Could it be time for an update?
Well well well. Guess I've come strolling back into the Livejournal limelight at last. After a long time, it's time for some observations and maybe a little poetry, for anyone who still bothers to read this thing.
Observation #1:
I've outgrown college in a summer. Living on my own, I've found a different mindset about school, and though I'm constantly nervous about grades, really don't give a rats ass anymore. I took the LSAT a couple weeks ago, despite numerous nay-sayers. So we'll see how that goes. But I just feel that classes, while intellectually impressive here at UD, lack something - student participation. It was long thought by myself that, as I got into upper level classes, the high school mantra of a teacher spouting for a class period and the zombie students sitting in their chairs would fade. Yet here I am, four years later, going through the same stuff. Weird. My teachers do a great job of provoking the class, and we've had several interesting and intense conversations, but nothing worth the tuition I'm paying to go here.
As a culture, our cerebral expansion has stopped. No longer do people muse about the daily events that happen. "Somebody's done it" is the given response. People like Descartes, Dante, Newton, Einstein, Shakespeare - all of these and their contemporaries were on the right track, to challenge the intellectual mindsets of those around them. Granted, I know that it can't be the 16th century again, and to quote John Stewart, "You crapped in a bucket? You just invented plumbing!", but the point remains: instead of having political talks, or having discussions about God, the classes in society, or the underprivileged, the topics range from the new fall fashions at Aberzombie to what happened on Laguna Beach the other night. I'll admit, I'm no saint - I've fallen into the same cultural trap as everyone else. Ultimately, it's inevitable - the culture demands you conform to their beliefs that Hollywood actors are better people than you because they make more money, or that major league athletes deserve millions upon millions of dollars because they do something better than you, or that corporate heads can raise prices to finance their trips to Acapulco and New Zealand, but only we feel the increase, because they are better than you.
The working middle class is dead. There is no room for the socially retarded any more in the USA. Instead, Washington has made it a priority over the last 20 years to ignore the poor and middle class, and only focus on the upper echelons of their cream of the crop culture. And for what price? The gradual elimination of the lower society of America so that we can present a better face to the oil bastards at OPEC? So we can say - yes, we can afford to pay almost double what the barrel of oil is worth, but they can't afford it. Oh, no matter - we'll just destroy more natural parks when the times come to bring the prices crashing down when there is a public outcry about the price of a gallon of gas. Yeah, I know I sound like a hippie right now, but maybe certain things of their movement, like the American Indian, possess an appeal that the Anglo society I've grown up in does not: respect for nature, respect for life, and respect for each other. When will we, as a populace, wake up and stand up for our rights as Americans, not as Whites, Blacks, Arabs, Asians, Hispanics, or any other culture in this great melting pot of a country that we call home? If something isn't done soon, more pointless wars will occur, more pointless hatred will spew from the mouths of those in power, more pointless death will occur, and more pointless destruction will be done to this planet, all in the name of the betterment of our race.
Fossil fuels are fading, yet the bureaucrats in power who are gettin the pay off from the fat auto industries will not progress any alternative fuel sources, like nuclear fuel or solar power. Inert gases, like hydrogen, nitrogen, and propane, have long been used and can be reproduced easier than alternatives to liquid gasoline. The crude oil reserves are drying up - that's the cause of the skyrocket. The US was just deal t a crippling blow in the disasters down south, but at least it has shown the true colors of the culture in this country. Looting, rape, vandalism, incessant destruction - the Superdome is no longer inhabitable because it's too covered in feces that the government will have to demolish it under Federal Biohazard Safety rules. Who covers their home in feces? Apparently people from the bayous do.
Observation #2:
I do not think I am as wise as I sound, nor do I believe it. You shouldn't either. Rather than taking what I say at face value, and going "hey, he's right, we should do something about it" as you slip into a more comfortable cerebral coma, why don't you say - "hey, I don't agree with him here at all" and challenge me to a conversation, over dinner, or coffee, in our spare time? Where we can discuss our viewpoints as friends instead of the 13 year old drama that always accompanies such conversations? Agree to disagree - no one can ask for anything more, and there is no need to be upset while talking - because that's all it is is talking. Just because you don't believe what I believe doesn't give me any right to jump down your throat about it, does it? Personal attacks are another thing - completely unrelated to these conversations, I will jump down anyone's throat who begins to attack me at a personal level, and thus breaching the civil conversation being held.
