Racism/Discrimination

I know I may have done previous blogs about how much I hate this, but I recently had to do a PowerPoint presentation for my computer class and I chose to do it on the topic of racism/discrimination. Now mind you, I do not think this way, I personally feel it's horrible to think this way about people. Here's what I found out:

Stereotypes

Italian stereotypes
Some of the most common ones include:

• Tolerant of violence
• Labor bosses
• Ignorant
• Organized crime association
• Political corruption
• Overly emotional/dramatic
• Superstitious
• Hot Blooded
• Aggressive
• Obsessed with food
• Prone to vengeance
• Males will be big and muscular, very good looking.
• Men will be sexually well endowed, but lack skills in the bedroom
• Loud tastes in clothing
• Expensive jewelry made cheaply
• Has the name Michael, Joe, Sal, or Tony
• All talk and no bite
• Braggers
• Loud talkers and not knowing when to be quiet
• Supposedly cruel and overly demanding bosses
• flirtatious, exotic young women with a taste in Italian-made items like Prada, Gucci, Armani
• Gum cracking, big haired, air head girlfriend of a Mafia soldier

Some of the stereotypical Italian-held jobs include: peddlers, chefs, construction workers, any working class jobs

Latino stereotypes
Some of the most common ones include:

• Being heavily tattooed
• Enjoy low rider cars
• Having too greasy hair
• The "Latin Lover"-suave, charming, romantic
• Large families
• Can't speak English
• Drug dealers(thanks to the 1983 movie Scarface)
• Mouthy
• Laborers
• Enjoy clothing in loud, obnoxious colors
• Maid/housekeeper
• gardener/landscaper
• All are Mexican
• Mutiple kids
• They all steal
• They all own large cars, trucks or SUVs
• Short
• Uneducated
• All listen to the same music and eat hot food

Black stereotypes

• Blacks are shown to be overly religious, superstitious, joyous, naive, ignorant
• They'll be shown as lazy, criminals, ignorant, overly religious, violent
• They'll be shown eating fried chicken, drinking Kool-Aid or eating watermelon
• They'll be shown living in slums/ghettos
• They'll be shown as people with big lips, heavyset, alot of kids and no knowledge of where the father is, being school dropouts, good at sports, confident, 'gangstas', love white women, good at dancing

Asian stereotypes

• Asians have ben shown as hard working, studious, very grateful, inoffensive, intelligent, politically inactive, productive people who raise their social standing through diligence and good merit
• 25.2% of American-born Asians over the age of 25 hold a Bachelor's Degree compared to 15.5% of general Americans of the same age hold a Bachelor's Degree
• Asian men have been shown as chauvinists, meaning they treat women unfairly
• There is also a stererotype about image. The epicanthic fold of Asian people's eyes is sometimes referred to in a positive light 'almond shaped' or in a negative light' slant eye', there is also a stereotypical haircut- bowl cut for boys, overgrown bangs for girls. And it's also assumed that all Asians are born with the knowledge of how to perform martial arts, are short and have difficulty with the English language

Jewish stereotypes

• nit picky stingy misers
• Associated with circumcision, bagels, Mazel Tov, Oy Vey
• In pictures, shown as people with big hook noses, olive skin, curly hair, dark eyes, big lips, wearing kippahs, aka yamecahs

British stereotypes

• Big teeth, yellow teeth
• Bad hygiene
• Snooty, stuck up
• obsessed with soccer
• obsessed with The Queen
• Tight-fitting clothing
• Boisterous
• Heavy smokers/drinkers
• British men are gay

More common stereotypes include:

• British men are gay(i.e. Mick Jagger dancing around like an idiot level) or be suave romantic lovers
• British women will be stuck up
• British men will have the word Sir before their name(i.e. Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Mick Jagger, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Sir Michael Caine)
• That people in England will all be walking around wearing bowler hats, carrying umbrellas, and say things like "Cheerio"
• That British men will be tall, thin and ugly

American Indian stereotypes

• Not all Indians will be doing arts and crafts or live on a reservation
• Not all Indians will be experts on their culture/heritage

Media Stereotypes

Italian stereotypes

• The HBO show The Sopranos came under fire when it first premiered because it showed too many stereotypes, like mob association
• The 2009 show Jersey Shore came under fire as well because it showed too many Italian stereotypes, like the exotic young women and hot blooded young guys
• Sometimes mobsters or movies about the mob will glorify the topic, like people like John 'The Dapper Don' Gotti will made out like a hero
• There is also a stereotype about appearance, that all Italians have dark features

Famous Italians

• Steven Tyler(hottie!)
• Joe Perry(hottie!)
• Federico Castellucio(hottie!)
• Ferrucio Lamborghini
• Marisa Tomei
• Michael Imperioli(hottie!)

Steven Tyler

Marisa Tomei

Federico Castellucio

Michael Imperioli

Latino stereotypes

• Did you know: that less than 1% of all news stories involve Latinos?
• Did you know: that the Latino population accounts for 13% of the US population?
• In 2001, crime, poverty, illegal immigration, welfare accounted for 66% of all news stories involving Latinos
• Famous Latino people:
• Salma Hayek
• John Leguizamo(hottie!)
• Penelope Cruz
• Steven Bauer(hottie!)
• Eva Mendes
• Andy Garcia(cutie!)

Salma Hayek                         John Leguizamo
              

Steven Bauer                             Andy Garcia
               
Black stereotypes

• In movies, blacks and whites are seen differently:
• Using vulgar language: whites-17%, blacks- 89%
• Having to be physically restrained: whites-6%, blacks-55%
• Being physically abusive: whites-11%, blacks-56%
• Blacks will be shown as bad, they're not. You certainly don't hear about black people abusing their wives or whatever, always been whites doing that!
• Famous people:
• Halle Berry(Fave actress!)
• Rosa Parks
• Martin Luther King Jr(He inspires me!)
• Medgar Evers(He was shot for no reason!)
• Malcolm X
• Harriet Tubman
• Sojourner Truth

Halle Berry                           Martin Luther King Jr
                 

Medgar Evers                           Rosa Parks
                
Asian stereotypes

• A good example of an Asian media stereotype is the super geek stereotype. A good example is Gedde Watanabe's character of Long Duk Dong in Sixteen Candles.
• A good example of the asexual martial artist stereotype is in the 2001 movie Romeo Must Die. Jet Li's character of Han Sing was supposed to kiss Aaliyah's Trish O'Day at the end, but instead gave him a big hug. It was edited for fear some Asians wouldn't feel comfortable seeing an Asian man portrayed in a sexual light
• Another thing people like to assume is that all Asians look alike, with their dark hair, dark eyes, oval faces and tan skin tone.
• An example of the martial artist expert is the 2002 movie Bulletproof Monk with Chow Yun-fat. In that movie, he played a martial artist monk who travels to modern day New York
• In pop culture, there was a character named Charlie Chan, who was a Chinese-Hawaiian detective based on real-life detective Chang Apana. In the movies, his wife and kids were all actually Asian, but the actors who played him were not Asian, but white British actors, like Warner Oland, Roland Winter and Sidney Toler
• Famous Asians:
• Ken Watanabe(Cute!)
• Jet Li(hottie!)
• Lucy Liu(fave actress!)
• Michelle Yeoh(very beautiful and fave actress!)
• Ziyi Zhang(very pretty!)
• Will Yun Lee(hot!)
• Kristy Yamaguchi(awesome athlete!)
• Noriyuki 'Pat' Morita(very funny man, and cool!)
• Tim Kang
• Jason Wu
• James Iha

