I've been on this weird ass introspective tip lately and fuck me if I'm going soft. Shit ain't the same anymore. I don't walk around mad at the world anymore because the world hasn't done shit to me. Lady Luck was my bitch for a minute, but I got too old to depend on her shady ass. No need to bend her over because she is no longer in service.

I ran into this cat at Longs the other day that I used to want to beat the fuck up. He was still short and walked with the same limp. Yup, that same annoying ass limp. He nodded "wussup", so I nodded back. He extended his hand and I gave him a pound. At first I didn't recognize him, but he obviously recognized me. So I say the usual "Ay, mayne. Whatcha up to these days?" Turns out he's doing the school thing. "Right on", I responded. As he walked away, I realized, "What the fuck am I what up to this bitch?" 5 years ago and I probably would have slapped the fuck out of him. Now I'm trying to "catch up" with him, as if I really give a damn. Good lawd, I'm gettin' soft.

Y'all see the "intelligent" Joe all the time. All this smart talk and this "deep" stuff? That's not me on the surface. The surface is what most see. You can find me at the local basketball court, talking using the latest slang and uncontrolled profanity. And I know most of y'all don't want to see me drunk. There's nothing like a drunk fat ass Filipino dude describing his favorite sexual position. I got a darkside like an uneven suntan, and that shit ain't pretty.

Fuck this soft shit. I'm gonna go listen to some Tupac and knock some old grandma down a flight of stairs with a dead baby seal filled with white spotted owl feathers.

I used to have this recurring nightmare when I was younger. Maybe from when I was 8 to about 14 years old. It didn't happen all the time. Only once or twice a year, but it was just frequent enough for me to realize that it was reoccuring.

In my dream, there was just a large white marble. Like, huge. Like, ginormous. And as the dream when on, it would slowly start to move. I couldn't see myself in the dream, nor was the point of view from my vantage point. I just had this feeling that I needed to stop it from moving, maybe through sheer will. I felt helpless against this marble and it was totally out of my control. It wasn't until recently why I realized that that marble, of all things, happened to be my reoccuring nightmare instead of your usual "oh shit, someone is coming to kill me" type nightmares.

I'm positive I have control issues. I mean, not just control of people or situations, but control of everything in my environment. When I was younger, I used to count the rungs on the footboard of my bed. Over and over again, I'd count them with my feet until I fell asleep. I have to drive everywhere I go because I cannot stand not being at the steering wheel. I am totally anxious on airplanes because I fully understand that my life is in the hands of a man(or woman) that I don't even know. In my first few years of college, I used to go to sleep watching either Happy Gilmore or Pulp Fiction because I knew those movies so well, I knew I wouldn't miss anything if I happened to fall asleep watching them. This shit is almost scary.

I don't think it's really that bad, nor do I think it affects many people. It's become a character trait of mine and I'm sure it's something that my wife is well aware of by now. It just made me giggle the other day thinking about my reoccuring "nightmare" and how silly it might sound to other people, but in the context of my life it makes perfect sense. I don't think many people are as introspective as I am. Maybe the amount of time we spend reading other peoples' blogs could be spent on more worthwhile things, such as reading your own blog and getting to know yourself.

Chatter Box Chatter

The Friends series finale was on tonight, and as expected I didn't watch it. I can't say that I'll miss it now that it's gone. I've watched a few episodes through out the years. Maybe enough to count on my fingers and toes. I can admittedly say that I did laugh the few times that I did watch it. But I can't say I remember any particular episode. I can remember the naked neighbor. I can remember Joey's "How you doin'?". Now that I think about it, I remember that one episode where Ross dammit, Chandler and Phoebe pretend to be attracted each other until Chandler realizes that he can't do it and finally admits that he loves Monica.

Wait, is that recollection even correct? Ah, who gives a fuck? It's over. Boo hoo. Either way, it will always play second fiddle to Seinfeld in the world of "Must See TV". Hell, I'd rather watch reruns of Married With Children than Friends.

And on the same wavelength, I can only think of a few television series' that I was sad to see go. The one that stands out most in my mind is my all-time favorite sitcom, The Wonder Years. As I know I've mentioned before, I related to Kevin Arnold more than any other fictional character on television. The girlfriend. The hard-nosed father. The annoying best friend. I WAS Kevin Arnold. But I don't think a good portion of America related as well as I did. I can't find reruns of this show anywhere.

Nickelodeon was pretty good at showing reruns a few years back, but have since cut it out for their new Nick At Nite line up that includes Cheers, Roseanne, The Cosby Show, etc. Bitch ass ABC Family used to show it at Noon during weekdays but have since replaced it with a less enjoyable episode of Full House. I mean, sure. Capitalize on this whole Mary Kate and Ashley thing. But dammit, don't do it at the cost of dropping excellent, and dare I say, classic television.

