They can show you things
Or you can learn for yourself
You can have the life they want you to have
You can make something better.
You don't know your blessings
Until you've walked with evil men
Heart stomped on the floor
Wishing you haven't turned that corner.
But you can keep on walking
Leave him behind
Knowing why you perservere and stand up straight:
Dignity.
My self-respect is looming
I helped you cross the street
Now I'm the one who's lost.
I'm scared to turn the corner
I don't know who to trust.
Sanctity for my past
Revered as mostly legends
I hardly believe them myself.
I swear it's all true.
Underneath your fear(Because I know you're scared)
A lesson to be learned
Wisdom to be earned
Choices to be made
Innocence to be lost
The destination doesn't exist
The journey all there is
Travel with your eyes open
You don't want to miss it.
I've never wanted to look back.
Just too nostalgic to turn the corner
Where you are out of sight
Never out of mind.
If I told you the story of my travels
Would you want to take my path?
Or forge your own trail?
Would you want to travel with me, hand in hand
If you knew the road I've traveled
And the one that's still ahead?
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
July 19th: Do you Bang?
I was just standing there, innocently waiting for the bus....dressed semi-professionally, minding my own business, when this guy--late 20's, white, dressed sort of shabbily with dreadlocks--walked by me, smiled and said hello. Being friendly as I am, I said hi back, presuming that was the end of our interaction.
I was wrong.
So, he walked a few more feet and turned around. He waited for a crowd of people to walk away and said to me, (not out of earshot of the crowd)
"So, do you bang or what?"
I looked at him with a bewildered look on my face thinking first, "Did he really just say that??!?!?!"
And I politely said, "Nope."
He gave me a double-take--like he was surprised--and said, "No banging?" And I returned his question with what I thought was the appropriate response--
A disgusted shake of my head.
Then I boarded my bus.
It got me thinking for awhile, "did he mean something non-pervy...because he just said it aloud while I was standing at a moderately crowded bus stop on University and Snelling." Well, a friend later quipped, "maybe he thought you were a carpenter....or a drummer."
Well, maybe, right?
I was wrong.
So, he walked a few more feet and turned around. He waited for a crowd of people to walk away and said to me, (not out of earshot of the crowd)
"So, do you bang or what?"
I looked at him with a bewildered look on my face thinking first, "Did he really just say that??!?!?!"
And I politely said, "Nope."
He gave me a double-take--like he was surprised--and said, "No banging?" And I returned his question with what I thought was the appropriate response--
A disgusted shake of my head.
Then I boarded my bus.
It got me thinking for awhile, "did he mean something non-pervy...because he just said it aloud while I was standing at a moderately crowded bus stop on University and Snelling." Well, a friend later quipped, "maybe he thought you were a carpenter....or a drummer."
Well, maybe, right?
Look at each of those sad, lonely girls on this graphic. You will see the same flat-ironed hair, too much eyeliner, tough expressions, and "unusual" camera angles they use to give themselves the desired look of [mysterious, forlorn, or sexy]...or all three.
Yes, I also realize that most of these girls range in age from 13-17, and have yet to figure out who they really are.I know so many people who are guilty of this, and it makes me want to scream, "WHEN YOU LEAVE HIGH SCHOOL, NOBODY'S GONNA CARE!!!!"
In fact, even when you're in high school, it isn't such a bad thing to be yourself. Being someone else, or being "EVERYONE" else is just delaying the inevitability of what we all eventually have to do: Find ourselves.
When I was still living back in Grand Forks, I would notice people I graduated with at the bar. At first, seeing those people rendered the same feelings I felt back then. They were everyone, and in a very obvious way, I was NOT "one of them". I see them and automatically feel out of place. I retreat. I get nervous. If only for a split second, I am 16 again. You see, They are still the same. They were too scared to leave their bubble and experience life outside of it. Eight years later, the skanky girl is still skanky, tossing the kids at mom's house every weekend so she can put magenta lipstick and leggings and go home with the drunk pervy hockey player after Ladies' night. The drunk pervy hockey player is still drunk and pervy, and the wanna-be is still chasing after them, still getting made fun of, and trying to "fit in" to no avail.
Perv hits on me, Skank apologizes for being mean and/or ignoring me, and wannabe turns up her nose at me because she is still absent enough upstairs to think it's still 1997.
They ask me what I've been doing, bla bla bla. I tell them. I look happy. And I smile.
This is a part of my life I never have to relive. And the people I thought really mattered: They're still living my nightmare!
When high school ends, when college ends, think of it as an ending, not a beginning. And be yourself. Junior high and high school are the only places I've ever seen where people are ridiculed and alienated for being themselves. Your real friends will see the fantastic person inside of you, and love you no matter how you style your hair, they love you whether or not your leggings are too tight. They don't care if you're wearing a bad scrunchie.
