I finished reading a book called Pour Your Heart Into It by Howard Schultz and Dori Jones Yang a couple of weeks ago. Howard Schultz is the CEO of Starbucks, in case you didn't know. The part that stuck with me the best was where he was looking for investment capital to start a coffee shop called Il Giornale he talked to 242 people, and 217 of them said no. Il Giornale was essentially the Starbucks we know today, but he had to start that company since Starbucks didn't want to sell drinks in the stores, they only wanted to sell beans. Eventually, the creators of Starbucks moved on to other things, and they sold the company to him.

Anyway, the point was, how do you continue to pursue something you believe in when so many people say no to helping you? I guess you have to develop a really thick skin. The only thing I can relate it to is applying for 15 or 16 jobs before one hires you. You get really good at job interviews in that situation. I could write a book on the subject called "Don't Say Fuck If You Want To Work There." I mean, the interviewer might have a 30% usage rate of the word fuck, but he or she won't tolerate that from you during an interview. The usage rate meaning that 30% of all words spoken or written are either extensions or derivatives of fuck. This is not the same as the Weather Channel forecasting a 30% chance of fuck. This is saying that 30% of your day will be fuck. There is a 100% chance that 30% of your day will fuck or be fucked.

I was going somewhere with this at the beginning of the last paragraph, but it seems I got sidetracked. I realize I had no intention of answering the last question of how do you keep from giving up. I guess it depends on how fired up you are about it, and if you have someone to turn to for encouragement. I know most people will say "You can never depend on anyone but yourself," or some such drivel but you honestly can't get through life with any accomplishments under your belt without some help.

On another note, if you aren't reading Achewood, now is an excellent time to start. The current story arc starts at the strip before this one. Ray will beat the asses of 3000 men.