But classic is after all classic. It's in the past. There really isn't anything out there that I can say I've latched onto in the same manner. I know I haven't. I know a lot of people felt the same way after the Seinfeld finale, which I have to mention ended on such an anti-climactic note. The finale of Friends is probably going to be the same for their die-hard viewers. But that's it. There really isn't anything there anymore. Other than Frazier, can you think of a "spin-off" that came even close to matching the success of it's predecessor? The Jeffersons? Laverne and Shirley? Not quite. I guess they can always enjoy the reruns and their Season DVD's. I just hope I don't hear about people crying over this shit.

It's not that serious. I mean, it could be worse. Imagine the last season of Saved By The Bell with a bunch of late 30 somethings. *Wretch*

I feel uncomfortable speaking about the racial dynamics in American society, but I've been reading a lot about racial-inequality and examining how I feel about ethnicity and living in a predominantly white society. We no longer live in a world of segregation where black people cannot ride in the front of the bus or where the Japanese and Koreans are treated like shit working in the agricultural fields of California. But there are many racially charged issues that do affect minorities that people refuse to acknowledge. It may not be government instituted programs or racially based hiring practices. It is accepted trains of though that not many people choose to see. We as Americans are in denial of the fact that although the institution of blatant racism may not be as prevalent as in the past, it is still strong enough to be oppressive.

This is not a call for help or a call for action. This is acknowledging something that has been here for years and still remains 'till this day. As a minority, living in a white society is hard.

I used to hate my skin. I was so fuckin' dark. My hair was too black and boring. My nose was so flat. I used to spend hours a day pinching my nose so that I could have a more prominent and "acceptable" nose. I remember in 3rd grade when Gregory Roberts called me "fish lips". I wasn't even mad at him. I was mad because I looked into the mirror and I saw what he saw. I wasn't what was considered "attractive". I wasn't like him: blonde hair, blue eyes. He was the epitome of what was widely accepted as "good looking". I felt the same way. TV at the time wasn't as nearly as diverse as it is now (even though it still isn't as diverse as it could be). There was no one on television that I could identify with. Everything, whether if it was on television, the movies, my classmates, all of them agreed that white was beautiful. Go to every church and Jesus was white. Every respected major government official was white. Everything and everybody that is white is "right". So I'd look at myself in the mirror and know that I was not "right".

I see it everywhere in my culture. If you spend any time watching Filipino television, you would realize how many stars strive to take on the traditional Western ideas of beauty. The dark Filipino is looked down upon as a savage. The half-white half Filipino mestizo is looked upon as beautiful and star worthy. It is not unusual for Filipina women to put astringent on their faces to "lighten" them up or to bleach their hair into a disgusting orange in order to whiten themselves up. You live in a self-deprecating mode like that and you're bound to cause some long lasting effects within your culture. You spend enough time shitting on yourself and the next thing you know you're wallowing in shit.

This self-deprecating train of though has followed Filipinos (and other immigrants, for that matter) to the United States. New Asian immigrants are forced to speak English with their untrained tongues and are chastised for their accents. They are called "FOBS" and made fun of for holding on to aspects of their original cultural. Hell, I did tons of it in jr. high and high school. We are so content and proud of our American culture when it is a culture that would rather do without us. From the start, we have been fed by our parents, by our friends, by the media, and by society as a whole that anything that deviates from this white society is undesirable. Guess what? People are still buying into it. It sucks because it's been like this for so long and no one wants to acknowledge it. They would rather believe that thanks to the civil rights movement of the 60's, everythign is just fine and dandy. Well, it isn't.

I used to be irritated by black militants who were still complaining about how racist American (and Western) culture still is. I was a doubter. I wasn't convinced that black people were having a hard time stopping cabs in New York City. I wasn't convinced that black people were being blatantly overlooked in job hirings. It wasn't until I realized how black people, and minorities in general, are subjected to so many levels of discrimination, from not only others, but from within their own ethnic groups. It's funny, because most of the people who say that the days of racism and discrimination are over are white people. They laugh and scoff at those who say they are being treated unfairly because of their ethnicity. "Not in today's society" These are the same people that believe Affirmative Action is unneccessary. They wouldn't understand how young black kids are treated unfairly in class and are not given the opportunity to flourish because of teacher's prejudice. The chances are stacked against so many minorities. Some people would never understand that. Unless you have walked in their shoes, you cannot truly understand their plight. It would be similar to a man saying he understands the pain in childbirth. He would never really know.

This isn't a "hate whitey" post. It's not about that. It's acknowledging the fact that American society still has a long way to go in creating a truly equal society. It's going to take years upon years to deprogram all the hate and the bigotry and the prejudice that has brainwashed the American society for hundreds of years. This isn't"playing the victim". You know how much I hate "victims". But if you see this as me playing the "victim", you're caught in the web as well. It's there, yo. Believe me. It's there.

But yeah. Whatever.

