I'm a boxing fan. Not a fan of all boxing, but i really do enjoy a good fight. Which i guess is more the point...i enjoy a good fight, pretty much wherever i can see one, as long as i don't have to be involved. for example, i was in the city yesterday, running a couple of errands, and as i was walking down the street, i overheard an argument (on the corner, literally screaming at the top of their lungs, a woman and a man, and from what i gathered, there was a sexual exchange and not a legitimate means of compensation for said services), which, after some time, led to the man taking a swing, and it didn't work out for him, as she sidestepped the punch, gave a swift testicular boot and then proceeded to give a grammar lesson (make sure to dot that eye). I was on my way to a store and found myself stopped on the corner, just awestruck and facinated with 1) her quick left jab and 2) the overall violence of the situation....but what occured to me more than anything else is that i really just like watching someone take an ass beating...
right now, i''m watching juan manuel lopez right now, and it appears HBO was trying to hook me up right now, because he's giving a hellified beating to some dude whose name slips my mind, but in the last round, lopez lands 84 ower shots in the round, the most active round in the history of the junior featherweight division, and this dude is still fighting (Penalosa, a filipino fighter who is fighting the good fight, as much as one where you're taking a good beating. reminds me of a west wing episode i was watching last night, where Toby and the President are talking about a movie where one character tells the others they need to die like men. one of the others says why does it matter how a man falls down, to which he responds, "when the fall is all that's left, it matters a great deal." i guess this is why i like the sport of boxing. a man who couldn't win the fight, but kept on fighting. i know some people probably don't feel that is an attribute, but it's these people i admire most and attempt to emulate. it's these people that understand there is beauty in the process, that there is much to be learned and appreciated in the chase and that success isn't always about the win. sometimes success is just about running and finishing the race, completing the attempt without quitting. so many of us are so used to success and/or are so afraid of failure, that we're unwilling to really try anything. I was on a friend from high school's blog, and he had a quote that pretty much hit the nail on the head- "you can't make a jump shot you don't take."
John Wooden has another quote that i also think applies, "If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive a doer makes mistakes." This is a problem with many of my students today, they're so afraid of failure, they appear to be truly afraid of trying. Students are concerned they won't get into the college of their choice, and that each decision they make now will have lingering overarching implications. But in order to make any real change, you have to be ready to make some degree of sacrifice. it's the reason i've never been really impressed with most leaders, as today, even leaders have seemed to try to avoid making mistake. They're too afraid of the implications of a negative action- but the thing that makes leaders is their desire to make change, to stand up and be different if need be...
and all of this because i like seeing someone get knocked the fuck out...
29 April 2009
27 April 2009
Check yourself...
I'm a coach, and a teacher of kids, and it's something I take very seriously. I didn't think that was the way it would work out, as strayed as far from the position of role model as I could have. My goal was to stay off the radar, do my job and have my fun- kids had parents at home that should be their role models- Charles Barkley was right (about not being a role model, not about needing a dirty headshot so badly you get your drunk ass in the sled, get a DUI and tell the fucking cops you needed a blowjob...still stuns me he has a job- horray TNT!)...but as i have gotten older, my desire to be a role model hasn't increased, and at my core i still believe in the concept of plausible deniability, but I have realized that, despite my best efforts, my students do watch what I do, and sometimes that makes me happy, and sometimes it makes me sad...
...we just returned from the state tournament, and as a squad, we had an excellent weekend, with almost all the students advancing to elimination rounds and winning awards, had teams in the quarters and semis and had students place second, sixth and ninth in the state. This seems like something to be joyous about, but in each instance, when i saw and spoke with the students about their accomplishments, they all were happy about their accomplishments, but were also frustrated with not winning...
...when i took this job a few years ago, there was no frustration when students didn't do well, it just seemed they were expecting to not succeed. It was infuriating at the beginning that students were just happy to win occasionally, and they seemed to not care at all when they lost. This was the first culture i needed to change, i needed to change from a culture of failure to a culture of success. my problem is that i didn't really know what success was when i tried to create a culture of success. to me success was pretty easily determined- if you won, you were successful. It never occured to me that it would be possible to have success in a world where you weren't winning...being the researching type of dork that i am, i decided to start reading and consuming as much information about coaching as i could. Bill Walsh. Red Auerbach. Tommy Lasorda. John Wooden. The Wizard of Westwood provided me more information than i could possibly have consumed. it seemed everything i read from him seemed to help me conceptualize things differently. It's at this point I read this quote from Wooden:
"Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming."
Despite this being one of the most ackwardly worded statements i've heard in a long time, it pretty much summarizes what success should be measured by- the measurement needs to be did you do all you could do to do the best you could? If you did, you were successful, and if you didn't, you weren't successful. It became obvious to me it was not only possible to be successful without winning, but that most success is truly gained in the journey and in what it is you do to prepare yourself. And as i read more and more about Wooden, i began to realize something- it seemed he never spoke in terms of winning and losing. it seemed that Wooden believed if you did your due diligence, and you prepared to the best of your abilities and tried your hardest, that you were successful, despite the wins and losses. My students work as hard as any students I've ever had the honor to work with, and I feel like I did them a disservice by forcing my hyper-competitiveness upon them under the guise of success. It kills me to know that a student who placed second in the state could walk away with anything but smiles and pride, but i don't know if he does. It killed me inside to see my senior, sitting over by herself after losing the semis, and when i went to talk to her, she voiced her frustration to losing in the semifinals. I explained to her she had nothing to be upset/frustrated about, and it's awesome to get as far as they did...and i don't think she believed me, becasue for a long time, actually most of my coaching career, i wouldn't have believed it myself, but i also wouldn't have said it, either...
...we all grow, even me, as surprising as that is- if you think you're surprised, imagine how i feel...
...we just returned from the state tournament, and as a squad, we had an excellent weekend, with almost all the students advancing to elimination rounds and winning awards, had teams in the quarters and semis and had students place second, sixth and ninth in the state. This seems like something to be joyous about, but in each instance, when i saw and spoke with the students about their accomplishments, they all were happy about their accomplishments, but were also frustrated with not winning...
...when i took this job a few years ago, there was no frustration when students didn't do well, it just seemed they were expecting to not succeed. It was infuriating at the beginning that students were just happy to win occasionally, and they seemed to not care at all when they lost. This was the first culture i needed to change, i needed to change from a culture of failure to a culture of success. my problem is that i didn't really know what success was when i tried to create a culture of success. to me success was pretty easily determined- if you won, you were successful. It never occured to me that it would be possible to have success in a world where you weren't winning...being the researching type of dork that i am, i decided to start reading and consuming as much information about coaching as i could. Bill Walsh. Red Auerbach. Tommy Lasorda. John Wooden. The Wizard of Westwood provided me more information than i could possibly have consumed. it seemed everything i read from him seemed to help me conceptualize things differently. It's at this point I read this quote from Wooden:
"Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming."
Despite this being one of the most ackwardly worded statements i've heard in a long time, it pretty much summarizes what success should be measured by- the measurement needs to be did you do all you could do to do the best you could? If you did, you were successful, and if you didn't, you weren't successful. It became obvious to me it was not only possible to be successful without winning, but that most success is truly gained in the journey and in what it is you do to prepare yourself. And as i read more and more about Wooden, i began to realize something- it seemed he never spoke in terms of winning and losing. it seemed that Wooden believed if you did your due diligence, and you prepared to the best of your abilities and tried your hardest, that you were successful, despite the wins and losses. My students work as hard as any students I've ever had the honor to work with, and I feel like I did them a disservice by forcing my hyper-competitiveness upon them under the guise of success. It kills me to know that a student who placed second in the state could walk away with anything but smiles and pride, but i don't know if he does. It killed me inside to see my senior, sitting over by herself after losing the semis, and when i went to talk to her, she voiced her frustration to losing in the semifinals. I explained to her she had nothing to be upset/frustrated about, and it's awesome to get as far as they did...and i don't think she believed me, becasue for a long time, actually most of my coaching career, i wouldn't have believed it myself, but i also wouldn't have said it, either...
...we all grow, even me, as surprising as that is- if you think you're surprised, imagine how i feel...
24 April 2009
sellouts...part one...
For those of you that know me, or are getting an impression of me from this blog thing, there are probably a few facts that have been hard to escape you. I'm clearly involved in this thing called debate, and even though it takes up a ton of my time, and it drains every ounce of energy i have sometimes, it's truly the most rewarding thing that I currently do, but also the most fulfilling thing I've ever done. It's a ton of hard work that mostly goes unappreciated, and if you don't have the love for it, shoveling feces for a living would be a better job. What i actually should say is that, in order to give the job it's due, and to give the kids their due diligence, it requires an above and beyond the call of duty effort. The job is not for the faint of heart....unless you don't give a shit about the kids...
...These people really get under my skin. Now, don't get me wrong, I have dialed it in on a countless number of jobs in my lifetime, some that make the resume, and some that I'd deny i ever held, and unless you have some proof, you shouldn't even mention it. I've walked out in the middle of a shift, in the middle of a job (left food on the grill when i quit, left a cash register and closed a store at 7:30pm, etc), i've no-call-no-showed to a $75K a year job, you name a shady way to leave a place of employment (legal and shady) and I've probably done it. But I've never taken a job that really mattered, and just not gotten it done. It just seems that kids are in need of the things we can provide them, and they actually rely on us to help them through complicated times. Some kids just need a place to be, and speech offers them that avenue. When i was in school, i was a dork, still am some would say. Debate was a place for me to be a dork and nobody seemed to mind. it seemed that everyone had their own things to deal with, so they were more accepting, and that's the kind of place i try to foster for the kids...difference is not shunned, we attempt to appreciate it at best and to embrace it at least...
