It’s been a summer.

I wrestled with whether not taking the extension from my co-op placement was a great idea, fought back frustration with people and wondered whether going back to school in the summer was going to be worth it.

Instead, I realized that going back to school and relaxing instead of working 9-5ish shifts 5 days a week was worth being poor. I got to go on weekend getaways, got better at the guitar, learned how to cook cool dishes – kinda – worked out, hung out with people I love and stayed up while everyone else had to get up and work the next morning. If  I took that extension, all the things I’ve done and learned would not have happened. I’m happy about my decision.

I also had to deal with people, issues that would have derailed my summer. I won’t get into it – personal – but those in the know know about it. Let’s just say that things were resolved, I got over some things and in the end something nice could potentially happen. I’m happy.

And school in the summer… didn’t really turn out that bad. I registered for an online course and spent one hour a week doing the readings, zombied my way through it all and ended up getting decent results. Score.

So this summer didn’t turn out as bad as I thought. I got lucky, was blessed and I feel better for it. I was busy every weekend being out and about, and spent time with friends and reviving relationships with people I hadn’t seen in some time.

And I will miss it all.

More from Hypebeast.

And on another note, while I never really shopped at American Apparel, it will be weird not seeing their stores when I hit up downtown if they do go under. But then again, think of the clearance sales!

I honestly thought something like this would have resolved itself a lot sooner, but I guess things change and my indecisiveness got the best of me. But in the mean time, I should make the best of what time I have left as a student… all I know is that I will definitely miss being one when it’s all over.

• The name Brown Rug came about when I bought an Xbox one Christmas and it asked me to come up with a user name.  I couldn’t think of one so I got the system to come up with a random name. It generated ‘YellowRug’ for me but I thought it would be hilarious if I replaced ‘yellow’ with ‘brown’ because brown reminded me of poo, and I thought it was funny that my name online would remind me of a crappy brown rug. Ten minutes after registering, I realized how lame the name was and I was bummed because it would cost me $10 to change it. So the name stuck. And it was my fault.
• Some of my friends also call me Yew Chon, because that’s how the gwei lo pronounces my Chinese name.
• Some guys’ thing is cars, cameras or computers. My thing is guitars.
• There has always been two constants in my life that I’ve relied on when things weren’t looking good: God and music. My faith gives me hope for tomorrow, music gives me something to do in the meantime.
• I remember my first show, it was at my high school talent show during my senior year. The band was nervous but at the same time we were stoked. My high E string broke the night before while I was restringing my guitar, and we just managed to get a drummer and a singer at the last minute to play our songs. It lasted for only 10 minutes, but after our set the auditorium exploded. From that day on, life just changed.
• Even if I never play another show in my life, I still consider myself blessed to have played. It takes an amazing amount of coordination and luck to get the right people together. To have done it once and to be a part of it is something I will never forget.
• A lot of people don’t appreciate my laid back approach to things. To me, it just keeps me sane and healthy.
• Looking back at all the stupid crap I’ve done in the past, I consider myself lucky for having some pretty forgiving friends.
• Now that I think about it, I’m pretty fortunate to have parents that have put up with me for all these years.
• My guitar heroes are both named Tom – Tom Morello and Tom Delonge. Cool.
• I’m 23 and it’s still hard for me to stop calling myself  ‘boy.’
• I don’t think people really appreciated the pop-punk era during the late ’90s early ’00s. But in 10 years, I think my musical tastes will be vindicated (hopefully).
• Very few things in life make me angry, but if you tell me I can’t do something, I will go out of my way to prove you wrong. I take those challenges personally.
• Did you know Tom Delonge’s middle name is Matthew? When I found that out I screamed. Fate will one day bring us together.
• The one song that has gotten me through some tough times has been ‘Fix You’ by Coldplay. It’s the only song that can make my eyes well up.
• What she’s got to have: kindness, compassion, honesty and a sense of humor. Plus she needs to have nice hair. I have a weird hair fetish.
• A man should always know how to cook one dish really well. Which is why I have taken up cooking these past few months.
• The first song I learned how to play was ‘Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)’ by Green Day. That song taught me so much on how to play: rhythm, strumming, picking, and the realization that I could actually be good at this.
• Principles are important. They made me the person I am today.
• Rain or shine, I will run. The physical meditation clears my head and brings me peace.
• I like making mix tapes. If you want one, ask.
• I waste way too much time on Youtube. For instance, last night I watched videos on Bees last night. Bees. Did you know 20 hornets can take out a colony of 30,000 bees in 2-3 hours? Nature you scary.
• Everyone needs to listen to Zee Avi. She is amazing.

