I want you to imagine that you've been in a coma for the past four years. You've just woken up. Now let me bring you up to speed. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are still going on and getting worse. The economy is circling the drain. And some oil company called BP has decided to up the ante when it comes to destroying the environment, I guess they didn't think it was happening fast enough. My guess is they're wanting the ice caps to melt faster so they can go drill for oil where they used to be. Now arguments can be made for the two wars, defending freedom and all that but as for the other two situations I can see only one explanation for their cause. Greed.
It's all about the quest for those little slips of paper that we call dollars.
Now don't get me wrong, I like spending money as much as the next person but I think it's time we got everyone together and said that the current system of capitalism isn't quite working out as we thought it would. Now before you start drawing Hitler mustaches on me (which makes perfect sense because when I think Hitler, oh yeah, my first thought is "communism". Forget the SS and the Holocaust, it's all about the economy) let me have a chance to explain myself.
I believe in socialism. And I'm not talking about the kind of socialism that rounds up poets and sends them off to Siberia (which was actually communist, not socialist) but the kind of socialism that America itself has promised us. The promises of a healthy life, good education, and a fair chance to make a comfortable living for me and my family. Damn it, society is falling apart just listening to me isn't it? Anyway, here are my points. Government funded health care, and government funded colleges. Private colleges can do what they want, no one wants to be associated with those pricks anyway. Now health care has already been worked on, we'll just have to see how that works out. So I'll go with the education.
My entire life all I've heard is that education is the most important thing that you can have. Well then, I find it strange that every year college tuition keeps going up. According to a December 3, 2008 article in the New York Times, college tuition has gone up 439% from 1982 to 2007. As accredited to a biennial report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. (Here's a link for the article ttp://tinyurl.com/6ygd9q ) Now, this article speculates that soon higher education will be out of reach for most American families. Except for the really rich ones. So, the poor families will do all the manual labor like digging ditches while the rich ones will be bankers. But don't worry, because I hear that you can become rich also, you know, as long as you can get a baccalaureate degree in business which if you graduated in 2008 from a 4-year public school cost you about $20,000 in student debt not counting late fees. Gotta love the American dream.
So you see, those Wall Street guys holding that golden carrot in front of you saying "You can be just like me," realize that yes, it is possible. But every year the amount of people being able to afford it decreases. Leaving more money for them to gobble up. This leaves the higher classes in with a better education and the lower classes stuck in low-skill level jobs with little pay with no way to escape the situation. I don't know about you but that sounds like pre-revolution France, not America.
All I'm saying is that the government should pay for our college. England, Italy, France, Germany, and every other westernized nation does it. But they're evil according to FOX News. And I can see where they're coming from, because when I think evil, I totally think equal education and good qualifications for job searching. Brrr, just saying that sent a chill through my soul and caused Satan to walk into my living room. The point is everyone says but you can't have the government pay for education that's socialism. Yes, yes it is. The real question is. What is bad about that? Some would say that capitalism is God's way of doing things, that's funny Jesus said to give up your money. Oh, well, I don't want to pay more taxes. Ok, yes, you'll have to pay taxes. But what people forget is that in the 1950s (one of the biggest economical growth periods in the country) people were paying a 90% tax rate. In fact taxes are at some of their lowest points in history and look where we are. Just think of your taxes as an account to pay for the hospital and for college.
What it comes down to is greed. People don't like the idea of government funded health care and education because they'd have to give their money over to the nondeservers. They'd have to give away their precious green paper. It all comes down to greed. There's no reason for anyone to not want everyone to be educated other than not wanting to give others money. That equals greed. That makes them a greedy person. And that's the short version of it. And frankly, it's getting hard for me to deal with the greed anymore. I'm thinking as soon as I get the chance I'm moving to Antarctica. Because then I don't have to worry about money, I can just trade everything for penguin crap.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
It's pretty sad really
How bad is it when a person who wants to go into the journalism field can't watch the news without wanting to bang his head against a wall? I really don't know but in case you're wondering that person is me.
Let's be honest, the news sucks lately. I'm not talking about the stories, I'm talking about the coverage. Don't worry journalism, I'm not blaming everyone. I am however blaming the 24 hour news networks such as MSNBC and FOX News. I try to be funny when I write these posts but there's nothing funny about the extreme lack of knowledge being shoved into our craniums from these so called "news" stations. Where to even begin?
Lately I've been reading a book about the Columbine school shooting in 1999 by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. The entire book is filled with accounts of things that I find appalling, one of those things happens to be the way the event was treated by the media. To put it simply the news did a terrible job at that one. There was no trench-coat mafia at fault, the two teens did not listen to Marylin Manson, the two boys weren't goth, they were not picked on (in fact they often bragged about being the people who picked on others), the killings were not retribution killings, and the famous martyr story of Cassie Bernall saying "yes" about her belief in God is a falsity, and the shootings were not an attack on Christians by Atheists. However, all of this was reported by the media during and after the attacks. Why? Because no investigation was done, they simply went with what they heard, threw their own ideas into it, and ran as fast as they could to get the story out.
