OK, Cool Dude, Thanks

the out,

of all outs

ever in a jam, just recite that phrase

It was March 31st in the turning millennium 2000, the infamous Pity Party was walking through the mean streets of downtown Chicago, just leaving the Art Museum, a staple for Chicago Tourists, we were approached by a pan-handler, as many there are in DTC.

We all did our part in dis-acknowledging the man, except one member...he mistakingly took the pamphlet and tried to carry on about his way.  You see, that's how they get you, force something into your hand, then expect a hand-me-out in return.  We were all the wiser and less sensitive by not sticking our hands out and grabbing the tri-fold paper for a dollar.

So as we tried to walk away, more importantly, as Hines tried to walk away, the 'homeless' man was in pursuit, trying to get something in return for a worthless sheet of paper.  As we walked the man kept talking, pestering...yet Hines was oblivious to this; and kept saying, "ok, cool dude, thanks" trying to blow him off....little did he know he broke the cardinal rule and took that paper, thinking it was free.

This went on for a few minutes, along the stretch of sidewalk, before the man started to get irate, his voice loudening to a point that all made us feel very uncomfortable.  Finally, I had enough of the situation, ripped that stupid piece of propagandist paper from Hines hands and returned it to the angry fellow, calling out to 'now go' to my vacuous comrades...and we did, all the way to the vehicles.

We mocked Hines for the longest time about his innocent, obliviousness to the situation, often calling out his now trademarked catch phrase "cool dude, thanks" at random times....but, over time we come to realize just how brilliant of a phrase that really was.

It's really a universal sentence, able to be utilized in various scenarios.  Whether oblivious, unwanted, or simple apathetic disdain, that phrase can be a life saver.

I think I've adopted the more asshole version of the phrase, of course.  When someone has pissed me off with their horrible lack of logic or understanding and keep pressing an issue, that phrase it uttered in such a sarcastic, disparaging tone...most of the time repeated during any pause of the logicless assailant's discourse.

Sure, it usually pisses that person off, but, you're not saying anything harmful..in fact, you're being polite (what with the thanks and all)..you're agreeing (ok)...it's the most innocent rebuttal possible, and most of the time the conversation ends there...victory being yours of course.

I forgot just how powerful the phrase was until I had to use it yesterday...may have lost an acquaintance in the process, but, it's whatever.

"its like he's a broken record"

If You Could..

would you..

or would you change it?

If I could do it all over again, I would

Maybe a little bit differently..maybe take more advantage of certain situations, but generally speaking, yes is being my answer.  I randomly came across some post from early '05, and I didn't have to read through much to realize the life I coulda/shoulda/did have...

I may not have realized it then, but those were my golden years...sure I would stretch them out for more to come, evolving over time...becoming more cognizant of my surroundings..but those were then, and I came only (barely) remember what happened.  Yet, I loved it.

Everyone recants on the past better than it was..maybe this is the case as well..or maybe I was too naive to realize just what was going on.  They say hindsight is 20/20, hell Rod Stewart sang about it...

if only we could go back...good thing I wrote a little bit

"note to self...don't stop writing, only for you"

Ageism...

number..
numb-er...

The sensitivity to age

Now, as you all know, I'll be the first to chime in and laugh along with any sort of joke, whether it be sexist, racist, bigot, whatever stereotypical joke, the point is, it's just a joke and people need to learn to laugh at things...right? Anyway, the point is, it's not a joke or funny when people are discriminatory for real.

There are some who don't like black people, others are color blind; some don't like jews, others give out free hugs..I'm a pretty tolerant person, I'm understanding, I judge a person by what they make of themselves, not the characteristics that make them - i.e. they can't control what color they are, what height they are, etc.

I'd say one of the biggest factors I've turned a blind eye to is age. A person's age never mattered as to who they really were. I had to teach that lesson again today.

