11 Questions from Once in a Blue Spoon!

Last week, my friend Taylor who runs an awesome blog full of delicious recipes, passed on the Liebster Blog Award to me. Instead of trying to summarize what it is, I'm just gonna quote Taylor on what the Liebster is: "the Liebster Award is kinda like blogger chain mail minus the supposed horrible consequences if you don’t pass it on." It's a fun way to get to know other bloggers and what makes them tick. These are the rules:

1. You state 11 facts about yourself.
2. You answer 11 questions from the person who sent it to you.
3. You pass it along to 11 other bloggers with 11 questions of your own.

And seriously, check out her blog--I get hungry every time she posts a new recipe.

 

 

11 Facts About Me

 

 

1. I once gave advice to an NFL player.

2. I start hallucinating when I spend over 24 hours without sleep.

3. I once taught an ex-con a little bit about how the internet works.

4. Although I can't play piano anymore, I once could, and I had the same professor as Michel Camilo.

5. I once got on a horse when I was a kid, and it tried to run away with me.

6. I co-wrote a rap when I was 8 years-old and it included the line "I went to the kitchen, to get some chicken".

7. I once had chocolate milk with ketchup just to see what it tasted like.

8. I want to write at least one poetry book, one novel, and one nonfiction book before I die.

9. I once interviewed Jeff Dunham.

10. I came out of my mother's womb upside down.

11. I just got into American University for an MFA program(woo!). Also, MFA programs are harder to get into than law school.

 

11 Questions from Once in a Blue Spoon

 

1. Why did you start blogging?

I started blogging in order to get in the habit of writing regularly. As as result, I've written about things I didn't even know I was interested in until now.

 

2. What's your favorite TV show?

Right now, Breaking Bad. All time, possibly The Sopranos.

 

3. What's your favorite food?

I love pub food. Sometimes, there's just nothing as good as pub burger with a Guinness or a Magner's.

 

4. If you could travel to anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Germany--I really wanna catch a football game there.

 

5. What's the first thing you ever remember cooking?

When I was a kid, my brothers and I would make something my parents called "toast". It was essentially bread with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon baked in the oven. Delicious.

 

6. If you could have any super power, what would it be?

Flight.

 

7. What's your favorite book?

I think "The Outsider" by Richard Wright.

 

8. What's your job or where did you go to school?

Unemployed, Gettysburg College.

 

9. Sweet or salty?

Both combined.

 

10. Which band/artist would write the soundtrack of your life?

The Verve.

 

11. Favorite drink (alcoholic or non, your choice)?

Jagerbomb.

 

11 Blogs

 

I don't really have regular contact with too many blogs so I'm gonna cheat here and only include two blogs written by good friends.

 

1. Working Title - My friend Xavier's tech blog.

2. Musings from a Not-So-Tortured Soul - My friend Morgan's blog on music and life.

 

11 Questions for You

 

1. What artist/band has affected your life the most?

2. What is your dream job?

3. What are two truths and a lie about you?

4. Why do you blog?

5. Until what age do you wanna live?

6. What does your dream home look like?

7. What's your favorite sport and why?

8. If you could visit one place for a day, what place would that be?

9. What would you do if you had a million dollars?

10. What is your biggest weakness?

11. Why did the chicken cross the road?







Today's Youth as Described by a 21st-Century Prophet

I've had the fortune of knowing Muahaha for several years now. I've always seen him as one of the deepest and most philosophical people I know. He is a minimalist with a love for the simple pleasures of life. We often have conversations discussing the current state of the world and where young adults are headed. In one of my old posts, I used several people's answers on a series of questions to learn more about youth today. For this particular post though, I wanted to explore the same subject in more depth through someone who's seen a little bit of everything. All build-up and bias aside, here is the voice of our generation's take on youth today:

A true visionary.

How old are you?

21.

How's it going?

No complaints.

How is the 21st century different from the 20th century?

There are more opportunities and easier ways of doing things, yet these are wasted by us..

How would you describe the average young male of 2013?

No idea, but if the internet is any indication...I need to grow up. And these are the words of a 21-year old boy.

How would you describe the average young female of 2013?

They need to get in gear--they have achieved so much on a global level, in some places more than others, but they can't fall asleep on opportunity, they can't let themselves be suffocated by reality shows and Twilight and other intellectual tumors. Stop hating each other and don't be extreme feminists that hate everything about men, and simply live up to the beautiful, maximum potential that you can be... Be independent, but don't fall into overly self-important role that many woman fall into when achieving independence. Not all women fall into that though.

What do you think of pop music today?