Ken Watanabe                            Kristy Yamaguchi
                      

Jet Li                                        Ziyi Zhang
                 
Jewish stereotypes

• nit picky stingy misers
• Associated with circumcision, bagels, Mazel Tov, Oy Vey
• In pictures, shown as people with big hook noses, olive skin, curly hair, dark eyes, big lips, wearing kippahs, aka yamecahs
• Famous Jewish people:
• Gene Simmons
• Judd Hirsch
• David Krumholtz
• LeeLee Sobieski

Gene Simmons                           David Krumholtz
             

Judd Hirsch                          


British stereotypes

• In media, British people will always be shown as being, proper, prim, prudish
• In American films, the baddies always have English accents
• They will be shown as being upper class with strong English accents(i.e. Hugh Grant, who might I add is HOT!)
• That British men will be the Butler or Gentleman in movies
• Disney movies are notorious for the 'Bad Brit' stereotype. A few examples are:
• Judge Frollo-The Hunchback of Notre Dame- voiced by Tony Jay. The character is supposed to be French, but was voiced by a British actor
• Jafar-Aladdin
• Maleficent-Sleeping Beauty
• Mrs. Trunchbull-Matilda
• Scar-The Lion King. Voiced by a white British actor named Jeremy Irons
• Count Olaf-A Series of Unfortunate Events
• Lady Tremaine-Cinderella
• Professor Ratigan-The Great Mouse Detective
• Famous people from England:
• The Rolling Stones(Mick Jagger and Ronnie Wood are my faves!!!!They're still HOT!!!)
• Rowan Atkinson
• Colin Firth(hot in an English gentleman sort of way, he looks charming, I like that!)
• Kate Winslet
• Helena Bonham-Carter
• Jeremy Irons
• Hugh Laurie
• Zoe Wanamaker

The Rolling Stones                            Rowan Atkinson
               
Colin Firth                                   Jeremy Irons
                 
American Indian stereotypes
Now mind you, these are just stereotypes, I don't feel this way about anyone!

• Wise elder
• Indian princess
• loyal sidekick
• obese, impoverished
• They are devoted environmenatlists devoted to preserving Mother Earth
• Being shown as people full of passive, child like innocence, rapists, primitive, lower intellect
• Bloodthirsty savages
• Famous Indians
• Wes Studi
• Graham Greene
• Eddie Spears
• Irene Bedard

Wes Studi                                          Graham Green
      

Bullying

Ah yes, the topic of bullying. It seems to be a growing problem, everywhere you hear about some kid getting bullied for some God forsaken reason. Well, I'm pretty sure everyone might have been bullied at one point in their lives or other, for me, it was since grade school.

Since grade school, I was bullied. I was bullied because of my appearance. You see, I wear glasses alot, mainly because I need them to read and to work on the computer. People would often call me things like 4 eyes, coke bottles, which is actually quite stupid because coke bottles is a nickname for glasses with really thick lenses. People would also call me fatso, thunder thighs, bubble butt, fat a-- and other highly colorful names, mainly because I'm no skinny mini, yet I'm not fat either, I'm sort of in the middle with my body weight. I've actually been losing weight, so they can't call me fat, I just lost like 10 pounds, yay me!

I've also fallen victim to what I call social bullying, things like rumors being started, things being said behind my back, things being written on my locker, people breaking into my locker and stealing things from me, people switching the lock around so I'd be late to class, etc. People would take every opportunity they could get to make me feel useless, like a waste of space, etc, they would insult me at every chance they got, sometimes I felt like committing suicide because of it, but I didn't. That certainly wouldn't help the situation. So I had to just grin and bear the people calling me slut, whore, even though I've never slept with a guy in my life. I'm normally not one to talk about others when I say that half of the girls I went to school with were the REAL whores and sluts. People would often ask me personal questions that I didn't feel comfortable answering.

But, thank God in college people don't bully you. In college, it feels like I died and went to heaven-- no bullying, no making fun of, no insults, yeah! Heaven on earth, I swear! And when I was in high school, there was this one guy who was bound and determined to make my life a miserable hell. He was once my friend, he was once upon a time nice and sweet, until he got older and started acting like a racist bully. Yeah, I said racist. He is. Somehow, with out me saying a thing, he found out that I had a step dad. Yeah, for those who don't know, I have a stepdad, his name is Greg and he's of Italian descent. He's totally awesome. Alot of the stuff he likes I like, and it's kind of sad that I share more in common with him than anyone in my own family. But somehow, this kid found out about him and when I went to my locker to get my stuff to go home one day, I saw Italian racial slurs written all over my locker in bright red magic marker. Normally stuff like this never happened in my small high school, this was like a first. But, yeah, he wrote Italian racial slurs on my locker. I almost knocked his lights out for that, but violence is not the answer. I simply went to the assistant principal and asked him about what to do. Later on, he called the guy in and gave him like a month of detention. Serves him right! This may sound more like something racial related, but you don't mess around with my family. When you do something like this, it's racial bullying and I don't like it!

Racism

I know I probably already did a previous blog on my thoughts and opinions of racism, but I really need to get my opinions out.


I have a computer class here at Gateway and recently had to do a PowerPoint presentation on something, so I did mine on racism/discrimination. It horrified me to see and read what stereotypes people have for everyone. It horrified me to read that some people assume bad things about others. Thank God I'm not like this, I'm very tolerant of EVERYONE! I did a slide about stereotypes from one place where I didn't think stereotypes existed- England! Yeah, there are mean stereotypes of the nice and lovely people of this awesome place. For some reason, my dad always assumes people from England got bad teeth like Michael Caine, no one from England has bad teeth. I do not assume this. My dad does. I hate racism as I've said in blogs before.


In high school, I had to deal with the issue of discrimination. This one classmate had thought that it was funny to do the Nazi salute to everyone. OMG! He did it to me and I almost knocked his lights out right then and there. You see, I'm part Jewish, very small part, and even that's enough to know I don't like people Nazi saluting everyone. They think it's funny, but it's not. This classmate also had thought it was funny to racially insult my step dad because of his Italian ancestry. He knows it gets a rise out of me to insult him, he knows I love my family very deeply and he has he balls to insult my step dad? NO WAY!