I would suggest downloading this song and listening along while reading the words. I don't fully agree with what Ras Kass says, but a lot of it is for the most part, true. I know I've suggested this before, but oh well. Open your mind a little, even if you are offended.

Artist: Ras Kass
Album: Soul On Ice
Song: Nature of the Threat

Let freedom ring with a buckshot, but not just yet
First we need to truly understand the nature of the threat
And a pale man walks in the threshold of darkness
Roughly 20,000 years ago the first humans evolved
with the phenotypical trait, genetic recessive
Blue eyes, blonde hair and white skin
Albinism apparently was a sin to the original man, Africans
So the mutants traveled North of the equator
Called Europeans later, the first race haters
So here's the Devil's alpha to the beta
Cause history's best qualified to teach one
Quoting German philosopher Schopenhauer
"Every white man is a faded or a bleached one"
Migration created further mutation
Genetic drifts, evolution through recombination
Adaptation to the climate
As the Caucus Mountain man reverted to that of a primate
Savage Neanderthals, until the late Paleolithic age
That's when the Black Grimaldi man came
With the symbol of the dragon, fire and art
Check cave paintings in France and Spain to the Venus of Willendorf
Around 2000 B.C. Southern Russians migrate in small units
Those who travel West populated Europe
Those who went East settled in Iran, known as Aryans
1500 B.C. some crossed the Khyber Pass into India and
created Hinduism, the first caste system, the origins of racism
A white dot on the forehead meant elite
The black dot - defeat; untrustable, untouchables
They wrote the holy Vedas in Sanskrit
That's the language that created Greek, German, Latin and English
Now the Minoans around 2000 B.C.
Starts on the island of Crete, in the Agean Sea
The Greek culture begins Western Civilization
But "Western Civilization" means "White Domination"
Myceneans learned from Kemet, called Egypt in Greek
It existed since at least 3000 B.C.
Creatin geometry and astronomy
This knowledge influenced Plato, Socrates and Hippocrates
Cause Imhotep, the real real father of medicine
Was worshiped in Greece and Rome in the form of a Black African
The word Africa comes from the Greek "Aphrike"
meaning "without code"; the word philosophy means "love of knowledge"
Stole from first man, Greek power expands
The first Greek fraternities band
The word gymnasium is Greek for "naked"
This was the place where adolescent boys were educated, and molested
This was accepted because Greek culture was homosexual
For example, Sappho trained girls on the island of Lesbos
Hence, the word lesbian (Ay let these dumb motherfuckers know)
December 25th, the birth of Saturn
A homosexual god, now check the historical pattern
December 25, now thought the birth of Christ
Was Saturnalia, when men got drunk,
fucked each other then beat their wife
Fact is, it was still practiced, til they called it Christmas
So put a gerbil on your Christmas list
The Hellenistic Era, Alexander the Great
Conquers all the way to India leavin four successor states
By the Fifth century B.C., R.O.M.E.
succeeds to be the conqueror of Egypt and Greece
But had the threat of the Black Phoenicians in Sicily
The Punic Wars began 264 B.C.
The Black general Hannibal and Carthaginian Peace
In 146 B.C. Carthage fell after a six-month siege
Rome sold every citizen to slavery
The first genocide of history
And more bisexuality in sight; Julius Caesar was known as
"every woman's husband and every man's wife" (BEOTCH!)
Spartacus Revolt, a slave rebellion that lost
Where 6,000 slaves was nailed on a cross
Cross? Aw, shit! Jesus Christ! Time for some-act-right
Christians get your facts right
Cause Christ was not his name
That's Greek for "One who is anointed"
Yoshua Ben Yosef was his name, do Christians know this?
So who do you praise, do you know his name?
Or do you do this in vain?
Accepting the religion they gave slaves to behave
Peep the description of historian Josephus
"Short, dark, with an underdeveloped beard was Jesus"
He had the Romans fearing revolution
The solution was to take him to court and falsely accuse him
After being murdered by Pilate how can it be
these same white Romans established Christianity
Constantine would later see the cross in a dream
In his vision, it read "En Hawk Signo Wonka":
"In this sign we conquer" - Manifest Destiny
In 325 he convened the Nicean Creed
And separated god into three
Decided Jesus was born on December 25th
and raised then on the third day is a myth
Plus to deceive us
Commissioned Michelangelo to paint white pictures of Jesus
He used his aunt, uncle, and nephew
Subconsciously that affects you
It makes you put white people closer to God
(Yo, 'The Man' got game like a motherfucker!)
True indeed, fuck it, Jihad
In the eight century Muslims conquered
Spain, Portugal and France and controlled it for 700 years
They never mention this in history class
cause o'fays are threatened when you get the real lesson
Moors from Baghdad, Turkey threatened European Christians
Meaning, the white way of life; hence the Crusades for Christ
On November 25th, 1491
Santiago defeats the last Muslim stronghold, Grenada
King Ferdinand gave thanks to God for victory
And the Pope of Rome and declared this date to forever be
A day of "Thanksgiving" for all European Christians

.. Now listen, when you celebrate "Thanksgiving"
What you are actually celebratin
is the proclamation of the Pope of Rome
Who later, in league with Queen Isabella
sent Cardinal Ximenos to Spain
to murder any blacks that resisted Christianity
These Moors, these black men and women
were from Baghdad, Turkey
And today, you eat the turkey, for your "Thanksgiving" day
as the European Powers destroyed the Turkeys
Who were the forefathers of your mothers and fathers
Now fight the power, you bitch-ass niggaz!