Things have only gone downhill from there. I'll give CNN credit, it at least makes an honest effort to be middle of the road and do it's research. But other stations can not be given the same credit. I point mostly to the aforementioned MSNBC and FOX News. If politics was a see-saw FOX is a fat Rush Limbaugh (not much of a stretch) on the right, MSNBC an overweight Keith Olberman on the left, and CNN a sometimes goofy Wolf Blitzer standing right in the middle (sometimes).
Now, here's the question. What was the last thing you heard on FOX or MSNBC that actually helped you learn anything? I can't remember it. The reason is because they don't strive to teach you anything. They simply put three talking heads (one usually being the anchor who is always supported by Guest 1, while Guest 2 usually ends up being someone who supports the opposite side but clearly has no idea as to what they're talking about) on screen that yell the points back and forth at each other without citing any sources for their so called facts. They then somehow always run out of time when the opposing and dim witted Guest 2 finally finds a good weapon to use against the two talking heads who are constantly shouting over them. You learn nothing from this...except talking points.
What they expect you to do is go do your own research on these talking points and then make your own decision. But that's not what happens. Let's be honest, when was the last time you saw a news cast and said "I believe I'm going to go research that." I'll be surprised if you can name a time. There's no reason to be ashamed of it, we should have gotten the information from the damn news cast! But, instead all we got was a bunch of opinion that should not have been there at all.
It's simple really. The slanted media doesn't like to give facts because the facts usually don't hold up to their standard of making the people who disagree with them look like sniveling idiots. So, they simply use the tactic of flushing out small flaws and never allowing the other side to defend itself properly. Both sides are guilty of this, we've all heard of the "liberal agenda" it exists, but let me assure you that so does the "conservative agenda".
So let me ask you, how sad is it when the best reporting you can find on TV is done by someone who had admitted that he does not consider himself a journalist? I'm talking of course about Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" fame. It truly is sad when a guy who we all know leans to the liberal left does a better job reporting and gives a more balanced opinion to the conservative right than people who's job it is to actually do so.
I can go on and on about how bad the media has become at it's job. But basically all the blame can be put on the fact that they're lazy. They don't want to actually research things they just want to blast as many things at you as they can, even if those short little spurts of info are full of opinions that the rules of journalism say shouldn't be there in the first place. So what's my final thought on all of this?
The people I've been ranting about (Bill O'Reilly, Shawn Hannity, Keith Olberman, Ed Harris, Rachael Maddow, Glenn Beck) aren't journalist.
They're talking heads. And what's better....
Some of them are just plain jackasses.
Let's be honest, the news sucks lately. I'm not talking about the stories, I'm talking about the coverage. Don't worry journalism, I'm not blaming everyone. I am however blaming the 24 hour news networks such as MSNBC and FOX News. I try to be funny when I write these posts but there's nothing funny about the extreme lack of knowledge being shoved into our craniums from these so called "news" stations. Where to even begin?
Lately I've been reading a book about the Columbine school shooting in 1999 by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. The entire book is filled with accounts of things that I find appalling, one of those things happens to be the way the event was treated by the media. To put it simply the news did a terrible job at that one. There was no trench-coat mafia at fault, the two teens did not listen to Marylin Manson, the two boys weren't goth, they were not picked on (in fact they often bragged about being the people who picked on others), the killings were not retribution killings, and the famous martyr story of Cassie Bernall saying "yes" about her belief in God is a falsity, and the shootings were not an attack on Christians by Atheists. However, all of this was reported by the media during and after the attacks. Why? Because no investigation was done, they simply went with what they heard, threw their own ideas into it, and ran as fast as they could to get the story out.
Things have only gone downhill from there. I'll give CNN credit, it at least makes an honest effort to be middle of the road and do it's research. But other stations can not be given the same credit. I point mostly to the aforementioned MSNBC and FOX News. If politics was a see-saw FOX is a fat Rush Limbaugh (not much of a stretch) on the right, MSNBC an overweight Keith Olberman on the left, and CNN a sometimes goofy Wolf Blitzer standing right in the middle (sometimes).
Now, here's the question. What was the last thing you heard on FOX or MSNBC that actually helped you learn anything? I can't remember it. The reason is because they don't strive to teach you anything. They simply put three talking heads (one usually being the anchor who is always supported by Guest 1, while Guest 2 usually ends up being someone who supports the opposite side but clearly has no idea as to what they're talking about) on screen that yell the points back and forth at each other without citing any sources for their so called facts. They then somehow always run out of time when the opposing and dim witted Guest 2 finally finds a good weapon to use against the two talking heads who are constantly shouting over them. You learn nothing from this...except talking points.
