Hit the Floor

“So many people like me walk on eggshells all they long. All I know is that all I want is to feel like I’m not stepped on.” - Linkin Park

It’s not a way to live. So don’t spread it onto others.

Stop projecting your assumptions on what you think happened vs. what actually happened.

Not everything has to be bad. Know the difference.

Don't be baited into getting upset for things out of context.

Don't ruin your mood and your day. You can control what's offensive by seeing the full picture.

Don't be that guy. There are too many in the world. Don't be an unnecessary asshole to others just because you had a bad day.

I'm done.

Alcoholic Beverages

Why do they have to taste so bad by itself? I enjoy the mixed drinks more than a regular beer or straight shots of hard liquor. I can only speak for myself when I say that I drink them for the buzz. It's been many years since I've been of drinking age and before that and I don't think I've developed a preference for beer. My preference for beer are that they don't taste bad and those that don't attack my taste buds.

Does anyone feel the same way about it?

My YouTube

I’ve had my YouTube channel since March 2006. I posted videos from time to time. After a few years, I was eligible to post videos longer than 15 minutes. Then I verified my account in the background and the channel was eligible for monetization and I became a YouTube Partner.

The cool thing about these are that it allowed you to upload videos longer than 15 minutes. By verifying, it allowed you to upload custom thumbnails. By enabling monetization and becoming a YouTube Partner, I could schedule when my videos would be published.

I just uploaded random videos of vacations, karaoke, and building LEGO sets for fun. When I reached 100 subscribers, I was able to add a custom URL (http://www.Youtube.com/StupidSystemus).

There is no set theme for my channel, but I do like creating time lapse vids of me building LEGO sets. I’ve incorporated gaming videos when I learned how to do that for console. I still post random videos from time to time.

Last year, YouTube made a requirement for channels to have 10,000 lifetime views to be eligible for YouTube Partner Program. On January 16, 2018, with the recent problems plaguing YouTube (Adpocalypse 1.0, 2.0, Logan Paul), in response, YouTube sent emails to small time content creators informing them that unless they have 4,000 hours of watch time within the past 12 months and 1,000 subscribers, they will lose all monetization tools and features within the YouTube Partner Program. They have until February 20, 2018 to surpass that threshold.

With my generous 250+ subscribers, my channel makes about $5-7/month. It’s peanuts compared to how much these other channels make, but it puts a smile to my face and keeps me making videos when I can. I don’t speak for all creators, but that small amount is probably what keeps them going and making videos as well. That small amount is enough to justify pouring your time effort to grow your channel.

YouTube’s response to the adpocalypse and their golden boy uploading a video of a dead body on Aokigahara is to punish tons of small time creators. They're just telling us they care about him and not about the rest of us cause he brings in a looooooooot of money. Can you imagine if websites that relied on page clicks get the same treatment? This just reinforces clickbait content and creating controversy to increase watch time from creators.

This whole thing sucks. It’s demoralizing.

At the same time, I never set out to make money on YouTube. I only enabled monetization because of the features that come with them. I hope they don’t go away. I love making videos.

I’m done.

Outlook on Job/Health Security

Besides summer jobs in high school and college, I officially joined the workforce when Obama was sworn in as President in 2009.


Pay was alright for an entry level job. Not as much as the average salary people in my major were making, but it was something to get my foot in the door, start accumulating experience. Health insurance was alright. High deductible unlike my mom's insurance at her job, which covered and paid for everything.


Lots of changes have been made since then: overtime pay, work permits for foreign nationals, Affordable Care Act, etc.


Within a year of the new administration, all of these have been demolished. Reduced budget. Removed. Repealed. At least about to be.


Tom Brokaw on NBC used to run a segment called "The Fleecing of America." It was a series of segments "exposing cases of waste and fraud that victimize individuals or the general public." Most of them were done behind doors. I didn't think we'd see a national example currently in progress out in the open.


This affects everyone in the middle class. This includes everyone who thinks they are part of the 1% but are really in the middle class.


