They are who we thought they were, continued

On this blog, I'm still going to be as ranty as ever, so fear not. In fact, the first thing I must do is finish something from my last blog that I started here . To summarize, gender roles seem to be a shitty construct that is outdated.

To me, the idea of gender as anything outside of being based on primary and secondary sex characteristics seems pretty dumb. I know this is hypocritical of someone who has said "Girls love llamas" and refers to a video game character as a she because they wear a purple costume, but I've been working on trying to avoid those things. It is really ironic, because I find myself mad when other people do the same things that I do.

With this premise, I find a bunch of stuff that we do, makes no sense in this context. Why do we have bathrooms for different genders? Why is this current event an issue at all? And this thing too Why do we report gender at so many different places? Why can't people just make immature anatomy jokes without it being sexist? Why is it that Gawker has a blog for women, but none that say they are targeted at men?

In conclusion, a lot of shit doesn't make sense to me because I think their premise is stupid. I also look forward to the day when I feel fine getting bright purple rain boots, without feeling like I am judged by men and women alike.

I ran out of steam, but I'm sure when I'm mad I'll keep going. Now, I'm just hungry.

Edit: http://acko.net/blog/storms-and-teacups/ is similar to what I was trying to say. Except for the part about being a gay guy.

Hemingway + Bucket Lists

I tend to have a lot of love for Hemingway, especially for The Sun Also Rises. Maybe its that I sympathize with the lost generation, or that I appreciate the bluntness of his writing. His characters seem like real people, in that they are all flawed. Maybe I just like The Sun Also Rises because it captures the idea that you can't run away from your problems or solve them by drinking. Or that I enjoy his antiquated romantic notions of love. Or his directive to go out and enjoy life before you get too old.

"Don't you ever get the feeling that all your life is going by and you're not taking advantage of it? Do you realize you've lived nearly half the time you have to live already?" - Cohn in The Sun Also Rises

The real point of this post was to talk about getting stuff done while you have time. I'm going to steal some stuff from an article I saw in the Sun (http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/dining/bal-100-foodies-pg1202,0,5822554.photogallery), but here are 20 things I want to do this year.

Foodie:
- Have a jumbo lump crab cake from Faidley's on a Saltine. (Got calamari from The Daily Catch instead)
- Corned beef on rye at Attman's. (Crab Omlette at Little Havana instead)
- Have dinner at Brewer's Art again
- Try some of the special flavors from Taharka Bros. (formerly Sylvan Beach) ice cream and Pitango Gelato.
- Smith Island Cake (Sugarbakers)

Expanding my horizons:
- Go into the city (Six hours of madness)
- Go out somewhere into the country/mountains
- Go to a big city driving distance away
- Go out of the state
- Go out of the country

Movies/Reading:
- Watch all the old Batman movies
- Finish the Hunger Games
- Watch the Best Pictures from the past 5 years
- Read Atlas Shrugged
- Read all of Abbott's reports

Doing stuff I should have done:
- See live music
- Get back down to 230
- Go to speed dating
- Finish "Perspective"
- Get on LinkedIn

Classic Overthinking

Sometimes I find it funny that to some I'm labeled as impulsive. I have always been the type of person who would think too much before they make a decision that they care about. I think its related to how I listen to songs by focusing on the lyrics. I enjoy having lots of information and feeling like I'm thinking critically. I could see my habit of making fast decisions for things coming out of the fact that if I thought about every choice as much as I wanted to I would never get anything done.

To some extent, I'm glad that I evolved that habit. In group projects, people generally respond well to having a shot caller. Also, in the whole, the consequences of the bad decisions I have made have been minimal (at least they seem so now). Its amusing that how long I spend thinking making a decision also kind of correlates now with how much something matters to me.

That explains why I took two days to decide that I wanted to buy RPG maker and the sale period ran out, right?

Ah well, there is always next Steam sale.

Lyric of the Day: Drake - Marvin's Room
I think I’m addicted to naked pictures
And sittin talkin’ ’bout bitches that we almost had.
I don’t think I’m concious of making monsters
Outta the women that I sponsor til it all goes bad

But shit it’s all good

Tokens of the Past

One thing I do is I collect things that remind me of parts of my life that I'm afraid of forgetting. I've been packing up the stuff that I have in storage and I've come across many things that I kept. The two things I have in storage are boxes of memories and the books for my future library.

Things I found last trip:
- SWAT badge from karate when I was in middle school
- A picture from our High School robotics trip, where I have past-shoulder-length hair
- The lanyard from my first Otakon
- The box that came with the ring I got for my 16th birthday
- The swag bag from the year I took my little brother with me to Otakon
- The Playbill from when I was in Macbeth in HS
- The folder from my freshman college orientation (with the school map)
- A receipt from my first trip to Balducci's
- My ticket to Iron Man (the first one)
- The invitation for the wedding of the first of my friends to get married

I also remembered that younger me enjoyed leaving Magic: The Gathering cards as bookmarks in books that I had completed or at passages that I particularly liked. There were two that I noticed I had marked on my last trip.

From Hemingway's Fiesta (aka The Sun Also Rises):
“You can’t get away from yourself by moving from one place to another.”
Oddly appropriate as it relates to some of my recent posts. Plus the story itself relates to the title of this blog.

From Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby:
"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
Totally used this on my essay for AP English in 11th grade. Still remains a universal truth.

Lyric of the Day: Miike Snow - Animal

I change shapes just to hide in this place
But I'm still I'm still an animal
Nobody knows it but me when I slip, yeah I slip
I'm still an animal

Planning something big

So I've been spending this past week getting ready for upcoming things. My international trip. My research presentation. My east coast trip. Seeing JT on tour. Being a groomsman. Having something to do this summer.

So many things to get ready for. So little time.

Lyric of the day: Paramore - Misery Business (I like the acoustic version)

Whoa, i never meant to brag.
But I got him where I want him now.
Whoa, it was never my intention to brag
To steal it all away from you now.
But God does it feel so good,
Cause I got him where I want him now.
And if you could then you know you would.
'Cause God it just feels so...
It just feels so good.

When I listen to the chorus, I always think of Lex Luthor saying these lines to Louis while he tortures Supes...that's normal, right?