To the girls on that graphic, and all the other girls antagonizing other girls, sexing-up their outfits, and trying so desperately to "fit in" by acting like they don't "fit in
":Fuck'm. Spend one day doing something YOU want to do. Don't call yourself a "dork", DON'T think about how you need a boyfriend, how you need a car, how you need these boots and that cell phone. Call your best friend. Put on your ugliest clothes and laugh at eachother... Take stupid pictures. Draw, paint, write. DANCE. Sincerely compliment each other. Make fun of each other. Be real. Don't go onto myspace and talk shit about your friends. Don't listen you your Emo music and talk about how much life sucks.Nobody should ever be afraid to be themselves, and you may not realize this now: But you are your own biggest critic. Those who laugh at you, are just finding a way not to cry about themselves.
And life is too short to cry about yourself.
In fact, even when you're in high school, it isn't such a bad thing to be yourself. Being someone else, or being "EVERYONE" else is just delaying the inevitability of what we all eventually have to do: Find ourselves.
When I was still living back in Grand Forks, I would notice people I graduated with at the bar. At first, seeing those people rendered the same feelings I felt back then. They were everyone, and in a very obvious way, I was NOT "one of them". I see them and automatically feel out of place. I retreat. I get nervous. If only for a split second, I am 16 again. You see, They are still the same. They were too scared to leave their bubble and experience life outside of it. Eight years later, the skanky girl is still skanky, tossing the kids at mom's house every weekend so she can put magenta lipstick and leggings and go home with the drunk pervy hockey player after Ladies' night. The drunk pervy hockey player is still drunk and pervy, and the wanna-be is still chasing after them, still getting made fun of, and trying to "fit in" to no avail.
Perv hits on me, Skank apologizes for being mean and/or ignoring me, and wannabe turns up her nose at me because she is still absent enough upstairs to think it's still 1997.
They ask me what I've been doing, bla bla bla. I tell them. I look happy. And I smile.
This is a part of my life I never have to relive. And the people I thought really mattered: They're still living my nightmare!
When high school ends, when college ends, think of it as an ending, not a beginning. And be yourself. Junior high and high school are the only places I've ever seen where people are ridiculed and alienated for being themselves. Your real friends will see the fantastic person inside of you, and love you no matter how you style your hair, they love you whether or not your leggings are too tight. They don't care if you're wearing a bad scrunchie.
To the girls on that graphic, and all the other girls antagonizing other girls, sexing-up their outfits, and trying so desperately to "fit in" by acting like they don't "fit in
":Fuck'm. Spend one day doing something YOU want to do. Don't call yourself a "dork", DON'T think about how you need a boyfriend, how you need a car, how you need these boots and that cell phone. Call your best friend. Put on your ugliest clothes and laugh at eachother... Take stupid pictures. Draw, paint, write. DANCE. Sincerely compliment each other. Make fun of each other. Be real. Don't go onto myspace and talk shit about your friends. Don't listen you your Emo music and talk about how much life sucks.Nobody should ever be afraid to be themselves, and you may not realize this now: But you are your own biggest critic. Those who laugh at you, are just finding a way not to cry about themselves.And life is too short to cry about yourself.
Powerball drawing: Will I be a millionaire tonight?
Those who have succeeded at anything and don't mention luck are kidding themselves. –Larry King
Luck is a chance happening of fortune. Luck can be defined as synonymous with fate. Luck is often regarded as a superstition, but can be interpreted in many ways."-Wikipedia
Sometimes I can try to succeed, try to do well, and try my heart out to have the stars align and for life to choose to take me in the direction I think I deserve—and incidentally be shot down with yet another disappointing experience. Experts have said that those who have an optimistic attitude are those who experience great, positive rewards…but the more I think about it, the more I think that maybe the reason these people are so optimistic is because "some guys have all the luck."
I've been thinking a lot lately about "luck". I have known many people who I would consider just plain lucky. I hate those bastards. Everything falls into their lap: The kick-ass job, the perfect significant other, the way they find the best sale items on the wrong rack, the way they win things they didn't think they signed up for, the ones who find $50 in a parking lot, and the people who seem to pick the winning lottery numbers in life.
There are many different definitions and interpretations of "luck". Seneca, a Roman philosopher says, "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." So, what he's saying is LUCK is being ready for something positive, and having the positive experience present itself to you at the most convenient time.
I'm not even ready for what I've prepared for. So, what then? Does that mean since I'm ill prepared for what the world has in store for me, that nothing good will ever arise in my favor?
Ray Kroc, the businessman that dreamed up McDonalds says, "Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get." I don't buy that shit either. If luck were equated to hard work, then only the most deserving people would ever "get lucky".
And that's the opposite of what most people see as luck: Luck being chance. Luck: being in the right place at the right time. Luck being something more aligned with "fate" or "destiny" than pure effort.
Luck is unpredictable. But, as just as people see fate and destiny, I certainly believe you make your own luck. I see it as making a choice, and out of pure coincidence, that choice ended up being rewarding.
A Wiseman once said, "There is no such thing as 'luck'. There is only chance. It is the outcome of chance occurrences that people will then attribute the judgments 'lucky or unlucky'" (Prof. Richard Wiseman, University of Hertfordshire). That can easily be interpreted as luck is not an accident. We can see that as being either some humans are wired to just have a sense of how to get "lucky," or there's some force of nature or supernatural that leads us to opportunity—and either way, there are people who either ignore it, or are too busy trying to improve themselves to be guided by the "unknown".