And my aunt, don't even get me started! She is nice, but very biased about people. But she can be very rude and mean towards people. There was this one guy she usually went out with, he was a nice older man named Roger, he was a nice older Italian gentleman, he was sweet as could be, and when he dressed up, nothing against him, but he always wore pinstripe suits that made him look like a mobster. Anyway she didn't want to go out with him anymore when she found out that his mother lives with him so he can take care of her. How ridiculous is that? But she's the type of person who will openly speak her opinion and not care who she hurts. When me, my sister, dad and her went to Cynthiana, Ky, for a family reunion, omg, it was like the Deliverance Family Reunion. Funny name, huh? Anyway, my dad has family down there and nothing against them, they are nice, but they are pure country and hate anyone of another race/ethnicity. Anyway, we went to see them and I think maybe I made the mistake of wearing a Rolling Stones tee with their picture on it. About an hour into this literal racist nightmare, people start talking about how we have to learn Spanish in school. I hear various comments like "This is America! If those illegal immigrants want to come into our country, then they better learn English" or "I don't get why we have to learn Spanish". Then they started talking about stuff they seen in People Magazine, and unfortunately, they started talking about this picture of Jet Li that was in there because this was right around the time The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor came out and my aunt Lois said they should ship him back to China. How rude is that? And then they started talking about this picture of Mick Jagger that was in there because it showed him walking around with his son Lucas and daughter Georgia, my aunt Lisa said he's the most hideous man she's ever laid eyes on. I actually had to sit there and not say a thing. If I spoke my mind about what I thought about this, I'd get a dirty look from my dad or aunt, like I just committed murder or something,  my life is almost controlled by my dad or aunt.


But basically racism is something I hate. I thought we were all past the point of hating others because of skin color or race? It's not the 1950s anymore, no one cares about the fact that someone is black, Asian, Italian, Jewish, British, etc. We all need to MOVE ON! 

About Me

Look, I know I may have done multiple blogs about this, bur I'm not sure if anyone reads these things. So I'll basically tell you a little about me. I'm now 20 years old, my birthday is on Oct. 1. I have a dad named Steve, who works as a Sorter Machine Operator at US Bank, he basically sorts checks all day and makes sure they go where they need to go, he works the 1st shift, 7am-3pm. My mom, Brenda, works at Fifth Third Processing Solutions LLC, not sure about the last part, she basically works in Fraud, making sure people aren't becoming victims of identity theft. She's on the phones all day, locking/blocking cards for protection and she gets repaid by hearing people yell at her all day. My sister, Jessie, is in her senior year in high school. She recently got a tattoo, an Ed Hardy one, of a skull that says Love Kills Slowly, she loves it, and she was practically hitting on the tattoo artist. My step dad, Greg, also works at US Bank, he's a Reconciler, meaning he and a few other people prepare checks to go in to the sorter room. He works the 3rd shift, 5pm-3am. 


When I get out of college and get a job, I hopefully want to get a job as a graphic designer, and work somewhere cool. And when it comes to living somewhere, there are 3 places, well, more like 4 places that I would love to live in if I couldn't live anywhere else. 1st: my main favorite place that I would live in if possible is China. The culture is so endlessly fascinating to me, I've been interested in Chinese history/culture since 7th grade, so this fascination has gone on for a long time, 2nd: Japan, it's basically the same reason as China, the culture/history of Japan is endlessly fascinating to me. 3rd: Australia. It has a wild west feel to it, and it would have to be 1 of 3 cities along the coast: Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney, so that way every night I can see the sunset over the ocean and the sunrise over the ocean every morning. 4th: London, England. This place because the culture is so similar to ours that it wouldn't be much of a difference, the only obstacle I'd face is the currency issue. Over there, dollars aren't the currency, pounds, quid,etc is. But I'd quickly learn to adjust.


Like anyone who has a goal to do something before they die, I have a long list, a 'bucket list' if you call it that. My main thing is I want to travel, to places far and exotic, like China, Japan, places that are really cool, like London, Sydney, Australia. And another goal for me is to see one of my fave bands in concert, The Rolling Stones, I'm bound and determined to see them play live. It may sound strange that someone who is 20 years old, in college wanting to see these guys, but their music totally kicks butt in music! They've been around for ever and I've listened to them for a few years. Another goal I have is to go rock climbing, the only obstacle I have with that is I have a small case of asthma and I think that would interfere with rock climbing. It's one of the many interests I have. I have alot of interests and goals that I want to accomplish in the future, and as for concerts, I'd love to see Paul McCartney too, his music is so good, and it's romantic. Honestly, how much better can you get than that?


My fave music is The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Paul McCartney, basically British rock. I'm a massive fan of it, and at home I often get made fun of for listening to these guys, especially The Stones, as many people call them, my favorite ones in the group are Ronnie Wood, as he is called, Mick Jagger and Charlie Watts, Keith Richards I'm not too big on, I mean, he's a good guitarist, but he got into too much trouble with drugs. But I do love other music, Latin music is really awesome and I'm totally into that stuff, but it has to be either Shakira or Enrique Iglesias, because they're the only ones I'll listen to. And also R&B I'm massively huge on, it has to be Seal, Stevie Wonder, Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Aaliyah because their music totally kicks butt in the R&B world.


I also have a Facebook account, strange to hear me saying that because a few years ago, I was so hesitant to start an account, not sure why and back in 2010 I had to start one because of school. And you won't believe the amount of people I share stuff in common with, most of the people I'm friends with on Facebook share a common like: The Rolling Stones, I kid you not, most of the people I'm friends with on Facebook like The Rolling Stones like me. When it comes to movies, however, some people will say that they only watch certain movies or whatever, I'm pretty open minded about this sort of stuff, I'll pretty much watch anything, even if it seems weird to others. Like this one movie, Freejack, it has Mick Jagger from the Stones in it, it is really weird, but it's okay in it's own way. My dad says he's not the greatest actor, but I say different. I think Mick is really sexy when he acts, and I never actually hear him talk before, like when he sings, he has this almost high pitched voice, but when he talks, he has this real deep voice which is sort of sexy, something about it is strangely sexy. Alot of the actors I like are Asian, like Jet Li, Chow Yun-fat, Michelle Yeoh, Lucy Liu, B.D. Wong. Not sure why I like these people as my favorite actors, but they are just good, that must be the reason.


Basically, overall, I'm a very tolerant person, one thing that really ticks me off is when someone is being bullied because of race/skin color, etc. I don't like racism/discrimination, if you really want to, pardon my French, piss me off, do that and you'll see how I am when I am angry. I'm a very nice person, I treat everyone with kindness and respect, I'll treat you nice if you treat me nice, but if you treat me like crap, don't expect any respect back because I'll treat you like crap right back! If I see someone being bullied because of something like race/skin color, ethnicity, etc, that person is going to get an earful from me. It may sound like I'm very against this, but I am. In my family, my aunt is a very biased person, she doesn't see the good in people like I do, she only sees the outside. She only notices if the person is black, Asian, Italian, Latino, etc. And I love my dad dearly, but sometimes he can be offensive, I always tell him that I really don't like him saying thing about people. Like sometimes if we're watching something, that'll usually get him started. Like one time we, as in my sister, me and him were watching this movie called The Full Monty, which I may add is a really awesome movie, and he heard the way they were talking in the movie, all of them had a deep British accent and he started mocking the way they were talking. Sorry, but I really HATE the way people treat others because of race/skin color, etc. Racism/discrimination is the most evil thing anyone ever came up with. You really want to piss me off, do that, and you'll get a very large earful from me!

