A Dozen Girls

"Women come in all shapes and sizes. Just ask Oprah... here is TTP’s breakdown of 12 of the girls you’ll meet in college..." -- thetoiletpaper.com

So which girl were you or still is you? 'Cause to be honest, you haven't changed at all. To read the full list of descriptions go HERE, but I'm just going to comment on the ones I've met. (NOTE: Their list is missing the so called "Sporty Spice" girl. Don't worry, I see you babe.)

1. The Cheerleader – I never hooked up with her, but we did dance once. She lived across the hall from me. Catching her walking back from the shower in her towel was a weekly gift.

2. The Phantom Boyfriend – I knew a couple of these girls. Cute, funny and actually wants to hangout. Most of their boys were cool too, but I don't think any of their relationships made it through college. I should have kept a few numbers.

3. The Courtney Love – I drank with them, but never went home with them because my brohem was hitting it.

4. The Friedan – Probably argued with her in class, but we never hung out.

5. The Chastity Belt – I didn't have patience, so I stopped hanging out with her after my first semester.

6. The Rhoda – Never met her. Thank god.

7. The Cialis – Augh! Totally chased her for like two years. We still meet up for drinks, like once a year. She knows it. I know it. Hate the game not the player.

8. The Lesbo Possessive Friend of the Chick You Hook Up With That Hates You – I never met her, because I get along with everyone. (Well usually.)

9. The Book Worm – I dated her and totally could have made better use of my time.

10. The Guarantee – Caught her during welcome week and two weeks later she peace'd out for another dude. Eventually came back, but I had moved on by then. You live and you learn.

11. The Non-Conformist – We were only acquaintances and shared a class a couple of times. Nice girl, but a little crazy.

12. The World Cup – I never had the pleasure of really crossing paths with her in college, but when I did... yeah, she's amazing.

Dear Theta Eta,

I came across a wonderful article that one of my Fraternity Brother's posted on his Google Reader that really touched me.

"What kind of guy joins a fraternity?", perfectly captures what my college experience was like. I hung out with a bunch of odd/funny/cool guys who I never would have met without joining Pi Kappa Phi. To this day, my relationship with these guys is still growing. We're still making new memories that I cherish and brag about.

Yet, the one thing that is dear to my heart is getting to experience life through their eyes. Seeing them struggle, achieve and fail has done more for me then they will ever know. Proud to be a Pi Kapp.

"It's this space where you feel valued, and cared about, and safe during a time of your life when absolutely everything feels uncertain. If you've experienced brotherhood like that, then you understand it. If you don't, it's never too late. And, if you're thinking about it, you'd be a fool not to jump at it." [READ MORE]

Cantankerous!

Hello July! OMG, its almost mid summer already? AUGH! I'm so freaking out. I'm running out of time to shoot my thesis film. More to come later...

Anyways... I am unhappy with myself and how things are rolling along, but I can't complain because I have my health and I'm surrounded by people I enjoy. They say if money is your only problem, then you are living a great life. Hmmm... that makes my life super great then.

On the upside, one of my fraternity brothers only uses Twitter to post positive quotes. Thanks bro, I find them uplifting.

"Failure inspires winners and defeats losers. Play to win and hate to fail but don't be so afraid to fail that you play not to lose."

Well, I'm revamping my blog. Cassandra seems to do this every three months, so I'm breaking my rules of only doing this once a year. Let me know what you think of the new version. I think it's easier to read. Also, I might switch up the format to posting once a day.... everyday. I've been too busy to keep up with it, but since my blog is made for me by me I don't want to stop. I like reading old posts and listening to my FRESH MUSIC posts. Either way, it needs to be cleaned up and organized. I'm a neat freak.

That's all for now. I'm working on a pre trailer for my film that I will post. Hopefully, I can raise enough funds to do this thing. It's going to be legendary, so I know you want to help.

Peace outside and enjoy the 4th. If you haven't made it out to the Artomatic yet to see my art... you got 4 days left, so go.

-
The Hypocritical Hypocrite

March Madness

Since it starts today, I'm breaking my own rules and I'm posting on a Thursday.

Anyways, I rarely watch college basketball until March when things actually get interesting. Good teams screw up and heroes rise from the smallest corners of the world. This year I've filled out like 12 brackets all over the web and at the bar down the street. Plus I've thrown $36 at this with the potential to win...maybe $500 total?

Well here are my top picks:

Final Four: Louisville, Memphis, Pittsburgh, UNC

Champions: Louisville

Biggest Upset: Arizona St over Syracuse OR Maryland over California

Biggest Regret: Not picking Memphis to win it all.


Now remember that my average score is like 44%. Good luck everyone, enjoy! GO AU!