Now around this time, Whites started callings us Negroes
That's Spanish for black object meaning we're not really people
but profit, and the triangle trade begins - they seize us
Queen Elizabeth sends the first slaves on a ship named Jesus
Stealin land from the indigenous natives
Gave them alcohol to keep the Red Man intoxicated
Whites claim they had to civilize these pagan animals
But up until 1848 there's documented cases
of whites bein the savage cannibals, eatin Indians
In 1992, it's Jeffery Dahmer
They slaughtered a whole race with guns
Drugs, priests and nuns
1763, the first demonic tactic of biological warfare
As tokens of peace, Sir Jeffery Amherst
passed out clothin and blankets to the Indian community
Infested with small pox, knowin they had no immunity
Today it's AIDS, you best believe it's man made
Cause ain't a damn thing changed.. let me explain
Now since people of color are genetically dominant
and Caucasoids are genetically recessive
and Whites expect to be predominant, meaning survive as a race then
they simply must, take precautions
That's why they're worried about their future now
Cuz by 2050, almost all the Earth's population
will be brown, then black, so understandin that, whites counterreact
(I'm sayin.. man.. them fools
ain't nothin but a teaspoon of milk in the world color majority)
So they created a system
to force blacks into an unnatural position
That re-enforces the position of natural inferiority
In addition, created guns and developed the ethnocentric view
that God justifies every fuckin thing they do
Condition people to perceive whites' culture as civilized
and every other culture considered primitive - not true!
Racism is the system of racial subjugation against nonwhites
in every areas of human relation
Entertainment, education, labor, politics
Law, religion, sex, war and economics
See blacks were 3/5ths of a man with tax purposes intended
You think you're Afro-American?
You're a 14th amendment and a good nigga
Jews don't salute the fuckin swastika
but niggaz pledge allegiance to the flag that accosted ya
They never teach about the break of islands like Jamaica
But before slaves came here whites would take a
pregnant women, hang her from a tree by her toes
Slice her stomach with a knife
and let the unborn baby fall to the flo'
And stop an unborn child in front of all the slaves
to inbreed fear, so they'd be scared and behave
and not rebel more
Understand all whites must be perceived as potential predators
I paraphrase historian Ishakamusa Barashango
"Understand that regardless of the lofty ideas ingraved on paper
in such documents as the Constitution or Declaration
the basic nature.. of the European American white man
remains virtually unchanged".. so check
This is the nature of the threat

Reality TV is a mockery of reality. The fucked up thing is that reality is a joke. It's a farce. Fake. Phony. Similar to how pornos fuck up people's perception of what sex is really like, reality TV has pretty much fucked up our perception of what life is like. "The Real World"? In the real world, we avoid people we don't really like and we pay rent. You want to know what a real "Survivor" is? A single mother with 2 jobs supporting 3 children. And fuck an American Idol. Fuck an American Idol in the ass (Don't get any funny ideas, Clay). Because we need to stop throwing out "idol" as if the mere talent of being able to sing makes you someone to look up to.

Then you have a myriad of reality dating shows. What the fuck happened to the good old days when you could just meet someone through an Internet matching service and elope to Vegas and have a Star Wars themed wedding? But seriously. People do not meet like this. Most people don't meet each other and fuck on the first night. Most people wouldn't stick around for the second half of a horrible date. I had a personal friend that was on Elimidate last year, and he told me that they encouraged him to enbibe alcohol well BEFORE the date even showed up. Hmmm, for some reason, they didn't show all that in in the broadcast. It's hard to believe that these type of things happen in real life all the time, but if it happens on a show over and over again, people start thinking "man, what the fuck am I doing wrong ?". This is obviously bullshit.

"Average Joe"? "The Apprentice"? "The Bachelor"? Will this shit ever stop? Reality TV is now an 18-wheeler with no brakes. But the bullshit does not stop at what we are forced to watch. It is also in the shit we're forced to hear.

