Let's Take a Step Back

Much to my mother's dismay, I have not posted about Obama's victory.  I try not to write about what other people have already posted.  Now that I think about it, that is not a good idea, especially when it come to a historical event of this magnitude. 

I am going to refer back to a previous post of mine.  For those of you who did not click on the link, it was about the what the "average black man" in America is.  I got some very very nice response, and to this day that post is one of my favorites.

"So you don't support Obama?? Is that why you have not posted about him and his decisive victory?"

...

"Nothing to say huh??? I knew it. I knew you would not be in line with the most important black man since Dr. King."

I'm not responding because you are an idiot.

Anyhow, Obama's presidency will redefine what it means to be a black man in America.  I am hoping that nothing but positivity will come from Obama and his family being in the limelight and that the world will address what it means to be a black man.  

In my eyes, the face of the "average black man" has changed.  

NOW WE HAVE HOPE

~sTeW~

(Are you happy now mama???)

I Got a Question

Note to reader: THIS POST MAKES A FEW BROAD GENERALIZATIONS ABOUT RACE.  NOTHING HURTFUL THOUGH. SO IF YOU HAVE BEEN OFFENDED BY SOMETHING THAT I HAVE WRITTEN BEFORE....I AM PRETTY SURE YOU WILL GET OFFENDED AGAIN. 

I do not know if I have every told you folks this.  I go to The Pennsylvania State University, or just Penn State.  Home of the Nittany Lions.

"What the hell is a Nittany Lion?  Sounds like some punk ass lion that kicked out of the pride and started his own group!!!"

Apparently it is a species of mountain lion that was unique to this area.  They were found on Mt. Nittany, hence the name Nittany Lion.

"Still sounds like a rejected mountain lion.  And you are a punk for going to a school with an extinct mascot."

Why is it that you never have anything positive to say?

"Well I don't know about other days, but today I'm just hyper.  I had two of those 5 hour energy shots and 4 Red Bulls.  I'm ready!!!!"

For what?

"Whatever life throws at me."

Your heart is going to explode.

The point in mentioning the school that I attend is not to get Douglass all hyped up about the mascot.  Here is what I am getting at:

When you go to a majority school, you see people of EVERY race/ethnicity.  You name it, it's here.  Today I was walking to the bank and I looked at this Asian chick and I thought, "Wow, her hair looks really good."  So that got me thinking...I have never seen an Asian, man or woman, with bad hair.  So I have come to the conclusion that all Asian people have nice hair.  Maybe they put more time into their hair, or maybe nature has blessed them with that bounce most people would kill for.  Whatever the reason, I am making that statement.

So that got me thinking about the good qualities in all races, because all races/ethnicities have good and bad qualities.  I am not just talking about physical traits, it can be personality traits, culture, ANYTHING.  For example, a good quality about white people is the privilege and opportunity that comes with being white.  

So my question to you is...

What qualities from other races/ethnicities would you like to have for yourself? 

I understand that most of you will probably say "I am happy just the way I am."  I am pretty sure that MOST people are happy the way they are.  This is just a thought exercise that is supposed to be fun, and maybe a bit funny.  So go crazy, have fun with it.  I will not judge you for anything you may come up with.  This is one of those rare times that...

Stereotypes are more than welcomed!!!

~sTeW~

Movies are not ALWAYS fake

To some of my more faithful readers, it is brutally obvious that I am a BIG BIG movie fan. I will watch just about any movie, if I can catch it, but I am very picky about what movies I decided to spend my money to go and see. What I find most interesting about my interest in movies is that I tend to examine movies on a much deeper level than what they were originally intended.

"This is because you have no life.  You need to be more like me and get out more.  Stop spending all of your time in the movie theater and in the house. Go out and enjoy life. DAMN!!!"

Douglass, how do you go anywhere with me with you?

"That is not the important thing here.  The important thing is that you get the hell out of the house. I am sick of always having to watch lame ass movies.  There are plenty of things to do and people to meet out there on the streets."

You get in trouble on the streets.  You and I both know that.  Now quiet down, I have to get to the point.

"Please do. I'm getting sick of your rambling."

In recent years, one of my favorite movies has been Mr. & Mrs Smith.  It is now being played on FX which is what prompted me to write about it.  In my opinion, the movie does a great job contrasting the emotions and actions of men and women when their relationship gets turned up-side-down.  Let us not forget, this is an action movie.

I do not know how many of you have seen the movie, but for those who have, think about how differently John and Jane reacted to the situation.  Jane was very impulsive.  She did and said things that she regretted.  John on the other head kept a cool head and tried, with little success, to talk it out and gain some understanding about what was going on.  Jane, like MOST women, allowed for her emotions to take control and did not consider the implications of her actions until afterwards.  Also, she was very negative during the whole ordeal.  For example, John said to her: "I want this story to have a happy ending." she responded: "Happy endings are for stories that aren't finished." (This was the scene where they were dancing... one of my favorite scenes)  If you ask me, she was being extremely negative and was not even trying to hear John out.  

I must say that John did something very stupid. Why would he chase after Jane's car with a gun in his hand?  What was Jane to expect when he shot a hole in the windshield?  He should have left the gun in the house, and that entire situation could have been avoided.  

