Luke Storey

There was a time about 3 years ago where my Mom said something to me that I thought was pretty funny. But it wasn’t funny in the way that it was a joke–she wasn’t trying to be funny. But I just thought what she said made absolutely no sense, so it made me laugh. She might not even remember this–she probably does, but you never know what she’s going to remember and what she’s not. A few years ago, I was a little bit depressed. It was nothing major–just some feelings of loneliness, helplessness, and just general lack of motivation stuff. And I went to her for some help and she said, “Son, I’m sorry but I don’t really know what to tell you–sometimes you just have to decide that it’s time to be in a good mood and force yourself to feel that way.” I was like, “…ight thanks Mom…” and kind of walked away like ‘is that all you got for me?’ I don’t usually let my emotions show around my family because even though I am more comfortable around them than anyone else in the world, I still always want them to think I’m good, I’m cool, I’m easy, and I’m chillin. Because most of the time, I am–but not all the time, and I try not to let them see when I’m not. But there are definitely times when I need my Mom on an emotional level… and those are some of the times when she really does her best work–you know? That’s when she’s on the money. They don’t happen very often but I’m pretty sure she just stands there with a Steph Curry follow through for like 5 minutes at the end of all of those talks she has with me. But… when she told me that I just need to force myself to stop being sad, I almost felt more helpless than I did before I walked in her room because I just did not know how to do that… but it stuck with me, and every so often I try it. And tonight, it’s working. So, that is what I want to write about. There’s a lot going on right now that’s making life a little tough, but there are plenty of reasons to be happy–so let’s break them down.

            First, to briefly touch on what is going on right now: School is kicking my ass, I am working two jobs–one of which is unpaid and the other is barely giving me anything, so I am super broke, and my girlfriend, Kylie, is having a brain hemorrhage that has made her so sick that she hasn’t even been able to sit up straight for the past 2 weeks. Yeah, that last one has been rough. She was in the hospital for 3 days… she’s home now but not really feeling any better. The story is that she had brain surgery a couple of years ago, when we first started dating, to remove a benign tumor and they weren’t able to get it all out. So now it’s bleeding–and she can barely move. She can’t walk. She can hardly eat. She can’t pick her head up. She can’t really do anything but sleep because doing anything else makes her feel sick and vomit. So, we haven’t really been able to be ourselves for a couple weeks, and probably won’t be until after she has another surgery and recovers from it… and there’s no telling how long that will take.

But (this is where this little writing piece takes a positive turn), the good news is that I still get to be with her. She’s good–great, actually. She’s struggling but she’s strong and she’ll get through it. Her parents are there for her, I’m there for her, and she has the support she needs. She’ll be alright. It’s actually been refreshing for me to get to take care of her. I know how bad it sucks for her to be lying there in pain, but I like being able to do whatever I can to help her… whether it’s getting her a new water bottle or just making her laugh every once in a while. Obviously, I would rather her feel 100% and for us to be able to go wherever we want and do whatever we want and never stop laughing like usual, but for now I just get to take care of her and I’m fine with it. It’s really all I want to do. I love her and I’m proud of her. She is so, so, so awesome to me.

More good news? I said that school was kicking my ass, but truthfully, I’m the one whooping ass. My grades are super nice, it’s just a whole lot of work. A lot of stuff is coming up towards the end of the semester and it’s going to be tough to get done–but I’ll do it. I’ll be straight. Y’all ever seen Coach Carter? Remember that scene when they’re in the locker room after one of their games and they had just been invited to that Bayhill Invitational tournament–and then Coach Carter says that he’ll be getting academic progress reports soon, so Junior Battle tells him, “Sir our grades are tight, yo,” and then Jason Lyle (hood Channing Tatum) says, “aye coach not only are our grades aight but we undefeated homeboayy!!” And then they all start singing “WE UNDEFEAAATED… WE UNDEFEAAATED”? Remember that scene? That’s how I feel right now. Ha, sort of… not really. But we’re getting there. 

More good news? The Spurs won tonight–127-110 over the Warriors. They’re 4-1 and looking super strong. I TOLD Y’ALL NOT TO SLEEP ON US!! WE’RE THE F—— SPURS!! Patty had 31 tonight because he is lowkey the best player on the planet (joking but not joking at all). DeMar has looked very solid, LaMarcus struggled in their lone loss to the Clippers, but other than that he’s looked good. Rudy Gay is still a bucket. Dejounte Murray is EXTREMELY TOUGH–he’s been doing an unbelievable job at leading the charge in his 4 starts. Bryn is firing on all cylinders, and Derrick White is just doing Derrick White things off the bench, scoring and locking up. All of it looks good–it’s a well-oiled machine. We’re in for a successful year (knock on wood).

