The Talking Dog

So a guy walks into a bar with his dog. The bartender stands up and says “what are you doing? Dogs aren’t allowed in here!” The guy asks the bartender “if I can prove to you that my dog can talk, can we stay?” and the bartender agrees. So the man looks to his dog and asks “How does sandpaper feel?” The dog responds with “Ruff.” Next, the man asks his dog “what covers are house?” The dog responds “Roof.” Finally, the guy asks the dog “who is the greatest baseball player to ever play?” The dog tell him “Ruth.” At this point, the bartender was getting upset and saw no evidence that his dog could actually talk, so he threw both of them out of there. As they were walking out though, the dog looks to the man and says “Dimaggio?”

If you’re happy, other people are happy

I’ve recently experienced quite often the fact that if someone else is upbeat and happy, it makes you upbeat and happy as well. When I talk to someone on the phone and they greet me with a huge hello or a how are you, I return the favor and have a normal friendly conversation with them. However, if someone picks up the phone and talks to me like I’m taking up too much of their time, then I won’t want to talk to them that much. So next time you’re talking to someone, whether on the phone or in person, try being happy and see how the other person responds. Even just walking around with a smile on your face will produce smiles on other people’s faces!

Michael Jackson: The King of Pop

There will never be another Michael Jackson, end of story. In Elvis’s era, if asked who the “artist” of that time period was, it was Elvis. When people asked who the “artist” of Michael Jackson’s time period, it was Michael Jackson. Not only could his voice bring forth unheard of talent and passion, but his dance moves proved to be monumental, novel, and seemingly futuristic. His music videos weren’t just thrown together technological movements, but were thought out, directed, almost short movies. He had storylines, truly acted, and brought a meaning behind the song rather than just the song itself. Although I never was a huge fan, I have been listening to his music a lot lately, trying to remember a man who changed the music industry forever. His songs are truly remarkable and have such good beats, such good vocals, and so much passion behind each and every one of them. 

Although Michael Jackson had more off-stage than on-stage problems, after his death, the only thing that people will remember will be his remarkable music. Who can ever forget Thriller, Beat It, Billie Jean? These songs are classics and I even recently watched them on youtube. Thriller now has 47 MILLION views, a sign that people truly miss the great Mr. Jackson. It’s sad to think though that if people asked who the “Michael Jackson, Elvis” of our time is right now, I don’t think that people would be able to give an answer. First people thought Usher because he could sing and dance, but let’s face it, Usher never had a chance. Then there’s Justin Timberlake, who I think is the closest that we have because of his voice and dance moves, but even he, I feel, will never live up to what Michael Jackson was to the world. 

May Michael Jackson forever be remembered as a man who changed music history forever.

Driving

Drivers in southern california are the WORST drivers I have ever seen! I’ll be driving on the freeway with my blinker on trying to switch lanes, and the cars to the right of me clearly see that I want to get over and yet speed up so that they won’t get cut off. Can they not slow down 2 miles an hour to let me in front? Is it really that hard? Or when I’m trying to make a right turn is it necessary to speed up right behind me when I clearly need to slow down to make the turn? 

I think that the point I am trying to make is that driving more often to Burbank and back has shown me not that there are some really bad, aggressive drivers out there, but that maybe I need to be a better driver. When I’m driving, I need to be more understanding when people are trying to switch lanes or when they are trying to maneuver around me. If everyone drove like crazy aggressive drivers, we’d all be screwed.

Jon and Kate Not So Great

How the hell can these two people screw up so many lives? I love the show and I think that they are good parents, but do they not see that all of this isn’t good for the kids? Sure, they used the show as a way to make money for the kids because they could not have possibly afforded all the stuff they bought. As the kids got older, it started to become more apparent as to how far they were going to continue, because children raised in front of cameras probably isn’t the best idea. If you’re going to get a divorce or somehow get the media involved, make sure your kids don’t find out, because with 8 kids and a most likely divorce coming their way, I don’t know how the kids are going to make it. It’s just so sad how they went from a success story with a lot of love to so much anguish and hatred

