It's a few more hours before 2010 ends, and 2011 begins.
This year has been an adventure. This year had some personal struggles, but I was also able to experience some new things as well as experience some things I haven't done in years.
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The biggest event for me this year was my 3-decade birthday! Yep, I turned 30 years old this year, and I wanted to celebrate in the biggest way possible, while staying on budget.
You can read about it at
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-3-decade-celebration.html
As well as my life story of my 1st 3-decades at
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-first-3-decades-of-life.html
In other news ...
Economic/Jobs
2010 started off on a crappy note for me economically. But it's ending on a good note now!
I have been working as a substitute teacher since 2005, with both the public schools and the private schools.
A sub only gets paid on the days you get called to work. If you get called very often, the money is good. If you're not getting called often, then you're going to struggle.
In 2008, I was on a roll. It was the best year economically as a sub. Getting plenty work for both public and private schools, even working in the summer.
The first half of 2009 was great too, but the slowing economy really start to put the cramps on the education industry by Fall 2009! The public schools had Furlough Fridays. The teachers were really to trying maximize their time in the classroom with whatever days they got left. And even the private schools had struggled, since less people were enrolling.
So yeah, early 2010, I was really feeling the sting! My industry was in the decline! I seriously couldn't afford some things I used to!
I was already starting to check the job ads on Craig's List for additional work. I sure as hell didn't want to quit working in the schools, but I wouldn't mind an extra job.
On early February, I applied to work a temporary job at Punahou Carnival. It was my first time working at a carnival, but it sounded like fun! And I haven't been to the carnival since 2002 and I missed going! I was originally scheduled to work with the rides, but was moved to work with the games. I liked working the games involving tossing beanbags and shooting basketballs.
Then later that month, I saw an ad on Craig's List about working part-time as a para-professional tutor (PPT) with students in the Special Education programs within the DOE! I had applied in previous years for Educational Assistant (EA) positions, but didn't get hired for them. But I sure wasn't going to give up! So I applied for the PPT position and took a training session. And I got hired by the 1st school to interview me.
Summer was slow, but I was back to work when Fall 2010 semester rolled around!
Being pro-active and remembering the income-free winter breaks of years past, I decided to apply for a temporary position at Macy's for the holiday season. This was my 1st retail job ever. Stereotypically, retail jobs are what people do in their early 20's. But a later start in life doesn't hurt here!
I worked in what is called "recovery" which basically folding clothes and making sure things look nice. I never worked the cash register and didn't have any sales pressure since I wasn't a sales associate. I saw some shoppers that I knew from before, but not as many as I expected! It was an eye-opening experience working there, and I'm glad that I did!
So yeah, I'm ending 2010 in an economically high note. I can afford to party New Year's Eve without worrying about that breaking my budget.
Fun Events -
Another theme of mine in 2010 was rediscovering fun events I haven't done in a long time.
One example is the carnivals. Before 2010, the last time I went to the carnival was in 2002! An 8-year hiatus.
I did work the Punahou Carnival in February, which I mentioned already. I was considering working the 50th State Fair, but it never happened. But I did go there as a customer.
If you're not from Oahu, then let me tell you what the 50th State Fair is. The 50th State Fair is held on the parking lot of Aloha Stadium for about 4 weekends every May and June! It is what many people live for. Rides, games, food, petting zoos, exhibitions, etc.
For 8 years, I missed out on all that due to other distractions in my life! But I was back this year. I noticed there were smaller crowds, and there wasn't the big roller coaster anymore. And higher prices. But I still enjoyed the rides, the games, the loud music, the food, and watched some pigs racing! I felt alive again!
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Another thing I had an 8-year hiatus on was the Waikiki Ho'olaulea. This is the huge block party on Kalakaua Avenue with multiple stages of people playing music, and people walking around having fun! This usually takes place in September!
The Ho'olaulea organizers don't put out much advertising on this event, so some years I found out" too last minute" for me to make time for it! This year, I was able to find out in advance! I went with my friend Aaron G., walked Kalakaua Avenue, saw local reggae band Ten Feet playing and re-lived what I missed out the last 8 years.
Like the 50th State Fair, it was done on a smaller scale, due to the slowing economy. But I still enjoyed it!
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I also ended my hiatus from karaoke events on my 30th birthday. This year's birthday was on a Friday, so it was convenient time to party! Though it wasn't convenient for a few people I tried to invite because they finished work late in the evenings and weren't able to make it to my events in time. Hopefully, they can make it to my next birthday which falls on a Saturday.
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In all club adventures of the past, I still didn't go to one when I was wearing a Santa hat! Again, other distractions the previous years. I was going to go party on Christmas Eve, but I had other distractions, so I went on Christmas night. It was a last minute decision to walk into Senor Frogs. Senor Frogs has a stage to dance on, and their drinks are more reasonably priced than other places. They also had a great atmosphere that night!
Music
My favorite song of the year was "Billionaire" featuring Travie McCoy doing the rapping, and Hawaii's own Bruno Mars singing the chorus! There is also a great remix version of that song with Hawaii's reggae/hip-hop group BET!
I loved the Billionaire song so much , it was the 1st song I sang on my birthday's karaoke! Too bad 2 of the guests came after I was done with the song.
While I congratulate Bruno Mars on his success this year, and his 7 Grammy nominations, he needs to stay out of trouble. He's already busted for cocaine! He needs to stay away from that, and stop trying to fit in with those in the industry who encourages him to do harmful substances.
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I remember mentioning in my earlier blog post about the West Coast hip-hop making a min-comeback with a more party flavor, especially with the jerk dance! There was a song by Audio Push earlier this year called "Teach Me How to Jerk".
Well, "the jerk" got overshadowed by "the dougie" this year. Cali Swag District had their southern-sounding hit "Teach Me How to Dougie" which had very catchy phrases that I loved to repeat!
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My other favorite song this year was "California Gurls" with Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg! I also remember this being the last song I sang at my birthday karaoke event!
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BOB had some hits with Bruno Mars, Eminem and other stars, but my favorite is "Magic" featuring Weezer's Rivers Cuomo! A great rock/rap combo inspired a 1960's "Do You Believe in Magic?" by The Lovin Spoonful
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My favorite Rihanna hit this year is "The Only Girl in the World". I was singing along with that song when I was dancing on the stage at Senor Frogs on Christmas. I wonder if someone You-Tubed it! You might find it hilarious!
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There's obviously more great music, but this is my list for now! While people may complain about how "there's no good music anymore", there's always something good every year. and I'm looking forward to what great stuff comes out in 2011!
Sports
The world's biggest sports event was the World Cup in South Africa. My commentary on the World Cup at http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010/07/world-cup-2010.html
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For UH football, they weren't expected to have a winning season. But they were able to go 10-3 in the regular season. But they lost the Hawaii Bowl to Tulsa. Yet, some people are calling for Coach Mack to get fired over losing a bowl game? HELLO - WE HAD A WINNING SEASON! Too many people demand instant gratification these days!
Besides, Tulsa was one of the greatest offensive teams this year, and one of the most under-rated teams of the year!
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Another sign of people demanding instant gratification at UH- 2 men's basketball players quit the team in the early part of the season, because of a "lack of playing time".
Seriously, I'm not exaggerating.
http://www.staradvertiser.com/sports/20101208_Rainbow_Warriors_lose_Salter_Coleman.html
HELLO - basketball is a TEAM sport, not an individual sport! Instead of whining over playing time EARLY IN THE SEASON, just keep practicing! You never know when the team needs you on the floor! Maybe if things don't work out at the end of the season, then they could chose other options.
But if they're going to quit EARLY in the season over playing time, then how are they supposed to handle minor inconveniences the first month in their future jobs? Are they just going keep quitting jobs as soon as something minor goes wrong? That's not going to pay the rent!
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Another side of excessive demand of instant gratification! Maryland's football coach got fired, even though he had an 8-4 season and won a bowl game. But the mentality nowadays is "winning seasons aren't enough, you need to win a championship every year!" Instant gratification run amok!
Learn more at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/18/AR2010121802878.html
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UConn women's basketball team finally lost a game yesterday (to Stanford) after win streak of 90 games in a row! That's the longest win streak for any college basketball team!
Yet, there are some haters out there disrespecting that team, saying stuff like "it's just a woman's team"
Oh yeah, where's the video evidence that you can beat those women in basketball? Is the answer "nowhere "? Then shut the beeping hell up! Actions speak louder than words!
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Brett Favre already is a sports legend, with a Super Bowl ring, and on the way to the Hall of Fame! But he needs to move on to the next phase of life already! He's past his prime!
Check out http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1110/hess_farve.php3
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I mentioned on facebook when Terrell Owens (TO) joined the Cincinnati Bengals, that TO and Chad Ochocinco could make the Bengals an exciting team. I had visions of the team having the most touchdown dances in NFL history. But they're past their prime, and the team wasn't successful! But the Bengals still got the coolest helmets that McKinley High School should imitate!
News Stories
You might've noticed that I didn't mention major news events on this blog posts. That's because I already wrote about them on the blog already.
I already wrote a blog post on the oil spill, the elections (both Hawaii and national), the controversy over a mosque near Ground Zero, airport security controversies, Arizona immigration controversy, Hawaii tsunami scare, and other stuff
And for sports, I already wrote about the Winter Olympics, World Cup, Ben Roethlisberger's rape case, and coaching and conference changes at UH!
Just go to the right side of this blog, click on a month, and explore my great insights, :)
And have a happy and safe new year's celebration
Friday, December 31, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
UH sports changing conferences
After months of speculation, it was announced earlier this month that UH will leave the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) on July 1, 2012. After that, the football team will play in the Mountain West Conference (MWC), the other sports teams will play in the Big West.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Athletic_Conference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_West_Conference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_West_Conference
Boise State was already planning to leave the WAC for the Mountain West after this school year.
Fresno State and Nevada wanted to join the Mountain West at the same time as Boise State. But they missed the deadline, so they'll have to wait until 2012.
After it was announced that Fresno State and Nevada was going to leave the WAC, there was panic among WAC and UH officials.
The WAC went to find some new members from smaller colleges. They wanted Montana, which had some success in the 1-AA level. But Montana declined. So the WAC then added Texas State, Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) and Denver.
Some say that the WAC should fire its commissioner Jim Benson over the fact that teams always leave the WAC as soon as they had some success. But I'm already thinking that Benson actually enjoys being in charge of a conference that changes members all the time! I really believe that adding and losing teams makes his life exciting
But the UH fans sure aren't excited about the future WAC!
The better teams in the WAC are leaving. We're stuck with opponents that don't really attract crowds at Aloha Stadium. Hawaii fans tend to just go to games with big name opponents! They're not excited about watching UH playing smaller time WAC programs like San Jose State or New Mexico State. And they're sell as hell not going to fill the stadium to watch UH play Texas State or UT-San Antonio.
Some demanded that UH play football as an independent, meaning not being a member of a conference. That would mean UH would have to schedule all of its games. That's not as easy as it sounds.
Back in 2007, then-UH Athletic Director Herman Frazier got a lot of heat over his struggles in scheduling opponents for the football season.
But some things were out of his control!
UH was scheduled to play Michigan State that year. But Michigan State cancelled that game, and bribed UH with $250,000 into accepting that game's cancellation!
Frazier attempted to schedule the season's opening game at the other big university in the state of Michigan. That's right, Frazier attempted to schedule UH to play the University of Michigan at it's huge stadium at Anne Arbor. Michigan refused to play UH, and decided to play an even lesser-known school Appalachian State. Ironically, Appalachian State pulled a historic upset at that game!
Because of those scheduling difficulties, Frazier had to schedule small-time teams from Northern Colorado and Charleston Southern!
Frazier already had 8 games guaranteed, due to WAC affiliation. He just had to fill in 4-5 more games! Even that was difficult!
If Frazier had difficulty getting 4 more teams to play UH, what makes you think UH would have an easy time scheduling all 12 or 13 games by itself as an independent school?
Many college teams don't want to travel all the way to Hawaii! Too far, too expensive, too time-consuming!
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And that brings up another concern for Hawaii as well! To play their opponents on the road requires plane ride that goes 2,500+miles and takes at least 5 hours. And that's just to play a team in California!
But remember, the WAC as it is now, has teams in hard to get to places like Louisiana Tech (Ruston), New Mexico State (Las Cruces), Utah State (Logan) and Idaho (Moscow). Those schools are located in small towns far from major urban areas. There is NO direct flights from Hawaii to those places. So, it's either take 2 plane rides, or just take 1 plane to a major urban area (ie Las Vegas, Dallas, etc) and take a bus ride to your opponents' hometown.
And add possible flight delays, bad weather, etc.
And remember, these athletes also have to find time to keep up with their academic work in the midst of all this! That means finishing up research papers, reading books filled with words an average person doesn't use in conversations, and taking exams. And doing it all in the most craziest traveling situation in all of college sports.
That makes finding a good conference for UH sports more complicated than other colleges.
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The Big West conference as it is now, only has teams in California. That makes it easier on UH travel schedule, since they only need 1 flight to either Los Angeles, San Francisco or San Diego. No more long trips to isolated rural colleges located in landlocked states.
But the only problem with the Big West is that most of their schools don't have a football team. They all got basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball and soccer! But most don't have football!
The WAC will still have football teams, but Hawaii fans aren't interested in games against San Jose State, New Mexico State, or (future members) Texas State or UTSA.
So the compromise solution was for the football team to play in the Mountain West, and the other sports play in the Big West.
For football, the fans can continue to enjoy rivalries with Fresno State, Nevada and Boise State. Plus, they can take direct flights to road games against UNLV and San Diego State. The main drawback though, is long road to trips to games at rural colleges like Wyoming (Laramie) or Colorado State (Fort Collins).
For the other UH sports, they don't' have to worry about such road trips in the Big West. They can easily build or renew rivalries with Long Beach State, UC-Irvine, Pacific and Cal State Fullerton. Those schools may not have football teams, but they do have quality level volleyball, baseball and softball teams.
However, sports announcer Jeff Portnoy is upset that the Big West isn't a great basketball conference.
http://hoopstalk.honadvblogs.com/2010/12/10/uh-the-big-west-and-basketball/
He feels that UH basketball will take a step backward by being in that conference. But UH basketball hasn't done well in the last 3 years, so they haven't earned the privilege to complain. Just be lucky they won't be distracted by long road trips to isolated rural colleges.
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It's not just the distance that made it hard for UH! It's also the cost of travel. In this economic times, when schools are cutting budgets, college athletics aren't immune. Travel costs are a concern for the college teams traveling to Hawaii. So Hawaii had to agree to travel subsidies in order to join Mountain West and the Big West.
The words "travel subsidies" sent fear to the heart of many UH fans. You mean we gotta pay for our opponents plane ticket, hotel rooms, meals and other stuff? Actually no, we're just paying for their plane ride to and from the continent. Our opponents will continue to pay for hotel rooms and other accommodations, just like they do in their other road trips.
----
Even though the UH Warriors lost to Tulsa in the Hawaii Bowl, they still had a great season! Hopefully, they'll continue to have success in all their sports as they move on to their new conferences
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Athletic_Conference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_West_Conference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_West_Conference
Boise State was already planning to leave the WAC for the Mountain West after this school year.
Fresno State and Nevada wanted to join the Mountain West at the same time as Boise State. But they missed the deadline, so they'll have to wait until 2012.
After it was announced that Fresno State and Nevada was going to leave the WAC, there was panic among WAC and UH officials.
The WAC went to find some new members from smaller colleges. They wanted Montana, which had some success in the 1-AA level. But Montana declined. So the WAC then added Texas State, Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) and Denver.
Some say that the WAC should fire its commissioner Jim Benson over the fact that teams always leave the WAC as soon as they had some success. But I'm already thinking that Benson actually enjoys being in charge of a conference that changes members all the time! I really believe that adding and losing teams makes his life exciting
But the UH fans sure aren't excited about the future WAC!
The better teams in the WAC are leaving. We're stuck with opponents that don't really attract crowds at Aloha Stadium. Hawaii fans tend to just go to games with big name opponents! They're not excited about watching UH playing smaller time WAC programs like San Jose State or New Mexico State. And they're sell as hell not going to fill the stadium to watch UH play Texas State or UT-San Antonio.