Art does no longer imitates life. Life is imitating art in many areas throughout our society. Look at Hip Hop and Hip Hop music. Disenfranchised urban (and in a lot of cases these days, suburban) youth are now emulating who? Disenfranchised youth. These rap artists who are being exploited by the music industry are forced to churn out negativity, hate and misogyny. Where is the wisdom? Where is the leadership? It's non-existent. But let's not blame Rap for negatively influencing our youth, because although artists and record labels do need to take responsibility for their actions (something that will NEVER happen), parents need to start taking responsibility for their fucking inability to raise their children properly.

Is it not common sense that Chingy isn't exactly the best role model in the world? I mean, shit, rappers are not role models. You and I know that shit. But have you see how kids are falling for this shit? I know people who don't vote, but will defend 2pac like he's his son. Shit is kind of twisted. Go to the mall and tell me how many kids you see with a throwback jersey and some Urr Force 1's. For fucks sakes, yo. What' is going on around here? Music is supposed to be the soundtrack of our lives, but I don't' know whose lives some of these muthafuckas are rapping about.

What's fake is fake and what's real is fake as well. Face it. We're taking steps towards a "Brave New World" and most people don't see it.

Word to the man behind Ultrablognetic, not only for taking time to bless this blog with his presence, but for being one of the initial driving forces early in my year long blogging career.

I dangerously flirt with stagnancy. As I stop to smell the roses, sometimes I pull up a chair and rest a little longer than expected. Ya know what I mean? If you stay still long enough, the world around you moves so fast you become entrenched in the illusion that you are still moving. You know that feeling. You're at a stoplight facing uphill and the car next to you begins to slowly inch forward, giving you the false sense of sliding backward in reverse. You quickly apply the brakes even harder, only to realize that the light turned green while you were starring at the couple crossing the street at the adjacent crosswalk.

Shit's been like that lately. With all this new found responsibility living in our new apartment, I stopped to take a good look at where I've come from, where I am, and where I want to be. Unfortunately, I've been stuck in this contemplative rut for the last few weeks, and I need to get off my ass and do something. I've worked pretty hard to get where I am, both scholastically and professionally. At least part of me would like to think so. The other part keeps telling how lazy I am and how slowly I choose to develop.

An older classmate told me the other week that she thinks I'm going to be somebody special. She told me that she sees qualities in me that would make me more successful than I could ever imagine. She cited the ideas I come up with and the amazing way I carry myself at such a young age as proof. I quickly dismissed it because for one, I don't take compliments very well ( a product of my low self-esteem), and secondly, because I 've been secretly telling myself that for the past 24 years of my life. But for the first time, someone other than my mom and myself said something positive about my future in terms of "potential".

But I think "potential" is a tricky term. Fuck it. Potential is a bullshit term. Potential only sets you up to fail. I was always the kid "with potential". In Little League, I was billed as a potential high school and college caliber athlete. So much for that. In high school, I had the potential to be a university scholar. So much for that, too. You never hear of anybody living up to potential. You always hear about the kid who never fulfilled his true potential.

So that's what's motivating me now. I'm tired of being the kid with all the potential. I'm tired of measuring myself against things I'm supposed to do. I'm just going to do it. It sounds corny, I know. But I've spent so much time in my life dwelling on what I've failed to accomplish. I never stopped to think that a lot of these goals are still attainable. We cannot afford to be stagnant in a dynamic world. Some people get stuck in a rut and give up and live their lives asking "What If?" You NEVER hear anybody say "What if I try to do it again?"

Couldn't hurt to try, eh?

Hi. My name is jurk storr malone. Joe was like prolly smoking crack a while back when he sent me an e-mail letting me know to post crap on his blog whenever I wanted. Well little did he know how literally I would take him on both ends of that statement.

One of the things you have to know about me, cuz, shit, I’m like, super famous, like, more famous than that backup dancer on the Pringles commercial, is that I take my fame very seriously. In fact, I’ve got like 30 different agents working on 85 different deals on 7 continents. Literally, in like 3 hours, I have to be on a corporate jet for Doritos to land in Antarctica and do a commercial for skyyy vodka with that really famous penguin from that crappy adam sandler movie. Where he’s with some chick that can’t remember shit from the day before. His name’s koo-koo-bird.

Ok, no it’s not, I totally lied.

Another thing that you should know regarding my fame is that I hate to talk about it. I’m very very very shy in regards to getting recognized in public all the time as a result of my super-famous blogs ultrablognetic & a dog named clipper. I mean, shit, and don’t even get me started on if I’m ever in japan or korea. They go absolutely insane for me over there and one time I even had to escape out the window of a 37th floor hotel room with only a few towels and sheets tied together cuz this porn star wanted to rape me in front of this reality show director. I was like, hell no. I don’t go out like that, nah mean? It’s just not done.

