Chi-town! Olympics! Give me a break.

Chicago should be ashamed of themselves. I hear about all this corruption in Chicago and I guess that is to be expected considering their history (Al Capone and cats like that). But really, the all out push for the Olympics? First family pushing it? How about all of you push to protect the kids in the city. Put money and time into that. Which is more important? This really pisses me off with all the talk about the Olympics when the beating of an innocent kid is simultaneously in the news from the same city. Doing a quick google search, I see this is no big deal for the Chi. It happens 20+ times a year. Why would you want the Olympics to come there when you can't take care of your own?

I guess, if they win this could get infrastructure improvements which all would benefit from. Although, I think it would stick to the nicer part of town, or eventually lead to moving a certain segment of society away for a more affluent segment to move in. But the increased exposure could make for more emphasis on the problems of the school age kids. Surely no one wants to look bad. But maybe these changes would only be cosmetic, just dressing up for the Olympics.

It just really saddens me the things I just skimmed through about Chicago. And Chicago is not the only city with these problems, just the one in the news until the next story comes along. With that story, we will move on and forget about that situation. The candlelight vigil will be held somewhere else.

Why wait?

Instant gratification sums up the world we live in today. Waiting is a thing of the past. Waiting is somewhere hanging out with jheri curls and virginity past 18. The wonders of technology have removed the need for patience. For the right money just about everything is available in a short amount of time. Reactions to current events occur almost simultaneously with the event. I think that this obsession with instant everything has taken away from our lives. So busy worrying about everything but what we are doing.

Really, what is the rush? Are our lives that busy? Do we need to know everything right now? Think back to life before cell phones? the internet? internet on cell phones? You know, back when people weren't constantly connected. Were things that bad then? Back when enjoying where we were and who we were with was enough. I remember the library. Doing reports and research there. Checking out books to read. Days when being a reporter was a skill rather than a hobby anyone with a computer can do. Now we get news from all kinds of skewed sources. All of it reported with an agenda. Hell, we date through the internet now. Best place to find love. Email, chat, text, and tweets seem to have replaced long walks and conversation, or handwritten love letters and notes. A nice home cooked meal? Forget it. We have fast food and microwave everything. I'm sure eating that way is oh so healthy. There isn't enough time to cook a nice meal anymore cause everyone has jobs and busy lives to lead.

The instant gratification has gotten so bad that it has spread to our government. Heard the saying Rome wasn't built in a day? Now I see media report stories that create panic or public outrage, or at least a "reported" outrage which in effect does create a wider spread and more real outrage. This helps their ratings. Fine, but now Congress and everyone who wants to be someone tries to get face time reacting to every event. They now rush legislation through or try to in response to the craze. Some of the largest and most powerful legislation to ever come through and we rush it? Important decisions that one rushes probably won't turn out well. Haste makes waste. Thanks for that one mom. But it seems everything is headed in the same direction. Got to have it now. So what we don't have the money. It makes sense to spend money we don't have on things we don't need because we want it right now. Don't we try and teach young kids things don't work that way? Bye bye layaway, credit cards are way better.

Television is on phones, on demand, over the internet, and on slingbox. You should never miss a thing today. Television on the cell phone? Is that really needed? Nope, but it is convenient and why not have everything we want at our fingertips. Surely that doesn't set any kind of bad habits.

I know I fall victim to many of these luxuries but I'm not nearly as bad as some. Sometimes I just wish we could slow the world back down. Savor our experiences. Soak in the simple pleasures of life. Realize that ten minutes really isn't that long of a time, and that the difference between that and five minutes won't kill you in regards to anything. But alas, we have already become accustomed to instant gratification in all aspects of our lives. Can we ever go back?

Cell Phone Etiquette

I have a love/hate relationship with the cell phone. The convenience it provides is a great thing. The fact that people expect you to be reachable at all time is annoying. The cell phone simply affords me the opportunity to be available if I so choose. That is all. But I was just thinking of some rules or thoughts people should consider when using their phones.

1. Multiple calls in short period of time is annoying and unnecessary. Voice mail is there for a reason. Emergency is maybe the only exception to this rule.

2. Text messaging in excess or forwarding. First make sure the person you are sending messages has unlimited texting. More than 2 forwards a week is too many. Send that ish to my email if you have to.

3. Text Conversation. If it takes more than 5 back and forth texts then just call. Is talking really that bad? Or maybe it is just talking to me is that bad. Oh, and if you are in a place that you can't talk, then you probably don't need to be sending texts either.

4. Text part 2. If you are talking to someone either in person or on your cell phone texting someone else is extremely rude. If someone is talking to you in person do you like them to just mid conversation start talking to someone else?

5. Car calls. Don't spend an entire ride with someone on your damn cell phone. No one wants to sit there in silence while you have a conversation. I hate when I see three or four people in a car all on cell phones. Why are you together?

