Success is a State of Mind

Ok so I will be the first to admit that I have been pretty terrible at posting on this these days. I’m gonna be frank with you all when I say that my life has been crazy these past couple of days. It is entirely true that I had the time to post on my blog. It had nothing to do with a lack of time. What it had to do with was a complete lack of brain energy to go toward it. I post when I can really just sit and type and zen out and I haven’t had a lot of zen lately.

Which brings me into today’s topic: Taking time for your own damn self. Why is it that our society measures an individual’s success on how impressive their successes are? Because a person is born with opportunity and therefore has the capability to achieve great things means they are more successful than maybe a person who works full time, goes to school, and still manages to maintain some semblance of a social life? I don’t think so. I don’t think so at all.

As my life progresses and I find myself entering new and different phases of my experience I find myself confronted time and time again with individuals who, even though they may not considered the most successful people, inspire me everyday. The people whose lives I look at and can say, “Damn, they have really made it. They were able to work hard and support themselves.” And that is success to me. It is not someone who has a big fancy house, lots of cars, 2.5 kids. It is the person who sees their surroundings and decides then and there to do whatever it takes to make a change.

And I salute you.

Question of the day: Who inspires you? Who in your life do you think is successful?

I also have been hearing some great things from some of you and I would love for you to post our comments below. You don’t have to answer the question of the day. Just tell me what you think.

Ok back to figuring out this DAMN website.

Peace out shitfaces.

Gotta Have Soul

So I am going to delve into a touchy subject here that has been weighing on my mind lately. What would we as a species define as being a “soul”? What makes one individual different from another and can someone change who they are in response to their surroundings and experiences? It is simply the combined effects of chemical reactions in our brain triggering different responses or is it something greater? Is it something that ultimately drives our being?

In my personal experience I have come to a varied of conclusions when it comes to this idea of “soul”. One, I do believe that a person’s “soul” is something higher than just chemical reactions taking place to drive our actions. Now, I am not going to get into this and start talking about God or sin or anything like that. I am merely saying that this personality we create to embody our lives is not predetermined. Very simply, it can be changed. It is a product of our environment. Have no fear, in the coming days I will approach the subject of changing gays.

Now, I find myself approached with the idea that the soul can thus change. If we are a product of a set of experiences then, as we grow, do new experiences change who we are much like they did when we were younger? To this I would be forced to say yes. Consider any individual who you have known for a long time (let’s say 3 years+). Now look at who they were when you first met them and the kind of person that they are now. Look at the experiences that that person went through since you met them. Can you find any evidence that their actions following those events were different and there was a direct relation to the experience that happened? I say yes.

However, this occurs over a slow period of time. Usually. Usually one must experience an event, process it, relate it back to xyr’s life and then learn and grow. But sometimes, very rarely, an individual comes across an event which rocks them to their core and changes them. It works to flip a switch, if you will. And a process which would normally follow a slow and laborious timeline takes a leap forward.

This happens to me every couple of years or so. Something occurs in my life that shakes me down to my core and changes my view on everything. Up until recently I had been passive. Wandering through my year with no real sight or purpose. I would take on a project and then not put my all into it, hoping in the end that everything would work out. That has all changed.

Over the past couple of days I took a long hard look at who I was and where I was in my life and I realized I had been trying to bullshit everyone, even myself. I am not lazy. I am not passive. I am not a flake. I am determined. I am level-headed. And I will cut a bitch. These months of me feeling sorry for myself and being childish are over. For those of you who think I am not a fighter are dead wrong. I'm a survivor. I'm goin'na make it. I will survive. Keep on survivin'.

Question of the Day: What has happened that rocked your world? How did it change you? Let me know!

Busy week ahead of me but I can do it.

Peace out shitfaces.

I Am Fucking Pissed Off, Part Two

Ok welcome to part two. Following the post yesterday I took it upon myself to start researching what people think and the arguments that they have against gay marriage so as to better come back with a structured argument. I failed. Not because the points they were making were credible but because everything I found was completely insane. So instead, I decided to take one of the worst examples and show the world exactly what ignorance can do.