A rule that I always go by for if you want my autograph is you have to send me a letter or telegram at least 5 years in advance. Since I’ve only been famous, well, this famous, or, like, you know, sean penn famous, for like 3 and a half years, I have yet to sign an official autograph. Sure, there are lots of copies of my real name signature, but only like 3 people in the whole negasphere know that, and I sure as hell ain’t telling you. no, I mean, you will not find a copy of a signature reading “kool keith el otro” no matter how hard you look, and if you do, it’s fake, and even if you put in a request today, I’m not starting working on the ones that are 3.5 years old for like another year and a half, and that’ll take me at least 6 months to get through with my schedule.

Oh and just one more thing, I’m the only person in the world besides sofia coppola that knows what bill murray said to that chick at the end of lost in translation.

And I’m not telling. Ok, well, I did tell joe, but he’s been sworn to secrecy. Just know that it involves Ronald mcdonald, and leave it at that. don’t try to guess any further into it, cuz I can already tell you that you’re way off base.

Video killed the radio star...

...and in turn forced music into slow, almost unnoticeable, downturn in quality.

Think about it. There are only a few people on this planet that can become successful in the music industry. They must have the "total package". They must look great, fit into the mold of what is currently popular, and have an ounce of actual talent. It's a sad fact, but absolutely true. The best song writers and the best music producers and the biggest labels all get behind the artist that will sell the most records, not the artist with the most talent.

I think the "talent" portion of the job title "talent scout" should be dropped completely. They aren't out there scouting talented kids. They are looking for the best looking kids. The most marketable kids. Could some of them be actually talented? Of course. You have your Norah Jones' and your Alicia Keys. You have your ?uestloves and Stevie Wonders. There is no denying their talent. But then you see these other artists with marginal talent but a very marketable look and/or image. You know who I'm talking about. The Britneys, the Chingys, and the Fred Dursts of the world. It's a sad thing.

I think we're being robbed of the best music our people have to offer because music is no longer an art. Music is a business. They refer to it as "The Industry" where the dollar rules and talent is merely icing on the cake. The good thing is that people are beginning to see though the bullshit and are turning to the underground. Small clubs and other hole-in-the-wall establishments are seeing an increase of people who are tired of the Top 100 music people like Clearchannel and Viacom are flooding our ears with. I'm personally sick and tired of the radio and haven't listened to the radio on FM for a good 5 years.

Don't get me wrong. Is there good music on the radio? Yes. Could it be better? Oh yeah. Are we getting shut out of a lot of great music? Hell yes.

I was thinking the other night about how a lot of Americans don't' vote. I can't really state the actual statistics, but it's safe to say that there are 3 groups of people who typically vote:

1. The ones that do it because they can.
2. The ones that do it because they want to change the world.
3. The ones that do it because they are fuckin' old and have nothing better to do but fuck up the lives of youger people.

The scary thing about all this is that the percentage of actual voters for each group increase significantly as that list goes down. But that's a different story all together.

So why don't people vote? I honestly think it's because of two things. For one, people have lost complete faith in the voting process. I mean, let's be real here. Dubya didn't even get the majority of votes last election and he still won. That shit is crazy, and quite honestly could make someone just throw their hands in the air and say "fuck it". I know I've been teetering on the edge at times, but I still think my vote counts towards something.

The second reason is completely different and is maybe a testament to the quality of life here in the US. People are simply content with their lives and feel no need to change the status quo. I mean, look at the type of feedback restaurants get. The only time they get feedback on their quality of service is when the service is shitty. If the service is just enough to keep a customer satisfied, they wouldn't hear a single thing. Not a complaint nor praise. So maybe this isn't such a surprise.

There's a lot of things in our country that need to change, but unfortunately a large portion of (voting) Americans are afflicted with indifference. Not so much that they don't care, but because they don't feel the need to care. Millions of Americans have flocked to suburbs and gated communities to feel safe, but in turn have isolated themselves from the world that affects the majority. These are the people who vote. They vote to keep their lives the same. If someone proposes to put a basketball court in their neighborhood, they head to the city council meetings to voice their opinions. Basketball courts = urban, and urban = black. And they can't have that happening in their neighborhood. It would destroy their feelings of being safe. But they see a proposition on the ballot that would cut public school funding to make up for a budget deficit, and they just be happy their kids are in private school. Most of these voters aren't looking out for the good of the country and the people in it. They are voting for themselves to keep their shit safe, not ours.

My last blog was about not being a victim. This sounds like some corny Goonies speech, but I really don't care. This election, we have an opportunity to shape what the world is going to look like in the next 10-20 years. I'm not going to stand around and watch shit change without my having my say, no matter how insignificant it may seem.

Damn, I just stopped to read this and I feel pretty lame. Back to pretending to work.

I fuckin' hate the "victim".

When I'm really bored at work, sometimes I take a look at the newly published blogs on the left side of the Blogger homepage. A lot of them are teeny-bopper-that-strayed-a-little-too-far-from-Xanga websites with a bunch of cool-but oh-so-unnecessary features like a javascript fade-in or 5 different tag boards. A lot of these blogs are also teeny boppers and adults alike complaining about absolutely everything possible. Tell me if these sound familiar:

"Oh my parents are such assholes because I came home late and they grounded me. They are so unfair."