Music and more!

Ah, sweet glorious music, an international language everyone can connect on. I'm not really into any certain type of music, but I will absolutely not listen to rap. It doesn't make any sense to me, and sometimes I hear lyrics for these rap songs and sometimes they are about raping/killing someone, someone stealing a girlfriend, stealing or something bad. No one wants to hear a song that has to do with drugs, rape/murder, or something like that, and no one definitely wants to hear a song that uses racial/ethnic slurs and bad words.


I also must say something important-- Today is the anniversary of Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat to a white man. It's the anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycotts. I say to Rosa Parks, way to go! I love hearing and learning about people like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr, etc. All they wanted was equality, and look what happens- Martin Luther King Jr, gets assassinated for believing in a world where blacks people and white people and everyone live together in perfect harmony, Rosa Parks gets arrested for refusing to give her seat to a white man, Nelson Mandela gets convicted of political treason just because he believed in a world united and almost spends half his life in prison for what he believes in, I say it's high time for a change. I say that people need to stop the hate before it gets out of control. I know this blog is supposed to be about music, but I think this is a reason for celebrating. Rosa Parks is a wonderful person, she did what she believed in, and she gets arrested? No way, totally unfair.


Here are some links to some music videos of Aerosmith, a band I listen to:
http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/--2138674-Aerosmith: Rag Doll
http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/--2165470-Aerosmith: The Other Side
http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/--2164165-Aerosmith: Eat the Rich. This video starts out a little weird, and some of the lyrics have bad words, but it's an overall good song
http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/--2138672-Aerosmith: Fallin' in Love(Is Hard on the Knees). It's a suggestive song, and some of the lyrics are gross, but it's a good song
http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/--2138669-Aerosmith: I Don't Want to Miss a Thing. This is PERFECT for couples because it talks about being romantic


Here are some Rolling Stones music videos:
http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/--23166918-The Rolling Stones:Shattered
http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/--9151332-The Rolling Stones: It's Only Rock and Roll(Live)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdJzLpWFYJ4-The Rolling Stones:Mixed Emotions


Here is a video of the song Try Again by Aaliyah:
http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/--2138592


Here are some Rihanna videos:
http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/--218717037-Rihanna: Only Girl in the World, from her new Loud album
http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/--159484907-Rihanna:Disturbia
http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/--45562928-Rihanna:Don't Stop the Music, definite party song




Here are some Shakira videos:
http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/--217265600-She Wolf
http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/--30658140-Hips Don't Lie
http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/--2154744-Whenever, Wherever




If it seems like alot of links and stuff, I do apologize. I think the links to the music videos will show what kind of music I'm into. And music seems to be an international language almost, everyone somehow connects with music. And I usually figure music is something everyone can connect to.

Racism

Yes, the title says it all. This blog is to see if anyone out there is against racism like I am. On Sunday, me, my dad and sister went to Traders World, that big flea market, to see a friend, she's this real nice black lady that I've known for all my life. She's the world's nicest person. Anyway, since we know her, every time we see her, we hug her and say it's good to see her. Well, obviously this didn't fly well with the countrified locals and this white guy gives me and my family a dirty look, he must have thought that it was a crime to hug someone of a different skin color. I thought we were all past the skin color issue. I mean, it's not 1950s anymore, it's 2010.


I'm the kind of person who looks past skin color, race, ethnicity, etc. I have friends who are of different ethnic groups and I look past that, I don't see them as Italian, black, Latino, etc. I see them as friends, buddies, etc. I just can't see what the big deal about having family/friends who are supposedly "different". I look at it this way-- having someone of another ethnic group/race exposes you to another of the fascinating cultures of our diverse world. I mean, I can barely stand it when I visit my aunt Lois and uncle Justin start talking bad about other people because of the way they look, their physical appearance,etc. And in high school, don't get me started. Guys wanting to be like the rap singers openly use the N word to describe friends, sorry but you don't use ethnic/racial slurs to describe friends, and when it comes to other words, teens today use the word Gay to say stupid. You don't use the word Gay to say that someone/something is stupid, it only makes yourself sound stupid. I hate when people turn things around to make something sound cooler to them, but makes them sound like they have no IQ. Because last time I checked, the term Gay meant someone who likes someone of the same sex, and homosexual is a less mean term.


If this were the 1950s, I'd be called a whole bunch of bad names because quite a few of my buddies are black, but I don't see it that way, hypothetically if someone were to ask me what it's like having black friends, I'd simply tell them, they're not my black friends, they're my friends. I don't see any of that racial/ethnic crap that some may see. You wonder how I got on this topic, the above mentioned event got me started, and plus, having an aunt who openly uses racial slurs is ridiculous. She doesn't like anyone, whenever she talks about someone, she almost puts them into a separate group, she doesn't like anyone of Italian descent, Asian descent, Latino descent, African descent. I try to put it into the least offensive way. But I can't just sit here and listen to people bad mouth others because of something simple as being of another ethnic group. If I see/hear someone insulting someone based on race in public, I will come right out and tell them it isn't right.


But it just isn't right, seeing people face injustice because of how they appear. I'm the kind of person who believes in treating everyone with respect and dignity and that means everyone, no matter how they appear. And I think Rodney King said this, "Why can't we all just get along?" And in the "I Have a Dream" speech, Martin Luther King believed in a world united, and somehow, he gets shot for believing in a world where blacks and whites and everyone lives together peacefully. I just don't understand the mindset of some people, how some people can be complete a--holes to people because of how they appear. Wake up people! It's 2010, not 1950s anymore. So just get over your racist attitudes and get over it!

Christmas/Weekends

Ah yes, it's that time of year again, time again for the greed of the holidays to make its presence known. Have you ever noticed that only a few years ago, you never seen as many Christmas commercials, but nowadays, you see more Christmas commercials than ever. You see these people buying undeserving people expensive Caddies, expensive jewelry, that's not what Christmas is all about. It's about the birth of Jesus Christ for God's sake. It's right there in the name. In my house, we remember the TRUE meaning of Christmas. In my house, it isn't about the greed or whatever associated with what everyone considers Christmas now. And also a few years ago, you never seen commercials for Christmas until about November, now you're seeing them in September. But with some people they like to get Christmas shopping done early. My mom, my step-dad Greg's sisters Jeanne and Carol are 3 people who I know do their shopping early every year to get it done. They say it's a pain. But I've kind of strayed away from liking Christmas anymore. I used to love it, I used to be able to not sleep on Christmas Eve, wondering what Santa brought me, that's when Christmas was magical.

