The racial double standard

I kind of wish the day would come when humanity meets the Turians, then the Salarians and Asari.  Because I get the impression that until there’s something so radically different for people to become prejudice towards, like aliens, racism will never go away.

The photographed vanity plate on the Ford Explorer pictured says “BLKNPRD.”  Black and Proud.  In an ironic way, it’s actually amusing to me that the driver side brake light is also busted, and being held in place with packing tape.

But no matter, this is the kind of vanity tag that exists all over Atlanta, at any given time.  I’ve seen plates or bumper stickers that allude to one, being black, and any variety of being successful, rich, debonair, female, or some sort of leader or revolutionary.  What I’m curious about is that if we live in such a supposed progressive and tolerant society, why is it so imperative to indicate their ethnicity?

It doesn’t really matter, because we all really know the answer to the question.  But the fact is, no other race could really get away with the way the black community does.  White people have it the worst; imagine seeing WHYTNPRD on a vanity tag?  That car would be on blocks and destroyed for being supremacist within 24 hours of putting the tag on the car.  If I put AZNPWR on a car, I’d be labeled a racist and likely laughed at, well before the car would ultimately be vandalized in discrimination.  But BLKs put BLK all over their tags, ironically pointing themselves out, and nobody seems to bat an eye.

Except for me.  They’re racist too.

Why The Rock has already lost at Wrestlemania XXVIII

I’m actually looking forward to Wrestlemania again this year.  Since it’s not in Atlanta and I won’t be attending, nor will I be having guests over for it, I’ll be going back to the traditional arrangement of flying up to Virginia to watch it with all of my close friends together, like we had done so for every year since 1999 (with a few exceptions).  The funny thing is that the match listing for the show as a whole seems kind of weak overall, but I guess it doesn’t really need to be that strong, because there are two matches in that are heavily carrying the entire show, and those happen to be the two matches that pretty much I’d assume most people actually give a shit about.  One of them happens to be the year-in-the-making John Cena versus The Rock match.

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Photos: Carolyn & Joe’s Wedding

One by one, I watch as my closest friends all get married while I haven’t had a substantial date in over a  year now.  Que sera, sera.

No matter.  It was a joyous occasion that I got to enjoy the dubious honor of being a groomsman to the wedding of two of my closest friends, having known the bride since the seventh grade, and the groom since the eighth.  Unlike the popular notion that weddings are a drag and that they’re all boring and superficial, on the contrary, I happen to like them very much, even more so if those getting married are my own friends.  It’s always fun to see friends and acquaintances dressed to the nines, and the festive atmosphere which leads to people often putting on their best behavior.  A little bit of class doesn’t hurt nobody, on occasion.

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A periodical reminder to myself

It’s not that like I really want to keep a mentality that I think I’m better than everyone else around me, but I certainly do believe that in order for me to not lose my mind or get overly stressed out, I simply need to have lower expectations for well, pretty much everyone.  On a daily basis, I feel a sense of disappointment, aggravation and/or dumbfounded-ness by the actions and behavior of  random people of the world.

I think that if I take the metaphoric bar, and significantly drop it about fifty feet, I won’t so often put myself in a situation where I should feel so down on the world, because that’s simply what should be expected.

Everyone is to be assumed stupid until proven otherwise.  It’s more like a mantra than a self-reminder, I guess.

If everybody cheats, is it really sexy anymore?

It’s my opinion that today, we live in an era of antagonism.  There are people out there that take pride in being an asshole and make conscious efforts to make life more difficult for their fellow human beings, be it by deliberately being contrarian, intentionally acting in manners that makes a situation difficult for another, or to go on the internet with no purpose but to grief, troll, and pick fights and antagonize others, under the safe veil of anonymity.

I think we live in a time where overall positively-connotative morals are at an all-time low, and because it’s been like such for so long, there’s a manner of acceptance of it in lots of cases.  Some choose to laugh it off, others shake their heads at the state of our jaded society.  Personally, I think I do a little of both; sometimes it’s funny, but sometimes, I just feel like I have no faith in humanity.

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The irony is that he’s not even retired yet

Nor has there been any mention yet of his retirement, or shown any legitimate signs that retirement is really imminent, either. Ironically, you’d think I write something about Chipper Jones, my favorite player on my favorite team, in my favorite sport, who actually has declared that 2012 is his last year and that he’s retiring when it’s over, over writing about Tim Duncan. The world works in strange ways sometimes.

But this Deadspin story about how Tim Duncan sat out of a game due to “being old,” makes me realize that the end has to be near for Tim Duncan, who is without question, one of the greatest basketball players in NBA history, and one of the few that I actually still like. Maybe one reason why I actually feel inspired and melancholy about the notion of Tim Duncan retiring is because unlike Chipper Jones, I’ve actually been witness to pretty much his entire career.

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Photos: Carolyn & Joe’s pre-show

Holy Deer Park holy water, Batman!

The day before the wedding of two of my longest and closest friends was met with the typical shenanigans of a wedding rehearsal where planners and the priest met the idea of incorporating Filipino traditions with some of the most painfully obvious indifference and resistance I’ve ever seen in my entire life.  Regardless, it was a fun occasion and gathering of friends, and tons and tons of food afterward while we watched Duke choke yet another NCAA tournament and David Otunga flexing.

Also, a glimpse of the air-land-and-sea burger.  From Wendeez.

I never said I was a good photographer, but I’m still getting used to my usual array of candid crap with a decent camera.

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