2008 was a great year and the way it's shaping up, 2009 will be even better. So I will try my best to live by the resolutions I am about to list. I have had all year to think about these resolutions and this is what I have come up with so far.
1. Be More Outspoken. I haven't been very good at standing up for myself. I'm more likely to dodge conflict than to confront it head on. I believe that if I'm going to be successful in my life I have to be able to stand up for myself and for what I believe and not be afraid to say what's on my mind. I won't be rude or anything so don't fret, just more firm. I also need to learn to express myself better. I've never been the overly emotional type, but I could be clearer in explaining how I feel and when I feel a certain way so that the emotions don't overpower me.
2. Go To Church More. I haven't done so lately, I've been working and going to school, but I really feel the need to go to church and get the Word.
3. Start Dating. I didn't go on many dates in 2008 because I was trying to repair problems I had from previous relationships. Now that I feel enough time has gone by, I feel that it's time for me to get back out there and see what the world has to offer.
4. Culture Myself. I've been attempting to teach myself how to play the piano, cooking, and learning to give therapeutic massages. In 2009 I plan to learn more skills and to read more. I want to try new foods, eat at exotic restaurants, and experience different cultures.
5. Take More Risks. This kind of ties into numbers 1 and 3 as being more outspoken and dating both involve taking risks. I can't always take the safe route. Time for me to experience new things.
6. Travel. For those of you who don't know, I haven't been out of VA much. I'm anxious to travel and see different places and have experiences I never could have in VA.
7. Thinking Positive. I know this has probably gotten me in trouble in the past because I thought TOO positively like I was the best thing since sliced bread and I was knocked back to Earth when i found out I wasn't. Nevertheless, thinking positive did me some good, especially in helping my anxiety and worrying, so I will continue to think positive.
8. Be More Involved. In all aspects of my life and all aspects that affect my life. I mean be more involved with my family, friends, work, school, politics, etc
9. Continue trying to "A" man and not "The" man. I know it sounds like some cheesy line out of a movie, this is just my fancy way of saying that I want to be a better person inside and out. That means always keeping myself groomed and nicely dressed and always keeping an open mind and a warm heart.
We'll revisit these halfway through the year to see how many resolutions I've made and how many I will try to make throughou the rest of the year.
2009 here I come!
Roderic
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
Do people know what love is anymore?
I believe that the true definition of love has died. Anyone wonder why relationships aren't like they were when your grandparents were young? Does anyone ever wonder why grandma and grandpa stayed together for 50 years and you can barely make a relationship last 50 mins? Oh don't be fooled by the sexual reference, it's not because people are having sex at an earlier age or before marriage.
I feel that we've lost the knowledge of true love and what it represents. Undoubtedly this is a media drive age. We're fascinated by what is in magazines and on t.v. We let televised match makers tell us what we need, we listen to songs about what we need in our love life by people who already have everything that they're singing about (single ladies comes to mind), and we praise those that don't deserve our praise.
I think that because of our infactuation with the physical and material things in the world we've lost touch with the emotional and intellectual beauty of people. We're so caught up on what kind of car someone drives, how big their bank account is, or how good they look in a bathing suit that we fail to realize that who we're lusting over is really an idiot who has no goals except to stay looking physically attractive as long as they can. What about what they do to you emotionally? What other senses do they stimulate? are they only appealing to the eye? I like to look at statues, but eventually I'm going to get tired of looking at it. What can someone bring to the table that's unique?
I think we throw love around too loosely, people using love to advance themselves and get what they want, be it gifts or sex. That's also how love is dying. People who truly love someone are hearing that the person they love, loves them back, when in reality that person is only claiming that they're in love.
Love can't be bought. Love isn't seen with the naked eye, but it's felt in the soul. Love is actually indescribeable. People are going about finding love all wrong, they say they're going to marry a Doctor or a Lawyer or a Swimsuit Model, but will you love them?
Love isn't easy, no relationship ever is, sometimes it will rain and there will be trying times, sometimes you'll have sunny days where everything is as it should, and there are magic moments where you draw strength from one another and push through those rainy days until the sun shines through the clouds and you experience a rainbow of feeling and emotion that you never thought imaginable. That's love.
Roderic
I feel that we've lost the knowledge of true love and what it represents. Undoubtedly this is a media drive age. We're fascinated by what is in magazines and on t.v. We let televised match makers tell us what we need, we listen to songs about what we need in our love life by people who already have everything that they're singing about (single ladies comes to mind), and we praise those that don't deserve our praise.
I think that because of our infactuation with the physical and material things in the world we've lost touch with the emotional and intellectual beauty of people. We're so caught up on what kind of car someone drives, how big their bank account is, or how good they look in a bathing suit that we fail to realize that who we're lusting over is really an idiot who has no goals except to stay looking physically attractive as long as they can. What about what they do to you emotionally? What other senses do they stimulate? are they only appealing to the eye? I like to look at statues, but eventually I'm going to get tired of looking at it. What can someone bring to the table that's unique?
I think we throw love around too loosely, people using love to advance themselves and get what they want, be it gifts or sex. That's also how love is dying. People who truly love someone are hearing that the person they love, loves them back, when in reality that person is only claiming that they're in love.
Love can't be bought. Love isn't seen with the naked eye, but it's felt in the soul. Love is actually indescribeable. People are going about finding love all wrong, they say they're going to marry a Doctor or a Lawyer or a Swimsuit Model, but will you love them?
Love isn't easy, no relationship ever is, sometimes it will rain and there will be trying times, sometimes you'll have sunny days where everything is as it should, and there are magic moments where you draw strength from one another and push through those rainy days until the sun shines through the clouds and you experience a rainbow of feeling and emotion that you never thought imaginable. That's love.
Roderic
Monday, December 15, 2008
How Can You Tell Me What I Mean?!?
So this is one of my biggest pet peeves. If you know me at all, you know that I care about how I treat and talk to people and I take extra special care not to offend anyone. That's why it burns me to the core whenever someone attempts to tell me what I meant when I said something to them.
And the most disrespectful part of that is having someone tell you that's not what you meant after you try to explain yourself. How can you tell me what I meant when I'm the one who said the thought? Unless you're some kind of mindreader, trust and believe that what I say is what I mean.
I don't attempt to place my own judgment on anyone elses thoughts and I sure don't expect anyone to be able to do it to me.
And the most disrespectful part of that is having someone tell you that's not what you meant after you try to explain yourself. How can you tell me what I meant when I'm the one who said the thought? Unless you're some kind of mindreader, trust and believe that what I say is what I mean.
I don't attempt to place my own judgment on anyone elses thoughts and I sure don't expect anyone to be able to do it to me.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Does Being Famous Guarantee You A Get Out Of Jail Free Card?
I don't believe that being a celebrity automatically guarantees you a get out of jail free card, but it does help to have that fame when sentencing comes around. All the celebrities in the news that get into trouble with the law either serve very little or no jail time because of their status. Michael Jackson, O.J. Simpson, R. Kelly, rapper T.I., Michael Vick, Martha Stewart, Lil' Kim, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Robert Blake are all examples of celebrities that get into trouble with the law, but manage to squeeze out of a major jail sentence.
I for one think that it's a shame that people can so blatantly get away with crimes that a regular citizen would never be able to escape. For instance, Lindsay Lohan was arrested for a DUI and was ordered to go to rehab without a jail sentence, okay I can see that happening. however, what I can't get behind is that when we she was caught with cocaine in her pocket just months later that should have been the final straw that sent her to the penal colony. However, much to my chagrin she only spent one day in prison now she's back to making movies. A person with a regular job would have lost his job and sent to jail for at least 30 days. R. Kelly is another example. He has a video of himself having sex with a minor. There is no need to search for evidence in this case the evidence is everywhere, people can buy that tape off the black market. You can see Robert Kelly's face and he was acquitted of all charges. This is a complete slap in the face to any man or woman who has been arrested for statutory rape. This man went on tour, made albums, and made videos all while awaiting to stand trial. There are people in jail right now who have been incarcerated for months that are still awaiting to stand trial, but this man is allowed special priveleges because he is famous.
What I don't understand is why some people believe that celebrities are so holy. They're people just like you and I. They just make more money than you and I. There are people willing to believe to their deaths that it's some sort of conspiracy when celebrities get in trouble with the law. It's no conspiracy, they broke the law, that's why they're in trouble; however, they never get into trouble. I compare celebrities to the "favorite child". For example if there are two children and they both do something mischievous, one child gets the severe punishment, like a spanking or grounded or both while the other child just bats their eyes and they just get sent to their room. Celebrities are like the favorite child and the judicial system is the weak spirited parent that can't get past the puppy dog eyes and give that child a good lashing.
The worst part is that celebrities can really be used as an example with their unlimited exposure and can be used to prevent some of the petty crimes in the world if they were punished like they were supposed to, but giving them sympathy only gives other people the false impression that they can get away with that crime as well. I wonder if people on trial for the same crimes that celebrities got light sentences for can cite that particular celebrity's case and get the same sentence the celebrity got. I say give these celebrities a reason to stay on the straight and narrow by setting an example, I'm not saying give them overly harsh sentences, but don't cut them any slack because the community uproars or because of their status. At the end of the day a crime is still a crime. A crisp dollar and a crumpled dollar can buy the same candy bar.
I for one think that it's a shame that people can so blatantly get away with crimes that a regular citizen would never be able to escape. For instance, Lindsay Lohan was arrested for a DUI and was ordered to go to rehab without a jail sentence, okay I can see that happening. however, what I can't get behind is that when we she was caught with cocaine in her pocket just months later that should have been the final straw that sent her to the penal colony. However, much to my chagrin she only spent one day in prison now she's back to making movies. A person with a regular job would have lost his job and sent to jail for at least 30 days. R. Kelly is another example. He has a video of himself having sex with a minor. There is no need to search for evidence in this case the evidence is everywhere, people can buy that tape off the black market. You can see Robert Kelly's face and he was acquitted of all charges. This is a complete slap in the face to any man or woman who has been arrested for statutory rape. This man went on tour, made albums, and made videos all while awaiting to stand trial. There are people in jail right now who have been incarcerated for months that are still awaiting to stand trial, but this man is allowed special priveleges because he is famous.
What I don't understand is why some people believe that celebrities are so holy. They're people just like you and I. They just make more money than you and I. There are people willing to believe to their deaths that it's some sort of conspiracy when celebrities get in trouble with the law. It's no conspiracy, they broke the law, that's why they're in trouble; however, they never get into trouble. I compare celebrities to the "favorite child". For example if there are two children and they both do something mischievous, one child gets the severe punishment, like a spanking or grounded or both while the other child just bats their eyes and they just get sent to their room. Celebrities are like the favorite child and the judicial system is the weak spirited parent that can't get past the puppy dog eyes and give that child a good lashing.
The worst part is that celebrities can really be used as an example with their unlimited exposure and can be used to prevent some of the petty crimes in the world if they were punished like they were supposed to, but giving them sympathy only gives other people the false impression that they can get away with that crime as well. I wonder if people on trial for the same crimes that celebrities got light sentences for can cite that particular celebrity's case and get the same sentence the celebrity got. I say give these celebrities a reason to stay on the straight and narrow by setting an example, I'm not saying give them overly harsh sentences, but don't cut them any slack because the community uproars or because of their status. At the end of the day a crime is still a crime. A crisp dollar and a crumpled dollar can buy the same candy bar.
Are Today's Youth Ready For The Challenges of Tomorrow?
I believe that the youth of today are definitely ready for the challenges of tomorrow. I understand that this is a new generation, there aren't a whole lot of radicals from this new generation out there preaching and advocating for the future. However, whoever said that someone had to be outspoken to be successful? This is a new and bright generation. More children are going to college than ever before, the youth are becoming more interested in politics and the news, especially with the election. The youth are becoming more intertwined with other cultures and are interacting with and accepting one another despite their differences. The youth are living the dream that past generations fought for and hopefully can continue to carry that dream for their remainder of their lives.
There will always be challenges for the youth to face, but there may not necessarily always be a battle that needs fighting. We have fought for independence, fought for civil rights, and fought for equality. Do we want our children to have to fight as well? When are we going to say, we have done enough fighting in this country now all you have to do is go out there and maintain the established order? How can we say that the youth are not ready to lead? The youth are now more informed and more capable at such an early age that they have nowhere to go but up.
If we're using the murdering one another, drug, and gang activity that is seen in the media as the only criteria for determining if the youth are ready for the challenges of tomorrow, then yes it would seem like the country is doomed; however, what is shown in the media is a sensationalized image of what really goes on in the world. Not every youth is picking up a gun and killing another youth. We have children graduating earlier, going to college, going to graduate school, and becoming lawyers and doctors.
I do not believe that the youth will let us down. I feel that they are definitely ready for the challenges tomorrow brings, but they need support and direction, not a past generation sitting around idly waiting and expecting them to fail. If past generations continue to carry the youth life infants, never letting them walk out of fear that they will fall down, then when they can't carry the youth anymore and it's time for them to walk, they will fall.
I for one think that the world will be in exactly with right hands when the challenges of tomorrow come around.
There will always be challenges for the youth to face, but there may not necessarily always be a battle that needs fighting. We have fought for independence, fought for civil rights, and fought for equality. Do we want our children to have to fight as well? When are we going to say, we have done enough fighting in this country now all you have to do is go out there and maintain the established order? How can we say that the youth are not ready to lead? The youth are now more informed and more capable at such an early age that they have nowhere to go but up.
If we're using the murdering one another, drug, and gang activity that is seen in the media as the only criteria for determining if the youth are ready for the challenges of tomorrow, then yes it would seem like the country is doomed; however, what is shown in the media is a sensationalized image of what really goes on in the world. Not every youth is picking up a gun and killing another youth. We have children graduating earlier, going to college, going to graduate school, and becoming lawyers and doctors.
I do not believe that the youth will let us down. I feel that they are definitely ready for the challenges tomorrow brings, but they need support and direction, not a past generation sitting around idly waiting and expecting them to fail. If past generations continue to carry the youth life infants, never letting them walk out of fear that they will fall down, then when they can't carry the youth anymore and it's time for them to walk, they will fall.
I for one think that the world will be in exactly with right hands when the challenges of tomorrow come around.
Does Money and Depression Go Hand in Hand?
There are some people say that "money can buy happiness." Those are the same people that say "hard work never killed anyone." I say that those people never read the story of John Henry who challenged the steam engine and won, but died shortly after from working too hard.
I believe that if you do not have money, then money can be a segway into happiness. I'm sure someone won't be as depressed if they know that they'll be able to afford their rent for the next couple of months. I don't necessarily believe that money is the reason for depression; however. If there wasn't a reason for money to exist I believe that people would still have depression. There are other factors that contribute to depression. For instance, relationships, family, job satisfaction, attitudes on life, etc are all reasons that can affect depression in a person that may not have anything to do with money.
The job satisfaction example is extremely important because there are some individuals that make ridiculous amounts of money, but are not happy in their current employment. The money has nothing to do with why they're depressed. There have been people that have quit their jobs making six figures to go work at Wal-Mart because they did not like their job.
Relationships and family are other examples that can cause depression. If your spouse is leaving you or you lost a family member, that could lead to depression. In fact, getting a divorce and losing a family member are the roots for long term depression.
I believe the issue is people want to make money the reason why people are depressed. I think money is only a symptom of why people are depressed not the underlying cause. For instance, people may think that homeless people are depressed because they do not have money. I believe that the homeless are depressed because they do not have a home or stability. If there was a way to get what you need to survive without money, I don't think the homeless would be as depressed. If a man who was hungry could get a meal without having to work to get the money to pay for that meal, he'd be less depressed.
I believe that people put too much emphasis on money to make them happy. People believe that rich equals happy. This is not always the case, if it was we wouldn't have any incidents where rich and successful people killed themselves. I believe that in life there are going to be things that will cause depression, money just happens to be one of the many things that can lead to depression, but everytime depression is uttered it should not be assumed that money is the cause.
I believe that if you do not have money, then money can be a segway into happiness. I'm sure someone won't be as depressed if they know that they'll be able to afford their rent for the next couple of months. I don't necessarily believe that money is the reason for depression; however. If there wasn't a reason for money to exist I believe that people would still have depression. There are other factors that contribute to depression. For instance, relationships, family, job satisfaction, attitudes on life, etc are all reasons that can affect depression in a person that may not have anything to do with money.
The job satisfaction example is extremely important because there are some individuals that make ridiculous amounts of money, but are not happy in their current employment. The money has nothing to do with why they're depressed. There have been people that have quit their jobs making six figures to go work at Wal-Mart because they did not like their job.
Relationships and family are other examples that can cause depression. If your spouse is leaving you or you lost a family member, that could lead to depression. In fact, getting a divorce and losing a family member are the roots for long term depression.
