What happened in 2012

Still didn't find those WMDs.

However, for the sake of posterity it is worthwhile for me to enter into the record the major world events of 2012. I will start from a macro viewpoint and whittle this thing down to my inner, inner most self.

The universe continued to expand, with not enough dark matter to hinder the great expansion from continuing. However, the acceleration appears to be slowing so it is still a matter of debate whether the great contraction will ensue and the universe will end in a ball of fire and soaring temperatures instead of the universal freezing that an infinite expansion would imply. The higgs boson was discovered so now we know exactly what gives mass, mass.No life was found anywhere else in our universe.

Our galaxy was cool, our solar system being rated the number one planetary system, yet again.

Earth popped of as usual, with Europe winning the best place and America winning the most ignorant place of the year. Looks like Americans continued to be ignorant for the nth straight year since republicans had Nixon in office etc.

Two  Chainz (four bracelets) and Just Bieber tied for the main ma fucka award this year. Two Chainz (four bracelets) was real good as far as the music game and fashion game goes, also for the big booty hoe game and the being different game. If any of these references don't make sense please check out the website youtube at youtube.com and then search for two chainz and you can see his additions to the american culture. Biebs was hooking up with a nice young latina girl and just getting guap so thats why he is in the race.

Cali stayed doing fun things as far as being a place where gang bangin was real and the emergence of the rap game young up and comers ie Kendrick Lamar. It also remained pretty progressive and we elected Obama again and raised taxes on the rich retroactively which is some sort of wild thing that I've never heard of before. Also Orange County remained a real nice place to aspire to live once a man is successful and ballin. If you live in Balboa you are doing it and are a crony. Santa Ana, no. Huntington, no. Irvine, no. Ocean views, or nothing. But I moved to Venice this year. Accomplished my life goal of living near the beach this year at the age of 24. So not much more to really strive for and it's all down hill.

Venice is an interesting place where hipsters/rich people/minorities intersect. If you've seen the movie (film) crash you'll understand what I'm saying in that this type of thing is very uncommon in a city like Los Angeles where people pay good money to hide from minorities. Had alot of good times here with my friends hanging out at my apartment and then walking around the area at night trying to be interesting or different. Was nice to be able to walk to the beach every weekend and see real people and real things.

My apartment was more than I'd ever thought in life I'd have all to myself and the things I have right now are more than anyone needs or should have. It's a damn shame to be honest.

I haven't been to the gym in about nine months and find my strength only minimally diminished - mainly because even if I were much stronger it would not be apparent given most of my life is spent sitting at a desk and physical strength has little, if any, value to me.

My intelligence is greater than it was in subjects including financial matters. This is strictly a function of things I do at work and speak nothing to accomplishment or achievement other than by necessity and repetition. I have diminished in knowledge on things relating to sports - which are the one constant interest I have had throughout my effective life.

My soul is not substantially above, nor below what it was in 2011. Is 2011 I went through a situation of change. I gave myself up to the subtleties of karma and was rewarded. I made it to a place that most people will never know or see - and I did it by the age of 25. Things are easy now and I know no struggle. If things go as planned I will never again no any real struggle, nor will my progeny. The rest of my struggles will be imagined and created.

2012

Blessings Of Jah (Yet Again)

(Thoughts go out to all those who have been adversely effected by hurricane/tropical storm Sandy.)

Sometimes, Jah blesses us in mysterious ways, and yesterday was one of them for me. A severe weather event happened named Sandy and all the scumbags on Wall St. decided they couldn't really operate. So what did they do? They shut the shit down. Ergo, pawns like me couldn't do much etc etc, so, yesterday the powers that be (with the blessings of Allah) sent folks home. In addition, they said that folks could work from home today. How 'bout that! This young buck went into the office space expecting just another week of work, but come to find out it wasn't going to be just any other week! More "me" time. More time to relax. More time to focus on the hobbies and just plain chill! So I was giddy as a young school girl and on my way out of work I decided to treat myself to some celebratory type activity so I bought a chocolate chip cookie, an iced coffee and a mcdouble. I took a picture of them and you can see them below:

Okay. I at this point I was not even playing. Alot of what motivated me was all the haters out there who thought that I would just be working in an office all the time and that I wouldn't receive any blessings from Jah such as getting to 1) leave early and 2) work from home. Let me say that again: I GOT TO LEAVE WORK EARLY AND THEN I GET TO WORK FROM HOME!!! Yup. We got the election season in full gear and it looks like Obama just sealed my vote on what he did here - given his ability to channel the abilities of Jah and his soldier Hale Silassie I. He set forth and he said "all you Wall St folks I doth upon you two things: 1) yall get to leave da work early on dis here day and 2) tomorrow yall get to work from da home and do mostly nothing at all. And things were good.

So now as I write this from my couch while yall are out there working hard in your offices and what not just remember that I said "Hi Haters." Weather is shaping up nicely I might go get some rays, or go for a bike ride, or read some things on the internet, or on a book. I might even go to the movies - who knows?

Update - stepped outside to look at the world and I noticed Jah resurrected my plant that alot of haters was dead and gone:

A Night At The Show

Went to the show the other night, I did. Fun time, it was.

The thing about the show is all that glitters is gold, and more often than not - when in Rome... You know the saying...

But this night was a special night, and a young man may have had one of those transcendental experiences that goes on to define ones life. We are all influenced by what we see on the big screen, and films that seem to be innocuous at the start, may cause a burgeoning interest in a new subject that can become a guiding life path. War Horse. I think everyone can agree that after seeing this film they wanted to become a stallion roaming the battles of the Civil War. Billy Elliot. It was not you, nor I, that consciously made the decision to give up dreams of NFL stardom to find a true expression of self. Transformers... Finding Nemo...Over the Top... etc etc... These movies touched something inside of each and every one of us in a way that we knew not possible.

Paid In Full.

A movie that extols the principles outlined above for each and every one of us; a film that shed light on a way of life that so many had previously failed to successfully accomplish.

But back to the night at the show - there I was, iced coffee in hand, at trendy Los Angeles spot with my girlfriend on a nice date night when I turned to the right and saw something that I initially thought could not possibly be true. Not Tom Hanks, not Leo, not Cruise, not Brad, not Depp, not no not Pattinson. I'm talking about Wood Harris. Okay, to me this man is more than just one of the biggest actors in the game, he is a legend. But I understand the magic of Hollywood (or Harlem wink wink) and that this guy is just making a living like us all. But the rest I can't believe even as I write it...