"My job sucks and my boss sucks I don't get paid enough. When will I get what I deserve?"

"I hate my economics professor. He wouldn't let me turn my term paper in late."

"I hate the American Government. That's why I'll never vote."

I read this type of shit everywhere. On message boards, on blogs, etc. Tons of people complain about everything and show little to no effort to either take responsibility for their actions or take action to change the status quo. Most of the time, I see it from kids who blog incessantly about how unfair their parents are, then go on to write about their new car that the same parents just bought. But it's not just kids. Americans everywhere sit on the sidelines and complain about how dumb President Bush is and how he has manipulated the system, but will refuse to show up at their precinct when November rolls around. If it's not one thing, it's another. Responsibility seems to be very slippery for some of these people. I have zero sympathy for these types of self-inflicted "victims".

We as individuals are ultimately responsible for what we do and how we feel about things that happen around us. People need to accept the fact that they have a responsibility to themselves and it is them and only them that can help. They cannot place blame anywhere but on their own shoulders. This victim shit has to go, man. Be proactive. Take some control over your feelings and your life in general.

As if the "Toxic" video wasn't enough to convince you, Britney Spears is too fuckin' much. You know, I'm all for ass and titties, but this shit is too much. Now I can go on a whole tirade on how she is the true American Idol for millions of little girls and how she's feeding to their already oversexed lives. Or, I can go another route and say how she's completely biting Madonna's shock/sex style that defined her career for the better half of the 80's and early 90's. But, I won't do that because that wouldn't get anything done. I decided to leave a few messages on her phone and give that bitch a piece of my mind:

*beep*

Yo Britney, it's me. I saw the pictures of that shit you pulled off at your last show. Come on, now. We all know you're hot. We all know you're sexy. But shit, leave that porno bullshit in the bedroom. You already have guys jacking off to your videos. Do you really need guys jacking off at your shows? Holla back..

*beep*

*beep*

Britney, it's B again. Yo, sorry for the harsh words earlier. I know you should be comfortable with your sexuality. You're a grown ass woman now. It's just sometimes I get jealous. You're not the same anymore. First it was the drinking. Then the smoking. Now it's the random dry humping. I don't know if I can take it anymore. Call me back..

*beep*

*beep*

Brit. It's B. Just caught "Toxic" on MTV for the 3rd time this hour. Needless to say, I have a towel and two socks that smell like bleach now. You need to kill this sexy shit. All my Dungeons & Dragons online friends laugh at me on a daily basis. Not because you don't talk to me but because of all this raunchy porno shit. I've become a joke. Please stop avoiding my calls...

*beep*

*beep*

Okay, fuck it. Britney. You're a ho. Look at you. First you're selling Sketchers and now you're dry humping a gay Tito Ortiz lookin' muthafucka on stage. I've had it. If your career does not cumlinate with you having sex with Vanilla Ice, consider yourself a failure. You are a disgrace to the real sluts of the world. Now eat a dick, bitch.

*beep*

Last week I went over to the local batting cages to take a few hacks. I brought the usual: my 13 dollar bat I felt like I stole of eBay last year, my mismatched Franklin batting gloves, and memories of the many baseball seasons of my past.

I miss it. I can't lie. Early Spring always get me itchy not only for the new pollen in the air, but the oncoming baseball season. I played organized baseball for a good 7 years of my life. It was a huge part of my life and was one of the few things that truly made me happy. I was really good. I mean, I may have not been the most skilled or the strongest, but what I lacked physically I made up for in knowing the game. I was a student of the the game of baseball. One of the best compliments I ever received was from my high school pitching coach. He told me that my decision making skills were far beyond the scope of most high school athletes. Baseball was not only a physical game to me, it was also a cerebral game. The position I played, catcher, allowed me to control the game. My decisions allowed me to control where a pitcher threw the ball. This dictated how the defense would align itself. I was at the helm of the team, but it was rarely acknowledged until my coach handed out that compliment. I missed all that.

But what I really missed is just hanging out with the guys and playing a game. There was nothing like it. Baseball practices around the world start off the same way: playing catch. As simple as catch is, it was must more than just tossing the ball back and forth. We joked, laughed, and gossiped about nothing. Bus rides were the best. My first freestyled rap lines were spit in the back of a bus on a trip back from Napa. Just little things like that make me miss the "Baseball Is Life" time of my high school years.

After I graduated high school, I learned quickly that college level baseball was well above my actual skill level. I never really "quit" the sport, I just stopped due to circumstance. I was a freshman in college with new responsibilities. Looking back, I could have walked on and at least tried out, but I was too scared of rejection. I always excelled at all levels of the sport, and I had finally met my match (so I thought). No need for the humiliation, ya know?