Nowadays, when it's morning, I usually walk right past what 'Santa' brought me, it just doesn't feel the same as back then. Is that what growing up does to you? Makes you forget that Christmas is a time for magic and miracles? I guess I've forgotten that magic when I keep seeing those stupid commercials advertising more greed and people getting what they don't deserve more than anything. What people need to do is realize the true meaning of Christmas-- the birth of Christ for God's sake, it's right there in the name for cryin' out loud! I do a little Christmas shopping every year and this year, I've got some money I've scrounged up for the past 2 years to do some serious shopping. I have a lot to buy-- for my dad I have to get him this old movie he wants, called Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, it's one of those old 1950s sci-fi B-movies, for my sister I'm getting her a blanket that has her favorite show on it, Invader Zim, she's a sucker for all that stuff from Hot Topic, for my mom, I'm getting her this book about the mob, she loves reading books about the mob, for my step-dad I'm getting him a picture, a hand drawn one of Tahiti at sunset. And I know where I can get it, at this place called In-Light Studio in the Eastgate Mall. You should really see this place, it's awesome, they have a picture of virtually anyone. So you can say I'm up to my eyes in shopping for the holidays.


My weekend was pretty cool though. Last night, I got to see that new Karate Kid movie with Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan. It was totally awesome, way better than the old 1980's one, but that one is good too, my dad kept talking during the movie though, and there was this little kid who kept bullying Jaden Smith's character Dre Parker, and my dad kept saying that the little Oriental kid who was bullying him should get smacked so hard his eyes become straight. I told him this wasn't right. You see, my dad sometimes jokes about racial stuff like this, and sometimes it's hard to tell if he's joking. If he is, I tell him that it's not right to make racial/ethnic cracks about people. But I watched the movie last night and it was awesome! I love movies like that.


And what's stupid? I bought 2 movies with some birthday money, and I haven't even watched them yet. I bought Bulletproof Monk and Unleashed, one has Chow Yun-fat in it and the other has Jet Li in it, I haven't even watched them yet, but this Friday, if I'm not doing anything particularly interesting, I'm watching them.


And here's a video that's really cool, and I think perfect for any hard worker, it's the song Nothin But a Good Time by Poison, here's the link to the video.
http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/--2162500
If you see my stupid email adress thing, sorry. It's off my video playlist thing on Yahoo. But the song is really cool, I guarantee it.

Bullying

Bullying: Yes the title is what it means--bullying. Have you ever been bullied in school for reasons you are unsure of? I have, from grade school until senior year of high school. In 7th grade people would call me four eyes or coke bottle because I wear glasses, but what they fail to realize is coke bottle is a name for really thick lenses, my eyes aren't that bad, but they aren't that good. Another name was Harry Potters' girlfriend because of the glasses issue and because I said the guy who played him was cute, and as time went on, I started getting bullied for different reasons, like in 9th grade, somehow without me saying a thing, word had spread about me being a virgin. I had not said a thing about this to anyone, its private, but you know how high school is, nothing is private. I don't mean to make this sound personal, but I'm just curious if there's anyone else out there who has been bullied before. This one girl I went to school with started asking me all these questions one day in my 12th grade marketing class and I felt really uncomfortable answering them. By then, the entire class was focused on me and I felt like I had been thrust into the spotlight. She started asking me if I smoked, if I did drugs, if I slept around with guys, I did the good thing and stayed quiet. Then in 12th grade, a fellow classmate wrote an offensive thing on my locker. For those who don't know, I have a step-dad who is of Italian ancestry, and this guy wrote Italian racial slurs in red marker all over my locker door. Then after it was cleaned off, a week later there was more stuff marked all over my locker door, only it wasn't Italian slurs, it was British racial slurs because of my liking of British rock, under these horrible words, it said "Start liking music from THIS country." So I have been bullied from grade 3 until grade 12. I was the prime victim of bullying. People would call me fat, ugly, tell me no one would ever love me, that no one would want me around, and sometimes it would stress me out so much that I thought about doing something about it, and one day I got blamed for something I didn't even do, I supposedly got accused of knocking the lights out of this guy I went to school with, the thing being I was nowhere even near him, I was on the other side of the room from him when this "hit" supposedly happened. I had to serve a Friday detention for that and this Friday DT was also his I had to serve. I didn't get out of there until 7:00 that night, it ticked me off to no end for that. But there has to be a way to stop the bullying, no kid should have to go through being bullied because of their appearance, their size, their likes/dislikes, their race you name it. Hopefully someone out there agrees about ending bullying.

Random Thoughts and stuff

Random Thoughts: The title means what it means. Random thoughts just buzzing around. I recently discovered a new singer I like, people may have heard of her, Aaliyah. She's actually really good, I recently bought one of her albums, because I'm a big fan of R&B, which is the kind of music I was told she does. There's this one song by her I especially love, it's called 'Try Again'. It's really sad that she is no longer with us, she passed away in 2002, from a plane crash, poor girl. And not too long ago, I discovered the band U2, they are actually really good too. It's amazing what I can learn to like around others. Now, if anyone knows me well, they know what makes me annoyed, what makes me happy, what makes me calm, and so on and so forth. One thing that really ticks me off is when people are disrespectful to each other. Tremayne, whose blog is Quirky Embrace, he was right about people being selfish. I'm with him! He has a good head on his shoulders. People need to start being nicer to each other. And I believe there are more pressing matters to attend to than seeing/hearing about Paris Hilton/Lindsay Lohan getting busted for drugs repeatedly. You'd think they learned the first time?
              I guess not! And this 'Jersey Shore' fad, don't even get me started! I will be here all day talking and voicing my opinions on the show! One thing that does actually tick me off is when people disrespect each other, when people bring racism up. If you know me like my high school graduates do, they know that I hate when people bring race into conversations. When someone brings that up in conversations, I walk away because if not, I'll be tempted to put in my 2 cents and believe me, you don't want my 2 cents, because it'll be the cold, hard, truth! How the topic of my hate for racism came up is Sunday after church, my aunt wanted to go to Burlington Coat Factory in search of a new winter coat. When we pulled in to the parking lot, I saw a kind looking Asian family and black family going in and right then and there, that's when she started. I'm not going to say what she actually said, but just use your imagination. It was pretty brutal what she said about them.
         I'm the kind, sweet person that has this philosophy: "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." It confuses me to no end as to why people in my family have to talk bad about others they don't know. If racism was a crime, my aunt would be on death row for it. She is guilty of this, she will openly use racial slurs towards people. My dad, however, says he jokes about it, and sometimes he does, sometimes he don't. Last night, he was making fun of the British accent and using bad names towards them, especially racial slurs, just because I said something about wanting to get a CD of Paul McCartney for my birthday. That's the way my dad is! And this one guy I graduated with, don't even get me started! But I'll just tell you a little about him, he proudly calls himself a redneck! He knows it drives me nuts to call people bad names and he knows it gets a rise out of me. He not too long ago insulted my step-dad, I don't know how he found out I had a step-dad, I guess one of my fellow graduates was chatty because I was talking to a friend of mine about spending the weekend with him and my mom. When he found out that I had a step-dad, he stupidly asks what race he was! That was a slap in my face to ask that! So he decided to find out elsewhere. When he found out my step-dad was Italian, he went nuts. He started insulting him using Italian slurs and I'm not saying them. I'm not racist, and don't plan on it. This is the most evil thing anyone ever came up with! 'Separating' people into different groups, there's no need to call people Asian-American, Latin-American, African-American if they were born in this country, then they are Americans! No need putting their ethnic background ahead!
                       Sorry to be sounding like I'm ranting, but I just needed to get this out of my system. I just can't bring my self to understand why people have to be disrespectful to each other because of race, gender, age, whatever! I was raised not to see that stuff, as far as I'm concerned, everyone is the same on the inside, we just all come in different packages. To me, the world is like a rainbow: each person is a different color and if we all come together and ignore the racism ideas, this world would be beautiful. Sorry, it's so long!