Today, on the Huffington Post, a particularly heinous video was posted of a Nebraskan woman, Jane Skrovota, who took it upon herself to give a “scientific” examination on gay culture. What resulted was a five minute hate rant that made no logical sense at all. It is my duty as an online blogger to take this insane video and break it down for you. This will get graphic. Be prepared. Let’s begin.

1. Gays are sadistic: So she has a few things in this one. My all-time favorite has to be that by inserting a p-e-n-i-s into an anus causes the intestines to burst, killing the person who is being penetrated. I mean seriously? In what deranged world does this make any sense? She uses this “fact” to say that gay men enjoying having sex with men so they can watch them die in the process. If this were true, about half of my male friends would be dead. Just sayin’.

2. Gays cause genocide in hospitals: This one is pretty awesome because she doesn’t actually say anything as to why she believes this. Instead, she just goes ahead and says it. I would really like to hear why she thinks this cause honestly it doesn’t even make sense for a crazy person.

3. An individual found dead without clothes was “a gay” who was killed by their partner: Skrovota’s logic behind this one is an attack on our dear Whitney Houston. She says that Houston was found naked and dead in a bathtub and that she was obviously gay. Therefore, the only logical reason for her death was that some deranged lesbian killed her while trying to have sex with her. Anyone can say this is total bullshit so I won’t dwell on this one for too long.

4. “Anus licking causes sepsis”: Ok so Skrovota is saying here that going ass to mouth causes sepsis which, if left untreated, kills a person within thirty minutes. Human Centipede aside, I doubt that anyone was killed by a rimjob. Just didn’t happen. Where did she even get this statistic? She is already starting to piss me off more.

5. Gay men molest boys because they “don’t have AIDS yet”: Ok this is really where her strange ramblings go into full blown insanity. He logic is that gay men, afraid of getting AIDS, rape small children so that they can dodge the bullet. First, just because a man is gay DOES NOT mean that he is going to go around raping children and just because a man is a child molester does not mean that he is gay. This is solid fact. Any person who has read a newspaper in the last couple decades could tell you this. The fact that she is saying this on television makes me sad.

6. College students need single rooms to avoid “going gay”: This one is a gem among gems. Having same sex roommates makes you gay. Right? Wrong. Seeing how my roommate freshman year kicked me out regularly in order to bring his girlfriend back to the room I would say that having a homo as a roommate does not mean that you will join the lifestyle. Seeing how most of my readers are college students I would say that you can agree with me.

7. College women are seduced with roofies to “go gay”: Her example for this one is that Hilary Clinton’s lesbian roommate of four years made her gay by slipping her roofies because otherwise she would find it "abhorrent". One: Hilary Clinton is not gay. I mean, she stayed with Bill even after the Monica Lewinski thing. Two: No one I know has ever slipped anyone roofies to convince them to be gay and I know A LOT of queers. That is just ignorance.

8. AIDS is a candida fungus disease: Her logic here is about the same as a math equation. AIDS can kill people. Corpses grow fungus. Therefore AIDS is caused by a fungus. Under the same logic since doing laundry makes the room warm and hot room can lead to dehydration and dehydration can kill. Therefore, NO ONE DO LAUNDRY. It will kill you.

9. Everyone who committed treason by the year 2000 were gays: Not even going to go there. Go on Wikipedia.

10. “A gay” is a behavior, not an identity: Ahh, the good old being gay is a phase argument. Being gay is not a disease. It is not a condition. It is not a behavior. Being gay is something that is caused by genetics. It is something that cannot be changed. Anyone who believes otherwise needs to seriously be talked to.

11. Gays cause children to become, well, basically crazed: Oh sweet Jesus. This lady found something somewhere which says that all children from San Francisco are failing every single class in school and constantly rape each other because they are constantly surrounded by gay people making out. As someone from da bay who is attending a UC I would beg to differ. Where my bay kids at?

12. Bisexuals always become insane: Do I even need to? I mean really? I know plenty of bisexuals living happy healthy bisexual lives and even though some of them can be annoying, as some people often are, none of them are insane. None.

13. Judas was a homo who sabotaged Jesus’s "kind ideas": This is when her religion really came out in full force. Judas, the man who turned in Jesus, was apparently a giant homo and turned Jesus in just for the hell of it. Was it because he was sadistic? Maybe it was because of the sepsis. Either way whatever version of the bible this woman owns really needs a new translation.