This afternoon I decided to make an early pass to the gym, I had a double workout schedule since I was absent most of the week, so I knew I needed more time. Bored with running on a treadmill - people hate when you try talking to them while you're running next to them - I decided to play a little basketball. I was the only one on the court for a little while until someone else walked in and went to the other hoop. After a few minutes of shooting around I yelled out to the other person if they wanted to play a little one-on-one. The other person was a little standoffish at first and hesitantly declined. I chuckled at the timid response and asked why not to which he replied that I looked a little older. Shocked at that answer I went into a rant, per usual, and it went something like this...

Older?! Well, sure..what are you in like highschool or something then? it doesn't matter..age doesn't define a person but on paper..it doesn't make me any better than you in basketball, it doesn't make you any less skilled than myself...i don't play on any college or pro level team, and i'm sure there's plenty of varsity highschoolers that could beat me..we are about the same size so there's no height advantage either way, so really, there's no immediate advantage either way..it's skill versus skill, nothing more, nothing less...

After that he was convinced and we played. While we played I continued to tell him the story of how I grew up in the southside of Chicago, during the Jordan era..when basketball was the only sport that was played. I had a basketball hoop right in the cul-de-sac behind my house, my buddies had basketball hoops set up in their driveway, basketball was played.

My best friend growing up, Tad, and I were a dynamic duo...when we played we were Jordan and Pippen. We played two-on-two like it was our job..sadly enough though, if you were to add any more people to the team the magic would kinda lose itself - that's why we could never enter the Three-on-three Gus Macker tournaments..but when there's limited amount of people you make due with what you have.

We played and would challenge our friends to try and beat us..we would see people walking down the street and we would ask them to play. Now the thing about growing up where I did, let me explain...we played during the day on the driveways, but right before dusk, a little bit before the streetlights went on, we played on the cul-de-sac....you see, the cul-de-sac was where everyone met up and played..and when I mean everyone, i mean, anyone...it was like moving up to the big leagues because that's where the older kids met up and played.

This is where I learned two lessons...One, this is where I learned it didn't matter the age of someone, it was whatever - even though some of those kids smoked, I wasn't influenced by them..even though they swore, that's not where I picked it up from..the fact that they were older had no bearing onto me..they were just people, we came together and we did our own things, together...the neighborhood was diverse, people were scarce, so any age was an appropriate age to hang out with..if someone wanted to ball, then so be it...

Sometimes we could get a 5-on-5 game going (which was awkward because this location only had one hoop) and sometimes the games consisted of less people. When the numbers were low, Tad and I stepped in to play 2-on-2 games with the older kids. This was the second lesson I learned, though it sounds like the first - and it kinda is- age didn't matter...Tad and I both liked to win, me being and only child, and Tad being a sore loser we were a perfect pair. We played our little hearts out, we wanted to win. It didn't matter if they were older, taller, whatever the case..we played, because that's what we were there to do.

Sometimes we won, sometimes we lost..when we lost we didn't use an excuse that it was because they were older or whatever, as pissed as we were, we knew were just weren't good enough, and had to play again...when we did win it was an accomplishment because everyone made it out to be a David versus Goliath situation..and we were excited because our skill showed through.

It's because I grew up in that neighborhood where at the age of 13 I was playing with twenty year olds down to five year olds made me who I am today. Where age was just a number that nobody cared about. Maybe our parents didn't want us hanging out with the older kids or whatever, but it happened, and I held onto the same morals and values I was raised with...it didn't make me a bad person to be around them, they were people too.

This trait has carried with me to today. At work I have a varying age of those around me...and I will hang out with them after work..some are 18, some are in their thirties, and I'm still me. I've dated girls both younger and older, however, the only relationships that ever get mentioned or noted are the ones with a girl that is 'drastically' younger..i emphasize the drastic because in all reality, it's not and people like to make mountains out of molehills...people tend to forget the girls that were a couple years younger than me or years older...people also tend to forget the statistic that shows men date, marry, whatever younger women...and how am I to blame in all this?