I believe the issue is people want to make money the reason why people are depressed. I think money is only a symptom of why people are depressed not the underlying cause. For instance, people may think that homeless people are depressed because they do not have money. I believe that the homeless are depressed because they do not have a home or stability. If there was a way to get what you need to survive without money, I don't think the homeless would be as depressed. If a man who was hungry could get a meal without having to work to get the money to pay for that meal, he'd be less depressed.
I believe that people put too much emphasis on money to make them happy. People believe that rich equals happy. This is not always the case, if it was we wouldn't have any incidents where rich and successful people killed themselves. I believe that in life there are going to be things that will cause depression, money just happens to be one of the many things that can lead to depression, but everytime depression is uttered it should not be assumed that money is the cause.
Girls Gone Wild!?
Imagine this, it's late at night, you're sitting at home watching your favorite stand up comedian on Comedy Central and you're with your girlfriend or significant other. The evening is going smoothly until that program cuts to commercial and suddenly your television screen becomes a softcore pornography video for the next thirty seconds. Not only is there now a tension in the air and the fun has been sucked out of the room, now the guy is placed in a compromising situation; does he change the channel or not? Imagine how uncomfortable the young lady must feel being subjected to such material. A perfect evening has consequently been ruined by 30 seconds of obscenity.
This scenario happens all over America and for one I am tired of seeing it happen. Girls Gone Wild, while an interesting premise is juvenile, offensive, and irresponsible. Not only does the infomercial come on during every commercial break from 11 p.m til 3 a.m., but it falsely advertises young college women as these mindless drones that can't help but take their clothes off at the sight of a camera. Is this what we send our daughters, sisters, and cousins to college for? To be ogled by men for their own profit? I'm sorry but if these guys came to my sister or daughter's school, I'd be on television. I'd be on "Cops" because they would be coming to arrest me for murder.
Not only is the program offensive, but unethical as well. Do these women get paid? Do they sign informed consent forms? Are they in the correct mindset to understand the wild journey they are about to embark upon? If the answer to any of these questions is "No" then Girls Gone Wild has to go. I am a respectful man, yet I admit that I have lusted after females based on sheer physical attraction. However, I couldn't fathom degrading young women by asking them to strip for my camera so I can get paid for their nudity.
It has come to my attention that recently the creator or founder of Girls Gone Wild has been brought to justice, but I believe they are still distributing videos and dvds to all who order them. And it seems that even though they have no CEO, new videos are still being created and sold. I believe that this crude, obscene spectacle will not have it's wrongs made right until all sales and advertising of the product cease. We need to further promote the integrity of America and it starts with ridding our country of programs like Girls Gone Wild.
This scenario happens all over America and for one I am tired of seeing it happen. Girls Gone Wild, while an interesting premise is juvenile, offensive, and irresponsible. Not only does the infomercial come on during every commercial break from 11 p.m til 3 a.m., but it falsely advertises young college women as these mindless drones that can't help but take their clothes off at the sight of a camera. Is this what we send our daughters, sisters, and cousins to college for? To be ogled by men for their own profit? I'm sorry but if these guys came to my sister or daughter's school, I'd be on television. I'd be on "Cops" because they would be coming to arrest me for murder.
Not only is the program offensive, but unethical as well. Do these women get paid? Do they sign informed consent forms? Are they in the correct mindset to understand the wild journey they are about to embark upon? If the answer to any of these questions is "No" then Girls Gone Wild has to go. I am a respectful man, yet I admit that I have lusted after females based on sheer physical attraction. However, I couldn't fathom degrading young women by asking them to strip for my camera so I can get paid for their nudity.
It has come to my attention that recently the creator or founder of Girls Gone Wild has been brought to justice, but I believe they are still distributing videos and dvds to all who order them. And it seems that even though they have no CEO, new videos are still being created and sold. I believe that this crude, obscene spectacle will not have it's wrongs made right until all sales and advertising of the product cease. We need to further promote the integrity of America and it starts with ridding our country of programs like Girls Gone Wild.
The Absence of Black Fathers in The Home
I cannot judge a man by his actions if his motives are unknown. There are certainly plenty of men regardless of their race that have been absent parents. However, it seems that in the black family, the men are more prone to not be apart of their children's lives. As a black child, I never had a relationship with my father. For whatever reason he chose not to be in my life is his to deal with. I more than anything would have liked to know why he was not a part of my life more than I wanted him to be in my life. I could not say I would have blamed him for his absence or been so hostile towards him had I understood his reasoning for not being around.
There are countless studies and tests that claim that children need a father figure, especially boys if they are to be productive adults. I do not believe that is true. I don't believe that having a father in your life will make you a better father to your children. My grandfather was fully supportive of my father and is fully supportive of me, but my own father never had anything to do with me. When I have children of my own I know I will never leave or abandon them. Even if the relationship between their mother and I falls apart my children will always be in my life. In a way, not having a father in my life will make me a better father because now I know all the things I'm not supposed to do as a parent. I was fortunate though because I had a very healthy support system in my family with both men and women. There are some children who aren't as fortunate and compliant with their mothers and need a firm strong male role model to keep them from doing the wreckless things that boys do. So I believe that it is very valuable to have a father in the child's life, not necessarily in the home, but as long as the child knows they have a mother and a father that they can turn to, then they shouldn't be too bad off.
All in all I believe that fathers need to step up and take responsibility for what they brought into this world. Children don't ask to be here and they certainly can't choose their parents so it is up to the parent to say, "I know this is not how I planned for my life to unfold, but I need to take charge and make sure my child is taken care of". I think that the next generation of men who were victims of absent fathers will try to end this trend of single parent families and be part of their child's lives. At least I know one black man who will not become a statistic.
There are countless studies and tests that claim that children need a father figure, especially boys if they are to be productive adults. I do not believe that is true. I don't believe that having a father in your life will make you a better father to your children. My grandfather was fully supportive of my father and is fully supportive of me, but my own father never had anything to do with me. When I have children of my own I know I will never leave or abandon them. Even if the relationship between their mother and I falls apart my children will always be in my life. In a way, not having a father in my life will make me a better father because now I know all the things I'm not supposed to do as a parent. I was fortunate though because I had a very healthy support system in my family with both men and women. There are some children who aren't as fortunate and compliant with their mothers and need a firm strong male role model to keep them from doing the wreckless things that boys do. So I believe that it is very valuable to have a father in the child's life, not necessarily in the home, but as long as the child knows they have a mother and a father that they can turn to, then they shouldn't be too bad off.
All in all I believe that fathers need to step up and take responsibility for what they brought into this world. Children don't ask to be here and they certainly can't choose their parents so it is up to the parent to say, "I know this is not how I planned for my life to unfold, but I need to take charge and make sure my child is taken care of". I think that the next generation of men who were victims of absent fathers will try to end this trend of single parent families and be part of their child's lives. At least I know one black man who will not become a statistic.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Thoughts on Attraction, Ideals, and Standards in Dating
Everyone won't agree with me on this, but this is just some random thoughts I had while I was talking to some people.
I think when it comes to finding the one person to settle down with people get bogged down by standards and ideals. If this person isn't this list of things then he's not for me. Why do people subject themselves to that? That's the reason there is so much heartbreak, I'm NOT saying that you have to settle people. Just give some people a chance, look at your "list" of standards and say do I really NEED this person to have this, if the person is 6'5" does that really make him a better person than someone who's only 6'0''? Are we going to be any more compatible if he's 5 inches taller? Is there a relationship between height and attraction because I know some tall single people.
People get caught up with this mold of their "ideal" mate and they rule out people that don't fit that mold. I believe that attraction and compatibility should over power any "ideals" that people have. I understand that people want someone who's educated and has a future, that's a desirable quality in a potential mate. However, everyone knows that one person who wants to marry a rocket scientist, but barely graduated from high school. Or if someone has the qualities you're looking for, but they have a child, they're automatically not as attractive anymore. Does the fact that they may give more of their love to their child than you offend you? That seems like more of a reason to be attracted to someone, if they love their child more than someone they're only dating.
I know people will claim that I'm claiming that you settle for less than you "want" but then again I say, they're only wants not needs. You don't NEED for your wife to be America's Next Top Model and a great chef as long as she's a real woman. You don't NEED for your man to make 6 figures, as long as he gets up everyday and goes to work and takes care of his business at home and work.
The funny thing is, people never end up with who they expect to end up with, it's always like, I didn't think he/she was her/his type. Well surprise surprise, things have a funny way of working themselves out.
-Roderic
I think when it comes to finding the one person to settle down with people get bogged down by standards and ideals. If this person isn't this list of things then he's not for me. Why do people subject themselves to that? That's the reason there is so much heartbreak, I'm NOT saying that you have to settle people. Just give some people a chance, look at your "list" of standards and say do I really NEED this person to have this, if the person is 6'5" does that really make him a better person than someone who's only 6'0''? Are we going to be any more compatible if he's 5 inches taller? Is there a relationship between height and attraction because I know some tall single people.
People get caught up with this mold of their "ideal" mate and they rule out people that don't fit that mold. I believe that attraction and compatibility should over power any "ideals" that people have. I understand that people want someone who's educated and has a future, that's a desirable quality in a potential mate. However, everyone knows that one person who wants to marry a rocket scientist, but barely graduated from high school. Or if someone has the qualities you're looking for, but they have a child, they're automatically not as attractive anymore. Does the fact that they may give more of their love to their child than you offend you? That seems like more of a reason to be attracted to someone, if they love their child more than someone they're only dating.
I know people will claim that I'm claiming that you settle for less than you "want" but then again I say, they're only wants not needs. You don't NEED for your wife to be America's Next Top Model and a great chef as long as she's a real woman. You don't NEED for your man to make 6 figures, as long as he gets up everyday and goes to work and takes care of his business at home and work.
The funny thing is, people never end up with who they expect to end up with, it's always like, I didn't think he/she was her/his type. Well surprise surprise, things have a funny way of working themselves out.
-Roderic
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Black People!!
To all my beloved black brothers and sisters out there this is a brand new day for us. Now isn't the time to become stagnant in our endeavors. Now is the time to work harder and strive for further accomplishments like the one we all witnessed and took part in yesterday. Now is the time to get busy doing what we need to do to show all those naysayers out there that this is what we deserved. I know everyone is celebrating the fact that we now have our first black president, but please people don't stop getting your education! Things need to change inside this race too, we need to stop hating each other and start loving one another. We can't keep blaming the white man for our problems anymore, it's time we take care of business.
This is our time, and even if we only have 4 years of Obama, we need to make this the best 4 years for black people ever!
Don't think it's going to be easy though. Prepare for things to get worse before they get better, prepare for ignorant people to show their asses even more frequently, and prepare for greatness.
We haven't made it there yet, but we took a giant leap towards our inevitable destination. I'm proud to say I'm a black man in America, and I want to stay being proud, I hope you do too.
-Roderic
This is our time, and even if we only have 4 years of Obama, we need to make this the best 4 years for black people ever!
Don't think it's going to be easy though. Prepare for things to get worse before they get better, prepare for ignorant people to show their asses even more frequently, and prepare for greatness.
We haven't made it there yet, but we took a giant leap towards our inevitable destination. I'm proud to say I'm a black man in America, and I want to stay being proud, I hope you do too.
-Roderic
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Does Lifestyle and Culture Affect Behavior?
How much does culture and lifestyle affect behavior? I believe the real question is what else affects behavior besides culture and lifestyle. We see the differences in behaviors between different cultures everyday. Whether it's a middle-eastern woman that has her body completely covered up or an American college female who wears clothing with scandalous statements, but hates the male attention she's receiving.
Our culture affects how we behave everyday. For example, I am an African American. African Americans culturally place a strong emphasis on family because during slavery the family was all that they had. Thus when I am around family, I feel like I am able to be myself whereas in a crowd full of people I do not know very well I am guarded and reserved. African Americans believe in the collective good of the African American race, this is not always the case as we kill each other everyday, but that will be explained in the lifestyle portion. This is why you hear comedians always say "When one black person runs, we all run". This is also why whenever something occurs, be it positive or negative, in the African American community, you see African Americans banning together. Now being an American also affects my behavior each and everyday. Culturally, America has always been viewed as "better than the rest". This is why most Americans walk around with a skewed opinion about how much better we are than the rest of the world. We look down upon all other nationalities. For example, turn on any American made television program and look at how they make fun of Canadians, French, Mexicans, Middle-Easterns, Russians, etc. Also, historically Americans are greedy. Americans will take anything and everything that they can get their hands on and they do not care who they have to push out of the way to get what they want. America invaded Iraq and Americans were outraged. Not because we're attacking a country for the wrong reason, but because gas prices are still going up. I bet if we had invaded Iraq and 3 weeks later the gas was $1.50 a gallon, Americans wouldn't have really been as outraged as they have been.
Lifestyle definitely affects behavior. For instance, because America is one of the most richest nations in the world and had the most resources, if I look in a cabinet full of food and don't see anything that I want to eat, I may just go to McDonalds and buy some food. We do this despite the fact that in other countries people don't even have cabinets much less food to put in those cabinets. However, the lack of resources isn't foreign to Americans either. Everyday you turn on the news and see someone robbing a bank or murdering someone at an ATM because they or their families may not have enough food to eat. It seems like everyone knows that lifestyle affects behavior because that's why the police hang around the poorest neighborhoods looking for crime. This is why the poorest neighborhoods always have the most crime. It's all based on lifestyle. When people have to they will kill, steal, and cheat their way into a better life. You can also see the transition that occurs when people change lifestyles. For example when someone who was once poor and then becomes a famous actor, their behavior changes. That's why people always say "Money changes people". People get rich and forget their humility and they believe that they're the best thing since sliced bread. This is why when women marry rich and powerful men, they sue for half the man's money even though they didn't really help him acquire any of that money because they've gotten accustomed to a certain lifestyle and do not want to go back to where they were. You never hear about women suing their electrician husband for half his money, they just get divorced and move on.
Still the question remains, what affects behavior besides culture and lifestyle?
Our culture affects how we behave everyday. For example, I am an African American. African Americans culturally place a strong emphasis on family because during slavery the family was all that they had. Thus when I am around family, I feel like I am able to be myself whereas in a crowd full of people I do not know very well I am guarded and reserved. African Americans believe in the collective good of the African American race, this is not always the case as we kill each other everyday, but that will be explained in the lifestyle portion. This is why you hear comedians always say "When one black person runs, we all run". This is also why whenever something occurs, be it positive or negative, in the African American community, you see African Americans banning together. Now being an American also affects my behavior each and everyday. Culturally, America has always been viewed as "better than the rest". This is why most Americans walk around with a skewed opinion about how much better we are than the rest of the world. We look down upon all other nationalities. For example, turn on any American made television program and look at how they make fun of Canadians, French, Mexicans, Middle-Easterns, Russians, etc. Also, historically Americans are greedy. Americans will take anything and everything that they can get their hands on and they do not care who they have to push out of the way to get what they want. America invaded Iraq and Americans were outraged. Not because we're attacking a country for the wrong reason, but because gas prices are still going up. I bet if we had invaded Iraq and 3 weeks later the gas was $1.50 a gallon, Americans wouldn't have really been as outraged as they have been.
Lifestyle definitely affects behavior. For instance, because America is one of the most richest nations in the world and had the most resources, if I look in a cabinet full of food and don't see anything that I want to eat, I may just go to McDonalds and buy some food. We do this despite the fact that in other countries people don't even have cabinets much less food to put in those cabinets. However, the lack of resources isn't foreign to Americans either. Everyday you turn on the news and see someone robbing a bank or murdering someone at an ATM because they or their families may not have enough food to eat. It seems like everyone knows that lifestyle affects behavior because that's why the police hang around the poorest neighborhoods looking for crime. This is why the poorest neighborhoods always have the most crime. It's all based on lifestyle. When people have to they will kill, steal, and cheat their way into a better life. You can also see the transition that occurs when people change lifestyles. For example when someone who was once poor and then becomes a famous actor, their behavior changes. That's why people always say "Money changes people". People get rich and forget their humility and they believe that they're the best thing since sliced bread. This is why when women marry rich and powerful men, they sue for half the man's money even though they didn't really help him acquire any of that money because they've gotten accustomed to a certain lifestyle and do not want to go back to where they were. You never hear about women suing their electrician husband for half his money, they just get divorced and move on.
Still the question remains, what affects behavior besides culture and lifestyle?
Finally MTV Gets It Right
For once MTV puts on a teleivision program with some kind of merit. I won't win a daytime Emmy or anything, but it's something useful. No more my Super Sweet 16 that shows these bratty ass kids punishing mommy and daddy with their ridiculous birthday wishes. No more parental control where parents pick boys and girls for their sons and daughters to date so they'll get rid of their current boyfriend or girlfriend. The problem I had with that show is that the current boyfriend or girlfriend was always a jerk to the parents. They just let the kid sit there and badmouth them in their home, I would've thrown that kid out Uncle Phil style if that was my house. However, I'm getting off topic. The new program on MTV is called Sex With Mom And Dad it gives teenagers the opportunity to talk about their sexual behavior with their parents. This is the direction to go MTV. Parents have been waiting for a show like this and to put it on MTV, that practically seals the deal. Maybe kids will begin talking to their parents more about sex and parents will become more comfortable listening to their kids talk about sex.