Some demanded that UH play football as an independent, meaning not being a member of a conference. That would mean UH would have to schedule all of its games. That's not as easy as it sounds.
Back in 2007, then-UH Athletic Director Herman Frazier got a lot of heat over his struggles in scheduling opponents for the football season.
But some things were out of his control!
UH was scheduled to play Michigan State that year. But Michigan State cancelled that game, and bribed UH with $250,000 into accepting that game's cancellation!
Frazier attempted to schedule the season's opening game at the other big university in the state of Michigan. That's right, Frazier attempted to schedule UH to play the University of Michigan at it's huge stadium at Anne Arbor. Michigan refused to play UH, and decided to play an even lesser-known school Appalachian State. Ironically, Appalachian State pulled a historic upset at that game!
Because of those scheduling difficulties, Frazier had to schedule small-time teams from Northern Colorado and Charleston Southern!
Frazier already had 8 games guaranteed, due to WAC affiliation. He just had to fill in 4-5 more games! Even that was difficult!
If Frazier had difficulty getting 4 more teams to play UH, what makes you think UH would have an easy time scheduling all 12 or 13 games by itself as an independent school?
Many college teams don't want to travel all the way to Hawaii! Too far, too expensive, too time-consuming!
----
And that brings up another concern for Hawaii as well! To play their opponents on the road requires plane ride that goes 2,500+miles and takes at least 5 hours. And that's just to play a team in California!
But remember, the WAC as it is now, has teams in hard to get to places like Louisiana Tech (Ruston), New Mexico State (Las Cruces), Utah State (Logan) and Idaho (Moscow). Those schools are located in small towns far from major urban areas. There is NO direct flights from Hawaii to those places. So, it's either take 2 plane rides, or just take 1 plane to a major urban area (ie Las Vegas, Dallas, etc) and take a bus ride to your opponents' hometown.
And add possible flight delays, bad weather, etc.
And remember, these athletes also have to find time to keep up with their academic work in the midst of all this! That means finishing up research papers, reading books filled with words an average person doesn't use in conversations, and taking exams. And doing it all in the most craziest traveling situation in all of college sports.
That makes finding a good conference for UH sports more complicated than other colleges.
--------
The Big West conference as it is now, only has teams in California. That makes it easier on UH travel schedule, since they only need 1 flight to either Los Angeles, San Francisco or San Diego. No more long trips to isolated rural colleges located in landlocked states.
But the only problem with the Big West is that most of their schools don't have a football team. They all got basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball and soccer! But most don't have football!
The WAC will still have football teams, but Hawaii fans aren't interested in games against San Jose State, New Mexico State, or (future members) Texas State or UTSA.
So the compromise solution was for the football team to play in the Mountain West, and the other sports play in the Big West.
For football, the fans can continue to enjoy rivalries with Fresno State, Nevada and Boise State. Plus, they can take direct flights to road games against UNLV and San Diego State. The main drawback though, is long road to trips to games at rural colleges like Wyoming (Laramie) or Colorado State (Fort Collins).
For the other UH sports, they don't' have to worry about such road trips in the Big West. They can easily build or renew rivalries with Long Beach State, UC-Irvine, Pacific and Cal State Fullerton. Those schools may not have football teams, but they do have quality level volleyball, baseball and softball teams.
However, sports announcer Jeff Portnoy is upset that the Big West isn't a great basketball conference.
http://hoopstalk.honadvblogs.com/2010/12/10/uh-the-big-west-and-basketball/
He feels that UH basketball will take a step backward by being in that conference. But UH basketball hasn't done well in the last 3 years, so they haven't earned the privilege to complain. Just be lucky they won't be distracted by long road trips to isolated rural colleges.
----
It's not just the distance that made it hard for UH! It's also the cost of travel. In this economic times, when schools are cutting budgets, college athletics aren't immune. Travel costs are a concern for the college teams traveling to Hawaii. So Hawaii had to agree to travel subsidies in order to join Mountain West and the Big West.
The words "travel subsidies" sent fear to the heart of many UH fans. You mean we gotta pay for our opponents plane ticket, hotel rooms, meals and other stuff? Actually no, we're just paying for their plane ride to and from the continent. Our opponents will continue to pay for hotel rooms and other accommodations, just like they do in their other road trips.
----
Even though the UH Warriors lost to Tulsa in the Hawaii Bowl, they still had a great season! Hopefully, they'll continue to have success in all their sports as they move on to their new conferences
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Airport Security & Juan Williams controversy
1) Airport Security
In the old days, if you want to get on an airplane, you just buy a ticket and get in the plane!
Now, you have to go through all sorts of inspections. You get inspected to make sure you got no sharp objects because the 9/11 hijackers threatened passengers and airline staff with box cutters. Your shoe get inspected because Richard Reid tried to blow up an explosive under his shoe! You can't bring certain liquids because someone tried to blow up a plane using liquid explosives.
But now that someone tried to blow up a plane by lighting liquid explosives that he hid in his underwear, guess what? We got to go through a scanner that see what's under our clothes.
You can still opt-out of that, but that means you have to allow a TSA worker to pat you down! Ewwwww! I'd rather just go through the scanner rather than have some authority person touching all over me!
Some far-right conservatives are outraged at President Obama over this! Yet, when Bush was president, those same far-right conservatives were mocking anyone who didn't like airport security policies! Very hypocritical!
Well not all conservative pundits showed such hypocrisy. For example, Jonah Goldberg is a well-known right-wing pundit, but he refuse to play the "blame it all on the Democrat" game
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/jonah112510.php3
(skipped paragraphs)
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2) Profiling and Privacy Invasions
Arnold Ahlert on the other hand, is typical of what I consider "Conservative Correctness". Meaning, he says a bunch of far-right cliches and gets bent of shape if you don't automatically fall for such cliches. Pay close attention to what I highlighted and notice a pattern!
Notice a pattern. Look at the colors I highlighted the statements with! He wants government to respect HIS rights, but not of those who "look Muslims"
Many with the Conservative Correctness like yell slogans like "Live Free or Die", "Get Big Government Off Our Backs", and complain about an intrusive government that invades our privacy. But, yet many of those same people demand that government single out certain people for special scrutiny and privacy invasions if those people "look Middle Eastern". The mentality of many in the Conservative Correctness Crowd is "No Government Intrusions for the White Person, Tons of Government Intrusions for the Brown Person"
This "profile anyone if they look Muslim" is so lame, because Muslims aren't a race, they're a religious group. Yes, Islam started in the Middle East, but it spread to other areas in the world, to people who don't even look Arab. And some Arabs aren't even Muslims, some are Christians or atheists!
That aside, some still scream for more racial profiling of those who look Middle Eastern. They scream "look what they did to us on 9/11!" But racially profiling Arabs would NOT have stop the underpants bomber, because he did NOT look Middle Eastern! He was a very dark-skinned man from Nigeria!
More examples of terrorist actions involving people who would NEVER got caught if our security policy is "profile the Arabs" or "profile those from Muslim lands"
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/charen112610.php3
The whole point is, even though the 9/11 hijackers were of Arab ancestry, other people who are mad at the world, could blow stuff up, for whatever reason they can claim. It doesn't have to be related to Islam! The Oklahoma City bomber and the Columbine killers were definitely NOT Arabs, and definitely NOT Muslims, but they still caused mass murder and a national trauma. They might not have blown up an airplane, but don't be surprised if someone of their cultural background and who share similar grievances might want to blow up an airplane.
Either way, it wouldn't matter if I was killed by a Middle Eastern, European or whatever! Either way, I still would be dead!
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3) Juan Williams controversy
Juan Williams, who used to be a reporter with National Public Radio (NPR), was fired from NPR earlier this year, for mentioning that he gets nervous when he sees someone "in Muslim garb" while riding an airplane!
Williams later emphasized that it is still no excuse to be discriminating against people who are Muslims or who are of Middle Eastern ancestry.
But the damage was done!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/21/AR2010102101474_pf.html
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Some right-wing conservatives were saying stuff like "how dare NPR fire him for saying what many people think".
Their mentality is that whole "Arabs attacked us on 9/11, so I'm nervous when I see them on an airplane" nonsense
But an Arab/Mexican/African/etc could EASILY say something like this: "I grew up in a white neighborhood, got bullied by big white kids, and I still get nervous when I see a group of young white males".
Would the far-right conservatives defend that person the same way they defended Juan Williams for admitting being nervous while "seeing Muslims on a plane"?
OFF COURSE NOT!
The Conservative Correctness Crowd would be ridiculing any non-white who expresses nervousness about seeing a group of young white males. Glenn Beck would be whining about that non-white person's "deep-seated hatred of white people". Michelle Maglalang Malkin would write a sarcastic editorial about person and mocking his grievances as a "sob story". And Ann Coulter would demand that non-white person to be racially profiled some more!
So yeah, the Conservative Correctness Crowd likes other ethnic groups to be mocked, racially profiled, and face privacy invasions, as long as it's not their ethnic group facing all that! Hypocrites!
---
After the whole Juan Williams controversy, some right-wing conservatives were demanding the government stop funding NPR and PBS!
NPR and PBS are already mostly privately funded, though it still accepts government subsidises!
I do believe NPR and PBS should be totally privatized, but for a totally different reason from those Conservative Correctness Crowd!
Government shouldn't be owning any TV or radio stations. Government shouldn't be in charge of any journalism organization!
Jeff Jacoby made some following great points on the issue of government funding of NPR!
http://jewishworldreview.com/jeff/jacoby112410.php3
AMEN to all that!
In the old days, if you want to get on an airplane, you just buy a ticket and get in the plane!
Now, you have to go through all sorts of inspections. You get inspected to make sure you got no sharp objects because the 9/11 hijackers threatened passengers and airline staff with box cutters. Your shoe get inspected because Richard Reid tried to blow up an explosive under his shoe! You can't bring certain liquids because someone tried to blow up a plane using liquid explosives.
But now that someone tried to blow up a plane by lighting liquid explosives that he hid in his underwear, guess what? We got to go through a scanner that see what's under our clothes.
You can still opt-out of that, but that means you have to allow a TSA worker to pat you down! Ewwwww! I'd rather just go through the scanner rather than have some authority person touching all over me!
Some far-right conservatives are outraged at President Obama over this! Yet, when Bush was president, those same far-right conservatives were mocking anyone who didn't like airport security policies! Very hypocritical!
Well not all conservative pundits showed such hypocrisy. For example, Jonah Goldberg is a well-known right-wing pundit, but he refuse to play the "blame it all on the Democrat" game
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/jonah112510.php3
Obviously, the first people to blame for this mess are the murderers. Without them, flying wouldn't be the soul-killing experience it is.
(skipped paragraphs)
But Obama is not to blame. Osama bin Laden is.
-----------
2) Profiling and Privacy Invasions
Arnold Ahlert on the other hand, is typical of what I consider "Conservative Correctness". Meaning, he says a bunch of far-right cliches and gets bent of shape if you don't automatically fall for such cliches. Pay close attention to what I highlighted and notice a pattern!
Americans, quite rightly, are outraged by such an unseemly invasion of one's personal space. Not merely because such an invasion itself is uncomfortable and best and demeaning at worst, but because government-enforced gropes and peeps are the triumph of political correctness over common sense and common decency. Even more importantly, the ultimate destination of political correctness itself is also revealed: American airports are well on their way to becoming de facto totalitarian states.
Such an assessment is no longer arguable. When the state commands the power to subject citizens to a full-body search without the slightest concern for reasonable suspicion or probable cause, they are effectively obliterating one of the bedrock principals of our Constitution, aka the presumption of innocence. They do this because political correctness demands a subjugation of reality to a preconceived — and utterly misguided — notion of "fairness."
[Pablo's note: so that guy sounds like he hates government bullying airplane passengers, but pay attention to his statements that I'll highlight in this color]
In other words, despite over three decades of terrorist attacks perpetrated almost exclusively by Muslims, and of those Muslims, a subset of males between the ages of 17 and 45, government is determined to remain "equally suspicious" of everybody. Thus, grandmothers and four year olds are compelled to submit in equal proportions, lest charges of "Islamophobia" or "bigotry" and the inevitable litigation those charges would engender arise.
Notice a pattern. Look at the colors I highlighted the statements with! He wants government to respect HIS rights, but not of those who "look Muslims"
Many with the Conservative Correctness like yell slogans like "Live Free or Die", "Get Big Government Off Our Backs", and complain about an intrusive government that invades our privacy. But, yet many of those same people demand that government single out certain people for special scrutiny and privacy invasions if those people "look Middle Eastern". The mentality of many in the Conservative Correctness Crowd is "No Government Intrusions for the White Person, Tons of Government Intrusions for the Brown Person"
This "profile anyone if they look Muslim" is so lame, because Muslims aren't a race, they're a religious group. Yes, Islam started in the Middle East, but it spread to other areas in the world, to people who don't even look Arab. And some Arabs aren't even Muslims, some are Christians or atheists!
That aside, some still scream for more racial profiling of those who look Middle Eastern. They scream "look what they did to us on 9/11!" But racially profiling Arabs would NOT have stop the underpants bomber, because he did NOT look Middle Eastern! He was a very dark-skinned man from Nigeria!
More examples of terrorist actions involving people who would NEVER got caught if our security policy is "profile the Arabs" or "profile those from Muslim lands"
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/charen112610.php3
Colleen Renee LaRose, aka Jihad Jane, and Jamie Paulin-Ramirez were both blond, blue-eyed American converts to Islam who were arrested in October 2009 in Ireland and charged with plotting to kill a Swedish cartoonist who had drawn Mohammad's head on the body of a dog.
In 1972, members of the Japanese Red Army opened fire in Tel Aviv's airport, killing 24 people. In 1986, a pregnant Irish woman was attempting to fly from Heathrow to Tel Aviv. A check of her luggage revealed that her fiance, a Palestinian, had planted Semtex explosive in her carry-on bag. If not discovered, it would have brought down the plane. In the early 1980s, a German national recently released from prison was befriended by Palestinians. His new friends bought him an airline ticket to Tel Aviv. He thought he was smuggling drugs. But in fact, his bags contained 10 pounds of explosives.
Yes, most aspiring airline suicide bombers are young Muslim men. But not all of them are from the 14 countries listed by the Obama administration. Richard Reid was British. Zacarias Moussaoui was French. One of the terrorists who hijacked an Air France jet in the 1970s on behalf of the Palestinians was a German woman. The suicide bombers who struck the Moscow subway in March were women. And women suicide bombers have struck at checkpoints in the West Bank.
The whole point is, even though the 9/11 hijackers were of Arab ancestry, other people who are mad at the world, could blow stuff up, for whatever reason they can claim. It doesn't have to be related to Islam! The Oklahoma City bomber and the Columbine killers were definitely NOT Arabs, and definitely NOT Muslims, but they still caused mass murder and a national trauma. They might not have blown up an airplane, but don't be surprised if someone of their cultural background and who share similar grievances might want to blow up an airplane.
Either way, it wouldn't matter if I was killed by a Middle Eastern, European or whatever! Either way, I still would be dead!
----------
3) Juan Williams controversy
Juan Williams, who used to be a reporter with National Public Radio (NPR), was fired from NPR earlier this year, for mentioning that he gets nervous when he sees someone "in Muslim garb" while riding an airplane!
Williams later emphasized that it is still no excuse to be discriminating against people who are Muslims or who are of Middle Eastern ancestry.
But the damage was done!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/21/AR2010102101474_pf.html
-----
Some right-wing conservatives were saying stuff like "how dare NPR fire him for saying what many people think".
Their mentality is that whole "Arabs attacked us on 9/11, so I'm nervous when I see them on an airplane" nonsense
But an Arab/Mexican/African/etc could EASILY say something like this: "I grew up in a white neighborhood, got bullied by big white kids, and I still get nervous when I see a group of young white males".
Would the far-right conservatives defend that person the same way they defended Juan Williams for admitting being nervous while "seeing Muslims on a plane"?