...it's wierd that an activity that is, at its core, really really competitive would be a place that would allow for the fostering of positivity and a place to build (and sometimes rebuild) students self-esteem. Talking in front of an audience is the hardest thing most of us will individually have to do. it's not actually as hard as brain surgery, but my neurosurgeon friends would rather do their job than give speeches, even for the same money. the statistic indicates that fear of public speaking is the number one fear, the number two fear, is death. Death. Dying. This really does mean most people would rather be in a casket than giving the eulogy. The task of helping kids become better, more confident speakers is a task that I imagine some have taken too lightly, just sending their kids to battle unarmed...this only becomes an issue when attending the state tournament. there are kids here who clearly have not prepared sufficiently to legitimatly compete. maybe this is the competitive fire that burns in me, it seems if you're going to attend an event that has at the end, a winner, that you should prepare as if you were trying to win. you may not win, not everyone can be the fastest, but you should prepare as if you could. that way, you have no questions. it seems the worst of all worlds would be to not have tried your best, and to find out, upon arrival, that your best would have been sufficient, and now all you have is some amount of regret, because you didn't try and now you get to wonder if you could have gotten it done. I feel that is, if it were to happen, all my fault. it's my job to make sure that doesn't happen. it's my job to make sure you don't, in your infinite wisdom, do something you'll regret, maybe for an hour, and maybe forever...both pretty implausable, but possible nonetheless. it's my job to save kids from themselves...if i didn't have someone doing that for me, i'd have spent my existene in the activity skating by, not ever seeing what my "all-in" effort looked like...and when i figured it out, i liked what i saw. i do this for a living now, and i clearly didn't see that one coming...and i'm not the kid anyone thought would be doing this...which just goes to show you that it could be anyone that could end up listening to you, even someone you don't think is paying attention. I hope by all things that are holy that i am not a role model (think Charles Barkley sans the DUI), but if someone is watching...
...guess i'm just getting soft in my old age...
...These people really get under my skin. Now, don't get me wrong, I have dialed it in on a countless number of jobs in my lifetime, some that make the resume, and some that I'd deny i ever held, and unless you have some proof, you shouldn't even mention it. I've walked out in the middle of a shift, in the middle of a job (left food on the grill when i quit, left a cash register and closed a store at 7:30pm, etc), i've no-call-no-showed to a $75K a year job, you name a shady way to leave a place of employment (legal and shady) and I've probably done it. But I've never taken a job that really mattered, and just not gotten it done. It just seems that kids are in need of the things we can provide them, and they actually rely on us to help them through complicated times. Some kids just need a place to be, and speech offers them that avenue. When i was in school, i was a dork, still am some would say. Debate was a place for me to be a dork and nobody seemed to mind. it seemed that everyone had their own things to deal with, so they were more accepting, and that's the kind of place i try to foster for the kids...difference is not shunned, we attempt to appreciate it at best and to embrace it at least...
...it's wierd that an activity that is, at its core, really really competitive would be a place that would allow for the fostering of positivity and a place to build (and sometimes rebuild) students self-esteem. Talking in front of an audience is the hardest thing most of us will individually have to do. it's not actually as hard as brain surgery, but my neurosurgeon friends would rather do their job than give speeches, even for the same money. the statistic indicates that fear of public speaking is the number one fear, the number two fear, is death. Death. Dying. This really does mean most people would rather be in a casket than giving the eulogy. The task of helping kids become better, more confident speakers is a task that I imagine some have taken too lightly, just sending their kids to battle unarmed...this only becomes an issue when attending the state tournament. there are kids here who clearly have not prepared sufficiently to legitimatly compete. maybe this is the competitive fire that burns in me, it seems if you're going to attend an event that has at the end, a winner, that you should prepare as if you were trying to win. you may not win, not everyone can be the fastest, but you should prepare as if you could. that way, you have no questions. it seems the worst of all worlds would be to not have tried your best, and to find out, upon arrival, that your best would have been sufficient, and now all you have is some amount of regret, because you didn't try and now you get to wonder if you could have gotten it done. I feel that is, if it were to happen, all my fault. it's my job to make sure that doesn't happen. it's my job to make sure you don't, in your infinite wisdom, do something you'll regret, maybe for an hour, and maybe forever...both pretty implausable, but possible nonetheless. it's my job to save kids from themselves...if i didn't have someone doing that for me, i'd have spent my existene in the activity skating by, not ever seeing what my "all-in" effort looked like...and when i figured it out, i liked what i saw. i do this for a living now, and i clearly didn't see that one coming...and i'm not the kid anyone thought would be doing this...which just goes to show you that it could be anyone that could end up listening to you, even someone you don't think is paying attention. I hope by all things that are holy that i am not a role model (think Charles Barkley sans the DUI), but if someone is watching...
...guess i'm just getting soft in my old age...
23 April 2009
One of those stories...
I started at UCSB, and I lived in Isla Vista (I.V. for short- a .75 square mile town with 15,000 people in it, the most densely populated place west of the mississippi) for a couple of years before I matriculated there. Upon entering the fine academic institution that houses The Thunderdome, I decided that, in order to get the true college experience, that I should move into the dorms, and enjoy the dorm experience, which i was told every college kid needed to have. It was a great way to meet a ton of people all at once, the dorms at UCSB didn't suck, and the same could not be said for the great majority of the apartments in I.V, which for the most part was a shit hole with a few really nice and really pricy apartments (one of which i had been living in and being fucked monthly, paying $875 for my own room in an apartment NOT on the beach). So after realizing I was trading off freedom of non-dorm living with just the extra cheddar i would be able to keep in my coin purse, I decided to live in the dorms, and to have a roommate....
...move in day. There's always some degree of tension as you wait for your roommate (I was living in I.V when i came in, i just moved my stuff like 8 blocks and waited). At about 1:30pm, the door opens, and it's my roommate. He's a really tall guy, about 6'3" and he's a white guy (I'm a short black guy, just for visualizations sake), really slender, and seems a little uncomfortable and stand-offish. I approach him and introduce myself, he does likewise, and we start the process of small-talking. Those of you that know me, and can't figure out why I'm not a fan of the small talk, well, here you go. This conversation actually happened...
ME: What do you like to do for fun?
KS: Not much...i read...i watch tv....and i masturbate.
This has now become a hair uncomfortable. It's not that i'm against conversations on masturbation, or against stroking the baloney pony in general. But 30 seconds into the conversation...not really sure how to respond, so i did what any red-blooded American would do...
ME: ...I masturbate too...
KS: No. I don't think you understand. I masturbate. A lot. 10-15 times a day.
This kid's got to be kidding. How do you even do that? When do you find the time? At this time, I'd been living in I.V for the last 2 years, essentially living with UCSB students and their tall tales and bullshit stories over kegs of watered down Coors Light. I had heard enough outlandish shit to last me 10 years, so i just put it in the back of my mind and went on my merry way. Because I was, for all intents and purposes, a local, I knew all the cool places to get my party on, and all of the best bars, so i quickly befriended a variety of kids from the building....
...the first day of classes starts. I'm actually much more excited than i anticipated. I had been living in town for a couple of years, and had seen the process of the first day from an outsiders prespective, and had even found myself mocking incomings (what i called freshmen) for their levels of excitement, and now here I was, almost giddy as I walked across campus to attend my first college class. I went down, had some late breakfast (class wasn't until 10am, come on, I'm not an idiot) and went to class. The first day of class is mostly getting a syllabus and figuring out if this a class you'll take or one you intend on dropping at the first oppurtunity....so the class almost never goes the full time. As I leave the class, i find out there are a couple of my new-found friends are in this class as well (i would find out taking classes with friends isn't that big a deal if you have 700 people in your class), so we decide to head back to my room in the dorms for a little game of "Hit the Tree" and then some lunch. So I walk to the door, with four friends, ready to enjoy some of Northern California's finest, open the door...and on the floor...butt fucking naked...is my roommate KS...and he's masturbating...with a degree of fury that i could only describe as painful...we all stand in the doorway in stupified silence until...
Jill: I did NOT fucking need to see that.
Me: I really need to smoke a bowl...right now...and i can't even get it....
Bob: Close the door, for the love of God, close the door...
Door is closed. I caughth him masturbating six times in the next week. I only opened that door 8 more times before i was given a single room by the housing department (for no extra money, they said it was the least they could do), and i caught him six times. Not a lot more disturbing than walking in on someone masturbating, especially if they don't care.
So whenever I hear anyone say "You've GOT to live in the dorms. It's a must have experience, I just tell them my story, because for every kid that meets his/her roommate and are BFF's, there's the kid that jerks off all the time...
someday i'll tell the story of why the guys on my floor got my roommate drunk so they could take pictures of their dicks around his open mouth...
dd
...move in day. There's always some degree of tension as you wait for your roommate (I was living in I.V when i came in, i just moved my stuff like 8 blocks and waited). At about 1:30pm, the door opens, and it's my roommate. He's a really tall guy, about 6'3" and he's a white guy (I'm a short black guy, just for visualizations sake), really slender, and seems a little uncomfortable and stand-offish. I approach him and introduce myself, he does likewise, and we start the process of small-talking. Those of you that know me, and can't figure out why I'm not a fan of the small talk, well, here you go. This conversation actually happened...
ME: What do you like to do for fun?
KS: Not much...i read...i watch tv....and i masturbate.
This has now become a hair uncomfortable. It's not that i'm against conversations on masturbation, or against stroking the baloney pony in general. But 30 seconds into the conversation...not really sure how to respond, so i did what any red-blooded American would do...
ME: ...I masturbate too...
KS: No. I don't think you understand. I masturbate. A lot. 10-15 times a day.
This kid's got to be kidding. How do you even do that? When do you find the time? At this time, I'd been living in I.V for the last 2 years, essentially living with UCSB students and their tall tales and bullshit stories over kegs of watered down Coors Light. I had heard enough outlandish shit to last me 10 years, so i just put it in the back of my mind and went on my merry way. Because I was, for all intents and purposes, a local, I knew all the cool places to get my party on, and all of the best bars, so i quickly befriended a variety of kids from the building....