As my favorite actor of all time (I'm sure you all feel the same) I had to tell this guy. But as you might expect there were hundreds of other people creating a mob type atmosphere, but I felt so strongly about my admiration for the characters (Ace Boogie, Avon Barksdale) that I had to tell him the appreciation I had for his art (as fictional as it may be). I pushed my way through the now mob of thousands of people and I said "excuse me, I just want to let you know that Paid In Full is my favorite movie of all time, and I hope you know that it is one of the defining films of the last 30 years." With this, Wood was completely dismissive and said "sorry man, its just a movie, wish I could say it was something more, and I am sorry I am not that man, nor do I live the life of what I show on the big screen, its all fake kid." And I responded "Say it ain't so, Say it ain't so." He saw the tear begin to form in my eye and before it fell he said, "yes, but hey man, bring your girl and lets go to this spot I know, should be a fun time." So I did.

You know how these Hollywood types can be; pretentious etc. But I figured I'd give it a shot, and I show up to the spot and he is sitting at a table with some girls who looked like:

And I was like damn.

And then some bottles came around that were like:

And I was like okay.

And he pulled out some money like:

And at this point I couldn't believe it. But then I looked around and luckily I filmed it because I wouldn't believe it if I looked back at it:

(go to 5:30)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0294NpZvqGY&feature=BFa&list=PL10A72BE2E54E5574

The thing is, this was A Night At The Museum and Midnight In Paris in one - but I was in Harlem and it was some time in the 1980s. So it was  better than anything anyone could imagine.

But similar to the Woody Allen flick (Woody ~ Wood etc etc) it all came to an end just as quick as it began. And then I watched Wood Harris come in the door to the lounge of the theater and my body was slow as molasses and I was as starstruck as could be, and no one realized who the guy was, and I watched as he walked away without anyone saying a damn thing to him. Me, no exception. And then he was gone. Wood Harris. Ace. Avon. Wood Harris. 

Chinese Fish Essay

Hi Haters :)

Well hello haters. Going to go ahead and disappoint you guys off the bat because 1) I'm still alive 2) I'm still getting money and 3) Obama finna double up.

I'm not going to bore you folks with stories about waking up, going to work, going to sleep etc etc. What I am going to address is a little activity called the "staycation." Haters all around the hood are hating on it, but I'ma be real with you guys: if you can't have fun on a staycation, then you just are a boring person. If you need to go to Saint-Tropez to feel alive, if you can't do it right here in the U S and A, then you really need to find yourself.

Let me back up a few years to back when I was about twelve...

1999 Victorville, CA: I was just a youth living in suburban america and the things I wanted to do were: 1) stay up late 2) eat pizza 3) hang out with my friends 4) play video games 5) listen to rap music and 6) watch sports. I wanted my parents to get off my back and let me do these things because they were fun and I found enjoyment in them. I guess parents don't want their kids to be too indulgent in these activities because of the degenerative habits that may come as a result. And, I suppose that there is always the "wanting more" aspect of these activities as a child. I vowed one day that when I grew up I was going to do the above 1-6 whenever and however much I wanted...

Present day Venice, CA: Got a job, got a crib, have a few friends with similar interests. Have time off work so I did so (an aside was balling out on the ocean view room and spending quality time with the girlfriend) and have made it a point to do 1-6 as much as possible. Is {wine tasting, saint-tropez, mountain escape, paris} a fun/beautiful/rewarding time? Absolutely. But given lack of traveling companion can I get equal or more fun right here in my living room/square mile where I live? Most definitely yes. Lets take day 1 staycation (heretofore "D1S"): A couple friends came over circa 12:00PM, video games were played, sports were watched, basketball was played, beach was swam, rap music (check), bbq (a more sophisticated palate than I had when 12) was consumed. D2S involved waking up an hour or so after I typically do and leisurely going to the local place for breakfast and then working on fitness a bit and then straight chillin' at the beach. Throw in some sports later that night and playing video games and you see where this is going...

Point is: the things you enjoyed as a kid are the things that probably you will still find enjoyment in, and possibly by its nature will be both feasible and quite easy to accomplish and find fulfillment from. The one thing that ironically has changed is the influence that the media has on me. We had politicians concerned that the youth would be unduly influenced by the words coming from rap music lyrics and that emulation would ensue causing the proliferation of drugs, gangs, and violence. This probably did happen. Though I thought I was completely immune from it as I never thought nor considered a life like what I saw in so called "gangster rap" videos. That being said, what Lil' John and co. did to the game has surely had undue influence on my life as an adult. I just realized it in the last few weeks and it needs further thought to really understand why Bands A Make Her Dance has had a demonstrable impact on my life decisions. Hopefully I will wrap my mind around it and address why I was so strong for most of my life to not fall victim to the glorifying of all things heathen that I heard about in music until guys like this jewish kid from canada came onto the scene and it made me appreciate some of the most basic needs in life... I will address this at a later date..

Physical Work

Beware of not doing physical work. I am talking about physical labor. If you don't people will judge you. Why should you care what another man thinks about you? Well you shouldn't - but empirically it has been seen that more often than not those whose occupation involves punching numbers or letters at a computer feel inadequate when in the company of those with skills such as car skills, fixing skills, buildings skills, or other physical skills. How do they (we) make up for this shortcoming? The gym. Fitness activities in general that serve to make up for otherwise lacking strength. Is it a subconscious decision? Yes. If you are not a strong man - you are not a real man. And if you don't have man skills - you are doubly not a man. You could have all the money in the world, but if you are in a situation where someone you know is laying a concrete deck - and all you can do is watch - it won't feel good. If all other people around are contributing in various ways (this is a good example where I can't even describe what is going on because I don't know) and you are just watching like a female, it will hurt the confidence no matter how many deals you closed the last week in the office. So does all the hours at the sports club doing curls/dips/bench press/thrusters really make up for this lacking when a bunch of guys are doing building/constructing/fixing? No way. You still are worthless as far as contributing to the accomplishment of the goal. Ironically if you are real strong (and skilled at MS Office) from exploits at the gym you may be able to add to the process in various retard ways such as lifting heavy objects and this will degrade your manhood because you don't know how to do things that a man should be able to do.


Now the clear counterargument is that $$$ > All. Well if you find yourself in one of the above situations (another great example is having very simple car issues and having no idea what to do. You are likely getting screwed and made fun of at the auto shop and that is not a very manly thing to have happen to you regardless of how much $$$ you have, in fact the more $$$ you end up spending on something trivial such as an easy car repair, the less of a man you really are in this situation) then you will feel exactly what I described above.


Moral of the story is 1) get your cake up 2) but still get your physical labor type skills up

See what he did there? This guy has it figured out. Well dressed, understated - yet he knows you know he thinks he's too good to be in the office and dealing with meetings and reports and the like. Then after work what does he do? He has straight functions to get to in dimly lit areas with people gathering and socializing and overall having a good time. Does he possibly pick up the bill for he and his? Yes. Does he know the DJ? Correct. Does he maintain a smirk the entire time? Absolutely. He leaves at what looks like the height of the night - leaving everyone wanting more. He hops in his nice ride and he's off. But that's where the commercial leaves off and I fill in...

