Thursday, May 28, 2009

Bleh

After reading over a couple of my posts on this blog, I realized that a part of me dislikes the way that I write on this blog. The structure sucks, grammar isn’t always on point, and there are some random ideas that are just floating around.

I’ll continue to write this way, however, if only to preserve the feeling and emotion that I was feeling when I wrote each particular post. I type up these posts in their most simple and raw form. This results in a sloppy writing style and I apologize for it. Still, I’ll continue to write this way because it’s the way that I feel is best for the way I intend this blog to come out: raw ideas from your average joe.

War

I don’t believe there can ever be peace on earth. People who wish for peace on earth are being all too unrealistic. War has been a staple of human life as long as humans have been on earth. Killing is the most effective way of ensuring your will upon things. If you want things one way and someone stands in your way, the simplest way to solve to problem is not to reason with your opponent, but to kill them.

Obviously, it’s not always that simple, but many wars have been fought over simple arguments. One side wanted it one way, the other side wanted it another way. The side that wins is the side that is more effective at war, a practice that supports killing. To sum things up, the best way to get things to go your way is to be better at killing and war than your opponent.

To further my point, I’d like to pull a quote from one of my favorite books, “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card.

“The Power to cause pain is the only power that matters, the power to kill and destroy, because if you can’t kill then you are always subject to those who can, and nothing and no one will ever save you.”

It all seems so unfair to me, that a very important matter can be decided by something that’s totally irrelevant to the matter at hand. It’s exponentially unfair when killing and war is what decides a very important matter; which side of a matter wins should be decided by what’s right, not by which side has bigger or better guns.
This is one reason I believe America is both beautiful and ugly. We are so safe and secure from foreign enemies that many Americans can focus on many seemingly trivial things, like philosophy, Hollywood, and Myspace. Hell, if we’re being honest, it’s beautiful that I can even have these thoughts and support this blog without having to worry about a bomb being dropped on my dorm, an airstrike on my hometown, my dog stepping on a land mine.

It’s also beautiful that we can be so safe and secure that we can argue about whether or not war is necessary. However, those who believe that peace on earth is possible are subject to those who are willing to go to great lengths to get things their way.

Let’s imagine for a second that there is peace on earth. No human being has to be worry about war erupting and having an rpg shot through their bedroom window. This allows for a great standard of living. Many people are happy.

Naturally, however, there are still many arguments; some trivial, others more important. There would be far too many arguments going on, far too many people arguing for it to not be the case that not one person in the world was willing to go to great lengths, even murder, to get their way. You can’t tell me that everyone on earth is kind-hearted and would preserve the peace. Eventually, enough arguments break out, the wrong person gets angered, and war breaks out. No more peace on earth.

You may say to yourself, “If I were to murder ____ because he opposed my will, I would be convicted of murder,” and you would be right. However, by murdering ____, you also ensured that ____’s will would not follow through. Your will would win over ____’s.

On a more universal scale, if one nation wants things one way, and another nation wants things another way, they either figure out a way to meet in the middle or they go to war. This has been true for as long as humans have roamed the earth.

This all seems so unfair to me, that matters can be decided over something totally irrelevant to the issue. When it’s fact the decided factor in a matter is who is better at killing, to the point that all of their opponents are dead or has signed a peace treaty, it goes up and above the unfairness scale to me.

I truly wish this all wasn’t true. No matter how much I wish it wasn’t true, it has been and will be a truth of the world until a much more sensible alternative comes around, an alternative that in all likelihood, will never come.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Get Familiar

ribrainfood.blogspot.com
some really good stuff from one of my good friends.

7hedejavu.blogspot.com
more really good stuff from another really good friend and her boyfriend. really good blog that makes me jealous that i haven't tapped into my artistic side very much.

forumblueandgold.com
lakersssssssssssssssssssssss

octobersveryown.blogspot.com
drizzyyyyyyyy. all things drake, along with some crazy artistic stuff.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Just a Little Bit

I love listening to “A Little Bit” by Lykke Li, because it is such a true and honest song that reflects a lot about how I feel about love.

A part of me is terrified of commitment. Sticking with one person for an extended period of time is, at best, a terrifying thought. Not that I would go around hooking up with other single people with no strings attached, but I just feel so secure with my life as a single bachelor, that I’m afraid that commitment would ruin that.

I have problems pulling the trigger and telling others that I like them, let alone love them. Lemme put a disclaimer here: I have no clue what love is. I know what love means to me, and I’ve felt it for many people. It’s come in many shapes and forms and degrees, but very rarely has it come in a romantic sense. I know I’ve felt love before, but probably not the type of love that marriages and lifelong commitments are built on.