Student Loan Payback Based on Earnings... PURE GENIUS!

"Instead of paying upfront or taking loans with repayment schedules unrelated to income, students would accept an obligation to pay a fixed percentage of their income for a specified period of time, regardless of the income level achieved. Suppose a university charged $40,000 a year in annual tuition. A standard 20-year loan in the amount of $160,000 (40,000 times four) would produce an immediate postgraduate debt obligation of $1,228.50 per month, or $14,742 per year, not sustainable at a salary of $25,000 or anything close to it. Under a smart loan program, the student could pay about 11 percent of his income, with an initial payback of $243 per month, or $2,916 per year, which is feasible at a job paying $25,000. If, after five years, the student’s salary jumped to $100,000, payments would jump accordingly and move up over time as income increases. After 20 years, assuming ordinary income increase, the loan would be paid off."
Superb Idea: Student Loan Payback Based on Earnings -- GOOD


My student debt is very close to this and I have a decent job for someone my age with a Comm degree but still I don't make enough to live and pay student loans. Its the 800 pound gorilla sitting in my room. At some point its going to get up and kill me. Well this concept sounds very reasonable. I hope someone looks into it.

Den of Thieves

Have you ever heard of the world "matriculation" ?

Wikipedia defines it as, "Matriculation, in the broadest sense, means to be registered or added to a list.... The most common meaning, however, refers to the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by acquiring the meeting prerequisites."

Well I came across this word in what I feel is an odd way of learning that you are about to get screwed over again because you DON'T understand the rules of the game.

Well... I'm a 2nd year grad student at American University and I'm done with all my classes. I have this take home Comp Exam I need to do and a Master Thesis to write in order to graduate. Simple right? Well this year as you all know is an election year and because my time has been swallowed by editing videos for political candidates I decided not to rush through my thesis but to leave it for the spring. But that I could at least take the Comp Exam this year. So I signed up for the exam this summer but had to post pone it for the fall (I still don't know when the damn thing is due). Well one day I start getting phone calls and letters about my school loan debt. (It's around $100,000... i think) Turns out someone sent them a letter stating that I had been out of school since the spring so they all moved up the due dates for my loan payments to November (something like $1000 a month). Remember its only October. SURPRISE! So I'm like... wtf...I'm not a student? Well I signed up for the Comp Exam and I don't need any more classes...so what do I do? Well after talking to my SO HELPFUL adviser (j/k) turns out for AU's grad program you need to have been registered for both Fall & Spring or otherwise you must be re admitted into the program and that the Comp Exam doesn't really count as anything. SO I'm not technically a student (last day of registration was weeks ago) and I will start paying my dues very soon. BUT there is a loop whole. If I register for "Matriculation , COMM-099?" I will be a student again and it only costs the price of one grad credit (though it doesn't have a credit value), which is $1178!

So I can be a student again just by forking over $1200? Hmmm...something about this whole set up sounds weird and anti-student. But whatever, I guess its in the fine print that nobody reads.

Well I dropped the check in the mail the other day. Don't spend it all in one place.

PS> Has anyone ever experienced this before?

From Bracketology to Reality

I was sick this past weekend with strep/fever/cold so I was stuck in bed with nothing but the TV to keep me company. It was a good weekend to be bed-ridden thanks to March Madness. This year I had taken a full two days to finish my bracket. (I filled out three different brackets until I finally settled on one.) So I have Tennessee, Kansas, Texas and UCLA in my Final Four with Tenn as the champs. So far so good, but lets look at the real issue here.

Who ever set the bracket up may have numbered the teams wrong, because higher seeds are not playing like higher seeds. I've seen way too many close games. I'm not evening going to bother watching the 1st half because it seems like both teams aren't really ready till the 2nd half. It's mind boggling, how you can go 33-2 and some how not show up mentality to the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament. (augh!) Well I can't cover everyone but here is the blitz.

American - Great job guys. That was a real fight. We've earned some respect and I expect to see you next year with a higher seed too. Carr did what he needed to do. I still think Gilmore and Nichols are our best assets.

Villanova - I under estimated your freshmen. Scottie and the young guards are doing a great job. I figured your year would be next year, I'm sorry.

George Mason - It was almost like you lost the game on purpose. I turned it on with 10 minutes left in the first half. I watched how you were pushing the ball and not trying to set anything up. That's when I realized then that you had lost the game already and changed the channel.

Drake - WTF, if I hadn't watched all those ESPN highlights and tips I'd probably would have picked you as a first round knock out.

Duke - Duke hasn't been Duke in years. I don't care what you say. The media can hype them up all they want. Even with Tyler King I don't expect to see them in a Final Four for years.