Observation #3:
Do people have pride in the way they dress anymore? Yesterday, I got stuck behind some stooge in the computer labs, who had 3 layers of pants: 2 pair of shorts, and sweatpants. The sweatpants were hung so low that they were below the ass of his shorts. Serious, it looked like he shit his pants. This was only trumped by the two girls who turned the corner, both wearing skirts so short that I think I have more material in one of my t-shirts than they had covering up what God gave 'em. Seriously. Like any other guy, I enjoy girl watching as a favorite hobby - but why take the guess work out of it? Isn't that the point behind teasing? Keep the guy guessing for a while....and by a while...I mean longer than the 20 seconds it takes me to see you pass me in the hallway? Granted, there are members of both genders that can really pull off the look, and I grant them Kudos for doing it. But for the love of God, if you can't do it, don't try!!!! I don't go wearing saggy jeans because I have a huge ass, and I know it. However, other people at this institution seem to think that the laws of fashion apply to them, no matter their size....it's just nauseating at times. Is it so much to ask that one takes pride in how they look and dresses as respectful people? You can still be provocative and not be showing everything off, guys and girls - people have been having sex for millenia, and somehow they always seem to make it through the dorkiest of fashion periods known to modern times.
Finally:
The poem, encompassing all above as it may be, was written to keep me awake in Communications. That class is so tedious that I think old people in wheelchairs wouldn't even be drawn to it (yeah, that's right - old people in wheelchairs, or old people in general, are drawn to boring, tedious things - I said it). Enjoy the work, and let me know how I'm doing. Think I should submit it to the on-campus newspaper or the arts community for Orpheus? Let me know what you think.
Daymare Believer?
Cold in the air
Though it's sunny outside
Something's wrong, I can sense it,
Can't put my finger on it.
Cologne in front
Perfume behind
Money oozing from their pores
High price sneakers scuff the floors
Fitted hats grace foreheads, withholding gelled hair.
My criticisms are strong
My self-cynical mirror is stronger
Faded jeans, rough boots, torn shirt
I am a mess.
I do not belong sitting inbetween
Yet I fit perfectly in this atmosphere.
Every world needs a goofball
Otherwise, how would the privileged know they're perfect?
Brief conclusion: everything's wrong with being different
At least, to them.
I'm not an Aberzombie
And damn proud of it.
So am I different, or is everyone else just confused?
Yeah, it's free verse, and it's not my usual cup of tea - but I thought, ah, what the hell. Keep it tuned here for all of your nonsensical ranting and raving, 24/7. Or, if you want the Podcast, give me your iPod, I'll hold it, stand next to you with it in my hand, and yell at you until you hit the pause button. Until next time, true believers!!!
Observation #1:
I've outgrown college in a summer. Living on my own, I've found a different mindset about school, and though I'm constantly nervous about grades, really don't give a rats ass anymore. I took the LSAT a couple weeks ago, despite numerous nay-sayers. So we'll see how that goes. But I just feel that classes, while intellectually impressive here at UD, lack something - student participation. It was long thought by myself that, as I got into upper level classes, the high school mantra of a teacher spouting for a class period and the zombie students sitting in their chairs would fade. Yet here I am, four years later, going through the same stuff. Weird. My teachers do a great job of provoking the class, and we've had several interesting and intense conversations, but nothing worth the tuition I'm paying to go here.
As a culture, our cerebral expansion has stopped. No longer do people muse about the daily events that happen. "Somebody's done it" is the given response. People like Descartes, Dante, Newton, Einstein, Shakespeare - all of these and their contemporaries were on the right track, to challenge the intellectual mindsets of those around them. Granted, I know that it can't be the 16th century again, and to quote John Stewart, "You crapped in a bucket? You just invented plumbing!", but the point remains: instead of having political talks, or having discussions about God, the classes in society, or the underprivileged, the topics range from the new fall fashions at Aberzombie to what happened on Laguna Beach the other night. I'll admit, I'm no saint - I've fallen into the same cultural trap as everyone else. Ultimately, it's inevitable - the culture demands you conform to their beliefs that Hollywood actors are better people than you because they make more money, or that major league athletes deserve millions upon millions of dollars because they do something better than you, or that corporate heads can raise prices to finance their trips to Acapulco and New Zealand, but only we feel the increase, because they are better than you.
The working middle class is dead. There is no room for the socially retarded any more in the USA. Instead, Washington has made it a priority over the last 20 years to ignore the poor and middle class, and only focus on the upper echelons of their cream of the crop culture. And for what price? The gradual elimination of the lower society of America so that we can present a better face to the oil bastards at OPEC? So we can say - yes, we can afford to pay almost double what the barrel of oil is worth, but they can't afford it. Oh, no matter - we'll just destroy more natural parks when the times come to bring the prices crashing down when there is a public outcry about the price of a gallon of gas. Yeah, I know I sound like a hippie right now, but maybe certain things of their movement, like the American Indian, possess an appeal that the Anglo society I've grown up in does not: respect for nature, respect for life, and respect for each other. When will we, as a populace, wake up and stand up for our rights as Americans, not as Whites, Blacks, Arabs, Asians, Hispanics, or any other culture in this great melting pot of a country that we call home? If something isn't done soon, more pointless wars will occur, more pointless hatred will spew from the mouths of those in power, more pointless death will occur, and more pointless destruction will be done to this planet, all in the name of the betterment of our race.