Another reason I love “A Little Bit” is because of the way it describes the incredible feeling of admitting your true feelings for someone. It’s such a one-of-a-kind experience, an experience that puts one’s character to the test. I’ve found that with many of the girls that I’ve had a crush on, I’ve been to scared to admit to myself that I liked them, when in reality, when I shut my eyes, they were all that came to mind.

I’m confident enough in my competence and philosophy on life that I trust that my life will turn out fine, no matter what circumstances I’m put in. However, I hope and pray that somehow, through all of my triumphs and successes, my failures and low points, that I will find someone that I’ll be able to share those triumphs and failures with; someone to whom I could admit that I truly love, if only a little bit.

Drama

The other day, I was hanging out with a friend, let’s call him Jimmy, at his dorm. We were chillin, listening to music, and talking about how stupid our quiz was from earlier in the day. His roommate Don walked in, and started complaining about his day. Don went on and on about how stupid things are and how life isn’t fair, and ended everything with “Fuck my life.” I found it kind of sad, and couldn’t help but feel compassion for the dude. He just seemed really sad about a lot of things in his life.

After his roommate left, Jimmy complained to me about how annoying it is that his roommate walks in, day after day, complaining about a lot of the same stuff. He said that Don would walk in everyday and tell him how girls are stupid, how professors are stupid, how his family is stupid, and how almost everything is stupid.

The conversation turned into how it’s funny how Jimmy and I go through our lives with relatively no drama, while Don was going around everyday, complaining about how terrible his life is.

I brought up the point that there’s no way that it’s simply coincidence that Jimmy and I have relatively no drama in our lives, while Don seemed to have as much drama packed into one day of his life as Jimmy and I will have this entire year combined. Surely, there has to be something in the way that Don goes about his life that brings all that drama onto himself.

Obviously, there is the chance that it might have just been a particularly bad day for Don, and that by coincidence, all this drama seemed to fall into his lap. But if he seems to have all this drama throughout the entire year, then the chance for coincidence becomes smaller and smaller.

I’m no psychologist, but I think that a little bit of Don enjoys the drama. Maybe he enjoys the attention he gets from being able to complain about his day to others. Maybe he enjoys the bickering with others. Maybe he likes to be in the spotlight. Whatever it is, I found it hard to believe Don when he said, “Gah, I hate being in drama.”

Life has enough drama without bringing more drama onto yourself. So if you ever find yourself becoming something like Jimmy’s roommate, complaining day after day about how your life sucks, maybe you should consider looking deep inside yourself and seeing if you can do anything about it.

Do I believe you?

Many people I’ve come across in my lifetime are very devoted to their respective families. They babysit, do a lot of chores around the house, and most importantly, will defend their family no matter what. This includes, but is not limited to, defending their kin even when it’s clear that their kin is in the wrong.

I respect the fact that one is very devoted to one’s family. After all, some would say that when it comes down to it, all one has in life is family and friends. I personally would do anything for my friends or family, but I try to draw the line when I see that there’s a possibility that my friend/family member could be in the wrong. I try to look at both sides of the situation before weighing my decision on the matter.

That being said, I don’t know if I agree with people that defend their friends and family despite the chance that they might be on the side that was wrong. A few friends that I hold dear to my heart have told me things along the lines of “Of course I’m going to side with (close friend’s name), we’re like bff’s.” I disagree with this approach, because I value justice, order, and doing the right thing over defending my friends and family. Some might call it being cold-hearted, and maybe it is, but I want everything to go the right way in my mind, and if my family or friend made a mistake, then I believe they should be punished just as equally as anyone else. I feel that I shouldn’t support them if they are obviously in the wrong.

I feel like my friends and family are individuals that are only human. Being human, they make mistakes, and should be punished accordingly. Let’s assume that my sister Jamie was taken into custody under suspicion of murder. Naturally, I come to visit her. I ask her if she did it. Let’s say she said “Yes, I did it and I’m sorry.” I would tell her that I’m sorry to hear that she murdered someone, but I am glad to hear that she feels remorse for it. I would have no problem with her being taken away and put in prison for however many years she is sentenced to serving under the laws we live by. Okay, maybe I would have a little bit of a problem(lolll), but ultimately, I would expect her to serve her time.

If she told me that she hadn’t done it and that it was preposterous that I would even question that she could have committed murder, things would be a little different. Knowing that she was in a very tough situation(with all the terrible prison time she would be facing), I would be aware that she has reason to lie to anyone, even me, about whether or not she had actually committed the murder. I would tell her that she has to realize that I can’t simply believe her side of the story without seeing the evidence.