OFF COURSE NOT!
The Conservative Correctness Crowd would be ridiculing any non-white who expresses nervousness about seeing a group of young white males. Glenn Beck would be whining about that non-white person's "deep-seated hatred of white people". Michelle Maglalang Malkin would write a sarcastic editorial about person and mocking his grievances as a "sob story". And Ann Coulter would demand that non-white person to be racially profiled some more!
So yeah, the Conservative Correctness Crowd likes other ethnic groups to be mocked, racially profiled, and face privacy invasions, as long as it's not their ethnic group facing all that! Hypocrites!
---
After the whole Juan Williams controversy, some right-wing conservatives were demanding the government stop funding NPR and PBS!
NPR and PBS are already mostly privately funded, though it still accepts government subsidises!
I do believe NPR and PBS should be totally privatized, but for a totally different reason from those Conservative Correctness Crowd!
Government shouldn't be owning any TV or radio stations. Government shouldn't be in charge of any journalism organization!
Jeff Jacoby made some following great points on the issue of government funding of NPR!
http://jewishworldreview.com/jeff/jacoby112410.php3
1. They aren't fair. Other radio stations and networks, from Air America to Clear Channel to Univision to Westwood One, must sink or swim in a competitive market. They survive only if listeners and advertisers value what they do. Uncle Sam doesn't keep them afloat with tens of millions of dollars annually in direct and indirect subsidies. If they can operate without corporate welfare, NPR can too.
2. They aren't appropriate. In a free society, especially one with a robust tradition of press freedom, the very idea of government-underwritten media should be anathema. When news organizations depend on largesse from the treasury, there is inevitably a price paid in objectivity, fairness, and journalistic independence.
3. They aren't necessary. NPR's partisans claim that public broadcasting provides valuable news and educational content that listeners can't get anywhere else. That may have been a plausible argument in 1970. It is utterly implausible today, when audio programming of every description can be found amid a vast and dizzying array of outlets: terrestrial and satellite radio, internet broadcasting, podcasts and audio downloads.
4. They aren't affordable. At a time of trillion-dollar federal deficits and a national debt of nearly $14 trillion, NPR's government subsidies cannot possibly be justified. All the more so when public broadcasting attracts a fortune in private funding, from the gifts of innumerable "listeners like you" to the $200 million bequeathed to NPR by the late Joan Kroc in 2003.
AMEN to all that!
Friday, December 03, 2010
black friday, naked gun, world cup and facebook guilt trips
1) Black Friday
Of all the people who camped outside of stores for days for Black Friday just to buy stuff, I wonder how many of them are the same ones who say "I don't have time to vote", even though the voting lines are a lot shorter!
2) Actor Leslie Nielsen has passed away recently.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Nielsen
Don't let the first name fool you, Leslie is a man! A very funny one, famous for being in the "Naked Gun" movies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naked_Gun
Those Naked Gun movies were comedies involving police detectives. Nielsen was the main star, though the movie also had Priscilla Presley (Elvis' wife) and OJ Simpson (this was before the infamous murder case)
These were true classic comedies, in which I couldn't even stop laughing at all the silly antics going on! Check them out if you got the time
3)Future World Cup hosts
It has just been announced where the 2018 and 2022 World Cups will be held!
2018 will be held in Russia! While Russia has hosted several Olympic games, this will be its first World Cup!
2022 World Cup will be held in Qatar! It will the 1st World Cup in the Middle East! Just like how 2010 World Cup in South Africa showed there's more to Africa than starvation and warfare, the 2022 World Cup will show the world there's more to the Middle East than terrorism!
Even before the announcement, I did hear plans for a Middle Eastern World Cup, though I honestly didn't expect Qatar to be the only host! I was thinking it would've shared hosting duties United Arab Emirates (with it's famous Dubai and Abu Dhabi) and Bahrain! While Qatar is one of the wealthier Arab countries, I thought it was too small a country to host the World Cup by itself! I was thinking, since Japan & South Korea shared hosting duties back in 2002, the same arrangement would've been done for a Middle Eastern World Cup!
Either way, I wish the future World Cup hosts good luck!
4) Facebook Status Updates
I keep seeing people making status updates making guilt trips like "(hunger/breast cancer/diabetes/poverty/etc affects millions, 93% of you won't re-post this"
I'm all for spreading awareness of the problems of the world, but I can't stand that lame guilt-trips like "93% of you won't re-post this". As if we're supposed to feel un-earned guilt by not re-posting such statements! No one is going to die if we don't feel like re-posting such statements!
Now, people are posting cartoon pictures as their profile, supposedly as a protest against child abuse! I'm all for ending child abuse, but those cartoons won't even come close to convincing parents to stop over-reacting to their kids antics! Plus, any child abuser can post cartoon pictures as their profile picture! Post those cartoon pictures if you like, but don't think everyone posting it is sincere about ending child abuse!
It reminds me of the time when facebook users were posting their bra-colors, supposedly to spread awareness of breast cancer. The only awareness spread was the awareness from the males about what their former high-school crushes are wearing under their shirts!
As for me, I prefer to spread awareness by spreading information about stuff, without the guilt trips of "93% of you won't re-post this". I do post links on facebook to my blog posts, but I'm not going to put lame guilt trips on those who aren't interested in reading it! As far as I'm concerned, my blog posts are available to whoever is ready to read them, without worrying about guilt trips!
Of all the people who camped outside of stores for days for Black Friday just to buy stuff, I wonder how many of them are the same ones who say "I don't have time to vote", even though the voting lines are a lot shorter!
2) Actor Leslie Nielsen has passed away recently.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Nielsen
Don't let the first name fool you, Leslie is a man! A very funny one, famous for being in the "Naked Gun" movies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naked_Gun
Those Naked Gun movies were comedies involving police detectives. Nielsen was the main star, though the movie also had Priscilla Presley (Elvis' wife) and OJ Simpson (this was before the infamous murder case)
These were true classic comedies, in which I couldn't even stop laughing at all the silly antics going on! Check them out if you got the time
3)Future World Cup hosts
It has just been announced where the 2018 and 2022 World Cups will be held!
2018 will be held in Russia! While Russia has hosted several Olympic games, this will be its first World Cup!
2022 World Cup will be held in Qatar! It will the 1st World Cup in the Middle East! Just like how 2010 World Cup in South Africa showed there's more to Africa than starvation and warfare, the 2022 World Cup will show the world there's more to the Middle East than terrorism!
Even before the announcement, I did hear plans for a Middle Eastern World Cup, though I honestly didn't expect Qatar to be the only host! I was thinking it would've shared hosting duties United Arab Emirates (with it's famous Dubai and Abu Dhabi) and Bahrain! While Qatar is one of the wealthier Arab countries, I thought it was too small a country to host the World Cup by itself! I was thinking, since Japan & South Korea shared hosting duties back in 2002, the same arrangement would've been done for a Middle Eastern World Cup!
Either way, I wish the future World Cup hosts good luck!
4) Facebook Status Updates
I keep seeing people making status updates making guilt trips like "(hunger/breast cancer/diabetes/poverty/etc affects millions, 93% of you won't re-post this"
I'm all for spreading awareness of the problems of the world, but I can't stand that lame guilt-trips like "93% of you won't re-post this". As if we're supposed to feel un-earned guilt by not re-posting such statements! No one is going to die if we don't feel like re-posting such statements!
Now, people are posting cartoon pictures as their profile, supposedly as a protest against child abuse! I'm all for ending child abuse, but those cartoons won't even come close to convincing parents to stop over-reacting to their kids antics! Plus, any child abuser can post cartoon pictures as their profile picture! Post those cartoon pictures if you like, but don't think everyone posting it is sincere about ending child abuse!
It reminds me of the time when facebook users were posting their bra-colors, supposedly to spread awareness of breast cancer. The only awareness spread was the awareness from the males about what their former high-school crushes are wearing under their shirts!
As for me, I prefer to spread awareness by spreading information about stuff, without the guilt trips of "93% of you won't re-post this". I do post links on facebook to my blog posts, but I'm not going to put lame guilt trips on those who aren't interested in reading it! As far as I'm concerned, my blog posts are available to whoever is ready to read them, without worrying about guilt trips!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Commentary on the 2010 Elections, part 2: the national scene
In a previous blog post, I discussed the election results for Hawaii.
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010_11_01_archive.html#1592160011337005645
Now, I'll analyze the election results for the rest of the nation
1) Back when Obama was inaugurated in Jan 2009, people were talking about a "permanent Democrat majority". They were talking about the rise of the non-white vote, and the large support the younger generation gave to Barack Obama's election. Meanwhile, John McCain had the support of the older voters, and a rural European-American Christian vote that has been gradually loosing their influence. So it was understandable that a "permanent Democrat majority" was the "wave of the future"
Well, not so fast!
As it usually happens, once a president is in office, that person will be making decisions that will alienate former supporters! Governing is different from campaigning. Campaigns are all about marketing. Governing takes action.
The decisions a president make will eventually overshadow the magic of an exciting campaign.
So, yes Obama's popularity has been declining.
While some say race is a factor! But Obama was already racially part-African, part-European when he won the election. That hasn't changed since!
So what happened?
Well, the recession is still on-going! Sure, some economists say the worst is over! But many are still unemployed! Many are finding that job opportunities that match their talents and skills are harder to come by! Come election time, people will take it out on the party in power.
In 1982, Ronald Reagan was half-way his 1st term in office. But the recession that started in Jimmy Carter's presidency still hadn't ended! So many people who voted Reagan in 1980, out of recession anger at Carter, were in 1982, taking it out on Reagan's Republican allies in Congress.
Not much different these days. In 2008, the markets crashed, Republicans were in power, so the people voted Democrat! In 2010, they felt Democrats haven't solved the problem, so they voted Republican.
But of course, there's more! There's a cap & trade bill that Obama supported but didn't get through Congress. It was for more taxes on fossil fuels. Obviously, no one wants to pay more taxes in a recession.
There's health reform and immigration reform as well. Those will discussed in more detail.
2) Health Reform.
I remember a few years back when John Stossell, who was still at ABC News, had an editorial documentary called "Sick in America" that discussed the dangers of government-run health care! Usually, most news reports imply that government take more control of our health care system. It was a rarity for non-Fox TV when Stossel discussed some of the negative things that happen when government interfere too much!
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=3580676&page=1 ( an written outline of that special)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf3MtjMBWx4
(the 1st of 6 YouTube clips from Stossel's documentary, just click on the other clips from that special when you're done with this one)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw3KM9ZzFEE (part 2 of 6)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPwkwc9aE-M (part 3 of 6)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOk7lwBmvSw (part 4 of 6)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvCqXomvWd8 (part 5 of 6)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvCqXomvWd8 (part 6 of 6)
Stossell mentioned how socialized medical care systems don't live up to they hype in nations like Canada and the United Kingdom. It mentions how a government monopoly on health care in those countries has disastrous results, stuff that many left-wing liberals ignore in their quest for a more socialist system.
Sure, watching that special made me think "hey, now more people will realize what happens when government interferes too much with health care". But then pessimism took over, with me thinking "not enough people saw that documentary, people will still demand more government control, without even considering what negative consequences come with too much government interference".
But looking back, that Stossell special had some real impact.
When Obama started proposing his health care reform, people actually had townhall meeting protesting excessive government interference in our health care system. That is something I never thought I would see happen so soon in my life-time. Usually, people protest for more government control of our health care system. There is now a mass movement of people who realize that sometimes, government interferences does more harm than good. It was finally, there's a pro-capitalist protest movement, rather than just pro-union solidarity movements.
Many left-wing liberals were in denial when they first saw townhall meeting with protesters who didn't buy the hype of left-wing slogans like "universal health care", "single-payer health care", etc.
They claimed these protesters were just mad that their new president is African-American. But there are some African-American editorial writers like Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, Larry Elder and Star Parker had some legit criticisms of Obama's health care reforms. They were ignored by left-wing pundits and Democrat politicians.
The left-wing liberals made a HUGE mistake in ridiculing the legit concerns about the Obama's health care proposals. They made a HUGE mistake in not understanding that there's now many people who no longer buy the hype of "universal health care", "single-payer health care", etc.
They also made a HUGE mistake in under-estimated the people's understanding that Obama's health care proposals would require higher taxes to pay for it, and that raising taxes would be the worst thing to do in a recession!
What the public really wanted was the economy to grow again, for the private sector to grow again. That way, they'll be employed and less likely to need help from the government to pay for their health care! People want to be independent and be able to pay for their own health care. Most of them view government assistance as something as a last resort, whereas far-left liberals tend to see government assistance and government take-overs of the private sector as something to be done as the first resort!
The Far-Left liberals paid a price for ignoring such concerns. Republicans viewed it as an opportunity to move on from the Bush-era, and capitalized on it!
3) Immigration
The gang wars over drug turf in Mexico, and a few crimes on the border got some people scared about immigration. A murder of a farmer by Mexican illegal aliens in Arizona inspired Arizona governor Jan Brewer to make a controversial anti-immigration law.
It didn't matter to some that border cities like San Diego and El Paso were among the safest cities in the US! It didn't matter to some that crime was already going down in Arizona over the last few years. It didn't matter to some that the border areas are nowhere as dangerous as cities far from the border like Detroit, Newark, Camden or New Orleans. Learn more at
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html#5969634862924242439
http://reason.com/archives/2010/04/22/how-immigration-crackdowns-bac
All that mattered to some was some brown-skinned guys with strange accents were crossing the border and they seemed scary!
Whereas George W Bush attempted to make the Republican Party more immigration-friendly (this has been ignored by many far-left liberals), other Republicans wanted to cling to their older, whiter conservative base and felt scaring them with exaggarated stories of illegal alien crime was the way to go!
Well, this had some mixed results. Anti-immigration candidates won some and lost some.
Jan Brewer had managed to win, even though her stories about illegal aliens beheading people were exaggaratted! After her Democrat opponent mentioned during the debate that her stories were phony, Brewer refused to get into any more debates and was evasive when asked by reporters about her exaggarations.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/09/04/this_week_crazy_jan_brewer
But more than enough people were scared of illegal alien criminals to vote Brewer back into office.
But the anti-immigration fanaticism didn't work everywhere. In fact, it backfired in other states.
California was the center of immigration controversy back in 1994, when then governor Pete Wilson made fear-mongering ads showing Latino immigrants in a negative light! Yeah, Wilson might've won the battle that year, but in the long run, his GOP ended up losing the war! Wilson's ads and fear-mongering indirectly told many Latinos who were too lazy to vote, or too reluctant to finally take their citizenship exams, that they better get political. Ever since then, the Republicans had been loosing power in California. Their only major victory was when Austrian immigrant and political centrist Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger won a few elections for governor.
This year, GOP candidate for governor, Meg Whitman tried to play the fear-mongering game on immigration, but it turned out her housekeeper was an illegal alien.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20018062-503544.html
Meanwhile, the Democratic candidate for governor, Jerry Brown, did something very rare in politics. He openly defended the contributions that many illegal immigrants have made to California's society. He openly demanded that these people be treated like human beings. Usually, politicians avoid saying things like that, because they are afraid of vicious sarcastic mockery from anti-immigration fanatics like Michelle Maglalang Malkin! But Brown didn't back down, and he was rewarded with victory!
---------
In Nevada, there was the US Senate race between Harry Reid and Sharon Angle. Harry Reid was the Democrat incumbent who was seen as a stereotypical politician who been in DC for too long. His support of Obama's health care policies were seen as too socialist, too tax-friendly in a semi-libertarian state. His seniority in Congrees sure didn't help Nevada's economy, which was in one of the worst shapes among all states. It should've been easy to get rid of him this year.
But Sharon Angle tried Jan Brewer's strategy with fear-mongering ads claiming that illegal aliens were joining criminal gangs and ready to ruin America.
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/10/26/spin_season_joy_behar_sharron_angle/index.html
The visual imagery of that ad showed European-Americans in a positive light, whereas Latinos were only shown in a negative light. It gave off the vibe that Mexicans were only about joining gangs, scamming the welfare system and only up to no good.