More good news? It’s the weekend. Time to chill out. That’s all on that.

More good news? I am re-reading Basketball (And Other Things) and I love it even more than I did when I read it the first time. It’s such a good read. I am through the first 10 chapters and the Disrespectful Dunk Hall of Fame is one of my favorite things ever. Shea Serrano, I love you sir.

More good news? This is extremely random, but I still haven’t seen Zombieland 2… which is also kind of bad news but mostly good news because now I am still looking forward to seeing it. It came out the same weekend that Kylie was in the hospital, so I haven’t gotten the chance to see it. I haven’t even heard a single thing about it. If you’ve seen it and it’s bad, don’t tell me–I need to see for myself. Side note: Zombieland was my favorite movie for the longest time… I have no idea why. I still love it, but I think it was mostly because it was my first R-rated movie. That’s always a big deal.

More good news? On a serious note, times are tough right now but at least they I gained some inspiration to write. I’ve been drawn blank for a while… I’m constantly trying to come up with ideas but haven’t been able to think of anything interesting enough to put in a document. But this is good stuff–I don’t know if it’s even interesting, but it made me happy to write all these thoughts out. I feel stronger… like that song from Uncle Drew (if you know what song I’m talking about then hats off to you–the song isn’t even that good, but the chorus is a major mood).

I guess the point of this whole thing is that life is good. That’s such a weak and cliche thing to say but it’s the truth–life is good. Some things that are a part of life can absolutely suck, like having no money while working two jobs and having 50,000 school assignments coming up while your girlfriend is on bedrest. Yeah, that’s no good–but as a whole, life is good. Kylie and I are doing well, I’m almost done with school, the Spurs are the best team the world has ever seen (100% factual), and there’s just always a whole lot to feel good about. It turns out that what my Mom told me a few years ago actually works–just decide to be happy, and then do it. Thanks, Moga.

There was a time about 3 years ago where my Mom said something to me that I thought was pretty funny. But it wasn’t funny in the way that it was a joke–she wasn’t trying to be funny, but I just thought what she said made absolutely no sense that it kind of made me laugh. She might not even remember this, she probably does, but you never know what she’s going to remember and what she’s not… a few years ago I was a little bit depressed–it was nothing major. Just some feelings of loneliness, helplessness, and just general lack of motivation stuff. And I went to her for some help and she said, “Son, I’m sorry but I don’t really know what to tell you–sometimes you just have to decide that it’s time to be in a good mood and force yourself to feel that way.” I was like, “…ight thanks Mom…” and kind of walked away like ‘is that all you got for me?’ I don’t usually let my emotions show around my family because even though I am more comfortable around them than anyone else in the world, I still always want them to think I’m good, I’m cool, I’m easy, and I’m chillin. Because most of the time, I am–but not all the time, and I try not to let them see when I’m not. But there are definitely times where I need my Mom on an emotional level… and those are some of the times when she really does her best work–you know? That’s when she’s on the money. Like they don’t happen very often but I’m pretty sure she just stands there with a Steph Curry follow through for like 5 minutes at the end of all of those talks she has with me. But… when she told me that I just need to force myself to stop being sad, I almost felt more helpless than I did before I walked in her room because I just did not know how to do that… but it stuck with me, and every so often I try it. And tonight, it’s working. So, that is what I want to write about. There’s a lot going on right now that’s making life a little tough, but there are plenty of reasons to be happy–so let’s break them down. 

First, to briefly touch on what is going on right now: School is kicking my ass, I am working two jobs–one of which is unpaid and the other is barely giving me anything, so money is tight, and my girlfriend, Kylie, is having a brain hemorrhage that has made her so sick that she hasn’t even been able to sit up straight for the past 2 weeks. Yeah, that last one has been rough. She was in the hospital for 3 days… she’s home now but not really feeling any better. The story is that she had brain surgery a couple of years ago, when we first started dating, to remove a benign tumor and they weren’t able to get it all out, so now it’s bleeding–and she can barely move. She can’t walk, she can hardly eat, she can’t pick her head up, she can’t really do anything but sleep because doing anything else makes her feel sick and vomit. So, we haven’t really been able to be ourselves for a couple weeks, and probably won’t be until after she has another surgery and recovers from it… and there’s no telling how long that will take. 

