Sorry about the bad quality and improvisation. As you saw/will see I am sick and have been sick for the last 3 days so this was very impromptu.
I hope you like it.
Also check out my micro-vlogs at 12seconds.tv. If you can … guess the songs in 12 seconds or less.
UMass homecoming is right around the corner and that means one thing for me. Drunk weekend with the brothers. I miss the good ol’ days of doing nothing, drinking a lot, and playing wiffle ball.
First off I want to clear the air on any preconceived ideas about what frats are like. I’m sorry if you had a bad experience at once, just remember, ever frat is different. Our frat for example went from 4 members in ’04’ to 20 by ’06’. We were very proud of our small numbers. Furthermore, we were all geeks. Well, geeks in the sense that we were all either comp sci or marketing majors in some form or another.
In ’06’ we acquired a full size frat house. 16 bedrooms, 4 living rooms, 2 basement rooms and 2 bathrooms. Well the 2 bathrooms part kind of sucked. There was only one shower …. and it was open….. that got interesting.
Best part about this frat house, I was president. I had the biggest room in the house. Next best part? I wasn’t even in school. I had dropped out after my freshman year and had been living in a frat house through what would have been my senior year. I think it’s the best thing that could have happened to me.
After I dropped out I began teaching as an interactive web and animation teacher. The time off from school gave me all the time in the world to prepare lectures and research new trends. I think those 3 years out of school were the most learning I had done my whole life. Once I took off the filter that is “curriculum” I began to learn more about the stuff that really interested in me.
Granted …. I was very on productive during this time. I was always broke and relied on food that was given to me. Everyone used to hang out in my room because of my SWEET SETUP, so there were always leftovers. I was very skinny back then, lol.
So looking back, I miss it. I learned so much during that time and had so much fun. That frat was the worst and best thing to ever happen to me.
I’m no pot advocate, well … maybe I am. But I am going to try and keep this short and sweet.
First of all go to SensibleMarijuanaPolicy.org to learn more.
It’s time to put realistic laws into effect concerning marijuana policies in Massachusetts. “When you criminalize something that’s not a real crime, you still create a real criminal.” It’s time to give us back some of our basic freedoms and spread the truth about marijuana like:
What is wrong with the world.
Somehow…. the top news story in People magazine is the fact that Clay Aiken is gay. This is more important than a story about two men who escaped from a burning inferno of death and were forced to slide down a wing of fire and commence “putting each other out”.
I’m alone in thinking this is crazy?
This weekend was alot of fun. A friend of mine just moved to Boston so he had a little housewarming party. The party wasn’t too big…. I’d say about 15 of us at its peak. Nothing to big, just some beer pong and snacks.
Well, apparently we were being a little loud because at about 930 the cops stroll in. To make this easier to follow i’ll break it down to good cop and bad cop.
Bad Cop: “What do we have here … a college party”
Alot of us already graduated and probobly make more than this guy does for a living…. but we kept our mouths shut.
Bad Cop: “Who here is under 21”
The three youngins step forward
Bad Cop: “I need the lease owners outside, NOW!”
So we stand there as our friend proceeds outisde and the other cop stays in with us.
Good Cop: “Sorry guys. If I were in charge I would have just popped my head in and said quiet down. Don’t know how this guy plans on handeling it.”
Good Cop: “What the hell is this?” as he proceeds to pick up a beer off the table.
Me: “It’s some kind of Italian beer, tastes kind of like Dos Equis but a little lighter”
So my friend George looks over at me and goes “Dude shut up he wasn’t asking you”
Good Cop: “Um, Ya I was. You think because I’m a cop I don’t drink? You need to calm down a little there buddy, it’s going to be okay”
See that’s how it should be. Cops and humans getting along as one. They should just being doing their jobs and not letting it get to their heads. Another thing… they should stop beating people up. I think that about sums it up.
So basically they just told us to turn the music down and the Bad Cop said if he had to come back he was taking people in. Der. It’s people like him that give his proffesion a bad name.
So I checked the 20SB forum to see what was up and I saw the question, “What are you passionate about?”
One thing I value above all else is my family.
Growing up, me and my sister did a lot of traveling between our separated parents. This segmented the family into two separate families, both of which we love equally.
So, child support can be a bitch for an underpaid carpenter living in northern Massachusetts, and needless to say, my family was always there to help. I remember growing up in a large blue house that my mom and dad had bought and my dad had kept after the separation. He would rent out the rooms to be able to afford mortgage payments. Some of the residents of that house are still considered family to this day.
I moved in with my grandmother during her last year as a teacher to have her as my 6th grade math teacher. During this time she kept me very active in extracurricular activities…. and math. It formed the bases of my knowledge of math and sciences as well as set the course for the path I would lead to become what I am now. I was even asked to give a speech in front of the whole school to commemorate my grandmother on her last day as a teacher.