How do we change this besides a full blown coup or revolution? Informed voting seems to be out the window. The GOP appeals to the disenfranchised, presenting themselves as their savior, propagating class, religion, and racial warfare, and screws them over anyway. The Democrats, too, are mobilizing their efforts, appealing to social change, presenting themselves as the voice of reason, and an implied air of superiority as the intellectual.


How do you reach everyone, turning them into informed voters, without alienating and/or belittling their way of life? When education, now a luxury controlled by greedy corporations and institutions, is an informed people still possible?


I'm done.


So...

Initially, I needed someone to blame for this election outcome. A scapegoat. So I looked at 3rd party voters. Now that I've cooled off a bit, I looked at the numbers.

In 2008, Pres. Obama won with 69.499 million votes over McCain's 59.948 million votes.

In 2012, Pres. Obama won with 65.916 million votes over Romney's 60.934 million votes.

The current count for Clinton is 59.814 million votes over Trump's 59.612 million votes, but she lost because of the electoral college.

Roughly 8-10% of registered Democrats also voted for Trump.

In these past 8-9 years, the voter turn out for conservative voters were roughly the same.

There's plenty of blame to go around. If you really want to blame someone, blame the almost 10 million people who didn't show up this year. Their votes REALLY MATTERED. Their votes could have flipped Congress in some shape or form. Their votes could have made changes at the state level.

I’m done.

Gene Wilder / Condescending Wonka

There’s no earthly way of knowing
Which direction we are going
There’s no knowing where we’re rowing
Or which way the river’s flowing

- Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder)

RIP

---

Dear Internet N00bs,

Spoiler alert: Willy Wonka memes are not about Gene Wilder.

Willy Wonka memes will live much longer than your attention span, showing that you care. Your selective outrage over this "disrespect" of posting Condescending Wonka memes will be as short lived as the next clickbait/triggering thing you'll be upset about and encounter online.

Sincerely,

Guy Who Experienced 14.4K Modem Connection

I'm done.

The Great Wall: Is It Whitewashing?

So we're here again with another Hollywood movie set in another country that's not the US with the main character played by a white actor. We've seen this happen time and time again over the years and the last few years have seen people on social media calling out Hollywood for whitewashing. But is it, though? For the people living in the US, from our perspective and without further knowledge from the inner workings of Hollywood, yes. From an outsider's perspective, not so much.

Whitewashing is a big problem in Hollywood movies. It stems from the industry culture that a movie will not do well overseas or attract producers/investors if the the main character (or the cast in general) are no name actors. And what does Hollywood have? Lots of well known white actors. To sell a movie overseas, they would need to include an up and coming, rising, seasoned, or veteran performer. Depending on the intent or source material for the movie, casting based on profitability causes problems as far as authenticity is concerned.

If a studio were to shoot some random fantasy movie in China about ancient China, investors in the board room would probably say things like this:

Investors: "I like this movie concept. But you know what would be nice? If it had MATT DAMON!!!"

It doesn't matter if these investors are American or Chinese. As far as the studio and the filmmakers are concerned, the investors have the money. Not only that, investors act on behalf of their target audience. For The Great Wall's case, it's the Chinese market. China has a big movie industry with lots of big name actors. But Chinese moviegoers also love Hollywood movies. The whole world loves Hollywood. The movies. The actors. The culture. Hollywood is a global entity. We've seen foreign commercials starring Hollywood actors. These are not coincidences. They were hired because the target market for that country wants to see them. This goes for movies on a bigger scale.

So we're at an impasse, one side (Americans) calling out the whitewashing and the other side (the rest of the world) who don't really have a problem with having famous non-native white actors in movies set in their country, be it fantasy or based on true stories. They actually embrace it. At the end of the day, Hollywood is still an industry driven by money. So what can you do?

There are several things you can do...