Reality TV, OMG!

I really need to get this out. What is the big thing for reality TV nowadays? I swear, I think they are running out of locations for Survivor, I have a really funny idea: how about Survivor: Cincinnati? Let's see if anyone of those Einsteins on the show can survive one day in this city! I grow tired of hearing about the TV networks making big deals out of these little tiny reality shows, like Degrassi, they keep showing these girls getting sleazier and sleazier, stealing boyfriends, guys kissing guys, etc, they keep advertising it. I don't watch the show and have no desire to. And Jersey Shore: don't even get me started! There is no one on that show that is even from New Jersey! Pauly is from Rhode Island, Mike Sorrentino is a Staten Islander, 'Snooki' is a Chilean born girl, not even Italian! But I'm just tired of hearing about the networks advertising some new stupid reality show! And Dancing with the Stars? I can tolerate that because I enjoy dancing, whether it be swing dance, the Tango, you name it, even ballet! Oh how I wish I could learn ballet again. I learned when I was younger, around maybe 11 or 12 years old. But did you hear about who is going to be on Dancing with The Stars? Bristol Palin! America's favorite unwed mother who became pregnant while her mother was up on her soapbox preaching about abstinence. Where was she when her daughter was having sex and getting pregnant? And Mike 'The Situation' Sorrentino, he's on there too. It showed him the other night flashing his abs to some girl on there. He must obviously think that just because he's Italian, has a Sylvester Stallone body and is tall, tan and gorgeous, that his chances of winning go up like an elevator in fast forward. I really hope he does not win because that I think will make his ego soar, it will make his already overinflated ego bigger than the entire country of Italy. And some comedian named Margaret Cho will be on there, I've seen pictures of her and I've seen her a couple times here and there on Comdey Central, she isn't bad, she's funny sometimes, I really hope she or someone else wins, they always end up finding people I have no clue who they are to be on the show, but I hope someone good wins, not America's favorite unwed mother or Mr. "Jersey Boy". Now I'm not sure if Cake Boss is considered a reality show, but if it is, it's a good reality show. I just love watching how he does all these little intricate details on stuff. I was watching this episode the other day where he had to make a cake celebrating the anniversary of Come Fly Away, which was a play that had Frank Sinatra in it. He made this cake that looked like a silhouette of Sinatra with little dots on it to make it look like his face. This show is really cool, and I watched this other episode where he had to make an authentic Italian tiramisu cake for this Italian customer who said he had relatives coming from Italy for a visit. It was making me crave that dessert right then and there. But overall, I'm growing tired of hearing about all these reality shows. Not too long ago, I started watching this show on TV called Glee. It's not too bad, I'm starting to kind of like it, I'm starting to get a little addicted to watching it. Believe me, it's amazing what I'll sometimes watch. Like if it's on, I'll watch the First 48, or if it's on, I'll watch CSI:NY or Law and Order:SVU. I absolutely love that show! But then again, I guess I'm the kind that will watch all those police drama shows. For some odd reason, police work fascinates me, I love wathing those shows and seeing them work in crime labs and all that stuff. I guess I'm sort of a nerd when it comes to that, but I don't care. I am who I am, if no one likes it, sorry about your luck. I won't change being who I am to satisfy someone else, that happened too much in high school, people would change who they were just to fit in. I'm not like that, that probably explains why I wasn't popular in high school, I wouldn't give in to liking rap music, saying things like "Yo, what up dog?" or "How's my homie?" Can you honestly believe that white kids are talking like that? This one friend of my dad's, she is a real nice black lady, I've known her since I was little, her name is Harriet and I love being around her, she don't talk like that, no one I know of that is black talks like that! I don't get what the idea of saying things like that is, it's way beyond me! I personally think it is bad to talk like that when no one else talks like that! And other things my fellow graduates did that I didn't approve of was getting their parents to buy everything for them! I'm the kind of person that if I want something, I go out, get a job, and pay for it myself! I just can't bring myself to understand how parents can let their kids walk all over them like a welcome rug. What happened to the golden rule repsect your parents? I guess it doesn't exist anymore! I hear about kids making their parents buy them expensive iPod Nanos, Shuffles, Touches, Blackberry Phones, phones for texting, it's ridiculous! If I tried any of the crap these kids nowadays pull, I'd be dead, pushin' up daisies because my parents would kill me. I just don't understand what's wrong with the world today!

