Monday, July 20, 2009

LIAR!

Who are the biggest liars, men or women?

Men lie the most, women tell the biggest lies. Men, we lie all the time. We lie so much it's damn near a language. To call a man out for lying is like playing basketball with a retarded kid and calling him for double dribble. You gotta let some shit slide. You know what a man's lie is like? A man's lie is like, "I was at Tony's house." That's a man's lie. A women's lie is like, "It's your baby." That's right. Who are the biggest liars? Women are the biggest liars! Look at you, all of you. You're a fucking liar. You! You're a liar! You're all liars. All of you are fucking liars! Masters of the lie, the visual lie. You got on heels, you ain't that tall. You got on makeup, your face don't look like that. You got a weave, your hair ain't that long. You got a Wonderbra on, your titties ain't that big. Everything about you is a lie and you expect me to tell the truth? Fuck you!

The above is an excerpt from comedian Chris Rock, but there is a lot of truth to his Liar skit. Technically, even my own Mother is a lie! Those aren’t her real fingernails and that is not the color of her real hair. In fact, I can’t even tell you what my Mom’s natural hair color is. She’s been dying it since before I was born! However, those are harmless lies. They are what we refer to as white lies. They are mere fibs, just fudging on the truth. We can overlook these lies. We even accept these lies. But as we all know, the vast majority of lies are not and cannot be embraced with such love. Instead these lies fill us with hate.

Nothing pisses off a person more than being fed a lie, especially an emotional deception, the worst lie of all! It’s bad enough that you want to punch them in the face for stringing you along, but you also want to kick yourself while you’re down for falling for their bullshit. How could I allow it to happen? How could I be so dumb? I was naïve and entirely too trusting, two things I’m normally not! I’m a skeptic by nature, but I really liked her so I was kind of in that puppy dog fog. I wanted to fully believe whatever she told me, even boldface lies like "he’s just a friend." We definitely know better, but they convince us otherwise. In your heart you want to believe them. You so desperately want their words to be true that you ignore what your gut is telling you. You turn a deaf ear to it and those around you. You don’t listen to your head and instead you follow your heart - big mistake! That is what I get and apparently what I deserve when I yearn for the storybook ending. The good news - that chapter has long been closed and new chapters have opened in my love life since then.

When we are played for a fool there are only two things we can do - forgive or disassociate ourselves from them. This time around I chose disassociation. Then there’s always revenge. However, for me revenge is not an option. Revenge is childish and counterproductive. Seriously, what good does revenge do? Trying to purposely hurt someone because they hurt you, I just don’t see the point in that. It’s tit for tat and I’m not into that. Seethe through your teeth and stomp your foot all you want, but throwing a temper tantrum and seeking revenge will not get you anywhere. Sure if may help release some of that built-up anger, but granting yourself that evil pleasure is only a short lived high and it is not a dark delight I want to succumb to.

Sometimes when a relationship falls apart or just fails to develop into what I was hoping for, I get a little bitter. I think that’s normal. But it’s what you do with the bitterness that either helps one grow or hinders growth. It’s much easier to overcome a chest ache and a bruised ego than it is to allow yourself to become vulnerable again. Thanks to past experiences, my strong distrust in women has only increased. Some may say that’s only my own fault due to my poor selection in women. Whether that is true or not, it does help explain why I'm sometimes tempted to just use any girl I come in contact with and treat her like shit. Not that I do that, but sometimes I want to. The theory of "I’ll hurt you before you get a chance to hurt me" doesn’t apply here. It's not like that. But I do buy into the theory of protecting myself by becoming as emotionally evasive to girls as humanly possible. I must say, it’s worked well. Whether the world finds that sad or not, it’s a simple way to live. For now, simple is good. Simple works. Simple can’t leave me angry or sad.

Nearly every adult will tell you that lying is wrong, but many people find themselves doing it anyway. In fact, more than 80% of people admit to occasionally telling what they consider harmless half-truths. People lie for all sorts of reasons. They do it to avoid trouble, to save face in front of the boss, to spare someone's feelings and even prolong hurting someone’s feelings. The truth about lying is that you can deny it or prolong the confession all you want, but eventually the lie is going to catch up with you. It always does. Sooner or later you will get caught in a lie. And when you do, if you’re like most people, you have yet another lie prepared to cover the first...and so on and so on. It’s a vicious cycle and I would think a very exhausting game to play.

