“Life’s a gamble” a new album by Rich the Kid the billboard on Sunset Blvd read. For some reason, this stood out to me amongst the onslaught of posters plastered up and down the street. I’ve always thought that was a funny phrase, “Life’s a gamble”. What does that mean? When I think about it I honestly have no idea. I think I get the gist of the idea that the phrase represents. There is a cynical side of me that loves the line of thinking, but I honestly think it's stupid. 

To leave your life up to the roll of a dice is such a simple and lazy way of thinking. It's a clever way of throwing your hands up in the air after your pass has been intercepted. This poster stood out because I’ve been thinking about this frame of mind a lot recently. There’s a difference between being open to how things can change for the better and the risk involved in making that happen. Anyone can sit in the passenger seat of their life and watch how someone else drives them to the finish line but how many can drive the whip? A certain level of openness is involved in getting in the car but openness and risk aren’t the same. 

In my life, I’ve known numerous people who would say that they are down to take a risk to change their life for the better but when asked how I doubt they’d be able to tie two sentences together about their master plan. These people however are often open to things and at times that openness has changed their lives.  To take a real risk requires an actual plan and call to action. Saying yes to the proposition of an opportunity requires no real plan. To be a risk taker you don’t have to be the smartest person in the room. You just need to have an idea, create, and plan. For most people that's the hard part, even when you know what you should do to get to where you want to go. That isn’t as easy as leaving it up to chance. At times I’ve felt like this. Last week I talked about wanting someone to find me behind the juice bar and drag me to stardom. There is no risk in being dragged. 

Showing up to work and waiting for something to happen does not involve any risk and neither does being open to opportunities. All of these things are an ideology rooted in something vague and convoluted. What does take risk is to go out of your way to make the things you want in life happen. If I want to be a star I need to put myself out there and find out how to go on audition, etc. There's a safety to ignoring this and leaving it up to chance. In my opinion thats no way to live your life but what do I know?  Remember “Life’s a gamble”.

• Joker Lips by MJ Lenderman: I’m loving this song right now. I know it sounds great live. 
• County Highway: I bought a copy of this yesterday because I love that it has a classified section. 
• Not Just Yet by Enumclaw: If you haven’t seen it yet please go watch my bands new music video

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P.S. This is my only access to people on a grander scale and I would love to get more eyes one the site. So I am asking you to please tell one friend if you enjoy what I’ve been doing here or with my zine. Word of mouth goes a long way and I would greatly appreciate it.