Teenagers finally get to step up and say how they feel about sex as young adults and the parents get to stop all their preaching and finally tell the kids what's real about sex. This could open up better communication between parents and teens and maybe stop some of that overdramatic behavior that teens are notorious for. "You won't let me have any fun! You're ruining my life!"
Congrats MTV, you finally got it right.
Teenagers finally get to step up and say how they feel about sex as young adults and the parents get to stop all their preaching and finally tell the kids what's real about sex. This could open up better communication between parents and teens and maybe stop some of that overdramatic behavior that teens are notorious for. "You won't let me have any fun! You're ruining my life!"
Congrats MTV, you finally got it right.
Friday, September 26, 2008
I Couldn't Handle Being Famous... Or Could I?
I always joke around and say that I could be a comedian and that I'd be funny as hell for like three days until I run out of material. The more I started thinking about it, the more I'd be afraid to be a famous person though, I started thinking even more and I figured, I'd be the perfect candidate for fame.
I'm way too down to Earth to let money and fame change me. I know a lot of people say that, but then when they make money and get an image they start changing up and doing crazy stuff like jumping up and down on couches and driving with your baby on your lap in traffic. My whole thing is why do you judge them as celebrities? How did you know they weren't crazy before they got famous. That's why I'm saying I wouldn't change my image because if I become famous, it'll be MY image that got me famous. I want the world to see me not the me that's only in movies or on t.v.
That's why I love comedians because they have nothing to hide, they generally put themselves out there so much that if something incriminating comes out about them people are like.... yeah I knew that already anyways. I DO NOT know how to act. I don't mean act like acting in movies, I mean act as in I have no damn sense. I love to laugh and joke around and I wouldn't apologize for doing it. Hell I'm 23 years old, I love the opporunity to make a fool of myself, especially if there's a camera nearby. I'd probably by a papparazzi's wet dream. I think that's why funny people aren't really in the tabloids because they'd do ridiculous antics just so people would laugh.
So here is my disclaimer to Hollywood if I ever become famous... My name is Roderic Williams, I am a damn fool. I love to laugh and hang out with family and friends. My brother and I play fight and play pranks on one another, I don't care if I won an Oscar, my brother would probably tie my shoe strings together. I'm loud, not Chris Rock loud, but you walk in the library and every look at you like "Oh lord here come this motherfucker". My family goes where I go so don't invite me if you ain't got room for 25 people. I may have a sex tape during my career... especially if I introduce my brother to some women who may not actually be women, he may "just to get me back" hide a camera in my trailer and sell the tape for millions. So Hollywood I hope you know what you're getting yourself into if you make me famous because I'm already prepared for you.
-Roderic
I'm way too down to Earth to let money and fame change me. I know a lot of people say that, but then when they make money and get an image they start changing up and doing crazy stuff like jumping up and down on couches and driving with your baby on your lap in traffic. My whole thing is why do you judge them as celebrities? How did you know they weren't crazy before they got famous. That's why I'm saying I wouldn't change my image because if I become famous, it'll be MY image that got me famous. I want the world to see me not the me that's only in movies or on t.v.
That's why I love comedians because they have nothing to hide, they generally put themselves out there so much that if something incriminating comes out about them people are like.... yeah I knew that already anyways. I DO NOT know how to act. I don't mean act like acting in movies, I mean act as in I have no damn sense. I love to laugh and joke around and I wouldn't apologize for doing it. Hell I'm 23 years old, I love the opporunity to make a fool of myself, especially if there's a camera nearby. I'd probably by a papparazzi's wet dream. I think that's why funny people aren't really in the tabloids because they'd do ridiculous antics just so people would laugh.
So here is my disclaimer to Hollywood if I ever become famous... My name is Roderic Williams, I am a damn fool. I love to laugh and hang out with family and friends. My brother and I play fight and play pranks on one another, I don't care if I won an Oscar, my brother would probably tie my shoe strings together. I'm loud, not Chris Rock loud, but you walk in the library and every look at you like "Oh lord here come this motherfucker". My family goes where I go so don't invite me if you ain't got room for 25 people. I may have a sex tape during my career... especially if I introduce my brother to some women who may not actually be women, he may "just to get me back" hide a camera in my trailer and sell the tape for millions. So Hollywood I hope you know what you're getting yourself into if you make me famous because I'm already prepared for you.
-Roderic
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
"I'm a man!" Are you really?!?
I hear this everyday from so called men. yes I call you guys "so called men" because by my understanding of what a man is, you don't quite meet the criteria. Oooh, did I make some of you mad? Am I now considered weak or feminine because I can clearly point out the flaws in your statement and yet you find it so difficult to point out mine?
Well too bad!
Here's what i understand a man to be. Number one, a man can teach someone else to be a man. That disqualifies half of the so called men right off the bat since some of yall don't take care of the children you brought into this world. You know you can't teach it if you don't know it yourself and if you don't know how to man up and take care of your responsibilities then you can't call yourself a man. In fact some of these women are more of a man than yall so called men because they're doing your job better than you... my mom raised two boys as a single parent and we both turned out just fine, different, but fine (although, I'm waiting on the DNA tests to confirm that my brother is actually related to me).
Another thing about so called men is that they're so quick to point out that they're a man. I'm sorry but if you have to remind us about it that many times, you must have trouble believing it yourself.
Real men are gentlemen, sure they may be a little rough around the edges sometimes, but at the core we love women, not only as sexual tools, but as companions, friends, and family members.
Most men are stubborn. I don't mean stubborn in the sense that we don't want to hear what you're saying, but stubborn in the sense that we want to do everything. Men do have some pride issues, we can't ask for directions, we try to fix anything that breaks, and we try to work through pain and illness like it's nothing. If you're a so called man that has pride issues, you may be stubborn as well, but your stubbornness mainfests itself in different ways like ignoring your significant others' requests for help, arguing about things you neglected to do because you were out "being a man" whatever the hell that means, and thinking your way is ALWAYS the best way.
Now most real men have had their pride shattered, and I don't mean your girlfriend busting out a mapquest printout on you when you're stranded, but I mean your girl straight embarassing you at Thanksgiving dinner because your ass forgot to put the electric bill in the mailbox now you're eating frozen turkey. the difference between so called men and real men is that real men can take that shot to the ego and pull themselves back up. So called men refuse to accept responsibility for that because they know taking a shot to the ego will bring out the b*tch in them and expose them for what they are and remove the possiblity of them ever proclaiming to be a real man and bringing down the stock value of real men.
In fact, it's so many so called men posing as real men that women have begun to think that there's no good men around. Ladies, ladies, please don't fret, there are plenty of real men out there, just we're being drowned out by the so called men and there are far too many of yall for us to ever reach you all.
Don't worry though, the real men in the world will do their best to affect each and every one of yall's lives. I don't mean by sleeping with you either, that's a so called man's game. Real men influence lives by being a friend, brother, father, teacher, lover, confidante, a shoulder to cry on, one night stand (yes they do that too, but only for special instances, lol) you name it they do it!
Now I've taken personal care to try to remove myself from being in either group. I do this because I'm still growing as a person and I'm not going to point out that I'm a real man because I'm not there yet. A real man is what I aspire to be, see the difference between me and a so called man? A so called man would've said, "yeah I'm a real man I can do all the things i just pointed out" when they can't. I'm willing to do what i need to do to be the best man I can be, so I'll just say that I'm a real man in training. Lol.
If you read this and get upset... man up it's only an opinion and like assholes, everyone has one...
Well too bad!
Here's what i understand a man to be. Number one, a man can teach someone else to be a man. That disqualifies half of the so called men right off the bat since some of yall don't take care of the children you brought into this world. You know you can't teach it if you don't know it yourself and if you don't know how to man up and take care of your responsibilities then you can't call yourself a man. In fact some of these women are more of a man than yall so called men because they're doing your job better than you... my mom raised two boys as a single parent and we both turned out just fine, different, but fine (although, I'm waiting on the DNA tests to confirm that my brother is actually related to me).
Another thing about so called men is that they're so quick to point out that they're a man. I'm sorry but if you have to remind us about it that many times, you must have trouble believing it yourself.
Real men are gentlemen, sure they may be a little rough around the edges sometimes, but at the core we love women, not only as sexual tools, but as companions, friends, and family members.
Most men are stubborn. I don't mean stubborn in the sense that we don't want to hear what you're saying, but stubborn in the sense that we want to do everything. Men do have some pride issues, we can't ask for directions, we try to fix anything that breaks, and we try to work through pain and illness like it's nothing. If you're a so called man that has pride issues, you may be stubborn as well, but your stubbornness mainfests itself in different ways like ignoring your significant others' requests for help, arguing about things you neglected to do because you were out "being a man" whatever the hell that means, and thinking your way is ALWAYS the best way.
Now most real men have had their pride shattered, and I don't mean your girlfriend busting out a mapquest printout on you when you're stranded, but I mean your girl straight embarassing you at Thanksgiving dinner because your ass forgot to put the electric bill in the mailbox now you're eating frozen turkey. the difference between so called men and real men is that real men can take that shot to the ego and pull themselves back up. So called men refuse to accept responsibility for that because they know taking a shot to the ego will bring out the b*tch in them and expose them for what they are and remove the possiblity of them ever proclaiming to be a real man and bringing down the stock value of real men.
In fact, it's so many so called men posing as real men that women have begun to think that there's no good men around. Ladies, ladies, please don't fret, there are plenty of real men out there, just we're being drowned out by the so called men and there are far too many of yall for us to ever reach you all.
Don't worry though, the real men in the world will do their best to affect each and every one of yall's lives. I don't mean by sleeping with you either, that's a so called man's game. Real men influence lives by being a friend, brother, father, teacher, lover, confidante, a shoulder to cry on, one night stand (yes they do that too, but only for special instances, lol) you name it they do it!
Now I've taken personal care to try to remove myself from being in either group. I do this because I'm still growing as a person and I'm not going to point out that I'm a real man because I'm not there yet. A real man is what I aspire to be, see the difference between me and a so called man? A so called man would've said, "yeah I'm a real man I can do all the things i just pointed out" when they can't. I'm willing to do what i need to do to be the best man I can be, so I'll just say that I'm a real man in training. Lol.
If you read this and get upset... man up it's only an opinion and like assholes, everyone has one...
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Slow Cuts: The Heartbreak Edition
"Excuse Me Miss" but "Would You Mind" if I had a word with you. You see I've went "Seven Whole Days" without speaking to you and I think by this time I deserve some ''Feedback". You were "My first love" but "Lately" you've been "Unpredictable" and I think I know why. You see word on the street is that you're a "Naughty Girl" and you've been "Creepin" around town from "Hotels" to "Holidae Inns". Now "I know you don't love me" because you made a "Promise" to always be true. It "Hurts Like Hell" but "In the morning" I'll be alright because "What goes around comes around". Now all you can say is that you're sorry that you "Led Me On". Why don't you just get "Gone" because we're at the "End Of The Road" and I've already had my "One Last Cry". But baby, "If I had my way" we could "Work It Out" but I think I'm gonna be "Leaving Tonight". I hope that we can be "Together Again" "One Sweet Day" because "I Get So lonely" sometimes and I know all I gotta do is say "Ayo" and you're ready to go at "Anytime and Anyplace".
You had that "Whip Appeal" and you had me "Lovestoned" and "If Only You knew" how much "I Used to Love you" you'd go "Crazy". But right now I'm "So Sick" of "Love" so I'm gonna keep my "Love Locked Down" until you can be my "Angel". However, if that day never comes I'll be "On My Own" and "On Bended Knee" because "I can't help but wait".
You had that "Whip Appeal" and you had me "Lovestoned" and "If Only You knew" how much "I Used to Love you" you'd go "Crazy". But right now I'm "So Sick" of "Love" so I'm gonna keep my "Love Locked Down" until you can be my "Angel". However, if that day never comes I'll be "On My Own" and "On Bended Knee" because "I can't help but wait".
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Sexual Education In Schools
So another issue I think needs to be investigated is sexual education in schools. Okay now I know that most parents are very religious and strict and want this to be taught at home...I can understand that.
BUT what I don't understand is that once the child knows about it, what's the harm in learning more? If you teach your kid about the birds and the bees and you instill waiting til you get married and blah blah before having sex at like age 10, let's say. Then when the kid gets in high school they have sex ed, why not let the kid go? It's not an abstinence only class, for the most part, but they do preach abstinence. The argument just gets silly once the kid already knows about sex. What's the worst the could happen?
I mean... if you think about it, it's kind of hard to keep teenagers from having sex because teenagers are horny! They're filling out, getting curves and hair and having desires and whatnot, so eventually they're gonna get curious. If you were the irresponsible parent that didn't tell your child about condoms, knowing that sex is damn near everywhere nowadays, this isn't the 50's. Then if your child goes out and gets pregnant or gets someone else pregnant because they had sex without a condom, who you gonna blame?
I'm sorry, but as long as kids have to sit and listen about the War of 1812, kids should be allowed to learn about sex. At least you know they'll be paying attention...
The only thing I'm kinda against is them teaching it in school so early, maturity wise 4th graders aren't ready to hear about that kind of stuff. That was my first time having sexual education in the 4th grade. I was about 8 years old, and I laughed and giggled all throughout the class. I say at least wait til like 8th grade before you bring sexual education around. 8th graders aren't the most mature people, but they're better able to identify with what's going on than with 4th and 5th graders. Around 7th and 8th grade is when all those changes start happening for boys and girls anyway, so it's only natural that they'd have questions and everything, that would be the perfect opportunity to teach them about what's happening and everything.
So... my vote is to keep sex ed in schools, let the teachers and kids have fun with it, just start it a lil later.
BUT what I don't understand is that once the child knows about it, what's the harm in learning more? If you teach your kid about the birds and the bees and you instill waiting til you get married and blah blah before having sex at like age 10, let's say. Then when the kid gets in high school they have sex ed, why not let the kid go? It's not an abstinence only class, for the most part, but they do preach abstinence. The argument just gets silly once the kid already knows about sex. What's the worst the could happen?
I mean... if you think about it, it's kind of hard to keep teenagers from having sex because teenagers are horny! They're filling out, getting curves and hair and having desires and whatnot, so eventually they're gonna get curious. If you were the irresponsible parent that didn't tell your child about condoms, knowing that sex is damn near everywhere nowadays, this isn't the 50's. Then if your child goes out and gets pregnant or gets someone else pregnant because they had sex without a condom, who you gonna blame?
I'm sorry, but as long as kids have to sit and listen about the War of 1812, kids should be allowed to learn about sex. At least you know they'll be paying attention...
The only thing I'm kinda against is them teaching it in school so early, maturity wise 4th graders aren't ready to hear about that kind of stuff. That was my first time having sexual education in the 4th grade. I was about 8 years old, and I laughed and giggled all throughout the class. I say at least wait til like 8th grade before you bring sexual education around. 8th graders aren't the most mature people, but they're better able to identify with what's going on than with 4th and 5th graders. Around 7th and 8th grade is when all those changes start happening for boys and girls anyway, so it's only natural that they'd have questions and everything, that would be the perfect opportunity to teach them about what's happening and everything.
So... my vote is to keep sex ed in schools, let the teachers and kids have fun with it, just start it a lil later.
Monday, September 1, 2008
You Can't Be Nice To Everyone...
I try to be polite and courteous to everyone I meet. I am very welcoming and try to entertain those that I meet. I used to take it hard when people didn't like me or had something negative to say about me because I pride myself on being the guy that everyone likes. That is... until i found out that you can't please everyone.
There's always going to be someone who hates you for something, be it something you've done purposely or something you have no control over. People may be racist, may not like your voice or smell, or they just may think you're a chump and want to mess with you.
Let's investigate some of these people that no matter what you do, it's damn near impossible to be nice to.
Racists. This is a group of people that hate other people just because of how they were born. Ironically, racism isn't prejudice, anybody can be racist. Most of the time it has to do with their upbringing and life experiences, but everyone you encounter isn't from your past and it's ignorant to assume that every person is the same because of their color. I look at it like this, different brands of crayons are different, just because Brand A's Brown crayon broke everytime you colored with it doesn't mean Brand B's Brown crayon will break. I know the noble thing to do is try to educate these people on how different things are, but honestly, you can't save everyone.
Bullies. I'm not saying a dedicated authority figure can't work with a bully, but if you're being targeted by a bully, it's damn near impossible to be nice to them. Bullies prey on those that they think are weak or who have something that they want. It's an inferiority complex, they don't want to be seen as lacking in any aspect so they have to use their physicality to compensate for their shortcomings.
Drama Queens. Sure, most of the time they're moderately mellow, but who can predict when these time bombs will explode all over the place in a nuclear meltdown of emotions and tears and blaming you for "ruining her life". It's best to try to avoid this occurrence at any cost. You never know when the politest gesture may be misconstrued as the death blow to her reputation.