He clearly lives somewhere downtown, and after putting back a few at the hip lounge he just left (he is buzzed, yet not drunk, mind you) and he pulls up to his brick-exposed loft. He lives either on the 17th/18th floors which offers him a spectacular view of the LA basin, yet is not high enough that the elevator would take an amount of time that would hinder his ability to lure attractive Erika Badu types up to his lair. But this is where I myself am not sure: does he have a wifey type waiting back home; ergo his confidence in leaving the lounge empty handed? I think this is likely - yet I respect differing opinions on this subject (just as some can't agree whether the third caliphate was correctly handed to Ali or not). The other option is that he has his go to lined up - which expedites his leaving at the height of the gathering. She's coming through to the crib with a nice bottle of bubbly after her stressful day at communications firm X (or non-profit Y, if she REALLY is an Erika Badu type.) Optimally she in neither and is involved in art in someway. She's a painter and has a studio in the Valley because of the cheaper rent, and her place is in echo park, but she feels much safer in the confines of the downtown loft with a guy she is struggling to get away from because he won't commit to her. It's as if her life has become Fifty Shades Of... 

In any case this guy has a myriad of characteristics that we all can learn from and incorporate in our day to day.

I would continue with this buy mi need'a bunks mi res.

I and I.

-R

YOLO

You literally only live once. Not three times or even twice. You want to eat that jack in the box tonight instead of the vegan salad? Do it. You don't feel like working out, but instead you'd rather chill on the net and watch Cheers re-runs? Do it. Thinking about spending 1.50 to get a second topping on that pizza? Do it. The lady at Panda tell you double meat is 2.00 more but you actually want double the orange chicken? Do it. etc. etc. etc. Super size it sir? Absolutely. Would you guys like any appetizers to start? Absolutely, and plan on bringing us dessert menus as well. 

As associates we need to call each other out on this as well. You see a friend say no to the side of chips although you know he wants them but decides to save 0.75? Call him out. You go to the movies and you friend says "allah akbar that popcorn smells good," better call him out on that. 

Two more issues I'd like to address (unrelated). The first is the following:

"All the people that were rooting me on to fail, at the end of the day they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life they had before," James said following the Heat's loss.

My thoughts? Yup. 

Secondly is the patois phrase of the day:

"Is just pure almshouse a gwaan". 

Pure trickery going on

This might be used when your boss tells you to do something foolish. You just say:

What jah make me think dis be jus pure almshouse a gwaan.

Just not much to say

I ain't leave the game - trust - it's just that I don't got much to say recently. I'm really in a grove right now as far as life goes and living it. Days a really merging into one and trying to deviate less and less from the day prior so as to trick my mind into maybe not aging anymore, so that I can live in this fantasy life forever.

The young asian girl (no mynx) who serves me my cheese danish every couple days has also remembered my order, and when I go get an iced coffee at the end of the day - that broad knows not to put alot of ice in it and to just put cream no sugar (no homo [yes drizzy]).

Other things that have been on my mind is why isn't there a Rosetta Stone for learning Patois, and that if you were dying would you want no one to know - or would you want people to know. Both have pluses and minuses (I'm referring to yes there being a Rosetta Stone so you can sound like Movado, and no, that either you have it or you don't.)

That's all I got today except for keep your cards close to your chest - except for to your real friends because you got to tell someone so as to have some amount of accountability (particularly when referring to getting your athletic on).

GUEST BLOG - MLB 2012 Season Preview brought to you by ya boi Falstad

The man behind the blog has recently conducted some market research and found a few things: 1) dick cheney killed trayvon martin 2) the readers want more guest posts and 3) the viewers on this blog is heavily biased towards baseball fans.

Well today's your lucky muther effing day y'all. I present to you (not to you Glo) Falstad's 2012 MLB preview.

Let's start with some division winners...
AL West
Rangers - sorry angels but this team won the division by 10 damn games last year and should've won the World Series!! darvish looks legit, J-Ham hit a 500 ft HR yesterday, i think ian 'the silent jew' kinsler is a sneaky (Col. Hans Landa) MVP candidate this year, and Bush has his hands in the team still.
AL Central
Tigers - defense is a question mark but this division pretty much sucks and they gunna score damn runs. (buster posey just smoked a double into left field). verlander/miggy/prince is a nice tony jr trio (best pitcher-hitter-hitter trio in the game? probably)
AL East
Rays - boy oh boy the AL east huh? Rays are pretty sick, they got their pitching game proper and Andrew Friedman is the best GM in da game ("when in doubt, go with the jew" - Ghandi). I also think Longoria and Zobrist are two of the cooler names in da game.
NL West
Giants - y'all knew that was coming ahahahah dahhhhhhhh. on the real tip, Buster Poseys HIV medication has been real effective lately so he might be productive this year. MadBum's prognosis is still TBD.
NL Central
Cardinals - I think they are a good team at baseball. I also recently ate 4 doritos locos supreme tacos and feel diarrhea brewing in my body.
NL East
Phillies - lolerz their two best hitters are out for a long time. but theyre pitching is still tite as fuck and no one else in the division really revs my engine.

AL Wildcard 1: Angels AL Wildcard 2: Yankees [[Angels win stupid 1 game playoff]]
NL Wildcard 1: Dbacks NL Wildcard 2: Reds [[Dbacks win 1 game playoff]]

Playoffs (presented with little to no commentary!)...
Division Series
Rangers over Tigers
Angels over Rays

Cardinals over Dbacks
Phillies over Giants (lol woops)

Championship Series
Angels over Rangers (can you believe it! same division)
Phillies over St Louis (again!)

World Series
Angels - i wish i hadn't picked the Angels - little too corporate/popular/not-hipster pick. but things just worked out that way and i'm not going back to change things

Now for the awards section lol...
AL MVP
Jacoby Ellsbury - lot of h8rz been predicting a regression from Jells. I don't have any good counter to those claims but my extreme xenophobia is preventing me from selecting any of the runner ups (A-Gonzo, Bautista, Miggy, Cano)
NL MVP
Justin Upton aka J-Up aka the Big Meech aka Thas Why i Fucked Yo Bitch You Fat Muther Fucker (runners up - Kemp, Braun, Votto)
AL Cy Young
Felix Hernandez - fuck the AL. My stomach has calmed down- diarreah post-poned (runners up - Verlander, Weaver, Wilson, Sabathia)
NL Cy Young
Madison Bumgarner - yep i done picked a Giant! but not the one you thought! The big southern dandy is poised for a huge year! hes quietly been the giants best pitcher the last 1.5 seasons. (runners-up: Kershaw, Halladay, Kennedy, Hamels, Cain, JJohnson [yup I didn't name Timmy, can you believe that?])
AL ROY
Yoenis Cespedis - have you seen this guy hit? wow! (i've seen maybe 4 at bats) (Runners-up: Matt Moore, Darvish, Montero)
NL ROY
Zach Cozart - aint gunna lie i had to look up NL ROY candidates and i just picked Cozart cuz no one else did (Runners-up: Pomeranz, Yonder Alonso)