...the first day of classes starts. I'm actually much more excited than i anticipated. I had been living in town for a couple of years, and had seen the process of the first day from an outsiders prespective, and had even found myself mocking incomings (what i called freshmen) for their levels of excitement, and now here I was, almost giddy as I walked across campus to attend my first college class. I went down, had some late breakfast (class wasn't until 10am, come on, I'm not an idiot) and went to class. The first day of class is mostly getting a syllabus and figuring out if this a class you'll take or one you intend on dropping at the first oppurtunity....so the class almost never goes the full time. As I leave the class, i find out there are a couple of my new-found friends are in this class as well (i would find out taking classes with friends isn't that big a deal if you have 700 people in your class), so we decide to head back to my room in the dorms for a little game of "Hit the Tree" and then some lunch. So I walk to the door, with four friends, ready to enjoy some of Northern California's finest, open the door...and on the floor...butt fucking naked...is my roommate KS...and he's masturbating...with a degree of fury that i could only describe as painful...we all stand in the doorway in stupified silence until...
Jill: I did NOT fucking need to see that.
Me: I really need to smoke a bowl...right now...and i can't even get it....
Bob: Close the door, for the love of God, close the door...
Door is closed. I caughth him masturbating six times in the next week. I only opened that door 8 more times before i was given a single room by the housing department (for no extra money, they said it was the least they could do), and i caught him six times. Not a lot more disturbing than walking in on someone masturbating, especially if they don't care.
So whenever I hear anyone say "You've GOT to live in the dorms. It's a must have experience, I just tell them my story, because for every kid that meets his/her roommate and are BFF's, there's the kid that jerks off all the time...
someday i'll tell the story of why the guys on my floor got my roommate drunk so they could take pictures of their dicks around his open mouth...
dd
back in the day...
Sometimes, I just think back to my simpler time, when I was a student (and I use that word really liberally) at UC Santa Barbara, beginning my college career. I remember the world to true ambivalence, when the only real decisions were whether to get really drunk and then smoke some indonesia, or to get mad blasted and then ride it off with some beers, this is unless you had access to something more intersting (did you meet abby hoffman, i've heard he's a fun-guy)...there was never any real responsibility that a well planned call and good excuse couldn't resolve. Now that I'm an adult, I don't have that liberty. I not only have to take care of my own things in life, i also am responsible for a variety of others, and that responsibility can't be shunned. So as I sit here, writing the blog before the State Tournament, I'm here going through my checklist, to make sure all the necessary things are done before I leave for southern california...
...but it does mean i am in front of the television, watching playoff basketball, one of the things in life i truly do enjoy...it's not as much the playoffs as it is people, being really competitive, laying it all on the line for something that is bigger than they are. it's the true spirit of competition. don't get me wrong, the playoffs are nice, but for the extreme competitiveness i'm seeking, you almost have to go to the NCAA tournament, because that's one of the few activities i've ever seen where it seems the people involved KNOW it's bigger than they are, and they're just grateful to even be a part of it. As much as I hate the National Debate Tournament (NDT), it's one of the things i turly admire about the process. The teams that are legitimately trying to win the NDT know and understand the history of the activity, and very much want to take their place in that history. Those that don't have a real chance to win, understand the travails in the mere attempt to qualify is diffult, and actually qualifying is a feat, something some programs only get to do every once in awhile, even when they have special players- Stephen Curry v. Patty Mills in the sweet 16 of the NIT because although both were awesome on very good teams, very good wasn't good enough to get it done. This is the way I should feel about the State Tournament, but instead I treat it probably more like a Duke or North Carolina probably treats the NCAA basketball tourney- we always have a shot to win, and we should approach it that way....
...however, I'm not as confident about the Tournament of Champions...the NCAA basketball tournament of the debate season, where the best of the best (that can afford it, have access, desire, supportive administrations, etc.) meet and determine who should sit at the top of the high school debate mountain. There are a couple of reasons...the first is pretty obvious- we're not a Duke or North Carolina program, one that expects to attend every year and anticipates winning every few years or so. As a squad, we've only fully qualified a team to the TOC in one year, and that's this year. We've done well, but no other team received two TOC bids in the same year...this year we had two teams do it in two activities qualify, and i have a junior and a sophomore, who will have qualified, coming back, which makes things even nicer. That being said, historically, the first time someone is at the TOC, they usually get run out of debates and it's usually a miserable experience with a record of 2-5 or 1-6...I'm not as confident as I am about State because I just assume we'll get it done....do not read this to mean that i am NOT confident about our chances at the TOC, i think we'll do just fine, as long as we can keep the discussions about our stuff, and treat our arguments and competitors with due diligence....
since I've been repping Little Brother too much, I'll close it out with a little Brother Ali
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgJQJesMs9s
peace out...wish us luck at the State Tournament...
21 April 2009
closing time or the end of vacation...the power of music...what's goin' on...
Those of us here at Grammatical Chaos do not advocate the use of drugs in general and especially don't advocate the use of any drug in particular. We were celebrating the Election National Holiday in Mali, and if you weren't celebrating it, it's because you're a racist. There. I said it.
a little culture from one of the best live bands i've ever heard, so here's a little Ozomatli...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVP8Qb0dZAY
The vacation was a lot of things. There were a variety of high points and low points. There were times during the vacation where i wished it was summer and i had months to not stress, but there were also times i was really wanting to get back into the swing of things and paint the town red (or burnt orange for the U Texas Fans). That being said, it's good to be back in the bay, even if it hot like a pizza oven (actually hotter than Las Vegas, and that almost never happens). On the car ride home, i found myself listening to a mix of 70's music and marveling with the ability for different music to find it's own niche in society, and to float freely between Van Morrison and the Delfonics and The Who. Music and the people that produce music today spend too much time trying to produce and reproduce music. There's no creativity, no diversity of opinions, whcih inevitibly shuts down dissent, closing the door on the possibility of music as a mechanism for revolution, which is where i think music has it's most powerful access point.
an old school protest song, just to keep you in the spirit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fETIjVvv1Ds
For those curious to know more about this, I highly suggest you read the book, The New H.N.I.C- The Death of Civil Rights and the Reign of Hip-Hop, by University of Southern California professor Todd Boyd, who makes a powerful, albeit unexpected argument. Definitely worth the read....but I digress...
...it's rough being back from vacation. I recognize my job isn't particularly hard, and i do enjoy my job more than most, but, and i think most of us would agree, i would quit my job tomorrow if they told me they would pay me my current salary to stay home and read and write...and i believe most of us would. The kids are awesome, but they too, are looking back reflectively on the days where responsibility was not a requirement, so they are a little unruly the first day from break. I decided to do something i really enjoy and feel are effective when i use them, but for some reason i don't use them enough, Group Exercises- they get to work as a group, which allows them to talk (no ability to check this) but i'm able to walk around and keep them on task enough to make sure work actually gets done. The classes worked out pretty well, and students should be on task for the next class...which is good, because we will be leaving friday morning for the state speech and debate tournament. I remember the days when a speech and/or debate tournament were no-stress situations, where I just had to show up at the school or the airport on time, with no concerns or stress. Now I have to show up early, make sure i have all the boarding passes, make sure i've packed all the things i need, as well as making sure i have the permission slips, hotel logistics, rental car logistics, etc. I have to actually keep a checklist to make sure i have all the things taken care of, and i started that list over an hour ago...i truly am getting old. it's also still really strange to hold all this responsibility- some of you that know me probably still think it's odd, but you'll get over it...even I did...but the best way to describe it to those that know me, i treat responsibility like my job depended on it...because it does....great gig, but i have to be responsible for kids i genuinely like...they're like my kids, except they go home at the end, and home isn't my house...
a little culture from one of the best live bands i've ever heard, so here's a little Ozomatli...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVP8Qb0dZAY
The vacation was a lot of things. There were a variety of high points and low points. There were times during the vacation where i wished it was summer and i had months to not stress, but there were also times i was really wanting to get back into the swing of things and paint the town red (or burnt orange for the U Texas Fans). That being said, it's good to be back in the bay, even if it hot like a pizza oven (actually hotter than Las Vegas, and that almost never happens). On the car ride home, i found myself listening to a mix of 70's music and marveling with the ability for different music to find it's own niche in society, and to float freely between Van Morrison and the Delfonics and The Who. Music and the people that produce music today spend too much time trying to produce and reproduce music. There's no creativity, no diversity of opinions, whcih inevitibly shuts down dissent, closing the door on the possibility of music as a mechanism for revolution, which is where i think music has it's most powerful access point.
an old school protest song, just to keep you in the spirit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fETIjVvv1Ds
For those curious to know more about this, I highly suggest you read the book, The New H.N.I.C- The Death of Civil Rights and the Reign of Hip-Hop, by University of Southern California professor Todd Boyd, who makes a powerful, albeit unexpected argument. Definitely worth the read....but I digress...
...it's rough being back from vacation. I recognize my job isn't particularly hard, and i do enjoy my job more than most, but, and i think most of us would agree, i would quit my job tomorrow if they told me they would pay me my current salary to stay home and read and write...and i believe most of us would. The kids are awesome, but they too, are looking back reflectively on the days where responsibility was not a requirement, so they are a little unruly the first day from break. I decided to do something i really enjoy and feel are effective when i use them, but for some reason i don't use them enough, Group Exercises- they get to work as a group, which allows them to talk (no ability to check this) but i'm able to walk around and keep them on task enough to make sure work actually gets done. The classes worked out pretty well, and students should be on task for the next class...which is good, because we will be leaving friday morning for the state speech and debate tournament. I remember the days when a speech and/or debate tournament were no-stress situations, where I just had to show up at the school or the airport on time, with no concerns or stress. Now I have to show up early, make sure i have all the boarding passes, make sure i've packed all the things i need, as well as making sure i have the permission slips, hotel logistics, rental car logistics, etc. I have to actually keep a checklist to make sure i have all the things taken care of, and i started that list over an hour ago...i truly am getting old. it's also still really strange to hold all this responsibility- some of you that know me probably still think it's odd, but you'll get over it...even I did...but the best way to describe it to those that know me, i treat responsibility like my job depended on it...because it does....great gig, but i have to be responsible for kids i genuinely like...they're like my kids, except they go home at the end, and home isn't my house...
20 April 2009
19 April 2009
The experience...continues...