This goes back to me being cold-hearted. I guess I kind of am, but I feel that justice should be served, no matter who is getting punished. For although I would wish for my sister to not have to go to prison, I also realize that the person she murdered also has a family that deserves justice. Whether or not prison time is a worthy punishment is another question altogether, but nonetheless, my sister would deserve the punishment given to her.

Come to think of it, the whole legal system is kind of questionable at times(lol), but that’s besides the point in this blog. The point of the matter is, I don’t know if “family comes first” is always true.

Anyways, that situation is highly situational and in all likelihood will never happen(well, let’s keep our fingers crossed lol.). So let’s bring it back to more realistic terms. Let’s say my friend Edmond was caught up in some stupid drama(again, highly unlikely, I don’t know if he’s ever been caught up in any real drama). Let’s say he called a girl, let’s name her Moesha, a slut, or some other drama-causing statement like that. Moesha’s friend Cristina decides to jump in and try to resolve things by asking Edmond’s friend Justin about it. Cristina asks Justin what happened.

Without knowing any of the facts, Justin passionately defends Edmond. While defending Edmond, Justin is forced to change some of the facts of the story to accommodate his defense of Edmond. This is where a lot of drama snowballs, because facts are changed, and the gossip that spreads changes form. This just snowballs into a much bigger problem then what would have happened had one person simply been objective to the matter and realized that there’s a possibility that their friend/family might be wrong.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Where I'm At

I'm at a crossroads. I choose to live my life very abstractly, sitting back and watching the world. I listen to spoken word and poetry. I like to think. I like to daydream. I like to analyze things.
However, I feel like I'm taking too much time sitting back and analyzing instead of actually getting out there and living life. It's cool to lay down in the grass and analyze different aspects of my life, as well as other people' s lives. But after a while, I feel like I need to go out and do some living myself.

Mormons and Soulja Boy

I'm a big fan of Drake. Drizzy Drake Rogers, Aubrey Graham, Wheel Chair Jimmy, that dude. I love all aspects of his music. I love that he doesn't claim to be the hardest rapper out there. I love that he talks about relationships with women. I love that he doesn't call women "bitches and hoes" and all that. I love that he doesn't talk about guns and the streets and the gutter and the trap and all that stuff. So you can imagine my dismay when a couple of people that I've talked to have told me that "Drake sucks, fuck drake, blah blah blah." It's only a few people that I've spoken to that have hated on my favorite artist, so I'm not trippin too much over it. But I just find it so hard to hate on a dude who doesn't claim to be hard, who does a remix to a santogold song, who can do a rap song like "Ransom", and then switch it up completely and do an R&B song like "Sooner Than Later." All this talk about how Drake sucks got me to thinking about art and religion and a lot of other random stuff that imma try to touch on in this note. Btw, i love writing notes like these. I always seem to get a lot of ideas out this way. haha.

When someone tells me that Drake sucks, I always have to kick it into "try to be as objective in the matter as you can" mode. I try to let go of all the love I have for his music and everything else he does, in order to better listen to what is being told to me. From the few skeptics I've talked to, the main arguments I've heard are that
1. Drake claims to be hard, when he's from Canada and was on Degrassi.
2. He's just another Lil Wayne, with a bunch of metaphors.
3. He's a liar, he doesn't have thousands of dollars to spend on getting "po'd up."

I don't think that Drake claims to be very hard. He seems to take himself pretty lightly, being humble and wanting to avoid confrontation. In a recent interview of his, he was asked how soon he expects to get dissed by some hater. His reply was something along the lines of "I don't wanna be in any beef, I just hope all of us up-and-coming artists just mesh together." He even said that a lot of people are trying to create something between him and Kid Cudi, but he said something about how he respects Kid Cudi, listens to his music, and he hopes they can all just co-exist. I don't see how you can hate on someone who's so humble about his competition. It's like hating on Derrick Rose, even though Derrick Rose seems to be the most humble dude on the face of the planet lol. You would have to have some kind of internal issue to want to create a problem with someone who is so humble.

I don't even know where Drake claims to be that hard. He knows he's from Canada and he knows he was on Degrassi, and it doesn't seem to bother him that much.

I don't even feel like turning this into a debate about Drake. What I really feel like talkin about is music and religion and tolerance. Somehow, hearing someone hate on Drake got me to thinking about those three things. I dunno how, but yeah. haha. Well here goes.

