Break Ups and Why Everyone Should Have One

   This year is kind of a long drum roll until doomsday for people that believe that crap is going to actually happen.  For the rest of us, it's good to see another year and hope that things change for the better. 
   I don't know why but I reminisce about things and one of them was break ups.  
   Breaking up when I was a pre-teen was super easy.  First of all because every "girlfriend" I had was kind of like a friendship where the benefits were holding hands and maybe a peck on the lips from time to time, so obviously being emotionally invested in these things wasn't a problem.  

Girl: "Hey, I think we should break up.  We sit on the opposite sides of the classroom now."

Me: "Oh...bummer.  I'm gonna go play four-square now."

Next day, Girl is holding hands with a guy that has one of those first Nokia cell phones.

   In high school, it seemed like things were different.  There was more to a relationship than having someone to go to a middle school dance with.  But of course these relationships are very exaggerated.  After having billions of hormones flying through their brain, almost every teenager is trying to find their soul mate.  Since we could fully understand the relationships in movies where people always fall in love in the end, that becomes an expectation and teenagers will force a relationship to work whether it's good or bad, convinced that they can't let their possible soul mate go.  

Guy: "We should break up."

Girl: "No, you'll be back."

Guy: "Uh, ok I guess.  Let's go to McDonald's."

    As high school goes on, there are two paths you can take.  You can realize that you're young and the world is bigger than it seems and go on and wait for the right person since you have plenty of time.  Or you can plan to get married to the person you lost your virginity to Freshman year.  Sorry if you left high school with your virginity and you're offended.  Stay strong; sex can wait, masturbate.   

    After high school, I don't know, things can go well or not.  I'm now 20 and that means nothing to the world, but I know that break ups suck.  A lot.
    Especially when you're around my age.  You're trying to figure out what your part is in this big world and being knocked off balanced by someone that doesn't want to be with you anymore is tough.

Girl: "I just don't think this is working anymore.  We should see other people..."

Guy: "But I only want to be with you."

Girl: "...Look, we just shouldn't be together anymore."

Guy: "I swear my book about how Darth Vader is the main character of every Star Wars movie is going to take off.  I know it."

    
     The only thing that I can expect out of life is that break ups get harder.  They're more brutal on your heart and it makes you lose faith in relationships.  
     We're human and we're afraid to do things we don't trust.  It's natural.  But our previous relationships make us be better at the next ones.  We grow from naive children in a sandbox to adults with joint taxes and kids.  We couldn't ever do it without learning from the misfortunes.  
     And for those snooty people that have only ever been with one person their whole life and disagree with what I say, I challenge you to tell me how your entire relationship has never suffered misfortune that would split you up.
    Live and learn.
    Live and let die.

Song of the Day 

"Mother of Pearl"

by

Roxy Music

Thank you for reading.

The Color of Awesome

            The things accepted by the American audience in a piece of work by an individual are dependent on generally accepted social standards based on one’s ethnicity as opposed to another.  It’s possible to build a perception around those social standards to depict the message that one wants to carry out.  An artist named Ryan Peters, better known as Spose, wrote a song and made a video called “I‘m Awesome.”  In this video, the white rapper from Wells, Maine describes himself in an ironically positive fashion while using the audience’s expectations and assumptions about his race versus another to illustrate his point.

            His point is to make fun of himself and his own life as a white person.  The only reason the video is funny is because of the assumptions the viewer makes about the young man’s characteristics and background based on his race.

            The video immediately opens with the artist’s name “Spose” in familiar lime-green, pink and black graffiti lettering and moves towards the rapper sitting on a thrown parallel to the ground that spins wearing sunglasses and a cap.  There’s spray painted writing and drawings in the white background that takes the audience back to the 90’s and expect Spose to tell us how he “became the prince of a town called Bel-Aire.”  So as a viewer with any pop culture knowledge from beyond this last decade, we can already assume that this white guy is about to rap in a parody-like manner because he is not Will Smith and not black.