What they expect you to do is go do your own research on these talking points and then make your own decision. But that's not what happens. Let's be honest, when was the last time you saw a news cast and said "I believe I'm going to go research that." I'll be surprised if you can name a time. There's no reason to be ashamed of it, we should have gotten the information from the damn news cast! But, instead all we got was a bunch of opinion that should not have been there at all.
It's simple really. The slanted media doesn't like to give facts because the facts usually don't hold up to their standard of making the people who disagree with them look like sniveling idiots. So, they simply use the tactic of flushing out small flaws and never allowing the other side to defend itself properly. Both sides are guilty of this, we've all heard of the "liberal agenda" it exists, but let me assure you that so does the "conservative agenda".
So let me ask you, how sad is it when the best reporting you can find on TV is done by someone who had admitted that he does not consider himself a journalist? I'm talking of course about Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" fame. It truly is sad when a guy who we all know leans to the liberal left does a better job reporting and gives a more balanced opinion to the conservative right than people who's job it is to actually do so.
I can go on and on about how bad the media has become at it's job. But basically all the blame can be put on the fact that they're lazy. They don't want to actually research things they just want to blast as many things at you as they can, even if those short little spurts of info are full of opinions that the rules of journalism say shouldn't be there in the first place. So what's my final thought on all of this?
The people I've been ranting about (Bill O'Reilly, Shawn Hannity, Keith Olberman, Ed Harris, Rachael Maddow, Glenn Beck) aren't journalist.
They're talking heads. And what's better....
Some of them are just plain jackasses.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Social Crapworking
If you're on the internet, and you are if you're reading this. Chances are you also have a tab opened to Facebook or Twitter (or MySpace if you haven't figured out how uncool that site is yet) and if you're a guy statistics say a porn site tab is also in there. The fact of the matter is that the American society from age 11-20 can basically be summed up in two words, social networks.
Now, social networks can be pretty awesome. They can be used to keep in touch with friends who other wise it would be close to impossible to stay in contact with. Find out news of what is going on in the rest of the world or get that douche bag at work fired for posting drunken pictures of him up on your wall. Ok, that's not exactly a good thing but it goes along with what people are really using these sites for.
Instead of using them for the aforementioned reasons most people use social networks for stupid reasons, except the drunken photos one, that one is suppose to be down here; just in case you have no sense of irony. I was on Twitter recently and noticed that one of the most talked about subjects was a thing that happened with musical "artist" (I put this in quotes because it honestly hurts me to say anyone who was on American Idol is an artist) David Archuleta. Now, I don't know what this is about exactly but it appears to have stemmed from a Twitter post from the big D-man himself about gays or something.
My question is, who cares? Honestly? Really people, with all the things that are going on in the world this is what we've come to murder our valuable time with? Whether this Archuleta guy is gay or not shouldn't matter to anyone, Adam Lambert already had that market cornered. More on him in a later post. Here's the problem with social networks, they become a wasteland of rumors and time wasting bull crap. People use them to get into fights and to spread gossip that everyone else swallows like a baby being fed sugar laced milk or something without spending the slightest second to stop and think about how pointless all of it is.
Now, I'll admit, everyone is allowed to talk about something stupid every once in awhile. It's a given right that everyone has their blond moments every now and then. But I think we can all admit that there are some people in this world who are like this all the time, they hardly, if ever say an intelligent thing. Ok, that's fine, there's just a couple out there right? No, they're everywhere. And thanks to social networking sites they're allowed to meet up and then something horrible happens...they multiply!
I'm not sure how it happens but social networks literally make people stupid (this is my own theory, but you just wait, science will be backing me up soon). Facebook and Twitter make people think that they're connected with the world, they believe that just because they follow people they don't personally know or are "friends" with people they've never met that they know what's going on in the outside world. This is not true. Facebook CAN NOT be one's only portal to the news at large, otherwise all that person is going to get is worthless gossip and Farmville invites.
The point is that people need to take social networking sites less seriously. Stop sitting at your computer playing with your digital heroin i.e. Facebook and check out some stuff going on in the outside world. And when you are on Facebook or Twitter try looking up some news sites. It won't kill you to actually put valid information into your head. I could also say something about how these things have obviously gotten taken to seriously when CNN looks up these pointless sites for information, I mean Jesus. And businesses, back off, you owners are just as bad as the people you hire so get over yourselves. Like I say, stop taking the networking sites so seriously
Oh, and parents, stop stalking your kids with this stuff. It just gives them one more reason not to come home from school on the weekends. And yes, that goes for the parents who aren't "friends" with their kids but use their real-life friends to spy on their kids for them.
