My Goals, Dreams and Desires - Not Necessarily Hits From The Bong

BY: CHRISTIAN HOLMES (@HOLMESYWRITES)

Yours truly, Christian Holmes.
Goal #1: Get into college doing a university program
Status for goal #1: Complete!

Just for clarification, the "not necessarily hits from the bong" line is in reference to Cypress Hill's song Hits From The Bong. In other words, its a sarcastic way of saying, "No, I'm not high!" Well maybe I'm high on life, but life isn't an illegal substance.

Everybody has pipe dreams. Hopefully you don't smoke the rock. Hopefully you stick with that green leaf that everyone seems to like. Anyways, enough about drugs. It doesn't hurt to have dreams, goals and/or desires. They make life worth living and give you something to stride for as you slip on through the sands of time!

Now as you know I love to preach about having these things like goals and such. But I know what some of you guys and gals are thinking… “He's probably preaching all of this stuff about having goals because he has none of his own!” Well, you are sadly mistaken, my friend! So this blog is going to talk about my dreams, goals, and desires! Bare with me, I might get super nerdy when I talk about certain goals.

I won't lie… Normally, I'm not a big fan about talking and/or writing about my dreams and desires. I always liked to keep things like these to myself, because I felt a lot of people would look at my goals, dreams and desires, and laugh at them. Also, I thought most people wouldn't really care, because they have goals of their own and who has time to look at another person’s aspirations for life?

Now I realize that many people have taken a strong interest in my life, and they'd probably wanted to hear about this. But before that happened, I thought that, you know, I'm just another person out of seven-billion people on this planet… who has time for me? No, I wasn't depressed or anything like that, I was just being real. As time has rolled on, I have grown to learn that people actually find this stuff to be interesting. Especially when reading about someone with my background and life story. So I thought, let's give ‘er a go! (For the record, I know some of these are pipe dreams, but every dream starts somewhere, right?). I'm paragraphing these dreams, goals, and desires, from least likely to happen to most likely to happen. So, let's get this show on the road!

Ever since I could remember, I was always into sports. Some would call me a “sports nerd”, well the gamblers would call me an “expert”. I grew up a huge hockey fan. As most of you know, I grew up a big Toronto Maple Leafs fan. I always liked the Toronto Maple Leafs. Yeah, they may not have had the most success that I could remember besides them kicking Ottawa’s asses in the playoffs and going far in the playoffs in the 2005-2006 season, but I still liked them and didn't give up on them when times were bad. As I started to become more knowledgeable on how teams were built and how they were coached, I started to become more critical and developed my own theories on how I would run the teams. And as time passed by, I started to understand the concept of how the salary cap in the NHL controlled how you could add and subtract to your team. As I became more and more in tune with that stuff, I started to find it quite interesting. And that is where my first goal (more like pipe dream) comes from. I want to one day be an NHL General Manager. I know that's far fetched and it's a long way to the top, but I still have a small glimpse of hope that this goal is attainable. My hockey IQ is through the roof, at least that's what I've been told. If I was ever to become a GM, my goal would be to draft well, and keep the team as young as possible. I would want to build a big and tough team, that has skill and agility. My ideal player would be someone who has class, a strong sense of character, someone who is willing to be coached, and someone who would remember my motto, “You're not playing for the name on the back of your sweater, you're playing for the name of the front!” I would always try to have skilled grinders that would ensure that my team’s star players did not get pushed around by the weasels are the opposing teams. I would constantly advocate to keep fighting in the game and advocate for the removal of the instigator rule, so the tough guys could find a place in the game again. My goal would be to win a Stanley Cup and with any lucky, one day get inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame!