So why do so many people lie and why do they lie so frequently? Because it lets you manipulate the way you want to be seen by others. Let me say that again. Because it lets you manipulate the way you want to be seen by others. People often lie because they are cowards who can’t deal well with confrontation and figure the easiest way to face a problem is to not face it. They ignore it, hoping it will magically work itself out on its own and disappear into thin air like magic pixie dust - poof! Although in reality what happens is it blows up in their face. Sweeping things under the rug never solved anything. As unpleasant as it is to deal with problems, we all must do it. I rather someone was straight with me, even if their words were painful to digest. Give me that honesty. If nothing else, I could at least walk away with some respect for them.

If you really care about someone, do yourself and them a favor. Tell the truth, no matter how much it hurts. Because believe me, lying hurts far more than any truth ever could. In hindsight, I realize I should be somewhat thankful. I'm thankful I didn't fall in love with her. I don't say that sarcastically. I say that with much sincerity. You recover much quicker when you're only heavily "in like" with someone. And that is the only thing I am grateful for - that I only fell for a lie and not her.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Giving A Toast Isn’t Hard, It’s Composing It That’s Hard!

Ting, ting, ting. I stand and gain the attention of a crowd of two hundred. Slightly startled, they cease their chatter and turn around in their chairs to face me. I pull at the collar of my penguin suit. Like a noose, it has tightened yet another inch around my throat in a last ditch effort to suffocate me, while at the same time saving me from my own slow and painful death. Four hundred fixated eyeballs are now upon me as I struggle, gasping for some fresh air to fill my lungs and a cool breeze to find its way down the back of my neck. "Could everyone please raise their glasses? I would like to propose the first official toast to the happy couple." I say it calmly and with confidence. You would think I’ve done this a thousand times. It feels natural, almost effortless. And then it hits me, the reality of it all. My sister is getting married! And this is her day. And this is the single moment that I must not fuck up for her. In a room filled with hundreds, I stand alone. The pressure is mounting. I begin wringing the beads of perspiration collecting in my palms. I fear my voice cracking like Peter Brady. So I take a deep breath, collect my thoughts and attempt to deliver a speech from memory, only to discover my mind goes completely blank! Never fear, my trusty notecard is here! Like a superhero saving the day, and myself from complete humiliation, I reach deep into the front pocket of my pants and pull out a small folded up piece of paper. Just unfolding it feels like it’s taking an eternity! Everyone is staring at me as I clumsily fumble about. Seconds ticking by feel more like hours dragging on. Finally my fingers cooperate and I get the paper opened. I turn it over. And I turn it back over again. What is this? This can’t be happening! I’m left speechless, literally. BOTH SIDES OF THE PAPER ARE BLANK!

I then wake up.

Whew. That was only a dream, a nightmare...and a realistic one at that! Perhaps it wasn’t as much of a nightmare as it was a glimpse into my immediate future. A future I’m ill prepared for. That’s no one’s fault but my own. I’ve drug my feet on this, thinking this day wouldn’t ever really come. But it has and it’s arriving in just a few short weeks! And here I am, still dragging my feet. Not out of laziness, but out of writer’s block. A very, VERY serious case of writer’s block! Or emotional block? I don’t know what my problem is, but I can’t gather my thoughts for this. I can’t put my emotions into words. I simply can’t verbalize it all. Maybe it’s just too much for me to handle, or maybe I just don’t want to accept the fact that my sister is no longer mine to protect. She doesn’t need her little brother anymore, at least not to save the day. She will have a husband soon and that means I need to hang up my cape. It’s kind of like letting go, but in a Marvel Comic Book kind of way.

