Bernie Mac

Bernie Mac passed away today from complications with pneumonia. It's strange to think someone with such a huge presence, could suddenly leave the world. He always entertained me. A talented man who performed with passion. He will be sorely missed. RIP Bernie.

Past-Present-Future: Papruture

I've been on a "connection" tear recently. Noticing the transitions that come with teen years, middle-agedness, and being straight old. I noticed that several of the people I've met, my contemporaries from a different time (elementary school, middle school, etc.) were present at the same party that I was attending. Some of them married and pregnant; some of them married and already with children. I'm gonna be 19 in November. I'm young and so are these people. Of course for most people this is too young to even be thinking of permanent relationships and offspring. But it puts the brevity of life into perspective. If I just stop and think for a second, analyze my surroundings objectively, I'm floored by the idea that my friends and I have suddenly and unexpectedly taken up a new fragment of identity. We're a far cry from those kids who looked on in wonder at more "mature" (more accurately "older") peers/elders socializing and gathering. We've become without much provocation or question (I assume, in most of my friends' cases) copies of how we thought we were supposed to act or behave in older years. We're detaching ourselves gradually and assuredly, whether we're aware of it or not, from the "teenage" group and stepping into the much wider and vaguer realm of adults.

Threats to genitalia...

So, Jesse Jackson apparently wants to cut Barack Obama's nuts off. There's not really much you can say about that. I don't think I've ever told anyone that I wanted to cut his nuts off. It just seems so...difficult. Anyway, notice the nut-cutting gesture; now, that's some hate.

Newly motivated...

I've recently taken the first steps to getting out of my down time/slump, and have decided that the best way to get going, is to get back in shape. So, I decided to start working out again, and nearly threw up after 25 minutes of attempted activity. I love being inspired.

Senior Trip - Specifically Shoney's

I've gone on a whim and finally created a blog. Maybe in the hopes of finding some sort of cathartic healing for my oh-so-pained teenage existence (sometimes Taco Bell is out of beef...appalling, I know). I'm currently in my senior year of high school. Last week, our senior class (a good chunk of it) headed out to Florida for the annual Senior Trip. Disney Grad Nite, Universal Studios, Cirque du Soleil. All that good shit to try to put a face on what can be a very difficult experience. Graduating, that is. The trip was fun, not very difficult at all. There was good times, laughter, trouble-making, rides, love interests, nostalgia. Soap opera stuff, blah blah blah.
Anyway, the real point of this post is Shoney's. If you don't know what Shoney's is, it's a chain of southern-style (I guess) restaurants (I don't know Shoney's scope of distribution, so I thought I'd throw that out there). Yeah, the trip was quietly emotional in a way. I'm gonna miss all of my friends. Growing up. Some pretty heavy stuff. But there's time for that later. Right now I'm going to talk about Shoney's and how it could possibly be the reason for the intrusive case of the shits that I contracted. I say intrusive because a bout would hit me at the most inopportune moments, specifically right before I got on a ride. Before this trip I wasn't much of a roller coaster person, either. So you could imagine my nervousness. Every ride might be the one where I soil myself. My bathroom count was up to about 4 visits a day, after eating at Shoney's 3 days in a row.

So, that's the bulk of Senior Trip '08.
Emotion, rides, and the shits.

P.S. The Senior girls from other schools had ugly boyfriends.