Ok so I would like to start off by saying sorry this one is so long. I just didn’t have a choice in the matter. There was too much here. Bear in mind, this was a five minute video. I hope something here resonated in you. Please do not let this kind of ignorance continue. If you know someone who believes any one of these things, do the world a favor and educate them. Sit them down, listen to what they have to say and then calmly present them the facts. It will do everyone a massive favor.

Question of the day: So the question of the day involves you watching the real video (link below) and then responding to it. What was your favorite part? What made you the angriest? How long did it take before you started only watching the guy behind her? Let me know.

Ok, time to get this thing up and go to class.

Peace out shitfaces.

Link to the video: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/11/nebraska-woman-homophobia-rant-video_n_1509580.html?ref=fb&src=sp&mimi=1&comm_ref=false

I Am Fucking Pissed Off, Part One

Warning: While I fully encourage you to keep reading please do so with caution. Some of you may be outright angry when you reach the end of it. It won’t be pretty and it won’t be nice. Sorry but here we go.

The world is an ever changing place. I think we can all agree on that. It was not until 1967 that a man and a woman of different ethnic backgrounds could marry.  It was not until 1985 until it became legal for a man and a woman to get divorced for any reason other than abandonment, cruelty, incurable mental illness, or adultery. These are two things which, now, seem to be obvious. To not allow these things seems cruel and, at least in the case of the former, blatantly racist. However, consider the fact that around that time being blatantly racist was not considered a bad thing.

So where am I going with this? Think about the people in your life who you may consider to be blatantly homophobic. Are there any who would not consider themselves to be homophobic but simply stated they are? I see no difference between that than the individuals during the 1960’s who were fighting for segregation. Now you know where I am going with this. To fight against the legalization of marriage for same-sex couples is homophobic. It is hate. No matter which way you attempt to cover your ass by trying to rationalize it, to not allow civil rights to a group of people based solely off of attributes which they have no control over such as sexual orientation is hate. Pure unadulterated hate.

Now I have been presented with this idea of having civil unions which would entitle same-sex couples to all rights and privileges afforded by a marriage. This is complete and utter bullshit. For those who know me (and most of you do) then you know what one day I want to have kids. I do not want to bring children into this world though if I cannot be married to my partner. I do not want to live in fear of the day when my son or daughter comes home from school one day and asks, “Daddy, why aren’t you and Daddy married?” I do not want to have to look this sweet child in the eyes and explain to them that there are people in this world who feel that my love is not right and therefore should not be allowed to enjoy the privilege of marriage.

So now I ask you to look at yourself. Put yourself in my shoes. Imagine you are a gay man. Or the child of gay parents. Or even the parent of a gay child. What would be fair rights to you? What would be equal? A reworked civil union? Or nothing short of full marriage equality?

Please think about this. Chances are there will be a Part Two later today.

Peace out shitfaces.

I Want to Get Gay Married

So it has been a long time since I have written anything that is critical of political policy so I figure, why not now? In the wake of today’s announcement from President Obama when he FINALLY publicly stated his support for gay marriage I have been barraged with internet shit regarding the situation. Obama decided, in response to Vice President Joe Biden’s comments regarding the subject earlier this week, to go on record that he too agreed that love is love and everyone should have equal rights. I am not the first to admit this is was a long time coming and it certainly came as no huge surprise.

Now here is where my blood begins to boil just a small amount. The actual catalyst (at least in my head) is the passing of North Carolina’s Amendment One which prohibits same-sex couples from receiving a plethora of civil rights. This law, though extremely short in length, effectively removes any and all rights that a same-sex couple could ever have that opposite-sex couples currently enjoy. This is because the law doesn’t just say that gays can’t marry but it says that a marriage between and man and a woman will be the ONLY recognized UNION in the state.

So how does this connect to Obama? Needless to say any rational and moral human being should read this and be totally outraged. Obama himself, after yesterday’s vote, came out to say that he was disappointed in what North Carolina had done (as were the rest of us). His then saying he supported same sex marriage was the final step in him finally admitting that something needs to be done.

I am now going to just put this out there: I want to get married. I want to find a good man who treats me right, get married, buy a house, and eventually start a family to raise into upstanding citizens. Then, when they are older and off to college I want to travel the world with my husband and eventually retire in comfort somewhere in California. When I think that there are people out there who, for whatever reason, want to limit the love that two people can show each other it seems cruel.