Now a few fun awards. Trust me you're going to have a lot of fun....
Tony Jr. Award (awarded to the player who is the most ballplayer tony jr powerful figure)
Giancarlo Stanton - this award belongs to J-Up, but i didn't want to double-dip so i went with the young brown RF in miami. he's a real powerful figure in his own right.
Roe v Wade Award (awarded to the player with the biggest abortion of a year (has to underperform expectations))
[player] Barry Zito - "but we already know he's going to suck" you're saying. yes, but i honestly think we "aint seen nothin yet." I think Zeet's is released mid-June with a double digit ERA. He absolutely is an abortion - and his fastball tops out at 82!! Yuck! (runners up: Jeter, Vogelsong (2 giants mentioned here? what am i doing?), Strasburg)
[team] Marlins - would just be funny really if they sucked and still had no fans w the new stadium and song -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw2HtRQ2U8Y
Allahu Akbar Award (sleeper (cell) awards lol)
[player] Carl Crawford - this guy is still tite i think
[team] Indians - saw this pick on another website and they made some good comments to back it up.
Rob Gronkowski Award (player most likely to have sexual relations with your 16 year old sister)
Nick Swisher - he's a pretty sick bro. i think he's now married to a playmate or something but i bet he still has a really good time when he goes out places.
Buster Posey Award (player most likely to come out of the closet during the season)
Danny Valencia - i saw him on MLB network and he's real clean cut and dresses well. aka gay.

Well that's gunna just about do it. If you read this post you really wasted a significant portion of your day and need to evaluate how you spend your free time. As for me, I'm going to mosey over to the toilet, pop my shirt off (yep, really) and take a filthy wet shit. Au revoir, Shoshanna.

I Memorized Your Order

Me: Could I get...

Him: :: Reaches to the side of the register and grabs a coffee and hands it towards me:: I mmmmmeeemmmooorrrriiizzzeeedddyyyerrrrroooorrrddeeerrrr (Drizzy Voice)

Me: Nah, lemme get a coffee with....

Him: I already gave it to you - I mmmmmmeeemmmooorrriiizzzeeedddyoouuuurrrrorrrderrrrrr (Drizzy Voice)

Me: (Shook and confused stumbling to pay, not sure if I need to even because he already walked away from the register) Ha ha, well I don't know I think if it was I good thing think not sure..ha ha... Oh, Okay. (Walk away confused).

Location: McDonalds

Time: This morning

Did it have two creams like I normally get: Yes

Journey Home Today

Took a wrong turn on the way home - that is, forgot to take a turn I should have taken. Next thing you know it took me 1.5 more hours than usual to get home. Can you believe the traffic in LA! I wish they would have kept the trolley system here! Anyway, so I got home from a long day at work and I needed to #relax(drizzy voice). So I tightened the brakes on my fixie, loaded up instagram, drank a pabst, did crossfit, did yoga, grabbed a drink with a friend, read the hunger games (drizzy voice), threw on a fedora, my skinny jeans (drizzy voice), updated my blog (drizzy voice), checked out darfur and the other african guy, (oops, forgot, <= was in #drizzy voice) and then finally ate some vegan pigs feet (drizzy voice). 

The Silent Man Makes Everyone Nervous

The fitness game. The intelligence game. The money game. In general the following applies to most "games":

Keep it quiet - if found out keep it nonchalant.

Applying the above to the fitness game should be the most clear. No upside to people knowing you are either 1) On your fitness game hardcore or 2) don't really dabble in the fitness game at all. If you are working hard on your fitness game then the results should speak for themselves. When you find yourself in a situation where you have no choice but to reveal the fruits of your labor - you want it to be shock and awe - not "damn, this guy is always talking about going to the gym, working on his fitness etc etc and not really impressed." In fact, if people don't know you go to the gym at all, it can only be a positive surprise. You may realize that I have discussed this issue many times on the blog, but I just wanted to re-emphasize a point that is relevant for all of us preparing for a run of the mill pool party that you may be invited to by a co-worker, neighbor, or the team mom of your kid's soccer team. You want do apprehensively - and only after someone asking you to, or it become a necessity - go ahead and acquiesce.

But enough 'bout the fitness game because talking about it myself, you might get the wrong idea that I'm trying to work on it - I'm not. The intelligence game. No one likes a knowitall, no one likes an idiot. But if you focus on the title of this particular post, you want to be the guy who casually happens to have a knowledgbase that is borderline absurd. And this provides a nexus to the reading game. This isn't aimed at you wikipedia fiends, this is aimed at the more "long formed" bases of knowledge that provide nuances, tangential intelligence, and first and foremost the ability to say "I read a book about that and..." as opposed to "I read on wikipedia that..." The latter category is quite obvious because it either begins with "I heard that" or "I read that." You need to be able to drop the work "book" somewhere in there to show you are really into the intelligence game and the reading game.

Which (haha) brings me to a few interesting facts from my latest foray into accumulating knowledge.

"Bigger than Ming Dynasty China, Ivan the Great's expanding Russia, Songhay in the Sahel, Great Zimbabwe in the West Africa tablelands, the cresting Otoman Empire, the Triple Alliance (as the Aztec empire is more precisely known) and any European state was the Ikan Empire."

This is both a) an interesting fact and b) something that is dangerous to know because if you ever force this into your office small talk/banter type situation you will immediately be viewed as a jerkoff. But that being said the Inca were tight and were pretty much doing the damn thing better than anyone at the time - then they got caught slippin and 95% of them got "zipped up"

Moral of the story, play the background. Let the other guy make all the noise and try to get all the shine while at the same time keep your eye on the prize: Pool parties, getting your intelligence game proper, and being known for having a mysterious, yet quietly intelligence poise to your day-to-day doings. If you do this, people will respect you and always have a hesitance to try to ever throw you under the bus or attempt any other type of slight towards you because you haven't put all your cards on the table. People are always nervous about what they don't know, and if when you opine you deliver with quality consistently - the silent man becomes a force. (Unless you are Incan and your immune system was mad weak and your entire people essentially got zipped up along with all other people in the hemisphere.) 

Book Review

Have I been getting my reading on? Partially, but partially I'm being misleading because I haven't been in the reading game, and getting back into the reading game corresponds with me getting back into the blogging game. In any case, wanted to share another piece of literature that I just finished. The book was called Native Son and it is something of a commentary on our country in the 1930's. You may or may not see where this is going, but the book is about a black guy from the south side of Chicago and what his world was like.

