Quickie

Basketball season is back and with it begins the best television viewing time for me. This year will be extra cool because for the first time in over 10 years, I am going to a professional basketball game. Actually I am going to see the Chicago Bulls play. I have always been a Bulls fan and I am excited for this years season. I won’t get into all the reasons why I love basketball or the Bulls, but I am a fan.

On another note, I am playing league basketball again and I really need to get in shape. My team is pretty damn good, but they need me to play better. right now I can’t give my all because I am a fat punk. Actually not that fat, but I am out of shape. I am working out and I am pretty sure that in one more week, I will be ready to be a bigger contributer than I am right now.

Oh, while I am here, I should mention that I still am on track to have a comic started by the New Year. I am still thinking of a complete plot and such. I still need lots of work, but I am still moving toward my goals. Like blogging. I am doing that now. I am thinking of tweaking this blog to something else, but I doubt it. Seriously, I really doubt it. Well I am off. Time to roll out.

Comics…

I like to think that I am a smart guy with many talents. One of them is drawing. I am hoping that another one is storytelling. I really want to create a comic and I have made up my mind to do it. This is my plan.

1. Practice my drawing skills. I am a little rusty, but I still got it.

2. Figure out how to write a decent comic story (i.e. plot, character development, all that other stuff that I don’t know…)

3. Do it (actually I need to rename it to: Buy shit. I need to invest in a Wacom tablet and other stuff)

I think that I am ready to try something new and I have always wanted to do a comic. I am thinking that I am going to make it a webcomic, but not quite like the ones that I usually read. It is going to be kinda traditional or not. I really don’t know. What I do know is that I am going to need you guys to bother me and push me. Just like I need to start updating my blog more. But I am excited. I am thinking that I will have something before the new year. I can’t wait.

Where have I been?

So yet again I haven’t been blogging much. It is mainly because I am getting worn out. But other than that, things are not really that bad. I am trying to develop a web presence. So what does that mean? That means that I am either going to change the direction of this blog or start up a new one. I have been mulling around the idea of creating a “hub” of sorts and I have been trying to figure out how to do this while keeping my sanity. So far I haven’t found a solution, so what I have decided to do is to slow it down.

I am concentrating on launching my portfolio site (still not done) and after that I will begin the work on something that I hope will become amazing. I have also been drawing some, not enough, but some. Lately I haven’t been as creative and willing to learn new things, but I know that it is only a short time that I become as awesome as I feel that I should be. Well that is about all. Back to work for me.

HealthCare and Altruism…

I am for Universal Health Care. I think that it is the job of the Government to look out for the people and providing health care can be a part of that. I understand some of the arguments against it, but I think that the benefit can outweigh the negatives. The question I have would be is if we as American’s and the American Government are ready for this type of systematic change. I am not to sure on this, but the more I think about it, the more it seems that it should be in our future.

The only thing I want is for everyone to be able to take care of themselves and their loved ones (if they have them). We pay for children’s schooling. I don’t have kids, but I do want them to be able to learn. But again, there are many factors that are involved. I think I have some reading to do so I can be more educated myself. I think that we all need to look at this issue and go beyond what is best just for us. What is really best for America? Or lets think further, what is best for humanity.

Here are some Pro and Con arguments. Check them out, be informed.

Example of what happens if you give Free Health Care?

Pros and Cons

Case for Universal Health Care

Case Against Universal Health Care

Brits Defend their Health Care

Ranking show US Health Care in Unfair light

Universal Health Care Is the Wrong Prescription

A link with other links

Desire…

I hate to have too many sappy posts, but I was thinking about how I was a little upset with the fact that I didn’t receive a birthday card at my job. Actually I eventually got one, but it was after a nice co-worker had to point it out to someone. It got me thinking about how simple things in life can affect us a lot. I think that all my life I have wanted just to be recognized. That might be my greatest desire. I am not a glory whore or anything, but I want to get recognition. In life it can wear on you when you don’t get the props that you deserve (or think you deserve).

It must be an ego thing, but I’ll tell you one thing, my ego is starving. I don’t think things will change much because that is just the way it is. I want praise, but at the same time I shy away from it. I guess I better choose between keeping my cake or eating it also.

While you are still reading (I hope) I have come to the realization that I don’t think that I’ll ever be satisfied. I just feel that things are starting to get harder for me and I am getting to that point that I need to figure out what I want to do. How to keep myself happy. How to get in the position to be at my fullest. I am not sure if I will ever hit these goals. I am not sure if i’ll ever get to that point, but I’ll keep on trying.

Over-promising…

Sometimes I tend to take on more than I can chew. Lately I’ve been overwhelmed with stuff and it is starting to effect me doing small stuff. I won’t say that I am close to perfect, but that is defiantly one of my biggest flaws. I tend to over-promise and when I can’t get to that promise, I don’t always own up to my failings.

I’ll tell you a quick story about something that I just did. I got some cookies from a friend and was supposed to send some back. At first I was upfront about my not making them. I was getting home late and was too tired to think about making them. Other times I either forgot, or didn’t have all the ingredients. After realizing how much a lout that I was being,  I felt guilty and when asked about the cookies, I said that I made them. It was a stupid lie. I intended to make them that night, but I didn’t get in till late. And one thing came after another and so on and so on. So when I finally had to own up to my misdeed, I angered friends. I should have just told the truth.

The thing is that this isn’t my first time doing this. I’ve bit off more than I can chew before. It is mainly pride that keeps me from owning up on my inability to make good on my word. I really just don’t want to let people down, but by lying I am doing a far worse thing. Hopefully I will be forgiven, but at the same time I am disappointed at myself. I think this is one of the reasons that I took to blogging. If I air out my failings then I’ll have to own up to them. I need to finish things that I say that I will. And at the same time I hope to mend my relationships. Sorry guys to disappoint.