To make her situation worse, Angle was shown telling Mexican-American teens that they "looked Asian", a lame attempt at humor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PHC3SxDmCU
Well, Sharon Angle lost to what was supposed to be a very vulnerable Harry Reid. Now, this wasn't a major repudiation of Republicans in general, since Nevada elected a Latino Republican Sandoval as governor.
---
In Colorado, anti-immigration fanatic Tom Tancredo attempted to run for governor. Again, just like in California, this has gotten Latinos who were previously too lazy to vote, to actually go out and vote. The Democrats saw opportunity, and ride the Latino anger to victory
--
Back to Arizona, Jan Brewer might've won her battle this year. But as the results from California, Nevada and Colorado showed, her allies will eventually loose the war!
It's just like the civil rights era! Guys like George Wallace and Strom Thurmond acted all "big and bad" claiming to speak for the majority. But history has showed that despite winning some battles, in the long run, the segregationists lost the war! Expect the same to happen for immigration!
---
One more thing, on this immigration issue, some anti-immigration fanatics say stuff like "too many Latinos depend on government services, they'll never vote Republican even if Republicans are pro-immigration" Those people are missing the point! Yes, there are Latinos who depend on welfare, who rely on government services to the poor, or are just economic liberals. And yes, that will put many in the Democrat camp.
But the Republicans don't need 51% of the Latino vote to win statewide elections. But they're not going to win many elections with just 1% of the Latino vote either! Bush won in 2004, with 45% of the Latino vote. In 2008, McCain (who was up against the "we'll finally have a 1st minority president" mentality), got 35% of the Latino vote. Notice that while Bush didn't need a majority of Latino voters to win re-election, but he would NOT have won had he got less than 1/3 of the Latino vote!
While Bush isn't the most popular guy right now, the GOP could learn from Bush's success with getting more Latino voters than the average Republican. Or as the new Senator from Florida Marc Rubio said Republicans “should be the pro-legal immigration party, not the anti-illegal immigration party.”
4) Mama Grizzlies
There was also talk about the rise of the "mama grizzlies", which is what Sarah Palin called her female conservative allies!
In the past 30 years, the Republicans had more male support, Democrats had more female support! Now, the talk was that more women were supporting the Republican party.
Well, the "mama grizzlies" won some and lost some.
Nikki Haley, who was of Indian ancestry, won the governor's seat in South Carolina. Her and Louisiana's Bobby Jindal's victories have helped the South move beyond its white supremacist past!
Michelle Bachmann continued to be the US Representative from Minnesota, and a powerful voice of the conservative tea-party movement.
However, some of the others failed. Some of it was because they took the anti-immigration fanaticism too far (ie. the already mentioned Meg Whitman, Sharon Angle).
Others failed for different reasons.
Linda McMahon, the wife of WWE's owner Jim McMahon, was running for US Senator from Connecticut! However, serious allegations of abuse and exploitation of WWE employees had made voters nervous of McMahon. It was so bad, that people rather vote for Dick Blumenthal, who wasn't an appealing candidate due to his lies about his service in the Vietnam War.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/155099/linda-mcmahons-body-count
Then there was Christine O'Donnell, who was running for US Senator from Delaware. She was an easy target for comedians, due to her past experimentations with witchcraft, and her statements against masturbation. But more importantly, she defaulted on her mortgages! In a year when people were concerned about politicians who can't balance the government's budget, they didn't want one who couldn't balance her own personal budget.
5) Marijuana legalization attempt in Cali
While Federal law bans all use of marijuana, 16 states plus D.C. defied federal law and legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes.
Some activists in California wanted to take it a step further, and legalize marijuana the same way alcohol is legalized, meaning, anyone over 21 be allowed to use!
Their proposals became Proposition 19, in which California voters could vote whether to legalize marijuana for all those over 21 years old!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_19_(2010)
But the fear-mongering over the "consequences" of legal marijuana have led to the defeat of Prop 19! Actually, Prop 19 got the majority of support from the young adult voters! It is the older voters that voted against that law!
The federal agents said they'll still enforce anti-marijuana laws. Barack Obama, who admitted to smoking weed while in high school, is in a tough political territory. His most passionate supporters in 2008 were the young adults (most likely to support Prop 19) and I'm thinking a part of him agrees with them on this issue! However, I think he sincerely fears losing many older voters if he moves too fast in legalizing marijuana!
AS the medical use of marijuana become more mainstream, and more people realize that marijuana isn't as dangerous as cocaine, heroin, crystal meth, or (already legal) alcohol. A time will come when marijuana will eventually be legalized for all adults.
And yes I do think alcohol is more dangerous than marijuana. Hear it from a doctor who work with patients on drug rehab at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703414504575001192775584982.html
But the penalties for being "driving while high", or "high while on the job" will have to increase in order for people to be comfortable with legalized marijuana!
6) Conclusion
Now that the Republicans gain strength in Congress, the big question is will they actually reduce government spending, the deficit and the national debt.
But cutting the government's budget will be a hard thing to attempt! People talk about "cutting abuse, waste and fraud" government.
But the federal government's budget is largely Military, Social Security and Medicare!
Most politicians don't really want to reduce military spending, because most politicans don't want to be accussed of "putting national security at risk"! We could withdraw from bases in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, but most politicians don't want to be accussed of "abandoning our allies".
Most politicians don't really want to reduce spening on Social Security and Medicare, because most politicians don't want to be accussed of "starving and neglecting senior citizens or the disabled"
The politicians who talk about reducing the government's deficit will have to make some hard decisions. Talk is no longer enough!
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010_11_01_archive.html#1592160011337005645
Now, I'll analyze the election results for the rest of the nation
1) Back when Obama was inaugurated in Jan 2009, people were talking about a "permanent Democrat majority". They were talking about the rise of the non-white vote, and the large support the younger generation gave to Barack Obama's election. Meanwhile, John McCain had the support of the older voters, and a rural European-American Christian vote that has been gradually loosing their influence. So it was understandable that a "permanent Democrat majority" was the "wave of the future"
Well, not so fast!
As it usually happens, once a president is in office, that person will be making decisions that will alienate former supporters! Governing is different from campaigning. Campaigns are all about marketing. Governing takes action.
The decisions a president make will eventually overshadow the magic of an exciting campaign.
So, yes Obama's popularity has been declining.
While some say race is a factor! But Obama was already racially part-African, part-European when he won the election. That hasn't changed since!
So what happened?
Well, the recession is still on-going! Sure, some economists say the worst is over! But many are still unemployed! Many are finding that job opportunities that match their talents and skills are harder to come by! Come election time, people will take it out on the party in power.
In 1982, Ronald Reagan was half-way his 1st term in office. But the recession that started in Jimmy Carter's presidency still hadn't ended! So many people who voted Reagan in 1980, out of recession anger at Carter, were in 1982, taking it out on Reagan's Republican allies in Congress.
Not much different these days. In 2008, the markets crashed, Republicans were in power, so the people voted Democrat! In 2010, they felt Democrats haven't solved the problem, so they voted Republican.
But of course, there's more! There's a cap & trade bill that Obama supported but didn't get through Congress. It was for more taxes on fossil fuels. Obviously, no one wants to pay more taxes in a recession.
There's health reform and immigration reform as well. Those will discussed in more detail.
2) Health Reform.
I remember a few years back when John Stossell, who was still at ABC News, had an editorial documentary called "Sick in America" that discussed the dangers of government-run health care! Usually, most news reports imply that government take more control of our health care system. It was a rarity for non-Fox TV when Stossel discussed some of the negative things that happen when government interfere too much!
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=3580676&page=1 ( an written outline of that special)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf3MtjMBWx4
(the 1st of 6 YouTube clips from Stossel's documentary, just click on the other clips from that special when you're done with this one)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw3KM9ZzFEE (part 2 of 6)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPwkwc9aE-M (part 3 of 6)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOk7lwBmvSw (part 4 of 6)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvCqXomvWd8 (part 5 of 6)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvCqXomvWd8 (part 6 of 6)
Stossell mentioned how socialized medical care systems don't live up to they hype in nations like Canada and the United Kingdom. It mentions how a government monopoly on health care in those countries has disastrous results, stuff that many left-wing liberals ignore in their quest for a more socialist system.
Sure, watching that special made me think "hey, now more people will realize what happens when government interferes too much with health care". But then pessimism took over, with me thinking "not enough people saw that documentary, people will still demand more government control, without even considering what negative consequences come with too much government interference".
But looking back, that Stossell special had some real impact.
When Obama started proposing his health care reform, people actually had townhall meeting protesting excessive government interference in our health care system. That is something I never thought I would see happen so soon in my life-time. Usually, people protest for more government control of our health care system. There is now a mass movement of people who realize that sometimes, government interferences does more harm than good. It was finally, there's a pro-capitalist protest movement, rather than just pro-union solidarity movements.
Many left-wing liberals were in denial when they first saw townhall meeting with protesters who didn't buy the hype of left-wing slogans like "universal health care", "single-payer health care", etc.
They claimed these protesters were just mad that their new president is African-American. But there are some African-American editorial writers like Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, Larry Elder and Star Parker had some legit criticisms of Obama's health care reforms. They were ignored by left-wing pundits and Democrat politicians.
The left-wing liberals made a HUGE mistake in ridiculing the legit concerns about the Obama's health care proposals. They made a HUGE mistake in not understanding that there's now many people who no longer buy the hype of "universal health care", "single-payer health care", etc.
They also made a HUGE mistake in under-estimated the people's understanding that Obama's health care proposals would require higher taxes to pay for it, and that raising taxes would be the worst thing to do in a recession!
What the public really wanted was the economy to grow again, for the private sector to grow again. That way, they'll be employed and less likely to need help from the government to pay for their health care! People want to be independent and be able to pay for their own health care. Most of them view government assistance as something as a last resort, whereas far-left liberals tend to see government assistance and government take-overs of the private sector as something to be done as the first resort!
The Far-Left liberals paid a price for ignoring such concerns. Republicans viewed it as an opportunity to move on from the Bush-era, and capitalized on it!
3) Immigration
The gang wars over drug turf in Mexico, and a few crimes on the border got some people scared about immigration. A murder of a farmer by Mexican illegal aliens in Arizona inspired Arizona governor Jan Brewer to make a controversial anti-immigration law.
It didn't matter to some that border cities like San Diego and El Paso were among the safest cities in the US! It didn't matter to some that crime was already going down in Arizona over the last few years. It didn't matter to some that the border areas are nowhere as dangerous as cities far from the border like Detroit, Newark, Camden or New Orleans. Learn more at
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html#5969634862924242439
http://reason.com/archives/2010/04/22/how-immigration-crackdowns-bac
All that mattered to some was some brown-skinned guys with strange accents were crossing the border and they seemed scary!
Whereas George W Bush attempted to make the Republican Party more immigration-friendly (this has been ignored by many far-left liberals), other Republicans wanted to cling to their older, whiter conservative base and felt scaring them with exaggarated stories of illegal alien crime was the way to go!
Well, this had some mixed results. Anti-immigration candidates won some and lost some.
Jan Brewer had managed to win, even though her stories about illegal aliens beheading people were exaggaratted! After her Democrat opponent mentioned during the debate that her stories were phony, Brewer refused to get into any more debates and was evasive when asked by reporters about her exaggarations.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/09/04/this_week_crazy_jan_brewer
But more than enough people were scared of illegal alien criminals to vote Brewer back into office.
But the anti-immigration fanaticism didn't work everywhere. In fact, it backfired in other states.
California was the center of immigration controversy back in 1994, when then governor Pete Wilson made fear-mongering ads showing Latino immigrants in a negative light! Yeah, Wilson might've won the battle that year, but in the long run, his GOP ended up losing the war! Wilson's ads and fear-mongering indirectly told many Latinos who were too lazy to vote, or too reluctant to finally take their citizenship exams, that they better get political. Ever since then, the Republicans had been loosing power in California. Their only major victory was when Austrian immigrant and political centrist Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger won a few elections for governor.
This year, GOP candidate for governor, Meg Whitman tried to play the fear-mongering game on immigration, but it turned out her housekeeper was an illegal alien.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20018062-503544.html
Meanwhile, the Democratic candidate for governor, Jerry Brown, did something very rare in politics. He openly defended the contributions that many illegal immigrants have made to California's society. He openly demanded that these people be treated like human beings. Usually, politicians avoid saying things like that, because they are afraid of vicious sarcastic mockery from anti-immigration fanatics like Michelle Maglalang Malkin! But Brown didn't back down, and he was rewarded with victory!
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In Nevada, there was the US Senate race between Harry Reid and Sharon Angle. Harry Reid was the Democrat incumbent who was seen as a stereotypical politician who been in DC for too long. His support of Obama's health care policies were seen as too socialist, too tax-friendly in a semi-libertarian state. His seniority in Congrees sure didn't help Nevada's economy, which was in one of the worst shapes among all states. It should've been easy to get rid of him this year.
But Sharon Angle tried Jan Brewer's strategy with fear-mongering ads claiming that illegal aliens were joining criminal gangs and ready to ruin America.
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/10/26/spin_season_joy_behar_sharron_angle/index.html
The visual imagery of that ad showed European-Americans in a positive light, whereas Latinos were only shown in a negative light. It gave off the vibe that Mexicans were only about joining gangs, scamming the welfare system and only up to no good.
To make her situation worse, Angle was shown telling Mexican-American teens that they "looked Asian", a lame attempt at humor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PHC3SxDmCU
Well, Sharon Angle lost to what was supposed to be a very vulnerable Harry Reid. Now, this wasn't a major repudiation of Republicans in general, since Nevada elected a Latino Republican Sandoval as governor.
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In Colorado, anti-immigration fanatic Tom Tancredo attempted to run for governor. Again, just like in California, this has gotten Latinos who were previously too lazy to vote, to actually go out and vote. The Democrats saw opportunity, and ride the Latino anger to victory
--
Back to Arizona, Jan Brewer might've won her battle this year. But as the results from California, Nevada and Colorado showed, her allies will eventually loose the war!
It's just like the civil rights era! Guys like George Wallace and Strom Thurmond acted all "big and bad" claiming to speak for the majority. But history has showed that despite winning some battles, in the long run, the segregationists lost the war! Expect the same to happen for immigration!
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One more thing, on this immigration issue, some anti-immigration fanatics say stuff like "too many Latinos depend on government services, they'll never vote Republican even if Republicans are pro-immigration" Those people are missing the point! Yes, there are Latinos who depend on welfare, who rely on government services to the poor, or are just economic liberals. And yes, that will put many in the Democrat camp.
But the Republicans don't need 51% of the Latino vote to win statewide elections. But they're not going to win many elections with just 1% of the Latino vote either! Bush won in 2004, with 45% of the Latino vote. In 2008, McCain (who was up against the "we'll finally have a 1st minority president" mentality), got 35% of the Latino vote. Notice that while Bush didn't need a majority of Latino voters to win re-election, but he would NOT have won had he got less than 1/3 of the Latino vote!
While Bush isn't the most popular guy right now, the GOP could learn from Bush's success with getting more Latino voters than the average Republican. Or as the new Senator from Florida Marc Rubio said Republicans “should be the pro-legal immigration party, not the anti-illegal immigration party.”
4) Mama Grizzlies
There was also talk about the rise of the "mama grizzlies", which is what Sarah Palin called her female conservative allies!
In the past 30 years, the Republicans had more male support, Democrats had more female support! Now, the talk was that more women were supporting the Republican party.
Well, the "mama grizzlies" won some and lost some.
Nikki Haley, who was of Indian ancestry, won the governor's seat in South Carolina. Her and Louisiana's Bobby Jindal's victories have helped the South move beyond its white supremacist past!
Michelle Bachmann continued to be the US Representative from Minnesota, and a powerful voice of the conservative tea-party movement.
However, some of the others failed. Some of it was because they took the anti-immigration fanaticism too far (ie. the already mentioned Meg Whitman, Sharon Angle).
Others failed for different reasons.