So back to my father for a second. He had several girlfriends after him and my mom separated. Finally he settled on the “red headed vixen from Minnesota”, those are his words, her name was Jean. She had 3 kids when she met my dad. This was about 11 years ago I think. My dad finally married Jean about 2 months ago and officially connected the two families.
I love my step family. I now have:
So my sister, Erin and I spend a lot of time together because we’re so close in age, and it is a lot of fun. DJ visits his mom on the weekends so I try and make it a point to spend my weekends at my dads so he doesn’t go crazy.
Now my mom’s side is just as great … just located a little farther away. Most of the family lives in Puerto Rico however we have a handful of relatives in New York and Florida. They’re always just a phone call away any time we need a little help.
I could go on and on about my family… so I will in later posts. But my main point with this post is to stress to others how important family really is. Their the one’s you can really rely on and will always really be there for you. There something about sharing a last name that makes your bond so much stronger. My sister and I are inseparable, and I couldn’t picture it any other way. One of my biggest turn-offs is when a girl doesn’t get along with her family. I was brought up differently and couldn’t imagine life without them.
I believe it was two years ago when my dad got beat up by cops.
That’s a hell of a way to start a blog post, huh?
So basically they mistook his car for a drug dealers and they searched my father and the car illegally as well as threatened my dads life. They broke two of his ribs, nerve damage in his hands, inflamed neck from choking, and chipped a few teeth. Needless to say I’m not a big fan of police officers after this incident.
So to make a long story short, they tried to slap my dad with a disorderly conduct charge …. because they didn’t find any drugs and they had to charge him with something. Well the cops lost the case and my dad won rather easily.
So this was all two years ago. As of Monday, he’s been going through a series of trials in an attempt to sue the state of Massachusetts, the town of Salem and the officer who beat him up.
Three days in and how does it look? VERY GOOD. I really hope my dad can stick it to the man.
I’ve never been as emotionally distressed as I was the day I found out they did that to my dad. So far we’re looking at 6 figures if this works out. I’d almost be just as content with no money and watching the officer that hurt my father suffer behind bars. But apparently money is the currency of the law and we’ll have to settle.
All in all…. wish us luck.
I haven’t decided whether I just can’t take being told im wrong about something or if other people have a hard time justifying their arguments. I feel like ad hominem’s have become legitimate forms of argument. Maybe I should put it on myself to stop getting into it with people. Maybe some people just don’t care as much as I do. Shit, maybe it’s MY PROBLEM.
I’m not going to start getting a “cuz I said so” type of attitude. But maybe just start throwing in the white flag and giving a sarcastic “fine you win”. I tend to get riled up pretty easily.
I just love rational argument; going against the grain and the meaning of life. LOVE IT. If anything, the meaning of life is in figuring it out. We’ve got brains, lets challenge each other.
I guess that would mean that the meaning of life is competition. We do it our whole lives…. video games, sports, school, work, conversation.
But maybe Im just a competitive self absorbed know it all. Either way I’m having a good time.
So the name of the game is “Survival”, the game board is our universe and we are the peices. Play to come out on top, whether that means happiness or success.
I’ve been developing a new outlook on how we interact as individuals. I feel kind of ashamed to have been so ignorant as a teenager. Singling out individuals as “posers” because they were trying to fit in to a certain click or group of friends.
Maybe at the time this was my own attempt at trying to fit in. It just all seems so silly now. The truth of the matter is that we all need social interaction. How we go about it shouldn’t be a problem at all. Blonde kids shaving their heads to look like eminem should be totally ok if that’s what they want. Jocks geeks and the inbetweeners should all be on a level playing field called social growth.
So the truth is we’re either all posers or none of us are. Like I’ve said before, we’re social creatures. We exist to co-exist. The means by which we do this is only the medium and shouldn’t become a victim of our own insecurities.
Maybe owning a Jeep Wrangler and a guitar will make me a little cooler. We’ll see.
I feel like I’m stuck in a very awkward position. I guess it shouldn’t really be a problem, however this is where one of my personality traits gets exploited and I don;t know what to do.
Basically, I don’t know if I like my job anymore. The workload is going up and my salary is staying the same.
Another thing that’s bothers me is when people think they know how to do my job. I don’t pretend to know how to do yours …. so don’t pretend you know how to do mine. What happens is you just lower your level of intelligence down a few notches by proving you think you know what your talking about when you really don’t. Save your confidence for something you can stand by.
Case in point:
The Problem: “Can’t connect to two database connections within the same content management system at the same time”
Proposed Solution: “Do them one at a time”
If you couldn’t figure it out yourself, the previous “solution” is obvious, however it is also obviously not that easy.
Conclusion:
So I am feeling under appreciated, underpaid, and under motivated. I’m hoping fall will cheer me up a little bit. Fall in the north shore is my favorite time and place combo ever. I mean if you don’t count buffalo and chicken (best combo ever).
The other thing that would cheer me up is obviously a pay raise, some praise and maybe the motivation thing will fall into place.