The few people that I've heard hate on Drake all seem to be under the same mold. They listen to Murs, MF doom, Jedi Mind Tricks, Andre 3000, and those types of artists. And I think that they listen to artists like Drake, and compare him to their favorite artists, when they're two completely different artists. They listen to Drake or T.I. or (insert random artist here), and expect to hear really intellectual lyrics. This is where a couple problems arise.

If you're trying to listen to an artist like Keak Da Sneak or Soulja Boy and you're going to compare their lyrical ability to Andre 3000 or Murs or something, then you're just not being realistic. They make completely different music.

Which leads to the question, why the need to compare? Our society loves to compare people who do the same thing. We do it in sports when we compare Kobe and Lebron to MJ. It's done in R&B when Chris Brown and Ne-yo are compared. It’s done in rock, when Pearl Jam and Nirvana are compared. It’s done in Hollywood, with Samuel L. Jackson and Morgan Freeman. We compare any chance we get. But I don't understand why we feel the need to compare two different monsters. Why not just kick back and enjoy what they do?

One characteristic that is shared among listeners of the Mos Def's and the Nujabes of the worlds is a very strong passion for the music that they listen to. If you ask them to, they can go on and on for hours about why the music they listen to is the only good music out there, and they can point out millions of reasons why the music you listen to is bad. That same passion for what they listen to reminds me of a passion I see in another aspect of people lives: religion.

I really respect very religious people for finding something that makes their lives have meaning. Religion brings a lot of happiness to people in many different ways. Alternately, there are millions of ways to disprove pretty much every religion ever created. So when I see that someone is holding steadfast to their religion regardless of all the facts against their religion, I can't help but be impressed. There are also millions of ways to prove that certain religions aren't entirely false, but to touch on that topic would take days.

Let’s go back to how music can be tied to religion. In both religion and music, one chooses what to follow. In the case of religion, one chooses what to believe in morally, what to believe as far as our purpose here on earth, and creation myths and other stuff like that. In the case of music, one chooses what they’ll be listening to on that drive to work, or when walking to their next class, or what they’ll dance to at the next party. In both cases, one has to choose what works for them. I like to hope that people make their choice regardless of what others think. Obviously, that’s very unrealistic, but I can dream, right? Lol.

I’m all for being passionate about the music you listen to. But I find it distasteful when one pushes it on others while telling others why the music they choose to listen to is bad. But if someone listens to Soulja Boy and that’s what gets them through the day, then why must you take that away from them, just because you have a different taste in music? If you’re following the comparison between music and religion, you might have already made a connection here. That same passion that most people have for their music is comparable to the passion that Jehovah’s Witnesses have for their religion. And the same way that Jehovah’s witnesses push and push their religion on others while going on and on about why other religions are wrong, listeners of Nujabes and Murs seem to push their music on others while telling others why the music they listen to is bad. I like to call this disdain of other’s music “musical intolerance.”

A good example of the way I feel that people should feel about other’s preferences and beliefs was exemplified in an episode of South park.

Some new kid moved into South Park from Utah. His family happened to be Mormon, and the entire episode was focused on showing why the Mormon religion is based on a very questionable foundation(“dumb, dumb dumb, dumb, dumb!”) The Mormon kid got shitted on the entire episode, being presented with a lot of very questionable aspects of his religion. At the end of the episode, however, he came back at his religion’s critics, saying something along the lines of “Yeah, there are a lot of things that seem to be really stupid about my religion, but my family has a very strong nucleus, I get along with most people, and it gets me through the day easier. So fuck you Kyle, fuck you Stan, fuck you Cartman, and fuck you Kenny.” This is why I love South Park; it’s hilarious and it talks a lot about very relevant societal topics, without being too one sided or coming across as being a know-it-all show. But let’s get back to the Jehovah’s Witnesses reference.

When Jehovah’s Witnesses bother me, I always get the same feeling: “Why can’t you just be tolerant of whatever I choose to believe?” I could understand trying to spread awareness for what you believe in, but do you have to be so damn pushy about your religion? I honestly could care less what the fuck you believe in, as long as it gets you through your day easier. Can’t you give me the same respect?