            Spose wakes up in a race car twin bed and delivers the line “I‘m awesome.”  Ironically we know that a man that looks like he’s in his twenties that sleeps in a race car bed is most likely living with his parents in the same exact room that he grew up in.  The race car bed is a sign of immaturity and the fact that he still sleeps in it implies that he is not very masculine and independent. 

            The video shows him sagging his pants down to his ankles and he compares his “swagger” to a handicapped person’s walk.  He plays on the audience’s knowledge of African-American culture to “sag” their pants and how since he is white he doesn’t know how to do it correctly (as if there was a correct way).  The same goes for the way he walks; his imitation of swagger is self-described as debilitated. 

            He is shown playing basketball with poor skill as common reference to the saying: “white men can‘t jump.”  Again, referring to his inferiority as a white man to a sport that is mostly made up of black players.  He also is shown trying to break dance on a cardboard mat, but has a black dancer double do the dancing for him.  We already know that break dancing is a widely African-American practiced dance, and just that he would want to fake that he break dances only goes to further show that he is stereotypically not ethnically known as a dancer.

            His surroundings are a reinforcing factor of his race.  He lives in Maine, a state known to be highly populated by white people, so the concept of him being a rapper is contrasted in an environment that isn’t known to “foster” that talent.  There are scenes of trees, a small church house, a yard filled with junk, mobile homes and ships in a harbor; a showing of what the culture in Maine is like and how the viewer can see that a rapper is not usually surrounded by those things in a video.

            A common rap song usually has an artist boast about his abilities and describe very urban surroundings with a video to show it.  By doing the opposite, Spose creates a comparison between what the acceptable standards for a black young man and a white young man.

            A black young man in America that wants to rap is easily accepted and commonly found in the genre.  There is one notoriously successful white rapper and just being the only one makes mentioning his name unnecessary.  The question of a young man’s race in his pursuit of a rapping career is more closely associated with the backgrounds that entail a rapper.  The most common upbringing of a rapper is living in an urban neighborhood with high crime rates and poor living conditions.  The race that is most associated with this kind of upbringings is African-Americans.  This has inspired lyrics since the beginning of the genre itself from black rappers.  For Spose to be a man raised in a small town in Maine comes off as a joke, not just because it literally is a joke, but because of the fact that it’s opposite of the audience’s expectations.  So in the video he is able to make the viewer easily discredit him as a good rapper, because good rappers are praised for writing lyrics in which they show hubris in defiling young women and abusing drugs on a daily basis, as opposed to not having any friends and being physically out of shape.

            In American pop culture, there seems to be an ongoing support for fashion that originated in prison and uneducated black males that are very quick at rhyming their vocabulary.  Spose brings it to the viewer’s attention that having a poor education led him to have a minimum wage job and an amateur rapping career.  But ironically that is not seen as “awesome” by the American public because he is a white Maine resident.  A white man that didn’t go to college, doesn’t have a career, and is an amateur rapper gets no respect when his black counterpart is seen as talented and trying to raise himself out of a bad situation.

            So perhaps the socially accepted standard is that white men should be able to achieve more and black men are expected to do less.          

            In the video, Spose brings up stereotypes about white people like their supposed inability to dance or play basketball.  These stereotypes are discouraging to white men in general to pursue careers in any of those things and it’s seen on TV and movies when most basketball players are black and the best dancers are too.  This creates expectations for most white men to put their energy into other things like steady income jobs.  But the expectations for black men are less and it’s acceptable for them to disregard an education to be an amateur rapper.

            If society as a whole looks on one race in America as acceptable to do less, then that race will be oppressed by social norms that, with time, only become more and more common and approved of within the race itself. 

            Spose’s video uses the assumptions of his audience to manipulate our perspective of a white male rapping and it easily becomes comical because of our prejudices of a race outside of African-Americans that performs rap or tries to obtain an identity similar to that of black people.  This ultimately makes his video very successful in his point that he is not a very impressive rapper or a successful person in general.

            Just the fact that Spose was able to make a video that unintentionally illustrated this fact is pretty awesome.