Ill keep this short so he basically was from a very poor family and didn't have much going for him then he got a job working for a white guy and he got drunk and then got caught in an awkward situation so he killed the white guy's daughter and chopped her body up and put it in the furnace then he killed his girlfriend and was overall a bad 48 for the guy.

Now, my take on the book was that it did a good job of telling a story about a guy who really didn't have a bright future and how life was back in the 30s and the interaction between two groups of people who had never really interacted with each other ever. Then communists come into the picture and of course no one likes them and they contribute to white girls (and black girls, yet no mynxses were hurt in the creative process) gettin straight murked out. The book doesn't make you really feel bad for the guy, but simply does an extraordinary job of allowing you to feel what it was like to live in these curious times. Was some crazy times indeed and people in general didn't know quite how to act normal around each other (much like when you go to college and find yourself living with many gay people in consecutive years) and I suppose by process of elimination people learned killing people didn't make it better.  In the story people try to help out the would be murderer and post murder and may be generally interested in helping the guy out but he in turn doesn't know how to trust these people because this is a new thing for him as well (kind of like when you listen to this song it just confuses you and you want to like it but not sure because you don't understand).

Thing I appreciate about this book is that it did a good job of showing the times, but lets be real - the biggest thing it did was give me the ability to say "oh yeah, I read dat book" when it (hopefully) comes up in conversation in the business world. I'm pretty sure you see where this is going that if it don't make money it don't make cent$ to me and that if you're doing something that doesn't help you in the business/franternizing/small talk/shmoozing/uppity convo game; then you're not really doing anything. Yeah I read books so that I seem smart. And what? You think this post took a sudden turn at the end? And what? So what if I am about getting money first and foremost? STOP HATIN B! GET MONEY GET PAID! DAHHHHHHHH!!!!!

The Moving Game

The routine game. Juxtaposing concept/ideas/visions? Possibly but in my current situation they became complimentary. Had to do something that would be classified as "change" (should to the POTUS) in order to get my routine game tight. What I went out and did was go ahead and get the new pad where I could come home at the end of the day and really hunker down and get down on my routine game. First few days were rough because I didn't really have much as far as "niceties" or things that make a place => home. But now I have a couch and some rugs so I'm so young money etc. The first few guests at my pad had to sit on boxes, but now they can sit in a chair. But the place is small enough that it is already cozy with "nick nacks" and "objects of character" strewn about. It will be a home before I know it.

So the plan, you guys want to know the plan. The plan is to get knee deep in the reading game. Possibly knee deep in the music game (guitar, keyboard, not quite sure yet). Knee deep in the finding self game. Knee deep in the local eatery/coffee game. Knee deep in the game of life.  When you have too many options aka too many friends and events and what not you can't focus on the self. This aptly describes the impetus to my move.

If we don't talk for a few years it's not that I don't love you the same, its that I love you the same. Time to get back to basics. Time to get back to the self.

Damn Damn JB Where the Hell You Been?

Man I'm sorry guys, I just can't seem to be on the blogging game in any sort of regular fashion. To be fair, things in my life have been a little "cray" of recent because of moving and having a battle with diarrhea. But those things have somewhat settled down (the former mostly) so I will be making a solid effort to find time to get on the blogging game. As my first post back I want to do a book review of a book. The book is called "One Hundred Years of Solitude"

This book was a real good book. The reason I think it was a real good book is because the author just said the most fanciful, amazing things out of normal situations. For example there were many people who lived 150 years or greater, there was a girl who just floated away, there were alchemists and there was a situation where a man lived tied to a tree for years on years. This author wouldn't say things like "it rained really bad for a few days"; instead he'd say "it rained for 20 years." (did I use the ";" correctly? who knows?) Other interesting things that happened were a guy living in one room and not leaving that room for a very long time.

Essentially this book was successful because the author used his freedom to create fantastical events and situations whenever possible. These types of things are inherently more interesting than things we are more familiar with and they greatly added to the story.

That being said I think that there is another possible answer to why such amazing things happened in this story when it comes of as somewhat of a historical fiction type piece. Lost in translation. AKA I think Bill Murray wrote this book. No I'm kidding. But I am serious about translation issues. I think this book was written in Spanish so its possible that when the author was translated as saying "And the guy killed 124199 men in battle" what he actually said was "And the guy was in battles where 124199 men were killed." Or something of this sort. The sentences are often quite choppy and abrupt and it is not clear to me that this is necessarily the original wording's goal - or if it was entirely translated via google translate.

In any case, a fun thing to read because lots of things happen in this book that don't happen in the real world. 

The Cooking Game

Recently I've been trying to get into the cooking game. This stems from many different goals, saving money, trying to be healthy, trying to be a grown man, not being a Croatian immigrant with a Persian wife who is a damn chef, and trying to do some things that #occupy my time. So I thought I'd run through a little cooking lessons for you to step your respective games up. 

Hot dogs + Cheese Itz:

Go to your local store and cop cheese itz, hot dogs (if the hebrew <shout to drizzy drake> national's are on sale get those for sure) and buns. If you don't have condiments i.e. mustard, then definitely gett those too.

Prep your work station by plugging in your forman grill so that its plenty warm and you really get the grilled lines on your dog(s) and they get a crispy outter layer.

Sit down on your couch and watch your favorite sport team. For me, it was UCLA hoops. For you it might be the Dodgers, or maybe Dynamo Zagreb.

Go ahead and open the hebrews <#Drizzy> and get them ready to place on your cooking station (the forman).

Put it on the forman.

Go ahead and put another on the forman because I know by now you're probably plenty hungry.

Treat yourself to some cheez (damn thought it was pelled Cheeze this whole time) it (thought it was plural)s to hold you over until the dogs are done. But don't eat too much because these things may or may not completely prevent bowel movements and will get you very full and legit ruin your appetite for the forseeable future.

Go ahead and throw the buns in the toaster but make sure the timing is right because if Cheney taught us anything it is that if you get in early with the cronies then you can make sure the data show that tax cuts help no matter what.

Put the dogs on the buns and then condomize. Look at this (no joke these look great and I know it. The thing is that I took these pictures on Saturday, and enjoyed the meal so much that I ate the same thing on Sunday < and if you're doing the math at home you have computed that I still have some on deck and you better believe that I will be making some of these as soon as I finish this post>).

Then what you want to do is plate the meal. Plate it then add garnish and make sure your proportions are right and that you dont have crumbs or any stray food on your plate that wasn't consciously strowen. 