I did not write anything yesterday for a couple of reasons, the first is relatively pragmatic- I wrote two on Friday, so i felt i could take a day off. the other reason, very simply, because although I don't have a diagnosed case of Attention Deficit Disorder (which when i was growing up people just referred to as hyper, and you just were told to mellow out, but that's for another post on how much i hate doctors), but this town induces a case of ADD in even those with a great degree of singular focus. It's just really hard to know how much time you're spending in a place with no clocks, infinite noise and even more lights. The purpose of the casino is for you to lose perception of what's going on, lose all track of time, and not realize that chips are given to you so you don't really evaluate it as money. It seems that every time i come to this town, I intend on meeting people and going out and painting the town red, but it always seems that we never can keep the mob together (I have spoken at great lenght about how large a pain in the ass finding people in Vegas once you all have been split up), so i end up spending time with some of the people i want to chill with, but others, it doens't really works itself out. This where the Strip Induced ADD kicks in. I can think of numerous times on the strip where i'm at a crossroads- do i stop and look for my friend, knowing how futile that could be, or do i try to make sure to have the most positive experience i can have, and just make the assumption that if it's supposed to work out, it will? That's the option most of us take, which makes it easier for us to find ourselves parted. I guess if a bunch of dudes were willing to hold each others hands to walk through a mob, they could resolve this...i'm not sure if i've ever met that group of dudes, but i'm sure they exist.
Saturday night on The Strip is utter fucking madness. To really enjoy it, you have to 1) be really into crowds, 2) not mind a little inadvertent contact, or 3) be mind-numbingly intoxicated, with most choosing option 3. Walking up and down the Strip and people watching is really quite interesting, and I have gotten more than my fair share of walking, as many do in this town. I believe it has a lot to do with a couple of things, 1) scale of everything makes peoples perception change to something smaller, 2) nobody really knows how long The Strip is. The strip, from the Mandalay Bay to the Sahara, is a six mile walk. Walking from the casino floor in the Venetian to the casino floor in Treasure Island (which is literally across the street) is a 1.4 mile walk that takes about 20 minutes, as is the walk from the casino floor at the Venetian and the casino floor at the Wynn, which is also across the street. So everyone looks at the buliding the want to go to, and start walking (option of a cab on The Strip is a nightmarish idea, it literally is the opening scene of Office Space where the guy in the walker passes you). You don't realize how far of a walk it is until you're clearly en route, have been walking as long as you thought it would take and it's still seems off in the distance. So there's thousands of people walking on The Strip, and it always seems whatever direction i happen to be walking in is against the critical mass, so it feels like salmon must feel swimming upstream, fighting against nature to get to their necessary location. It also seemed like every table i wanted to play were playing with minimums that were too rich for my blood (the only craps table at the Venetian with space on the oval for me was a $100 minimum, which is an easy way in craps to lose $20K in less than an hour.) So i hit the road, and walked up The Strip to to find a place with cheaper and/or better (read: cheaper), and found myself at O'Shea's, a fine establishment that happens to have beer pong (if you don't know what beer pong is, please follorw this link:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=oGL&defl=en&q=define:Beer+pong&ei=N6frSdiqCpa0MPLcvfEF&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title
Besides beer pong, they also have some of the cheapest drinks and tables on The Strip, which makes it an ecclectic mix of people, young and old, rich and poor, and all kinds of racial diversity (couple salsa dancing to salsa music, then it changed to 50 cent and another couple started doing the C-walk.) Need a $2 beer? Go to O'Shea's. Need a single deck $5 craps on LV Blvd? O'Shea's is your place....which is where i need to go now, as apparently i forgot they had a cashier cage, and need to cash in my chips....
Closing out with...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e69laCvKxEw
17 April 2009
Amazingy enough, everything has it's set of groupies....
Some old school to start it off
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-MLp3l2fkA
And this was an absolutely foreign concept to me when i was first involved in debate, the idea that there would be debate groupies, people that would follow around certain debaters to do whatever it is that groupies do, and generally just try to be/get/stay close to that person. I was familiar to the idea of a groupie, having played high school football (can you say HS quarterback and not think of the hangers on? if not, it's because your football team blew goats, and nobody likes a loser), but having played a position for which there may have never been a groupie, the punter, although I'm pretty sure Ray Guy would have had hangers-on, but he played in the '60's, where it was all about "free love". So the idea that, through athletic prowess and proficiency, one could attain some level of status that made those that found status attractive would want to make sure to be around those people is a concept that, at it's core, makes sense to me.
That being said, when i first started going to debate tournaments, i noticed a couple things, 1) there was an incredible lack of women in general, and 2) who they were attracted to seemed to have little to no correlation with the general way i understood the world to function. I would see, given the circumstances, an attractive woman with a guy...well let's just say he ain't that attractive, and comparatively, it's a travesty- to inaccurately quote a WGLF debater "it's hurricane Katrina times the tsunami times 9-11." when you see them together, you start asking all the obvious questions...is he filthy rich...does he drive a Porsche...does he have the golden tongue...does he beat it up tough...is she blind...and so on. I went for almost a year before i broke down and asked, and that was when "The "A" List" was described to me. Debaters at the top of the list find themselves in a much higher level of interaction with members of the opposite sex they previously would have classified out of their field. Older friends speak of the finer days of college CEDA debate, where it was almost a formalized process for the top speaker at given tournaments to get "The Kings/Queens Treatment" for their hard work and exceptional output from that work...but those days are done...nobody thinks this way...or do they?
Yes, it still happens. Is it that the people on the A List has no value, quite the contrary, some of these kids have a lot to offer, and have been too absorbed in whatever their passion is (i've met a 21 year old Grand Wizard at a tournament, and you'd have thought The Jonas Brothers were coming on stage (save the 11-14 year old girls panties thrown at those shows...the oldest makes them into a quilt, rumor has it). It just was a small reminder that people appreciate excellence, and really they admire and strive to be around it wherever it happens to appear. Most of us can think of a teacher we hated in high school/college, and we can also think of a teacher we really enjoyed, teachers we would consider excellence. That excellence is noticed in the classroom by the students, by the amount of love you put in the product. I'm a teacher, and i can tell you in no uncertain terms that it's the hardest job in the world when you don't want to be there, beacuse they can smell apathy like pit bulls can smell fear. But when you want to be there (and i'm definite 95% of my apprehension is when i'm not sure if i prepared the material enough or if i somehow have a different interpretation and can't see what the kids are doing) and you convey that passion to the kids, they will follow.
Vegas quote of the day, at the craps table at the Venetian...
"I love that look. Smug and condescending until you slip it in the brown eye." He was talking to himself.
Before I forget that even haters have to love up what deserves love. Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill. The Yucatan Chicken Tacos were to die for. Still not like an orgasm in the mouth, but really tasty. Get a beer with them, as the spice is there for a reason- he ain't kidding, there's even habanero sauce on the blue corn pancakes...has he no shame? Apparently, he has none, but the food is on point...i'll be having dinner there before i leave...may even have to forgo the steak...
But i am still in Vegas, doing a little beer drinking before the evening is to get really started...i like drinking in the bar, but it saves me 7 bucks a bottle until i get it started, so that seems pretty reasonable. it also gives me the time to write, which is faster than i generally anticipate, and if i could type with any modicum of proficiency, it would be all good...i love this town, but it always seems like there's too much to do and not enough time to really get it all done. You want to go out and have beers with your peeps you don't see, but you also want to chill with people that have commitments so they're a much more locked down standard. This is an awesome town, but one of the things that sucks is trying to find people in this town. If you get separated from someone you happen to be rolling out with, you can have a helluva a time finding them, not just because it's so big, but because it's so hectic. you can have a line of vision on someone, and before you know it, they're gone into the masses of people. I actually consider walking down the strip a lot like i imagine Running with the Bulls of Pamplona, the critical mass begins in a general direction, all you can do is try to outrun it, lest you be run over- you can try to push yourself in a corner and hope for the best. And this describes a situation where you're already with these people...
...when i have friends that are supposed to meet us on The Strip, I ususally assume we will never cross paths, because it's all working against you..being hammered means nobody stays still for too long unless they're gambling and winning, the casinos are cell phone graveyards, and if you are lucky to have service, you'll never be able to hear over the insane amounts of noise that will be going on there. And then there's my cross to bear, only being 5'5", means i can't see over anything, so i have to physically walk through crowds to find someone. it's also problematic for them finding me. So the way you resolve this? Don't lose your friends? If that was feasible, i wouldn't have written all the shit above. You don't. You go out, get your drink on, and hope for the best. I've had some (not all, just some) of the best times I've ever had in this town alone. It's one of the few places where you can be alone and invisible (if you choose), but also facilitates all kinds of madness, when not tied to a big group of foolios. Gambling resolves almost all of this, but i like to gamble alone or with people i don't know (when your boy or girl craps out with $225 of your loot out there, it's hard not to take that shit personally, for me at least) so if i want/need to be by myself, i can just go hit the poker table. Ironic the place I find some of my most endearing solitude is at a table with a bunch of other people...
closing it out with more Little Brother...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTVHKxw4BnU
The first night...
Well, whenever you come to Vegas, you need to put your hard hat on, and get ready for whatever to happen. When i come by myself, it's always easy to know what i'm going to get done, and it involves some set and/or permutations of the following, drinking, gambling, eating and walking or catching a cab to do one of the three previously mentioned things. But when there are other people involved, you always need to take them into consideration. Lets not get it twisted, at some time Vegas becomes the most primal of cities, and people become down to pursue their most animalistic expericences- I can speak of this more specifically than i care to know. About an hour ago, i needed to change my hotel room, so i packed my goodness and started toward the elevator, and decided to do the healthy thing- i would instead take the stairs- to get a little extra exercise (when you can drink beer 24-7 and without regard to the laws of open containers, it means the drinking is a continual motion, as opposed to the herky-jerky motion of relocational drinking). I hit the stairs to descend the six floors to my new room, and clearly i walked into a sex-for-money exchange. In the stairwell. I felt like i was in a stairwell at Georgia State, I almost asked if his name was Raoul (if you don't get this joke, don't worry...). He was old, she was a professional, and showed with a degree of vigor that could be heard throught the stairwell...hope she was compensated accordingly. But this misses the point...they seemed considerably less disturbed with my interruption than i was...which leads me to believe this was not the first time they had been interrupted and/or in a stairwell...
