Blog Archives
Mistakes
Image via Wikipedia
Hey, guys. PSA here from me. Now I know that we’ve all witnessed and made a fair few of mistakes in the past. That’s fine. Welcome to being human, where everyone screws up sometimes. My soapbox speech today isn’t about making mistakes, because I am of the opinion that anything you can look back on and smile isn’t a mistake and everything else is experience.
I’m instead talking about how we, as a society, judge people that make, in our collective eyes, ‘stupid mistakes.’
Nobody thinks to themselves ‘man, this would really be a stupid thing to say, but I’ll say it anyways.’ At least, not sober.
Guys: If a girl says she has feelings for you, don’t laugh because you would never date a girl like her. Respect her because she put herself out there and took a leap of faith, having no idea how where she would land.
Girls: If a guy takes you on a date and is, like, totally creepy and being way too nice and so weird, chances are he was just trying to be nice so that you would have a great evening. I don’t think that any guy thinks that they’re being creepy, just nice. As a guy I can say from experience: the line is very thin. Instead of judging the weirdo, be happy that someone would care for you so much as to try that hard to make you have a good time.
People in classes everywhere, any grade level: If someone says something totally asinine (“I thought Lincoln was the fifth president, isn’t that why he’s on the five dollar bill?”) don’t laugh at them. Especially in college, the social pressure to be correct all the time is overwhelming, leading many people (like me, I won’t lie) to simply stop answering questions, for fear of being wrong. If the person has the cajones to answer the question, don’t judge them for the answer. They obviously wouldn’t say it if they knew it was wrong.
If everyone can just accept that everyone else is a human, just like them, this world would be a much better place. So much of the evil in life comes from the dehumanization of others: thinking that you are the only one who really knows what’s going on and everyone else is just a dumb slob wandering through life with a finger up their nose and a stupid expression.
We are all cut from the same mold, guys. One of the few things I learned in AP Biology was that humans have about 99.7% the same DNA. The fears, hopes, and dreams that you think are yours and yours alone are, in fact, probably shared by everyone.
Moral of the story: Never forget that humans are people too.
Failure is my goal, and I’ve achieved it
I'm 95% sure they're playing the song I learned how to play
Recently I tried out for a musical group here on campus called Groove (best video I could find). They’re similar to Stomp, but with a bit more theatrical flair. I’ve seen them live before and I can attest that they are extremely talented, creative, funny, and extremely driven. If I had to sum that up in one word I’d simply say that they are legit.
Having said all that, let me say again. I decided to try out for this group. Me, who’s experience playing guitar (as my ‘special talent’ to show off) is four lessons spanning 2 months and who’s drumming resumé starts and ends with “sometimes I play on Expert in Rock Band.”
I practiced my little heart out for the auditions, as I’ve been told that a lot rides on your ‘special talent’ that you perform for the group. I figured guitar would be a great talent to showcase, since they always want more instruments in their arrangements. I had a pretty solid grasp on the song Stay Together For The Kids by Blink 182 and was super pumped to get to play in front of an audience.
Rules pt. 2
Guess who’s thought of three new rules? This guy. Here’s the first three I thought up, and here’s my next three:
4. Question everything.
5. If you don’t like it, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.
6. Some days are awesome and some days just suck. Get over them both. Tomorrow is what you make of it.
“I was born this way. This exact way. Hat, makeup, and all.”
Image via Wikipedia
Dear Lady Gaga,
First of all, let me say I’m a fan of your work. I really am. Your music is extremely catchy and your voice is the most beautiful among the autotuned pop starlets of today. You and Ke$sha aren’t even on the same playing field. Don’t let her drunken slut image fool you: nobody likes her.
However, Mama Monster, I do have one tiny little issue with your whole schtick. Your excessive makeup and flashy costumes.
Again, don’t get me wrong: I love the giant middle finger to the Man that you are portraying (although that may just be for money a la Rage Against The Machine). However, a lot of your songs seem to be about being happy with who you are. Allow me to give an example.
I’m beautiful in my way
‘Cause God makes no mistakes
I’m on the right track, baby
I was born this way
List – Hello, Ann Arbor
Angell Hall, quite possibly my favorite building on the whole campus
This the sequel to my previous post. Like I said there to introduce the post, summer is almost over, I’m going back to school, blah blah blah. This list is going to be the ten things I missed about Ann Arbor/the University of Michigan.
That save a lot of typing and creative thinking. I should do all my intros like that. Oh wait, that’s lame.