Fossil fuels are fading, yet the bureaucrats in power who are gettin the pay off from the fat auto industries will not progress any alternative fuel sources, like nuclear fuel or solar power. Inert gases, like hydrogen, nitrogen, and propane, have long been used and can be reproduced easier than alternatives to liquid gasoline. The crude oil reserves are drying up - that's the cause of the skyrocket. The US was just deal t a crippling blow in the disasters down south, but at least it has shown the true colors of the culture in this country. Looting, rape, vandalism, incessant destruction - the Superdome is no longer inhabitable because it's too covered in feces that the government will have to demolish it under Federal Biohazard Safety rules. Who covers their home in feces? Apparently people from the bayous do.
Observation #2:
I do not think I am as wise as I sound, nor do I believe it. You shouldn't either. Rather than taking what I say at face value, and going "hey, he's right, we should do something about it" as you slip into a more comfortable cerebral coma, why don't you say - "hey, I don't agree with him here at all" and challenge me to a conversation, over dinner, or coffee, in our spare time? Where we can discuss our viewpoints as friends instead of the 13 year old drama that always accompanies such conversations? Agree to disagree - no one can ask for anything more, and there is no need to be upset while talking - because that's all it is is talking. Just because you don't believe what I believe doesn't give me any right to jump down your throat about it, does it? Personal attacks are another thing - completely unrelated to these conversations, I will jump down anyone's throat who begins to attack me at a personal level, and thus breaching the civil conversation being held.
Observation #3:
Do people have pride in the way they dress anymore? Yesterday, I got stuck behind some stooge in the computer labs, who had 3 layers of pants: 2 pair of shorts, and sweatpants. The sweatpants were hung so low that they were below the ass of his shorts. Serious, it looked like he shit his pants. This was only trumped by the two girls who turned the corner, both wearing skirts so short that I think I have more material in one of my t-shirts than they had covering up what God gave 'em. Seriously. Like any other guy, I enjoy girl watching as a favorite hobby - but why take the guess work out of it? Isn't that the point behind teasing? Keep the guy guessing for a while....and by a while...I mean longer than the 20 seconds it takes me to see you pass me in the hallway? Granted, there are members of both genders that can really pull off the look, and I grant them Kudos for doing it. But for the love of God, if you can't do it, don't try!!!! I don't go wearing saggy jeans because I have a huge ass, and I know it. However, other people at this institution seem to think that the laws of fashion apply to them, no matter their size....it's just nauseating at times. Is it so much to ask that one takes pride in how they look and dresses as respectful people? You can still be provocative and not be showing everything off, guys and girls - people have been having sex for millenia, and somehow they always seem to make it through the dorkiest of fashion periods known to modern times.
Finally:
The poem, encompassing all above as it may be, was written to keep me awake in Communications. That class is so tedious that I think old people in wheelchairs wouldn't even be drawn to it (yeah, that's right - old people in wheelchairs, or old people in general, are drawn to boring, tedious things - I said it). Enjoy the work, and let me know how I'm doing. Think I should submit it to the on-campus newspaper or the arts community for Orpheus? Let me know what you think.
Daymare Believer?
Cold in the air
Though it's sunny outside
Something's wrong, I can sense it,
Can't put my finger on it.
Cologne in front
Perfume behind
Money oozing from their pores
High price sneakers scuff the floors
Fitted hats grace foreheads, withholding gelled hair.
My criticisms are strong
My self-cynical mirror is stronger
Faded jeans, rough boots, torn shirt
I am a mess.
I do not belong sitting inbetween
Yet I fit perfectly in this atmosphere.
Every world needs a goofball
Otherwise, how would the privileged know they're perfect?
Brief conclusion: everything's wrong with being different
At least, to them.
I'm not an Aberzombie
And damn proud of it.
So am I different, or is everyone else just confused?
Yeah, it's free verse, and it's not my usual cup of tea - but I thought, ah, what the hell. Keep it tuned here for all of your nonsensical ranting and raving, 24/7. Or, if you want the Podcast, give me your iPod, I'll hold it, stand next to you with it in my hand, and yell at you until you hit the pause button. Until next time, true believers!!!