And once again, like Jehovah’s witnesses, a lot of listeners of very intellectual rap always seem to point out flaws in other types of music while pushing and pushing their music on others. I don’t understand why we can’t all just be tolerant of what we choose to listen to. I remember watching “Yes Man,” a movie with Jim Carrey. I’m sure you know what movie I’m talking about. If not, it’s a comedy where Jim Carrey says “yes” to every opportunity posed to him. But back to the point; in the movie, Jim Carrey encounters a love interest, some random beezy who’s in a band that makes particularly random music. The music doesn’t seem to flow very well together, and seems to go against everything taught in a music theory class. The band played very small gigs, and had the same 5 or 6 followers each show. However, everyone involved in the show, from the band to the groupies, was very passionate and very into the music. I hope that most people, including the passionate followers of intellectual rap, would choose to ignore the fact that these people choose to listen to really random sounding music, tolerating the fact that these people listen to what they want to, regardless of what others think. However, many listeners of intellectual rap don’t translate that same tolerance into tolerance for other types of music.

I don’t mean to bash listeners of intellectual rap. Upon a quick re-reading of this note, it seems like I hate them with a passion when I really don’t. Contrarily, their music is one of the most unique out there. It seems bulletproof, and very easy to defend. It’s hard to make a case for why that kind of music “sucks.” Although I personally haven’t listened to too much of that kind of music, the few songs that I have heard are very enlightening and I can definitely see the appeal in it.

This note is way too fuckin long haha. I have a lot more I want to talk about, but I’ll just end this note with a few questions.

Why the need to compare artists?
Why the need to define who’s “the best?”
How do you define success in music? Is it by amount of records sold? Number of ringtones sold? Number of people dancing to your music? Number of people reciting your lyrics on the way to the corner store?
Why be so selfish about your music? If you find music that you find to be good, why not share it with the world?
Why is there such importance placed on being the “first one up” on something?

Arguing

I love to argue.



I don't like the things that are associated with arguing, like getting heated, yelling, screaming, bitching and all that good stuff. To me, that stuff is the opposite of what arguing is about.



However, I do love the task of taking what I know, comparing it with another person, and combining what we both know to learn something together. It's fucking beautiful if you think about it. I see way too many instances of people arguing in ways that don't aim at getting to the truth and it makes me sad. Again, I believe that arguments, when done right, are beautiful. But when they're done wrong, they turn uglier than a motherfucker.



The purpose of an argument is to get to the deepest truth of a matter. I see way too many people that, when arguing, will push and push and push their position, in hopes of winning the argument, not because their position is really the deepest truth. They care more about winning the argument/proving the other person wrong then finding out what is real. Whether or not this is because they care more about winning or proving the other person wrong, I don't care, but I see this happen for both of those reasons, and it's stupid and selfish IMO. I see this way too often and it pisses me off. I'd go as far as to say that this way of arguing impedes progress and encourages ignorance.



I hate it when people resort to getting heated, yelling, screaming, bitching and all that good stuff when they argue. I know it's a very effective method for winning an argument, but it does nothing when it comes to getting to the deepest truth of a matter. The strength of an argument should be in the merit of the argument, not in who can yell louder.



I guess I could group interrupting someone during their argument with that last paragraph. haha. that shit pisses me off too. When I argue, I try to stay as calm as possible, listening to the other person's argument, premise by premise, all the way to their conclusion. In my eyes, when someone interrupts someone they are arguing with, it just makes the interrupter look bad because they can't even hear out the other person's argument. They have to resort to interruption because their argument just isn't strong enough to stand alone. They need to supplement their weak argument by interrupting their opponent's train of thought. If your argument was really that strong, you wouldn't have to resort to stupid shit like yelling and interrupting. The sign of a great arguer is the ability to listen calmly and patiently to an
opponent's argument, without interruption, and then calmly arguing why their opponent is wrong and then presenting his/her own argument.



Imagine this: you're watching two people argue. One is yelling and screaming their argument, face redder than a dog's dick. The other is sitting there calmly and actually listening to their opponent's argument. They patiently wait their turn and then present their argument, just to be interrupted mid-sentence by their opponent. Who looks bad in this situation?



The other day, I was in an argument that turned sour. I saw two people, I'll call them Carl and Junior, arguing passionately over a matter that I considered trivial. They were arguing about whether or not every leader in the Roman Empire was called Caesar. They started yelling, so
I decided to speak my mind, telling the two how they were wasting their time getting heated over a stupid argument when there are much bigger and more interesting things they could argue about. I brought up misogyny, something I had learned about in class that day. Carl and
Junior decided to drop their argument and attack me, saying that history was very important and that I was being stupid trying to change the argument, or something like that.



This is where something went wrong. Carl and Junior thought I was arguing that history isn't important. At this point, a third party, who I'll call Jack, jumped in and contributed to the argument that I was stupid for saying that history was worthless. Together, they proceeded
to lecture me about the importance of history and that I was being ignorant and something something something.