But (this is where this little writing piece takes a positive turn), the good news is that I still get to be with her. She’s good–great, actually. She’s struggling but she’s strong and she’ll get through it. Her parents are there for her, I’m there for her, and she has the support she needs. She’ll be alright. It’s actually been refreshing for me to get to take care of her. I know how bad it sucks for her to be lying there in pain, but I like being able to do whatever I can to help her… whether it’s getting her a new water bottle or just making her laugh every once in a while. Obviously I would rather her feel 100% and for us to be able to go wherever we want and do whatever we want and never stop laughing like usual, but for now I just get to take care of her and I’m fine with it. It’s really all I want to do. I love her and I’m proud of her. She is so, so, so awesome to me. 

More good news? I said that school was kicking my ass, but truthfully, I’m the one whooping ass. My grades are STUPID nice. A lot of stuff is coming up towards the end of the semester and it’s gonna be tough to get done–but I’m gonna do it. I’ll be straight. Y’all ever seen Coach Carter? Remember that scene when they’re in the locker room after one of their games and they had just been invited to that Bayhill Invitational tournament–and then Coach Carter says that he’ll be getting academic progress reports soon, so Junior Battle tells him, “Sir our grades are tight, yo,” and then Jason Lyle (hood Channing Tatum) says, “aye coach not only are our grades aight but we undefeated homeboayy!!” And then they all start singing “WE UNDEFEAAATED… WE UNDEFEAAATED”? Remember that scene? That’s how I feel right now. Ha, sort of… not really. But, we’re getting there.  

More good news? The Spurs won tonight–127-110 over the Warriors. They’re 4-1 and looking super strong. I TOLD Y’ALL NOT TO SLEEP ON US!! WE’RE THE F—— SPURS!! Patty had 31 tonight because he is lowkey the best player on the planet (joking but not joking at all). DeMar has looked very solid, LaMarcus struggled in their lone loss to the Clippers but other than that he’s looked good. Rudy Gay is still a bucket. Dejounte Murray is EXTREMELY TOUGH–he’s been doing an unbelievable job at leading the charge in his 4 starts. Bryn is firing on all cylinders, and Derrick White is just doing Derrick White things off the bench, scoring and locking up. All of it looks good–it’s a well-oiled machine. We’re in for a successful year (knock on wood). 

More good news? It’s the weekend. Time to chill out. That’s all on that. 

More good news? I am re-reading Basketball (And Other Things) and I love it even more than I did when I read it the first time. It’s such a good read. I am through the first 10 chapters and the Disrespectful Dunk Hall of Fame is one of my favorite things ever. Shea Serrano, I love you sir. 

More good news? This is extremely random, but I still haven’t seen Zombieland 2… which is also kind of bad news but mostly good news because now I am still looking forward to seeing it. It came out the same weekend that Kylie was in the hospital so I haven’t gotten the chance to see it. I haven’t even heard a single thing about it. If you’ve seen it and it’s bad, don’t tell me–I need to see for myself. Side note: Zombieland was my favorite movie for the longest time… I have no idea why. I still love it, but I think it was mostly because it was my first R-rated movie. That’s always a big deal. 

More good news? On a serious note, times are tough right now but at least I gained some inspiration to write. I’ve been drawn blank for a while… I’m constantly trying to come up with ideas but haven’t been able to think of anything interesting enough to put in a document. But this is good stuff–I don’t know if it’s even interesting, but it made me happy to write all these thoughts out. I feel stronger… like that song from Uncle Drew (if you know what song I’m talking about then hats off to you–the song isn’t even that good but the chorus is a major mood).

I guess the point of this whole thing is that life is good. That’s such a weak and cliche thing to say but it’s the truth–life is good. Some things that are a part of life can really kick rocks, like having no money while working two jobs and having 50,000 school assignments coming up while your girlfriend is on bedrest. Yeah, that’s no good–but as a whole, life is good. Kylie and I are doing well, I’m almost done with school, the Spurs are the best team the world has ever seen (100% factual), and there’s just always a whole lot to feel good about. It turns out that what my Mom told me a few years ago actually works–just decide to be happy, and then do it. Thanks, Moga.