Life is forever changing. We grow up together, grow close, and over time grow apart. I think that happens to almost all siblings, including my sister and I. When she moved to California a few years ago, the distance has definitely led to a more distant relationship. The connection just isn’t there like it used to be, which may help explain why I’m struggling so much in composing this speech! I’ve done what I could to keep a strong bond with her through visits, phone calls, e-mail, etc. And I feel she too has made an effort, but still, things change. People change. That’s just part of life, which I must accept. While this wedding will bring the entire family together again physically, at least for one day in the same state, I have a feeling it will only further divide my relationship with her. Because now we have "him" in the picture. "Him" is not a bad guy, he’s just there all the time. I already miss the days where it was just the two of us - hitting up the bars in LA, eating plates full of sushi, chasing it with bottle after bottle of red wine and then having her pull over on the 405 so I could puke it all out the door. Not classy times, but fun times!

It’s obvious, I’m stressing about the toast I have to give as the best man and the bride’s little brother. I'm not prepared and I'm already nervous. I don't know what I'll say. I don’t know how I’ll start. I don’t know how I’ll end. And I don’t know what I’ll fill the lines with in-between. Instead of dispensing rosy advice in round pear shaped tones, I’m scared I’ll spew unmeaningful, unmemorable, unforgivable, complete garbage. I feel uncreative. I feel unpoetic. I just feel dumb. I want to give a killer speech! One for the ages! Not all jokey, but not all sentimental either. I don't want her to cry, but I want it to be touching, but not cheesy. Funny, but not like I'm trying too hard. Ok, I'm overthinking it. But I think my family is waiting for me to drop the ball on this one and I want to prove them all wrong. I have no problem saying how I feel to a girl, but when it comes to my family, especially my sisters, it's a whole different ballgame! I love my sister, but I’ve never told her that. It’s like I’m paralyzed in verbalizing it. I Lll...see, can't do it. I’ve never even written it in a birthday card and mailed it.

The worst part, nobody can really help me write this speech because they don't know our relationship. So I'm pretty much on my own here. Although I am open to tips if you have them! I’m thinking I should keep it short and sweet. Speak from the heart, but don’t pour my heart out. I could probably handle that. If not, I hear the bridal table is large enough for me to crawl under and hide for the remainder of the evening.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Blog Overhaul To-Do List

You spoke and I listened. I've been taking into consideration everyone's recent comments on all the different ways to improve my blog and have composed a list of things that need done in order to make those improvements. Of course all of this can't be done overnight, but I'll be working on it in the weeks to come. So if you notice some construction going on, please excuse the mess while I get things into their proper working order.

Upcoming New and Improved Features

  • Fix any broken links or images that display an error

  • Decrease site load time with code compression

  • Add a signature file to all posts

  • Add a "ReTweet This" button to all posts DONE!

  • Design a symmetric layout - sidebar on the left, sidebar on the right, posts in the middle

  • Generally clean-up and declutter the blog's overall appearance

  • Reorganize and recategorized the Archive with the appropriate Labels

  • Consolidate the Labels list, display in a compact hierarchy that is more user-friendly

  • RSS Subscription Feed link in post footer

  • Create an automatic list of links to "related posts of interest" in post footer

  • Move "Support" section to page footer, list horizontally

  • Install a better Language Translation tool

  • Highlight blog author’s comments

  • Make an effort to write shorter, more concise posts without rambling

  • Consider developing a new "About" section

  • Update "Featured Posts" section DONE!

  • Refresh "Noteworthy Blogs" section, remove abandon blogs, add new blogs of interest

  • Create a custom Twitter badge with TwitterStamp Beta 3.0 DONE!

  • Code a Blogger Stats gadget that displays blog’s total subscriber count, visitor count, post count, comment count and blogging since time frame (years/months/days)

  • Introduce the world to my blog mascot (I think you know who that is) and to my first ever guest blogger (that will be a surprise to all)

  • Continue to complain to Blogger Technical Support until they fix the Followers/IE bug that keeps crashing my blog and so many others DONE!


I just want to thank everyone once again for all your feedback. Hopefully these 20+ changes I'm looking to make will be changes for the better.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

North (by Northwest?)