Linda McMahon, the wife of WWE's owner Jim McMahon, was running for US Senator from Connecticut! However, serious allegations of abuse and exploitation of WWE employees had made voters nervous of McMahon. It was so bad, that people rather vote for Dick Blumenthal, who wasn't an appealing candidate due to his lies about his service in the Vietnam War.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/155099/linda-mcmahons-body-count
Then there was Christine O'Donnell, who was running for US Senator from Delaware. She was an easy target for comedians, due to her past experimentations with witchcraft, and her statements against masturbation. But more importantly, she defaulted on her mortgages! In a year when people were concerned about politicians who can't balance the government's budget, they didn't want one who couldn't balance her own personal budget.
5) Marijuana legalization attempt in Cali
While Federal law bans all use of marijuana, 16 states plus D.C. defied federal law and legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes.
Some activists in California wanted to take it a step further, and legalize marijuana the same way alcohol is legalized, meaning, anyone over 21 be allowed to use!
Their proposals became Proposition 19, in which California voters could vote whether to legalize marijuana for all those over 21 years old!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_19_(2010)
But the fear-mongering over the "consequences" of legal marijuana have led to the defeat of Prop 19! Actually, Prop 19 got the majority of support from the young adult voters! It is the older voters that voted against that law!
The federal agents said they'll still enforce anti-marijuana laws. Barack Obama, who admitted to smoking weed while in high school, is in a tough political territory. His most passionate supporters in 2008 were the young adults (most likely to support Prop 19) and I'm thinking a part of him agrees with them on this issue! However, I think he sincerely fears losing many older voters if he moves too fast in legalizing marijuana!
AS the medical use of marijuana become more mainstream, and more people realize that marijuana isn't as dangerous as cocaine, heroin, crystal meth, or (already legal) alcohol. A time will come when marijuana will eventually be legalized for all adults.
And yes I do think alcohol is more dangerous than marijuana. Hear it from a doctor who work with patients on drug rehab at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703414504575001192775584982.html
But the penalties for being "driving while high", or "high while on the job" will have to increase in order for people to be comfortable with legalized marijuana!
6) Conclusion
Now that the Republicans gain strength in Congress, the big question is will they actually reduce government spending, the deficit and the national debt.
But cutting the government's budget will be a hard thing to attempt! People talk about "cutting abuse, waste and fraud" government.
But the federal government's budget is largely Military, Social Security and Medicare!
Most politicians don't really want to reduce military spending, because most politicans don't want to be accussed of "putting national security at risk"! We could withdraw from bases in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, but most politicians don't want to be accussed of "abandoning our allies".
Most politicians don't really want to reduce spening on Social Security and Medicare, because most politicians don't want to be accussed of "starving and neglecting senior citizens or the disabled"
The politicians who talk about reducing the government's deficit will have to make some hard decisions. Talk is no longer enough!
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Blocked out of my list
I very rarely reject people from my facebook list. And I don't drop people from that list unless they've had a pattern of being very negative!
I have recently rejected some guy named Cris Sison Aban (aka Crisanto Aban) from entering my list. Long story short - very rude, very manipulative, contributes nothing positive to my life! But wants to join my facebook list! I just told him he's been rejected and why!
The best he could come up with is to call me a "loner"? Ha! With 270 people on my list, that guy should go get a dictionary, because he's the one left out of the party!
One last word to Mr Aban before I re-focus on the more important things in life : I'm doing fine without you! You contact me again, you'll be arrested, and you'll get a free taxpayer-subsidized room with a real thug who wants to be your boyfriend! Once that happens, you'll rather be alone!
PS: I mentioned this in my facebook status update! 2 people "liked it", ZERO people spoke in Mr Aban's defense! So who's lonely now Mr Aban!
I have recently rejected some guy named Cris Sison Aban (aka Crisanto Aban) from entering my list. Long story short - very rude, very manipulative, contributes nothing positive to my life! But wants to join my facebook list! I just told him he's been rejected and why!
The best he could come up with is to call me a "loner"? Ha! With 270 people on my list, that guy should go get a dictionary, because he's the one left out of the party!
One last word to Mr Aban before I re-focus on the more important things in life : I'm doing fine without you! You contact me again, you'll be arrested, and you'll get a free taxpayer-subsidized room with a real thug who wants to be your boyfriend! Once that happens, you'll rather be alone!
PS: I mentioned this in my facebook status update! 2 people "liked it", ZERO people spoke in Mr Aban's defense! So who's lonely now Mr Aban!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
latest random thoughts
Some random thoughts
1) Earlier in the past week, at a school I work at , another teacher mentioned about a time a bunch of kids told him off with "we don't need to learn this, we don't need this later in life". That teacher responded with something along the lines of "one day, you'll have kids and they're going ask you about this topic. It will be embarrassing if you don't have an answer."
-------------------
2) One of the funniest quote on the "gays in the military controversy"! This one was written by Casey Ishitani
"I want to see a homophobic neo-con and an outed, discharged Marine or Ranger go head-to-head, no-holds-barred on a mat with sticks and we'll see who gets to ask and who gets to tell"
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Now my thoughts on those who object to gays in the military.
This mentality of "ewww, I don't want to work with him, he's gay" is bad enough hearing from middle school students. Any adult with that mentality is a seriously immature person!
3) The link below mentioned about a group of teachers in Oregon that didn't want to chaperone a school dance because kids might be "freak dancing"
http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet/2010/11/12/dirty_dancing/index.html
Obviously, when I work at the schools, I got to enforce school rules. As a substitute teacher, I remember having to enforce rules against dirty dancing. Just doing my job!
However, I think people over-react to this "freak dancing".
They whine about "how gross" freak dancing is! You can't pregnant from freak dancing. If you can't satisfy your man/woman in that manner, someone else will! It wouldn't even matter how much "values" were taught by his/her parents! That's the politically incorrect reality!
Also, some people react to freak dancing with "omg, if the kids are dirty dancing, that would automatically lead to sexual intercourse" !
Useless fear-mongering!
I mean, in overwhelming majority of my experiences in dance parties in which some dirty dancing is featured, the overwhelming majority of those "dirty dances" are like one-song stands, meaning in most cases, you'll probably aren't likely to freak dance (or do anything else) with that person again after the song is over! In most cases, most people just move on to dancing with the next person.
Unlike the fear-mongering stories, they just dance dirty for a little while, then that's it, nothing else! A dance is just a dance! And life goes on as usual!
But it's a lot more easier to scare people with "omg, if the kids are dirty dancing, that would automatically lead to sexual intercourse" which happens way more often in fantasy than real life!
Sometimes, a dance is just a dance! Find more important things to worry about!
4) Still working on my blog post on the US elections from earlier this month! Stay tuned!
1) Earlier in the past week, at a school I work at , another teacher mentioned about a time a bunch of kids told him off with "we don't need to learn this, we don't need this later in life". That teacher responded with something along the lines of "one day, you'll have kids and they're going ask you about this topic. It will be embarrassing if you don't have an answer."
-------------------
2) One of the funniest quote on the "gays in the military controversy"! This one was written by Casey Ishitani
"I want to see a homophobic neo-con and an outed, discharged Marine or Ranger go head-to-head, no-holds-barred on a mat with sticks and we'll see who gets to ask and who gets to tell"
---------
Now my thoughts on those who object to gays in the military.
This mentality of "ewww, I don't want to work with him, he's gay" is bad enough hearing from middle school students. Any adult with that mentality is a seriously immature person!
3) The link below mentioned about a group of teachers in Oregon that didn't want to chaperone a school dance because kids might be "freak dancing"
http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet/2010/11/12/dirty_dancing/index.html
Obviously, when I work at the schools, I got to enforce school rules. As a substitute teacher, I remember having to enforce rules against dirty dancing. Just doing my job!
However, I think people over-react to this "freak dancing".
They whine about "how gross" freak dancing is! You can't pregnant from freak dancing. If you can't satisfy your man/woman in that manner, someone else will! It wouldn't even matter how much "values" were taught by his/her parents! That's the politically incorrect reality!
Also, some people react to freak dancing with "omg, if the kids are dirty dancing, that would automatically lead to sexual intercourse" !
Useless fear-mongering!
I mean, in overwhelming majority of my experiences in dance parties in which some dirty dancing is featured, the overwhelming majority of those "dirty dances" are like one-song stands, meaning in most cases, you'll probably aren't likely to freak dance (or do anything else) with that person again after the song is over! In most cases, most people just move on to dancing with the next person.
Unlike the fear-mongering stories, they just dance dirty for a little while, then that's it, nothing else! A dance is just a dance! And life goes on as usual!
But it's a lot more easier to scare people with "omg, if the kids are dirty dancing, that would automatically lead to sexual intercourse" which happens way more often in fantasy than real life!
Sometimes, a dance is just a dance! Find more important things to worry about!
4) Still working on my blog post on the US elections from earlier this month! Stay tuned!
Saturday, November 06, 2010
Commentary on the 2010 Elections, part 1: Hawaii edition
Last Tuesday (11/2/10) was Election Day!
Hawaii really went in a different direction than the rest of the USA!
On the continental US, there was so much anger at Obama & his fellow Democrats over the on-going recession, health reform, cap & trade, and other issues, that the Republicans gained major momentum. They gained more than enough seats to control the US House of Representatives! They did gain some seats in the US Senate, but not enough to gain majority status. The Republicans also added more governors and state legislatures as well!
However, in Hawaii, the opposite happened! The Democrats gained stronger control of the state! The imbalance between the 2 parties has gotten even greater!
1) Governor's seat
For most of Hawaii's history under statehood, Democrats controlled the governor's seat. Then 8 years ago, Linda Lingle became the 1st Republican governor in 4 decades! Then in 2006, Lingle got overwhelming re-elected!
But now, the Democrats got the governor's seat again! Former Congressman Neil Abercrombie defeated Duke Aiona, who was Lingle's Lt. Governor!
While the election was predicted to be a close election, I was predicting Abercrombie might win, due to the backlash against Lingle over Furlough Fridays.
While the Board of Education, Department of Education and the Hawaii State Teachers Assocation (HSTA) also agreed to last school year's Furlough Fridays, Lingle was the most visible person in all this! And while Lingle was no longer up for re-election, I sensed the voters would take it out on Duke Aiona!
I was right about Aiona's chance of losing, but I was surprised by Abercrombie's margin of victory!
It wasn't just Abercrombie beating Aiona by 58% - 42%.
What really surprised me was how the State House districts voted!
http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20101104_Abercrombie_wins_all_but_1_district.html
As that title said, Abercrombie only lost 1 State House district. That district (District 40 - Kapolei, Makakilo and Royal Kunia) just happens to be the one where Aiona lives.
Aiona couldn't even win District #32, which was where his running mate, Lynn Finnegan, represented in the State House. That district has Pearl Harbor, Hickam and the surrounding areas. It has plenty of military housing and Republicans have usually gotten support there.
But the districts that surprised me the most were Districts 17,18 and 19. Those are in East Honolulu, which is where the Republicans have the strongest support in Hawaii. That is a wealthy district, which I consider Hawaii's version of Orange County! Everytime I go there, I saw more signs supporting Republican candidates, way more often than I do in other parts of the island.
But yeah, that's how widespread the frustration over Furlough Fridays were, that even people in the most conservative districts were willing to take it out on Aiona! So much so that people were willing to overlook Abercrombie's evasiveness on issues like government spending, taxation, and legalizing marijuana.
2) US Congress
For the US Senate, only Dan Inouye was up for re-election. He has seniority in the US Senate, which allows him to bring more federal dollars to Hawaii. Because of this, Inouye usually wins re-election easily!
For US House District #2 (rural Oahu, Neighbor Islands) Mazie Hirono easily defeated lesser known competitors.
But the Congressional race that really got people's attention was US House District #1 (urban Honolulu). That was Abercrombie's district.
Because Abercrombie left that seat early to run for governor, there was a free-for-all special election back on May! The Democrats were divided between the more left-liberal Coleen Hanabusa and the moderate Ed Case. The Republicans were united around Charles Djou.
I wrote about that special election at http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html#4502698201819331140
But since then, the Democrats has united around Coleen Hanabusa.
This election was predicted to be close.
I predicted Djou to win that one! He didn't have the burden of Furlough Fridays to drag him down. While he was a strong believer in the Republican message on cutting taxes and government spending, he was more moderate than most national Republicans on immigration, gays in the military, and other religious/moral issues. He did mention that he didn't favor abortion, but preferred that government not ban it either. I thought all of that was good enough to help Djou win the election.
However, Hanabusa defeated Djou this time! It was a closer election than Abercrombie vs Aiona.
Djou also won more State House districts than Aiona did, as you could see on this map!
http://media.staradvertiser.com/images/20101104_loc_hanabusachart.jpg
Djou was able to win East Honolulu which he represented on the Honolulu City Council. It was also the areas which I mentioned earlier that I was surprised to see Aiona lose.
Djou was also able to win in Ewa and Mililani, which tend to be "swing districts" that are usually up for grabs between Democrats and Republicans.
---
What really irritated me about Colleen Hanabusa was her "you can't always say no" slogan, which was taunting Djou for his various votes in his City Council days when he voted against some of the Mayor's and City Council's ideas.
It's this attitude of "you gotta fit in, no matter what, even if it means compromising your principles". This shows that Hanabusa is more of a follower than a leader.
It's easy for Hanabusa to taunt Djou with "you can't always say no" since she was in the majority in the state Senate! It's easy for a Democrat to go along with everyone else, since they're the majority in the state legislature.
In Congress, which Hanabusa is about to join, THINGS ARE NOT LIKE THAT!
Hanabusa thinks she can easily work with the other people in the US House of Representatives! Hanabusa is about to get a reality check. Now's she will be in the minority party!
She thinks she can convince the Republicans to see her point of view. She's about to get a rude awakening.
Most of those Republicans are WAY MORE right-wing than Djou! Many of them come from conservative states like Idaho, Utah, Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Mississippi, etc. Many of those Republicans are under MAJOR PRESSURE from their voters to AVOID collaborating with Democrats like Hanabusa! That's how it is in most of the continental US this year.
Guess what will happen when Republicans in the US House pass a bill.
Hanabusa would be voting no! What comes around goes around!
3) Negative ads
People kept saying "negative ads don't work in Hawaii"!
THAT IS A LIE!
I remember back in 1998, Ben Cayetano and his supporters used a lot of negative advertising to stop Lingle's 1st attempt at being governor!
There were ads from Cayetano saying "the people are not stupid" in response to the things Lingle was saying. There were ads in which disgruntled Maui residents expressed their unhappiness about when Lingle was Mayor of Maui County. Inouye was even saying stuff like "I'm supporting Cayetano because he knows what it's like to raise a family" which was a veiled attack on Lingle being childless.
Ironically, Inouye is now saying negative ads are bad for Hawaii, which is #1 - hypocritical, #2 - relied on people forgetting his 1998 ad, #3 yeah, he didn't use negative ads this time, since he was up against lesser-known candidates this year. I really believe that had Inouye faced better known, better financed competitors, Inouye would've used negative ads!
Also, negative ads against Djou worked. Those were ads that attacked Djou's voting record in his short time in Congress, and taunted him for "voting 90% with Republicans" and saying "that's not independent". Hanabusa also taunted Djou with "you can't say no all the time"
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Those who say stuff like "negative ads don't work in Hawaii" like to portray this myth about Hawaii as a place where bullying, yelling, prejudice, and crime doesn't exist! Which we all know it's Bull-Stuff! Hawaii isn't that different from anywhere else! Yes, the aloha spirit thrives here, but let's not BS ourselves and pretend that we all get along!
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What is truly annoying are these "positive ads" that shows the candidate, his family, and say stuff like "my parents taught me values" and shows the candidate with his/her parents, spouse, children, etc.
It's just "vote for me because I got a nice looking family".
Those ads say NOTHING about what the candidate will do while in office. They say NOTHING about what unique policies that candidate will pursue. Those ads mention NOTHING about specific plans to solve our major problems.
Imagine if all we had were such pathetic "positive ads". Candidates won't have to worry about having flaws about their policy plans being exposed! Now, THAT is WAY MORE DANGEROUS than "negative advertising".
At least with negative advertising, you can expose what kind of harm that can come with your opponent's plans. If done right, you could actually save the state some heartache by making sure the people know the consequences of your opponent's policies.