Sorry folks, no question of the day today. I would rather everyone sit with what I just said and see how it personally affects you. Please do comment though and show your support. Simply tell me and everyone else reading this how this makes you feel.

Now back to having no hope in the world.

Peace out shitfaces.

An Introspection on Why I Give a Fuck

Ok ok, I know. It has been a really long time since I have gone on here and posted a new entry. However, if you knew what was going on in my life you would be surprised that I am posting anything even now. It has been a very long time since I needed to deal with so many different things at once and I am way out of practice. I used to be able to take a scenario, process it, and find the best possible way to deal with it with relative ease. Now once I find myself dealing with even two issues my brain goes on overload and I start to go a little crazy.

So you may be wondering where I am going with this and you would be right to wonder that. So with all of these things on my mind I am forced to think simply, “What is it about me that puts me in these situations where I need to think this much?” Do I draw drama into me? Do I go out and seek to create it in order to entertain myself? Or do people simply find me so amusing and entertaining that they are drawn to be and with this surplus of people around me I have no choice but to be drawn into all of this?

Of those, I obviously like the last option the most. I mean, who wouldn’t? So going off of this concept that people are drawn to me and therefore they drag the drama with them then why does this not happen to everyone? Everyone has friends but for some reason I am the only one who finds himself in these situations. Upon further review I realize it has to do entirely with the fact that I simply give too much of a shit. If I could surround myself with people and not care about them so much then I wouldn’t have these problems.

So where go from here? I wish I could say that from now on I will live my life with an IDGAF attitude but I simply can’t. I apologize if it seemed like this was useless because I didn’t really change at the end of it but it was really to address those who know me who think I am just super dramatic and do it for fun. I don’t do it for fun. Being wrapped up in this drama isn’t fun. I just care about people. Sorry.

Question of the day: Do you like drama? Do you find yourself involved in a lot of drama?

Back to my least favorite class.

Peace out shitfaces.

Dead Puppies

So I am watching TV, kicking back with a beverage and enjoying one of my favorite shows, Tosh.0, when all of a sudden, directly following a killer joke that had me coughing up my drink, came on one of the saddest commercials ever. Anyone who has ever watched television knows exactly what I am talking about: The Sarah McLaughlin ASPCA commercials. Those sad homeless dogs practically crying through the screen while Sarah sings in her soft yet powerful voice gets me right in my soul every time. Can there ever be a sadder commercial? Let me help you out. The answer is hell no.

Let me be real right now. Those commercials are damn good because they are so effective. No one is going to watch that shit without wanting to immediately go out and rescue a dog. However, there is this little thing called “Target Audience” that the people at the ASPCA need to figure out. No one who is sitting around at 4:40 on a Friday afternoon watching Comedy Central is going to want to be disturbed by that heart crushing commercial. Play it during something more along the lines of Fox News or American Idol. Something that is typically watched by families or people who are going to go out and get a dog because they saw the commercial. I mean, seriously.

If I were them, I would not play it then. If they actually want to play a commercial during these times and not piss people off, simply make a new commercial. Something with upbeat, happy dogs frolicking in a meadow being happy and playful much like the people who watch Tosh.0. Happy and playful. Maybe I should get a job at the ASPCA in their market department. I would totally rock that shit hardcore.

Question of the day: What is your least favorite commercial? What would you do to make it better? I’ll give it a looksee and give you my opinion on it.

Ok and back to Comedy Central as I wait for my bestie to show up. So excited for the weekend!

Peace out shitfaces.

One Big Room, Full of Dumb Bitches

I would like to take this opportunity to address an issue that seems to be plaguing my life as of late: Stupid people. Ok, let me be more specific before you all thing I am some insensitive prick. The people who are continually bothering me seemingly every single day are the ones who are completely insensitive to other peoples’ wants, needs, and lives so long as their own agendas are pushed in the faces of those trying to get shit done. What do I mean by this? Let me explain.