A little music for you...Little Brother, a hip hop band from North Carolina...i call it hip hop for grown folks...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxgt_a0V0xE
But back to last night. So my boys Big Jim and Gentile show up, and in a few minutes, Jacob joined us. All had traveled extensively upon their arrival, so the intent was to have a relatively mellow night. I must admit the evening started off on a somber note...we were reminded of the great life that was snuffed out on December 31, 1997, of Patrick Kennedy, who died tragically in a skiing accident. We felt that it was our obligation, might even go as far as saying our moral duty, to respect the end of such a great man's life. So we poured out a little liquor (actually, just poured into glasses and mouths) and listened to his favorite musician, Sonny Bono, who ironically also died in a similar fashion. As we decide to actually do what uncle Teddy would do, go out and have a drink. But as the drinking began, i found myself in the middle of a Harold and Kumar moment- everyone wanted to go to Fatburger (if you've never had a Fatburger, you've also probably never read the lights of a Goodyear Blimp). With significantly less drama than our asian/indian counterparts, we start the trek to Fatburger, a walk that ended up being a little less than 2 miles, got our food, ate like kings and parted ways....I then spent the rest of the evening chillin' with BMan, which always involves a cold beverage and some shady times- both getting our substantial gamble on. I have a problem hanging in Vegas, I sometimes get easily distracted, so i can go to the bathroom and end up playing craps for 3-5 hours. This time, it worked out pretty well, as at one point in time, i was up over $2200. However, it i have learned one thing about this town, it's easy come, easy go....and some is already gone...
...got up, and decided to run some errands. Beer, if you actually purchase it, gets to be painfully expensive so i hit the local Albertson's to keep myself in cold beer and not give myself the shocker (Corona at sportsbook- $7 a beer, the 12-pack I bought from Albertsons, $11.50). Also picked up a portable wireless card, so i can access the web wherever I happen to be...there are not many things in life that are better. I'm out right now, sitting overlooking the boats at Treasure Island, writing my blog and knowing the hotel isn't giving me the technological shocker. The difference is amazing, and it would be dishonest to say it's not really tight. if you have the option, i would highly recommend it. If i was a pool guy (don't swim, clearly don't need a fucking tan) i would be out at the pool, having a drink with an umbrella in it, and enjoying the fun and sun...this is pretty close, and there's almost no risk of submerging my laptop in water. Had a meeting of the minds with a few friends, all previously mentioned and E....i love this kid....best Vegas quote of the weekend (so far)....
"she gave me some drug that made me feel like i had downs syndrome."
Valuable lessons i learned from this- E will take anything you hand him, and i shouldn't, as i don't want to feel like i have downs syndrome, although i am really curious to find out what drug would do that to someone...also said today was one of the most cold-blooded insults i've ever heard, and so you know i'll be using it..
saying that someone has LSD, and not the kind that I used to roll tough with, but the Least Suckable Dick...wow. I'd hate to be the dude they said that about, and although i've actually never seen homeboys junk, there's probably some modicum of truth to it (sorry, friend).
I'm off to Mesa Grill, to get my Bobby Flay on. I'd write a review, but here it is to save you all the time..."The food was fucking incredible. A little spicy for me, but the flavors outweighed the minor discomfort. I don't think it was "an orgasm in my mouth," which it was described to me earlier, and if i thought it would have been, i would have chosen to not dine there.
Next topics...preparing for night two, something about the non-shalmon hamburgler (Jimmy B, really, are times that hard?) and the over under for Karen Harrison being able to last all night partying in Vegas...my money is on the under...
DD
A little music for you...Little Brother, a hip hop band from North Carolina...i call it hip hop for grown folks...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxgt_a0V0xE
But back to last night. So my boys Big Jim and Gentile show up, and in a few minutes, Jacob joined us. All had traveled extensively upon their arrival, so the intent was to have a relatively mellow night. I must admit the evening started off on a somber note...we were reminded of the great life that was snuffed out on December 31, 1997, of Patrick Kennedy, who died tragically in a skiing accident. We felt that it was our obligation, might even go as far as saying our moral duty, to respect the end of such a great man's life. So we poured out a little liquor (actually, just poured into glasses and mouths) and listened to his favorite musician, Sonny Bono, who ironically also died in a similar fashion. As we decide to actually do what uncle Teddy would do, go out and have a drink. But as the drinking began, i found myself in the middle of a Harold and Kumar moment- everyone wanted to go to Fatburger (if you've never had a Fatburger, you've also probably never read the lights of a Goodyear Blimp). With significantly less drama than our asian/indian counterparts, we start the trek to Fatburger, a walk that ended up being a little less than 2 miles, got our food, ate like kings and parted ways....I then spent the rest of the evening chillin' with BMan, which always involves a cold beverage and some shady times- both getting our substantial gamble on. I have a problem hanging in Vegas, I sometimes get easily distracted, so i can go to the bathroom and end up playing craps for 3-5 hours. This time, it worked out pretty well, as at one point in time, i was up over $2200. However, it i have learned one thing about this town, it's easy come, easy go....and some is already gone...
...got up, and decided to run some errands. Beer, if you actually purchase it, gets to be painfully expensive so i hit the local Albertson's to keep myself in cold beer and not give myself the shocker (Corona at sportsbook- $7 a beer, the 12-pack I bought from Albertsons, $11.50). Also picked up a portable wireless card, so i can access the web wherever I happen to be...there are not many things in life that are better. I'm out right now, sitting overlooking the boats at Treasure Island, writing my blog and knowing the hotel isn't giving me the technological shocker. The difference is amazing, and it would be dishonest to say it's not really tight. if you have the option, i would highly recommend it. If i was a pool guy (don't swim, clearly don't need a fucking tan) i would be out at the pool, having a drink with an umbrella in it, and enjoying the fun and sun...this is pretty close, and there's almost no risk of submerging my laptop in water. Had a meeting of the minds with a few friends, all previously mentioned and E....i love this kid....best Vegas quote of the weekend (so far)....
"she gave me some drug that made me feel like i had downs syndrome."
Valuable lessons i learned from this- E will take anything you hand him, and i shouldn't, as i don't want to feel like i have downs syndrome, although i am really curious to find out what drug would do that to someone...also said today was one of the most cold-blooded insults i've ever heard, and so you know i'll be using it..
saying that someone has LSD, and not the kind that I used to roll tough with, but the Least Suckable Dick...wow. I'd hate to be the dude they said that about, and although i've actually never seen homeboys junk, there's probably some modicum of truth to it (sorry, friend).
I'm off to Mesa Grill, to get my Bobby Flay on. I'd write a review, but here it is to save you all the time..."The food was fucking incredible. A little spicy for me, but the flavors outweighed the minor discomfort. I don't think it was "an orgasm in my mouth," which it was described to me earlier, and if i thought it would have been, i would have chosen to not dine there.
Next topics...preparing for night two, something about the non-shalmon hamburgler (Jimmy B, really, are times that hard?) and the over under for Karen Harrison being able to last all night partying in Vegas...my money is on the under...
DD
16 April 2009
Driving and Drinking...seperate lines of thought
Like a bad blogger, I neglected to tell everyone I was leaving for Las Vegas today. I was having a really good evening, watching basketball and listening to Sonny Bono (listened to I have you babe so often it was becoming an issue). The drive to Las Vegas is a combination of pleasre and pain, as you're going to a place where pleasure and fun are limitless, and pain because the drive across the desert and over three seperate mountain passes and through some of the least scenic driving this fine country has to offer. That being said, since i had all the time in the world, with no real agenda at hand, I did stop on the side of the road at the San Luis Resivouir, and took a picture, as it's a place I've always though was nice, but have never stopped to smell the roses...this was resolved this time...that's the picture at the top of the page...
Driving is one of those catch-22's in life I constantly deal with. I hate hate hate flying with a passion, and it's actually a requirement for my job, so i just have to suck it up and deal with it (i guess the result without flying is shittier, with lots of high school kids in the back seats of vans doing God Know What (I actually think i know, but the world of plasuable deniability is key in my line of work, or really anyone at all that has some modicum of responsibility). So driving means i don't have to be in an airplane. But it does mean that trips take much much much longer than they would have otherwise. In a world of flying here, it takes me about 3 hours from my house to the LV airport, and the drive takes no less than 7 hours, and that takes a level of dedication most people couldn't find on a map. And anyone who has been in a car for 8 hours knows what i'm talking about- at some point, you get ready to be out of the vehicle, and in the hotel appreciating Sonny Bono and his wonderous musical selection. It's at this point you start to wonder aloud why you didn't fly (for me, this is in Bakersfield, CA, a place that if it were firebombed tomorrow, i would only need to make one call, and then if it was blown off the face of the earth, the EARTH would be a better place.
But the drive does allow one to give time for reflection- time we never seem to take for ourselves. It seems that too often, we find time to do things for everyone else- our family, our friends, our significant other, our employers, our students...everyone but ourselves. I'm not saying we should all go out and treat the world with one of my favorite Eminem songs "I Just Don't Give a Fuck," but i am saying we all need to be more self reflective- and it's really hard to be self reflective with a bunch of other motherfuckers around. Some people can do this through meditation, tai-chi, yoga or any other variety of means. But we can all do it- it just requires you shut the hell up and listen to YOU. there is no requirement of selfishness required to do this, nobody's telling you to stop working at the homeless shelter or stop donating time and money to the SPCA. But i am saying that if you do all of these wonderful things in direct opposition with your needs, it'll just make you regret your choices and be spiteful from things you determine as responisble for your not making better choices..
Now that i have waxed much more philosophical than i had intended, let's talk about some shit that's more fun...Las Vegas liquor laws. I fucking love them!! I know if they had these laws in my home town, I'd move closer to the role of town drunk. Open containers on the street- are you kidding me?!? I love that. How many times have we all been enjoying the finer spirits when we needed to relocate, but have been unable to take our beverage on the road with us? It's a total boot in the junk. In my favorite town (actually it's 3rd, but there's no gambling in the other two towns, Eugene, OR and Austin, TX- yes they're both college towns), you can take your beverage with you, insuring there's never a block of time when you can't have a beer. The 24-7 service law is also cash money. Most of the time, when a good time is truly being had, the sounds of the bartender making last call as the lights come on and they play "Closing Time"- you don't gotta go home but you can't stay here (unless you know the bartender and they shut the doors to the public). If this town had legal weed, and legal sex, it would be the perfect town (wait, there IS legal sex here, so two out of three ain't bad). I've stumbled ALL OVER this town at some time in my life way way way after 2am, with two drinks in my hand and one in my pocket and was still able to be served- this would be a crime in 49 states, and most of this one as well, but they let you do it.