I think luck is Karma. The luckiest people are the people who deserve it, and the ones who don't appreciate the luck they've been given will have luck diminish in some other areas of their life.
Look at some of the idiots who have won the lottery and either blown it up their nose or pissed it all away. Not so lucky, right? But the people who really deserve what comes to them will know how to share it and how to appreciate it.
Luck is like love - something that diminishes when you hoard it and multiplies when you share it. (Not my words).
There's a delicate balance out there…and to those unlucky in love, disappointed by life in general. A good attitude and hard work won't necessarily make you lucky, but isn't it nice knowing that when luck does cross your path—that you really did earn it?
Luck is a chance happening of fortune. Luck can be defined as synonymous with fate. Luck is often regarded as a superstition, but can be interpreted in many ways."-Wikipedia
Sometimes I can try to succeed, try to do well, and try my heart out to have the stars align and for life to choose to take me in the direction I think I deserve—and incidentally be shot down with yet another disappointing experience. Experts have said that those who have an optimistic attitude are those who experience great, positive rewards…but the more I think about it, the more I think that maybe the reason these people are so optimistic is because "some guys have all the luck."
I've been thinking a lot lately about "luck". I have known many people who I would consider just plain lucky. I hate those bastards. Everything falls into their lap: The kick-ass job, the perfect significant other, the way they find the best sale items on the wrong rack, the way they win things they didn't think they signed up for, the ones who find $50 in a parking lot, and the people who seem to pick the winning lottery numbers in life.
There are many different definitions and interpretations of "luck". Seneca, a Roman philosopher says, "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." So, what he's saying is LUCK is being ready for something positive, and having the positive experience present itself to you at the most convenient time.
I'm not even ready for what I've prepared for. So, what then? Does that mean since I'm ill prepared for what the world has in store for me, that nothing good will ever arise in my favor?
Ray Kroc, the businessman that dreamed up McDonalds says, "Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get." I don't buy that shit either. If luck were equated to hard work, then only the most deserving people would ever "get lucky".
And that's the opposite of what most people see as luck: Luck being chance. Luck: being in the right place at the right time. Luck being something more aligned with "fate" or "destiny" than pure effort.
Luck is unpredictable. But, as just as people see fate and destiny, I certainly believe you make your own luck. I see it as making a choice, and out of pure coincidence, that choice ended up being rewarding.
A Wiseman once said, "There is no such thing as 'luck'. There is only chance. It is the outcome of chance occurrences that people will then attribute the judgments 'lucky or unlucky'" (Prof. Richard Wiseman, University of Hertfordshire). That can easily be interpreted as luck is not an accident. We can see that as being either some humans are wired to just have a sense of how to get "lucky," or there's some force of nature or supernatural that leads us to opportunity—and either way, there are people who either ignore it, or are too busy trying to improve themselves to be guided by the "unknown".
I think luck is Karma. The luckiest people are the people who deserve it, and the ones who don't appreciate the luck they've been given will have luck diminish in some other areas of their life.
Look at some of the idiots who have won the lottery and either blown it up their nose or pissed it all away. Not so lucky, right? But the people who really deserve what comes to them will know how to share it and how to appreciate it.
Luck is like love - something that diminishes when you hoard it and multiplies when you share it. (Not my words).
There's a delicate balance out there…and to those unlucky in love, disappointed by life in general. A good attitude and hard work won't necessarily make you lucky, but isn't it nice knowing that when luck does cross your path—that you really did earn it?
Myspace be gone
Looky, Looky! I have a real live blog.
Not the myspace bull honkey, not any lame emo Xanga or Livejournal, not a Web site I have to pay good money for posting my own assorted thoughts. A concrete (haha) blogtastic, bloggeriffic blog.
I need to write. I need feedback on my writing in order to stay motivated. I need to actually post something to get responses to get inspiration.
I don't really have a problem with myspace. If my employer would allow access to it, it's a great way to gain readership, etc. Personally, I don't care about having a kazillion readers, but I would like to have an way to get stuff out for the one or two people who care.
...and practice makes perfect, right?
So, I'm going to repost a few of my better Myspace blogs here, and then get to work on some original and new topics. All ideas are entertained.
Not the myspace bull honkey, not any lame emo Xanga or Livejournal, not a Web site I have to pay good money for posting my own assorted thoughts. A concrete (haha) blogtastic, bloggeriffic blog.
I need to write. I need feedback on my writing in order to stay motivated. I need to actually post something to get responses to get inspiration.
I don't really have a problem with myspace. If my employer would allow access to it, it's a great way to gain readership, etc. Personally, I don't care about having a kazillion readers, but I would like to have an way to get stuff out for the one or two people who care.
...and practice makes perfect, right?
So, I'm going to repost a few of my better Myspace blogs here, and then get to work on some original and new topics. All ideas are entertained.
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