Now, that was not even close to what I was trying to point out. If I were to say that history isn't important, I deserved to be stoned to death point blank period. History is very, very important. I was simply saying that arguing over whether or not rulers were given the title of "Caesar" is almost trivial when you consider other matters in history that they could argue over instead. They could take that passion that they had over the "Caesar" title and use it to argue over what really led to the fall of the Roman Empire and whatnot. I'm not a big history buff, nor am I very well read on history, but I think that it would be a lot more fun and a lot more interesting to debate about.



But they kept telling me that I was wrong, and I kept arguing that I wasn't. The difference is that they were yelling, screaming, and interrupting while I was sitting there, patiently listening to their arguments. Eventually, Carl told me to "Just drop it. You're outnumbered."



I think I kind of digressed with that example. lol. But the point I wanted to bring up is that losing an argument should be based on the strength, or lack thereof, of your argument, not on whether or not you are outnumbered. I believe that when you are alone in your argument, that is when you should push harder. Not harder in the sense of yelling, screaming, arguing, interrupting, bitching and all that good stuff, but in the sense of gathering some courage and stating why your
argument is right, no matter how much you are outnumbered. Imagine if everyone gave up arguing when they were outnumbered. I can't think of any examples off the top of my head right now, but I'm sure you can think of an example of someone who was outnumbered but stayed
persistent and succeeded in their endeavors.



I also hate it when people say that someone needs to "just drop it." This just screams out that they are running out of arguments to make and it shows weakness IMO. I never like to "just drop it," because it means that no conclusion was made and the only thing resulting from these types of arguments is hatred and resentment. I actually love it when someone brings up an argument I had with them a while ago, and tells me what they thought I was wrong about. I have no problem admitting that I'm wrong. I'm only human and I love to admit my mistakes. I love to show that I'm not perfect, and I love surrounding myself with people that know that they're not perfect either. This leads me to another point.



I love it when people, when presenting or joining an argument, will tell everyone involved in the argument straight up what they do and do not know about the argument. It shows humility and that they don't care about whether or not they are right, but that they want to expand their
knowledge and find out the truth of the matter. That humility lightens up the mood and starts the argument off on a light note, whereas going into an argument assuming that you are right will only lead to bickering and bantering and stupid shit. Seriously, next time you find yourself presenting an argument, try to sound as humble as you possibly can. You'll find that your arguments flow much more smoothly and have a much more light-hearted tone.



Being humble actually works with almost everything, but I digress lol. The Lakers-Celtics game is on soon, so I'm gunna try to wrap this up.



Argue the right way, and I guarantee you'll come out of the argument feeling INFINITELY times better then you would if you argue the wrong way. Having two people come together, debate on stuff they've picked up on in life, and coming out of the argument with a better understanding of the matter than they did before is seriously, a beautiful ass thing. I hope I stressed the beauty of proper argument enough haha. It really is a sick ass thing to watch when two people argue and come out of it better off then when they went into the argument.



If you disagree with me on any of this, lemme know. Let's argue about it lol

25 random things about me

I dunno why I want to put this up here, other than my hope that it'll help you get to know me better. Some of these 25 random things are about a few of the important people in my life, and some of them are random thoughts.

1. I get a lot of thinking done at parties. All of the stuff that i have here is stuff that I thought about while at a party/kickback earlier tonight.



2. Brian Jones is that dude that I grew up with. He's seen me at my lowest and my highest. He's got to be the funniest dude that I know. The little inside jokes we have have to be the funniest things ever. He goes to college at Cal State Dominguez Hills but I'm pretty sure we'll always be close, even though we are almost polar opposites. If I get married, he would be candidate number one for my Best Man.



3. Janet Cantada knows me better than anyone. I'm trying my hardest to think of anyone that I've opened up to more, but I just can't point to any one person who knows me better. She knows my strengths, weaknesses, beliefs, views, and I can trust her with damn near everything.



4. Spencer Farmer and I used to be the closest dudes ever. We were bff status, no homo. Although things have changed, I won't ever forget how tight we were senior year and summer 08.



5. Yves Lapada is one of the realest dudes I know. I was kind of weary of rooming with him up here in Riverside; I thought he'd be coming back to the dorm drunk and high every night, being annoying as hell. I was surprised when I realized that I had him all wrong in my head, and he's
much more on a real level than I had him pegged before we roomed together.



6. Nicole Cabotaje and I were really close for a long time. She captivated me with her unique style and attitude. I'm really grateful I met her and got close to her. Btw, I owe her a bottle of some kind of alcohol. lol.