Your Boss. In a personal setting, I'm not saying it'd be impossible to be friendly to your boss. It's a known fact that 85% of all bosses are jerks. Regardless of the industry, it's known across all borders. We all know the promise we make to ourselves that if we ever become the boss that we'll never be like our boss was to us, but then you start looking at things differently when you're being held responsible for everything in your business. So, you have to become a jerk, therein making you damn near impossible to be nice to.
Police Officers. I'm not saying don't be respectful to them because that's how people get beat or shot. Show them all the respect in the world, but don't think that they're the type to be nice to. It's a simple fact that police are shifty and not saying ALL cops are criminal, but due to the overpowering corruption in the law enforcement field, it's hard to tell who's on your side. So you never know who you're getting, the cool cop who's trying to eliminate corruption or the cool cop who's corrupt, but is only cool as to avoid detection from his superiors. Don't get me wrong, it's not all the cops' fault that people don't trust the police. With all these criminals, putting their lives on the line, and the social isolation that comes with being a policeman/woman, it's arguably understandable that you'd be a prick, but come on... they're not making friends with the whole traffic stop encounter. That's where the majority of people have interactions with the police. I think a more united effort to help the communities without all the racial profiling, itchy trigger finger, drug running, money hungry tendencies would make for a better cop-consumer relationship.
Just my thoughts...let me know how you feel.
There's always going to be someone who hates you for something, be it something you've done purposely or something you have no control over. People may be racist, may not like your voice or smell, or they just may think you're a chump and want to mess with you.
Let's investigate some of these people that no matter what you do, it's damn near impossible to be nice to.
Racists. This is a group of people that hate other people just because of how they were born. Ironically, racism isn't prejudice, anybody can be racist. Most of the time it has to do with their upbringing and life experiences, but everyone you encounter isn't from your past and it's ignorant to assume that every person is the same because of their color. I look at it like this, different brands of crayons are different, just because Brand A's Brown crayon broke everytime you colored with it doesn't mean Brand B's Brown crayon will break. I know the noble thing to do is try to educate these people on how different things are, but honestly, you can't save everyone.
Bullies. I'm not saying a dedicated authority figure can't work with a bully, but if you're being targeted by a bully, it's damn near impossible to be nice to them. Bullies prey on those that they think are weak or who have something that they want. It's an inferiority complex, they don't want to be seen as lacking in any aspect so they have to use their physicality to compensate for their shortcomings.
Drama Queens. Sure, most of the time they're moderately mellow, but who can predict when these time bombs will explode all over the place in a nuclear meltdown of emotions and tears and blaming you for "ruining her life". It's best to try to avoid this occurrence at any cost. You never know when the politest gesture may be misconstrued as the death blow to her reputation.
Your Boss. In a personal setting, I'm not saying it'd be impossible to be friendly to your boss. It's a known fact that 85% of all bosses are jerks. Regardless of the industry, it's known across all borders. We all know the promise we make to ourselves that if we ever become the boss that we'll never be like our boss was to us, but then you start looking at things differently when you're being held responsible for everything in your business. So, you have to become a jerk, therein making you damn near impossible to be nice to.
Police Officers. I'm not saying don't be respectful to them because that's how people get beat or shot. Show them all the respect in the world, but don't think that they're the type to be nice to. It's a simple fact that police are shifty and not saying ALL cops are criminal, but due to the overpowering corruption in the law enforcement field, it's hard to tell who's on your side. So you never know who you're getting, the cool cop who's trying to eliminate corruption or the cool cop who's corrupt, but is only cool as to avoid detection from his superiors. Don't get me wrong, it's not all the cops' fault that people don't trust the police. With all these criminals, putting their lives on the line, and the social isolation that comes with being a policeman/woman, it's arguably understandable that you'd be a prick, but come on... they're not making friends with the whole traffic stop encounter. That's where the majority of people have interactions with the police. I think a more united effort to help the communities without all the racial profiling, itchy trigger finger, drug running, money hungry tendencies would make for a better cop-consumer relationship.
Just my thoughts...let me know how you feel.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Why Are Celebrities In The Top News?
People love celebrities. We breathe in what they do and say like it gives us life! Why the hell Paris Hilton is on CNN though, I'll never fully understand. It seems like we have to revert back to childhood doesn't it? Is CNN not a reputable enough news source that it doesn't have to put media spectacles like Paris Hilton in it's program? With all that's going on in the world of politics, foreign policy, society, have CNN nothing better to post than Paris Hilton's exit from jail? Did a story get pulled at the last minute for being to "brave" to be put on the news? So in the emergency filler time they cut to Paris Hilton?
If I want celebrity news, I'll turn to E! When I watch CNN I want to see more people of merit on the news. Now I'm not saying that all celebrities on the top news are misplaced. Some deserve their spotlight. I loved when Kathy Griffin hosted Larry King Live and had her special about the papparazzi because that's something that's important not only to celebrities, but to the people that look up to celebrities. Seeing your favorite celebrity in a compromising photo is like kryptonite to a fan. I loved the tribute they did to Bernie Mac when he died, I thought that was very well deserved. I; however, do not want to see Britney Spears' stories every fifteen minutes on my local news channel when there are so many more important issues going on in the world.
I love a good gossip story like any other person, but can we get back to the issues at hand please?
-Roderic
If I want celebrity news, I'll turn to E! When I watch CNN I want to see more people of merit on the news. Now I'm not saying that all celebrities on the top news are misplaced. Some deserve their spotlight. I loved when Kathy Griffin hosted Larry King Live and had her special about the papparazzi because that's something that's important not only to celebrities, but to the people that look up to celebrities. Seeing your favorite celebrity in a compromising photo is like kryptonite to a fan. I loved the tribute they did to Bernie Mac when he died, I thought that was very well deserved. I; however, do not want to see Britney Spears' stories every fifteen minutes on my local news channel when there are so many more important issues going on in the world.
I love a good gossip story like any other person, but can we get back to the issues at hand please?
-Roderic
Racial Profiling Used To Help Capture Criminals...Are You SERIOUS?!
I recently read an article defending racial profiling to capture criminals. They say it's not about racism, it's more so about the fact that certain races are deprived economically and live in poverty and where you find poverty, you ultimately find crime. I say that's crap. It's true that people who live in poverty are more likely to commit a crime, but it's ridiculous to use race as a factor in trying to find criminals. There are people in poverty in every race, what kind of bull is that? Saying that okay these poor black, latino, or asian people may be criminals, but were going to ignore the white poor people because they don't usually commit crimes. I can see if you're going to use economi$c status as a factor, that'd be less offensive. I mean it's still BS to subject the less fortunate to such scrutiny, but that's able to be defended better than racial profiling.
Instead of viewing the poor and less fortunate as potential criminals, why don't we as a society try to help those who are less fortunate, therefore reducing the crime rate because we won't have as many people in the lower socioeconomic status. How can we as a people even defend using race as a basis to catch criminals. I could see that being possible if all the criminals in the world were a single race, but crime knows no race, creed, or sex. If you put ten people in a line there's a 1 in 10 chance you'll find a criminal. However, based on crime statistics, if you have a black male, you'll have a higher chance of finding a criminal.
They're building jails right now for 3rd grade african-american males. You think I'm joking? The government would rather spend money on a prison for 3rd grade african-american males, no more than 7-8 years old than to use that money for programs to help African-American males. I tell you what... find an old grandmother and give her that same money and I guarantee she'll use that money that was used to house a potential prisoner and produce a lawyer or a police officer.
Am I the only one outraged here? I have cousins in the 3rd grade, I'll be damned if I let you spend the money I pay every paycheck to taxes to build a prison for my cousins. Give me my money back!
-Roderic
Instead of viewing the poor and less fortunate as potential criminals, why don't we as a society try to help those who are less fortunate, therefore reducing the crime rate because we won't have as many people in the lower socioeconomic status. How can we as a people even defend using race as a basis to catch criminals. I could see that being possible if all the criminals in the world were a single race, but crime knows no race, creed, or sex. If you put ten people in a line there's a 1 in 10 chance you'll find a criminal. However, based on crime statistics, if you have a black male, you'll have a higher chance of finding a criminal.
They're building jails right now for 3rd grade african-american males. You think I'm joking? The government would rather spend money on a prison for 3rd grade african-american males, no more than 7-8 years old than to use that money for programs to help African-American males. I tell you what... find an old grandmother and give her that same money and I guarantee she'll use that money that was used to house a potential prisoner and produce a lawyer or a police officer.
Am I the only one outraged here? I have cousins in the 3rd grade, I'll be damned if I let you spend the money I pay every paycheck to taxes to build a prison for my cousins. Give me my money back!
-Roderic
Gay Marriage....GASP!
Okay, Here are my thoughts on gay marriage. I'm not homosexual, not that it matters, my points are still going to be valid whether I am or not.
Okay I believe that homosexuals have every right to get married. Hell, if a man and a woman that hate each other can get married, then two people that love each other should also be able to get married. We have people who get married after a crazy night in Vegas, very irresponsibly, and we have the nerve to preach the sanctity of marriage. We have Drive-Thru marriages in Vegas, how sacred is that shit? "Welcome to Chapel Hut can I interest you in our two for one special?"
Give me a break... what's the worst that could happen if we let them get married? They already have rights and can vote, what else could go wrong if we let them get married? Afraid all the guys and girls on the downlow are going to leave their boyfriends and girlfriends and get married to the same sex? Kind of like how people think legalizing drugs will make people more likely to do them. Trust me, I've never tried heroin or had sex with a man... if you legalize gay marriage or heroin I'm not going to try them that's the bottom line. (I'm not comparing gays to drugs or trying to subliminally say that gay marriage is equal to doing heroin either, just to clear that up for anyone who might get misconstrued there).
In my class I had a debate with a woman about gay marriage. She said that the gay's should just be able to live together and that should be good enough for them. I was like wait wait wait... so it's good enough for gay's to remain stagnant but not for a woman and a man? How many men have been pressured by their women to get married and the guy is like "What's the rush to getting married, we already live together, nothing's going to change". So it's acceptable for gay's not to have one of the most special moments in a person's life recognized? As much bullshit freedom we allow in this country? We're starting to become the same stuck up nation that our "founding fathers" left their old home for. We're all about eliminating persecution and religious freedom and blah blah, but we're quick to cite the Bible when it comes to issues we don't want to deal with. The Bible says a lot of shit. It says that money is the root of all evil, but we build banks and casinos like houses! People go to college so they can get a great paying job. The Bible says thou shall not kill, but it also says an eye for an eye. Thou shall not commit adultery... "You ARE the father!" or... Cheaters? Anyone? So let's not quote the Bible for that shit. What's the real issue concerning gay marriage? Are people just afraid? Like they were about giving blacks their freedom. You afraid that it's going to upset the established order? Well be a man or woman about yall's shit and say exactly what you feel... sure you may get impeached or fired, but I'd rather someone be a vocal bigot than smile in my face and talk about me when I walk by.
People also always claim that gay marriage may lead to people marrying animals. Are you serious?!? PETA would be all over that shit. You definitely wouldn't be able to abuse your spouse if you married an animal. And besides... who the hell is going to speak for the animals? Animals can't communicate with humans. There is not going to be a dog at a press conference saying, yes I love this woman and her peanut butter and we want to get married. So the argument for that is just ridiculous. There are no animals advocating to get married to humans so tell me how that's going to happen?
The children issue is another problem. People don't think two men or two women should raise a child, but more importantly two men. Look... I've seen a man and a woman fuck up a child. I work with children. Some kids there have a mom and dad and anytime the parents come see the child, they make the kid worse. Now... how bad can gay's fuck up? Parents molest their children, parents kill their children, parents neglect and abuse their children. One man, one woman or two women it doesn't matter, if you're not fit to be a parent you're not fit to be a parent! Do people think that gay parents will raise their children to be gay and eventually it will be the end of all humanity?! Well you know what... there are many threats to humanity... deal with it.
Well... that's quite the post, very controversial I should say. Have at it People!
-Roderic
Okay I believe that homosexuals have every right to get married. Hell, if a man and a woman that hate each other can get married, then two people that love each other should also be able to get married. We have people who get married after a crazy night in Vegas, very irresponsibly, and we have the nerve to preach the sanctity of marriage. We have Drive-Thru marriages in Vegas, how sacred is that shit? "Welcome to Chapel Hut can I interest you in our two for one special?"
Give me a break... what's the worst that could happen if we let them get married? They already have rights and can vote, what else could go wrong if we let them get married? Afraid all the guys and girls on the downlow are going to leave their boyfriends and girlfriends and get married to the same sex? Kind of like how people think legalizing drugs will make people more likely to do them. Trust me, I've never tried heroin or had sex with a man... if you legalize gay marriage or heroin I'm not going to try them that's the bottom line. (I'm not comparing gays to drugs or trying to subliminally say that gay marriage is equal to doing heroin either, just to clear that up for anyone who might get misconstrued there).
In my class I had a debate with a woman about gay marriage. She said that the gay's should just be able to live together and that should be good enough for them. I was like wait wait wait... so it's good enough for gay's to remain stagnant but not for a woman and a man? How many men have been pressured by their women to get married and the guy is like "What's the rush to getting married, we already live together, nothing's going to change". So it's acceptable for gay's not to have one of the most special moments in a person's life recognized? As much bullshit freedom we allow in this country? We're starting to become the same stuck up nation that our "founding fathers" left their old home for. We're all about eliminating persecution and religious freedom and blah blah, but we're quick to cite the Bible when it comes to issues we don't want to deal with. The Bible says a lot of shit. It says that money is the root of all evil, but we build banks and casinos like houses! People go to college so they can get a great paying job. The Bible says thou shall not kill, but it also says an eye for an eye. Thou shall not commit adultery... "You ARE the father!" or... Cheaters? Anyone? So let's not quote the Bible for that shit. What's the real issue concerning gay marriage? Are people just afraid? Like they were about giving blacks their freedom. You afraid that it's going to upset the established order? Well be a man or woman about yall's shit and say exactly what you feel... sure you may get impeached or fired, but I'd rather someone be a vocal bigot than smile in my face and talk about me when I walk by.
People also always claim that gay marriage may lead to people marrying animals. Are you serious?!? PETA would be all over that shit. You definitely wouldn't be able to abuse your spouse if you married an animal. And besides... who the hell is going to speak for the animals? Animals can't communicate with humans. There is not going to be a dog at a press conference saying, yes I love this woman and her peanut butter and we want to get married. So the argument for that is just ridiculous. There are no animals advocating to get married to humans so tell me how that's going to happen?
The children issue is another problem. People don't think two men or two women should raise a child, but more importantly two men. Look... I've seen a man and a woman fuck up a child. I work with children. Some kids there have a mom and dad and anytime the parents come see the child, they make the kid worse. Now... how bad can gay's fuck up? Parents molest their children, parents kill their children, parents neglect and abuse their children. One man, one woman or two women it doesn't matter, if you're not fit to be a parent you're not fit to be a parent! Do people think that gay parents will raise their children to be gay and eventually it will be the end of all humanity?! Well you know what... there are many threats to humanity... deal with it.
Well... that's quite the post, very controversial I should say. Have at it People!
-Roderic
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Is Chivalry Dead?
Opening the car door for you, pulling out your chair, holding the door open for you, and putting his jacket on your shoulder when it's chilly. When's the last time a guy did this for you without you asking? Now for some of you, it's been awhile since you've dated someone, so your last experience doesn't really count as it's gonna make it seem like chivalry is indeed dead.
I'm here to say today... that chivalry is not dead! It's merely in hiding. It's so unool to be a gentleman today, it's all about what you have, material possessions, and how much money you make that guys and ladies don't sit back and appreciate the little things that attract them to guys. Forget the blinding pinky ring, all that's gonna do is blcok your vision and make you run into the door of the restaurant that he didn't hold open for you.
We need to reeducate the guys to let them know that the way to a girl's heart isn't through your wallet. I mean it would help a situation if the door you held open for her was to a nice restaurant and not Mickey D's. I know today it's all about being tough and masculine. The media has made it real cool for dudes to say "bitch get in my car" and by the way... you're gonna have to open the door yourself.
I think Farnsworth Bentley and Jamie Foxx have it going with this gentleman's movement though. It looks like that being a gentleman is coming back into "style" I should say. So we'll see if chivalry makes a reappearance.
I'm here to say today... that chivalry is not dead! It's merely in hiding. It's so unool to be a gentleman today, it's all about what you have, material possessions, and how much money you make that guys and ladies don't sit back and appreciate the little things that attract them to guys. Forget the blinding pinky ring, all that's gonna do is blcok your vision and make you run into the door of the restaurant that he didn't hold open for you.
We need to reeducate the guys to let them know that the way to a girl's heart isn't through your wallet. I mean it would help a situation if the door you held open for her was to a nice restaurant and not Mickey D's. I know today it's all about being tough and masculine. The media has made it real cool for dudes to say "bitch get in my car" and by the way... you're gonna have to open the door yourself.