10. No Thai. Of all the restaurants that I frequent in the AA area this is the one I love the best. Amazing Thai food, hole-in-the-wall atmosphere, plus speedy delivery and easy online ordering. They even include the chopsticks. What more can you want?
9. Libraries. This sounds really nerdy but hear me out. Some of the libraries on campus are awesome. Take the Law Library, for example. I wish I had more homework just so I had the excuse to go there more. It’s like studying in the Hogwarts Great Hall. Probably because the Law Quad was actually considered as a set for the Harry Potter movies. Win. Read the rest of this entry
List – Goodbye, Clarkston
C-Town in all its cutesy, folksy glory
Well, ladies and gents, the end of the summer is almost upon us. That means heading back to school for another year of sleeping through classes and pulling all-nighters at the libraries. This type of lifestyle I simply call “College Nocturnal.”
As awesome of a life as that is, there will be many things that I miss about my hometown that I’ve grown to love again during my four months back. Counting down, here they are.
10. My own bathroom. While I don’t really mind sharing a bathroom with a whole hall of other kids, mostly because then I don’t have to clean it, it is nice to be able to have some privacy. By ‘some privacy’ I of course mean ‘the ability to walk around naked if I so choose.’
9. Not having to wear flip-flops in the shower. This one ties into the item above. I’m of the opinion, as I’m sure most people are, that no article of clothing should be worn in the shower. To do so is just wrong. Flip-flops, while they protect my feet from the gross shower floor, are obnoxious.
8. Video games. For a lot of people this would be higher on their list. For me I won’t really miss actually playing the games, but I will miss the feeling of ‘I have literally nothing better to do right now’ that comes with using your free time to shoot terrorists on a TV. Read the rest of this entry
Rules
This man is all kinds of inspiring
Inspired by NCIS’ character Leroy Jethro Gibbs (I watch more TV during the summer than the rest of the year combined) I decided to make a list of my rules, my tenants, my life’s guidelines. Life is easier to live within a certain set of parameters. Plus, it makes it all the sweeter when you break said rules.
Seeing as I’m not even into my third decade of life yet, this list is obviously a living document. However, I’ve seen enough in my 18 years to make these first three rules.
1. Never pass up a chance that you may never have again
2. When a romantic relationship ends, let it stay that way
3. Learn from the past, but never let it rule you
To be continued…
Psychology: It works, hater
Recently I’ve found a new way to combat the problem that I’m sure plagues 9 out of 10 kids home for the summer: procrastination. If you’re anything like me, you went into the summer months with a laundry list of things that you wanted to do, now that you didn’t have homework and exams to eat up your time.
Also, if you’re anything like me, you’ve been failing pretty miserably at the tasks on your list.
More like a "To-Do Eventually" list. Doesn't roll off the tongue as well, though.
There always seems to be a host of excuses ready to bail me out. Like a good friend bailing you out of jail. But only if that good friend was plotting an elaborate revenge that would screw you over in the long run.
Okay, I’ll admit. That analogy lost coherency faster than they usually do.
Anyways, to the brain hack. I’ve found out that if I hold an internal monologue, crazy-person-style, and present my excuse to myself as if a friend was presenting it to me, my excuses seem less valid. Here’s an example:
Patrick: “So, Procrastination Pat, did you practice your guitar yesterday?”
Procrastination Pat: “Nope, didn’t have the time.”
Patrick: “You did have the time to play a couple hours of Assassin’s Creed, though, right?”
Procrastination Pat: “Umm…yes.”
Patrick: “This is why you’re single”
Suddenly, procrastination doesn’t seem as good of an idea. Sure, I can do it tomorrow. But eventually tomorrow will be my first day of classes of a new semester and I will have run out of time. Carpe diem, my friends.
Metacognition
Lets be honest here. I made this blog so that I could have a reason to write more. I love writing but I don’t really get a chance to do it very often, being in college and with a job and all. I also wanted the chance to post some photography and obscure music, obviously. I can’t deny my repressed pseudoartistic roots. You know how it is.
One of these days hipster jokes will stop being funny. Not today, though.
After about…oh, what has it been? A month? After about a month of not being able to think of something to post I had something of an epiphany. It was like a chorus of angels came down and all slapped me in the face, saying “Stop taking yourself so seriously.”
"Bitch."
And it was true. I was a mindset that anything and everything I posted on here had to be practically Pulitzer Prize-worthy. Whoops. The result of that was that nothing got posted. And what’s the point in that?
Basically I’m going to just try and post more. To the two people reading this, if you like these types of musings then come on back. There will be more, I’m sure. In the meantime, maybe I’ll actually get to writing that book I said I’d write this summer…
Peace in the East, yo