Small last note is that you may find it curious that I added pickle chips instead of relish. For me (to me andy <fifa 2012 in the cards tonight or will I get in on the reading game?>) the crunch of the pickles is really good (as I type this I realize that I ate all the pickles and the rest of the cheez it when I got home from work today, but the catsup and spicy mustard will hopefully suffice <yup, I use the spicy mustard, trust me it "kicks it up a notch" [shout to Avril Levigne {hebrew national?}]

The Reading Game

Been trying to get into this game as well. I'm not talking about becoming a wikipedia wizard or a article assassin but the book game. The book game is something that I have had a feigning interest in for a few years now, but I'm trying to follow through with it and make it one of my main interests. You ask what my other interests are? We'll save that for another day. But the task at hand is that I want to become a learn-ed well read man.

Book I just finished? Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Real talk - this book was better than the movie. For many reasons. Top being I have never seen the movie. But I feel safe saying the layered imagery, character development, and overall depth of inquiry into the sequence of events was far and away superior to anything a director could try to replicate in an hour and a half of screen time. The book delved into the aura and allure that is the city of Savannah, Georgia. It was set in the present day but it crossed all time zones - past, present, and east coast/west coast divides. This book had gays, drag queens, straights, and blacks and whites and so it really appeals to the modern man who is trying to find out about the world beyond his backyard (no homo). Jim Williams is the most uppity American alive and showed that a man can still have class, be gay, and be kind of european in modern day america. Other subjects such as the American justice system and drugs and gay prostitutes were addressed but all around this isn't a book that garners a top rating from my metric. I give it like a 2.5 stars because it was entertaining and did not have alot of  big words etc.

This brings me to last night. I started a new book and I was trying to conquer a major impediment to me not reading more: I fall asleep. There are many confounding issues here but one I realized is that I am always laying down. So I tried something new. Last night I read standing up for about three and a half hours. I am not joking or using the literary technique known as hyperbole. And do you know what? I did not fall asleep. Every once in a while I paced from the kitchen into the living room and maybe leaned against a wall. Other times I shifted from one foot to the other. A few times I put the book on the kitchen counter. Did some calf raises. Put my head against the door and leaned. Leaned against the couch. But I did not sit down for 3-16/32 hours. And I read alot more pages that I would otherwise. For this I think I accomplished something of note.

What are yalls reading strats? 

God Damn(,) America!

Is this how life is supposed to be?

Is this what we want our kids to see and aspire to?

I hope more people can open there eyes and realize that this kid is making a mockery of hard work!

He should be in an office doing real work! Or a manufacturing job somewhere! He will never know what real work means, nor will any of these punks.

Just got to finish a few more reports and then I'll be big time and I'll really have earned it...

The Bumbaclot Coffee Game

I'm simply in it to win it. Recently your boy has been exposed to the coffee game and everything that it entails. It may or may not be the number two thing to do in the civilized world. What is number one? Well that is probably "going out to eat." So it might be argued that the coffee game is a subset of going out to eat - so the coffee game might be the number one thing in EOCD countries to do. The thing is though - you can do it more frequently than eating a whole meal. You can do this before you get into the office. After you get into the office (excuse to step out of the office for a few minutes that is 100% excusable and doesn't appear to be going away a la a smoke break?), and maybe an afternoon coffee. And this is just during the week. The coffee game has a whole other set of dynamics if you are doing it on the weekend.

As most of you know I'm trying to get into having "regular" things that I do. My foray into this concept is really shaping up well, and most wholely formed today. I got to work and finished up some things then wanted to step out of the office to grab a cup. Also, I had a bit of hunger so I wanted to grab a bite. Many sources have shown that McDs has some of the best drip coffee in the game so I copped that. Now, I've been trying to be more health conscious these days watching what I eat etc. so I've been eating sushi for lunch quite often/trying to minimize fast food (a quick addendum would be that on Saturday I ate jack in the box twice in a 20 hour period oops!) so I would optimally not eat breakfast food from McDs. So I did some other research on longevity/quality of life type data and saw Japan #1 and Mediterranean type diets are #2. Now my lunch covers the Japanese approach, and I'd give Japanese type breakfasts a shot, but research indicates no one knows what they eat for bfast. So I go to the Mediterranean option which is like toast or some sort of bread type thing. They don't eat big breakfasts so Ima go with that. So this morning I started something that I hope both 1) gives me regularity in my life (bowel movement pun maybe?) and 2) is something to anticipate doing and occupy (wall st?) time. So I bought the danish (cheese) and coffee and went back up to the office. Was a great experience and I'll keep you guys updated so as to its efficacy.

Now the weekend coffee game is something totally different. I always was a fan of the orange juice because of it's health implications, but coffee is a better option for other reasons. Other reasons = something to do. You go to a diner and you sit and you talk and you drink it and you pour some cream in, and you stir it, and you sip it, and you hold the cup in you hand and you switch hands, and some lady asks you if you want more and you decline, and then you change your mind, and then you comment on how its a pretty good/bad brew, and then you add some more cream, and you finish your food, and you get another cup to wash everything down, and there's bread crumbs that are around your cup and then you add some cream maybe and then you sip and wait till the new cup cools off and then you stir a little and then you warm your hands up on the cup and you take a few drinks. Do you see where this is going? And then you leave and then you walk to your house and you take a nap, and then you have some friends coming over so you brew some for them... and then you go to the corner coffee shop and you guys get some and you talk and you live and you learn and you love.

If you have coffee in your hand (not the bean but brewed in a cup) then you look busy and important and that you have direction. They say variety is the spice of life, but if your life is entirely composed of chaos than you are surely not having variety by continuing to go through life with no structure and consistency. I want to know that I will be going to my desk tomorrow, doing a few tasks then taking the elevator down to grab some coffee and a pastry. "The coffee and pastry game," that is. In a world full of changing temperatures (allegedly), times (speed of light etc), and telemetry - I think we all need to step our coffee game up. 

Da Sandwhich Game

(Hold up one second, making a pot of coffee. Been trying to really embrace the coffee game as well; getting one whenever really have downtime or feel like some extra energy. However, I must say coffee doesn't really have the effect on me that I'd like. Drank some last night circa 9PM - asleep by 10:15 or so. Anyway, my joe is done now..)

The thing about Subway (TM) is that its the cheapest option in the game. If one is sitting at his/her desk contemplating the options for lunch, there really is only one good answer as to maximize quality, quantity, and price. And that is Subway (TM). The only thing is that this has been widely known and taken advantage of for years. Me personally, I grew up on this stuff. Not sure when Subway (TM) started going international but I read something recently that there are more Subway (TM) in the world than McDonalds, peace be upon him. (UCLA game just came on thank goodness because LMU vs. BYU don't no one care about, and Mrs. Obama bro in law etc etc is the coach of Oregon State and they are playing quite well this year) So maybe you international types can feel what I'm saying when it comes to the saturation of Subway (TM) in my diet. To reiterate, price is phenomenal, the footlong is quite alot of food, and you are solely in control of how it tastes as you pick exactly what you want; what we call "bespoke" in high finance. To make this conversation a little more tangible let me include a concrete example:

Okay? The Spicy Italian, a real quality product and let me insure you will not be disappointed, in addition the $5 price tag speaks for itself.