Now, social networks can be pretty awesome. They can be used to keep in touch with friends who other wise it would be close to impossible to stay in contact with. Find out news of what is going on in the rest of the world or get that douche bag at work fired for posting drunken pictures of him up on your wall. Ok, that's not exactly a good thing but it goes along with what people are really using these sites for.
Instead of using them for the aforementioned reasons most people use social networks for stupid reasons, except the drunken photos one, that one is suppose to be down here; just in case you have no sense of irony. I was on Twitter recently and noticed that one of the most talked about subjects was a thing that happened with musical "artist" (I put this in quotes because it honestly hurts me to say anyone who was on American Idol is an artist) David Archuleta. Now, I don't know what this is about exactly but it appears to have stemmed from a Twitter post from the big D-man himself about gays or something.
My question is, who cares? Honestly? Really people, with all the things that are going on in the world this is what we've come to murder our valuable time with? Whether this Archuleta guy is gay or not shouldn't matter to anyone, Adam Lambert already had that market cornered. More on him in a later post. Here's the problem with social networks, they become a wasteland of rumors and time wasting bull crap. People use them to get into fights and to spread gossip that everyone else swallows like a baby being fed sugar laced milk or something without spending the slightest second to stop and think about how pointless all of it is.
Now, I'll admit, everyone is allowed to talk about something stupid every once in awhile. It's a given right that everyone has their blond moments every now and then. But I think we can all admit that there are some people in this world who are like this all the time, they hardly, if ever say an intelligent thing. Ok, that's fine, there's just a couple out there right? No, they're everywhere. And thanks to social networking sites they're allowed to meet up and then something horrible happens...they multiply!
I'm not sure how it happens but social networks literally make people stupid (this is my own theory, but you just wait, science will be backing me up soon). Facebook and Twitter make people think that they're connected with the world, they believe that just because they follow people they don't personally know or are "friends" with people they've never met that they know what's going on in the outside world. This is not true. Facebook CAN NOT be one's only portal to the news at large, otherwise all that person is going to get is worthless gossip and Farmville invites.
The point is that people need to take social networking sites less seriously. Stop sitting at your computer playing with your digital heroin i.e. Facebook and check out some stuff going on in the outside world. And when you are on Facebook or Twitter try looking up some news sites. It won't kill you to actually put valid information into your head. I could also say something about how these things have obviously gotten taken to seriously when CNN looks up these pointless sites for information, I mean Jesus. And businesses, back off, you owners are just as bad as the people you hire so get over yourselves. Like I say, stop taking the networking sites so seriously
Oh, and parents, stop stalking your kids with this stuff. It just gives them one more reason not to come home from school on the weekends. And yes, that goes for the parents who aren't "friends" with their kids but use their real-life friends to spy on their kids for them.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Come on! Honestly?
"We're not the party of 'no' we're the party of 'hell no'."
Sarah Palin's quote surprised me. Considering that the Republican party said "hell yes" to ignoring information about 9/11, sending us to Iraq for no apparent reason, and putting the country into a coma inducing recession.
Have you seen the price of milk lately?
Ever since Obama became president the "Grand Ol' Party", which is actually newer than the Democratic party; not even coming into existence until just before the civil war, has been screaming up and down that the Communists have taken over.
Wrong.
False.
Not true.
1.) Thanks to this annoying little thing called the Constitution my Communist dreamland can't come true. 2.) Obama doesn't have one of those bitchin' Stalinstaches.
Republicans and redneck/crazy people have even compared the Obama administration to Nazi Germany. Now, even if you don't agree with Obama's policies surely some of you can agree with me that this is just a tad extreme.
So what's the deal? We're Americans. We're sorta smart, I mean we invented the McGriddle for crying out loud! Why is everyone suddenly terrified about the country being turned into the U.S.S.R.? Part of the problem has to do with those talking heads that the public likes to refer to as Fox News.
It's almost funny to watch Fox News, they constantly talk about what religion the country was founded on, their anchors cry on air, the women anchors constantly agree with the male anchors on everything (after looking up the definition to third grade words), and they constantly run around screaming how the country has gone to hell in a hand basket. It's almost funny. The reason it's not is because people, believe it or not, take the news seriously.
Not everyone looks at the news for what it's become, infotainment; which is another blog post completely, but as actual factual news. They trust what they hear. The problem with this is that Fox is nothing more than talking heads spewing out Republican talking points. For God's sake they have Sarah Palin as a guest commentator. Sarah F*cking Palin! That's literally the same as Joe Biden co-hosting Countdown: With Keith Olberman. And yes, it's ok to like to listen to what you're favorite party has to say more than the other guys. But you can't just make stuff up like Fox News does. They have been trying to scare the public with false threats of Communism and Socialism. As journalists they should literally be ashamed of themselves, if anyone knows how dangerous a scared public can be it should be the journalistic community. But, I digress.