Jackie Chan and Jet Li did not get famous out of nowhere. Hollywood took notice that Jackie Chan and Jet Li were very popular worldwide. Their movies were also popular at Blockbuster and local cinemas running foreign film showings. So Rush Hour and Lethal Weapon 4 were most of America's introduction to Jackie Chan and Jet Li, respectively. Support foreign films. Watch foreign films. Buy foreign films. Which brings me to my next topic...
STOP DOWNLOADING/STREAMING MOVIES ILLEGALLY!!! If you want to see changes in Hollywood, including proper representation, put your money where your mouth is. Money talks and Hollywood listens.
Like everything else, there are exceptions. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was a masterpiece with famous Chinese performers and overall fantastic visual storytelling. You could say that movie is an example that you don't need white actors to make foreign movies successful worldwide, but you have to keep in mind that the joint Taiwanese-Chinese-Hong Kong-American film was most of America's first exposure to flying choreographed martial arts. That was the gimmick that sold American audience to the movie. The movie was considered average in China/Hong Kong since they already have lots of movies using that uses better flying choreographed martial arts and storytelling.

As for The Great Wall, all we know right now is that Matt Damon and other non-Chinese actors are in the film. It's an epic fantasy movie with their enemies as "dragons" or something. We still don't know what Matt Damon's role is, but people are already jumping to conclusions as to what it really is. Over generalization cuts both ways and hurts your message.

I'm done.

Pet Peeve: When People Make Their Own "Memes"

A meme is an element of a culture or system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, especially imitation. A humorous image, video, piece of text, etc. that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by Internet users.

A meme is a repeated idea. That's why advice animals are memes. Because it's the same basic concept done over and over with different exact circumstances.

JUST PUTTING TEXT AT THE TOP AND BOTTOM OF A PICTURE ISN'T A MEME!!!

This is a meme. Specifically, the use of Fry’s face with the text “Not sure if…” is the meme. What people normally call a meme is actually the image macro style. Annoyingly, this mistake is taking over (and, I guess, becoming a meme in and of itself. Meta.)

Here’s a list of things that are not memes:

Random, shitty photos with random, shitty captions
You
So remember, when you hear someone say “I made this cool meme”, you can be assured that they are almost certainly wrong.


I'm done.

Why You Don't Need To Use The Oxford Comma

Apparently I'm out for blood on the internet today.

Do you ever question "facts" and "knowledge bombs" shared by your friends? Are you the type of person who just accepts them as truth? Or do you just say "interesting" or nod your head in agreement and forget about it 5 minutes later? Either way, you don't have to use the Oxford Comma.

Here are some of the pictures circulated online showing examples of why you need to use the Oxford comma.

A quote from the preface or dedication page of a book: "Among those interviewed were Merle Haggard's two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall. This book is dedicated to my parents, Ayn Rand and God. Highlights of Peter Ustinov's global tour include encounters with Nelson Mandela, an 800-year-old demigod and a dildo collector."

With the Oxford Comma: We invited the rhinoceri, Washington, and Lincoln. [Description: a picture of two rhinoceri, President Washington and President Lincoln.]

Without the Oxford Comma: We invited the rhinoceri, Washington and Lincoln [Description: a picture of both President Washington's and President Lincoln's heads superimposed on the two rhinoceri]

Why I still use the Oxford comma.

With: I had eggs, toast and orange juice [Description: a picture of two eggs + toast + orange juice.]

Without: I had eggs, toast and orange juice. [Description: a crude drawing of a person saying "I had eggs" to a toast with a face, covered in orange juice, saying "OK."]

With the Oxford comma: We invited the strippers, JFK, and Stalin. [Description: A drawing of JFK, Stalin and two strippers.]

Without the Oxford comma: We invited the strippers, JFK and Stalin. [Description: A drawing of JFK and Stalin as strippers.]



See a pattern?

It's the same example. The only different scenario is the toast and orange juice photo. Nevertheless, all of these scenarios can easily be understood given the context of the sentence.

Many have suggested that you rearrange words without using the Oxford comma.

Instead of "We invited the strippers, JFK and Stalin"

Do "We invited JFK, Stalin and the strippers."

It still does its job and it's grammatically accurate. However, if you don't want to change the word placement and your intent is to invite the two-piece wearing JFK and nipple-tassel clad Stalin, you can use a colon.

"We invited the strippers: JFK and Stalin."

Grammar is context-based. Oxford commas are still optional. You don't need it. Unless you actually think Nelson Mandela broke bread with Methuselah and appreciated phallic stimuli or you hear voices and talk to orange-juice-covered toasts. Then by all means, use the Oxford comma. No judgments.