The first Spring without baseball was rough. I'd drive to the UC Davis campus and walk to class. Masochistically, I'd walk by the baseball field and see all the guys warming up. The smell of the freshly cut grass taunted me but I still made the walk every day. Now, years later, the thought of actually playing again is long gone. Now I resort to reliving memories by hitting up the batting cages, take some rusty hacks at the ball, and walk away sweaty and tired. This day at the cages last week brought back some of these feelings when I had a conversation with a guy hitting in the next cage.

As I finished a round of swings, the guy in the next cage asked me, "Who do you play for?"

"Uhh, nobody."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I haven't played organized ball for 7 years."

"Wow. I thought you played still because you really have a nice swing. You should think about playing again.."

The comment floored me. I didn't know what to say. He went on to explain that he played for an adult league. He was a little older than me and he told me to consider joining a league similar to his. Honestly, I haven't really though of playing again. Now all the old feelings are coming back. The excitement of Spring crept its way into my soul and I'm really contemplating training to make a comeback next year. Not to A ball or AA ball. Hell, not even a high or mid level adult league. I just want to go back and play catch. I want to go back on the diamond to smile and have fun. All over again.

We finally got our landline installed. One more week until the DSL comes through. Good news? Maybe. Maybe not.

The last few weeks without the Interent have been great. My wife and I have spent a lot more quality time together, typically having dinner around 10:30, which is about an hour after she gets home from work, and talking. Since I started working back in October, we really haven't had a lot of time to just talk. Most of the time, we'd have a little chit chat before we scrambled to have sex since the combination of her work and school schedule, my work and school shedule, her period, and my son being awake made it difficult for our sliding windows of opportunity to coincide with one another. The combination of no Internet access and our son's more reasonable sleep schedule (10-8 instead of 12-10 when we stayed with my folks) has widened these windows of opportunity for both unadulterated sex and pre and post pillowtalk. I realize now how I was truly missing out on quality time with my wife wasting time playing online poker or chatting with friend I chat with all the time.

DSL comes in exactly 7 days. I'm almost positive that I won't be using it as much as I used to.

I KID YOU NOT......PLAY M.A.S.H.

Thanks Nancy!

If you were to ask my son to tell you a secret, he would lean in close to you and whisper, "Monkeys eat bananas". It's kind of funny if you ask me. But it brings up few interesting points. One of which is that we almost always see stating the obvious as being "funny" or "cute", when in most cases the obvious answer will solve most or your problems. The other interesting point is that most secrets are usually not productive in any manner and we are probably better off just keeping these things to ourselves.

Did that makes sense? It shouldn't have.

These Breakdancers Are Everywhere

Stick Em Up

Steak and Blow Job Day

I haven't been getting much sleep lately. We moved into our new apartment last weekend, and as comfy as it is I have to admit that I haven't' gotten quite comfortable. I'm sleeping in the same bed, but the room is a stranger. My buttchecks have yet to contour to the curvaceousness of the toilet seat. The carpet does feel good on my bare feet, but I am still accustomed to walking gingerly on my tip toes across a cold hardwood floor to make some breakfast in the morning. Shower curtains are a new concept since I've spent most of my life showering next to a closed sliding door.

Some things, though, have completely sucked. For one, we have no phoneline. Apparently, the previous tenants just happen to switch their phone carrier to one other than SBC, my preferred phone company of choice. They also forgot to turn off the service. Since the line is still live, SBC cannot set up a phone line for us. For this past week, we've been dealing with SBC and our landlord in an attempt to get this straightened out. We were told by the complex engineers that the problem would be fixed by this past Saturday, but unfortunately I was unsuccessful because the problem has still not been fixed. That problem lead to MY main issue:

NO INTERNET.

Now, I had DSL at my parent's house for a good part of the last couple years. Without a phone number, I have no way to check if my phoneline has DSL available. On top of that, since the phone is out, we cannot even use dial-up service. I seriously cannot believe I just came to terms with the fact that I will be going back to dial-up. I need a shot or nine of rum....

There are some good changes that I can get used to. Now that my son sleeps in a different room, I can come home and unwind watching tv with the volume up. The expansive walk-in closet provides enough room for my clothes, my wife's clothes, and a gang of our shoes. I do, though, have to admit that I have left about 70% of my closet intact at my parents' house, along with about 30 pairs of shoes. So maybe this "pro" is a little premature. Regardless, we have tons of more space.

But the icing on this cake is our freakin' couch. Our new Durapella micro-fiber couch with an attached chaise is easily the biggest hit with not only my family, but the 15 or so guests we've had come through this past week. I spent a pretty penny on that bad boy, but so far it looks to be worth every penny. I'll take a picture of it eventually.

BTW, spent a lot of quality time with Ryan last weekend. Whatever he tells you about me? Don't believe it. It was 10 dollars.