Pop culture/news

I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed, but does it seem like the media makes it out to seem that if you don't possess perfect boobs, a perfect bod, aren't tall, tan and gorgeous, that you're nothing? I do really hate this image that the media sends out. It's no wonder that so many young girls fall victim to eating disorders, like Anorexia nervosa or Bulimia nervosa. I mean, when girls get to be teens, they start worrying about their looks, they start worrying about attracting members of the opposite sex. But when they are constantly thinking "am I fat?" or " am I too ugly?", that's when they discover there's no room in their life for anyone else because they are convinced their not perfect. That's when those eating disorders start setting in. I don't hope to sound like some raving moron airhead, but that's my opinion. I mean, in high school, so many girls are worried about peer pressure, rumors, bullying, it's sad! You got girls in high school pressuring girls and guys to have sexual intercourse at a young age, young girls dressing practically borderline prostitutes, teens getting pressured to try drugs/alcohol, it's sad! The media almost makes people grow up too fast. If people take a second to stop and notice, there are more teen moms coming out now than a few years ago. In fact, there were quite a few teen moms at my high school graduation. And I watch the news, and I hear about these moms out there leaving their kids in the car while they go in and rob places or leaving their kids in the car while they get their hair done and if it's hot out, the kids die of heat exhaustion. Did you hear about the mom who videotaped her kid smoking dope? I saw it on the news last night and I thought to myself, pardon my French, " What the h--- are you thinking, you stupid moron?" They showed her on the news and she was bawling! Yeah, she's crying only because she was caught! That's one thing I don't like, it's when parents do bad things to their kids, I just don't like seeing bad things happening to good people. Another thing I don't like is when people are racist to one another, I may sound like some ranting person, but I feel my opinion needs to be heard. I'm growing quite tired of hearing about how people commit hate crimes and don't like people because of their skin color, race, gender, etc. It's not 1950's anymore! It's 2010! I recently visited some relatives in southern Kentucky, in a small town called Cynthiana, it's right outside of Falmouth. My uncle Justin, uncle Jeffrey, uncle Brud(Don't ask!), my aunt Lisa, my aunt Lois, aunt Robin all live down there! We went down there and I didn't think they would say anything because I had worn a t-shirt that said 'Italian fest, Newport, Ky' down there and the second they saw it, they started in on the insults. I'm sorry if I seem angry at this, it's just I was raised not to care about the color of skin or race. They started insulting Italians, Asians, Latinos, everybody, they didn't hold back on anyone. I just sat there, afraid to say anything, and my aunt Patty, don't even get me started! You see, you have to realize that these relatives are pure country folks and that's supposedly their opinion. They had a radio playing out there and on the radio comes "Bailamos" by Enrique Iglesias, and I said I liked the song, they turned onto another station! How freakin ridiculous is that? Anymore, I hate going down there, I delightfully call it the 'Deliverance Family Reunion'. It may sound cruel, but they are my dad's family and I don't like them, I get so angry when they start badmouthing people. They start saying stuff like" Why do we have to learn how to speak Spanish? This is America, speak English!" Guess what I did? I didn't do anything bad, more funny than anything, I started speaking Spanish, but then my aunt gave me a dirty look and I had to sit there like I committed murder or something, most of the time when I visit them, my stupid aunt never shuts up! And P.S. If Mrs. Thomas is reading this, Hello, how are you today on this good day? Ae you doing good?Are you having a good day? And another thing: What is the big deal with this 'Jersey Shore' fad? All that show is about is a bunch of Italian teens growing up in Seaside Heights, NJ. If I'm going to watch anything out of Jersey, it'll be Cake Boss or The Sopranos. Either way, on either show, I have a favorite: on Cake Boss, my favorites are Joey, Buddy's brother, or Remy, his cousin. On The Sopranos, my 2 favorites are Silvio Dante, because the guy that plays him is Stevie Van Zandt, Bruce Springsteen's guitarist, and Michael Imperioli, aka Christopher Moltisanti, his character. He's my favorite because he is cute! But sorry this blog is long, I just see alot of injustices in the world and feel they need to be known and see if anyone else out in this big world agrees.

MusicLovers:Objetivos/interesa

Goals/Interests: Have you ever learned about something and then become totally fascinated by that thing? Well, that's how it goes for me. Ever since 7th grade history class, when we would learn about ancient China and Japan, and learn about their dynasties and everything, it kind of sparked an interest in those cultures for me. Ever since then, I have an avid interest in Chinese and Japanese history, the culture, just all the little customs and traditions of those 2 countries endlessly fascinate me to no end! I don't know no if any one around here may show interest in this, but I just want to get this out to see if anyone shares an avid interest in history. My main goals for the future is to simply graduate, I am a simple person with simple aspirations, I don't want a lot, just to graduate, something simple and something accomplish able. One of the little goals I have is to learn how to speak Chinese, Japanese and Italian. The reason I wan to learn these languages is because I love to learn new languages, in high school I had to take a Spanish class to graduate and I enjoyed every second of the class. My fellow graduates did not seem to enjoy the class as much, they often said that Spanish class is 'gay'., they often said derogatory things about the teacher Mrs. Garcia de Burke. She is an awesome teacher. I treat her good like I do my family, every year, me and my little sister get her something on her birthday. You may think it's strange, but that's just the way I am, I care about eveyone. Well, I hope that they know that term could be considered a derogatory term for homosexual. Kids today, I swear! But anyhow, I would love to learn these languages because I enjoy learning about other cultures that exist in our diverse world. And I'm actually quite good in Spanish, I often keep going back and forth between Spanish and English. P.S. for the ones who do not speak Spanish, Objetivos/Interesa means goals/ interests in Spanish. By the way, if Ms. Thomas is reading this-- Hola! How are you today? I just thought I'd include a good greeting! If this blog is long, lo siento or sorry in Spanish. You'll probably notice that I speak Spanish a lot in this blog, it's just a fun language to speak. As for any other little goals, I want to travel the world, some of the places I wan to visit people wonder why I want to see them, like China. I want to see China because of the interesting culture, the people are nice as long as you are nice to them, and it's an overall beautiful country. Plus 2 of my favorite actors are from the country, Jet Li and Chow Yun-fat. I want to see Japan because I've seen pictures of it and it's just a beautiful place, especially with Mt. Fuji, you look at it and it seems beautiful, I know people may find this unusual, but I'm an unusual person. I want to see Italy because it's so romantic. But I've heard people say that Italy is a 'high fraud' area because so many go there for honeymoons and whatever. I'll go with someone who knows their way around to be safe. I do apologize if this blog is long, but I love to talk. I need to tell this one-- my sister went on her first date. Now if you know my sister, not too long ago, she was the kind of kid who read Spider-Man comics and hung action figures on small shelves on the wall, in fact she still has her Dare Devil action figure hanging on the wall. Now she is like Abby from NCIS, she dresses gothic/punk rock, with her Converse gymshoes, minskirts and Green Day shirts. Even though I'm an older sibling, I still think "Man, this kids used to like Spider-Man and all those comics and play with toys that were meant for boys when she was younger. Now she is dating and dressing different." It sounds like I'm thinking like a parent, but my dad thinks the same about me, he thinks" My oldest daughter is in college and my youngest daughter is dating! Talk about feeling old!" Hopefully, if I mention something, someone out there will connect to this and respond back. P.S. Mrs. Thomas, if you read this, Hello, how are you today? Are you doing good? Because I hope you are. I hope you're having a good day.

Goals for the future and a little of me!