The main point I am getting at is that men and women are polar opposites when it comes to dealing with a crisis, especially when the crisis is an affair of the heart.  Men tend to keep a more calm disposition, while women tend to take actions that are full of passion.  With both approaches there are pros and cons.  Maybe there is a situation that calls for a man to act with more vigor, but since we do not naturally tap into those types of emotions, we could potentially make the situation worse.  Also, sometimes it is good that that a woman acts completely out of impulse due to her emotional outburst, it does not ALWAYS have to have a negative impact.

"Sometimes I think you are a woman."

Nothing I say is ever absolute.  There are exceptions to every rule.  But for the majority...

YOU KNOW I'M RIGHT.

~sTeW~

How Long Will This Last???

Now... I understand that this music is not meant for me. I know this. But this crap is giving Hip-Hop a bad name. We have to stop classifying this crap as Rap/Hip-Hop and give it a different genre. Like Wacky Crap, or TMM (Talentless Music Movement). No matter what it is called, something has to be done.

~sTeW~

What Happens When You Can Not Forgive Yourself???

Before my previous post I had been away from blogland for close to a month.  I felt bad a little bit because I JUST got finished telling you folks that I was going to try and post more often.  I just could not overcome the pseudo-depression that I had worked myself into.  

I almost never let anything get to me, hence the name of my blog, but every now and again my emotions build to a breaking point and I cannot stop myself from feeling my emotions.  During my time away I had to deal with someone who knows all of my deepest darkest secrets.  This person knows how to make me hurt, how to break me down to my most basic emotional self.  I was forced to look at myself in a way that I had been avoiding for a VERY long time.  

Of course, the person I am referring to is MYSELF.

For the record, I am not talking about the "Douglass" part of myself, I mean the part of me that stays locked away on average 364 days a year.  His name is Stewart.  Stewart moved in with me, and forced me to confront myself and take responsibility for everything that I have done.  Made me experience emotions that I had long forgot I had.  I have begged him for forgiveness, but he will not grant it.  He knows that for me to truly understand the gravity of my actions, that I need to hurt.  And hurt I did.  Everyday I was forced to relive recent events, force to play every painful sentence back in my mind.  I reluctantly did as I was told and endured the painful experience.  I kept to myself for days at a time.  I hid my feelings from the rest of the world, but when I returned to the solitude of my apartment the pain returned.

At this juncture, I am doing much better.  The pain has subsided to bearable standards, but Stewart is still around.  He will not forgive me because he does not think that I have hurt enough.  Maybe he is right.  But I will not give up. I am going to do everything in my power to put myself back on the right track, send Stewart packing.

Until then, me, Stewart, and Douglass will have to learn to play nice.

~sTeW~

Tip Your Garbage Man

"My god!!! What's that awful smell?  Smells like bananas, spoiled meat and used diapers.  Many, many used diapers."

Oh, sorry.  That is me Douglass. I just got in.  It does not smell that bad does it?

"WHAT!?!?!?! That's like looking at Sarah Jessica Parker, and saying, 'She is not that ugly'.  She is hideous, and you smell like roadkill."

Well what do you want me to do about it, I spent all morning picking up people's garbage and throwing it on a truck.

"I WANT you to burn those close and then wash your ass.  That's what I WANT you to do about it.  Don't touch any of my things."

Sure thing...

*After a 30 min shower*

"See how much difference soap and water can make?  Wait....I just thought about something, what the hell were you doing picking up garbage?  You got some kind of kinky fetish or something?  I knew you were nasty, but damn."

Your stupidity knows no bounds.  I did it because of a bet I made with a friend of mine, we will call him Slick Willy.  Slick Willy got busted for public urination when he took a piss on the sidewalk before he went into the club.  I was not there when it happened, but from what I hear, he was BLASTED and thought that it would be a good idea to take a piss while standing in line. I think he got some on some people's feet.  Needless to say the cops came right when someone was about to pound his face in.  At the end of the day, he had to do 30 hours of community service.  One of the many different tasks he was given was being a garbage man for a day.  When he came back and told me about it, he said it was the hardest thing he had ever done and bet me that I would not do it.  

"So you do anything that people bet you?  I bet you to leave and never come back.  I would even pay you."

Though collecting garbage was not the HARDEST thing I have ever done, I have gained a new respect for those that do.  I have always respected blue collar workers.  These are the guys that make our lives easy to live.  In my personal opinion, they get shafted the same way that teachers do.  

It is hard to grasp the magnitude of trash.  You have to stop at EVERY house, on EVERY street, in EVERY neighborhood.  You cannot skip a single house.  ALL TRASH MUST BE COLLECTED!!! You name it, I bet you I saw it in someone's garbage.  Until you go from house to house on about 20 different streets, you will never understand how much trash we generate. What's worse is that Halloween just ended, which means I picked up so many damn pumpkins that if I see another one before next Halloween I may have to be committed.  I want you to guess how much garbage we collected in about 5 hours of work.  I will give you a second to come up with a number.

.........

.........

.........

You got a number? If you guessed 7.5 tons then you were correct.  We collected 7.5 tons of garbage in 5 hours.  And that was just two guys and one truck.  There are an army of workers accompanied by platoon of trucks.

It was not all bad though.  I got some good exercise, and I got to hang off of a moving vehicle.  There are not too many jobs where you can jump off of a truck and not get yelled at.  I felt like Will Smith's stunt double.  If you have not done it, do it.  

Just be sure not to fall on your face.

~sTeW~  

P.S. Do your garbage man a favor and put your trash in bags.  Do not just throw a bunch of individual pieces of trash away.  When you bag it, it makes his life that much easier.  Also, it stops him from memorizing your address and coming back to crap on your lawn.