I think Farnsworth Bentley and Jamie Foxx have it going with this gentleman's movement though. It looks like that being a gentleman is coming back into "style" I should say. So we'll see if chivalry makes a reappearance.
The Time Is Now
The time for procrastination is over people. The most important election in our generation is coming up in November. Those who aren't registered to vote have until October to do so. I'm talking to all you 18 and over out there. If you don't know how crucial this election is then I suggest you talk to someone who's over 40 and see what they say. I was talking to my coworker today and he told me that he thought he'd never see the day where there was a possibility to be a black president. He thought he'd die never seeing the day that a black man had a serious chance at becoming president. So I'm doing my part to educate everyone I know to get out there and vote. I won't go as far as to tell you who to vote for, I wish I could, but I won't hate you as much as I would if you didn't vote at all.
Let's not have a repeat of 2000 everyone when the election was stolen. We definitely won't fall for that shit twice.
Let's not have another 43 presidents come and go before we finally start taking this seriously people.
-think... It ain't illegal yet
Let's not have a repeat of 2000 everyone when the election was stolen. We definitely won't fall for that shit twice.
Let's not have another 43 presidents come and go before we finally start taking this seriously people.
-think... It ain't illegal yet
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Do You Believe In Love At First Sight? Well Get Your Eyes Checked!
The all time argument, love at first sight. Does it exist? I say no, others say yes, but really... most people are self-conscious about kissing on the first date are you going to tell me that you believe in love at first sight? I definitely believe in lust at first sight. You can meet someone and instantly have that animal attraction to them that over time can develop into love and that's where some people make their mistake. I'm not saying you can't meet someone one night and then fall in love with them over a period of time, but just based on sight? Is there a vision test required to have love at first sight? What if you wear glasses? What if you've been drinking? What if you're blind!? Does the dog notice the person for the blind guy? Anyways... I've gone too far off topic. Back to my point....
So I don't think you can say you've found love at first sight. ALTHOUGH! Statistics show us that the number one indicator of lasting relationships is physical attraction. So... seeing someone that you find attractive will give you the fortitude to ask that person out and in doing so can lead to love. So maybe the saying should be changed to something else. I thought I was clever enough to think of a saying, but I'm drawing a blank. Oh how about "Love after first sight."
It's not catchy, but who knows...
So I don't think you can say you've found love at first sight. ALTHOUGH! Statistics show us that the number one indicator of lasting relationships is physical attraction. So... seeing someone that you find attractive will give you the fortitude to ask that person out and in doing so can lead to love. So maybe the saying should be changed to something else. I thought I was clever enough to think of a saying, but I'm drawing a blank. Oh how about "Love after first sight."
It's not catchy, but who knows...
Horror Movie Directors
I just finished watching black christmas and yeah, it was the worst horror movie I've ever seen.
I came to the realization that horror movie directors don't have black friends. If a horror movie director told his black friend about a horror movie he/she was making I bet the black friend would have alot to say about it.
Let's say there's a group of people in a horror situation like stuck inside the house while the killer is outside. Instead of everyone staying together wherever they go what do they do? Send one or two people to go find their cell phone or go turn on the power. A black person would be like nuh uh you can't do that cause I know damn well people ain't that dumb.
If you know there's a killer somewhere near you, why the hell you gonna go somewhere that's closed in like an attic or basement knowing the killer is some kind of brilliant architect and can navigate through the house better than you. I'd stay in a well lit room with a baseball bat, knife, gun, whatever I could find until the cops came. Or until it became daylight...why the hell you gonna try to leave at night? The killer can SEE you! Even if it's a snow storm at night, YES! he still can see you. Even though he has a mask that only has cutouts for the eyes he can still see you on the side of him.
Horror movie villains are supernatural! They have all the beastest (word?) attributes and never die like the first 3 times. I mean shit...Neve Campbell shot the killer in the head in both Scream movies and it still became a trilogy... the killers never die! how many times have people killed Freddy or Jason or Mike Meyers? Shit... Jason was still alive in the future after hundreds of years! It was like 2195 in Jason X.
I mean...even the black people that are in horror movies must know that they're gonna die. They killed Samuel L. Jackson, Jada Pinkett, Omar Epps, Brandy, and Mekhi Phifer in horror movies so you know if you're a no name actor you're history within the first 15 minutes of the movie. Like I know these actors/actresses only did the movie for the check because I know they had to have looked at the script and be like..."So....I'ma stand near a big ass pool of water knowing there's a shark loose? nah playa that's not me... I'ma catch yall around the way."
Like I know black actors hafta be mad too because they're the most cautious people in the movie and they still die! I know the white people are like "Shit jamal how'd he get you in that bank vault? I walked right to the noise and didn't get a scratch."
If there were ever a horror movie with all black people in it, they'd either all die within the first 5 minutes or have all they baby's daddy's come there and shoot the killer. The killers ain't stupid either, they know ain't no black person with a gun gonna be at "Crystal Lake". They know this and that's why they stay clear of black neighborhoods. There was one movie Leprechaun in the hood, but my blackness didn't allow me to rent that.
All that from one bad horror movie...
I came to the realization that horror movie directors don't have black friends. If a horror movie director told his black friend about a horror movie he/she was making I bet the black friend would have alot to say about it.
Let's say there's a group of people in a horror situation like stuck inside the house while the killer is outside. Instead of everyone staying together wherever they go what do they do? Send one or two people to go find their cell phone or go turn on the power. A black person would be like nuh uh you can't do that cause I know damn well people ain't that dumb.
If you know there's a killer somewhere near you, why the hell you gonna go somewhere that's closed in like an attic or basement knowing the killer is some kind of brilliant architect and can navigate through the house better than you. I'd stay in a well lit room with a baseball bat, knife, gun, whatever I could find until the cops came. Or until it became daylight...why the hell you gonna try to leave at night? The killer can SEE you! Even if it's a snow storm at night, YES! he still can see you. Even though he has a mask that only has cutouts for the eyes he can still see you on the side of him.
Horror movie villains are supernatural! They have all the beastest (word?) attributes and never die like the first 3 times. I mean shit...Neve Campbell shot the killer in the head in both Scream movies and it still became a trilogy... the killers never die! how many times have people killed Freddy or Jason or Mike Meyers? Shit... Jason was still alive in the future after hundreds of years! It was like 2195 in Jason X.
I mean...even the black people that are in horror movies must know that they're gonna die. They killed Samuel L. Jackson, Jada Pinkett, Omar Epps, Brandy, and Mekhi Phifer in horror movies so you know if you're a no name actor you're history within the first 15 minutes of the movie. Like I know these actors/actresses only did the movie for the check because I know they had to have looked at the script and be like..."So....I'ma stand near a big ass pool of water knowing there's a shark loose? nah playa that's not me... I'ma catch yall around the way."
Like I know black actors hafta be mad too because they're the most cautious people in the movie and they still die! I know the white people are like "Shit jamal how'd he get you in that bank vault? I walked right to the noise and didn't get a scratch."
If there were ever a horror movie with all black people in it, they'd either all die within the first 5 minutes or have all they baby's daddy's come there and shoot the killer. The killers ain't stupid either, they know ain't no black person with a gun gonna be at "Crystal Lake". They know this and that's why they stay clear of black neighborhoods. There was one movie Leprechaun in the hood, but my blackness didn't allow me to rent that.
All that from one bad horror movie...
Politicians Aren't That Different From Rappers
So I'm sitting here listening to Nas' cd and just laughing at the comparisons that politicians and rappers have even though they diss each other all the time it could be because they're so similar that they're scared someone like me will come along and point out how alike they are, kind of like brothers who everybody says they look alike, but they always say they look nothing alike. Anyways, enough metaphors let's get into my argument shall we?
1. Politicians represent their respective states much like rappers. There's the southern rappers and politicians with their southern hospitality and there's the brash notherners, then there's the east coast and west coast politicians and rappers.
2. Politicians succeed by how many endorsements they have. Much like rappers who get pepsi or coke deals and influence another audience of people.
3. Rappers and politicians go on tour. Politicians visit around the world speaking their cause as do rappers. They travel around the world rapping their cause. The papparazzi love rappers and politicians too.
4. It's all about money and votes. Politicians are more successful depending on how much money they raise and how many people vote for them. Rappers are more successful when they have money and people buy their records.
5. Also, it's all about results. If a politician or rapper comes out saying all this stuff then they have to follow it up with a great product be it a hot album or new Bills being passed to help the people. The pressure is always on for a hotter album/ product too.
6. Politicians diss each other just like rappers. How many times have you seen the negative ads on television about McCain supporting high gas prices or Obama not having foreign experience. Paid for by John McCain or Barack Obama. Much like rappers dissing each other to prove that they're better than the other rapper.
7. The people ultimately choose who's wordplay is the best. If a rapper's album is better than another rapper's album, then that rapper will be the top selling artist based on how many people buy their albums. For politicians it's the people that vote for them to determine who's the best.
8. It's all about fly cars, helicopters, private jets, fancy food, and big ass houses. Think about it... every rich rapper claims to have a G5 jet, the newest Maybach, and a 30 room mansion. MTV cribs everybody! Look at politicians, the president has Air Force One, a limo everywhere he goes, and the white house has about 33 rooms. I wouldn't be surprised if I saw Bill Clinton on Cribs when he was President, that'd just set it off for me.
9. East Coast and West Coast Rivalry is like the Republicans and Democrats. (Think Biggie and Pac and McCain and Obama) But of course, there's always someone from your side trying to bring you down so that they can take your spot (Think Hillary vs. Obama). the coasts and politicians are only as strong as who they have representing them though. Remember after Pac and Biggie died how the rap world kind of fell back for a bit until someone new emerged? That's kind of how the last election was with Bush and Kerry. Alot of People didn't like Bush, but nobody really could get behind Kerry cause he wasn't charismatic enough.
10. Everything is about your camp, your crew, your party. Politics and Rap are very cliquish. The President's cabinet is nothing but his buddies, can anybody say Gggggg-Unit! Or Wu-Tang!
11. Rappers and politicians can't stand when someone threatens or hurts one of their own. Nas says that "If they take one of mine, We gonna take one of theirs, We'll never break the oath til the death I swear". This is similar to what happened with 9/11. they took some of ours so we went to war and took some of theirs.
12. It's also a fact that Politcians and Rappers can't resist groupies. Look at Clinton, Edwards, Kennedy, Spitzer. They all fooled around with prostitutes, interns, actresses, etc. Just like rappers who screw the video girls.
13. Finally, the friends of the rapper or politician reap all the benefits. Look at hypemen who get to go on the road, eat in fancy restaurants, wear the best clothes and sleep with all the women all cause they know that dude! Similar to politicians giving their friends high paying jobs or "pardoning" people who've been caught.
Those are some of the similarities they have, but again like rappers, politicians work the best when they collaborate rather than compete. Some of my favorite songs are collaborations, not diss records. People perform better when they have healthy competition rather than negative competition.
Think People!
1. Politicians represent their respective states much like rappers. There's the southern rappers and politicians with their southern hospitality and there's the brash notherners, then there's the east coast and west coast politicians and rappers.
2. Politicians succeed by how many endorsements they have. Much like rappers who get pepsi or coke deals and influence another audience of people.
3. Rappers and politicians go on tour. Politicians visit around the world speaking their cause as do rappers. They travel around the world rapping their cause. The papparazzi love rappers and politicians too.
4. It's all about money and votes. Politicians are more successful depending on how much money they raise and how many people vote for them. Rappers are more successful when they have money and people buy their records.
5. Also, it's all about results. If a politician or rapper comes out saying all this stuff then they have to follow it up with a great product be it a hot album or new Bills being passed to help the people. The pressure is always on for a hotter album/ product too.
6. Politicians diss each other just like rappers. How many times have you seen the negative ads on television about McCain supporting high gas prices or Obama not having foreign experience. Paid for by John McCain or Barack Obama. Much like rappers dissing each other to prove that they're better than the other rapper.
7. The people ultimately choose who's wordplay is the best. If a rapper's album is better than another rapper's album, then that rapper will be the top selling artist based on how many people buy their albums. For politicians it's the people that vote for them to determine who's the best.
8. It's all about fly cars, helicopters, private jets, fancy food, and big ass houses. Think about it... every rich rapper claims to have a G5 jet, the newest Maybach, and a 30 room mansion. MTV cribs everybody! Look at politicians, the president has Air Force One, a limo everywhere he goes, and the white house has about 33 rooms. I wouldn't be surprised if I saw Bill Clinton on Cribs when he was President, that'd just set it off for me.
9. East Coast and West Coast Rivalry is like the Republicans and Democrats. (Think Biggie and Pac and McCain and Obama) But of course, there's always someone from your side trying to bring you down so that they can take your spot (Think Hillary vs. Obama). the coasts and politicians are only as strong as who they have representing them though. Remember after Pac and Biggie died how the rap world kind of fell back for a bit until someone new emerged? That's kind of how the last election was with Bush and Kerry. Alot of People didn't like Bush, but nobody really could get behind Kerry cause he wasn't charismatic enough.
10. Everything is about your camp, your crew, your party. Politics and Rap are very cliquish. The President's cabinet is nothing but his buddies, can anybody say Gggggg-Unit! Or Wu-Tang!
11. Rappers and politicians can't stand when someone threatens or hurts one of their own. Nas says that "If they take one of mine, We gonna take one of theirs, We'll never break the oath til the death I swear". This is similar to what happened with 9/11. they took some of ours so we went to war and took some of theirs.
12. It's also a fact that Politcians and Rappers can't resist groupies. Look at Clinton, Edwards, Kennedy, Spitzer. They all fooled around with prostitutes, interns, actresses, etc. Just like rappers who screw the video girls.
13. Finally, the friends of the rapper or politician reap all the benefits. Look at hypemen who get to go on the road, eat in fancy restaurants, wear the best clothes and sleep with all the women all cause they know that dude! Similar to politicians giving their friends high paying jobs or "pardoning" people who've been caught.
Those are some of the similarities they have, but again like rappers, politicians work the best when they collaborate rather than compete. Some of my favorite songs are collaborations, not diss records. People perform better when they have healthy competition rather than negative competition.
Think People!
It's Not Enough For A Man To Merely Own The World
No no sir! It's not enough for a man to possess the whole world, he has to make sure everyone else knows he owns the world.
Think about it. You don't feel complete if you win something unless you talk shit afterwards. What's the best feeling to a person who just blocked a shot in a basketball game? The scream afterwards! That sets everything off... When you feel that ball hit the palm of your hand and you slam it into the 6th row of bleachers, if you don't scream like you're trying to blow the roof off the arena, you won't feel fulfilled.
The point I'm making is that people love to brag. Whether it's about getting straight A's on your report card (which I did this Summer) or cleaning your plate when you're 4 years old and asking your mommy if you're a big boy!
People claim that they are modest, nobody is "really" modest, we all want to brag about something. Whether we're trying to prove we're better than someone, trying to humiliate someone, or just trying to prove that we're not worthless to ourselves.. We love to run our mouths about accomplishments, achievements, and promotions.
Také facebook as a prime example... Look a the past ten statuses from your friends and see how many of them are bragging about what they have or what they're about to do. Socially, facebook is a digital slap in the face for anyone who's done anything wrong to anybody. How many times have you dissed your boyfriend or girlfriend or best friend or worst enemy with a clever facebook status?? Don't be ashamed, I've done it too. We love to put people down and make ourselves look high and mighty to as many people as possible. It's not bad enough that your boyfriend was a jerk to you for no reason... No no you gotta let the entire cyberspace know that your boyfriend is a jerk and change your relationship status to single so people will know that you're pissed at him. It's not enough that you were right about something... No you have to write a note about how people are wrong and you're always right.
The people getting dissed are no better, we're glutton for punishment checking our facebook every ten mins to see if someone says anything about you. You can be asleep and wake up at 3 am and grab your comp. To see if someone commented on your status or note or if someone has said anything about you.
Here's an experiment... I am going to write something profane in my status and see how many people contact me about it... I should write like "people can be so inconsiderate...just pisses me off" and see how many people are like "omg rod what happened?!" Lol.
I may just do that...
Think about it. You don't feel complete if you win something unless you talk shit afterwards. What's the best feeling to a person who just blocked a shot in a basketball game? The scream afterwards! That sets everything off... When you feel that ball hit the palm of your hand and you slam it into the 6th row of bleachers, if you don't scream like you're trying to blow the roof off the arena, you won't feel fulfilled.
The point I'm making is that people love to brag. Whether it's about getting straight A's on your report card (which I did this Summer) or cleaning your plate when you're 4 years old and asking your mommy if you're a big boy!
People claim that they are modest, nobody is "really" modest, we all want to brag about something. Whether we're trying to prove we're better than someone, trying to humiliate someone, or just trying to prove that we're not worthless to ourselves.. We love to run our mouths about accomplishments, achievements, and promotions.