Another pipe dream of mine is to become a music producer. Obviously, being tone deaf isn't really going to help my dream out, but that's why they're called dreams. Anyways, I'm an avid music fan. I'm a big fan of punk, rock, and heavy metal. I was basically brought up on that stuff! AC/DC, Pink Floyd, Metallica, Stone Temple Pilots, Guns N’ Roses, Def Leppard, Slayer, Blink 182, Billy Talent, Three Days Grace and many more. As much as I love these bands, I'd like to say that I have respect for all the music that rock and metal took their roots from. I like classic country artists like Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Stompin’ Tom Connors, and Conway Twitty. I love blues music, B.B. King is my personal favourite blues musician. Honestly, The Thrill Is Gone is one of my favourite pieces of music. I've always liked folk music. My favourite folk song has to be Where Did You Sleep Last Night? (which was made famous by Lead Belly). It's a great piece of music, and it seems like you can never go to the island (Prince Edward Island) without hearing it sang on karaoke night. Not to mention, Kurt Cobain’s cover of the tune on Nirvana’s Unplugged album was chillingly brilliant and brought a whole new life to the song. So raw and emotional. Anyways, my goal if I ever became a producer would be to create an album that would combine all these genres and make something ‘out of this world’. I'd love to create a new genre. I'd love to get a Fugazi 13 Songs sound out of the record. To me, it would be cool just to help a band find their sound and create an album that could truly revitalize the rock genre. I always thought that would be cool. Just to add to that, I'd personally like to create a concept album that when you listen to it, it's like, “WOW!”

Now enough with the pipe dreams, let's focus on stuff that actually is attainable. After I get my bachelors in journalism, I'd love to be a disc jockey for a good radio station like 97.7 HTZ FM. Have an awesome show like 'Iron' Mike In The Morning had (rest in peace, Mike. Cancer is a bitch). Make some good playlists. Go see some good concerts. That'd be wicked, to be honest! And getting paid for it would be icing on the top! Plus, it wouldn't be a crime to spend my whole day listening to music and talking about interesting stuff.

Another goal I would love to try and achieve is to become a part-time stand up comedian. I feel that I could really succeed in that field. I have a great back story. From a promotional standpoint, it'd be easy to promote a guy like me. Not to mention, I'm relatively funny and I have a habit of coming up with things on the fly. My sarcasm is on point. I can be intelligently funny, it doesn't always have to be dick jokes and cuss words. I can impersonate people well, and I could be a good puppeteer because my mouth doesn't move. I don't mind public speaking. I enjoy making people laugh. And I'm smart enough to write my own material. Personally, if I were a comedian, I could see myself being compared to guys like Jim Jefferies, Bill Burr, and maybe if I'm good enough, George Carlin (I know that's a big push, but you gotta have confidence? Am I right?). Anyways, the goal would be to get a special or two on Netflix and maybe be on a couple Comedy Central Roasts (especially if they ever roasted Tony Romo). The plan is to do a couple performances during open mic night at the comedy clubs in Toronto and go from there!

Another goal of mine is to take a hockey scouting course, so I could become a “scout” in a sense. I'd love to have that on my resumé moving forward, because it would help me on my way to becoming a hockey analyst. Plus, it would move me one step closer to becoming an NHL GM. I could build my reputation through my journalistic work and network with executives, scouts, and players alike. The more connections I gather and the better reputation I build, the more doors I could realistically open up for myself. Which is my goal… to keep my options open and become a ‘hockey guy’. That's why I'm going through all this trouble to get my education. This is the true goal.

Finally, my main goal (at the moment) is to get an education. Getting a college education is the key to making any of these dreams/goals possible. Although, it's not going to be easy, it'll be worth it in the end. From that I hope to find a good job as a sports journalist. Worst case Ontario, I end up working a social media job for CNN. I plan to cover hockey and baseball. Personally, I'd also like to cover mixed martial arts. I like the idea of being of breaking down the fights.

Speaking of sports, I one day aspire to have my own sports radio show. Kind of like Tim & Sid but maybe a bit different. I hope to be able to speak my mind and entertain people. Kind of like what Bob McCown does on Prime Time Sports. With time, hopefully I can achieve that goal, and put my bachelors degree to good use.

But as we speak, I'm just taking things on a day to day basis. I know the future is coming but I can't think too far ahead. I'm just going to focus on my schooling and winning my NFL Pick ‘Em league. Maybe lose a bit of weight. And with any hope, get this blog into the green, if you know what I mean?

Anyways, those are my goals, dreams, and desires, in a bigger than life nutshell. If I'm lucky, maybe I can be a 'jack of all trades' just like one of my favourite people on the planet, Joe Rogan. Maybe I can become the 'hockey guy'? Who knows? All I know what ever I do in life, I sure as hell ain't going to half ass it!

Hope you enjoyed the read! Just remember children, don't give up on your dreams! Life is too short to last long. Live life to the fullest! The sky is your limit. Thanks for reading. Love you peeps! :)