooooooooooo…
…Yeah.
I Suppose You Could Say I’ve Spent My Time Working AROUND Numbers.
I’ve Got The Basics.
I’ve Got What I Need To Survive, I Suppose.
Since I’ve Proved Incapable Of Grasping Complex Math…
…I’ve Worked My Ass Off On The Rest Of Me.
That’s The Problem.
Now I’ve Learned How To Use The Rest In Good, Bad, AND Good’ish-Bad’ish Ways.
And I’m Realizing Just How Good…
…And Just How Bad Bad BAD.
I’m A “Great-Guy” To Some Of You…
…A “TOTAL-SHIT” To MORE Of You…
…And Just A Big Ole “W.T.F?!!!?” To The Rest.
I’ve Been Apologizing For Being BRADLEY ALAN Since Early-CHILDHOOD.
Thing Is…
…While I AM Tired Of Doing It…
…I TOTALLY Accept Doing It…
…Because I Don’t Know How To NOT Be ME.
Now That I’m 30’ish’ish…
…The Likelihood Of My Figuring-It-Out AND Assimilating Is NILL’ish’ish AT BEST.
But I DO Continue Trying.
That Counts A Tad…
…Right???
RIGHT???
???
*** *** *** ***
***“…Wisdom Of Ages…
…Rush Over Me…
…Heighten My Senses…
…Enlighten Me…
…Lead Me On…
…Eternally…
…And The Spirit Of Love…
…Is Rising Within Me…
…Talking To You Now…
…Telling You Clearly…
…THE FIRE STILL BURNS. …”***
"You Jivin' Me, Turkey?" 