Také facebook as a prime example... Look a the past ten statuses from your friends and see how many of them are bragging about what they have or what they're about to do. Socially, facebook is a digital slap in the face for anyone who's done anything wrong to anybody. How many times have you dissed your boyfriend or girlfriend or best friend or worst enemy with a clever facebook status?? Don't be ashamed, I've done it too. We love to put people down and make ourselves look high and mighty to as many people as possible. It's not bad enough that your boyfriend was a jerk to you for no reason... No no you gotta let the entire cyberspace know that your boyfriend is a jerk and change your relationship status to single so people will know that you're pissed at him. It's not enough that you were right about something... No you have to write a note about how people are wrong and you're always right.
The people getting dissed are no better, we're glutton for punishment checking our facebook every ten mins to see if someone says anything about you. You can be asleep and wake up at 3 am and grab your comp. To see if someone commented on your status or note or if someone has said anything about you.
Here's an experiment... I am going to write something profane in my status and see how many people contact me about it... I should write like "people can be so inconsiderate...just pisses me off" and see how many people are like "omg rod what happened?!" Lol.
I may just do that...
Reminiscing About The Good Ol Days
Man, remember the good ol' days? The days of no responsibility. Those days when Summer came, you actually didn't have to worry about anything. Remember Saturday mornings? I mean the REAL Saturday mornings, back when Doug, Pepper Ann, Tom & Jerry, and Looney Tunes still came on t.v. and you'd wake up at like 8 a.m. and get that BIG ASS bowl of cereal you know that mixing bowl that your grandma used to mix cakes and stuff and sit in the living room and watch cartoons for like 3 hours. Somebody would always be like who ate all the cereal? Whatever happened to Looney Tunes anyway? It's been years since I seen a bugs bunny cartoon. What is this crap they show on t.v. now? Ben 10?! What the hell?! Only cartoon I like that's for the kids now are spongebob squarepants and fairly oddparents... but they ain't got nothin on some Looney Tunes!
Back then kids used to love to go outside and play. Kids today are too consumed with the internet and myspace to even step outside. My 12 year old cousin knows how to change the layout of her myspace page, but she don't know how to play freeze tag. Are you serious?!? Freeze tag and hide and go seek (or if you had enough girls, hide and go get it, lol) were the shit! How can you not appreciate the luxury of going outside when you're like 9-14? Being in the house all Summer damn near killed us and it didn't even matter how hot it was. We'd either spray each other with the water hose, sit on the front porch where there's shade and look at the cars drive by picking out which one was ours, or ride our bikes around the block.
Remember the freeze cups? Put some koolaid in a styrofoam cup and freeze it. When you ate it you always ate the whole middle part first and you had a big ass hole in the middle of the freeze cup.
Remember the parties the adults used to have? The ones where the lil kids couldn't come into the living room where the adults were, but it was okay because we were having our own party anyway! And we always thought our music was better than the adult's music.
Remember Saturday Night "Snick" on Nickolodeon? The big orange couch and it had Keenan and Kel, All That, and Are You Afraid of the Dark? on it. Are you afraid of the dark was the scariest shit in the world too. Remember the one about the clown in the funhouse where the kid stole his nose and the clown stalked him? That's why clowns are evil!!
Then came Sunday morning where you had to go to church and your grandma gave you 50 cents to put into the offering, but you always thought about keeping the money so you could get yourself some gum from the grocery store later on... Remember why you could never figure out why Sundays were so boring? It was like Saturday was the livest day, everything was on t.v., but Sunday nothing was on but sports... and you didn't really like sports back then so you just popped in one of your Disney movies like Aladdin or Pinocchio even though you had seen them 100 times.
Boy those were the good ol' days, back when Summer school was something you didn't have to do if you did good in your classes all year round. Back when you just got the mail and never had anything in there except those highlights magazines and you thought you were the shit every month when it came in the mail.
Now look at us... we wanted to get older so much, now here we are, in our 20s or 30s, looking back wishing we could sleep in on a Saturday morning and eat that big bowl of cereal, but we have work, bills, kids of our own who eat all the damn cereal before we can get any! Nowadays kids want ipods and cell phones for christmas, whatever happened to action figures?
Kids today can download an entire album before it comes out for free! Back in the day we NEVER got the whole rapper/singer's album. We had to tape the songs off the radio and hoped that the dj wouldn't cut the song off before our favorite part which was always at the end of the song. (Example: The song "My love is the Shhhh!" had my favorite part at the end, when it said "Don't stop, get it get it! Don't Stop" Don't act like yall don't remember that song).
Man...those were the days! Make sure you let your kids know how lucky they are wen you have them or if you have some already... let them know! Our parents tried to tell us not to act so grown that we'd miss being kids when we got older...but we didn't listen, lol. Remember the times!
Back then kids used to love to go outside and play. Kids today are too consumed with the internet and myspace to even step outside. My 12 year old cousin knows how to change the layout of her myspace page, but she don't know how to play freeze tag. Are you serious?!? Freeze tag and hide and go seek (or if you had enough girls, hide and go get it, lol) were the shit! How can you not appreciate the luxury of going outside when you're like 9-14? Being in the house all Summer damn near killed us and it didn't even matter how hot it was. We'd either spray each other with the water hose, sit on the front porch where there's shade and look at the cars drive by picking out which one was ours, or ride our bikes around the block.
Remember the freeze cups? Put some koolaid in a styrofoam cup and freeze it. When you ate it you always ate the whole middle part first and you had a big ass hole in the middle of the freeze cup.
Remember the parties the adults used to have? The ones where the lil kids couldn't come into the living room where the adults were, but it was okay because we were having our own party anyway! And we always thought our music was better than the adult's music.
Remember Saturday Night "Snick" on Nickolodeon? The big orange couch and it had Keenan and Kel, All That, and Are You Afraid of the Dark? on it. Are you afraid of the dark was the scariest shit in the world too. Remember the one about the clown in the funhouse where the kid stole his nose and the clown stalked him? That's why clowns are evil!!
Then came Sunday morning where you had to go to church and your grandma gave you 50 cents to put into the offering, but you always thought about keeping the money so you could get yourself some gum from the grocery store later on... Remember why you could never figure out why Sundays were so boring? It was like Saturday was the livest day, everything was on t.v., but Sunday nothing was on but sports... and you didn't really like sports back then so you just popped in one of your Disney movies like Aladdin or Pinocchio even though you had seen them 100 times.
Boy those were the good ol' days, back when Summer school was something you didn't have to do if you did good in your classes all year round. Back when you just got the mail and never had anything in there except those highlights magazines and you thought you were the shit every month when it came in the mail.
Now look at us... we wanted to get older so much, now here we are, in our 20s or 30s, looking back wishing we could sleep in on a Saturday morning and eat that big bowl of cereal, but we have work, bills, kids of our own who eat all the damn cereal before we can get any! Nowadays kids want ipods and cell phones for christmas, whatever happened to action figures?
Kids today can download an entire album before it comes out for free! Back in the day we NEVER got the whole rapper/singer's album. We had to tape the songs off the radio and hoped that the dj wouldn't cut the song off before our favorite part which was always at the end of the song. (Example: The song "My love is the Shhhh!" had my favorite part at the end, when it said "Don't stop, get it get it! Don't Stop" Don't act like yall don't remember that song).
Man...those were the days! Make sure you let your kids know how lucky they are wen you have them or if you have some already... let them know! Our parents tried to tell us not to act so grown that we'd miss being kids when we got older...but we didn't listen, lol. Remember the times!
What's The Weirdest Thing You've Gotten Beat With?
Black people you know we were bad as hell growing up and our parents whipped us with everything but the kitchen sink... Well maybe the kitchen sink too depending on how bad you was messin up. We got whipped with everything from belts to shoes to neckties (that's not a light whipping either i know you're thinking.. Necktie?! How bad could that hurt? Trust me... You'd run too if yo mama was tryin to lasso it around your neck and yoke you back.
Anybody ever been whipped with the christmas tree lights? Imagine how bad you must've been to get whipped while the christmas tree is up. Most kids are good around the holidays because they want gifts and whatnot, but to have yo mama snatch a row of lights off the tree and whoop yo ass with it? You must've been bad!
There's the household items like the wooden spoon that hangs on the wall, the flyswatter, the extension cord, the spatula, the rubber hose that yo mama used to wash her hair.
There's the makeshift items for the asswhooping on the go like the switch, the seatbelt that was in the middle of the back seat, the fanbelt from the engine, a rolled up newspaper.
There's your toys like your jumprope, hoola hoop, hot wheels race track, your playstation controller, your ruler (try doing measurements when your ruler only goes up to 5 inches)
What's the absolute worst feeling though? When you done screwed up at home and yo mama tell you she gonna whoop your ass when she gets off. Boy that's the longest day ever, you start giving up on your hopes and dreams, you write a will, start saying bye to people. Cause you don't know when you'll see them again. Your mama never gets home on time either, unless you do something wrong. Any other day your mama is like 45 mins to 1 hr late gettin home, but on ass whooping day she's home at 5:05 on the dot; weapon of choice in hand too. You try calling friends to see if they can come over cause most mamas won't beat you if you have company, but they WILL beat you if you outside in front of all your friends. You call people asking them to come over. One friend will be like yeah man i'll be there in 10 mins. You'll be like NO nigga 4 minutes!! I might not be alive in 10 minutes she comin! Oh lord she here... Stay on the line if you hear me screaming call 911!
Another thing that'll get kids a permanent tic is when you have to walk past yo mama to get into your room and you don't know if she gonna hit you or not. You try to hug the wall like you're scaling a mountain or like you're trying to blend in with the paint. Then as soon as you get that 1 foot in the door you hit the spin move and you always think you made it... But then SMACK! Right in the back of the head. Sometimes i wish i had the doors from star trek that slide close automatically so i could just dive in and escape.
No wonder kids are going to college at a higher rate, you can't help but be perfect cause you were scared to death that yo mama might ninja through the door and také you out at any moment! That's why kids today have so many issues cause parents don't bring that fear anymore. You think i would've had two or three personalities? After all my ass whoopings the other personalities would've just left talkin bout "this chick crazy...cmon elvis, you, me, and jesus need to find somewhere else to live.
It's not so much the beating that scares you though.. It's the lead up to it and the follow-up afterwards. Our parents could psyche our asses out good. They start out by causing the anxiety.. They always tell you they gonna beat you before they do it so you're already scared to death, putting on layers of clothes so it won't hurt as much, walkin around with pajamas under your sweat pants with a trench coat on in the summertime and you know we ain't have no a/c back then. Then there's the ass whooping portion, then there's the aftermath, when yo mama comes to you and talks to you and wipes your tears away and gives you a hug and apologizes. Apologizes?!?! I was gonna run away, but now i'm conflicted. Thanks alot.. I think that's where alot of parents mess up.. They don't do the follow-up they just send the kids to their room and go drink a glass of wine. Meanwhile the kid is building a bomb to blow up the house.
Wow that was quite the flashback, but i wanna know what's the weirdest thing you've been whipped with people?
Anybody ever been whipped with the christmas tree lights? Imagine how bad you must've been to get whipped while the christmas tree is up. Most kids are good around the holidays because they want gifts and whatnot, but to have yo mama snatch a row of lights off the tree and whoop yo ass with it? You must've been bad!
There's the household items like the wooden spoon that hangs on the wall, the flyswatter, the extension cord, the spatula, the rubber hose that yo mama used to wash her hair.
There's the makeshift items for the asswhooping on the go like the switch, the seatbelt that was in the middle of the back seat, the fanbelt from the engine, a rolled up newspaper.
There's your toys like your jumprope, hoola hoop, hot wheels race track, your playstation controller, your ruler (try doing measurements when your ruler only goes up to 5 inches)
What's the absolute worst feeling though? When you done screwed up at home and yo mama tell you she gonna whoop your ass when she gets off. Boy that's the longest day ever, you start giving up on your hopes and dreams, you write a will, start saying bye to people. Cause you don't know when you'll see them again. Your mama never gets home on time either, unless you do something wrong. Any other day your mama is like 45 mins to 1 hr late gettin home, but on ass whooping day she's home at 5:05 on the dot; weapon of choice in hand too. You try calling friends to see if they can come over cause most mamas won't beat you if you have company, but they WILL beat you if you outside in front of all your friends. You call people asking them to come over. One friend will be like yeah man i'll be there in 10 mins. You'll be like NO nigga 4 minutes!! I might not be alive in 10 minutes she comin! Oh lord she here... Stay on the line if you hear me screaming call 911!
Another thing that'll get kids a permanent tic is when you have to walk past yo mama to get into your room and you don't know if she gonna hit you or not. You try to hug the wall like you're scaling a mountain or like you're trying to blend in with the paint. Then as soon as you get that 1 foot in the door you hit the spin move and you always think you made it... But then SMACK! Right in the back of the head. Sometimes i wish i had the doors from star trek that slide close automatically so i could just dive in and escape.
No wonder kids are going to college at a higher rate, you can't help but be perfect cause you were scared to death that yo mama might ninja through the door and také you out at any moment! That's why kids today have so many issues cause parents don't bring that fear anymore. You think i would've had two or three personalities? After all my ass whoopings the other personalities would've just left talkin bout "this chick crazy...cmon elvis, you, me, and jesus need to find somewhere else to live.
It's not so much the beating that scares you though.. It's the lead up to it and the follow-up afterwards. Our parents could psyche our asses out good. They start out by causing the anxiety.. They always tell you they gonna beat you before they do it so you're already scared to death, putting on layers of clothes so it won't hurt as much, walkin around with pajamas under your sweat pants with a trench coat on in the summertime and you know we ain't have no a/c back then. Then there's the ass whooping portion, then there's the aftermath, when yo mama comes to you and talks to you and wipes your tears away and gives you a hug and apologizes. Apologizes?!?! I was gonna run away, but now i'm conflicted. Thanks alot.. I think that's where alot of parents mess up.. They don't do the follow-up they just send the kids to their room and go drink a glass of wine. Meanwhile the kid is building a bomb to blow up the house.
Wow that was quite the flashback, but i wanna know what's the weirdest thing you've been whipped with people?
Black History. Something Doesn't Add Up
I actually read that today. There was a little column in a magazine that said "Do the math, the first black child was born in America 379 years ago, but black history month has only been celebrated for 27 years...something doesn't add up" Whites were traced from the time they left England up until now. Blacks were talked about when they were in Africa, but when they became slaves, what did we hear about them?
27 years... that means for over 350 years, of this country thriving off of our ancestor's hard work... we didn't so much as to have a paragraph in a newsletter back in the times. Our greatest scholars and thinkers probably were killed before they could even get their feelings and thoughts out to help pass on to the next generation. Generations after that probably were too ignorant to get their messages out because black slaves weren't allowed to read or write and those that could and did, were killed. This could be reasons why our youth today don't like to read or look at other blacks who excel in education as sellouts.
It's like the Willie Lynch letter says... if we implement this plan for one year, they'll do it to each other for at least 300 years. We kill and outcast those that do good in life, like the slave owners did the slaves. The light skinned blacks and the dark skinned blacks were turned against one another which is why dark skinned people aren't really fond of light skinned people. They turned men and women slaves against one another. That's still seen today because it's so hard for women to find a decent black man and it's hard for men to be decent to black women.
352 years of non representation... I think we have the right to more than just one month.
27 years... that means for over 350 years, of this country thriving off of our ancestor's hard work... we didn't so much as to have a paragraph in a newsletter back in the times. Our greatest scholars and thinkers probably were killed before they could even get their feelings and thoughts out to help pass on to the next generation. Generations after that probably were too ignorant to get their messages out because black slaves weren't allowed to read or write and those that could and did, were killed. This could be reasons why our youth today don't like to read or look at other blacks who excel in education as sellouts.
It's like the Willie Lynch letter says... if we implement this plan for one year, they'll do it to each other for at least 300 years. We kill and outcast those that do good in life, like the slave owners did the slaves. The light skinned blacks and the dark skinned blacks were turned against one another which is why dark skinned people aren't really fond of light skinned people. They turned men and women slaves against one another. That's still seen today because it's so hard for women to find a decent black man and it's hard for men to be decent to black women.
352 years of non representation... I think we have the right to more than just one month.
Is The Strong Black Woman Dead?
I don't believe that the strong black woman is dead. There is definitely a shortage of them as are a shortage of strong black men.
I'm going to try to give my thoughts on this matter and I hope that i don't come off as offensive... The way i see it is that there is a split between strong black women and all the other black women. I mean it seems that being independent is more of a trend than a mindset. Destiny's Child come out with a song about being independent and it seems like all women are independent, but they're just claiming the title and not really representing it well. Some women will say they're independent until they get with a guy and just become subservient to him and give up on their dreams for him. I think that if strong black women were more united then their voices would be heard more. If women weren't just able to claim the title like it was something like a pair of Jordan's then women could really unify.