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYws8biwOYc

Site:

http://www.sposemusic.net/

Info:

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20100318-NEWS-3180346 

Song of the Day

 "I'm Awesome" 

by

Spose

Thanks for reading,

Fernando  

The Answers To The Few Questions I Got

   I got a few questions and I think they're entertaining enough and that makes for a pretty good blog.  Thanks for everyone that participated.  Even you Comment at 12:46, you dead baby sex loving bitch.

Q:

"How many times have you cheated on Stacey?
And how many times have you had sex with Nalani, since you've been with Stacey?"

   A:  For the first question: 0 times.  And I think all 0 times was worth it and it was awesome beyond your wildest dreams where you think of this shit that I do, get a life.  For the second question: 0 times.  Judging by how specific you are, I don't think that the issue you have is with me because I don't mind anyone bashing just me, but bringing in someone else is pretty shitty of you.  You should be a coward and post an anonymous opinions that you're too afraid to say with your own name on Nalani's Facebook because you're probably her friend on Facebook, you hypocritical goat fucker.

Q:

"What is your favorite color? Please only choose one.
What does your future include?"

  

   A: My favorite color changes by my mood everyday so if I chose one, today it is brown.  My future includes for sure a lot of fun and a lot of struggle.  I think I'm probably going to buy a wicked cool guitar in the future.  And get a nice apartment.

Q:

"What is one of your biggest regrets and/or accomplishments in your life so far?"

   A:  One of my biggest regrets so far is not doing everything I could have.  Like those opportunities that for some reason I chose not to make happen but I could've easily done it.  These things include getting good grades, participating in school functions more, and just plain going for wild things that I was too shy to do.  One of the biggest accomplishments I've had so far is moving out and going somewhere I want to be and trying to make things happen for myself and failing and succeeding and failing and succeeding as time goes on.

Q:

"who will win the superb owl this year?"

   A:  The Vikings.  But by accepting my answer as truth, I am not to be held liable for any money, or pride, lost in the events of the Vikings not winning the superbowl.

Q:

"what the fuck is an Aposiopesis?what about Fuliginous?And what in the hell is an Incunabulum?or a Zymurgy? Can you tell me what a Xenoglossy is? And in what way can a bonobo use generative language to communicate? What about Rocco the Collie? If a girl has two dildos (one named toby the other herbert)will she be completely dissapionted when she sees the real thing? Ohhh and in what does a girl have to do to be considered a hoodrat?"

   A:  The first, a rhetorical term for an unfinished thought or broken---.  The second, sooty or smokey.  The third, an artifact of an early period.  The fourth, the branch of chemistry that deals with fermentation like in brewing beer.  The fifth, the paranormal phenomenon in which a person is able to speak a language they have never been taught or known of.  The sixth, I don't know.  The seventh, I also don't know.  The eighth, I don't think she will because the real thing is always better.  The ninth, she would have to type lIkE DiZz and wear hella make up and have her hair teased all the time.

Q:

"What is the biggest mistake you've ever made?"

   A:  The biggest mistake I ever made was when I got out in the spelling be for making a mistake on a word.  It's hard to think of a mistake I made and not committed. 

Q:

"The bird is the word..... ? and how does that make you feel?"

   A:  Yes it is in fact the word.  Everyone is talking about it.  It makes me feel papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow...

Thanks for the questions, they were entertaining and I hope the reading is entertaining too.