Whatever. Age is a number that gives us the permission to vote, drink, become president...age doesn't define the person you are, tell anything about your personality, or say when you are going to die..it's just a number...

and you're more than that.








"..and if i said i only dated girls born on Fridays, I'D be the a-hole..."

You Know You're Addicted to DDR When...

this is just sad..
because it's true

in light of my recent, long awaited purchase..much like this post

- You buy a pair of shoes / trainers specially for playing DDR.
X - You start taking a change of clothes with you to the arcade - So that you have a fresh T-shirt to wear on your way home instead of being drenched in sweat.
X - You only stop playing due to onset of cramp in your legs.
X - You carry on playing despite having cramp in your legs.
- When everyone else sings "Boom, Boom". You say "Mighty fine dollar" instead of "I want you in my room"
X - People think you have a stutter when you talk about the game.
- You dress in the exact same outfit like the characters dancing on the screen in the background all the time.
X - You have at least 10 mats for the Playstation in case one breaks.
- You steal the panels from the arcade and try to attach it to the playstation so you don't have to play with the controls or buy / use those crappy mats.
- You try to find all DDR on icq just to increase your icq list numbers and then brag about how you know all the DDR people in the world.
X - The local DDR arcade is now into the bottle water business.
- You ask your new boyfriend/girlfriend "Have you ever been mellow"
- The local arcade now has a private room with a DDR machine just for you.
- You vote for your favorite DDR song on your national top 30 song on the radio.
- Your personal ambition is to be a butterfly.
X - Your way of getting to know people is by dancing with them.
X - You dance on your hands.You have ripped 14 pants trying to street dance (playing with hands and feet)
X - You have, through MAJOR alterations, managed to make your DDR mat at home exactly the same as the one in the arcade... down to the plastic arrow your swiped from your neghbourhood arcade...
- You refuse to wake up from your sleep every morning to go to school, because you dream that you have eternal credits in the DDR machine.
- You find yourselve banned from your neighborhood arcade for spoiling 7 machines with your extreme dancing style.
- People at the arcade start asking you to change their money instead of going to the operators.
X - You dance on the 2nd side of the machine, while player 1 is playing his own, single player game...
X - Songs that you used to dislike are good now, since they were featured in DDR...
- You start to wear a white hat, one glove and grabbing you crotch a lot.
- When seeing an attractive women in high heels, your first thought is 'how can she play in those'.
X - At the arcade, you have more entourage than Madonna, Britney Spears, and Beyonce all put together.
X - You see arrows when you close your eyes.
X - You see arrows regardless of eyes open or closed.
X - You tap away steps on your fingers regardless of where you are.
X - You start doing DDR steps, in the middle of nowhere, regardless of where you are
X - You have important work to do, but load up DDR or Stepmania instead for a "quickie"
X - You can name any song on any mix, and sing along.
X - You know what Delight Delight Reduplication and Diet Diet Revolution are.
X - You had most/all of DDR Extreme on your pc before it even came out.
- You can remember the exact date when DDR Extreme came out.
X - You whistle DDR tunesYou have DDR ringing tones on your mobile.
X - You play DDR Music while you work on your PC.
X - You copy DDR Music to play in your car or on your mini/cd player
X - You have every single DDR game on your consoles
X - You are in love with one of the DDR background characters, and/or you can name them all.
X - You download DDR competition videos.
X - You have AAA'ed a Expert/Heavy song on the arcade machine.
- You have mastered all the songs on doubles on any level.
X - You only play DDR at the arcade, no other game is interesting enough.

so there you have it...sadly, I have been/am addited to DDR...wow









"This is the game where you use your feet....."

RANT

all bets are off...

anything goes...

fuck you and your fedora...

...if you had a fedora...



this is an old time post full of old school emotion...nice









"i'll see you in another life, when we are both cats!"