Horrible... although 90s music wasn't much better. I don't know dude, it's just that during the last decade, music has just been like "go out to drink fuck I have money woop woop". And it's cool to have the need to go out and have fun, but damn, there's a world beyond that.
1/3 of Ensiferum's songs are about eating and drinking and getting wild too, but the other 2/3 of their songs explore the rest of the spectrum of life.

What about movies today?

Hollywood is really burned out--but there are still some really cool and original stuff coming out. I can't complain too much about that--I think we're doing alright. There will always be garbage, but there's still a lot of good stuff.

Literature?

50 Shades...we're fucked.

Fashion?

I am artistically retarded, but jeans and white/black t-shirts are all I'll ever need in this life.

What do you think will be the most popular pofession in ten years?

Unless there is some revolutionary technological discovery....whatever Snooki's doing.

What profession will die out within the next ten years?

Pendolismo.

Why is to so hard for our generation to get a job?

Mm, well here(in the DR), the education is very deficient because it's focused on creating slaves who can barely function at the base of the pyramid. There's a lot of demand and very little good or decent jobs. I'm sick of seeing overqualified people in mediocre jobs.

What is the best aspect of today's youth?

That we're young! That we have energy and we're idiots and we can dream and do literally anything, but today there isn't anything special about our youth. Easier transportation and communication, but I think that limits the adventure. I sometimes envy the young viking who would sail out on his boat with his friends to God-knows-where to see the world... that took a type of courage that I think doesn't exist anymore.

What is the worst aspect of today's youth?

I think I just answered that question.

How would you describe today's youth?

Lethargic? It's like I said--there are many opportunities and tools that didn't exist before... I think about how limited we were in the 12th century for example. That's sad, but with all the wonderful, even MAGICAL things that we have thanks to science and technology...and we only want cellphones. And then we complain that there's nothing to do.

Last question, what will future generations think of us?

The same thing we think about earlier generations--that we are ancient people with very limited technology... and depending on whether we clean or finish fucking up the planet, that we were (ir)responsible.

An Incomplete List of Small Pleasures

Well I had several ideas for what to write about this week, but I kept changing my mind until I stumbled into this. Frank Chimero is an artist of several mediums interested in expanding the curiosities of other artists (check out his library) by exploring their own minds and surroundings in more depth. As an aspiring artist, this exercise seemed like a good idea to do some exploration, so here goes my own "incomplete list of small pleasures":

-Playing FIFA. A lot of FIFA.
-Reading a Cracked article, then opening related ones until I have twelve tabs of interesting, but useless trivia articles to occupate my time for the next hour. And doing this every day.
-Actively listening to my favorite bands' entire discography in bed while trying to be productive, but failing at it.
-Running in the wilderness(or on a treadmill) while passively listening to a wide array of random, catchy songs.
-Playing poker with friends while alternating my hands between stacking up my chips in neat, uni-colored piles and sipping a drink.
-Watching How I Met Your Mother(or anything really) in bed with my girlfriend while eating microwaved Chinese food.
-Late night runs to 7/11 for possibly unhealthy, but delicious snacks.
-Going on a walk either by myself or with good company without caring about my surroundings, the time, or the future.
-Weekend movie marathons.
-Long, hot showers on a cold, dreary day.
-Going to a ballpark, buying overpriced chicken fingers and beer, and yelling at the outfielders.
-Going on a long bus/train/car ride and staring out the window until I slowly doze off.

 

Although this post seems slightly self-indulgent, you sometimes need to like outwards before looking inwards. In art and in life, finding yourself is only possible by really taking a look around and figuring out what is exciting or soothing. Feel free to make your own list, I'd love to hear what you have to say.

Disorganized rant #1

Back in August 2008, when I was about to start my freshmen year of college, there were several events conducted by the school during with the purpose of making the transition progress from life at home to college smoother--aka orientation. Although people have a ton of orientation stories that have nothing to do with the actual orientation because no one remembers most of the activities or talks from orientation, I found some value in orientation. Actually, to be perfectly honest, I don't remember any of the actual orientation either, but there's one particular moment that stands out. During a really long series of speeches given in a cozy room full of freshmen, a woman talked about how the whole point of college was to come out a different person than who they currently were.

We were being challenged to step outside of our comfort zone, join clubs, try new things, hang out with people you wouldn't usually hang out with, play sports, engage in substance abuse, and basically push ourselves in any way we could--or at least that's what I thought at the time. See, I now realize that what she actually meant was not to live through these things, but to live alongside them and see what you can take away from it, and what you can leave back. Your life isn't defined by where you are, who you're with, or even what you do. I think life is more about how you react to certain situations and, to quote a cliche, how to "grow from them". There's a reason why people only really remember certain classes from college, certain people they meet, certain social gatherings, etc. I mean, sure we all love things that give us immediate satisfaction like fireworks, chocolate, or even simple comedy (seeing someone puke, slip in their vomit, pass out, wake up the next morning with half a face of vomit and half a face of black-sharpie penises), but it's still bigger than that.