Song of the Day

"Like A G6"

by

Far East Movement

Thanks for reading,

Fernando

24 Hour Question Marathon

   Whenever a writer of a blog begins to post, he/she always writes an introduction of themselves.  I've come to notice that after a few posts, I've said nothing.  Even though that doesn't mean much because if you're reading this you already know me.  But at the same time I don't think everyone really knows me that well and it would be nice to have a blog that explains that so we can all refer to it.
   All I can really say about myself is that I'm a guy and I mainly play guitar now but I play other instruments.  I'm a music enthusiast.  My friends and my family are what hold me together.  I have a beautiful girlfriend and anyone that says that they have "the most beautiful girl in the world," they're lying because she's with me.  I've been known to be rude, but that just makes me laugh.
   Since I don't really know what to say when it comes to introductions, I thought it'd be easier to just open it up to comments.
   So for 24 hours I'll be posting up a link to this post as much as I can and anyone reading can ask me what they whatever they want.  If you don't want me to know who you are you can of course always comment a question as Anonymous.  I'll answer all the questions that I think are appropriate (I guess) on my next post.  You can ask as many as you want and I haven't been known as the most "appropriate" person so I'm pretty sure I'll answer anything.
   I'm thinking this will be pretty fun.
 
   Also if you have any suggestions on things I can write about, you can contact me on my Facebook because I never check my email.  I don't know why but that's just how it happens with me.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/profile.php?id=1595080126

   I also want to take the chance on this semi-topicless post to mention that my friend Francisco has a YouTube channel called OMGKreationz where the topic is fashion.  Everyone's seen how I dress and how horrible my make-up is so I'm referring everyone over to Frisco.

http://www.youtube.com/user/OMGKreationz

   I also wanted to mention that anyone who actually enjoys this writing, you're awesome.  And I'm writing these blogs for you guys.  If you think anyone else would enjoy this stuff, just link it over to them.

Song of the Day(for Stacey)

"We Are The Champions"

by

Queen

Thank you for reading,

Fernando

Men, We Are A Different Species

   Guys, we are something else.  One thing that I'm so confident that almost all men do, is fall for girls easy.  Gay men, almost all of you do it too for men.  I'll talk about falling for girls because that's what I've experienced first hand.  Again, almost all men, there are always exceptions.
   If we get a girlfriend, we like them.  A lot.  And if we've liked them before going out, then we have already fallen for you girls way ahead of the relationship schedule.  So we've learned to play it cool and not scare you off.
   We don't even have to know the girl.  If you ask any guy if he has a momentary crush on a girl he passes by on the street or at the mall or at Jamba Juice or that one time at Food 4 Less with my grandma, there's a 98% chance that they will say yes. 
   If a pretty girl we don't know is nice to us, we imagine our lives with them.  What is with us?  I think it's just animal instinct and evolution that drives us to think we should reproduce with anyone we want to reproduce with to keep the species alive.
    Also, if you're my friend on Facebook you've seen that when guys are going to pee, and a fly is hovering over the toilet, we automatically try to blast it with piss.
   Men are able to live with anything.  If there's a crap load of ants in our rooms, we won't do anything about it.  If we leave something out and ants get in it, then the peace is broken and we take action.  But otherwise we are harmonious with nature.  Even where we live.
   If men don't shave for a while unintentionally, we will spent a large percentage of the day playing with our facial hair somehow and want a beard, but then it gets itchy.
   It might be pretty obvious, but even the guys you wouldn't think would do it, we've all flexed in front of the mirror.
   Guys have always wanted to be able to drive when we were little to drive really fast like in the movies.  Traffic laws and safety are disappointing to us because we believe we can drive really fast all the time and not get hurt ever.
    Now ladies reading this, go out and compliment something masculine in a guy whether it's true or not; apparent in them or not.  It doesn't matter what people say, guys will believe in in the back of their minds until the day we die.

Song of the Day

"Dance Dance Dance"