Back to Sarah Palin.
Everything this women says reminds me of a thousand wolf killing fingernails scrapping down a chalk board. My roommate can confirm that when I hear her talk I compulsively fly into fits of profanity and banging my fist. Never before has a talking points machine been so popular. For this, a talking point machine, is what Sarah Palin is. She has no original ideas, if she does she's never stated them to the public, ever. She just has talking points that is it, that is freaking it! I literally can not state enough how unoriginal this woman is. Not only that, she has helped (in my mind) set back years of progress made by women in the realm of equality. Those thousand cracks that Hilary Clinton put into the glass ceiling Palin has done her best to fix them. She was picked from obscurity because of the fact that she was a woman (tell me any other reason McCain would have for her, or how he even heard about her) and she got immensely popular among male voters for her looks which she has made references to again and again.
Plus, she quit her job as....bloody governor of Alaska, she quite! You can do that? Personally, I think she should try to fix that problem of having the so called "meth capital of America" in her state before she tries again for the big leagues.
My whole point is this, come on people! If you don't agree with Obama fine, but use an actual argument composed of reason and facts, not this whole "he's a communist" bull crap. And don't just listen to Fox News, everyone knows that they wouldn't support a Democratic idea even if it agreed with their rhetoric (like Obama's new drilling policy for instance), get some other, more reliable sources.
As for the health care bill? Hell yeah! In your face insurance companies! Boom!
Oh, and yeah, France, Britain, and Canada (all countries with universal health care) have always and still are totally fascists and communists.
Sarah Palin's quote surprised me. Considering that the Republican party said "hell yes" to ignoring information about 9/11, sending us to Iraq for no apparent reason, and putting the country into a coma inducing recession.
Have you seen the price of milk lately?
Ever since Obama became president the "Grand Ol' Party", which is actually newer than the Democratic party; not even coming into existence until just before the civil war, has been screaming up and down that the Communists have taken over.
Wrong.
False.
Not true.
1.) Thanks to this annoying little thing called the Constitution my Communist dreamland can't come true. 2.) Obama doesn't have one of those bitchin' Stalinstaches.
Republicans and redneck/crazy people have even compared the Obama administration to Nazi Germany. Now, even if you don't agree with Obama's policies surely some of you can agree with me that this is just a tad extreme.
So what's the deal? We're Americans. We're sorta smart, I mean we invented the McGriddle for crying out loud! Why is everyone suddenly terrified about the country being turned into the U.S.S.R.? Part of the problem has to do with those talking heads that the public likes to refer to as Fox News.
It's almost funny to watch Fox News, they constantly talk about what religion the country was founded on, their anchors cry on air, the women anchors constantly agree with the male anchors on everything (after looking up the definition to third grade words), and they constantly run around screaming how the country has gone to hell in a hand basket. It's almost funny. The reason it's not is because people, believe it or not, take the news seriously.
Not everyone looks at the news for what it's become, infotainment; which is another blog post completely, but as actual factual news. They trust what they hear. The problem with this is that Fox is nothing more than talking heads spewing out Republican talking points. For God's sake they have Sarah Palin as a guest commentator. Sarah F*cking Palin! That's literally the same as Joe Biden co-hosting Countdown: With Keith Olberman. And yes, it's ok to like to listen to what you're favorite party has to say more than the other guys. But you can't just make stuff up like Fox News does. They have been trying to scare the public with false threats of Communism and Socialism. As journalists they should literally be ashamed of themselves, if anyone knows how dangerous a scared public can be it should be the journalistic community. But, I digress.
Back to Sarah Palin.
Everything this women says reminds me of a thousand wolf killing fingernails scrapping down a chalk board. My roommate can confirm that when I hear her talk I compulsively fly into fits of profanity and banging my fist. Never before has a talking points machine been so popular. For this, a talking point machine, is what Sarah Palin is. She has no original ideas, if she does she's never stated them to the public, ever. She just has talking points that is it, that is freaking it! I literally can not state enough how unoriginal this woman is. Not only that, she has helped (in my mind) set back years of progress made by women in the realm of equality. Those thousand cracks that Hilary Clinton put into the glass ceiling Palin has done her best to fix them. She was picked from obscurity because of the fact that she was a woman (tell me any other reason McCain would have for her, or how he even heard about her) and she got immensely popular among male voters for her looks which she has made references to again and again.
Plus, she quit her job as....bloody governor of Alaska, she quite! You can do that? Personally, I think she should try to fix that problem of having the so called "meth capital of America" in her state before she tries again for the big leagues.
My whole point is this, come on people! If you don't agree with Obama fine, but use an actual argument composed of reason and facts, not this whole "he's a communist" bull crap. And don't just listen to Fox News, everyone knows that they wouldn't support a Democratic idea even if it agreed with their rhetoric (like Obama's new drilling policy for instance), get some other, more reliable sources.