Another thing that's messing up the self-esteem of women is the media and I sadly witnessed this first hand. My ex girlfriend felt uncomfortable watching movies with me because she felt that I obsessed over the actresses and didn't think she was beautiful. I thought she was the most beautiful person, but in the back of my mind I was like... the actress is good looking. I had to have a wake-up call from her about that and I sincerely apologized for making her feel that way. It kind of messed up our relationship and is partially the reason we're no longer together. The media has made looking like a black women more enticing for every woman except for black women. While white women are trying to get thicker hips and lips to look like black women, black women are getting breast implants, botox, and nose jobs to try to look like white women. The media is such a cruel cruel being.
Myself personally, I can think of nothing more beautiful than a black woman who's passionate about what she wants in life and wants someone who's just as passionate about her as she is about him. I think that's another problem for black women. just finding a man willing to uplift them to be strong. Black women are put down so often, forced to raise children and households on their own, and paid the least. To bring back the strong black women, we need to start with the men. Teach these boys that bitch and ho aren't terms of endearment and if a woman doesn't want to have sex with you, she's not a snob.
I've said too much...sorry just went off on a tangent
I'm going to try to give my thoughts on this matter and I hope that i don't come off as offensive... The way i see it is that there is a split between strong black women and all the other black women. I mean it seems that being independent is more of a trend than a mindset. Destiny's Child come out with a song about being independent and it seems like all women are independent, but they're just claiming the title and not really representing it well. Some women will say they're independent until they get with a guy and just become subservient to him and give up on their dreams for him. I think that if strong black women were more united then their voices would be heard more. If women weren't just able to claim the title like it was something like a pair of Jordan's then women could really unify.
Another thing that's messing up the self-esteem of women is the media and I sadly witnessed this first hand. My ex girlfriend felt uncomfortable watching movies with me because she felt that I obsessed over the actresses and didn't think she was beautiful. I thought she was the most beautiful person, but in the back of my mind I was like... the actress is good looking. I had to have a wake-up call from her about that and I sincerely apologized for making her feel that way. It kind of messed up our relationship and is partially the reason we're no longer together. The media has made looking like a black women more enticing for every woman except for black women. While white women are trying to get thicker hips and lips to look like black women, black women are getting breast implants, botox, and nose jobs to try to look like white women. The media is such a cruel cruel being.
Myself personally, I can think of nothing more beautiful than a black woman who's passionate about what she wants in life and wants someone who's just as passionate about her as she is about him. I think that's another problem for black women. just finding a man willing to uplift them to be strong. Black women are put down so often, forced to raise children and households on their own, and paid the least. To bring back the strong black women, we need to start with the men. Teach these boys that bitch and ho aren't terms of endearment and if a woman doesn't want to have sex with you, she's not a snob.
I've said too much...sorry just went off on a tangent
When's It Going To Stop? When We ALL Change
What am I referring to you might ask? I'm referring to racism... When is it going to end and when can we all live together in harmony? I'm not only talking about blacks and whites here, I'm talking about all races together. Racism isn't going to end just because Obama gets elected as president because believe it or not, white people aren't the only racists in the world. To change the world, we all have to change. There is a kid I work with at the treatment center who's prejudice. At first I didn't really care for him, but the more I got to know him, the more I realized that it's not him that's prejudice because he can play checkers with me, play football with another black kid, laugh at another staff member who's black. So is he really racist? Or is it the way he was brought up? That's where a lot of people go wrong. They raise their children to be racist just because they're racist when in reality, the way things happened when they grew up is completely different today. My grandmother R.I.P. wasn't the fondest of people of the caucasian persuasion, but because I had friends that were white, she didn't turn their nose up at them, in fact I think she even gave one of them a hug. It's that kind of acceptance that is going to change the world. I wasn't hindered from who I could and couldn't hang out with, so I appreciated everyone for who they were and not for the color of their skin. How can people just hate someone for the way they were born anyway? I was born black... give me a chance to show you that the experiences you had with less than reputable black people don't apply to me and I'll give you the chance to show that my experiences with less than reputable people of other races don't apply to you.
People always say, never judge a book by it's cover and that's the truth because one of the best books I've read "The Five People You Meet In Heaven" I almost didn't read because of the cover. I thought it was a book aimed at the female audience, but I was pleasantly surprised. It's so much easier to like someone than to hate someone just because of a biological occurrence. If you're going to hate someone, at least have a legit reason to do so and hate the PERSON not the entire race. If a white guy killed your brother, then hate that white guy not all white guys. If you got jumped by a group of people hate that group.
I have to pound it into some people's heads because they're so stuck in their upbringing that they just are so bitter and they don't even have a reason why they're racist, they just know what mommy and daddy said. Well... I'm sorry, but mommy and daddy aren't always right! You can't say that when you're 7-8 years old though because in my house you would've gotten popped in the mouth, but when you're 17-18 and you have a mind of your own you can express and defend who you like to be around and guess what, your parents can't stop you... they can be mad at you... but who can be mad at their child forever?
I'm just saying, people need an eye opener and the time is now. People as a whole need to come together and get over the petty differences that separate us because whether you like it or not, the other races are here to stay.. so get over it!
-Hate the gift, not the wrapping paper
People always say, never judge a book by it's cover and that's the truth because one of the best books I've read "The Five People You Meet In Heaven" I almost didn't read because of the cover. I thought it was a book aimed at the female audience, but I was pleasantly surprised. It's so much easier to like someone than to hate someone just because of a biological occurrence. If you're going to hate someone, at least have a legit reason to do so and hate the PERSON not the entire race. If a white guy killed your brother, then hate that white guy not all white guys. If you got jumped by a group of people hate that group.
I have to pound it into some people's heads because they're so stuck in their upbringing that they just are so bitter and they don't even have a reason why they're racist, they just know what mommy and daddy said. Well... I'm sorry, but mommy and daddy aren't always right! You can't say that when you're 7-8 years old though because in my house you would've gotten popped in the mouth, but when you're 17-18 and you have a mind of your own you can express and defend who you like to be around and guess what, your parents can't stop you... they can be mad at you... but who can be mad at their child forever?
I'm just saying, people need an eye opener and the time is now. People as a whole need to come together and get over the petty differences that separate us because whether you like it or not, the other races are here to stay.. so get over it!
-Hate the gift, not the wrapping paper
Money Can't Buy Happiness? I Beg To Differ
The age old saying is that money can't buy happiness. You know, material possessions and such cannot make a person happy. This is true... to some extent. I believe that if you're born with money, then money cannot buy you happiness because you're already able to have any and everything you want so material possessions no longer give you fufillment. People who have money already look for companionship and friendship because it's hard to find someone who likes you for you when you have money because you don't know if they like you... or what you have.
Now... on the flip side of that... if you're broke, and you get money, then money can buy you happiness. If you go from working a dead end job, to not having to work at all, from getting 2 vacations a year to vacationing all year, from living in the projects to living in a mansion, then I guesstimate that you'll be happier. If you can give your children and family all the things that you never had, then I wager you'd be happier. Not having enough money is the number one reason people go through what they go through. Women selling their bodies... i guarantee if you gave a hooker a million dollars, she'd be alot happier that she didn't have to sleep with someone different every night. I bet if a single mother working 3 jobs to take care of her 4 kids had a million dollars, she'd rest easier at night knowing that her children would be financially secure.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that everyone who does not have money is unhappy and everyone who has money is happy, but being financially secure is less stressful because you won't have to worry about where your next meal is coming from, if you'll have enough gas in your car to go to work, or if you'll have heat in the winter and a/c in the summer.
Just my random thoughts that I figured should be written down.
Now... on the flip side of that... if you're broke, and you get money, then money can buy you happiness. If you go from working a dead end job, to not having to work at all, from getting 2 vacations a year to vacationing all year, from living in the projects to living in a mansion, then I guesstimate that you'll be happier. If you can give your children and family all the things that you never had, then I wager you'd be happier. Not having enough money is the number one reason people go through what they go through. Women selling their bodies... i guarantee if you gave a hooker a million dollars, she'd be alot happier that she didn't have to sleep with someone different every night. I bet if a single mother working 3 jobs to take care of her 4 kids had a million dollars, she'd rest easier at night knowing that her children would be financially secure.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that everyone who does not have money is unhappy and everyone who has money is happy, but being financially secure is less stressful because you won't have to worry about where your next meal is coming from, if you'll have enough gas in your car to go to work, or if you'll have heat in the winter and a/c in the summer.
Just my random thoughts that I figured should be written down.
The Story Of My Life
The story of who I am and where I've been...
Where to begin? I guess I can start back when I was five years old. I was just starting kindergarten and was excited to be around people. I was one of those kids that didn't cry on the first day. Kindergarten was awful...my teacher Mrs. Kee used to treat me bad and yank on my ears and all this crazy stuff. Needless to say that was not a great first experience for me.
Oh well right? Next year was first grade, I loved frist grade my teacher Mrs. Johnson was awesome. Everything was so peaceful and serene during this time, not alot of turmoil and choas. There was a lot of violence in my neighborhood though. My friends and I had to run home from the bus stop everyday to keep from getting beat up by the older kids, which led to us being some of the fastest kids in our class. I used to hate my neighborhood, having to sleep on the floor because people wanna shoot outside. The people below us used to shoot all the time. That didn't really help my disposition. I was a little troublemaker. I used to be afraid to fight people until my grandma told me she'd beat me if I came in the house crying again. It never happened again. I even hit a kid in the head with a pole to keep from getting beat up. I did what I had to do fuck that right?
Oh well...onto second grade. My academic prowess was amazing, but my behavior was a little impulsive. I had my first "girlfriend" during this period. She was really nice and I stole earrings for her from some store. I used to bring her all kinds of things that i had stolen, but they usually weren't expensive. They were little things. Now that I look back on it, it's nothing to be proud of, but what the hell right? I was like 7.
Fast forward to third grade, I had moved into the house I live in now. New school, new surroundings, I loved it. Until....I met this kid in my third grade class. He was really cool and we like chilled alot, but he had this grudge against some fifth grader named Bulldog, yes...Bulldog and he was just as big as his name implied. He tried to get me to join his gang against Bulldog's gang. Well I wasn't really the biggest kid...and I wasn't about to fight a kid named Bulldog! So I kinda distanced myself from all the guys in third grade. I kinda became an introverted person, my wild ass imagination came about around this time. I guess I have bulldog to thank for that.
Fast forward to middle school. Middle school was a time of firsts. I met my first real best friend in middle school. I found my first passion in middle school (band). I had my first love in middle school, which was short lived. However, there was a lot about middle school that I hated. This was the beginning of a decline that nearly consumed me. I hated myself in middle school. Certain people knew how to just hurt you for no reason at all. I was bullied nearly everyday in middle school on the bus ride home. I was shoved, pushed, flicked, spit on, and laughed at because I was the only kid that got off at my stop. I guess because of the neighborhood I lived in people thought that I thought that I was better or something so they fucked with me. I hated riding the bus so much that I had dreams of killing everybody on the bus. I loved my friends though, we could talk about anything at lunchtime and in classes. We had some good times. However, class was not always fun. What is it about young females that they just like to put guys down? these females in my middle school spanish class...I won't say names though, even though I remember ALL the names quite vividly. Used to just put me down, not that they could fathom the psychological effect it had on me, but they used to laughingly call me ugly and stupid shit in Spanish, like I wasn't the smartest dude in the class and didn't kno what they were saying about me. I hated it... Like I said, I had my first love in middle school. I had the biggest crush on her and my cousin hooked us up, but I was so shy that we hardly talked and that's probably why we didn't really last long. Hormones ran high at that age and she found another guy, and I just found regret. I still regret sometimes. I do remember a good time in middle school. I had the biggest crush on this chick named Bunnie, yes that was her name. And it was 8th grade prom and I was in an all white tux with a hat and cane. And she danced with me. It was like the best time ever. I was still having this major identity crisis though...I only fit in with my group of friends and was worried about losing them.
This brings me to HIGH SCHOOL! Another disappointing time, but also another time of great triumph and discovery. I followed my friends to Granby, I did not want to go to booker t and maury rejected me, thank god. I continued my love of band, which brought me to marching band. Marching band was difficult for me my first year and thats why i didn't march. Marching band brought me some of the greatest epxeriences of my life and some of the greatest friends that I'm proud to still call friends now (some of them anyway). Marching band allowed me to interact with a bunch of new and bright people. However...it's not like everybody wanted to talk to me. I didn't really become a popular guy in marching band until I became a good clarinet player. It was kind of backwards because people who used to overlook me, somehow became my best friend all because I could play well. Those that couldn't play as well as me, hated me and joked me because of it. It was kind of shady the way things worked back then, now that i think of it. I remember a good friend of mine telling me that I sucked at playing clarinet after I had beaten one of the better clarinet players in a challenge. He has since then apologized for it, but back then it kind of stirred me the wrong way. Lord knows marching band was my saving grace because the rest of high school sucked. I had a mixed group of friends for which I was always ridiculed for because I didn't hang with people that looked like "me" (meaning black people). Girls in high school were twice as cruel as girls in middle school. Girls in middle school would just laugh at you as they joked you and never tried to convey any feelings as that they liked you. Girls in high school played like they liked you all the while laughing at you. I remember this one time where these two girls walked by me, and I heard one of the girls say "I'll give you five bucks if you mess with him" and the girl came over there and tried to act interested in me and gave me a fake number and walked away like she had accomplished something positive. Was it worth five bucks to fucking crush a guy's spirit like that? Thats partially why I didn't date in high school. The girls I liked were either out of my league or they were ignorant. Or maybe it's because I always fell for the wrong types of girls. I'd look at the really popular chicks that I knew I'd never get with or have the time of day to talk to. I loved black women, but I also wasn't a picky guy. I'd date a girl that I thought was interesting. Back then, I wasn't a great talker either. I mean I'm okay with talking to new people now because I meet new people all the time and you kinda have to learn to talk to people. High school was a nightmare. I used to lie alot. I'd lie to make myself seem more interesting so people would like me because I wasn't confident enough in myself to think that people would like the real me. I'd pretend I was something I wasn't to get attention. I was a real mess and have since then corrected my behavior. I used to dread going to school, not for the classes, because I liked class, but to save myself from possible mental damage or heartbreak. High school was so damaging that I have had so many thoughts of trying to relive high school so I could get back at those people that wronged me. They fucked my world up and thought it was funny. How could people laugh at that? I was in a real dark place, I wanted to just die...or wish something could happen so people would feel sorry for the way they treated me. I know now that's not a healthy way to be, but damnit people didn't hafta treat me like shit. I also had alot of the racial tension going on in high school. I was the only black guy in most of my classes, so who do you think I made friends with? I was ridiculed for not being "black" because of how I acted and the people I hung out with. I'm sorry I didn't know blackness was a personality trait. I thought it was a race. How can people joke you when you're the only black guy representing them! I was in honors and AP classes for christs sake, wouldn't you wanna say, hey there's a black guy there, he's a positive role model not one of these street thugs out there on the street. Why was I always fucking pushed out? It wasn't fair! I hated black people for that in high school for the longest time. I had friends that were black, but they weren't the ones I hated, they were safe. If I had half the balls then as I have now I would've told so many people off. I was depressed as hell in high school I almost considered dropping out, I guess it would've made me a black guy...there goes my hatred again.. sorry I'm trying to work on it. I love black people as a whole, but back then...I frowned my face at black people for disregarding my fucking dream to be something as me not being what I was born as.
I can laugh now I guess...it still hurts from time to time when people tell you things that hurt you way back then and all those emotions come back. Now I'm more expressive though and have found an outlet for my pain. I mean...if I ever acted weird to you guys out there, I'm not blaming everything on my experiences, but they are majorly responsible for my shortcomings and my triumphs. I'm double the guy I was back then, and I'm gettin better at becoming the person I need to be. Myself and nothing but myself. People never appreciate you unless you're genuine.I had to find that out the hard way.
After high school came college, a chance for a brand new start, or so I thought. I made the mistake of going away for college, just because I thought I could handle being out there on my own. I wasn't ready to be on my own. I went to Virginia Commonwealth Univ. for my first semester in college. Needless to say I didn't enjoy it. I hated being away from the people I cared about. I spent most of my time in my room on the internet and playing video games. My neighbors though were really cool and invited me to a few of their parties. That's where another first occurred! I lost my virginity in college. I was 17 years old and lost it to an older girl. Well I don't know about everybody, but the experience was great for me, but not so great on the other end. I found out that girls in college are just older high school girls because she spread rumors about me to other girls in my dorm building. Oh well, screw her. That's partially the reason I didn't like VCU, another reason was because I missed all my high school buddies and since I was older than them, I graduated first. I hated being away from my family. luckily I was only an hour and a half away and could come back every weekend. Needless to say, I transferred back to ODU after the fall semester. I also met my second girlfriend during my times at VCU. Not going into too much detail with her, let's just say she was a BIG liar and a HUGE drama queen and made me nearly lose three key friends who I would never ever want to lose. We went out for about a year, then split!