At the end of the day, everything you do is pretty selfish in one way or another because all you really do is subconsciously use everything and everyone else to become a better version of yourself (hopefully). You doesn't really change your persona during college--you simply become a more defined version of who you are and this is done through choice. I guess my point is that people are more distanced from their surroundings than they think they are. When all is said and done, we're all forming impressions of ourselves in the world, but these impressions are constantly changing. So, in a way, we don't actually ever change.

An Alumni Weekend Worthy of Itself

September 28th-30th marked the first official "reunion" between the 2012 Gettysburg College graduates with each other as well as with past 'Burgians. Despite the fact that graduation day was only four months ago and some of us had seen each other since then, it was great to get that sense of familiarity back, even if only for two plus days.

Although there were plans being made left and right weeks before the weekend even started, the vast number of people and events that was filling up the campus made such plans hard to keep intact. Alumni weekend really begun Thursday night when a few old faces popped around campus, but the swarm of people who relished in the class and madness that Gettysburg brought to their lives came in Friday afternoon. After a Thursday night of some old jokes with friends, Beirut, a touch of energy, and the ever-smoky Mama's, I was ready to really see this historic weekend come into its own throughout the next two days.

Friday was a day of reminiscing and lowering my self-esteem by hearing people's great jobs and busy grad schools just enough to seek out some Gettysburg fun. However, seeing everyone regress to the Gettysburg way(with a bit more maturity and a little less... tolerance for certain things) made me feel a little better about myself. Although the night started in a similar fashion to Thursday night, seeing Garryowen's Irish Pub packed to the point where my friends and I were unable to find a seat to enjoy our pints of classy brews made me realize the importance of the event. Every college has its own identity, and Gettysburg is marked by the loyalty of its past and present students to the local bars, restaurants, town spots, and of course, the college. It really became one of those "appreciate this moment and smell the roses" cliche moment.

Saturday night was a monster of its own. It was a day of recovery through exercise and water, but the night had other plans. Between beers and pizza my friends' house, hanging out at my girlfriend's apartment and preparing for The Attic, the quality conversation-driven host provider social at The Attic with my brothers and friends, the pit stop in the science center to take a piss, the hot and humid basement party, and the late-night blackout party, it was an unbelievable 11 hours that were coasted through with no regrets and nothing but satisfaction.

This trademark Gettysburg weekend will be one to remember even though the post-college reunions have only begun. Nevertheless, it was a chance to remember the opportunity that Gettysburg has created for those alums with jobs and grad school, as well as those of us who have yet to find such luck or even figure out how to move forward from here.

Still Unemployed

So I decided to start a blog to deal with the somewhat mundane and boring life of a post-college lifestyle without a job, but I don't have much to complain about. I haven't exactly been vegetating in my couch for months upon end the way many college graduates do upon entering the ever-dreaded "real world", but I haven't exactly figured out any long term plans yet.

I'm not gonna lie, I had a kick-ass summer. I had an enjoyable part-time job, ate a lot of wings, drank a lot of booze, and basically partied with my Gburg friends on a regular basis. It was sort of like a last hurrah, encapsulating my entire college career in a very brief three-month period of reckless shenanigans. But it was still different.

Although I was still coasting through the carefree rides of a college playground, I was facing a dead end after that. Whereas many of my buddies had a sweet entry-level job, a PhD within sight, or even a year or two of college left, all I had was rejection upon rejection after hundreds of job applications and somewhat ambiguous plans for starting grad school on September 2013. Although I am now pretty much at that stage, with the exception of being around Gettysburg for a little longer and the new GREs under my belt, it all seems like an uphill battle from here on.

To quote a classic cliche, this period of stasis is both a gift and a curse for recent college grads like myself. On the one hand, it feels like this is the only moment in life where I can take a break from literally everything: no school, no work, no Greek life, no stress. My appreciation for life has never been greater than now, with this much freedom, and I doubt it ever will be again. Yet there is still the fear of uncertainty that continues to drag me down and linger on. The same fear of failure that existed when filling out college applications, taking exams and anticipating graduation are still very much alive. Even with this post, the ambiguity that exists within me right now is hard to explain or define, which is why I'll end this on an abrupt note. Until next time, when things are hopefully clearer than now, early September 2012, three and a half months after living my first twenty-one plus years in a world of structure.