Future goals: I'm not a very interesting person, I"m just a 19 year old trying to graduate. To tell you a little about me, I love any kind of music, I'm a big fan of R&B, like Marvin Gaye, Rihanna, Michael Jackson, British Invasion-ear like The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, rock like Aerosmith. I don't watch that much TV, but when I do, I usually watch Law and Order:SVU, CSI:NY, Top Gear, so for those who don't know what this show is, it's a show where these 3 British guys do stunts with cars. It's pretty cool. I'm not an overly interesting person. My main goals for the future is to graduate with an Associates Degree in Graphic Design. Then I want to get a good paying job as a graphic designer. I take interest in other cultures and I enjoy learning foreign languages, I want to learn how to speak Chinese, Japanese, Italian. I'm not sure why I want to learn these languages, but Chinese culture endlessly fascinates me. I know I sound like someone whose life does not seem interesting, but it suits me fine. My family is huge, most of them live far away, like my aunt Christie, uncle Dan and cousin Ashley, they all live out in San Diego. She is an RN(Registered Nurse). My cousin Ashley takes dance classes. But as for my other family, they live in the rural part of Kentucky, in a small town called Cynthiana. I love them dearly, but they have a tendency to racially insult people. Last weekend I wore my 'Italian fest' t-shirt when we went down there and the second my aunt Lois saw it, she and her family started insulting the Italians of out world. If you really want to push my buttons, that's how you do it. Racism is not one thing I like. I HATE IT! I think to myself "Wake up people! It's not 1950 anymore! It's 2010!" Nobody cares about the color of your skin, your ethnicity. Icould go on about the people that my dad's family insults, like Italians, British, Latino, Asian, you name it, but never fear, I'm not like that. I care about everyone around me. I treat people the same way as my family. But my muy importante(very important in Spanish) goal is to graduate ad become a Graphic Designer. I enjoy doing this and hopefully if I can land a job doing this, Right on! I think I would be good enough to do graphic design, I'm creative, and I enjoy my work a little too much sometimes, if that's bad. then I'm guilty of being overcreative. If it sounds like I shoot off onto other topics, I do apologize, I figure if I can mention something, somebody will respond back with a reply. I enjoy learning about people, finding cool things we may share in common, such as reading tastes, musical tastes, common things such as being multi taskers, you name it. But if you read this, let's see if there's anyone out there who may share a common unique feature with me. I do enjoy creating CD Covers, posters to advertise. My main 2 interests in Graphic Design would be advertising and whatever career field CD cover design is under. If I can land a job doing either one of these 2 things, All right! I would be ready to do advertising and/or CD cover design in a heartbeat! I live for it! You don't have to do anything, you just tell me what band/artist you want a CD cover or what item you want advertised and let me loose! I'll not disappoint you! I'll make something for you that you'll love forever! I have an enormous work ethic and if I'm allowed to do something, I'll go at it full force!

Weekend

 My weekend was soooooooooooooooooooo boring! I hate not having much money! I would like to just be able to go out every great now and then and be able to buy something! I hate having to wait until birthdays and christmas to buy something! I put my application in everywhere and no one has called! I have been more aggressive than ever and it does not seem to be helping!  I WANT MONEY!  I just want to able to go out and buy something every great now and then!  The only major thing I bought watched or bought was Kiss of the Dragon with Jet Li and a CD of Rihanna, it was the Good Girl Gone Bad album. For the fans of martial arts, I'm not sure if you would like it. Other than that, I went to Cynthiana  to see relatives. Never in my life did I know that I possess such racist relatives. They were talking openly and very badly of the Latin people in the U.S. But basically my weekend was boring!  I used about the last of my 20 dollars saved from christmas to buy a CD of The Rolling Stones, their Forty Licks CD.

Music Lovers

Hello everyone out there in the world. My name is Caitlin Clark, I'm 19 and this is my 2nd year at Gateway Community and Technical College. I'm a huge multi-tasker, I'm the kind of person who likes to listen to music, eat food, drink something and work on the computer ALL at the same time. In fact, I'm multitasking now. Unfortunately, multitasking isn't always good. One of the major goals for the near future for me is to graduate with an Associates Degree in Graphic Design. One of the long time goals for me is to travel the world, I would like to learn a few foreign languages as well, for some interesting reason, I would like to learn how to speak Chinese and Japanese, some think that I'm nuts, because they will say that those languages are difficult. I have also had my share of quirky moments, like when I was born, I had to have tubes put into my ears to prevent the once-a-month seizures that I would often have. This one doctor told my parents that I was mentally challenged because I could walk or talk. What really worried and angered my parents is that one day, when I was at a daycare center, I had a seizure and the employees sent me to the hospital alone in the ambulance. My parents were very angry that day. I'm not sure if anyone else shares my taste in music, but the kind of music I listen to is any type. I'm a die hard fan of R&B, like Rihanna, Stevie Wonder, Seal, Marvin Gaye, British Invasion era music, like The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Latin music like Shakira, Enrique Iglesias, Carlos Santana, Country music, like Carrie Underwood, Tim McGraw, Reba McEntire, rock music, like Aerosmith, Foreigner, VanHalen. My favorite band is The Rolling Stones, mainly because they have been around for a long time, at least since the 1960's. My favorite members of that band are the drummer, Charlie Watts, the guitarist Ronnie Wood, the lead singer Mick Jagger. This band and The Beatles some would say redefined rock music or something like that. When I graduate, I hope to be good enough to go into a job like creating CD covers for famous bands/artists or creating video games or even advertising because those kinds of jobs I enjoy a lot. One really quirky thing about me is that I'm afraid of spiders. I am proud to admit that I'm an arachnophobia kind of  person, because in the woods behind my house, we have some poisonous spiders living in the woods near the train tracks. We had to actually call the Poison Control Center about this one spider in our backyard because y dad thought because it was brown that it was a brown recluse spider. Something that many people may not know about me is that I have a step-dad who is Italian. This one guy I graduated with seems to be convinced that my step-dad is with the mob because he's Italian. I told him"that's not right, that's stereotyping!" This is pretty cool to me because I love going to visit his mom. She cracks me up because sometimes she'll hear one thing and say another. She can't hear very well and if she hears someone say one thing, she hear it as another. But I love visiting her and I also found out that my step-dad Greg has a friend named Frank that works over at Great American Ballpark, in the Concierge Service. He makes sure that when someone comes to town and they attend a Reds game, that they'll be satisfied with their visit. I'm personally glad that I'm out of high school because according to most people, senior year is supposed to be the best year of your life, the key word being SUPPOSED. Senior year for me was okay, but it seemed like an episode of Jersey Shore, only there 2 Italian guys that I graduated with instead of a lot, and a lot more drama! People seemed to bully me that year a lot for some odd reason. It seemed that only me and a few other people, mostly people in the band who shared similar music tastes. According to my mom, she is convinced that I'm a reincarnated hippie because of the way I act, dress, talk, because of my nonviolent ways. It's not that I'm nonviolent, it's just that I don't believe violence solves anything. It makes everything worse. I mean, you see how that ended up, look at all the wars we have ended up in! It also seems that in my dad's family, racial biasing runs rampant like a disease. I don't mean to sound rude about it, but it is the truth! My dad's cousin Laura and Robin were actually hoping Obama didn't make the presidential office! But anyhow, I'm pretty dull, the only thing I have interesting to say is that I'm in college and hoping to get a part time job, maybe at somewhere like Hot Topic at the Florence Mall or at the Newport Aquarium or at a bookstore, perfect job for a bookworm like me, especially someone who enjoys reading as much as I do!
                  That is just about everything about me! That's my life in a nutshell basically. I'm like a book, I can sometimes be boring, or at other times be interesting. Believe me, when I have about 3 cups of coffee running through my system, you should really see me then. I'm probably hilarious on caffeine.