4) Soon, I'll be talking about national races in this recent election! Stay tuned!
Hawaii really went in a different direction than the rest of the USA!
On the continental US, there was so much anger at Obama & his fellow Democrats over the on-going recession, health reform, cap & trade, and other issues, that the Republicans gained major momentum. They gained more than enough seats to control the US House of Representatives! They did gain some seats in the US Senate, but not enough to gain majority status. The Republicans also added more governors and state legislatures as well!
However, in Hawaii, the opposite happened! The Democrats gained stronger control of the state! The imbalance between the 2 parties has gotten even greater!
1) Governor's seat
For most of Hawaii's history under statehood, Democrats controlled the governor's seat. Then 8 years ago, Linda Lingle became the 1st Republican governor in 4 decades! Then in 2006, Lingle got overwhelming re-elected!
But now, the Democrats got the governor's seat again! Former Congressman Neil Abercrombie defeated Duke Aiona, who was Lingle's Lt. Governor!
While the election was predicted to be a close election, I was predicting Abercrombie might win, due to the backlash against Lingle over Furlough Fridays.
While the Board of Education, Department of Education and the Hawaii State Teachers Assocation (HSTA) also agreed to last school year's Furlough Fridays, Lingle was the most visible person in all this! And while Lingle was no longer up for re-election, I sensed the voters would take it out on Duke Aiona!
I was right about Aiona's chance of losing, but I was surprised by Abercrombie's margin of victory!
It wasn't just Abercrombie beating Aiona by 58% - 42%.
What really surprised me was how the State House districts voted!
http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20101104_Abercrombie_wins_all_but_1_district.html
As that title said, Abercrombie only lost 1 State House district. That district (District 40 - Kapolei, Makakilo and Royal Kunia) just happens to be the one where Aiona lives.
Aiona couldn't even win District #32, which was where his running mate, Lynn Finnegan, represented in the State House. That district has Pearl Harbor, Hickam and the surrounding areas. It has plenty of military housing and Republicans have usually gotten support there.
But the districts that surprised me the most were Districts 17,18 and 19. Those are in East Honolulu, which is where the Republicans have the strongest support in Hawaii. That is a wealthy district, which I consider Hawaii's version of Orange County! Everytime I go there, I saw more signs supporting Republican candidates, way more often than I do in other parts of the island.
But yeah, that's how widespread the frustration over Furlough Fridays were, that even people in the most conservative districts were willing to take it out on Aiona! So much so that people were willing to overlook Abercrombie's evasiveness on issues like government spending, taxation, and legalizing marijuana.
2) US Congress
For the US Senate, only Dan Inouye was up for re-election. He has seniority in the US Senate, which allows him to bring more federal dollars to Hawaii. Because of this, Inouye usually wins re-election easily!
For US House District #2 (rural Oahu, Neighbor Islands) Mazie Hirono easily defeated lesser known competitors.
But the Congressional race that really got people's attention was US House District #1 (urban Honolulu). That was Abercrombie's district.
Because Abercrombie left that seat early to run for governor, there was a free-for-all special election back on May! The Democrats were divided between the more left-liberal Coleen Hanabusa and the moderate Ed Case. The Republicans were united around Charles Djou.
I wrote about that special election at http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010_05_01_archive.html#4502698201819331140
But since then, the Democrats has united around Coleen Hanabusa.
This election was predicted to be close.
I predicted Djou to win that one! He didn't have the burden of Furlough Fridays to drag him down. While he was a strong believer in the Republican message on cutting taxes and government spending, he was more moderate than most national Republicans on immigration, gays in the military, and other religious/moral issues. He did mention that he didn't favor abortion, but preferred that government not ban it either. I thought all of that was good enough to help Djou win the election.
However, Hanabusa defeated Djou this time! It was a closer election than Abercrombie vs Aiona.
Djou also won more State House districts than Aiona did, as you could see on this map!
http://media.staradvertiser.com/images/20101104_loc_hanabusachart.jpg
Djou was able to win East Honolulu which he represented on the Honolulu City Council. It was also the areas which I mentioned earlier that I was surprised to see Aiona lose.
Djou was also able to win in Ewa and Mililani, which tend to be "swing districts" that are usually up for grabs between Democrats and Republicans.
---
What really irritated me about Colleen Hanabusa was her "you can't always say no" slogan, which was taunting Djou for his various votes in his City Council days when he voted against some of the Mayor's and City Council's ideas.
It's this attitude of "you gotta fit in, no matter what, even if it means compromising your principles". This shows that Hanabusa is more of a follower than a leader.
It's easy for Hanabusa to taunt Djou with "you can't always say no" since she was in the majority in the state Senate! It's easy for a Democrat to go along with everyone else, since they're the majority in the state legislature.
In Congress, which Hanabusa is about to join, THINGS ARE NOT LIKE THAT!
Hanabusa thinks she can easily work with the other people in the US House of Representatives! Hanabusa is about to get a reality check. Now's she will be in the minority party!
She thinks she can convince the Republicans to see her point of view. She's about to get a rude awakening.
Most of those Republicans are WAY MORE right-wing than Djou! Many of them come from conservative states like Idaho, Utah, Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Mississippi, etc. Many of those Republicans are under MAJOR PRESSURE from their voters to AVOID collaborating with Democrats like Hanabusa! That's how it is in most of the continental US this year.
Guess what will happen when Republicans in the US House pass a bill.
Hanabusa would be voting no! What comes around goes around!
3) Negative ads
People kept saying "negative ads don't work in Hawaii"!
THAT IS A LIE!
I remember back in 1998, Ben Cayetano and his supporters used a lot of negative advertising to stop Lingle's 1st attempt at being governor!
There were ads from Cayetano saying "the people are not stupid" in response to the things Lingle was saying. There were ads in which disgruntled Maui residents expressed their unhappiness about when Lingle was Mayor of Maui County. Inouye was even saying stuff like "I'm supporting Cayetano because he knows what it's like to raise a family" which was a veiled attack on Lingle being childless.
Ironically, Inouye is now saying negative ads are bad for Hawaii, which is #1 - hypocritical, #2 - relied on people forgetting his 1998 ad, #3 yeah, he didn't use negative ads this time, since he was up against lesser-known candidates this year. I really believe that had Inouye faced better known, better financed competitors, Inouye would've used negative ads!
Also, negative ads against Djou worked. Those were ads that attacked Djou's voting record in his short time in Congress, and taunted him for "voting 90% with Republicans" and saying "that's not independent". Hanabusa also taunted Djou with "you can't say no all the time"
---
Those who say stuff like "negative ads don't work in Hawaii" like to portray this myth about Hawaii as a place where bullying, yelling, prejudice, and crime doesn't exist! Which we all know it's Bull-Stuff! Hawaii isn't that different from anywhere else! Yes, the aloha spirit thrives here, but let's not BS ourselves and pretend that we all get along!
---
What is truly annoying are these "positive ads" that shows the candidate, his family, and say stuff like "my parents taught me values" and shows the candidate with his/her parents, spouse, children, etc.
It's just "vote for me because I got a nice looking family".
Those ads say NOTHING about what the candidate will do while in office. They say NOTHING about what unique policies that candidate will pursue. Those ads mention NOTHING about specific plans to solve our major problems.
Imagine if all we had were such pathetic "positive ads". Candidates won't have to worry about having flaws about their policy plans being exposed! Now, THAT is WAY MORE DANGEROUS than "negative advertising".
At least with negative advertising, you can expose what kind of harm that can come with your opponent's plans. If done right, you could actually save the state some heartache by making sure the people know the consequences of your opponent's policies.
4) Soon, I'll be talking about national races in this recent election! Stay tuned!
Monday, October 18, 2010
My 3-decade celebration
This past Friday (October 15) was my 30th birthday. A big milestone for me as I celebrated my 3 decades of life.
(and to that guy who keeps telling me that I was alive 9 months before that ...... blah, blah, blah! We only celebrate our life after birth since that is when we're no longer a body part, but a separate human being)
1) I wasn't called to work that day.
Not so good, since I want to get paid.
But very good too, in that I don't have to worry about some crazy student ruining my birthday!
I spent most of my daytime at McCully Library, using the computers for internet.
I posted my previous blog post titled "My first 3 decades of life"
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-first-3-decades-of-life.html
I actually wrote the draft earlier in the week, saved it in my email account, then finally posted it on my birthday!
Then I checked my facebook account, saw plenty of birthday messages. New ones kept popping up! I feel so loved, even by those I haven't seen in person since the previous millenium. That's what facebook is all about, reconnecting with people from earlier phases of life!
In the afternoon, I took a short nap, then made my dinner, took a shower, get dressed! As I left my home, I got a birthday call from my parents
2) The exciting part
Night time falls and it's time to party!
A few months earlier, my friend Aaron G. had an idea of doing karaoke, then clubbing on my birthday night! I LOVED THAT IDEA!
I don't go out at night very often. Only on special occassions. But you can't get any more special than a 30th birthday! So it was a PERFECT TIME to PARTY!!!!!
I tried to invite as many people as possible, even through facebook. But getting people our age to come is tough. Some aren't even on Oahu anymore. Those who are usually have kids. Once that happens, the kids are a bigger priority than spending the night partying! Plus, my relatives who live on the other side of the island had to work until the evenings.
But at any party, you just got to be grateful for whoever shows up! If other people don't come, that's not my problem!
---
First we was at Krazy Karaoke. It was me, Aaron Gabales, Sun Anderson and his girlfriend Nadia.
This was the first time I've seen Sun in person in a decade. We used to be high school classmates but we weren't very close! But he wanted to joined in, and it's always good to reunite with a former classmate! He was taller and depper-voiced than when I last saw him.
Since it was just a few of us, we got to hog the mic :)
My main goal was to sing "Billionaire" and "Teach Me How to Dougie". They didn't have the 2nd song, but they had the 1st one :)
Then we took turns singing songs from Britney Spears, Micheal Jackson, Creed, Roger Troutman, Limp Bizkit, Cyndi Lauper, Aerosmith, Bruddah Iz, Cassie, and a few others as well. We were singing loud, danced and moved around the room as if it was our stage! We were truly living it up! :)
Then our time was running out, so we had one last song. It was "California Gurls" by Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg!
---
Afterwards, all of us talked story and walked to Jamba Juice, where Aaron's friend Daroll worked. We had a very fun conversation!
Afterwards, Sun and Nadia had to go!
But me and Aaron felt the party was NOWHERE NEAR OVER!
We walked to Rumours Nightclub which is located in the 1st floor of Ala Moana Hotel.
Rumours is known for its 2 cages on the dancefloor. If you dance in the cages, you are pretty much the center of attention. And that's what I loved about it :) Though if you do dance in the cages, it would be a good idea to leave after 2 songs. People get annoyed by those who hog the cages, since they want a chance to dance in the cages too!
One of Aaron's aunties was there and we talked for a while. And he also saw his dad's friend over there. I saw 2 women that I have worked with at various schools I had worked at!
Then I saw another high school classmate - Anthony Bragado. I haven't seen him in person for a decade so we were really excited to see each other. He couldn't come to last year's reunion due to being in the military fighting in Afghanistan. I was happy to see that he made it back home alive and well!
--
While Rumours is also known for playing a lot of old school 80s/90s hip-hop/R&B, this night had more modern hip-hop stuff! Yes, they still played some hip-hop/R&B/dancehall classics from the old days! But they mostly played a lot of newer stuff from the last few years as well.
I'd say most of the songs played were Southern hip-hop. There was some East Coast stuff, the only West Coast played were songs that sounded Southern (ie Too Short "Blow the Whistle", Cali Swag District "Teach Me How to Dougie").
----
The party atmosphere was definitely alive. The dancefloor was packed, people were even dancing off the dancefloor too. I danced the cages a few times, and had 3 ladies dancing with me. I didn't take any home. That's OK, I don't want to make any kids right now!
When the DJs played a junk song, that was time for me to use the bathroom, get a beverage (mostly fruit punch for me, since I'm alcohol free) and just rest. When a better song is on, I'm back to the dance floor.
--
Some people stereotype nightclubs as places where drunken fights occurred. None of that happened that night! It was all good vibes.
--
After the party, I took the taxi home, took a shower, and slept.
3) The Morning After
I only slept a few hours, since my family had their post-birthday breakfast the next morning.
They couldn't make it to my karaoke party, so this was their chance to celebrate my birthday.
My mom, dad, and my 3 nieces (their parents worked that day, so they couldn't make it) had breakfast at Kapiolani Coffee Shop, which merged with Asahi Grill! I had their traditional fried rice and scrambled eggs :) My favorite meal of all time
Spent rest of Saturday reading more facebook messages, then listened to ESPN 1420 AM for the UH game Vs Nevada. I used to go to the bars to watch UH games, but I decided to stay home and listen to it on the radio, so I could multi-task (wash dishes, laundry, etc) as I listen to the game! UH upset Nevada that night, 27-21 :)
---
Sunday, I finally caught up with my sleep, slept 1/2 the day
4) Conclusion
Now that a new work-week has started, it's back to the real-world with me!
But it was a very great and exciting weekend that will live on in my memory until I get amnesia or Alzheimers or death.
I'm already thinking of a 4-decade celebration 10 years from now. Hopefully, more will join the excitement. But even if only a few show up, the party shall go on!!!!
(and to that guy who keeps telling me that I was alive 9 months before that ...... blah, blah, blah! We only celebrate our life after birth since that is when we're no longer a body part, but a separate human being)
1) I wasn't called to work that day.
Not so good, since I want to get paid.
But very good too, in that I don't have to worry about some crazy student ruining my birthday!
I spent most of my daytime at McCully Library, using the computers for internet.
I posted my previous blog post titled "My first 3 decades of life"
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-first-3-decades-of-life.html
I actually wrote the draft earlier in the week, saved it in my email account, then finally posted it on my birthday!
Then I checked my facebook account, saw plenty of birthday messages. New ones kept popping up! I feel so loved, even by those I haven't seen in person since the previous millenium. That's what facebook is all about, reconnecting with people from earlier phases of life!
In the afternoon, I took a short nap, then made my dinner, took a shower, get dressed! As I left my home, I got a birthday call from my parents
2) The exciting part
Night time falls and it's time to party!
A few months earlier, my friend Aaron G. had an idea of doing karaoke, then clubbing on my birthday night! I LOVED THAT IDEA!
I don't go out at night very often. Only on special occassions. But you can't get any more special than a 30th birthday! So it was a PERFECT TIME to PARTY!!!!!
I tried to invite as many people as possible, even through facebook. But getting people our age to come is tough. Some aren't even on Oahu anymore. Those who are usually have kids. Once that happens, the kids are a bigger priority than spending the night partying! Plus, my relatives who live on the other side of the island had to work until the evenings.
But at any party, you just got to be grateful for whoever shows up! If other people don't come, that's not my problem!
---
First we was at Krazy Karaoke. It was me, Aaron Gabales, Sun Anderson and his girlfriend Nadia.
This was the first time I've seen Sun in person in a decade. We used to be high school classmates but we weren't very close! But he wanted to joined in, and it's always good to reunite with a former classmate! He was taller and depper-voiced than when I last saw him.
Since it was just a few of us, we got to hog the mic :)
My main goal was to sing "Billionaire" and "Teach Me How to Dougie". They didn't have the 2nd song, but they had the 1st one :)
Then we took turns singing songs from Britney Spears, Micheal Jackson, Creed, Roger Troutman, Limp Bizkit, Cyndi Lauper, Aerosmith, Bruddah Iz, Cassie, and a few others as well. We were singing loud, danced and moved around the room as if it was our stage! We were truly living it up! :)
Then our time was running out, so we had one last song. It was "California Gurls" by Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg!
---
Afterwards, all of us talked story and walked to Jamba Juice, where Aaron's friend Daroll worked. We had a very fun conversation!
Afterwards, Sun and Nadia had to go!
But me and Aaron felt the party was NOWHERE NEAR OVER!
We walked to Rumours Nightclub which is located in the 1st floor of Ala Moana Hotel.
