When I was younger, I wanted to go snowboarding. I wanted to head north. I told my parents this and they decided to make it a family trip. We got in the car and drove up north about two hours and got to the ski resort. I rented a snowboard and went snowboarding. My family decided to hang out in the resort area. I went snowboarding and during one of the earlier runs I remembered that I had fallen and hit my head. The whole trip seemed fragmented to me in my memory. I don't really remember too many details of this trip. The only weird thing I remembered was that I was with my family in a store in the resort area. It seemed like it was a gift shop. I don't remember if I was in the store before or after snowboarding and hitting my head. I was in a magazine section and must have been looking for a snowboarding magazine. The shelves for the magazines seemed like they were metallic and powder coated. There was a strange book that immediately stood out to me, Miracles by Stuart Wilde. Three things about it caught my attention: the form factor, the placement of the book, and the sparkly foil on the cover. The book was tiny, about half the size of a standard smartphone and it sat out in the open on the shelf all by itself and it had sparkly lettering and bubbles on the front cover. I don't remember buying the book. I don't remember touching it or even picking it up. My memory stores took me to the point where I saw the book on a bookshelf or magazine shelf and that was all. I saw the book and had no further memory of it afterwards. I remember waking up a few times in the night with blankets on me and I was on the hotel room floor. The next morning I was packing up clothing and belongings into my duffel bag. I remember checking one of the side pockets and finding this book in it. I put it back and zipped up the pocket and loaded the bag into the car. We then had breakfast at a restaurant. Even to this day, the events that happened to me didn't seem like it was a part of my memory, like it wasn't a memory of my actual experiences. It felt more like I was listening to a story told to me and I envisioned the story that was told to me and that was what was in my memory. Yet, I have this book. After awhile, I finally read the book. I was younger and it took me longer to read it than it should have. I won't reveal too much about the book, but the main message was anyone can create miracles in their own life. They can alter life to become exactly as they wanted it to be. It required two things: 1) You must spell out exactly what you want in life and you must be specific and describe it carefully so that you have a clear vision of what it was that you wanted. 2) You must pay for it by believing it will come to pass and altering your thought patterns and emotions so that they would fit with the goal or miracle. This book improved my life because it changed the trajectory of my life. The main thing this book did for me when I accepted its principles was that it changed my attitude and outlook on life. Life wasn't to be a torment, but full of wonder and abundance. It instilled in me a sense that I could actually take control of my life and make events better. Whenever I reached low points in my life or it seemed like my life was heading downward and in the wrong direction, I would pick up this book and read it. I had read this book many times already and the cover was starting to come apart. I used this book to restructure my mind and its thinking patterns and to try to be more positive. As a side effect, I would feel a little stronger and more resilient to the events and circumstances around me. I felt that this book was a part of me and my identity and would be on my "must-read" and "re-read" books list.

There was an area of land in the city that used to protrude out into a peninsula. Then there was a big storm that hit the area and eroded the connecting piece of land and the outer part of the peninsula was separated by water and became an island. The only way to get to the island was by ferry or by boat taxi. Going by ferry, you could travel on foot or take a bicycle along with you to the island. I loved going to the island. I especially loved going in the summer with my girlfriend. We had brought along our kick scooters. At the time, these were very popular. You would sometimes see people riding in their business attire going to work on one of these things in the city. It may have been a fad, but it was incredibly fun to ride one of these. Recently, more and more people are riding electric scooters and kick scooters have seen a slight resurgence. This scooter has inline skates type wheels made of a hard polyurethane. They would have provided a more comfy ride if they were pneumatic and made of rubber, but probably designed with polyurethane wheels to be cost-effective and durable. You would more commonly see pneumatic tires on the modern day electric scooters. The ones we had at the time were foot powered, but were light, inexpensive, and easy to transport. We had got to the ferry and folded up the scooters and sat on the main level and looked out the window with the lake breeze blowing through. The sky was clear and blue and the lake breeze was refreshing and cooling. We chatted and had a nice ferry ride to the island. We got out onto the island and just scooted around the asphalt path along the park. There were cyclists and inline skaters and just a lot of people having fun and enjoying the island with their friends and families. It was sunny and we loved the sun while were riding. We had on our sunglasses to protect our eyes from the UV radiation and from the sun as we were scooting along. They weren't anything expensive or fancy, just the type you could find at a gas station or the lower end ones that you department stores. It was a fun and stressfree and carefree experience and it felt a wee bit like flying every now and then as we scooted along. It was hot, but there was a nice breeze from the lake. We got to explore the island and it was easier and more fun scooting than just walking. We ended up finding a wooden structure next to the boardwalk that looked like a wall with an organic and wavy cut along the top. There were some rounds parts in the wall itself with bent and curved branches and curved wood pieces that acted like windows for people to look out through to see the lake. It kinda looked like something out of a fairytale. By this time, it was starting to get late. We went to another part of the island where there were shops and we picked up a funnel cake. I had not actually had a funnel cake before this point, but my girlfriend thought I would like it. My friends would always be telling me to try funnel cakes since grade school. For those of you who have not had a funnel cake, it is similar to a churro and somewhat like a donut. It is basically batter that gets deep fried and topped with powdered sugar/confectioner's sugar. The one we bought had powdered sugar and whipped cream and strawberries on it. It was delicious and probably one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten. For the longest time, even from that point on, I had always used cheap sunglasses. I would be out doing various higher speed or lower speed activities and use a fairly inexpensive pair of sunglasses. For the most part, they worked. I would find myself dropping the sunglasses, crushing them, damaging them in some way, or losing them. The quality was okay, but the ones I bought were not polarized. It is better to get polarized sunglasses because not only do they block out the sunlight on really sunny days, they reduce glare from when the sun hits shiny objects that get reflected at your eyes. I was able to expand my budget a bit and ended up buying a high-quality pair of sunglasses from Maui Jim. I was looking at some other brands, but I felt that Maui Jim had the highest quality per dollar even if the price tag was higher than what I was used to. I narrowed down my search to a bunch of models and picked out Stone Crushers. This particular model was made in Japan. I had actually gone to a brick-and-mortar location and was not able to find a pair to try on. You should always try on sunglasses in person to see how they fit and how comfortable they are because you may need to wear them for a long time and may need them for high-speed or rugged outdoor activities depending on your lifestyle. For me, I focussed on the fit and grip over my ears at my temple and over my nose. I needed something that was comfortable, lightweight, and would stay on my face and to my luck, the Stone Crushers fit the bill. I love my Stone Crushers and they really improved my life whenever I am doing activities outside. I have a cheaper pair of sunglasses and the optics seem a bit blurry due to the lens or the coating. The Stone Crushers have excellent and crisp optics and block out the sun and help reduce glare. They are so much better than the cheaper pair. I found that I needed to wear sunglasses because the sun can be quiet strong, but was never fully comfortable wearing the cheaper sunglasses as they didn't fit very well and the optics were low quality and the sunglasses seemed to make everything seem a little off and a bit disorienting. All of that was solved when I switched to Maui Jim's. They have improved my life and I feel they are a gamechanger and are worth spending the extra on. The only catch is that I have to be extra careful not to damage them and I have to mindful of where I put them in case I lose them or leave them behind somewhere. Luckily this hasn't happened. #gamechanger