ODU was great, mainly because I was home and could see all of my friends. However, it seemed like all my friends were branching out and finding new people to hang with and I was just staying stagnant. I didn't really get to know anybody at ODU, I didn't go to any parties as an undergrad. I went to school and came home. I hung out with family and my friends from high school mainly. Now, about 1 month after breaking it off with psycho ex, I meet my 3rd girlfriend. Seems like everything is going well, but nothing is as it seems. This time I actually lost a friend over this girl. At the time it seemed worth it, but now I know you gotta have your boys with you no matter what, bros over hoes! This girlfriend, let's call her "Janice" was in a real hell of her own. Had a bad family life. After a serious incident with a family member, this person moved into my home and stayed with my family and me. Things were good for the first 6-7 months, we had the usual fights couples have. Things got worse as time went on. We started fighting more frequently, mainly because of things I did or were accused of doing. I was always putting myself on the back burner and focusing on her wants and needs. I rarely went out with friends anymore, I had to constantly argue to justify having female friends, and I had a falling out with my family. My brother and I didn't get along very well, there was tension between my mother and I, and I spent most of my time at home, shut in our room with "Janice". Well Janice and I dated for 2 1/2 years, then after an awful fight, we ended our relationship. It may have seemed rash, but it was for the best. In the course of our relationship I graduated from college, found a new job in my preferred field, and started graduate school.
GRADUATE SCHOOL! Grad school is turning out to be one of the best times of my life. I met a group of people who accept me with my flaws and all and we actually try to better ourselves with each passing day. I'm attending Hampton University, majoring in counseling. So far one year has passed and I'm growing more and more as an individual and now that I am single, I'm finding out what I like and doing what I like to do. I'm sort of looking for the next one, but a part of me just wants things to stay like they are until I've recovered and is ready to put myself back out there. I can honestly say, I've hit an all time high and have never been happier, I love my friends, I love my family, I love my school, and I love my job. I'm a counselor at a treatment center for kids. I've learned so many things and have so many stories just from one year of employment. Right now, if I could describe how I'm feeling right now, I'd say 3 words: LIFE IS GOOD!
I'm not perfect. I'm angry, irritable, moody, impulsive, overactive, indecisive, unsure, afraid, nervous, neurotic, and immature. I should be in a mental asylum, but I'm here. I'm standing strong, and I'm trying to reach out to those to tell them not to be afraid, because I was there. Nearly everything they've been through, I have too. I've been bullied, insulted, hurt, heartbroken, laughed at, rejected, alone, afraid, and insecure. Through my beautiful friends and family, I have been rejuvenated and reborn. I'm not going to say i no longer feel those things, but I'm not as bad as I was. I know it's not a happy ending, but life normally isn't. You learn to live with past disappointments and look to the future. I may be alot of bad things but I'm also caring, easy to talk to, funny, intelligent, hard working, loyal, a good conversationalist, and 1/2 of the best spades team in the land. Hoo hah!
I'm not perfect...I just want yall to know me, for real...there are things I need to work on, I know, but I'm trying to be the best I can. Graduate school and all those personality inventories tell me that I still am suffering from some problems that plagued me back then. It's best that I get these feelings out and don't repress them. Thats just me.
Where to begin? I guess I can start back when I was five years old. I was just starting kindergarten and was excited to be around people. I was one of those kids that didn't cry on the first day. Kindergarten was awful...my teacher Mrs. Kee used to treat me bad and yank on my ears and all this crazy stuff. Needless to say that was not a great first experience for me.
Oh well right? Next year was first grade, I loved frist grade my teacher Mrs. Johnson was awesome. Everything was so peaceful and serene during this time, not alot of turmoil and choas. There was a lot of violence in my neighborhood though. My friends and I had to run home from the bus stop everyday to keep from getting beat up by the older kids, which led to us being some of the fastest kids in our class. I used to hate my neighborhood, having to sleep on the floor because people wanna shoot outside. The people below us used to shoot all the time. That didn't really help my disposition. I was a little troublemaker. I used to be afraid to fight people until my grandma told me she'd beat me if I came in the house crying again. It never happened again. I even hit a kid in the head with a pole to keep from getting beat up. I did what I had to do fuck that right?
Oh well...onto second grade. My academic prowess was amazing, but my behavior was a little impulsive. I had my first "girlfriend" during this period. She was really nice and I stole earrings for her from some store. I used to bring her all kinds of things that i had stolen, but they usually weren't expensive. They were little things. Now that I look back on it, it's nothing to be proud of, but what the hell right? I was like 7.
Fast forward to third grade, I had moved into the house I live in now. New school, new surroundings, I loved it. Until....I met this kid in my third grade class. He was really cool and we like chilled alot, but he had this grudge against some fifth grader named Bulldog, yes...Bulldog and he was just as big as his name implied. He tried to get me to join his gang against Bulldog's gang. Well I wasn't really the biggest kid...and I wasn't about to fight a kid named Bulldog! So I kinda distanced myself from all the guys in third grade. I kinda became an introverted person, my wild ass imagination came about around this time. I guess I have bulldog to thank for that.
Fast forward to middle school. Middle school was a time of firsts. I met my first real best friend in middle school. I found my first passion in middle school (band). I had my first love in middle school, which was short lived. However, there was a lot about middle school that I hated. This was the beginning of a decline that nearly consumed me. I hated myself in middle school. Certain people knew how to just hurt you for no reason at all. I was bullied nearly everyday in middle school on the bus ride home. I was shoved, pushed, flicked, spit on, and laughed at because I was the only kid that got off at my stop. I guess because of the neighborhood I lived in people thought that I thought that I was better or something so they fucked with me. I hated riding the bus so much that I had dreams of killing everybody on the bus. I loved my friends though, we could talk about anything at lunchtime and in classes. We had some good times. However, class was not always fun. What is it about young females that they just like to put guys down? these females in my middle school spanish class...I won't say names though, even though I remember ALL the names quite vividly. Used to just put me down, not that they could fathom the psychological effect it had on me, but they used to laughingly call me ugly and stupid shit in Spanish, like I wasn't the smartest dude in the class and didn't kno what they were saying about me. I hated it... Like I said, I had my first love in middle school. I had the biggest crush on her and my cousin hooked us up, but I was so shy that we hardly talked and that's probably why we didn't really last long. Hormones ran high at that age and she found another guy, and I just found regret. I still regret sometimes. I do remember a good time in middle school. I had the biggest crush on this chick named Bunnie, yes that was her name. And it was 8th grade prom and I was in an all white tux with a hat and cane. And she danced with me. It was like the best time ever. I was still having this major identity crisis though...I only fit in with my group of friends and was worried about losing them.
This brings me to HIGH SCHOOL! Another disappointing time, but also another time of great triumph and discovery. I followed my friends to Granby, I did not want to go to booker t and maury rejected me, thank god. I continued my love of band, which brought me to marching band. Marching band was difficult for me my first year and thats why i didn't march. Marching band brought me some of the greatest epxeriences of my life and some of the greatest friends that I'm proud to still call friends now (some of them anyway). Marching band allowed me to interact with a bunch of new and bright people. However...it's not like everybody wanted to talk to me. I didn't really become a popular guy in marching band until I became a good clarinet player. It was kind of backwards because people who used to overlook me, somehow became my best friend all because I could play well. Those that couldn't play as well as me, hated me and joked me because of it. It was kind of shady the way things worked back then, now that i think of it. I remember a good friend of mine telling me that I sucked at playing clarinet after I had beaten one of the better clarinet players in a challenge. He has since then apologized for it, but back then it kind of stirred me the wrong way. Lord knows marching band was my saving grace because the rest of high school sucked. I had a mixed group of friends for which I was always ridiculed for because I didn't hang with people that looked like "me" (meaning black people). Girls in high school were twice as cruel as girls in middle school. Girls in middle school would just laugh at you as they joked you and never tried to convey any feelings as that they liked you. Girls in high school played like they liked you all the while laughing at you. I remember this one time where these two girls walked by me, and I heard one of the girls say "I'll give you five bucks if you mess with him" and the girl came over there and tried to act interested in me and gave me a fake number and walked away like she had accomplished something positive. Was it worth five bucks to fucking crush a guy's spirit like that? Thats partially why I didn't date in high school. The girls I liked were either out of my league or they were ignorant. Or maybe it's because I always fell for the wrong types of girls. I'd look at the really popular chicks that I knew I'd never get with or have the time of day to talk to. I loved black women, but I also wasn't a picky guy. I'd date a girl that I thought was interesting. Back then, I wasn't a great talker either. I mean I'm okay with talking to new people now because I meet new people all the time and you kinda have to learn to talk to people. High school was a nightmare. I used to lie alot. I'd lie to make myself seem more interesting so people would like me because I wasn't confident enough in myself to think that people would like the real me. I'd pretend I was something I wasn't to get attention. I was a real mess and have since then corrected my behavior. I used to dread going to school, not for the classes, because I liked class, but to save myself from possible mental damage or heartbreak. High school was so damaging that I have had so many thoughts of trying to relive high school so I could get back at those people that wronged me. They fucked my world up and thought it was funny. How could people laugh at that? I was in a real dark place, I wanted to just die...or wish something could happen so people would feel sorry for the way they treated me. I know now that's not a healthy way to be, but damnit people didn't hafta treat me like shit. I also had alot of the racial tension going on in high school. I was the only black guy in most of my classes, so who do you think I made friends with? I was ridiculed for not being "black" because of how I acted and the people I hung out with. I'm sorry I didn't know blackness was a personality trait. I thought it was a race. How can people joke you when you're the only black guy representing them! I was in honors and AP classes for christs sake, wouldn't you wanna say, hey there's a black guy there, he's a positive role model not one of these street thugs out there on the street. Why was I always fucking pushed out? It wasn't fair! I hated black people for that in high school for the longest time. I had friends that were black, but they weren't the ones I hated, they were safe. If I had half the balls then as I have now I would've told so many people off. I was depressed as hell in high school I almost considered dropping out, I guess it would've made me a black guy...there goes my hatred again.. sorry I'm trying to work on it. I love black people as a whole, but back then...I frowned my face at black people for disregarding my fucking dream to be something as me not being what I was born as.
I can laugh now I guess...it still hurts from time to time when people tell you things that hurt you way back then and all those emotions come back. Now I'm more expressive though and have found an outlet for my pain. I mean...if I ever acted weird to you guys out there, I'm not blaming everything on my experiences, but they are majorly responsible for my shortcomings and my triumphs. I'm double the guy I was back then, and I'm gettin better at becoming the person I need to be. Myself and nothing but myself. People never appreciate you unless you're genuine.I had to find that out the hard way.
After high school came college, a chance for a brand new start, or so I thought. I made the mistake of going away for college, just because I thought I could handle being out there on my own. I wasn't ready to be on my own. I went to Virginia Commonwealth Univ. for my first semester in college. Needless to say I didn't enjoy it. I hated being away from the people I cared about. I spent most of my time in my room on the internet and playing video games. My neighbors though were really cool and invited me to a few of their parties. That's where another first occurred! I lost my virginity in college. I was 17 years old and lost it to an older girl. Well I don't know about everybody, but the experience was great for me, but not so great on the other end. I found out that girls in college are just older high school girls because she spread rumors about me to other girls in my dorm building. Oh well, screw her. That's partially the reason I didn't like VCU, another reason was because I missed all my high school buddies and since I was older than them, I graduated first. I hated being away from my family. luckily I was only an hour and a half away and could come back every weekend. Needless to say, I transferred back to ODU after the fall semester. I also met my second girlfriend during my times at VCU. Not going into too much detail with her, let's just say she was a BIG liar and a HUGE drama queen and made me nearly lose three key friends who I would never ever want to lose. We went out for about a year, then split!
ODU was great, mainly because I was home and could see all of my friends. However, it seemed like all my friends were branching out and finding new people to hang with and I was just staying stagnant. I didn't really get to know anybody at ODU, I didn't go to any parties as an undergrad. I went to school and came home. I hung out with family and my friends from high school mainly. Now, about 1 month after breaking it off with psycho ex, I meet my 3rd girlfriend. Seems like everything is going well, but nothing is as it seems. This time I actually lost a friend over this girl. At the time it seemed worth it, but now I know you gotta have your boys with you no matter what, bros over hoes! This girlfriend, let's call her "Janice" was in a real hell of her own. Had a bad family life. After a serious incident with a family member, this person moved into my home and stayed with my family and me. Things were good for the first 6-7 months, we had the usual fights couples have. Things got worse as time went on. We started fighting more frequently, mainly because of things I did or were accused of doing. I was always putting myself on the back burner and focusing on her wants and needs. I rarely went out with friends anymore, I had to constantly argue to justify having female friends, and I had a falling out with my family. My brother and I didn't get along very well, there was tension between my mother and I, and I spent most of my time at home, shut in our room with "Janice". Well Janice and I dated for 2 1/2 years, then after an awful fight, we ended our relationship. It may have seemed rash, but it was for the best. In the course of our relationship I graduated from college, found a new job in my preferred field, and started graduate school.
GRADUATE SCHOOL! Grad school is turning out to be one of the best times of my life. I met a group of people who accept me with my flaws and all and we actually try to better ourselves with each passing day. I'm attending Hampton University, majoring in counseling. So far one year has passed and I'm growing more and more as an individual and now that I am single, I'm finding out what I like and doing what I like to do. I'm sort of looking for the next one, but a part of me just wants things to stay like they are until I've recovered and is ready to put myself back out there. I can honestly say, I've hit an all time high and have never been happier, I love my friends, I love my family, I love my school, and I love my job. I'm a counselor at a treatment center for kids. I've learned so many things and have so many stories just from one year of employment. Right now, if I could describe how I'm feeling right now, I'd say 3 words: LIFE IS GOOD!
I'm not perfect. I'm angry, irritable, moody, impulsive, overactive, indecisive, unsure, afraid, nervous, neurotic, and immature. I should be in a mental asylum, but I'm here. I'm standing strong, and I'm trying to reach out to those to tell them not to be afraid, because I was there. Nearly everything they've been through, I have too. I've been bullied, insulted, hurt, heartbroken, laughed at, rejected, alone, afraid, and insecure. Through my beautiful friends and family, I have been rejuvenated and reborn. I'm not going to say i no longer feel those things, but I'm not as bad as I was. I know it's not a happy ending, but life normally isn't. You learn to live with past disappointments and look to the future. I may be alot of bad things but I'm also caring, easy to talk to, funny, intelligent, hard working, loyal, a good conversationalist, and 1/2 of the best spades team in the land. Hoo hah!
I'm not perfect...I just want yall to know me, for real...there are things I need to work on, I know, but I'm trying to be the best I can. Graduate school and all those personality inventories tell me that I still am suffering from some problems that plagued me back then. It's best that I get these feelings out and don't repress them. Thats just me.
Rising Gas Costs, A Plot By Environmentalists?
Is it possible that the rising gas prices are a product of environmentalists trying to save the planet? If you think about it, it makes sense. Less people are driving frivolously, people are carpooling more often, more people are riding bicycles or walking to their destinations, and car thefts are down. More people are buying hybrid cars that don't take as much gas.
At four dollras a gallon are you going to joyride around the city with your friends? Not unless they have gas money!
If you're going to a party, I guarantee yall are going to fuss for ten minutes before deciding who's going to drive because there's no need to drive 4 cars for 6 people.
If the supermarket is two minutes away driving, why not walk or ride a bike to the store if you only need to buy a roll of paper towels or something.
Who's going to steal a car with less than half a tank of gas in it? if you're going to put gas in the car, you might as well buy your own car. I'm sure the owner of the car will thank you if the police return their car back to them with a full tank of gas, they might not even press charges.
All these factors are contributing to the environment so i believe it's a conspiracy to save the planet by Al Gore and his posse. Don't get me wrong, I've actually cut back on driving and have opted to stay indoors and read a book or watch the news or even exercise. Could the rising gas prices be a blessing in disquise? I've actually begun walking places that are close to my house. I walk to the barber shop and sometimes to the store.
It makes sense if you think about it... bravo Al Gore, way to go.
At four dollras a gallon are you going to joyride around the city with your friends? Not unless they have gas money!
If you're going to a party, I guarantee yall are going to fuss for ten minutes before deciding who's going to drive because there's no need to drive 4 cars for 6 people.
If the supermarket is two minutes away driving, why not walk or ride a bike to the store if you only need to buy a roll of paper towels or something.
Who's going to steal a car with less than half a tank of gas in it? if you're going to put gas in the car, you might as well buy your own car. I'm sure the owner of the car will thank you if the police return their car back to them with a full tank of gas, they might not even press charges.
All these factors are contributing to the environment so i believe it's a conspiracy to save the planet by Al Gore and his posse. Don't get me wrong, I've actually cut back on driving and have opted to stay indoors and read a book or watch the news or even exercise. Could the rising gas prices be a blessing in disquise? I've actually begun walking places that are close to my house. I walk to the barber shop and sometimes to the store.
It makes sense if you think about it... bravo Al Gore, way to go.
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