7. Travis Smith is one of the realest people I've met up here in Riverside. I really don't know him too well, but I can't help but respect the way he carries himself. His humility and sense of humor are traits that set him apart from a LOT of people. hes a really cool dude and if he does move back home after this year, i wish him the best.



8. Allana Griffin. DAMN. What can't I say about this girl? lol. Her craziness, unique personality, pretty smile, and interesting blank were enough to get me to sing Jonas Brothers songs to her in front of a bunch of people. gah. LOL. shit didn't work out the way I planned, but i really appreciate what we had, while we had it. it was one of the greatest feelings i've ever felt.



9. Nikki Estanol is someone that I secretly admire. She's got this willingness to be adventurous, this ability to loosen everyone up, and to be the life of the party; all of this I'm insanely jealous of. I don't her too well, as far as her beliefs and views and all that good stuff go, but she's a really interesting person that you probably already know. If you don't know her, chances are you know someone who knows her and you'll probably see her around sooner or later.



10. Christian Gines was one of my best high school friends. We met on the bus and we just really hit it off haha. We've spent COUNTLESS hours together, playing smash, eating, partying, having him cut my hair LOL. We've got this really cool respect for each other, and we really need
to hang out soon haha.



11. Michael Phetsanghane is one of the coolest dudes I know. He joined UC late, but we got really close, and he's seen me at a lot of my lows and highs. I really appreciate him cuz although I don't think he realizes it, he's there a lot when I need a friend. He's the guy that I always end up hanging out with when I don't really want to talk about something, and I'd rather just go on with life.



12. My sister is a big influence on my life. Not really in the sense that I try to follow her like a role model, but she affects a lot of my decisions. I'm sure she doesn't realize that she does, but she has a real profound effect on me. oh yeah, and i dunno why, but I always find myself texting her whenever I'm at a party. haha.



13. My mom and I have the REALEST parent-son relationship EVER. her and my dad had this really good balance when it came to parenting me, and since he's gone, she's done a TERRIFIC job raising me. it was rocky at first, understandably, but she gives me a lot of trust and leeway in
almost everything, and I make sure not to make decisions that betray that trust. If I ever do something great with my life, I'll owe a lot of the credit to her.



14. Although my dad passed away when I was 11, I swear that he did a really good job raising me. He punished me when I deserved it, never let me have it easy, and taught me many things. One of the biggest things that I appreciate from him is the frequent trips we took to the
Philippines. He made sure that my sister and I understood our family's humble beginnings. Those trips to the Philippines taught me a lot and I hope he knows that his effort wasn't in vain.



15. Edmond Basilan is one of the biggest reasons for who I am today. He's kept me really sane and down to earth since I met him. I actually got close to him once my dad passed away, so I owe him a lot. He's always cracking a funny joke and I won't ever forget a bunch of the
times we've shared and the inside jokes we crack.



16. Raemon Ilagan is another one of the homies from back in the day. We've gotten off on a bunch of real ass talks and he fits the description for perseverance. He gets put in a lot of weird situations, but he makes the best of them and I admire him for that.



17. I wish Lil Wayne would go back to the days that made me admire his creativity. I know he has a lot of haters, and I don't understand why. I don't like a lot of the stuff that he does now as much as the stuff he's done previously, but he's really unique in the way he goes about things.



18. A shitload of people hate on soulja boy, and i can see why. he's not what people are used to, and his lyrics aren't as thoughtful as a lot of hip hop artists. but he does make good music. he's not afraid to be different from the crowd, and that's ultimately what being an artist is about, isn't it?



19. I find it funny how a lot of people who hate on soulja boy, lil wayne, and a lot of popular hip hop music are the same people that, when confronted with hate on their favorite artists, say "why hate?" i don't like the hypocrisy here. if you're gunna ask "why hate?" when it comes to your favorites, why not ask urself the same question when you hate on another artist? in the end, art is art. it's not like math where you can quantify things and there is a set answer. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There are many ways to measure success in art. For example, an artist who sells a lot of albums is considered successful. However, there isn't a set way to decide what is good and what is bad when it comes to art. Learn to appreciate that different people appreciate different things. You hating on one person's preferences is equal to if they hate on your preferences, and nothing good ever happens when someone "hates." If you see something that tickles your fancy, then more fuckin power to you.



20. I didn't give up anything for lent, I didn't get an ash on Ash Wednesday, and I don't plan on fasting on fridays or any other religious days of obligation.



