May 04, 2007
As much as things change, not much changes.
So Jenni and I spent a good chunk of time together when we somehow wandered across the subject of HTML, and HTML lists. Low and behold she remembered an off the wall comment I made to her blog three and a half years ago.. Reproduced for your viewing pleasure here in full PEIDM monochrome:
In other randomness, I'm going to teach you to use HTML lists, because hard coded ones give me a hemorrhoid. (Seriously, I asked my doctor why I got hemorrhoids, and she said "hard coded lists on webpages.")
That was three and a half years ago... I had no clue I wrote that... Although, given the state of things too many people are still using hard coded lists in HTML, but not as many as in the past...
I graduate from college later today. That is as soon as I finish writing this paper... Some things never quite change, specifically that I struggle writing papers on topics I'm not really interested in, but low and behold I can write far too much about the national debt... A bunch has changed since I graduated Upper School 2891 days ago, but not apparently not everything has changed.
Eh, at least I didn't wait to start reading the books it until the day it was due. So something has gotten changed......
May 07, 2007
To make progress in the web
So I went to see the Friday night midnight showing of Spiderman 3 with friends. It was generally a good movie with perhaps a bit of a bludgeoning of an ending, it should've ended about 5 minutes sooner, then it would've been excellent..
But, thats not really why I'm writing this entry. I watched the movie at the AMC theater at Newport on the Levy, in the Cincinnati Ohio area. Cincinnati for those unfamiliar with the statistic, happens to be one of the most racially divided cities in the country. (Its not the most, but as I remember its in the top 10.)
So, I'm sitting there watching Spiderman 3 and the lameo bludgeoning ending starts, and low and behold a bunch of people start walking out; Not quietly walking out, they walk out while talking and kinda booing the movie. To summarize it they're being rude stupid fucking idiots. Sure, this is at two thirty in the morning, but basic movie theatre etiquette should still be followed.
So on the car ride home one of my companions happens to say something along the lines of "Those guys were trying to turn me into a racist."
Yeah, the rude stupid fucking idiots were young African-American males.
Here's the thing. Stereotypes, as horrible and annoying as they can be, happen to be rooted in the truth. Whats the best way to get rid of a stereotype? Change the truth. I really think Martin Luther King understood this, the protests he led and organized were some of the most peaceful and loving ones this country has ever seen.
Where do I get off giving advice like this? Oh wait, you missed that I'm a gay man, and as a group we have been stereotyped as being promiscuous, non-commital, flaky, disingenuous, trouble-causing, and irresponsible.
I'll admit every so often I've met a few of those descriptions, but no more or less so than any other guy my age. (I had a roommate in college, who when he lived in his own apartment used to leave the front door unlocked to facilitate young ladies coming over for an evening booty call. He was honestly one of the nicest and most considerate guys I ever had the privilege of sharing a room with, but boy was he horny and willing to get it wherever he could.)
I am who I am. I'm not promiscuous. (In fact I went all of 2004 and 2005 without having sex, and I only had two partners in 2006. As of today, I'ven't had sex in 2007.) I really really really want a commitment. I do my damnedest to be genuine and honest. I only cause trouble when its needed. I'm responsible enough that my workplaces have had no trouble with entrusting me with lots of discretionary authority.
The bottom line is work at diminishing the stereotype of gay men everyday. Its not something I expect to disappear overnight, but by exhibiting my true and differentiated behavior, I do my little part to demonstrate that the stereotype is false.
Getting back to the issue at hand. The young rude stupid fucking idiotic African American men, reinforced the stereotype that African American men are rude and stupid.
Thats a shame. Just as the play Spinning Into Butter exhorts Caucasians to own up to their own racism, African Americans must own up to the behavior that perpetuates stereotypes.
Painful Observations
So I spent a good chunk of today wiping and reinstalling Windows XP on my dad's computer.
I've got a few observations:- Why the fuck does Microsoft offer to download outdated software?! I started running Windows/Microsoft Update to get his computer all of the bug fixes and security updates, and in the process I downloaded Windows Media Player 10, and Windows Media Player 11. Plus I had to download a cackle of security updates, then SP2, then a cackle of more security updates. Why not just roll SP2 and the security updates together? Apple does this all the time in their updates for OS X, and it makes things a bit saner.
- What the fuck is Microsoft's deal with popup bubbles? I'm half willing to think that it makes someone in Redmond horny, because I don't see any other reason for the damn things. They keep popping up and annoying me info. Please, stay out of my way
- And most of all, why the green hill as the default desktop image? Did someone enjoy watching The Sound of Music a little too much?
Okay, thats a enough, any more and this'll turn into even more of an anti-microsoft rant that it already is.
May 14, 2007
My Bed
I finally will sleep on my bed for the first time in fifteen nights. My bed is composed of my EQ3 B2C frame and my Ikea Sultan Högbo matress. This is also the first bed that I completely chose for myself, before that I was utilizing hand me down beds from others in the family, or dorm room beds.
But fifteen nights without my bed? You might be thinking why I've not slept on it for fifteen nights... Well, part of that is that I moved, and part of that is that I also spent a week sleeping at my dad's apartment in Dayton, while I hung around the area to graduate...
Now the next thing that needs taken care of is finding someone who wants to utilize the bed with me....
May 28, 2007
Unpacking
I just got around to doing some heavy unpacking. Mostly books and things like that.
I stopped a moment to look through my senior year upper school yearbook, and to take a peek in at my Upper School Diploma.
It was kinda interesting to look through all of those old pictures of everyone, and also a bit odd ....