*walking away*

I'm done.

You Have NOT Been Using Chopsticks Wrong

So people online have been raving about this new "revelation" regarding wooden chopsticks. Apparently, the tail end of regular wooden (bamboo) chopsticks that come in red or generic paper wrapper provided at many Asian restaurants can be snapped off to act as a rest or holder to keep the tip of the chopstick untouched to the table. Chopstick aficionados, young Asians, and hipsters-alike got themselves questioning their life experiences.

"How did I not know this?"

"Why was I so stupid not to realize it?"

"Why didn't my parents, aunts, and uncles tell me this is how wooden chopsticks work?"

"Did I just bring dishonor to my ancestors and family?"

It's not a thing. You're not stupid. There is no secret. You didn't bring dishonor to your family.

So that everyone will stop sharing these pictures or sites that promote misinformation like they found the holy grail, here's the actual source of the photos: https://www.behance.net/gallery/15793783/Slow-Chopstick-Utensil-Design

Slow Chopstick is a design concept for wooden chopsticks that incorporates the fluted design of the tail part of a toothpick (a very old Japanese traditional design), so it can be easily snapped off. The separated end is used to keep the front end of the toothpick (and with this specially designed chopstick) untouched to the table.

So no. The tail end of regular wooden chopsticks is never meant to function as a rest or holder. This is a specialty product with easily "snappable" ends. You're not "doing it wrong."

Now you're a little bit smarter in an ocean still full of misinformation.

I'm done.

What is the "friend zone?"

I was going to write a big portion of this as a response to another post on Facebook who brought up "friend zone," but I felt it would just fall on deaf ears from single-minded, militant characters.

Can we agree that the act we refer to as "friend zoning" (or whatever you wanna call it) is something that both men/women can do to people who like them whom they don't want to have an intimate relationship or to date?

It's a term ("friend zoned" - a verb) born out of pop culture that puts the focus on the person who does not return the affection. The intended characterization of this act is that you're not really friends, with sarcastic intonation (a heavy dose of double air quotes for emphasis). I can't stress enough the fact that when this was made popular in the show Friends, "friend zone" wasn't an act. It wasn't a verb. It was a metaphorical place inhabited by it's tall geeky mayor, Ross. Rachel really had no idea about Ross' feelings towards her. The only way for Ross to get out of the "friend zone" is to ask her out or he'll be stuck there forever.

Just laying the ground work, inching just a little bit closer to priesthood.

They also used the term in Scrubs. Elliot and J.D. start flirting as if on a date. She acts like she wanted to kiss J.D., and he's confused on whether she was joking or if he should really kiss her. He leans in for the kiss before being interrupted by Dr. Cox, breaking the mood. This puts J.D. under pressure because he only has 48 hours before they both start over-thinking things, Elliot getting invested in the idea of him as a friend, and him getting stuck in the "friend zone."

It's the packaged term for "unrequited love," the other term that puts the focus on the person who can't accept only friendship. Over the years, people have dropped the sarcasm and started using it as an ACTUAL thing, over-analyzed the playful term and put too much meaning behind it.

At the end of the day, it should boil down to these:

1. If people are really genuine about just wanting to be friends with someone who likes them, "friend zone" (modern terminology) doesn't really apply. It's the literal friendship.
2. If you don't want to date them because they are not your type (too ugly, too fat, too skinny, too deformed, eyebrows, etc) and don't care about being friends with them, it's still not "friend zoning." That's just preference.
3. If you're doing #2 and lying about what you really feel ("You're a nice guy/girl, but...") because you don't want to directly reject them and hurt their feelings for various rational/irrational reasons (which are valid for self preservation), such as fear of these people retaliating in some way or spreading true/false rumors about you, it's still just preference, but that's also the "friend zoning" act.