Now let me introduce something of the "big boy" version of the above sandwich. More broadly is the "big boy" version of Subway (TM), Togo's. Togo's was started back in 1985 by a group of Indian immigrants who were interested in using their advances assembly techniques to produce a similar product as Subway (TM) - but that had more taste. These Indian immigrants wanted to share some of their experiences as immigrants with the great country of the United States by taking a sacred product (the sandwich) that was invented by Thomas Jefferson a long time ago. What they did, however, was more nuanced and became a great business case study for the greatest business schools in the world (at least at the time - as you'll see). They changed the pricing schema by offering sizes that did not have equivalents at Subway (TM). The 9 inch sandwich. Most people do not know how to convert the prices from Subway (TM) units to Togo's (nice pass Tyler Lamb) so you don't allow someone to say that something is a horrible deal. In addition they offer you some different sauces and actually give you a little less control over the exact composition of your product. It gives the customer a feeling of exclusivity and the idea that these sandwiches were specially created, and should not be deviated from. They accomplish this well. See the below:

Real solid product that even to the eye looks something less commercial and cookie cutter as the Subway (TM) offering does. In addition, the 9 inch option does not leave one uncomfortably full if they are only moderately hungry - as the Subway (TM) footlong might.

(2nd cup of coffee)

Then we have this:

Let me tell you friends, this is a great tasting sandwich. It is brought to you buy Mendocino Farms and will cost you like ten damn bucks. Honestly, thats too much. But what I will say is that is tastes great. They throw some chubaka bread on their, with some nice sauces and more spicy meat with some peppers and it tastes great. Interestingly enough, because it is so relatively expensive it is very popular. The fact that this more expensive option was introduced it creates the existence of one "being cheap" by not going to get this admittedly superior product over the previously discussed ones. No one wants to be known as cheap. This sandwich is the best tasting of the mentioned italian sandwiches without a doubt.

But is any sandwich worth ten dollars? In fact, is any lunch worth ten dollars? Most likely not. But diversity is the spice of life, and also “Mama Told Me Never Stop ‘Til I Bust A Nut”

Does Coffee Make You Poop or Pee

I don't know. Do you? Choose one before you read the analysis to follow - but I'll warn you that you think you know, but you have no idea.

The analysis begins with a simple google search of the words "Coffee make you poop" and "Coffee make you pee". The results were 1,390,000 and 19,200,000 respectively. Obviously this can mean one of two things. The first being that many people believe that coffee is making them pee more often than they would otherwise so they are doing google searches to find out exactly why - or if their experiences are consistent with others. Second is that the republican propaganda machine is propagating lies. So we must go further to the exact content of the searches. My study methodology is as follows: judge the quality of the top few results. Google's algorithms are 100% without error and the google macing has been mathematically proven to hold under double blind tests so that is a fair method I'd say. In addition, Yahoo answers has proven to give correct diagnoses 97.3% of the time so if you combine these two facts you arrive at the solution that whatever 1) google returns as an answer and subsequently 2) comes from Yahoo answers is true. Now to the good stuff:

For the pee hypothesis:


When you drink coffee do you pee more often?
i realized that ever since ive been drinking iced coffeee form mc d's ive been going to the bathroom more oftenly.

am i going more often b/c of the coffee??
-TTC #2 Baby Dust MEEE!

Okay, where the damn hell do I begin with this one? Lets first say that TTC is doing something right (probably an avid reader of this here blog) and is drinking iced coffee from mcdonalds. He/she is #winning. In addition this is precisely the question at hand. Most people who are interested in the answer to this question are consuming iced coffee from macd's so the answer to this exactly worded question will yield the exact answer we want. What is the answer?

yes it make to pee more. Even some people also need to pee after drinking hot tea.
-tazem b.

Case closed. Oh also, I must mention that this question was asked and answered...4 years ago! People were getting their macd's iced coffee drank on as long as 4 years ago! Man that would have been tight to have gotten in on the game as an OG.

Now for the other side:

Why does iced coffee make you poop?
its either the iced coffee or my parents are slipping me laxatives
-?

This question was submitted to Yahoo Answers (shouldn't it be Yahoo Questions?) only four months ago. So we already reach one conclusion: people only started pooping because of coffee a few months ago so the case doesn't look good already. (DAHHH NOWITSKI JUST TRAVELED) But just for the sake of curiosity, what was the official Yahoo Answer?


Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

It must be the parents since coffee doesn't do that.
Source(s):
CV
-Combat Veteran

Okay so case closed yet again. This answer is proven by the guy's CV and he served our country so the guy cannot possibly do/say anything wrong because if you disagree you're unpatriotic. (DAMNIT JASON TERRY, BUT KOBE GONNA GET A CHANCE NOW TO MAKE A GAME WINNER).

So I guess this concludes the analysis. But still leaves the third case that coffee makes you both poop and pee, but not sure if you could prove that or not (KOBE JUST SAID SOMETHING TO LAMAR) because most people (sheeple or not) both pee and poop when they poop.

(DAHHHHHHHHHHH FISH HIT THE THREE BABYYY LAKERS BABY)

But if others have differing opinions please let it be known below.

Smoking In Movies

This post is going to be short and to the point.

Smoking in movies, and possibly in real life, is the easiest way to look cool. When you want to take a character and make him cool - you have him light up a cigarette.

Smoking causes cancer. This has been well within the purview of the developed world, but people still do it because its cool.

All the coolest people (less JT?) smoke. If you want to be cool you should smoke too.

By Any Other Name

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
by any other name would smell as sweet"

Authenticity.
Being real.

Would the concept of authenticity be the same in any other terms? Is authentic an admirable quality as some sort of axiom? Can we deduce the desire to obtain authenticity from more basic governing laws of nature? How should we define it?

Authentic is a belief that allows for no deviation. It implies we were born with certain unalienable characteristics, and any attempt to deviate is a flaw. I will loosen this definition by saying that the idea of being authentic means that you should have a basic set of interests and find enjoyment from mainly the same things you did at the age of 14. For some it might be a few years before 14 - and others a few years after 14. But whatever interests you had at that age are the only true, unfettered, unpoluted interests and desires that you should ever have. Not to say they were not void of certain influences, just that whatever influences they were were more pure and for more defensible reasons. Your friends all played basketball so you all watched the same games on tv and read the same magazines so before class started and at lunch you discussed the same topics which were 100% genuinely of interest to you and you had no concept of trying to do so because others thought they were cool. Your friends all like Harry Potter, and bonded over the fact that it was slightly embarrassing to the masses that you enjoyed reading about a boy wizard. Your friends all had acne and were uncomfortable around the opposite sex so this unfortunate genetic trait led you to get interested in things not involving the opposite sex - this means magic the gathering. Now, maybe you were a mix of these things or maybe you had other interests that do not fall into these categories (although I cannot think of anything else) but the point still holds.