As for the health care bill? Hell yeah! In your face insurance companies! Boom!
Oh, and yeah, France, Britain, and Canada (all countries with universal health care) have always and still are totally fascists and communists.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Lost...And Not on a Magical/Crazy Island
As I said before in my last post my social life is not exactly the most exciting thing. In fact I'm pretty sure the only way it can get any more boring is if I crawled into a refrigerator and was shot into space by an atomic bomb like Indiana Jones. Ok, that would be pretty awesome, plus I would forever be labeled as a badass. However, being in outer space would really put a damper on my meeting new people.
I really don't enjoy this realization that I don't really get out much. I'm 18 and college movies are telling me I should be having an amazing time. I shouldn't be isolated at the newspaper like the unfocused workaholic that I am. So, when I received an invitation to a birthday party on Facebook by a cute girl I hardly know I immediately responded by saying "I will totally be there." Now, this girl was nice enough to put the address but failed to put in any directions to the place. Call me crazy but usually an address is easier to find with directions; I guess I could just be the most non-directionally orientated person on the planet but still. No directions, no maps, just an address.
Speaking of maps, Ball State sucks at making these. Not only do they spell streets differently on different maps, they fail to tell you that major roads (like the one I was trying to find) suddenly become renamed at important intersections for no reason. It was the renaming part that was my downfall. While looking for a road called Neely I walked from one side of the campus to the other knowing that somewhere along the way I was missing something. Finally I texted my friend and found out that Neely actually turns into a road called Petty. This road is literally 100 yards from my dorm room and I'd been trying to find it for close to an hour.
Now I'll admit, part of this is my fault. I'm terrible with directions. However, you would think that the university would foresee the problem of confused freshmen with no car wandering around campus might not knowing that Neely had an identity crisis and switches half way through to Petty. This is an easy fix, either make the entire road say Neely or Petty. Or, put up a sign that says "Hey, confused freshman jackass looking for party. Neely is this way <-."
At any rate, while walking down the wrong street I ran into two girls who were going to a birthday party. How many 21 year old birthday parties could be happening on one night?
Apparently two. And they just happen to be on the opposite side of campus from each other.
After I realized my mistake I became bound and determined to make it to my party destination. So off I went.
I finally got on the right street.
The thing is, after all of my turns and twist around campus I had forgotten the house number.
So, what's it like to randomly walk up to parties you see happening on peoples porches? Not to bad as long as you find a nice corner to stand in until you find it to awkward to take anymore.
Well I finally found the right place. An hour-and-a-half late.
When I walked onto the porch of god-knows-who the girl who invited me promptly told me "Hi" before leaving with a group of 20 or so people to go to a Frat house party.
So to summarize: I wondered around campus for about two-and-a-half hours to show up and then promptly be ditched by the person I was invited by, leaving me (a non-drinker) with a group of drunk upperclassmen that I didn't know. To understand how awkward this feels try watching a porno with your parents.
So, I left, found my friends house in the neighborhood and hung out there for a couple hours and walked back to my dorm.
The moral of the story? Always wear comfortable walking shoes.
I really don't enjoy this realization that I don't really get out much. I'm 18 and college movies are telling me I should be having an amazing time. I shouldn't be isolated at the newspaper like the unfocused workaholic that I am. So, when I received an invitation to a birthday party on Facebook by a cute girl I hardly know I immediately responded by saying "I will totally be there." Now, this girl was nice enough to put the address but failed to put in any directions to the place. Call me crazy but usually an address is easier to find with directions; I guess I could just be the most non-directionally orientated person on the planet but still. No directions, no maps, just an address.
Speaking of maps, Ball State sucks at making these. Not only do they spell streets differently on different maps, they fail to tell you that major roads (like the one I was trying to find) suddenly become renamed at important intersections for no reason. It was the renaming part that was my downfall. While looking for a road called Neely I walked from one side of the campus to the other knowing that somewhere along the way I was missing something. Finally I texted my friend and found out that Neely actually turns into a road called Petty. This road is literally 100 yards from my dorm room and I'd been trying to find it for close to an hour.
Now I'll admit, part of this is my fault. I'm terrible with directions. However, you would think that the university would foresee the problem of confused freshmen with no car wandering around campus might not knowing that Neely had an identity crisis and switches half way through to Petty. This is an easy fix, either make the entire road say Neely or Petty. Or, put up a sign that says "Hey, confused freshman jackass looking for party. Neely is this way <-."
At any rate, while walking down the wrong street I ran into two girls who were going to a birthday party. How many 21 year old birthday parties could be happening on one night?
Apparently two. And they just happen to be on the opposite side of campus from each other.
