(AUDIBLE-sigh) "'SHIT' happens"

... (I'm speaking METAPHORICALLY, of course!)


-- As OPTIMISTIC as I AM, I'm ALSO a "PROBABILITY & STATISTICS"-OBSESSED REALIST.  ... I UNDERSTAND--after FIRST-RAPIDLY QUANTIFYING my "odds of SUCCESS"--my FUTURE-happiness. 

... "SUCCESS" is NOT measured by 
"how OFTEN or SELDOM one FAILS".
But, 'TIS determined by 
HOW one REACTS to SAID "FAILURES".

... Personally, Altan* has had NUMEROUS "setbacks" ... & RESULTING-"recoveries":
--> In 7th grade, I was declared (ACADEMICALLY) "NOT-Gifted".  
... So, in 8th grade, my MIDDLE school set up a (PRIVATE) bus-transportation--for JUST-/ONLY-me--to attend "HONORS-Geometry"**--at a LOCAL HIGH school.
--> In 11th grade, I SUFFERED a CATASTROPHIC BROKEN RIGHT-ulna.  During the resulting "NECESSARY-surgery", my surgeon SEVERED my ULNAR-nerve, DIS-allowing me to EVER FULLY RE-open my RIGHT-hand.  
... IRONICALLY, my ensuing WRESTLING-season was--by FAR--the BEST-year of my "HIGH SCHOOL"-career!
--> UN-fortunately, I did NOT gain-ADMISSION to ANY Florida-colleges ... which WOULD've been FREE.
... CONVERSELY, I did NOT APPLY to ANY colleges IN Florida, ... 'cuz THAT would-be "the EASY-way OUT"***.  I applied-to only-ONE university--a DISTINGUISHED "Ivy League"-school at-THAT****.  
--> DURING my 'Shogun'-test. I--PAINFULLY--DIS-located my RIGHT-shoulder.
... Nonetheless, I "SUCKED-it-UP" & COMPLETED the 3+-HOUR "test".  As a RESULT, I--UN-expectedly--EARNED 'DOS cinturones negros'!
... "In the PRIME of my (SHORT-)life", I SUFFERED a "Traumatic BRAIN-Injury" from a CATASTROPHIC-"car accident".
... ALAS, I "PUSH-myself" ... 86,400 seconds per DAY to become one of the VERY-FEW "T.B.I.-conquerors/-defeaters" in HISTORY!


-- As of ~4:30 pm, I WAS VERY-PERTURBED that my "SPEECH-Therapist" had NOT (YET) arrived for her 2:00 pm APPOINTMENT.  WORSE, she did-NOT CALL with any-EXPLANATION!  

... 'Tis OKAY!  I had FORGOTTEN the recent-CHANGE in my Caregiver-schedule, so ... there SHOULD've been NO-worry/-alarm.
(... WHEW!)    

... I APOLOGIZED to my "SPEECH-Therapist" for "being 'CURT'".


-- CONVERSELY, I had an ... ESPECIALLY-ENCOURAGING workout at 'NeuroFit 360'!
I --CAUTIOUSLY--"took the HELPFUL-/INSIGHTFUL- ADVICE" of my LEG-trainer & "HOVERED" my RIGHT-hand OVER my walker-HANDLE, AS I LIFTED & extended-OUT ONLY my RIGHT-leg ... 22 DIFFERENT-times in ONLY ~TWO minutes!
 





KEY  
* = A.J. likes to REFER-to HIMSELF in "THIRD-person".  ... "A.J." is NOT-quite FORMAL-enough for such an INFAMOUS-feat, ... so HE'll go by "Altan".


** = I "ACED" "HONORS-'HIGH SCHOOL'-Geometry" class ... ALL-YEAR ... as an EIGHTH-grader.

*** = As an ELITE-student (VALEDICTORIAN) of/at an ELITE-"high school" (St. Thomas Aquinas), I was/AM pretty DAMN-CONFIDENT!

**** = I ONLY applied-to the University of Pennsylvania (Quakers)--MAJORING in--by NO-means "simple"--"Biomedical Engineering".  



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