In the right (or wrong?) context, "friend zone" is a misogynistic term. The fact that it usually comes up from guys describing the act done to them by girls is bad enough. It's completely lost its original intended meaning. I just think it's a presumptuous term from the forlorn individual. I don't really agree with the men's rights activist and feminist angles on "friend zone." The term exists, whether we like it or not and both men and women do it to people they have no attraction to. I know, because I did it. The term is also used as an excuse to make yourself feel better about rejection, be it real, perceived or assumed. Since you have no clear evidence for #3,  your deduction of being placed in the "friend zone" is just fantasy.

We can't read people's minds. Objectively, people really care about what others think of them despite what they say to the contrary. They also fear for what people might do in face of rejection, more often projecting what they themselves would do in that situation. So they lie about the real reasons when asked ("Why don't you like me?"). Reiterating my point, since people also fear rejection, they would rather hear a lie than the actual truth.

• "You were not fired, you were let go." Correct.
• "It's not you, it's me." Correct (but could also be bullshit)
• "You're a nice guy/girl, but you're not my type." Also correct, but risky.
• "I just want us to be friends." Correct (whether you really want to be friends or just letting them down easy), but some people are stupid and think they still have a shot ("unrequited love"). Might as well sever it with...
• "I don't feel the same way about you. And I can't be friends with you if you feel that way about me. I just can't keep pretending like nothing has changed."

Brutal, but honest. You'll lose a friend. If you still care about what that person thinks of you, the focus is back on you. Grow up. You can't get 'em all. Write a blog post about it. It well help you sleep better. As far as our current understanding of the term is concerned, you put them in the "friend zone."

If you're in the "friend zone," it's not that bad. Maybe you are not meant to be together with this person. Maybe you'll end up being BFFs and whatnot. Maybe you'll end up imprinting on their kid and be their protector/savior/lover when they age faster than normal humans. Maybe you still harbor feelings for this person and still think you could end up together. Who knows. It could happen, but the focus is back on you.

I'm done.

The Unbearable Posts on Facebook

I spend a small chunk of my Internet time on Facebook. It's been a portal for most people to check out what their family, friends, acquaintances and others are up to. Facebook games, small chats and discussions with friends or in groups. I just want to have a nice time in this familiar corner online. Then you see those unbearable posts.

These posts are ignorant, blasé, argumentative, and/or passive-aggressive. These hold true for comments inside otherwise OK posts. I don't want that shit on my news feed. It's bad enough Facebook tweaked the main page to push recently commented posts to the top. Now I have to deal with people clearly lashing out on others in their friend list for what is lacking in their life. Part of me wants to put the aggressors in their place. Instead, I go for the peaceful route most of the time.

Everyone's got their own burdens. And I'm not gonna be one of those people that dumps mine in on somebody else.

I'm done.

Define Flaker

Monday, April 28th, 2014


Flaker: Movie night Friday??? :) Snacks included.

Tuesday, April 29th, 2014

Flaker: ... Or Wednesday night!

Wednesday, April 30th, 2014

Comes home and bails on everyone.

Thursday, May 1st, 2014

Comes home to eat. Bails on everyone. Leaves and comes back home in the morning to get ready for work.

Friday, May 2nd, 2014

Comes home and invites friend over. Bails on movie night without explanation whatsoever because they takes everyone for granted.

And that is why we have lowered expectations on people.

I'm done.

Desperate to talk to someone

"The only thing that gives me comfort, you guys, is when I'm sitting at home staring at the ceiling just WISHING that I had someone to talk to, is knowing that NONE of you idiots realize how lucky you are." - JD from Scrubs

Call me an attention seeker. I'm too depressed to defend myself. I don't give a shit about how it takes time to heal a broken heart.

My ex-girlfriend broke up with me when I just recently received news that my dad in the Philippines had a stroke and needed immediate medical attention because of complications of his diabetes. On top of that, it was my first time being the primary on-call person at my job and it had to be one of the busiest on-call week.

Quite frankly, I'm surprised I'm still alive today. I was on the edge... close to sleeping myself forever with the broken shards of glass near my computer from my broken window that still needs fixing.

Yes, I have my family, but I don't want my mom to see me cry anymore. She has a bad heart and I don't want to burden her. So there. I just made a rant thinking it would help. But it didn't. I'm still lonely and depressed.

I'm done.