This town has a motto, but the town motto should be something i will borrow from Paul Beatty in my favorite book, White Boy Shuffle. In it, there's a character named Psycho Loco, the leader of a gang named the Gun Totin' Hooligans, that ironically, didn't initially carry guns....
"Always have your dick out. That way, whatever happens, you can say 'Hey, at least I had my dick out.'" It's a little longer than "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas," but much more true. What happens in Vegas you should tell fucking everybody. What happens in Amarillo, TX, keep that shit to yourself (like your uncle trying to fuck you...)
One more big up before i hit the strip with my boys Gentile and Big Jim...if you have an iPhone or an iTouch, you have to get the application FML...it's short snipets of peoples lives that just fucking suck. I laughed so hard i almost died...here's a really short one...
"I was having sex with my boyfriend. When he was about to orgasm, he screamed "Yes Brittany!!" at the top of his lungs. My name isn't Brittany. That's his sister."
If that shit's not funny to you, there's no way you would have gotten this far on the blog...
to the strip....not strip club...yet....
14 April 2009
The governmental shocker
I've never given or received "the shocker," but if i were to imagine what it would feel like, it would be similar to the way i felt when Turbo Tax produced the final number for my taxes...and it was a non-refund (read- payment) to the federal and state government over $9000. That's a proverbial kick in the jimmy...
So I did my taxes and I owe the man over 9K. Wow. Note to others...if you gamble, have them take out MUCH MORE than the recommended amount of money they ask of you. there's not a lot that will take the wind out of your sails than realizing that once you've filled out your information on Turbo Tax, and you look up in the corner for the refund numbers (in the green) and instead see red numbers adding up over $9000. What to do, what to do, what to do. Well, how about a trip to Vegas? Does this make me a degenerate gambler (some, well, most would say I'm a degenerate anyway, gambling notwithstanding)? Probably. But of the many many lessons I've learned in is it is necessary to live in the moment, to enjoy what life has to offer, and to be thankful for all given situations...i'm thankful the man doesn't need all of his cream on April 15, I'm thankful that my heart kept beating during the entire ordeal, I'm thankful for California's very liberal medical marijuana laws (for all of the blind AIDS patients out there that need the compassion), I'm thankful I have working vehicle, some Marriott points and a desire to see the southwest, and most of all, I'm thankful the city of Las Vegas allows you to play poker 24/7.
When i go to Vegas, I try to make a point of going to at least one top tier eatery while in the city that never sleeps. I actually, in my ideal world, would be able to come down once a year, where i intend on doing nothing but visiting the fine dining establishments. It's literally like being able to take a trip around the world in six miles (the distance between the Sahara and the Mandalay Bay, wouldn't have believed it but for the cabbie and the meter both indicated it was 6 miles)...makes up for the copious amount of (usually free or really expensive) alcohol and generally bad living i try to make a habit when i'm in town. Usually, the top tier eatery stops and ends at Delmonico, an Emeril joint brought from the streets of the Big Easy to the bottom floor of the Venetian, a place that seems to make a steak that aligns with the senses, and at the end, seems to make the world just a little bit better. I have been told that anybody that really enjoys food needs to go to Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill, described as "an orgasm in your mouth," which didn't make ME want to dine there, but i have been assured the food is amazing, so I will be giving it a try, even though me and spice go together like black people and mayonaise.
dd
13 April 2009
taxing it like the government
I really enjoy stand-up comedy. every time i get a chance to hear some stand-up, i make a concerted effort to seek it out. I think this has a lot to do with enjoying humor, and the execution of good humor is wonderful. I was in Las Vegas over Labor Day weekend to see Chris Rock, and if you get the chance, you would be cheating yourself if you don't get a chance to see him live, in the same way people need to see The Roots, Bruce Springsteen and Garth Brooks play live (best three live shows i've seen, and it's not that close, in reverse order, but i couldn't bring myself to download a picture of Garth Brooks)
i'm watching the news and there's a story about the debut of the president's new dog. When this was initially made a story during the election, it was cute, but it was cute in that "cool, now i don't have to hear that again," kind of way. it seems like we may be running out of actual news to report...i know, i have heard of a "feature" story, but this has been a feature story for the last 6 months. There's even a pictire of the dog on TV right now, with a hawaiian lei on, which makes me hate dogs, leis, and Hawaii simultaneously...
i know the economy is in the toilet, i know you can't talk about pirates forever, although at this point, i'm not sure if this is true or not, and there are wars on multiple fronts. I also understand sometimes we need to think about better things, it's the functional purpose of feature stories in the news. But the presidential dog? The debut of the presidential dog? Are things that bad? If so, just let me sulk on my own..
The United States has just eased travel restrictions to Cuba. Nice. I can get my tickets to go to Havana and see Guantanamo Bay upclose and personal (hopefully not that upclose and personal)...maybe we can stop crushing the Cuban people and lift sanctions. Someday, i'll rant about sanctions, but for today, I'll just give Obama a big thumbs up for at least moving in the right direction.
music...it's tax season, so i have a song for everyone...Nicolay and Supastition
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ReBuCAjo0E
But it's April 13, taxes are due in the next 48 hours, which means i actually have to DO them tomorrow, as opposed to looking at them. You ever notice when you think you're gonna owe taxes, you have no real desire to file, but if you think you're getting a refund, you file that shit immediately so you can take your return to the check cashing place, as to not wait for your loot for even one more second? That may just be me, but i doubt it. i talked to a friend of mine, who has managed to never pay federal income tax, and i wish him luck. i don't know much, but i do know when the man needs to get his loot, he's gonna get his loot, even if it means you can't eat. Once my taxes are done, then the last of my obligations will be dealt with and i can leave for other pastures, as i can't imagine i'll find many pastures greener than the ones i currently have. but if you didn't go on vacation, and you just stayed home, you'd find yourself in the same rut that the vacation is supposed to resolve. I know there is nothing stopping me from doing my taxes right now, other than i write as a reason and or means to avoid things i should rather be doing, but have already decided to put off until tomorrow- only problem is i only have tomorrow to procrastinate.
more later...
i'm watching the news and there's a story about the debut of the president's new dog. When this was initially made a story during the election, it was cute, but it was cute in that "cool, now i don't have to hear that again," kind of way. it seems like we may be running out of actual news to report...i know, i have heard of a "feature" story, but this has been a feature story for the last 6 months. There's even a pictire of the dog on TV right now, with a hawaiian lei on, which makes me hate dogs, leis, and Hawaii simultaneously...
i know the economy is in the toilet, i know you can't talk about pirates forever, although at this point, i'm not sure if this is true or not, and there are wars on multiple fronts. I also understand sometimes we need to think about better things, it's the functional purpose of feature stories in the news. But the presidential dog? The debut of the presidential dog? Are things that bad? If so, just let me sulk on my own..
The United States has just eased travel restrictions to Cuba. Nice. I can get my tickets to go to Havana and see Guantanamo Bay upclose and personal (hopefully not that upclose and personal)...maybe we can stop crushing the Cuban people and lift sanctions. Someday, i'll rant about sanctions, but for today, I'll just give Obama a big thumbs up for at least moving in the right direction.
music...it's tax season, so i have a song for everyone...Nicolay and Supastition
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ReBuCAjo0E
But it's April 13, taxes are due in the next 48 hours, which means i actually have to DO them tomorrow, as opposed to looking at them. You ever notice when you think you're gonna owe taxes, you have no real desire to file, but if you think you're getting a refund, you file that shit immediately so you can take your return to the check cashing place, as to not wait for your loot for even one more second? That may just be me, but i doubt it. i talked to a friend of mine, who has managed to never pay federal income tax, and i wish him luck. i don't know much, but i do know when the man needs to get his loot, he's gonna get his loot, even if it means you can't eat. Once my taxes are done, then the last of my obligations will be dealt with and i can leave for other pastures, as i can't imagine i'll find many pastures greener than the ones i currently have. but if you didn't go on vacation, and you just stayed home, you'd find yourself in the same rut that the vacation is supposed to resolve. I know there is nothing stopping me from doing my taxes right now, other than i write as a reason and or means to avoid things i should rather be doing, but have already decided to put off until tomorrow- only problem is i only have tomorrow to procrastinate.
more later...
Vacation Hating
I have a catch-22 that i have to deal with. I hate. for those who do not know what hating is, please feel free to watch a little of one the smartest shows to hit the TV airwaves, as well as give a solid snapshot on the topic at hand...
http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=24419
but back to the topic at hand. I hate. But i love hating. it's one of the largest quandries in my life, how to deal with the burning contradiction of loving hating. I find myself in all kinds of interactions everyday, at the store and even at work, i find myself almost looking for interactions where a little good spirited hatred can rear it's ugly head. I'm convinced one of the main reasons i enjoy the game of poker as much as i do is beacuse it allows me to just hate without any regard for human life or safety. This is especially true with the online game, which i hadn't played in over 40 days, and found out it's a lot like playing baseball- you can't just take a month off without even swinging a bat and get in there and start raking the ball all over the field. more likely, you'll hit the ball like Michael Jordan, Mario Mendoza or any other dude that can't hit well enough to stay in the league legitimately. To quote one of my favorite bands, Binary Star, "Rodney King never felt a beat like this." My game was not tight tonight, which is probably for the better, as i need to step my game up to get ready for the trip to Vegas...