by

Lykke Li

Thanks for reading,

Fernando 

There's Plenty of Fish in the Sea: I Keep Reeling in Tires and Trash

   Most of the people on Earth that are suffering from loneliness because of the lack of a significant other in their lives are people around my age.  There are a few exceptions of people that are much older, but I am not older than myself so I have no knowledge as to how to relate to them.  Through romance novels and movies, most people my age are unsatisfied if they are single for the most part.  And again I'm talking about most people that are unsatisfied.  I always encourage comments, but I don't want single people that are so happy to be single posting that I am wrong because this post doesn't pertain to you.  There will be other posts, don't worry.
   Is it true, though, that it's nice to be with someone?  As someone who has been single, in a relationship, casually dating, and/or this weird thing where it's not official and people don't really know but everyone knows and it's pretty much official; I can say that being with someone you care about is very fulfilling.  It's very enjoyable and it gives you a better outlook on many different things and all that nice sentimental stuff.  It's nice, me personally, I enjoy what I can from any relationship but nothing is perfect so it's best not to be disappointed to not have a fairy tale relationships with picnics and magic carpet rides to the moon.
   Why is it so important to have someone?  It makes us feel good to know that whenever we're in school or at work, we don't have to wonder who is interested in us and who's not.  We already know someone that does and appreciate that. 
   But the real issue that arises from this is the impatience.  I know a few people that are a little extreme on finding someone to be with and everyone else is kind of the normal "I want a boyfriend/girlfriend, but I'm not going to tell people I want one to not seem desperate."  It's totally normal to feel as such because we all feel it when we're single.  Crap it happens a lot.  There's only a few people that the whole "I'm single and I'm just having fun" shit works for.  Most of us actually legitimately want to care about someone and be cared for.  Human Nature 101, it's in the earlier chapters between Common Sense and Crazy Shit People Think Of.
   So when someone is in a relationship and it doesn't work out, it always seems so demoralizing and just like a big bump in the road if it was a good relationship.  If any reader here has been broken up with or not, you're either the one to say, "There's plenty of fish in the..." or you're the one receiving it.
   If anyone is ever told that again after reading this post, you tell that person (politely) to shove it.  Hell yeah there's plenty of fish in the sea.  But have you ever been to an aquarium or watched the Discovery Channel?  There's just a lot of fish that are unappealing and dangerous and just plain harmful that no one wants. Out of all the fish in the sea there's only a few fish that are actually appealing.  And everyone has a different preference on kinds of fish.  Hell some people don't even like fish (wink wink).  So truth is, there's plenty of fish in the sea, but there's only that one fish that's worth more than any other fish to you.  If a fish gets off the hook and doesn't work for you; fishing is about patience so just throw the line out there and wait for it.
   It is something really nice.  And nice things are worth a lot so they must be worth waiting for, so patience is the key.  Gandhi and Confucius would back me up here.

Song of the Day

"Wait Up (Boots of Danger)"

by

Tokyo Police Club

Thanks for reading,

Fernando 

In College: The One Person That Speaks Out In Class and Annoys Everyone

   College is different than high school for a number of different reasons.  But one thing that I find to be so obvious about it is the people.  In high school everyone is so self -conscience about their appearance and outward persona that we don't speak out in class and declare our knowledge to the world as an individual for everyone to hear.  We tell jokes, we give the right answers and that's it.  Anyone that sticks out by giving their bold opinion about anything is not normal and according to High School Etiquette 101, these people should be avoided (Undesirables).
   In college it seems that almost everyone has had a class where they have that one person that always talks out to the teacher and annoys the entire class, including the teacher.  We have had class with these people that when the teacher is talking about something they feel the strong urge to say:

"I read somewhere that women are still earning less on the dollar per males in the workplace and this isn't right because of how hard women have fought for equality and I as a woman am disappointed in society for allowing this to happen."

   These statements are usually followed by a long awkward silence because everyone doesn't want to say, "Shut the hell up, we're trying to take notes and don't give a crap about your feminist movement going on in your own head."

   Sometimes these people will just ask questions that are just confusing as hell to the professor:

"So if the orbit of the earth were to change at perihelion, would that make the parsecs in the gravitational quantum want to be as far as to want to do look more like?"

   Every time that these persons open their mouth or raise their hand the whole class groans and the professor has a pained look on his/her face.  How is it that in college we all end up with people like this that it seems like they should grow up and have a mature respect for those around them and stop disturbing class that we need to succeed in life for their big mouths?  I want to know if you the reader have experienced this and how you feel about it.

Song of the Day

"POGO"

by

Digitalism

Thanks for reading,

Fernando