Rumours is known for its 2 cages on the dancefloor. If you dance in the cages, you are pretty much the center of attention. And that's what I loved about it :) Though if you do dance in the cages, it would be a good idea to leave after 2 songs. People get annoyed by those who hog the cages, since they want a chance to dance in the cages too!
One of Aaron's aunties was there and we talked for a while. And he also saw his dad's friend over there. I saw 2 women that I have worked with at various schools I had worked at!
Then I saw another high school classmate - Anthony Bragado. I haven't seen him in person for a decade so we were really excited to see each other. He couldn't come to last year's reunion due to being in the military fighting in Afghanistan. I was happy to see that he made it back home alive and well!
--
While Rumours is also known for playing a lot of old school 80s/90s hip-hop/R&B, this night had more modern hip-hop stuff! Yes, they still played some hip-hop/R&B/dancehall classics from the old days! But they mostly played a lot of newer stuff from the last few years as well.
I'd say most of the songs played were Southern hip-hop. There was some East Coast stuff, the only West Coast played were songs that sounded Southern (ie Too Short "Blow the Whistle", Cali Swag District "Teach Me How to Dougie").
----
The party atmosphere was definitely alive. The dancefloor was packed, people were even dancing off the dancefloor too. I danced the cages a few times, and had 3 ladies dancing with me. I didn't take any home. That's OK, I don't want to make any kids right now!
When the DJs played a junk song, that was time for me to use the bathroom, get a beverage (mostly fruit punch for me, since I'm alcohol free) and just rest. When a better song is on, I'm back to the dance floor.
--
Some people stereotype nightclubs as places where drunken fights occurred. None of that happened that night! It was all good vibes.
--
After the party, I took the taxi home, took a shower, and slept.
3) The Morning After
I only slept a few hours, since my family had their post-birthday breakfast the next morning.
They couldn't make it to my karaoke party, so this was their chance to celebrate my birthday.
My mom, dad, and my 3 nieces (their parents worked that day, so they couldn't make it) had breakfast at Kapiolani Coffee Shop, which merged with Asahi Grill! I had their traditional fried rice and scrambled eggs :) My favorite meal of all time
Spent rest of Saturday reading more facebook messages, then listened to ESPN 1420 AM for the UH game Vs Nevada. I used to go to the bars to watch UH games, but I decided to stay home and listen to it on the radio, so I could multi-task (wash dishes, laundry, etc) as I listen to the game! UH upset Nevada that night, 27-21 :)
---
Sunday, I finally caught up with my sleep, slept 1/2 the day
4) Conclusion
Now that a new work-week has started, it's back to the real-world with me!
But it was a very great and exciting weekend that will live on in my memory until I get amnesia or Alzheimers or death.
I'm already thinking of a 4-decade celebration 10 years from now. Hopefully, more will join the excitement. But even if only a few show up, the party shall go on!!!!
Friday, October 15, 2010
My first 3 decades of life
Today, it's official! I have lived 3 full decades since birth!
A big milestone for me! 3 decades since I was born in Queen's Hospital in downtown Honolulu!
1) My 20's are over!
The 20's are when a person comes out of adolescence and into adulthood!
Some of the lessons you learned as an adolescence has to be unlearned in adulthood!
A lot of the lessons you learned from your peers in your teenage years can put you in serious trouble as an adult.
Back in my teenage years, sometimes people would ask "why don't you fight that guy, are you scared?" if you refuse to fight someone! Because no boy wants to be known as a wuss, losing control of one's anger is encouraged! Losing control of your anger is seen as a "sign of toughness" among teenagers. It can become a habit!
When I started working in the schools, I wanted to be seen as a "cool teacher" but I also didn't want to be seen a "wuss teacher"! In the beginning, though I was usually the "nice guy", I also yelled with rage a few times. But I learned that once that happens, that's the ONLY thing people remember! Everything else is ignored!
Thanks to people like Vince DeBina, Francis Akana, Miles Ogawa, and others, I have learned ways to be stern without rage! These are role models I wish I had earlier in life!
Many parents and teachers don't teach their kids how to stand for themselves, because they don't want their kids to stand up to them! Parents and teachers want to be in control and don't want to lose control of their kids. But the kids won't be kids forever, they need to learn skills of confidence, personal authority, being stern, and avoid rages! This is essential for success in a career and marriage! Parents and teachers need to find ways to instill those lessons! Otherwise, the kids will only learn conflict resolutions from their peers, and in too many cases, those end up being skills more suited to a prison environment than a professional environment!
Another transition many people go through in their 20's is having to learn that what is considered funny among teens can be career-ending as adults. Silliness is rewarded by your peers as a teenager. While I can still be funny and silly, I have to be more careful, now that I have to be a role model! Anything you do, the kids will copy in a more dangerous or offensive manner.
2) Achievements and Accomplishments
I am proud of the achievements and accomplishments I have gained so far in life.
I have been under-estimated at various times, but rised above expectations.
I didn't even start talking until 5 years old. Most kids start talking at age 2! This is came with disadvantages. I had a tendency to mumble and occasionally stutter. Because I didn't "look local" to some, some thought my mumbling was due to "being foreign". I have learned to talk slower and to think of what to say before saying it! I have also told some students that if they feel I was talking too fast, to let me know politely, so I can repeat it in a slower pace. I'm usually understood when I'm talking and I know that because of the way people usually react to what I am saying! But everyone experience hearing people ask "what was that again?", even the smoothest talkers.
Also, because I started talking late, I started kindergarten a year later than other kids born the same year as me. While most kids born in 1980 are in the c/o 98, I was c/o 99 due to the delay in starting kindergarten. That's fine with me, since I did pretty well in most academic subjects. While I was average in math, I was in the higher classes for most other subjects. And I was way ahead of most of my peers when the subject was history and geography. I even won a few geography bees back in elementary school. This was because I was lucky enough to have atlases, encyclopedias in the home I grew up in. Not every kid is lucky to have books in the home. I feel bad for them.
By the time I started adulthood, I graduated high school with a 3.3 GPA, and went to the University of Hawaii - Manoa. Graduating from college was one of my proudest moments of my life, because I accomplished something that many people never get to experience.
For more on my high school life, check out
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2009/06/10-years-ago-today.html
For more on my UH career, check out
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2009/12/5-years-since-my-uh-graduation.html
---
I graduated from UH in Fall 2004! Even with my degree, I was still searching for a direction in life. I was inspired by Micheal Meli, who was a UH classmate who graduated a year before me. Right after he graduated, he became a substitute teacher. He indirectly inspired me to become a substitute teacher myself.
I have been working as a substitute teacher for 5 years now. Also, earlier this year, I have gotten a part-time position working as a para-professional tutor at a middle school, working with students in the Special Education program. This is usually 2x a week. I work the other days as a substitute teacher.
I am planning to eventually becoming a full-time teacher! However, I will need to take more classes to get certified. I was considering taking the teacher ed program at UH, though most of the classes are daytime, which can be a scheduling conflict for those with full-time jobs. I am also considering the University of Phoenix, with a master's program that's more flexible for working adults. But it's not yet official.
3) Stuff I still haven't got around to
Back in high school, I wanted to learn how to drive. I did get my permit for those learning to drive.
However, I got distracted by other priorities. School, work, balancing my budgets.
Yep, 30 without a driver's license! People sometimes react to that with shock! It's like they never heard of it before!
I can still get around by bus, bike or walk. Plus, I never have to worry about parking :) I see people driving around the parking lot frustrated by the lack of parking space. Whereas for me, as soon as I get to the place, I just walk right in! :)
No need to worry about paying for gas, paying for car repairs, or paying for car insurance.
Though I do dream of driving around in a green 1964 Chevy Impala, with the hydraulics jumping, and the stereo blasting :) And driving friends and relatives around the island. Or just cruising Kapiolani Blvd or Kalakaua Ave at night with the stereos blasting!
---------
While I have traveled to Mexico, California and Las Vegas, it's been a while. Again, other priorities got in the way!
I do hope to be able to travel to places like Miami, New Orleans, El Paso, San Antonio, Austin, Atlanta! Also, check out all the historical monuments in Washington DC, and check out New York City. Check out Yellowstone, Yosemite, and go to Alaska
While I already visited Mexico, I also dream of visiting my other ancestral lands like Puerto Rico, Spain, Portugal and Germany. While I have a German last name, I don't look German, and I identify with it the least, due to the low exposure to that culture. Because of my last name, I got asked all these questions about German culture by this one immigrant Polish woman, and this one Filipina lady whose husband was stationed in Germany. I told them they had way more exposure to German culture than I did. I only got the last name!
Maybe after visiting my ancestral lands, I want to visit the ancestral lands of my classmates and students. That will mean the other Pacific Islands and Asia. Then I'll continue on to South America, Africa and the Middle East, and wherever else I forgot to mention.
4) Avoiding falling into ghetto stereotypes
I spent the first 14 years of my life in a public housing in Kalihi. While it's officially called "Puahala Homes", everyone just calls it "Lanakila Housing" due to being near a school, park and an avenue all named Lanakila! While it's not as well known, and not as dangerous as other housing complexes like Kuhio Park Terrace, Mayor Wright's Housing or Kalhi Valley Home (aka Kam IV), it is definitely not a quiet suburb!
Even my family circumstances had its own challenges. My mother grew up in the same neighborhood and was a teen parent. My father was an immigrant from Mexico. My father likes to drink beer, and while drunk, is uncontrollable. My mother, while peaceful, loving and caring, doesn't always notice problems until they get too big to ignore.
The stereotype of people who grow up in those circumstances are "they end up being high school dropouts, become alcoholics and drug addicts, they end up living the life of crime and spend prison time, and they become parents while still teenagers".
I sure didn't fit those stereotypes!
I really believe that my success in avoiding these problems growing up was because I usually thought about the long-term. I always thought that doing the right things can open doors in the future.
However, too many kids think in the short-term. They think "homework too hard, why bother". They think "I gotta cut class, smoke and drink to fit in." That is short-term thinking, and THAT is what get kids into trouble.
I mean, I know kids who had more than enough intelligence to do well in school and in life, but were so Short-Term Oriented that they ruined their potential by cutting class, smoking, drinking, and getting involved in the gang life! Very heart-breaking!
As for me, fitting in wasn't a big priority. Even if all the other kids didn't do their homework, I still did mine. Ask anyone in my 9th grade science class if you think I'm exaggerating about all the other kids in class not doing homework.
And I have never cutted class. Sure, some classes have teachers and classmates who weren't ideal! I was thinking long-term! Just go to class, get the work done, get the grade! You can't get ideal situations all the time, so just bear with it!
-------
If you ever wonder why I refuse to drink alcoholic beverages, it's because I refuse to follow the same direction as my father. My father is usually friendly when sober, but gets very moody when drunk. I remember the trip to Mexico, where he raged at his own mother. My dad was drunk! I even remember my mom going to my grandma's home to call the cops on my dad! My dad was drunk! This was why me and my brothers don't drink alcoholic beverages. In fact, my dad is proud that I didn't inherit his bad habits!
Even hearing how the people in the housing act when they were drunk made me want to avoid alcohol! Hearing people making noise late at night, and hearing domestic disputes from nearby residents made me want to remain abstinent from alcohol for life!
Also, everything I heard from guest speakers at school and stuff I read about alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs is more than enough to convince me that it's not good to try those things. Pretty much every kid hears those lessons in school! Unfortunately, in too many cases, when those kids grow up, they give in to peer pressure, in a desperate attempt to fit in! However, some things are more important to me than fitting in!
Plus, alcohol smells bad, and I don't even understand why people need to get drunk to have fun. You don't need alcohol to enjoy a sports game, a party, or whatever else!
-----------
The other risks in growing up in the ghettoes include gang involvement and being a teen parent.
I wasn't hard enough to even be recruited by any gang. Maybe that was a good thing! Plus, all the stories I heard about what goes on in prison is more than enough to scare me from getting involved in criminal activity.
Also, I also avoided being a teen parent, since when it comes to getting laid, I just didn't try hard enough! LOL! Maybe that's a good thing too!
5) From the Hood to the Suburbs
When I was 14, my parents had to move out of Lanakila Housing, because their income was over the limit. After all, that complex was made for "low-income people" and my parent's income was no longer "low".
Well, they wanted to "buy" a house. But just like most cases of "buying a house", the bank bought the house for them, on the condition they make monthly payments. While "buying a house" sounds great, being locked into those mortgages makes your life less flexible, especially if your life in the new location doesn't work out!
Well, my parents "bought" a house in one of those suburbs in the western half of Oahu! I HATED IT!
I don't care if the grass was greener, things look nicer, blah, blah, blah! That stuff is meaningless!
Ideally, a kid grows up in the same neighborhood, growing up with the same friends, going to the same school as their peers. This type of consistency is WAY MORE IMPORTANT than green grass, nice scenery, and all that other stuff.
My grandma still lived in the housing, so I stayed there part-time, and used her address so I could attend the same schools as my childhood peers! However, my parents made me stay in their suburban home for the weekends! That was a problem for me!
At age 14, that is when a boy is in process of becoming a man. And yes, there was pressure from peers, my brothers and father to toughen up! Yet, what did my parents do when I was 14? Make me move to a suburb, which is the most emasculating environment known to humanity! That environments sucks all the masculinity out of you, especially when you need it the most.
Also at age 14 is usually when kids are allowed to roam their neighborhoods by themselves. While other kids probably do that earlier, my mom was a bit over-protective on that! I don't blame her, since it was a rough environment. But just as I was ready to be more adventurous in exploring the hood on my own, my parents moved me to the suburbs! Needless to say, I wasn't very happy about that!
Plus, being in the suburbs meant being in the middle of nowhere! There's nothing there! At least in Honolulu, you get easy access to Ala Moana, downtown, Kapiolani Boulevard, Waikiki, and all the other places teens loved to go! Better for me to stay in the inner-city ghetto and have access to those things, than to be stuck in a suburb.
Also, using my grandma's address for school papers can be a problem, because eventually people find out I wasn't living there full-time, and you never know who might snitch to DOE authorities who may be vigilant about students using their real address!
It got to that point where I just couldn't take being in my parent's suburban house! I wanted to move back to urban Honolulu, even if it's in the hood! Going through the emotions described in the previous paragraphs got me to the point where I got into the biggest rage of my life! I punched some big pillows with full rage right in front of my mom and she was terrified! She was in tears! She could no longer handle dealing with this issue, and she called my grandma to let me live with her full-time. Yep, I went back to the hood and stayed with my grandma full-time, which was what should've happened in the first place.
My parents should've just moved to Liliha, Kukui's, downtown, or Keeaumoku. No need to worry about "housing income limits", no need to worry about being evasive about the address, no need to worry about being separated from childhood peers, no need to worry about being away from places people my age loved to go to!
6) Single 4 Life?
On my mother's side of the family, I got 6 uncles. 2 of them are fathers. 4 of them are what I call "single for life"
I think I'm going in the direction of "Single 4 life" just like my 4 uncles.
I like living alone! I can have noise when I want and I can have quiet when I want!
I'm one of those people who can go days without socializing with others. Don't get me wrong, I am NOT hiding from the world! If you want to contact me, I'm EASY to find online! It's just that I like to have some quiet time to myself! I don't need to be around large groups of people all the time!
I do occasionally spend time with friends and family, but not everyday. In fact, since today's my birthday, I'll having a karaoke party with them, and plan to hit the clubs later in the night! I do love occasionally going to big events with tons of people there!
I also love facebook, where it's easy to contact others I haven't seen in a long time. So far, I got 250+ on my list, all people I have met through my 3 decades of life! And I appreciate every one of them for continuing to stay in my life!
For more things I love about being on facebook, check out
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010/06/one-year-on-facebook.html
As for marriage and kids, I'm not in that direction yet. I'm not much into dating, though I do occasionally love to hit the clubs and dance with the ladies at times :) I'm just not interested in a long-term relationship for now!
I'm not ready for parenthood yet, and I want to be able to plan when I'm having kids.
Too many people make kids when they're not even ready to have kids. Some people are so short-term oriented that they have unprotected sex and end up having kids they're not ready to take care of!
