Time to make the Jihad!

What it is folks? I haven't blogged and contributed to discussion on here as much as I've wanted to, but I'm tryin...My boy Stew got faith in my blabberings so here ya go:

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Dunkin Donuts recently pulled an ad with Rachel Ray in response to massive calls for boycott that have erupted recently after a blogger by the name of Michelle Malkin incited a flagrantly flawed fascist fuss of fashion over this:



For those of you that don't know where the offense is taken, take a wild guess...Go 'head, try...Can't think of anything? Well, it's the scarf...That's right, apparently wearing that scarf is Rachel Ray's way of saying, "I heart terrorists!"...The reasoning? Because Palestinians wear similar scarves called keffiyehs and, as we all know, all Palestinians are terrorists therefore making Mrs. Ray a terrorist-supporter for wearing said scarf...

Number 1, it's not even a keffiyeh...you can't see it from the picture, but if you look around for articles about it, it's been made known that the thing is a damn paisley print piece of fabric...Number 2, even if it was a keffiyeh, so the fuck what? "Terrorist" is not a nationality or ethnicity...By that same screwed up logic, "going green" is in support of all the homegrown terrorist and anarchist individuals/groups who are raging against the machine here in the States, what with all the capitalism and industrializations sapping the very life, balance, and purity from Gaia, Mother Earth, or whoever you want to call it...The thing is worn to endure the arid and sandy elements of the Mid-East; it's like a hat or a jacket or sunglasses...And Number 3, it's instances like these that show this country has yet learned its lesson in cultural relations...The vast and egregious blanket of slander thrown about like rice at a wedding is sad...It's fear that can easily be quelled with learning and understanding...Yes, the keffiyeh has grown to be a symbol of Palestine, of its culture, and of its people...But it is no more different than a dhoti in India or a kimono in Japan...

These are elements of a way of life...
...and though the interests of given region can be loosely associated with its own culture, that does not make it one and the same with the other elements by far...If I were to speak Arabic, would that make me also a terrorist-sympathizer? If it were Mandarin or Cantonese, would I then be a Communist? Perhaps speaking German would make me a Nazi?...No, the possibility that you cannot place an inherent face on hatred or the enemy is jarring and places many into a searching form of denial...People are so twisted up with fear that they need something to focus it upon in order to keep from bursting...Something so sure fire and equivalent to what it is that they are frightened of to begin with...Salem had the Witches, the 40s and 50s had Communists, and now we have the Terrorists...An accusation is as good as a conviction, and the irony of it all is that this is in the name of supposed Democracy and, better yet, the upper echelon of the American way...Fred the Baker is turning in his grave...

Hopefully SOMEONE out there missed me

(I would like to send a R.I.P. to my man Don Mega. He has not passed, but he has stopped blogging. He will be sorely missed. Stay strong brother.)

*Whew*

Ok. I am back.

"What?!? Who's that? Oh, it's you. I been sleep all of this time, waiting for you to come back. Where have you been man? You told me you would be right back. I missed my segment last week. That's all kinds of messed up."

I told you that I had to run down to H-Town for a sec. My and my man Jesùs De Luca drove to Texas because he has some stuff to do.

"That is a long drive. Spending that much time with one person. I don't think I could handle that."

It was cool though. We stopped in Memphis on Friday night. We walked around on Beale street for a bit. Then chilled by the river. We slept in Arkansas, then made our way to the Bill Clinton Library in Little Rock. I wish we could have stayed there a little longer, but we had to get on the road. Clinton was an AWESOME president though. He did SO much for this country. For example, did you know that he brought the country out of debt, then took us to a surplus? That is some amazing stuff.

"All of the good stuff he did definitely overshadows the whole 'Monica' thing."

Oddly enough, there was no mention of the "Monica" thing anywhere in the place. Makes sense though. I did notice something funny though. There were 4 pictures up with Bill & Hillary posing in front of a HUGE Christmas tree. In 3 of them, they are hugging/embracing for the picture. But in 1999 they have a large gap between them.

"And so...."

That is when the "Monica" thing went down. Coincidence? I do not think so.

"Well that makes sense. He got busted for getting some 'Lewinsky', and she did not even want to touch him. Ha! He is still the man though."

Yes he is.

Anyhow, I am back, and I do not plan on going on any hiatuses anytime soon so you folks will be getting a healthy dose of US.

Are you ready?