Talking about something, talking about Basketball…

What to post… I really don’t know. It really does seem like I am spending too much time bitching or acting bitch-like. So I’ll talk about stuff that I like.

Soooo… I was twittering (is it crazy that twittering is a common term?) with a co-worker/buddy about LeBron and other stuff. The 140 limit to the tweet and the nature of the wait and see constraints of the service did not allow us to have a valid conversation. But of course I thought about college basketball and LeBron James. I’ll put it is one of those list things that the kids like so much.

1. Why is it a big deal that some college kid dunked on LeBron? Basketball players get dunked on all the time. Yao Ming does. Alonzo Mourning did. Kobe Bryant did. Vince Carter has dunked on the entire world. Sheesh, LEBRON HAS AND WILL BE DUNKED ON AGAIN!!! That is the nature of the game. Face it, good players get dunked on.

2. College really isn’t that necessary for high level players. Seriously, who would be better at getting players ready for an NBA career? An NBA coaching staff and resources or a college coaching staff and resources? That is like asking what will prepare you for a job, that intro business class or an internship at a top company? They both are good, but on the job learning is almost always better.

3. LeBron James defense is highly overrated. Just wanted to put it out there for you guys. It isn’t bad, but it isn’t close to great. Didn’t Rafer Alston eat him alive durning the playoffs?

4. I really don’t like David Stern. He is the main reason that the NBA sucks. He is taking the passion out of the game. But I also don’t like Bud Selig. Actually I think they may be twins.

5. Steve Nash sucks. Sorry guys but I had to put that in there. I really don’t like point guards who can’t even spell defense. But I won’t get into that again. You can just read this.

6. College sports are a scam for the athletes. Actually it isn’t, but it is. It is hard to say. The colleges make so much money and gain so much prestige and honor for these sports programs. Sports create a good atmosphere around a college and it is a great recruitment tool. The intangibles that a good program gets you is almost unfathomable. It is a give and take, but it really is more take than give for the colleges.

7. I just wanted an excuse to show more dunks. MJ, Vince Carter (Way too many), More MJ and the top all time dunks that You Tube is providing me. Oh and here are some random dunks if you didn’t get enough.

Well that felt good. I should blog about sports more often.

Age vs. friendship

I was reading one of my favorite blogs and it talked about how hard it is gaining new friends as you get older. I totally agree. While you might meet new people, the actually progression between associate and friendship is a large chasm to clear. Time is one of the biggest issues. It is funny, when I was younger I had all the time in the world but little freedom, now it is the exact opposite. I have too many responsibilities and so do others. 

I am at that stage in my life that I want to hang out more. I think that I am just making up for lost time. For the type of things that I didn’t do much when I had the time. The problem is that it is getting hard trying to find people to hang out with.

Sometimes I feel that I wear out my friends. Actually it might be true. I see some of them way too much and talk to them way too much. I love hanging with them but you need to have time away sometimes. It is getting harder for me to be able to catch up with some of my friends lately. I guess that is just the point in my life that I am in.

Designing and more…

So I am not sure if you all know this, but I am a graphic designer. I like what I do, but I want to love what I do. One of the things that is keeping me from this goal is myself. A year ago I never worked on anything web based and now that is what I do all day. I still am pretty novice-like in some terms of design, but I am catching up fast. One of the things that is holding me back, however, is lack of knowledge. I am still learning html and the goings is slow. It is hard to sit at a computer working all day just to get home and do some more work on another computer. But it is like they say, sometimes you have to sacrifice to achieve your goals. So hopefully I will get there. I have a good buddy giving me some guidance, but the onus is on me. 

I am thinking of starting a couple of sites. One is a fine dining club blog that I was supposed to have done awhile ago. Another is a portfolio site for my designs and artwork. The last one I would love to do is a group blog about entertainment and experiences. I don’t know if that will ever happen, but I really do thing that if I build it, they will come. We shall see. But anyhow thanks for continuing to read my blog. I’ll step it up in the upcoming weeks.

News for reals…

Couldn’t sleep so I decided to look at the news. What is up with reporting today? Is it me, or is fluff journalism starting to become the norm. Instead of finding actually interesting stories, I am subjected to a clip fest of the latest goofy things that happen. It seems that instead of getting deeper meaning behind the real news, the focus is more on entertaining than informing. President Bush’s gaffs? Obama checking other women out? Save that stuff for the Daily Show and Colbert Report. I will admit that it is some funny stuff, but is it really news?

I understand the reasoning, the news shows want to compete with the comedy shows. They want to get some of the younger demographic, but they are not doing it the right way. Remember when Dick Cheney accidentally shot his friend? That was news, but for as long as they tried to stretch it. It was day after day about making jokes about Dick Cheney, but it was an accident and that was all. I can see why that is interesting, but for all the crazy things that the guy has done, this is lower on the evil scale. 

 I would hate to be Anderson Cooper or some of the other “serious” news guys who have to compromise their journalistic integrity to report some of this stuff. The news was always about clips, but now it seems that they are aiming to provide more YouTube  links that anything. This was one of the front page links on www.cnn.com in the Breaking news section. It is a cute clip of a squirrel facing unbelievable danger and peril, but it isn’t breaking news. 

Well maybe I am just begin a prude or something. I will say that comedy has isn’t place in the regular news. When it is in a special section like Anderson Coopers, The Shot then it is in a proper place.

I guess that we all need to be entertained. The news is usually pretty down, but I watch it to be informed. The news rarely is funny. I’m just saying.