Some people do become good parents, even if they were totally unprepared parents in the beginning! Even those who were teen parents can become great parents. But too many people shouldn't become parents due to their attitude and immaturity! Those people should just use birth control or just stick with the dry humping!
Too many people act like they're shocked when someone says "I don't want to have kids". You should be happy when some people say "I don't want to have kids"! Some people shouldn't be having kids, and we shouldn't pressure them! The kids suffer when they're made by unprepared parents.
7) Conclusion
If you could make it through the end of this blog post, congratulations. I know it is long, and not everyone has the patience to read long pieces of writing!
But yeah, that is what my first 3 decades of life was like! Now it's time for a new phase of life!
New problems, new stress factors! But also new blessings, new things to learn, new exciting things to experiences, new people that will enrich my life for the better! And a new generation to share all my life lessons with!
Even with all those challenges I faced, I still believe you can't be mad at the world all the time! Yeah, I get mad at stuff, but you gotta enjoy the lighter side of life too! Even the Haitian earthquake victims found time during the recovery to play soccer and dance to music. Chances are the rescued Chilean miners will soon do so too. I known war veterans who survived IED explosions come home and dance during reunions. You can't be a 24-7 victim. Sooner or later, you just gotta put your problems on the side, and do something fun once in a while!
While I'm not part of an organized religion, I believe God is looking out for me. While the devil gets in the way at times, I believe God will help me through the crazy times!
I will enjoy this night, and I hope I will have more decades to celebrate!
A big milestone for me! 3 decades since I was born in Queen's Hospital in downtown Honolulu!
1) My 20's are over!
The 20's are when a person comes out of adolescence and into adulthood!
Some of the lessons you learned as an adolescence has to be unlearned in adulthood!
A lot of the lessons you learned from your peers in your teenage years can put you in serious trouble as an adult.
Back in my teenage years, sometimes people would ask "why don't you fight that guy, are you scared?" if you refuse to fight someone! Because no boy wants to be known as a wuss, losing control of one's anger is encouraged! Losing control of your anger is seen as a "sign of toughness" among teenagers. It can become a habit!
When I started working in the schools, I wanted to be seen as a "cool teacher" but I also didn't want to be seen a "wuss teacher"! In the beginning, though I was usually the "nice guy", I also yelled with rage a few times. But I learned that once that happens, that's the ONLY thing people remember! Everything else is ignored!
Thanks to people like Vince DeBina, Francis Akana, Miles Ogawa, and others, I have learned ways to be stern without rage! These are role models I wish I had earlier in life!
Many parents and teachers don't teach their kids how to stand for themselves, because they don't want their kids to stand up to them! Parents and teachers want to be in control and don't want to lose control of their kids. But the kids won't be kids forever, they need to learn skills of confidence, personal authority, being stern, and avoid rages! This is essential for success in a career and marriage! Parents and teachers need to find ways to instill those lessons! Otherwise, the kids will only learn conflict resolutions from their peers, and in too many cases, those end up being skills more suited to a prison environment than a professional environment!
Another transition many people go through in their 20's is having to learn that what is considered funny among teens can be career-ending as adults. Silliness is rewarded by your peers as a teenager. While I can still be funny and silly, I have to be more careful, now that I have to be a role model! Anything you do, the kids will copy in a more dangerous or offensive manner.
2) Achievements and Accomplishments
I am proud of the achievements and accomplishments I have gained so far in life.
I have been under-estimated at various times, but rised above expectations.
I didn't even start talking until 5 years old. Most kids start talking at age 2! This is came with disadvantages. I had a tendency to mumble and occasionally stutter. Because I didn't "look local" to some, some thought my mumbling was due to "being foreign". I have learned to talk slower and to think of what to say before saying it! I have also told some students that if they feel I was talking too fast, to let me know politely, so I can repeat it in a slower pace. I'm usually understood when I'm talking and I know that because of the way people usually react to what I am saying! But everyone experience hearing people ask "what was that again?", even the smoothest talkers.
Also, because I started talking late, I started kindergarten a year later than other kids born the same year as me. While most kids born in 1980 are in the c/o 98, I was c/o 99 due to the delay in starting kindergarten. That's fine with me, since I did pretty well in most academic subjects. While I was average in math, I was in the higher classes for most other subjects. And I was way ahead of most of my peers when the subject was history and geography. I even won a few geography bees back in elementary school. This was because I was lucky enough to have atlases, encyclopedias in the home I grew up in. Not every kid is lucky to have books in the home. I feel bad for them.
By the time I started adulthood, I graduated high school with a 3.3 GPA, and went to the University of Hawaii - Manoa. Graduating from college was one of my proudest moments of my life, because I accomplished something that many people never get to experience.
For more on my high school life, check out
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2009/06/10-years-ago-today.html
For more on my UH career, check out
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2009/12/5-years-since-my-uh-graduation.html
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I graduated from UH in Fall 2004! Even with my degree, I was still searching for a direction in life. I was inspired by Micheal Meli, who was a UH classmate who graduated a year before me. Right after he graduated, he became a substitute teacher. He indirectly inspired me to become a substitute teacher myself.
I have been working as a substitute teacher for 5 years now. Also, earlier this year, I have gotten a part-time position working as a para-professional tutor at a middle school, working with students in the Special Education program. This is usually 2x a week. I work the other days as a substitute teacher.
I am planning to eventually becoming a full-time teacher! However, I will need to take more classes to get certified. I was considering taking the teacher ed program at UH, though most of the classes are daytime, which can be a scheduling conflict for those with full-time jobs. I am also considering the University of Phoenix, with a master's program that's more flexible for working adults. But it's not yet official.
3) Stuff I still haven't got around to
Back in high school, I wanted to learn how to drive. I did get my permit for those learning to drive.
However, I got distracted by other priorities. School, work, balancing my budgets.
Yep, 30 without a driver's license! People sometimes react to that with shock! It's like they never heard of it before!
I can still get around by bus, bike or walk. Plus, I never have to worry about parking :) I see people driving around the parking lot frustrated by the lack of parking space. Whereas for me, as soon as I get to the place, I just walk right in! :)
No need to worry about paying for gas, paying for car repairs, or paying for car insurance.
Though I do dream of driving around in a green 1964 Chevy Impala, with the hydraulics jumping, and the stereo blasting :) And driving friends and relatives around the island. Or just cruising Kapiolani Blvd or Kalakaua Ave at night with the stereos blasting!
---------
While I have traveled to Mexico, California and Las Vegas, it's been a while. Again, other priorities got in the way!
I do hope to be able to travel to places like Miami, New Orleans, El Paso, San Antonio, Austin, Atlanta! Also, check out all the historical monuments in Washington DC, and check out New York City. Check out Yellowstone, Yosemite, and go to Alaska
While I already visited Mexico, I also dream of visiting my other ancestral lands like Puerto Rico, Spain, Portugal and Germany. While I have a German last name, I don't look German, and I identify with it the least, due to the low exposure to that culture. Because of my last name, I got asked all these questions about German culture by this one immigrant Polish woman, and this one Filipina lady whose husband was stationed in Germany. I told them they had way more exposure to German culture than I did. I only got the last name!
Maybe after visiting my ancestral lands, I want to visit the ancestral lands of my classmates and students. That will mean the other Pacific Islands and Asia. Then I'll continue on to South America, Africa and the Middle East, and wherever else I forgot to mention.
4) Avoiding falling into ghetto stereotypes
I spent the first 14 years of my life in a public housing in Kalihi. While it's officially called "Puahala Homes", everyone just calls it "Lanakila Housing" due to being near a school, park and an avenue all named Lanakila! While it's not as well known, and not as dangerous as other housing complexes like Kuhio Park Terrace, Mayor Wright's Housing or Kalhi Valley Home (aka Kam IV), it is definitely not a quiet suburb!
Even my family circumstances had its own challenges. My mother grew up in the same neighborhood and was a teen parent. My father was an immigrant from Mexico. My father likes to drink beer, and while drunk, is uncontrollable. My mother, while peaceful, loving and caring, doesn't always notice problems until they get too big to ignore.
The stereotype of people who grow up in those circumstances are "they end up being high school dropouts, become alcoholics and drug addicts, they end up living the life of crime and spend prison time, and they become parents while still teenagers".
I sure didn't fit those stereotypes!
I really believe that my success in avoiding these problems growing up was because I usually thought about the long-term. I always thought that doing the right things can open doors in the future.
However, too many kids think in the short-term. They think "homework too hard, why bother". They think "I gotta cut class, smoke and drink to fit in." That is short-term thinking, and THAT is what get kids into trouble.
I mean, I know kids who had more than enough intelligence to do well in school and in life, but were so Short-Term Oriented that they ruined their potential by cutting class, smoking, drinking, and getting involved in the gang life! Very heart-breaking!
As for me, fitting in wasn't a big priority. Even if all the other kids didn't do their homework, I still did mine. Ask anyone in my 9th grade science class if you think I'm exaggerating about all the other kids in class not doing homework.
And I have never cutted class. Sure, some classes have teachers and classmates who weren't ideal! I was thinking long-term! Just go to class, get the work done, get the grade! You can't get ideal situations all the time, so just bear with it!
-------
If you ever wonder why I refuse to drink alcoholic beverages, it's because I refuse to follow the same direction as my father. My father is usually friendly when sober, but gets very moody when drunk. I remember the trip to Mexico, where he raged at his own mother. My dad was drunk! I even remember my mom going to my grandma's home to call the cops on my dad! My dad was drunk! This was why me and my brothers don't drink alcoholic beverages. In fact, my dad is proud that I didn't inherit his bad habits!
Even hearing how the people in the housing act when they were drunk made me want to avoid alcohol! Hearing people making noise late at night, and hearing domestic disputes from nearby residents made me want to remain abstinent from alcohol for life!
Also, everything I heard from guest speakers at school and stuff I read about alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs is more than enough to convince me that it's not good to try those things. Pretty much every kid hears those lessons in school! Unfortunately, in too many cases, when those kids grow up, they give in to peer pressure, in a desperate attempt to fit in! However, some things are more important to me than fitting in!
Plus, alcohol smells bad, and I don't even understand why people need to get drunk to have fun. You don't need alcohol to enjoy a sports game, a party, or whatever else!
-----------
The other risks in growing up in the ghettoes include gang involvement and being a teen parent.
I wasn't hard enough to even be recruited by any gang. Maybe that was a good thing! Plus, all the stories I heard about what goes on in prison is more than enough to scare me from getting involved in criminal activity.
Also, I also avoided being a teen parent, since when it comes to getting laid, I just didn't try hard enough! LOL! Maybe that's a good thing too!
5) From the Hood to the Suburbs
When I was 14, my parents had to move out of Lanakila Housing, because their income was over the limit. After all, that complex was made for "low-income people" and my parent's income was no longer "low".
Well, they wanted to "buy" a house. But just like most cases of "buying a house", the bank bought the house for them, on the condition they make monthly payments. While "buying a house" sounds great, being locked into those mortgages makes your life less flexible, especially if your life in the new location doesn't work out!
Well, my parents "bought" a house in one of those suburbs in the western half of Oahu! I HATED IT!
I don't care if the grass was greener, things look nicer, blah, blah, blah! That stuff is meaningless!
Ideally, a kid grows up in the same neighborhood, growing up with the same friends, going to the same school as their peers. This type of consistency is WAY MORE IMPORTANT than green grass, nice scenery, and all that other stuff.
My grandma still lived in the housing, so I stayed there part-time, and used her address so I could attend the same schools as my childhood peers! However, my parents made me stay in their suburban home for the weekends! That was a problem for me!
At age 14, that is when a boy is in process of becoming a man. And yes, there was pressure from peers, my brothers and father to toughen up! Yet, what did my parents do when I was 14? Make me move to a suburb, which is the most emasculating environment known to humanity! That environments sucks all the masculinity out of you, especially when you need it the most.
Also at age 14 is usually when kids are allowed to roam their neighborhoods by themselves. While other kids probably do that earlier, my mom was a bit over-protective on that! I don't blame her, since it was a rough environment. But just as I was ready to be more adventurous in exploring the hood on my own, my parents moved me to the suburbs! Needless to say, I wasn't very happy about that!
Plus, being in the suburbs meant being in the middle of nowhere! There's nothing there! At least in Honolulu, you get easy access to Ala Moana, downtown, Kapiolani Boulevard, Waikiki, and all the other places teens loved to go! Better for me to stay in the inner-city ghetto and have access to those things, than to be stuck in a suburb.
Also, using my grandma's address for school papers can be a problem, because eventually people find out I wasn't living there full-time, and you never know who might snitch to DOE authorities who may be vigilant about students using their real address!
It got to that point where I just couldn't take being in my parent's suburban house! I wanted to move back to urban Honolulu, even if it's in the hood! Going through the emotions described in the previous paragraphs got me to the point where I got into the biggest rage of my life! I punched some big pillows with full rage right in front of my mom and she was terrified! She was in tears! She could no longer handle dealing with this issue, and she called my grandma to let me live with her full-time. Yep, I went back to the hood and stayed with my grandma full-time, which was what should've happened in the first place.
My parents should've just moved to Liliha, Kukui's, downtown, or Keeaumoku. No need to worry about "housing income limits", no need to worry about being evasive about the address, no need to worry about being separated from childhood peers, no need to worry about being away from places people my age loved to go to!
6) Single 4 Life?
On my mother's side of the family, I got 6 uncles. 2 of them are fathers. 4 of them are what I call "single for life"
I think I'm going in the direction of "Single 4 life" just like my 4 uncles.
I like living alone! I can have noise when I want and I can have quiet when I want!
I'm one of those people who can go days without socializing with others. Don't get me wrong, I am NOT hiding from the world! If you want to contact me, I'm EASY to find online! It's just that I like to have some quiet time to myself! I don't need to be around large groups of people all the time!
I do occasionally spend time with friends and family, but not everyday. In fact, since today's my birthday, I'll having a karaoke party with them, and plan to hit the clubs later in the night! I do love occasionally going to big events with tons of people there!
I also love facebook, where it's easy to contact others I haven't seen in a long time. So far, I got 250+ on my list, all people I have met through my 3 decades of life! And I appreciate every one of them for continuing to stay in my life!
For more things I love about being on facebook, check out
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010/06/one-year-on-facebook.html
As for marriage and kids, I'm not in that direction yet. I'm not much into dating, though I do occasionally love to hit the clubs and dance with the ladies at times :) I'm just not interested in a long-term relationship for now!
I'm not ready for parenthood yet, and I want to be able to plan when I'm having kids.
Too many people make kids when they're not even ready to have kids. Some people are so short-term oriented that they have unprotected sex and end up having kids they're not ready to take care of!
Some people do become good parents, even if they were totally unprepared parents in the beginning! Even those who were teen parents can become great parents. But too many people shouldn't become parents due to their attitude and immaturity! Those people should just use birth control or just stick with the dry humping!
Too many people act like they're shocked when someone says "I don't want to have kids". You should be happy when some people say "I don't want to have kids"! Some people shouldn't be having kids, and we shouldn't pressure them! The kids suffer when they're made by unprepared parents.
7) Conclusion
If you could make it through the end of this blog post, congratulations. I know it is long, and not everyone has the patience to read long pieces of writing!
But yeah, that is what my first 3 decades of life was like! Now it's time for a new phase of life!
New problems, new stress factors! But also new blessings, new things to learn, new exciting things to experiences, new people that will enrich my life for the better! And a new generation to share all my life lessons with!
Even with all those challenges I faced, I still believe you can't be mad at the world all the time! Yeah, I get mad at stuff, but you gotta enjoy the lighter side of life too! Even the Haitian earthquake victims found time during the recovery to play soccer and dance to music. Chances are the rescued Chilean miners will soon do so too. I known war veterans who survived IED explosions come home and dance during reunions. You can't be a 24-7 victim. Sooner or later, you just gotta put your problems on the side, and do something fun once in a while!
While I'm not part of an organized religion, I believe God is looking out for me. While the devil gets in the way at times, I believe God will help me through the crazy times!
I will enjoy this night, and I hope I will have more decades to celebrate!
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