21. I gotta say, parties aren't really my scene. I don't like to drink or smoke, so I end up being a wallflower. Even when I do drink, I never really feel a buzz. I hate how there's a lot of peer pressure at parties. It never really has an effect on me, but it sucks for the
people who let the peer pressure get to them.



22. I want to learn to speak well, like Barack Obama. Or the The Rock, for that matter. lol. I should take an oral communications class. I also wanna learn to organize my thoughts better. I feel like I'm all over the place too often. Take these 25 random things for example. I'm
so all over the place haha



23. I'm not a big fan of holidays. Religious holidays make sense to me, but they turn into things that aren't even close to what they were intended for. and i don't feel the need to take out a day to celebrate my mother, my father, my significant other, my birthday, or anything. i should appreciate those things everyday of the year.



24. I've come to really appreciate finding a significant other. Finding someone that just clicks with you and who you really are is a BEAUTIFUL ASS THING. Finding that person that loves you for who you are and what you aren't is such a hard thing to do. There's a shit load of people
out there, but there's only a few that will really have chemistry with you. And even then, the timing has to be right for both of you. So I've come to learn that when you do find someone who does have that chemistry with you, you have to go HARD at that bitch and do whatever it takes to make shit work. real relationships dont come very often haha.



25. I've never been really big on drinking, smoking, or any of that stuff, to get my highs. I'm pretty sure a high off smoking weed is different from the high I get from a good conversation. They both have their pluses and minuses. I know it's easier to take a puff from a cigarette, to drink alcohol, to smoke weed, then it is to wait for a more natural high, but I love that pursuit of a natural high. The time between my highs make me miserable sometime, but that time makes the high all that much more enjoyable. Besides, where do you draw the line when it comes to getting high by drinking, smoking, or anything like that? If I told you that sucking a giant dragon's dick would make you higher than you could possibly imagine, would you do it? A lot of the argument for smoking and drinking and whatnot depends on where you draw the line for what you'll do to get your highs.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Blogging

I remember a few years ago, when blogging really burst into the scene, I had a bunch of feelings towards it. I thought it was really cool that people were able to share their ideas, thoughts, feelings, and all that other stuff with each other over the internet. I liked that people were able to use their blogs as a public diary. Upon looking at a couple of blogs, however, my thoughts changed a little bit. I saw a lot of blogs that were full of blogs that sounded like the following:

"Today, I went to class. It was so boring, I hate school. I caught myself daydreaming during class, and when I snapped out of it, I noticed that Jimmy was picking his nose. Omg, I really despise people who pick their nose in public. blah blah blah blah blah."

After reading a few of those types of blogs, I couldn't help but think, "wtf, why are you sharing your whole day with us? I highly doubt anyone who's reading your blog is trying to see how your day was." I'm probably very wrong; maybe a lot of people were actually checking people's blogs to see how those people were doing. But I felt like, if I wanted to know how your day was, I would simply strike up a conversation with you and proceed to ask you about your day. (On a side note, I feel the same way about away messages on aim. I always keep the same boring away message, because I don’t feel the need to put my business out there 24/7, especially on the internet. This kind of applies to facebook and myspace as well.)

That being said, I hope that this blog doesn’t turn into the typical “diary” type blog. I don’t want to be personal in the sense that I’m sharing how my day went with you. However, I do hope to get all deep and personal in this blog, sharing some really deep stuff that I happen to be feeling at the time. But if you do want to hear about my day, feel free to IM, call, or text me haha.

As far as the format of this blog goes, I don’t expect anything too flashy. I’m just not learning how to use basic html and all that, so don’t expect anything but the basics haha. And I don’t expect to edit my posts too much before I post them, looking for grammatical errors and making sure I do my English teachers proud. I feel like if I do that, then I’ll get too attached to what I write, expecting them to be bulletproof, leading me to not listen to any criticisms that anyone might bring up. That being said, I hope that you challenge me and whatever I say. I love having critics, as long as the criticism is constructive.

Alrite let's get to it.

I dunno

Being my first blog, I wanna give you guys an idea of who I am and what I'm about. I'm really struggling to think of what to say without being too cheesy haha. I'm a college student. I'm relatively straight edge. I try to rid myself of any hypocriticism(is that a word? lol). I'm on that broke college student budget. I love being real, honest, and true. I like to kill people with kindness. I'm a lover, not a fighter. I like to think that I'm a really humble dude who isn't really anything special, but I surprise myself every once in a while, doing something amazing once in a blue moon. I really don't know wtf to say haha. But yeah, these first few posts should give you a good idea of what I'm all about.

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