...I am convinced my boy NCP is correct, that Facebook may be the most effective timesuck in society today. I'm on vacation (did i mention i don't have to work tomorrow- they should have never gave us niggas money!!) so i have some free time, and i decided to see what all the hype was about Facebook. It's cooler than i thought it would be, as it's allowed me a chance to catch up with people i would never have thought to contact...which begs the question...why am i getting in contact/acception contact with people i haven't seen in 10-15 years, and have been pretty much OK with not knowing about them? If i didn't need to know about you three weeks ago, why do i need to know now? Because I'm a voyeur. Not the creepy kind that looks into your window without your knowledge, but the kind of person that enjoys watching people and the interaction of people. I used to enjoy going to dance clubs and watch guys and gals work, and found particular enjoyment in their failure, which gets back to the hating thing. I don't really enjoy reality TV, which is like voyeurism with creative editing, but true voyeurism, where people can't fake it, is wonderful to view. Realtime interactions between people and watching the reactions from comments is really interesting to me, so Facebook just gives me another avenue to show the world how much of a dork i am (i played pool as a physics experiment, i play poker because the math is really easy to figure out for me, etc). i will preface this Facebook rant with saying that it allowed to find a couple of good friend of mine from back in the day (the Tejas days) and so i can't totally front. Long John Long and PSim are two guys I'm glad i got a chance to re-find, so it's all good. Both of them are into some solid hip-hop, and i still have the company flow CD PSim repped up...
i will make an attempt to give you a little of my musical snapshots every couple of posts, and i will start it off with the Pharcyde, with a little "Runnin'"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hZKN4AZ63g
more later...
DD
http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=24419
but back to the topic at hand. I hate. But i love hating. it's one of the largest quandries in my life, how to deal with the burning contradiction of loving hating. I find myself in all kinds of interactions everyday, at the store and even at work, i find myself almost looking for interactions where a little good spirited hatred can rear it's ugly head. I'm convinced one of the main reasons i enjoy the game of poker as much as i do is beacuse it allows me to just hate without any regard for human life or safety. This is especially true with the online game, which i hadn't played in over 40 days, and found out it's a lot like playing baseball- you can't just take a month off without even swinging a bat and get in there and start raking the ball all over the field. more likely, you'll hit the ball like Michael Jordan, Mario Mendoza or any other dude that can't hit well enough to stay in the league legitimately. To quote one of my favorite bands, Binary Star, "Rodney King never felt a beat like this." My game was not tight tonight, which is probably for the better, as i need to step my game up to get ready for the trip to Vegas...
...I am convinced my boy NCP is correct, that Facebook may be the most effective timesuck in society today. I'm on vacation (did i mention i don't have to work tomorrow- they should have never gave us niggas money!!) so i have some free time, and i decided to see what all the hype was about Facebook. It's cooler than i thought it would be, as it's allowed me a chance to catch up with people i would never have thought to contact...which begs the question...why am i getting in contact/acception contact with people i haven't seen in 10-15 years, and have been pretty much OK with not knowing about them? If i didn't need to know about you three weeks ago, why do i need to know now? Because I'm a voyeur. Not the creepy kind that looks into your window without your knowledge, but the kind of person that enjoys watching people and the interaction of people. I used to enjoy going to dance clubs and watch guys and gals work, and found particular enjoyment in their failure, which gets back to the hating thing. I don't really enjoy reality TV, which is like voyeurism with creative editing, but true voyeurism, where people can't fake it, is wonderful to view. Realtime interactions between people and watching the reactions from comments is really interesting to me, so Facebook just gives me another avenue to show the world how much of a dork i am (i played pool as a physics experiment, i play poker because the math is really easy to figure out for me, etc). i will preface this Facebook rant with saying that it allowed to find a couple of good friend of mine from back in the day (the Tejas days) and so i can't totally front. Long John Long and PSim are two guys I'm glad i got a chance to re-find, so it's all good. Both of them are into some solid hip-hop, and i still have the company flow CD PSim repped up...
i will make an attempt to give you a little of my musical snapshots every couple of posts, and i will start it off with the Pharcyde, with a little "Runnin'"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hZKN4AZ63g
more later...
DD
12 April 2009
poker in the rear
i decided this year to actually try to give up something i actually enjoy and would have to work to give up during Lent- the original decision was to give up poker entierly, and i realized although that would have been possible, it was merely overkill, since over 95% of the poker i play is online. So for Lent this year, i gave up online poker for the 40 days. it wasn't as hard as i thought it would be, as i have been really busy doing my job in the last 40 days, and it always seemed the poker i was playing wasn't the theraputic, enjoyable poker that makes me happy, but much more the grinding, plodding multi-tasking poker that 1) guarantees you're going to lose your loot- no focus, no winning, and 2) you begin to dread playing, because the thing you enjoy is being tainted by the unpleasentries you bring from the outside world. the thing i enjoy about poker is it allows you to place all your focus on the game, and to block the rest of the outside world and just play poker. The reason i like tournament play is it allows me to play as aggressively as i would like to, but limits the amount of money i can lose in a given situatuon- it does also check how much i can win in a given situation as well, but that seems to be much less my concern. i would actually write more, but i need to hit the tables, and i'm not good enough to do multi-tasking, so here i willl depart.
DD
DD
11 April 2009
Vegas, Old Balling
Well, let's get a couple of things out in the open...first of all, I like to gamble, a lot. the game of preference is poker, but let's not kid ourselves, I've lost money at all kinds of tables in all sorts of locations, and recently, the table that has been taking my loot has been the craps table. It is for this reason that i will be taking a trip to Las Vegas next weekend. In one of my earlier posts, i spoke of a trip to Vegas, and I would love to speak in great detail about that experience, but they made me sign some sort of contract, indicating that "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." They were pretty indignant about it, but i'm pretty sure the contract i signed was only about the last Vegas experience...well there was no non-disclosure agreement penalty, so fuck it...
so my boy J and i are sitting in the hotel bar in the Planet Hollywood casino, having a couple of beers and enjoying the evening. As we sit there, J is approached by a young woman, who seems to have decided that J has caught her fancy...we sit down together, enjoy our beverages and conversation when it moves on to what brings us to Vegas, to which both of us respond "to have a great time." Not very specific. So she asks us if "we're up to have a good time together?" Preface 1: I'm somewhat of a Vegas veteran, with a pretty good eye for professionals. I see right through this, and tell the young lady "I think i'm gonna pass." Preface 2: my friend J is not a Vegas savvy kind of guy. He's a great guy, but he's never been to Vegas, so it just seems quite natural to him that a woman would make the hard sell...so they leave together, and i go back to my hotel...the 4:37am message on my voicemail is still the best Vegas message I've ever gotten...and i will choose to not paraphrase...
"dude, sorry i left you to hang out with that trick...i was under the impression i was going to get my dick sucked for free!"
I still laugh when listen to it. i erase almost all of my voicemails, as there's no need once the message has been listened to. that being said, i still listen to that message every couple of days, as it not only brings a smile to my face, but it actually makes me laugh the same way i did the first time i listened to it...
...this time when i'm in LV, there will be a conference going on in Vegas in my field of employment. I've been to LV under these circumstances on a couple of occasion, and it has been less entertaining than one might have imagined. but it is Vegas, and even when people end up being flakes, it seems to somehow be not that big of a deal, maybe its the free booze, but i don't think so. I imagine some of the foolios i'd like to chill with will be there, and i will chill with them for some block of time, but it provides me one of the few chances i have all year to play A TON of tournament poker, as LV is one of the few places in the world, where you can play multiple tournaments in a day (Reno has @ 3 a day, O'Shea's has 3 in a day, and there are 25+ more rooms, almost all offering tournaments almost every day), be the foodie I like being but have a hard time dropping $300 on a dinner in my home town, and live the bright lights big city life. I'll get to chill with my man, big Jim, and have a couple of cold frosty ones and remember times past and pleasent, and that's but one of a variety of people i'll get a chance to see, some of which i have not even considered...
...well, it's Masters weekend. The only weekend anyone ever mentions Martha Burk. The weekend everyone assumes Tiger Woods will pick up another one of those really ugly fucking green jackets (clearly, they didn't assume a black man would win one of those things, since they still don't want a nigga at Augusta National). But this isn't about Tiger Woods, or Greg Norman, who choked on more cock than in a Lexington Steele porno in the 1987 Masters, getting run down by a combination of his failures and the incredible run of Larry Mize...who is back...like the the Governator. As a snapshot of the world of 1987, i was a junior in high school, listening to the Beastie Boys, the Simpsons would appear on the Tracy Ullman Show two Sundays later, and Tiger Woods had not turned 12 years old yet. To give you an idea of how well Larry Mize had been playing, he hadn't made the cut in a major this decade- this decade ENDS in like 8 months. It does my heart good to see an old man getting it done, as I am reminded constantly how old I am (if you need a reminder of how old you really are, spend some time with high school kids, as they have the right combination of youth and insensitivity to say some cold blooded shit). I'm not a really big golf fan, and if i was gonna bet on this, I'd put my money against the old man, but that doesn't mean i won't be rooting for Larry Mize to run the table and win the Masters, and slip his old ass arms into that Green Jacket (a random fact- they don't keep the jacket, they just have it for a year and bring it back before the first round).
There's always more later...
so my boy J and i are sitting in the hotel bar in the Planet Hollywood casino, having a couple of beers and enjoying the evening. As we sit there, J is approached by a young woman, who seems to have decided that J has caught her fancy...we sit down together, enjoy our beverages and conversation when it moves on to what brings us to Vegas, to which both of us respond "to have a great time." Not very specific. So she asks us if "we're up to have a good time together?" Preface 1: I'm somewhat of a Vegas veteran, with a pretty good eye for professionals. I see right through this, and tell the young lady "I think i'm gonna pass." Preface 2: my friend J is not a Vegas savvy kind of guy. He's a great guy, but he's never been to Vegas, so it just seems quite natural to him that a woman would make the hard sell...so they leave together, and i go back to my hotel...the 4:37am message on my voicemail is still the best Vegas message I've ever gotten...and i will choose to not paraphrase...
"dude, sorry i left you to hang out with that trick...i was under the impression i was going to get my dick sucked for free!"
I still laugh when listen to it. i erase almost all of my voicemails, as there's no need once the message has been listened to. that being said, i still listen to that message every couple of days, as it not only brings a smile to my face, but it actually makes me laugh the same way i did the first time i listened to it...