The social free market worked its charm and people with common interests found each other and anyone who was not authentic in a particular group was chastised, made fun of, or just simply didn't fit and left the group.

As adults, this changed. At some point it became par for the course (see what I did there) to all of a sudden be interested in working on your golf game. When did it become okay for people to feign their interest in politics? Where did all the magic the gathering people go? Can interests authentically change?

They can. And do. But your interest at the age of 14 more directly speak to who you are then an interest you acquired at the age of 25 in order to have something to talk about at lunch. This isn't to say that the aforementioned ability is not a good one - so as to maintain social relationships where they would not exist otherwise. But someone must clearly identify that interests for any other reason that a continuation of an interest that existed before the age of 15 is not to be trusted. It will only exist as long as it serves another purpose other than enjoyment.

As for the magic the gathering and dungeons and dragons kids. Where are you now? After much struggle and contention through the years is it true that sports fans are the only authentic people out there? They surely appear to be more unwavering than most (hence, authentic) in maintaining their youthful innocence. Are sports the only authentic interest?

Have a reached a more basic issue at hand? Are sports the only authentic interest? Does the real life drama that plays itself out on the small screen in so many different forms offer the only true diversion from all things not sports - so as to provide entertainment in a truly authentic consistent manner over the years? Have people with other interests left their youth and authenticity in the past - accepting to be something other than authentic as an adult? Were they just ignorant to the joys of sports?

WHAT DO PEOPLE WITHOUT SPORTS DO??

Expectations

Here's lookin' at you kid....

Why so serious? Mostly because you probably have goals that dictate a certain level of seriousness is a necessary - yet not a sufficient condition for success. Who has dictated what success is and what exactly the expectations for you are? If you do not live up to these expectations will you disappoint others? Family? Friends? People you don't know? No one? I might posit that depending from which one of the aforementioned groups your expectations were borne, will determine both your success and your failure. Directly related is the ability of others to ascertain with some degree of certainty your true talents. Whatever they may be - they largely form the basis for expectations that others will have for you. Expectations from outside are not assigned at random, and at a first approximation are assigned according to underlying ability. The accuracy for which these talents are ascribed largely determines ones ability to realize expectations based on some a priori expectations.

I will briefly address those bear expectations by those they do not know before I address what will more directly relate to my readers. You run a 4.3 fourty. You are 6'7". You got a wicked jump shot. You can slang the crack rock. You've let it be known you scored a perfect score on the SAT. You often opine on matters of national security and reveal that you have a nack for all things political. You have true incite on the inner workings of the ECB. You hit 15 homeruns in high school. You were always the guy chosen first in PE. People that fit theses descriptions and/or any others that allowed people they didn't know to have clear expectations for them to utilize "god given" talents such as these (or others) inevitably lead to higher levels of disappointment. The unknowns increase the less you know someone. And at the highest levels of achievement - presumably those for which expectations lie amongst those who have strong innate physical or outwordly facing intellectual skill - matter the most. You cannot observe intangibles which make people great, so your expectations fail. You don't know the 17 year old who throws 90 miles an hour enjoys smoking weed more than working on his mechanics or learning the game. You don't know that the kid in your poli sci class who understands why the succession in North Korea hangs so precariously in the balance - has not the drive to develop the ability to translate knowledge into actionable policy. Yet, its also very fun to talk about these people who so obviously failed the expectations we all had for them before they achieved anything.

And then there's me and you. We stand to have strong ability to shirk any abilities that we may have that lead to expectations - obtainable or otherwise. However, we have within our control the ability to leave the game altogether. Eliminate both the downside risk, and any upside. No one knows what you can achieve because your abilities do not fly in anyone's face. No let down there. Your expectations are what you make them out to be, or what (insert close family/friend/significant other) place on you. You don't achieve them and you only have (insert close family/friend/significant other) to imagine what could have been. Luckily, these are the same people who will easiest get past these expectations.  Set these expectations low for yourself - or convince yourself failure was out of your hands - and you can leave a smooth life without really going for anything great. No harm no foul.

If you're an average joe, by definition you scored par for the course and no one can say what could have been. If you're Darko Milicic you will never be able to escape public prosecution by every overweight sports fan who ever watched an NBA game. However, since you're not Darko - you never had the scrutiny or expectations that might have allowed you, or pushed you to become the next Tim Duncan, in whatever venue the NBA is in your sphere of life. For most of us it might be optimal to not face these kind of expectations. But for most of us who have no expectations of this kind - it easily can lead to a life of "who knows" rather than "what could have been."

Here's Lookin' at You Kid

"You left a void in my life" - Samantha,  Synecdoche, New York
"If you come back and blog again, I'll give you 300 million USD" - Sarah, Gotham City
"The country has lost it's way -we need you back" - She Ple, Texas
"Imagine smokin' weed in the streets without cops harassin'" - Nasir Jones, QB

This is why I'm back. I received tens of thousands of emails over the last few months - and I saw that this blog wasn't about me. It was about giving people nothing less than a reason to live. There's not much else great going on out there and the data shows that crime and overall restlessness increased 31.7% since I last posted. I read a book one time that said "come forth and spread what you have - adding where he adds most and not subtracting where there is nothing to add." So I'm back wearing the 45.

So let me begin with a subject that really has been appealing to me recently. That of routine. Also routines. For example:

"It's Saturday morning, so it's time for me to go get a coffee from Sam's Coffee Shop and read the funnies"

or

"Good thing it's Tuesday night, because that means I need to go pickup some more bread."

or

"I'm looking forward to getting out of work on Thursday because I always go to the pet store and see what new strays Mildred has found."

These types of things.
They provide purpose and minimize idleness that leads to deep thought on issues of any sort - most particularly towards those that involve introspection and potential paths of dissapointment on life's current path. It would be nice to come home every Wednesday night and know with 100% certainty that you cannot socialize with friends because you are making real progress on a new puzzle that you've been working on for the last 9, 10 months. In addition, you can create an imagine of "business" that makes you feel - and appear important and occupied. Always being available to hang out makes you look pathetic to others, and to yourself. Period. Does this mean lie about being able to meet up with friends every once in a while to build this aura of mystery? Perhaps. But more important the concept of building a routine will kill to birds with one stone. And we all know that one in the hand is worth two in the bush. (he lied?)

Here's lookin at you kid.