~sTeW~

There's One in Every Group (High School Edition)

In movies, books, television, and any other type of media that tells stories about a group of friends there are always people that fall into certain categories. Like there is always a smart character, foreign character, "dumb blond" character, etc...

Like most people, I have many acquaintances, homeboys, peoples, and every other word used to describe people that you know but you do not consider a friend. Before I went to college I had two best friends, Boozer & Dr. J. These were my boys. We were together all the time. So much so that when one was missing The first thing someone asks is "Where is ... (missing person)." Even though there were just three of us, we each had a role.

Dr. J : Jock/Lunatic

Me: Smart Guy

Boozer: Pretty Boy/Jock/New Crew Member

Me and Dr.J had been friends long before we met Boozer. We became a trio when Boozer moved into the house next to mine in high school. At first I could not stand the guy. Growing up I was not used to having kids in my neighborhood. I never had little Johnny come to my door and ask my mom "Can Stew come out to play?" So when Boozer would come by it would annoy the hell out of me. My first thought would be "What the hell does this guy want?" Turns out all he wanted to do was chill. Once we all made the JV squad my 10th grade year we became SUPER tight, and the rest is history.

"Well how did they get their respective titles? You just do not become "The Lunatic" for no reason."

Dr. J is really good at basketball. He is quite possibly one of the best PG to come out of Raleigh. The only thing that ever held him back was his height. Not his fault though. Outside of that he is a complete NUT JOB. I am reminded of this basketball tournament we went to in Charlotte when we were about 12 years old.

Timeline
8:00 am - Piece of ham is deposited on the ground in a parking lot from a McDonald's breakfast sandwich
5:00 or 6:00 pm - Return to the same parking lot to find the ham is still in the same spot
1 min later - There is a dare to eat the ham (Side note: A dare, not a bet so no money was exchanged)
5 sec later - Dr. J answers the call and eats the ham

There were MANY events like this. I will bet anyone that my friend is crazier than your friend. Granted, if your friend does crazy stuff and goes to jail for it, then you got me beat.

Boozer on the other hand was the exact opposite. He is smooth, calm, and LIGHT SKINNED. That is why he get the pretty boy label. I am not the one giving him the title. I can not tell you how many times we would be walking in the mall and some random girl calls me over to her and says something like this:

Girl: Hey what's up how are you doing?
Me: I'm straight. What's up with you?
Girl: Well me and my friends were wondering, what's up with your friend?
Me: Which one?
Girl: The light skinned on.

This never really bothered me because I knew that if we all got together then Dr. J & I were guaranteed one of the friends. Even though the friends were probably interested in Boozer the whole time. I just wondered why they didn't just skip the middle man (Me) and just talk to him their damn selves.

Boozer was a two sport guy so he automatically got the title of Jock. He also played football. Personally I always thought he was better at football. (Now that I think about it, I think he knew that too) I think the ladies loved him because he was like a big teddy bear because of his LB frame.

The whole purpose of this is to have you think about your high school days and try to remember who was in your crew. What labels did you all have? What was your label?

I think it would be cool if you turned it into a post on your own blog (if you have not done something like this already). If you do then let me know with a comment that you did, or you plan to. If you choose not to, still throw a comment up and tell me what your title was.

It's always fun to reminisce.

~sTeW~

Not Fatal Fridays!!!

Welcome everyone to Not Fatal Fridays!!!

"Wait!!! Are you stealing MY idea?"

What makes you think this is YOUR idea? If I recall correctly, WE were having a conversation and you just so happened to mention that we have not posted anything that matches the overall theme of our blog.

"Exactly. I am the one who mentioned it, therefore I should be the one to host it. Is it too much to ask that I have a topic once a week? For the rest of the time you can continue to keep me locked away.

I have no issue with that. All I ask is for you to not say anything crazy. Remember, this is for the world to see. You put anything too outlandish out there then I get the heat, not you.

"Understood. Let's get started."

"I have been waiting for this. I want to talk about Facebook (and every other social networking website) and the IDIOTS that treat it like gold. I have no issue with Facebook or Myspace or anything else, hell Stew's on Facebook. My only issue is with the dummies that take what is on FB/MS (Facebook/MySpace) as a 100% true to life autobiography. It kills me when I hear some craziness like this:"

Person 1 "Did you hear that Jack and Jill have broken up?"
Person 2 "No, that can not be true. I just saw them together."
Person 1 "That's not what it says on FB."

or some other nonsense like:

Person 1 "So do you know what he/she looks like?"
Person 2 "Yeah man, he/she got these pictures up on MS. He/she is fine as hell."