From Pearls Before Swine on Comics.com

Girl 1: Don’t wait too long to ask her.

Girl 2: Don’t pass up on a good thing.

Girl 3: You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken shit.

Girl 4: Don’t invest too much into her unless you know. Also see comment on Girl 1.

The last one kills me.

• Alcan starts tomorrow, and from talking with some veterans on the team it seems like the season is starting to fall apart. But I knew this year was going to be tough. Roughly a quarter of our core from last year returned, the rest filled with first time paddlers or paddlers that were away from the sport for some time. We’ve been reduced to being a team that used to be in the higher echelon of the dragon boat community to a much lower ranked team. I think what’s annoyed me the most was that we’ve lost so much of our crew from previous years. I don’t mind the failures that this team will probably endure in the next couple of months, but the personnel loss hurts. We lost good people that made the past couple of years enjoyable. Not to say that any of the new members recruited were awful, but when you only have a few returning members come back, the cohesion and chemistry of the team isn’t as strong and the culture that determines a successful and fun team isn’t there anymore. But these are things I can’t really think about now. We need to endure and believe, and sometimes believing is enough of a push to achieve some success – small or large. While many of our crew is inexperienced, I believe we can make up for it in the fact that we can still pull through when the pressure’s on. There will be a lot of that tomorrow and on Sunday. After this weekend, we’ll see what this year’s version of Red Fusion is made of. Sorry if this isn’t making any sense… I’m tired and that isn’t really conducive to me writing something the least bit inspirational or deep. Blagh.
• It’s been almost a year and I think I’m ready to move on. I’ve said that so many times, and I just hope it stick now. It’s just not worth the pain anymore.
• I’m enjoying my summer for once. I feel as if I’m accomplishing things and making the most of the free time I’ve got. Doing new things, experimenting, being reacquainted with old and new friends, and staying the eff away from World of Warcraft. Gah, what a waste of time that was.
• I don’t know why, but I’ve started experimenting with cologne. So far everything smells bad on me except for a nice bottle from Ralph Lauren. It was the only one that I tried today that didn’t make Sammie T. sneeze or forced Bryan to make disgusted faces at me. For some reason I still smell like that Diesel cologne after a thorough shower and washing of my arms.
• New headphones. Yay or nay?
• iPhone or an Android phone? The choices…

Aaaaaand I think I’m done. Adios.

Not taking that extension back in April was a risk. A big risk. One that had financial implications. While I’m not as broke as I like to exaggerate when discussing it, the future outlook of how much I’ve got to play around with for important things looks grim. I’ve also got to deal with going to school, something that I thought was going to be rather exciting, but after looking at the deadlines I’m looking at, I forgot how much school sucked.

I need a new job, the one I’m at is bringing me down and I guess it’s starting to show. I’m not as energetic about doing my work as I was a year ago. I’m not doing the best that I can do, and I’m not really being the kind of person that I expected people in the same role as I. It’s hypocritical I know. The only thing that’s keeping me going is that I still have the support of most of the managers there. If people still rely on me, I guess that should count for something. Also the fact that finding a job is hard.

On the plus side, maybe not taking that extension was a good thing.

I’ve spent more time with friends than I did when I was still holding down a 8-4 job in addition to a closing shift at Scotia. I’ve got some resemblance of a life now. I’ve got time. Never did I realize how precious time is. Now I treasure it whenever I can.

Things maybe aren’t all bad. But the whole job hunting thing still sucks. Oh and school sucks too. Can’t forget that either.

But to think a weekend away from here made it seem like nothing mattered at all. That’s a pretty cool thing.
(It’s late, and I’m not sure if this is making any sense)