So say you are in a group of people all working towards a common goal. It is in the benefit of all of those involved that this project is completed to the highest standard possible, agreed? So when one person tries to unify the seemingly shattered group it can be looked upon as a good thing especially when that individual is going out of their way to put other things to the wayside in order to ensure the highest quality result on the project. Now throw into this mix a couple of people who, although they are nice and well-meaning people, decide to throw wrench after wrench into the plan despite a general consensus on what the path the project should take will be.

Now, for those of you who may be reading this and thinking, “God Bettencourt, you are such a passive aggressive asshole. Why would you write this here instead of talking to the group about it?” chances are this post has nothing to do with you. This is an experience that I (and anyone who has ever done a group project) has encountered. I feel like we can all get behind this and say that it is as annoying as fucknuts. When the deadline for a project is rapidly approaching and a good chunk of your reputation relies on its successful completion, in what world does it seem responsible or even right to derail the thing entirely?

So here’s the question of the day: What is your worst group project horror story? Does it have to do with school, or a club, or even with friends (take for example: You were all planning on getting together at a certain time and place and one friend changed it last minute and not everyone got the memo so the day had to be scrapped)?  I’m curious. Let me know.

Now I am off to a well needed lunch with one of my favorite people ever.

Peace out shitfaces.

How Real is Reality?

So let’s all just be real with each other for a hot second and agree that the world is a very strange place. I often find myself sitting in my living room watching my Bravo shows and I think to myself, “Come on, I could totally get a show on this channel.” Bravo already does an amazing job taking problem that I am sure are really actually quite small in real life and blowing them entirely out of proportion into being giant life altering issues that could end the world. I mean, how hard could it be? You are just sitting around with your friends talking to each other and it for some reason makes great television.

The biggest issue with having my own show as I see it would be that the average person does not have enough drama in their life to fill a television show. However, for those of you reading this that are really close to me, you all know that I could totally do that. Just rewind over the past year alone and think about all of the things that could really be taken by a crew and made into practically Season Finale episodes. Spring quarter and summer last year was nothing short of a shit show. I would totally watch that on TV. And probably feel sorry for the poor chap.

So I took this concept (me having a Bravo show) and started looking around at how I live my life. Short of me sitting and doing homework or writing I spend most of my time with someone talking about drama or making terrible jokes. If you look at the shows, that’s really all they are. All that these people do is sit around, drink, and talk shit. I could TOTALLY be paid to do that. I would fucking love to be paid millions of dollars to have people trail me with cameras and be shocked at the stupid shit I find myself having to do. Life sucks brah.

So here’s my question: Would you be down to have some strangers with cameras following you around and documenting your life? If so, what would the theme of your show be? (Mine would be Real Housewives style.)

Now back to watching Million Dollar Listing. That shit cray.

Peace out shitfaces.

You Don't Choose Your Family

So I will be the first one to admit that I have dropped the ball on writing lately. I set out out on the blog writing endeavor saying that I would post something about my life every single day for three years. Let's be real though, I have a life. Sorry kiddos. However, considering how completely jam packed my weekend was I am willing to forgive me if you guys are.

So I could easily sit here and do a play by play of what happened but you and me both know that that simply is not my style. What I am going to talk about is this idea of family. For the majority of my childhood and adolescence, I was engrained with the notion that a family consisted exclusively of individuals who are related to you by either blood or marriage and if not then they simply are not your family.

However, for all of you who either have gone through college (like myself) or are still in high school but have found a good group to be close to this idea is simply not fucking true. I have found a second family. These kids are my family. These forty or so members of my frat have become members of my family. For those of you reading this who are in my frat or know of us then you’ll know that when it comes to family dynamic ours may be the most fucked but, to be perfectly honest, you can suck it.

I make fun of them a lot but I really want them to know that I could not live without them. It has been a while since I was able to say this out loud because of some drama going on in my personal life that has found its way to slither into my frat life but after going through somewhat of a transformation over the past couple of weeks I feel like it is time to now admit all of this. No matter what I have done or what I have said, you are all in my heart. And if you don't say amazing things at my funeral, I will haunt you forever.

That’s really all I need to say about this. I love these fuckers. All of them. With all of my heart. And I can honestly say that without them being in college would kill me.

Aiight, question of the day: Who is your second family? What would you do without them? How do they affect your life?

Now back to feigning attention in the WORST class ever.

Peace out shitfaces.