"I don't understand why EVERYONE hasn't realized that the internet is easiest place to fabricate a personality. As far as you guys know Stew REALLY has Dissociative Identity Disorder and I am one of his personalities. One of his MANY personalities."

First off, try not to call people names. Calling them "idiots" and "dummies" is not going to help anything. Next, I am not going to lie, it is hard sometimes not to trust what you see on some of these sites because the first question you have to ask yourself is 'Why would they lie about something like that?'

"There is no answer to that question. People are stupid."

"Sorry ladies, but I have to rip on you for a moment. I don't understand why females get PISSED by the amount of information a guy decides to disclose. I'm sorry ladies but you gals are guaranteed to be upset if a guy would rather not display his "relationship status" on FB. Too many time have I heard this conversation:"

Person 1: "Man my girl is mad at me right now."
Person 2: "Why? You have a fight or something?"
Person 1: "Yeah man. Over something stupid too."
Person 2: "If it is worth fighting over, it can not be that stupid."
Person 1: "She mad because I did not change my status on FB."

"If you ask me, the only people that NEED to know that a relationship exists are the people in the relationship. When you start to involve other people then that is when everything gets complicated. People start talking and lies get created. Then the relationship that could have gotten somewhere gets all messed up because you have added 'people' in the equation."

I was hoping that you would say something wrong and I could call you out on it Douglass, but I do not disagree with anything you have said. I agree that people take what is on the internet too seriously. I wanted to test this theory out, so a few years ago my and my best friend whom I will call Dr. J, decided to display that we were in a relationship. Sure enough I started getting messages like:

Stew are you serious?

and

How long have you two been together?

or

Stew you need to get some Jesus in your life.

I know they were serious because when I told them it was supposed to be funny they all said, 'Oh'. Point Proven.

"So remember: FB/MS/everything else is not fatal, therefore it's no big deal"


±DoUgLaSs±

Masquerade

Too often do we find that others, and we ourselves, would rather put forth more effort to continuously run away from our problems, fears, and issues than to stand and face them for once and for all...We become voluntary slaves to our weaknesses...Remember, the farther we run from our problems, the more "distance" and time it will take to get back and merely face it...Fight or flight: you'd think we'd realize by now that it's much harder to get airborne than to stand in the midst of gravity...

What lies behind that mask?
A wound too harsh?
A scratch too deep?
A bruise too tender to be touched?
You've built a fortress within this guise
And have yet to come out from behind it.
For what purpose was this edifice, this facade, constructed?
To deter a vagabond
Or to jail the princess?
Your band-aid smile peels at the edges —
A sign it's been worn too long —
And yet you dawn it still...
Afraid of the pull and afraid of the tug,
Only fleeting is the relief that hiding has come to give you.
Hidden from view, the pain remains in tact.
I will kiss your bruises...
I will lick your wounds...
And I will soothe each scratch upon thy flesh...
But, first. you must allow me to do so.
Show me your injuries,
And I will teach you the beauty of your scars.
Bring me your sorrows,
And I will show you the strength within your tears.
Permit me, and I will render your confines asunder upon the ground.

Do you ever get the feeling you're being watched?

HEY KIDS!!!!! After a very enjoyable stay at home we are back. We intended to continue blogging while we were at home, but as you can see we COMPLETELY fell off our game.

Be honest people, how many of you missed us? Show of hands. How many of you checked a few times and thought to yourself "Gosh, where are these guys?"


I knew it. You can put your hands down. Well I am glad to be back, and I have a lot of stuff on my mind so lets get started.

"So you want to just jump right into it, and not give me a chance to say anything? That's really messed up Stew."

I apologize. Anything you would like to say Douglass?

"..."

While he pouts, let's move on.



In 1998 Jim Carrey starred in a movie called "The Truman Show". For those who have not seen it, the premise of the movie is, a media corporation adopts a kid, and turns the kid's entire life into a television show. The cameras are always rolling, there are actors playing various roles in his life with hidden cameras constantly filming his life. I really liked this movie; Jim Carrey did a fantastic job as always. I want to go into detail about what happens in the movie, but I do not want to spoil it for those who have not seen it.

"So if you are not going to tell us what happens in the movie what's the point of bringing it up? You see this is why I rarely pay attention to you."

So I see you feel like talking now. Just stick with me I will pull it together.