I have hope for humanity

So I haven’t written on this blog for a while, but today I felt like I really needed to. So after work, I really wanted to play some basketball, either with my friends or by myself. When I went around to all of the local basketball courts, they were full, so I decided to just go to the gym and forget playing basketball even though that is all I had been thinking about for some time. So I go to the gym and want to work out, but it’s crowded, so I decide to leave. At this point I was just giving up on my day because nothing had been going right. For some reason though I decided to go back to the high school to see if there were any open courts… there were none. As I was walking around though, watching people play their pick-up games, this kid who looked like he was maybe 11 or 12 came up to me and said you can shoot around here if you want. It took me a while to realize what he said, because I was not expecting him to say something like that. I was expecting him to be shy and in a sense “reserve” the court for himself. So I shot around with him and if I missed he would toss me my ball back and I would do the same. After shooting around for 10 minutes, he asked me if I wanted to play one on one. Then it hit me… this was going to be the basketball that I had been wanting to play all day! We played to 11 and although I beat him, I had a really fun time, and he didn’t mind at all… his name was Sai.

So when I had been having a rough day and thought that no good could come out of the world, here came this kid who showed me that sometimes what you expect comes in a different form. I wanted to play basketball, and I got to play basketball with a kid that I probably will never meet again in my entire life.

When…

It seems like every year I tell myself things are going to change

Things are going to finally shift in my favor so that life itself will seemingly slow down just for me

I tell myself this every summer, saying that THIS summer things will change

I tell myself I’ll learn a new language

I’ll study to prepare for next year

I’ll go to the gym everyday

I’ll learn to play the guitar to a better extent

All of these things I tell myself I’ll do, but do I ever fucking do them?

NOPE!

It’s because in my mind I’m always telling myself there’s always tomorrow…. there’s always the future

Well if I don’t do anything now, then eventually there won’t be a tomorrow

So I dedicate this summer to doing all that shit I’ve told myself I’m going to do

To actually follow through with my goals and put them in play rather just onto meaningless paper

This is to my life

Significant Influence

How often do we acknowledge how much influence teachers have on the development of young children? Answer: Not very often. When you’re in elementary school, the difference between a good teacher and a bad teacher is so crucial, but is barely noticed. A good teacher will allow students to flourish and thrive, learning on their own while still maintaining their love for more information. A bad teacher though can turn a child off completely to school and send him packing down the road that parents try to keep their children away from. A good teacher will teach the fundamentals of math and english. A bad teacher will try to teach the fundamentals of math and english, but fail miserably. 

As we get older, teachers seem to have more and more significance in our lives, not necessarily of the information that we learn, but how our lives are affected. Basically what I am trying to say is that all teachers are different, and by different I mean grade in different ways. It’s so unfair that 2 students, exactly the same in every way, could have two different teachers for the same subject, both working equally hard and learning the same amount, but one gets an A and one gets a C. That student with an A goes on to a great college right away while the other student is rejected his top schools and forced to get better grades so he can ultimately attend his dream school? 

FAIR? not at all!

In college it’s worse, because teachers control your grades, not only the grades to allow you to pass or fail, but your grades to help you get into grad school, your ticket to a prosperous future. How is it fair that for the same class, two students learn the same amount and try and one gets a B- and one gets an A? For one student their grades are exceptional, while the other still needs improvement. If the school is really going to blame it on the “luck of the draw,” then they have a lot to reconsider, because teaching should be equal and fair to all students.

Music

Damn, music really has a crazy effect on emotions. Listen to some “pump-me-up” music and you feel like you just drank 4 energy drinks, or listen to some hawthorne heights and feel as if you witnessed 4 of your best friends dying. It’s seriously crazy to just listen to a certain type of music and see how that effects the rest of your day. Music = life

Rock & Roll

Van Halen, Led Zepplin, Metallica, and Queen are some of the most notable Rock & Roll bands of all time; that’s aiming specifically at the category Rock & Roll. Looking at it in a more general sense, you can include the Blues Brothers and possibly the Beatles. Rock & Roll then was a piece of art in which artists could portay their talents and passion for everything they did, from how they presented the music to how they played their hearts and souls out. When can you see that now?

Nowadays, bands don’t seem to have that same passion or love for what they do. It’s all about the money, the fame, and the glory. If bands don’t get enough money, they simply don’t play. Furthermore, they’re so picky to the point that they need their m&m’s separated by color and if not, they won’t perform. What I’m trying to say is that I miss the MUSIC! You can’t say that what we have today is music, because half of it are rappers who can’t sing and let technology do all the work. All they need is a decent beat, some back-up singers, and a script in front of them to which they can rhyme and speak rather than sing and spill their souls out. 

Let’s try to bring back Rock & Roll, because that is where the music is truly at.