Georgetown - Overrated. Simply overrated.

UNC - Thank you for playing like a number one seed. I originally had you picked as my champion but I'm playing the numbers game and went with Tennessee. You still got my respect though.

Davidson - Can someone beat them please? They're not that great of a team but Curry is on fire. He won't miss. If you let him shoot 50 shots, he will score 100 points. Wouldn't it be great if they win the whole thing? Cinderella. Cinderella.

Tennessee - Okay you big thee point shooting ballers, please please respect your opponents. You keep taking them lightly and that leads to a close game going down to the wire. I can't take it! Go out and kill like I know you can. UNC doesn't even know that their time is almost up.

Best Game (So Far) - Western Ky vs Drake. Its not so much the upset but the last second 3 pointer in overtime from a player who really shouldn't have taken the shot that tells you anything is possible.

Well I'm looking forward to the Sweet Sixteen since this has truly been March Madness. Man I love this game.


PS> I was so happy to spend Easter with my siblings. Mad love for the fam. We are blessed

A "Last Lecture" Our First Step

This is kind of old but still there are a lot of people who haven't seen it. It goes along with my "celebrating life" thing. God bless you Randy Pausch and thank you for sharing your world. SO INSPIRATIONAL! (WARNING: It's an hour long so play it in the background while you work.)


Randy Pausch Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

All Computers Go to Heaven

So my computer died. It doesn't turn on anymore! My beautiful Apple laptop nicked name Girlfriend #2 is gone! I'm crushed. I'm tired and my head hurts. Monday sucked. I got home and I couldn't play music or balance my checkbook. Wow, I didn't know I was that involved with my computer. I guess its time to crack up the PS2 and play some Dynasty Warriors 4. (Remember that game Leif?) Well if anyone knows of some great people who fix computers or salvage hard drives, please let me know. This is rehab.

If you are confused by all the blogging lately, let me break it down. I try to post on my main blog and on Facebook once a week about things that our bothering me or deep thoughts that haven't left my brain in the last week. I don't vlog so this is my outlet. I have a 2nd blog only for political topics which is my homework for my Internet Advocacy class this semester and I felt that I needed to link them onto Facebook too. So I'm sorry if it seems selfish, but its my homework. I'm trying to keep everything short and simple so its a quick read, cause I hate reading long things on the internet. So be patient with me.

I didn't get a chance to watch the Grammy's but like usual I looked up the winner's list and unlike last year's ass kissing which gave the awards to anyone who was Anti-Bush, this year we had the talented Amy Winehouse and flashy Kanye West winning most of the awards. I have actually listened to more the one song off their albums, better yet I own them and I agree with their victories. Solid performances and definitely deserved the top rewards. I still don't think the Dixie Chicks deserved it last year. If you haven't seen Kanye's performance on Youtube, here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL3AfWAnXV0

Handsome Boy Modeling School's music is so amazing. It's truth. http://www.myspace.com/handsomeboymodelingschoool

Homework sucks, period. My computer dies so all my online reading due this week is impossible to do at home. Also because I'm working and interning during daylight hours I cannot fit the short photo lab hours into my weekly schedule, which means all my photo lab homework must be done on the weekends. SUCKS SO MUCH! Here's an idea, since it takes a lot of time to develop photos why not have better lab hours? How about 2-10p during the week? I still believe AU is not for the working Grad Student.

On the better side of life, my sister seems to be doing well. In a lot of pain, which is normal but she should be going home sometime this week. Thank you for your kind words. I always pass them on to her. Family is important man. If you haven't called them this week. Pick up the phone and call them. It wouldn't hurt.

So Google the sexy Riyo Mori if you need a pick me up. God bless Japan for their crazy ninja anime and hot women. Cheers.


PS> I know its late but I've been busy. Besides something this good needs to be mentioned. Well it was the best Super Bowl ever!! Thank you Giants for winning! I so want to see the diner commercial where the Patriot guy brags about perfection. Ah yes. Boston is no longer the champ. As for Super Bowl commercials I feel that Pepsi had my favorites. The one with Justin Timberlake really got the loudest laugh.

I'm posting this from Mike Lewis's blog since I love it. --- Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth," were the words spoken by Mike Tyson. Probably the smartest thing he's ever said. As Wilbon pointed out on PTI, this is exactly how you describe Super Bowl 42. The Patriots had a great offensive plan until Tom Brady got punched in the mouth. The Giants defense played GREAT - sacking Brady 5 times and knocking him down 18 times - and Eli and Tyrees combined on the best scramble/catch ever in Super Bowl history to take the Pats down. I love that quote and i love that I won't have to hear about 19-0.