...this time when i'm in LV, there will be a conference going on in Vegas in my field of employment. I've been to LV under these circumstances on a couple of occasion, and it has been less entertaining than one might have imagined. but it is Vegas, and even when people end up being flakes, it seems to somehow be not that big of a deal, maybe its the free booze, but i don't think so. I imagine some of the foolios i'd like to chill with will be there, and i will chill with them for some block of time, but it provides me one of the few chances i have all year to play A TON of tournament poker, as LV is one of the few places in the world, where you can play multiple tournaments in a day (Reno has @ 3 a day, O'Shea's has 3 in a day, and there are 25+ more rooms, almost all offering tournaments almost every day), be the foodie I like being but have a hard time dropping $300 on a dinner in my home town, and live the bright lights big city life. I'll get to chill with my man, big Jim, and have a couple of cold frosty ones and remember times past and pleasent, and that's but one of a variety of people i'll get a chance to see, some of which i have not even considered...
...well, it's Masters weekend. The only weekend anyone ever mentions Martha Burk. The weekend everyone assumes Tiger Woods will pick up another one of those really ugly fucking green jackets (clearly, they didn't assume a black man would win one of those things, since they still don't want a nigga at Augusta National). But this isn't about Tiger Woods, or Greg Norman, who choked on more cock than in a Lexington Steele porno in the 1987 Masters, getting run down by a combination of his failures and the incredible run of Larry Mize...who is back...like the the Governator. As a snapshot of the world of 1987, i was a junior in high school, listening to the Beastie Boys, the Simpsons would appear on the Tracy Ullman Show two Sundays later, and Tiger Woods had not turned 12 years old yet. To give you an idea of how well Larry Mize had been playing, he hadn't made the cut in a major this decade- this decade ENDS in like 8 months. It does my heart good to see an old man getting it done, as I am reminded constantly how old I am (if you need a reminder of how old you really are, spend some time with high school kids, as they have the right combination of youth and insensitivity to say some cold blooded shit). I'm not a really big golf fan, and if i was gonna bet on this, I'd put my money against the old man, but that doesn't mean i won't be rooting for Larry Mize to run the table and win the Masters, and slip his old ass arms into that Green Jacket (a random fact- they don't keep the jacket, they just have it for a year and bring it back before the first round).
There's always more later...
10 April 2009
Spring MF Break
Well, here we are at the spring break, the time for high school teachers all across America to refuel and get ready for the last leg of the school year. The kids are all looking at their watches, hoping time would actually move as fast as they need it to, and teachers standing in front of the room pretending they don't want it all to end, but quietly wishing, just like their students. All I know is I need to do something to make my break a memorable and reinvigorating one...it's good to be home with nothing to do.
As i have said before, i am a teacher, and teaching is a great career, with many opportunities to give back to community, and watching the youth of America grow is also a strong positive. However, teachers have these professional development in-service days. you all remember these days as students as the random days off that never seemed to make any sense. It's a day for teachers to get together and fellowship, share ideas, and just keep in touch with each other. I would prefer we do these on Friday evenings, after work, and over beers, but I am apparently a simple caveman, and new-fangled technology frightens me. But instead, we went to an incredible site, listened to great speakers, ate wonderful food (i heard, i had to leave for lunch to run a job-related errand i could have done if we had actually gone to work), and listened to a top notch choir. That being said, I'd still have rather watched Las Vegas, a show I'm at best ambiviolent towards.
i've gotta rep my boys- steve, erik and tribble are three of my boys, and their blog is a place where a true hater needs to check everyday...they give fresh, sharp takes on a variety of topics..how else would i know the story of alfie patton? the website is...
http://2oldformaxim.wordpress.com/
But now it's Friday, I have a job and I still don't got shit to do (if you don't catch the reference, you need to watch Ice Cube movies), so I write, and chill with my man, Sonny Bono (I enjoy '70's music). What's there to talk about today...Pirates..and not the kind Hal Sparks is concerned with...really?!? Fucking pirates?!? Wow. It's not that I'm surprised with the idea that pirates exist, or that they even commandeer boats. Don't Americans read the news? I've been reading about pirate abductions for years (it does indicate that i need to get out more often), and the eastern coast of Africa has been a hotbed for stolen boats. What in the fuck was an American captain doing there? Now we're headed towards a showdown between a few pirate ships with 50 hostages they intend on using as human shields, with US Navy warships headed towards a confrontation that seems to have no peaceful, reasonable end. I'm totally unwilling to take a position on whether or not the US should be involved in a military confrontation with (really?!?) pirates...it's also the beginning of baseball season, and it reminds me that sometimes having it pretty phat means i have to make some concessions that sting a little. I'm a huge sports fan, and i root midwest, MN across the board. The new baseball season, as the new basketball season reminds me of my double edged sword...i love hi-def television, but i live in a wonderful apartment that's only flaw is that it faces north...those of you that know the satellite world know the dish has to be able to face the southern sky, and since my apartment does not have a window that faces south, there's no satellite at the spot. this only sucks because although i can watch my teams, i can't watch them in hi-definition, which means i can't really enjoy watching them at all (i have become spoiled, and i'm ok with it). so i can't follow my twins like i want to, in hi-def like i could i i had the dish...i live in one of the tightest apartments i can imagine for quite a reasonable rate in this town, spacious, solidly located, in a good neighborhood where it seems none of my kids live (a plus 2.5 by itself) and the only disad is no satellite dish...i'm ok with it, although it seems like there's a rant about this twice a season.
I'm playing around with an online radio station...it's my station, where i can play my music, what i want and when i want, and other people can listen to it if they choose. at some point in time, i will create a weekly schedule, so people can listen to the music that suits them best...its' called "Grammatical Chaos Presents Three Fists and a Tip." If you have to ask what that's about, you need to read White Boy Shuffle, by Paul Beatty, and it'll all make more sense. and if it doesn't then i got nothing for you. But I digress, if you're looking for my station online, look for me at
http://10.0.1.195:8000/listen.m3u
save the URL and i'm sure you'll hear some solid music...tonight is Prince night, starting at 9:00pst...8 hours of the Purple Pirate....
My girlfriend has a blog, it's called uncoveringfood.com, but i imagine that if there's anyone reading this shit, it's because she's repping it up, so i figure i should write something.
Tomorrow- Larry Mize and the segment I like to call "old pimpin", the final stretch for the NBA season, maybe something about facebook and twitter, and my book of the week section...
As i have said before, i am a teacher, and teaching is a great career, with many opportunities to give back to community, and watching the youth of America grow is also a strong positive. However, teachers have these professional development in-service days. you all remember these days as students as the random days off that never seemed to make any sense. It's a day for teachers to get together and fellowship, share ideas, and just keep in touch with each other. I would prefer we do these on Friday evenings, after work, and over beers, but I am apparently a simple caveman, and new-fangled technology frightens me. But instead, we went to an incredible site, listened to great speakers, ate wonderful food (i heard, i had to leave for lunch to run a job-related errand i could have done if we had actually gone to work), and listened to a top notch choir. That being said, I'd still have rather watched Las Vegas, a show I'm at best ambiviolent towards.
i've gotta rep my boys- steve, erik and tribble are three of my boys, and their blog is a place where a true hater needs to check everyday...they give fresh, sharp takes on a variety of topics..how else would i know the story of alfie patton? the website is...
http://2oldformaxim.wordpress.com/
But now it's Friday, I have a job and I still don't got shit to do (if you don't catch the reference, you need to watch Ice Cube movies), so I write, and chill with my man, Sonny Bono (I enjoy '70's music). What's there to talk about today...Pirates..and not the kind Hal Sparks is concerned with...really?!? Fucking pirates?!? Wow. It's not that I'm surprised with the idea that pirates exist, or that they even commandeer boats. Don't Americans read the news? I've been reading about pirate abductions for years (it does indicate that i need to get out more often), and the eastern coast of Africa has been a hotbed for stolen boats. What in the fuck was an American captain doing there? Now we're headed towards a showdown between a few pirate ships with 50 hostages they intend on using as human shields, with US Navy warships headed towards a confrontation that seems to have no peaceful, reasonable end. I'm totally unwilling to take a position on whether or not the US should be involved in a military confrontation with (really?!?) pirates...it's also the beginning of baseball season, and it reminds me that sometimes having it pretty phat means i have to make some concessions that sting a little. I'm a huge sports fan, and i root midwest, MN across the board. The new baseball season, as the new basketball season reminds me of my double edged sword...i love hi-def television, but i live in a wonderful apartment that's only flaw is that it faces north...those of you that know the satellite world know the dish has to be able to face the southern sky, and since my apartment does not have a window that faces south, there's no satellite at the spot. this only sucks because although i can watch my teams, i can't watch them in hi-definition, which means i can't really enjoy watching them at all (i have become spoiled, and i'm ok with it). so i can't follow my twins like i want to, in hi-def like i could i i had the dish...i live in one of the tightest apartments i can imagine for quite a reasonable rate in this town, spacious, solidly located, in a good neighborhood where it seems none of my kids live (a plus 2.5 by itself) and the only disad is no satellite dish...i'm ok with it, although it seems like there's a rant about this twice a season.
I'm playing around with an online radio station...it's my station, where i can play my music, what i want and when i want, and other people can listen to it if they choose. at some point in time, i will create a weekly schedule, so people can listen to the music that suits them best...its' called "Grammatical Chaos Presents Three Fists and a Tip." If you have to ask what that's about, you need to read White Boy Shuffle, by Paul Beatty, and it'll all make more sense. and if it doesn't then i got nothing for you. But I digress, if you're looking for my station online, look for me at
http://10.0.1.195:8000/listen.m3u
save the URL and i'm sure you'll hear some solid music...tonight is Prince night, starting at 9:00pst...8 hours of the Purple Pirate....
My girlfriend has a blog, it's called uncoveringfood.com, but i imagine that if there's anyone reading this shit, it's because she's repping it up, so i figure i should write something.
Tomorrow- Larry Mize and the segment I like to call "old pimpin", the final stretch for the NBA season, maybe something about facebook and twitter, and my book of the week section...
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