When I take a shower I love to keep the lights off, and I almost always have music playing. One thing I think ALL people do is sing in the shower. I do not know what makes us do it, but it is safe to say that at some point EVERYONE sings in the shower. Singing is not enough for me. I also dance. You can't tell me nothing (double negative... I know) when I am dancing in the shower. I will call it shancing... "shower dancing". I feel like Chris Brown, Omarion, Marques Houston, Michael Jackson, James Brown, Savion Glover, the judges & crews from America's Best Dance Crew, Usher, N Sync, every krumper alive, the Harlem Shaking boys from the "Let's Get It" video, Missy, the little white girl from the Missy videos, the entire world can not hold a candle to me when I am shancing. Every dance known to man, I can do it AND execute it to perfection. Sometimes I wonder, "How come I am not in someone's video somewhere getting paid? I got talent."

"I can tell you why. You suck. The reason you keep the lights off is because you are ashamed to see yourself bust those SLOPPY moves. I've seen you dance in the shower, and I must say that you are the epitome of terribleness. You had better pray that no one ever sees you, or gets it on tape because I will be the first one on youtube laughing at you."

Sometimes I think, "What if someone were to see me shance?" I do not get embarrassed easily, but I do believe that being caught in the middle of a serious pop locking session would do the trick.



In "The Truman Show", Truman had no clue that his every move was being taped and broadcast live to millions of viewers. I am sure he did and said stuff that he was SURE no one was aware of. Everyone does little things that they do not want anyone else to see or hear. I have told you one of mine.

What do you do?

~sTeW~

Homeward Bound

( The sponsors of my trip)

So I have been looking at some of my previous posts, and I have realized that I have not been very personal with my readers. I feel as if you really do not know me. With this realized I have decided to take you on a journey with me.

"Journey? You call going from Pennsylvania to North Carolina a journey? All you did was drive for an hour then hop on a couple of planes. All you did was go HOME!!!"

Ok. So I will admit that it is not anything really fancy, but I still think it would be beneficial for my readers to take a trip with me. Maybe they will get to know me a little better.

Let's begin.

I had to drive 1.5 hours Tuesday morning so I decided to go to bed early. Much earlier than normal. Felt weird being in the bed during the time when I am normally out enjoying myself.

DAMN!!! I had to wake up to pee. I hate when that happens. I was SOOOO sleepy. I did not even know I took this picture. I must have took it in my sleep. Did not even know that I was capable of doing something like that. I am much more cooler than I thought.

Ok. Time to wake up. I feel invigorated, as you can tell. I absolutely HATE the noise my alarm clock makes. Guess that is what makes a good alarm clock though. Good thing I decided to pack the night before. Normally I do not plan/pack ahead.

I am half way finished with my morning ritual. Deodorant on. Hair combed. Smelling good. I love the way I look. Don't touch me.....I'm HOT!!!!

Fully dressed ready to roll. Hold up. Gotta eat a little bit first. I know it is kind of early for pork chops and green beans, but I can not travel on an empty stomach. If you are wondering, yes I can cook. I LOVE to cook.

I am going home for a week and this is all of the luggage I am taking with me. Ladies take a note. Just because you are going out of town does not mean that you have to take your entire wardrobe. Just take a few bags and make it work. No, just playing. Women, take all of the luggage you want. As long as you are happy with how you are looking, I am happy.

All packed up and ready to go. Just felt like posing in the hallway. Be honest people... you know you are feeling the hat. This hat had been with me for a few years now. I got it when I went to Africa. I had to keep the sun off of me, and this hat did a terrific job. I absolutely LOVE this hat.

This is my car 1991 Toyota Celica. This is probably the CLEANEST 91 Celica you will EVER see. I got a really good deal on it. It has the standard package, but the mileage that was on it was super low for its age. At this point in time there are only 168,000 miles on it. I LOVE MY CAR!!!

Alright, in my car ready to hit the road. Nothing like high gas prices to kill my good mood. I remember when gas was 99 cent a gallon and $1.02 was high. Good thing I have a small tank and I get almost 30 miles to the gallon.

After about 1.5 hour drive and a switch of transportation, I arrive at my destination. Time to catch my plane. It is so much cheaper to fly out of Harrisburg than to fly out of State College. That's why I do not mind driving to another town. Nothing like saving a little money.

Waiting for the plane to start boarding. Sometimes ambiance music can suck. Elevator music for example, it sucks most of the time. I was enjoying the sounds of the Temptation's hit "Poppa was a Rolling Stone". Right when I was starting to enjoy the music, the announcement for my plane came over the P.A. system. Oh well, next stop Philadelphia!!!