After I realized my mistake I became bound and determined to make it to my party destination. So off I went.
I finally got on the right street.
The thing is, after all of my turns and twist around campus I had forgotten the house number.
So, what's it like to randomly walk up to parties you see happening on peoples porches? Not to bad as long as you find a nice corner to stand in until you find it to awkward to take anymore.
Well I finally found the right place. An hour-and-a-half late.
When I walked onto the porch of god-knows-who the girl who invited me promptly told me "Hi" before leaving with a group of 20 or so people to go to a Frat house party.
So to summarize: I wondered around campus for about two-and-a-half hours to show up and then promptly be ditched by the person I was invited by, leaving me (a non-drinker) with a group of drunk upperclassmen that I didn't know. To understand how awkward this feels try watching a porno with your parents.
So, I left, found my friends house in the neighborhood and hung out there for a couple hours and walked back to my dorm.
The moral of the story? Always wear comfortable walking shoes.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Not My Scene
There's a freedom with dancing. A chance to express yourself and to let all you worries glide away on flow of the music...that's what I've been told anyway.
Personally, I hate dancing. Unless I have someone to actually dance with I mostly just stand there and bounce on the balls of my feet like the awkward white kid that I am, and when I actually try to dance it's like watching a crack addict have a seizure. So, to say the least dancing really doesn't hold much appeal to me. Needless to say, the same can not be said for those who are gifted with the ability to look like a complete jackass and yet still have the coolness factor to write it off as actual dancing.
Most of the people with that ability are women, and why not? They usually are the ones who blow off steam by going out for a night of "just dancing." This goes back to the first sentence in this little post. From what I've been told is that there's a freedom in it.
I went to a bar last night called the Mad Hatter where every Thursday night they have an 18+ night. Since my social life can be compared to that of a turtle, rarely venturing outside of my shell usually to run back in, terrified (or just pissed off) by the events of doing so; I decided to go and see if I could have a nice night and maybe meet a couple of people.
So I payed my five dollar cover charge, got my little armband that says I was under 21 and sheepishly made my way to the edge of the dance floor. Now I realize I keep getting off topic so I'll finally get to the point of the dancing. When used by college students or teenagers in general, dancing is code for "grinding," which is code for "dry humping in public."
It doesn't really matter what you say there's no getting around it, telling someone that you're going to the club is basically saying "I'm going to go to a dance place to try and find someone to dry hump for a couple of hours and get real sweaty with, I'll let you know about lunch tomorrow."
Now, as I've already stated I do not enjoy dancing, unless I have someone to do it with, which at a dance club there are plenty of people to do it with. The problem for me is the style. It seems like the key is just getting in there and doing it, like ridding a bull, just jump on and hold on for as long as you can. This however goes against my upbringing. Any of the girls who don't walk around in a little pack of "just dancing" short skirts (who somehow can't understand why guys won't leave them alone) just seem to dance with whoever is brave enough to just grab on and go.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not looking down on this, by all means if I could do this I would (sorry I'm a guy) but I can't and maybe I'm just jealous but I don't really understand it.
First of all, I just know that if I was to try this I would be rejected due to the girl feeling she would be overshadowed by my amazing dancing skills. But mostly, I just can't get over the feeling that just grabbing onto someone's ass like a horny tick is molestation somehow. So I feel a compulsive need to ask "Do you want to dance?"
This is a mistake, never do this, asking someone to dance in a dance club is like driving up to a Chucky Cheese in a plain white van and asking "Do you want any candy?" So just don't do that.
So, needless to say, I didn't dance with anyone. I left five dollars lighter, sweaty, tired, and with a ringing in my ears that hasn't quite gone away yet. I went to the Mad Hatter to see if this kind of thing was something I would enjoy doing; I left realizing that it's not really my scene.
Personally, I hate dancing. Unless I have someone to actually dance with I mostly just stand there and bounce on the balls of my feet like the awkward white kid that I am, and when I actually try to dance it's like watching a crack addict have a seizure. So, to say the least dancing really doesn't hold much appeal to me. Needless to say, the same can not be said for those who are gifted with the ability to look like a complete jackass and yet still have the coolness factor to write it off as actual dancing.
Most of the people with that ability are women, and why not? They usually are the ones who blow off steam by going out for a night of "just dancing." This goes back to the first sentence in this little post. From what I've been told is that there's a freedom in it.
I went to a bar last night called the Mad Hatter where every Thursday night they have an 18+ night. Since my social life can be compared to that of a turtle, rarely venturing outside of my shell usually to run back in, terrified (or just pissed off) by the events of doing so; I decided to go and see if I could have a nice night and maybe meet a couple of people.