6. Courtesy on a date is to keep your phone on vibrate especially if it goes off a lot regularly. Also, don't check the phone more than twice while on a date (that is if you are interested in the person you are with).

7. If you are on the phone with other people while in someone elses company, you don't need to be around that person. They obviously don't interest you.

8. Don't talk on the phone while having dinner with someone.

9. Blocking your number to get someone to answer the phone is childish. That ish goes strait to voice mail anyways if it says private.

10. For safety, not texting while driving or conducting a train. Your text may make it through but you on the other hand may not (I say this like I don't do it).

This is just common courtesy. Please use.

What is In a walk?

So the last couple of weeks I've been watching how men walk. This may say something about me, but it was spurned on by this black man that works in my building. This man got the coolest pimp walk. He is on it hard. Player shoulder hits about a 15 degree lean as he walks. Then when he speaks to me he is always like "What up young blood!" That is some classic ish for you right there. The other event that got me going was watching President Obama walk into a basketball game a month or so ago. This all got me to thinking whether or not this was just a black man's thing? The pimp walk, swagger, strut, ...

Of course I had to do some in field observation. Unfortunately I mainly work around whites in the building I'm in. I've also looked while out and about. The conclusion I have come to is that white men have a much stiffer walk. No real style to it. A couple had a little swagger but overall most didn't. A couple of Asians I saw really had no swagger either. I only have a small sample space to go off of.

So where does this come from? Me personally, I remember perfecting me a stride back in my younger day. Just thought it was cool or the thing to do. Had to have a little hitch in your stride you know. It's real funny cause I have had people ask if something was wrong with my leg! Cracks me up thinking about it. Now though, it is almost like a natural thing. Caught myself in the yard the other day just dapping like I was walking through the club or something. And I know when I feel good or feel like I'm dressed open casket fresh, I'm walking around like I'm the ish! Like Kanye, can't tell me nuthin'.

I've come to see that women notice this kind of thing. My Aunt tells me I walk just like my pops. So is this just a black man thing or what?

One more thing on monkeys

This was just so unbelievable to me when I saw it in the base paper where I work that I had to share. I really thought this was a joke, but apparently people really pay money for this stuff. A lot of money.

Spay and Neuter poor people? Hmmmmm.....

Watched the news the other night and they were talking about this factory that shut down in Chicago and wasn't going to pay its workers what they were owed. My heart goes out to these people and I hope they land on their feet and get what they are owed. After the story they brought on one of the workers from the factory. The guy looked like he may have been 50 or so. I'm not sure how much factory workers make or how responsible this man is with his money, but he said he had 6 kids and 15 grandchildren. Damn! This got me to thinking how was he going to take care of his. Then I was like why would you have that many kids unless you working on a farm or something.

This led me to thinking about what if we took a hint from China and limited the number of kids people can have. Maybe we could put financial and educational criteria limits in relation to how many children you can have. Now I don't mean that any one can't have kids. I think everyone who wants to have a child is more than welcome to because kids are a blessing (and a terror at times). And stupid people can have kids too. But hey, if you are having trouble taking care of your three kids and are on welfare or some form of government assistance maybe you shouldn't have anymore. Some of us should stop at one. If you don't have the means and time to take care of the kids then why are you having more? Especially if they then become a burden on society. So until you are self sufficient to take care of what you have, you should be spayed or neutered. Let's start fighting poverty that way. Stable being that you can provide a home, clothes and food for your child on your own! Some people have to be protected from themselves.

I know this is a crazy thought and I don't "really" feel this way although I wouldn't be out protesting the idea, but it kind of urks me when I see someone down on their luck walking around pregnant or with 3 and 4 kids. Love is not enough to raise a child. It is not America's job to take care of every child someone brings into this country. And heck if you have been fixed and later get on your feet and want more kids, ADOPT! Too many unfortunate kids out their stuck in that system now anyways.

ROAD RAGE

I just finished another trip back to the crib and sure enough that anger inside welled on me while in the road. Someone needs to teach drivers proper etiquette for the highway. I wish cops were never out there because they cause more problems than they help. My trip was an extra two hours this past weekend. Now if it was for a wreck or something along those lines I can understand that. Graphic Language Warning!!!! I was stuck because these nosey motherfuckers want to look at a damn wreck on the other side of the road! 2 hours for some rubber-necking? What the fuck? I could have rammed my car through someone’s trunk and into their back seat. Go home and watch the news or faces of death if you need to see wreck that bad. Otherwise, keep it moving.

Couple of quick tips to you non drivers to not piss me off:

-Get out of the left lane if traffic is flying by you.

-When you are in the fast lane and someone is going faster, move (unless they are being unreasonable, ex: you are doing 85 and they are at 97. let they ass swerve around you but don’t be over there doing 70 holding people up)

-If you over 70? Find some streets to drive on.

-On two lane highways, never drive the same speed and beside the car in the lane beside you