I often realize I'm behind in my reading when I come across a big idea I've missed. The NY Times recently had a nice piece on the idea of Steve Lekson that Native American cultures of the Southwest were disposed to migrate in a north-south direction. My gut reaction is skepticism - and apparently I'm not the only skeptic. Seems like the number of locations are few, and given geologic and climatic limitations, perhaps it is not surprising that these sites are approximately aligned along cardinal directions. But I'll leave it to Southwestern archaeologists and archaeoastronomers to sort this one out.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

I’m A Stereotype And So Are You

Stereotypes. We all hate them, but we are all guilty of doing it to some extent. When you see that girl who constantly makes that squinty eye/kissy face pose for the camera, you think to yourself..."What an attention whore!" And when you see that dude who "just happens" to be shirtless in 9 out of 10 photos (whether he has anything to show off or not), you think to yourself..."What a douche bag!" While these stereotypes may be accurate, stereotyping for the most part is not. We know it’s wrong to judge a book by its cover, but what about judging a blog by its profile photo?

It has recently been brought to my attention that this very well could be the case why some people have a misconception of who I am, based on my blog’s profile photo rather than my actual writing. People tend to immediately stereotype others on appearance alone. They see that small photo at the top of my page and jump to the conclusion that I’m some cocky meathead before they ever scroll down and hear what I have to say/write. It’s very frustrating and I’m not quite sure where these vast generalizations come from, but some readers assume a whole slew of inaccurate things about me (and others) before ever getting to know me (or them). Crazy things like I have a huge ego, I’m afraid of commitment, and I’m addicted to porn! What? Really? I had no idea this is what people thought of me. I will admit that I was not only surprised, but also sadden to realize this is how the world sees me...or at least the virtual world does. Now "in real life" my family, friends and I would like to think the general public has a very different opinion of me. But once online, people don’t have the same opportunities to get to know you because their interaction with you is somewhat impersonal and artificial in nature. Online you could really be anyone you want to be! But when you are just being yourself and your true identity is so wrongly perceived by others, it’s only human to feel an overwhelming urge to speak up against this injustice.

One person suggested that maybe I shouldn’t put the best photo of myself up. But in my opinion, it’s not a great photo of me. I’m not clean shaven and I’m not even smiling. It was taken with a camera phone on a self-timer so I could quickly upload it to my blog because people kept saying how they like to see the face behind the words of the blogs they read. So I obliged. Of course now, in hindsight, I think it did more harm than good. In fact, I’m giving serious consideration to deleting it because it seems to have a negative reflection on my writing. I suppose going back to my anonymous blogging days has its benefits.

If I were a really fat chick or a skinny nerdy dude, elsewhere in life I would be shunned, but in the blogosphere I would be embraced! I realize that’s awful to say, but it’s true. It's like that's what people want - the weirdo, not the normal guy. They want to read how miserable or insecure someone is in order to feel better about themselves or their own life. But then if I write about my insecurities or sadness, then they say my writing is depressing and are turned off by that as well. I realized long ago that you can’t please everyone in life, so I don’t even try. I write for myself and let the comments fall where they may.

Online you miss out on the tone of one’s voice and their body language – two vital elements needed to convey clear communication. So you are left with only words, simple text used to express oneself. And in that electronic text, often the true meaning is lost in translation. It’s easy to see how one can be portrayed inaccurately or how their portrayal of themselves could be misunderstood by others. But words only apply to writing, not photos. You can only do so much with a photo, aside from wearing a mask. Speaking of which...

I rather not be a stereotype. So for my next Blogger profile photo, I’m either going to pull a hoodie sweatshirt over my head or just put a brown paper bag over my face. Stereotype diminished.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Nikola Tesla - The Forgotten Wizard Video Clip

Happy Birthday Nikola Tesla

Happy Birthday Nikola Tesla July 10, 1856

Nikola Tesla July 10, 1856 to January 7, 1943
Today is Nikola Tesla's Birthday. He was a great Serbian-American Inventor that gave us as a society so much. But he is the least known inventor. His accomplishments include but are not limited to inventing the radio (not Marconi), to Robotics to Alternating Current to Wireless to Advanced Pulse Weaponry and a slew of other amazing inventions we have all around us but have no idea who really invented it.

Nikola was a man ahead of his time and a fellow countryman of mine. To do him justice i would recommend googling his name and also check out the various You Tube videos on him to see all the amazing things this man gave us.