So I payed my five dollar cover charge, got my little armband that says I was under 21 and sheepishly made my way to the edge of the dance floor. Now I realize I keep getting off topic so I'll finally get to the point of the dancing. When used by college students or teenagers in general, dancing is code for "grinding," which is code for "dry humping in public."
It doesn't really matter what you say there's no getting around it, telling someone that you're going to the club is basically saying "I'm going to go to a dance place to try and find someone to dry hump for a couple of hours and get real sweaty with, I'll let you know about lunch tomorrow."
Now, as I've already stated I do not enjoy dancing, unless I have someone to do it with, which at a dance club there are plenty of people to do it with. The problem for me is the style. It seems like the key is just getting in there and doing it, like ridding a bull, just jump on and hold on for as long as you can. This however goes against my upbringing. Any of the girls who don't walk around in a little pack of "just dancing" short skirts (who somehow can't understand why guys won't leave them alone) just seem to dance with whoever is brave enough to just grab on and go.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not looking down on this, by all means if I could do this I would (sorry I'm a guy) but I can't and maybe I'm just jealous but I don't really understand it.
First of all, I just know that if I was to try this I would be rejected due to the girl feeling she would be overshadowed by my amazing dancing skills. But mostly, I just can't get over the feeling that just grabbing onto someone's ass like a horny tick is molestation somehow. So I feel a compulsive need to ask "Do you want to dance?"
This is a mistake, never do this, asking someone to dance in a dance club is like driving up to a Chucky Cheese in a plain white van and asking "Do you want any candy?" So just don't do that.
So, needless to say, I didn't dance with anyone. I left five dollars lighter, sweaty, tired, and with a ringing in my ears that hasn't quite gone away yet. I went to the Mad Hatter to see if this kind of thing was something I would enjoy doing; I left realizing that it's not really my scene.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
A little ramble
Are you ready? Ok, breath all your air out....now hold it. You're dying, tick tock tick tock. Every second that goes by is one more second where you're brain is not getting that precious thing known as oxygen. Five more minutes and you're Terry Shivo. Two more after that and you're a door stop. Life is strange in the fact that the line between life and death is so thin, some people even find it hard to see.
I had a friend recently who was murdered. Life is strange. For all of the complexities that go into it, all the things that have to fit together just right for life to work and then, a man pulls a trigger. A trigger is a button if you think about it, so in essence you push a button and boom. There goes a life. Do me a favor, hit your space bar.
Click
You just killed someone. Boom.
Now what makes me bring this up? Well I don't know to tell the truth, I've had a strange couple of weeks and maybe it's the fact I've been stressing all that time and now I've realized that maybe I should chill out a bit and relax, life isn't all about that thing I've been stressing about. Life isn't to short. It's just not as defined as we think it is, not so clear cut if you get my meaning.
So what's my whole point of even writing this? To tell the truth I'm not even sure. It's a mix of hope and dark thoughts and who knows what else. When I began writing this I was slightly depressed but now I'm in a decent mood. Oh yeah I remember, slavery, that's what it was.
We're all slaves, slaves to technology, slaves to tiny trivial things in life. Sex, music, phones, facebook, all these trivial things. What do you consider to be living? As we've already discussed it's a very fine line.
Boom.
So I give this challenge to you, stop being a slave, we all are. Slave and hypocrites. Is that really life?
It's a fine line isn't it Terry Shivo?
Two minutes, 120 seconds, two ticks of the big hand on the clock. Alive....dead.
A push of the button, a space bar. Alive...dead.
Ok, you can breathe again.
I had a friend recently who was murdered. Life is strange. For all of the complexities that go into it, all the things that have to fit together just right for life to work and then, a man pulls a trigger. A trigger is a button if you think about it, so in essence you push a button and boom. There goes a life. Do me a favor, hit your space bar.
Click
You just killed someone. Boom.
Now what makes me bring this up? Well I don't know to tell the truth, I've had a strange couple of weeks and maybe it's the fact I've been stressing all that time and now I've realized that maybe I should chill out a bit and relax, life isn't all about that thing I've been stressing about. Life isn't to short. It's just not as defined as we think it is, not so clear cut if you get my meaning.
So what's my whole point of even writing this? To tell the truth I'm not even sure. It's a mix of hope and dark thoughts and who knows what else. When I began writing this I was slightly depressed but now I'm in a decent mood. Oh yeah I remember, slavery, that's what it was.
We're all slaves, slaves to technology, slaves to tiny trivial things in life. Sex, music, phones, facebook, all these trivial things. What do you consider to be living? As we've already discussed it's a very fine line.
Boom.
So I give this challenge to you, stop being a slave, we all are. Slave and hypocrites. Is that really life?
It's a fine line isn't it Terry Shivo?
Two minutes, 120 seconds, two ticks of the big hand on the clock. Alive....dead.
A push of the button, a space bar. Alive...dead.
Ok, you can breathe again.
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