A shot of the ground, and me taking in all of this beautiful scenery. You know what I hate about sleeping on the plane? I do not get anything to drink, nor do I get the snack. I really enjoy that drink and snack. I usual get ginger ale with my pretzels.

Nothing interesting here. Just made it to Philly. Gotta wait about an hour until I catch my next flight.

One thing I could never understand is why people decide to invade your personal space. For example, when I am in the bathroom there is no reason why you should use the urinal beside me if there are plenty others. This lady in the pink shirt decided to sit right beside me when there were seats all over the place as you can see in the other three pictures. That is something that I can not stand.

After an hour long plane ride, which I slept through, we land in my home state of NC. Feels good to be home. I go and grab my bags and wait for my dad to come and pick me up. And wait, and wait, and wait.

Finally, my dad comes to pick me up. That's my old car. He bought it from the junkyard and paid to have it fixed. The car was in great mechanical condition, there was just body damage. I really enjoyed driving that car. It is a 1992 Acura Integra GS. That little car can really move. He rubs it in my face every chance he gets.

Finally!! I am home. Well, its time for me to sign off. I hope you have had fun with me today. I am assuming that you have learned a little about me. If not, then read it again.

It feels good to be home.

~sTeW~

Are we REALLY who we say we are?

So, as some of you may know, I had a birthday recently. April 25th. I am 23 years old.

"No one knows. No one ever know because you never tell anyone."

Can I get a whole paragraph in before you decide to interrupt?

"Well you started off this post by saying something stupid. And I just can't let that happen. Start over."

Damn.

I had a birthday recently. I turned 23 on April 25th. Around this time every year I have an EPIPHANY of sorts. This sudden realization lets me know that I am a year older. Something always happens, and the way that I handle this "something" reminds me that I am older and wiser than the year before.

This year was different because no thing "triggered" this epiphany, it just came to me while having a conversation with a loved one.

I can not remember how the conversation progressed, but I remember getting on the topic of an individual's personality. First let me pose a question. If someone were to ask you to describe your personality what would you tell them? Many people would say things like "fun", "caring", "outgoing", "laid back", all those kinds of things.

There are many different methods to determine what "type" of personality a person has. There are astrological signs. I'm a Taurus, and there are a LOOOOOONG list of attributes, both negative and positive, that are associated with Taurus'. Then there is the concept of having a Type A or Type B personality. I have no clue which of these I am, but they exist nonetheless. In the Japanese culture, your blood type corresponds to personality traits. It is as common to ask blood type when getting to know someone in Japan, as it is to ask someone's birthday here. These are just a few examples.

Though all of these methods have been "accepted" and are valid in their own right, I came up with a different theory about personality and how people "fabricate" who they want to be.

To begin, I think that people choose who they want to be and the personality they would like to portray. A "nice" person is not nice because they can't help it, they are nice because they choose to be. This goes for most personality traits. There are not many traits that a person naturally has. The only traits given by nature are traits that are instinctual. Let's take the personality trait "courageous". This is a trait that is instinctual, you can not develop courage. There are people in this world who will instinctually pull an action hero move and save a baby from being hit by a bus. Being "shy" is another one of these types of traits. The bad thing is that there are not many of these instinctual traits.

On the other hand there are plenty of personality traits that people CHOOSE to exhibit. Take the most common character trait for a Taurus, "stubborn". I do not think that anyone can be born stubborn. They CHOOSE to not listen to anyone else's opinions. It's doubtful that a person can ignore someone purely off instinct. Another chosen trait is being "honest". Again, people are honest because it is the right thing to be, not because they are physically incapable of lying. (Laughing to myself. Thinking about Jim Carrey in "Liar Liar".)

What I am trying to do is to get you to think about your "personality" and assess the things that make you YOU. What are the traits that you have because you choose to have them, and what are the traits that you have that are purely instinctual?

"What kind of crap is that? You say that it is not possible to ignore someone off instinct, I ignore you all the time and don't even know that I am doing it."

That just comes from years of practice. I must say that you do a very good job of it too.

"..."

Well he is off in space somewhere.

So the next time someone asks you, "Why do you do that?" or "Why do you act like that?" Instead of responding, "I can't help it. That's just the way I am." You should respond, "That's how I CHOOSE to be."

You know it makes sense.

~sTeW~