Monday, December 06, 2004

Boy, This Is Good

I saw two commercials by Nike -- one riveting and crazy. One somber, that made me applaud its choices.


This one ... I was like, "Whoa, stop the game, stop. Stop. I say, STOP!" But it never stopped.

This one .... very simple and sweet. Made me go sigh. Some stuff are made for the eternity -- this is one of 'em. It raised my hair on my arms. Wow.

Since we are on the wavelength of Sports ...

No. 18 Virginia Cavaliers (8-3, 5-3) will play Fresno State (8-3) MPC Computers Bowl in Boise, Idaho. It is scary to play Fresno State than to play Miami (FL) or Florida State. Richie, plans to show up in Boise to see my beloved team play?

Virginia Cavaliers WBB is now ... 5-3. Don't ask me.

Connecticut Huskies WBB's Head Coach Geno Auriemma lashed out at UConn fans as "the most spoiled brats and that I hope we lose the next ten games." The next game, UConn routed Holy Cross by 39. Go figure.

Virginia Cavaliers MBB team is ranked No. 24 after a great start at 6-0. Go Cavaliers!

Speaking of Virginia Cardinals, my alma mater, VSD Girls BB finished 2nd in Virginia Classic. Tennessee winning the 1st. But Kim Fuller of VSD was the star of the tournament as she averaged 31 points per game in 3 games. Kim Fuller is the niece of Rosemary Fuller, my sister's high school nemesis. Either way, Kim rocks.

R-

No Bullying ... Except for Three

Ahh, bullying is normal. It is part of high school process, is it?

Well, here is the answer: A Big Fucking NO!

At Gallaudet, I remembered people bullying some people even in college. It was appalling. Good example: Jeff Kurz made fun of gays and ridiculed Warner of his unfortunate looks. When I saw it, I cringed. I always hoped that it did not happen to me.

Much later, Dorian Yanke bullied me at times. It took a while for me to stand up and finish him off. Some of my friends retaliated as well.

After reading the article, I was glad that some students went after the main bully and retaliated. Bullying has no place in the educational system.

Who is responsible of allowing the bullying to occur in the schools? Go back to 1950s & 1940s, the Nuclear Family concept. That is where it all started. My father told me that he was bullied but it made him stronger. But the scars on his soul can be read by anyone else. He was hurt by that. Who told him that he shall be stronger after enduring the bullying? His teachers.

Many teachers during the Nuclear Family Era -- tolerated the bullying to a point where the students themselves became the teachers and tolerated the whole cycle. But the problem is that the bullying itself became much worse, meaner, volatile to a point where it drove people to suicide. Again, back then, suicide were not something to be talked in 50s, 40s. I'm sure it was rampant but no newspaper talked about it.

Until the liberal-asskissers decided to radicalize the country with Love and civil rights, conservatives bellowed and battled. The liberal-asskissers prevailed, of course. Then the newspapers started to talk about bad things in the society where it comes to suicide.

If a person said that bullying is part of growing up process, I'll punch his face. Then tell him that that is what I am doing to him. I am bullying him right now because I wanted to. Same idea.

You just do not bully anyone else, not based on looks, behavior or sounds.

Except for Dorian Yanke, Jeff Kurz and Amy Kurz, of course.

R-

Resistance Is Futile

We are The Blog. You will be assimilated into the collective of Blog. Resistance is futile. As you may know, the blog is already the most used word of the year, according to some dictionary.

I just completed reading The Washington Post of our heroic Pat Tillman (*gagging*), his final words were:

"Cease Fire! Friendlies!"

Sounds pitiful way to die? You bet it is. To me, a hero means to save someone's life. I hate to say something like this -- FDNY and NYPD ran to the flaming towers because it was part of their job. And yeah, they died. But does that makes them hero? I question that. But again, that is my opinion.

For fun stuff, I just completed two quizzes. Which high school stereotype am I? It said that I'm normal, in other words -- boring and too plain. Which American City do I fit in? It says that I belong to San Francisco.

Last night, I chatted with Alex A-bench-u-chan. That is the first time I spelled it right without checking it repeatedly. I can confirm that Alex is not stupid. He may be bit gullible (Hell, when I was a freshman, I was bit naive and gullible) -- so gullible will dissipate out in a short time. But one thing that remained on the list -- he's still cute. That is undeniable, though. He was fun to chat with. Thanks, buddy.

Oh, yeah, last Saturday night, I saw a lady turning her right ankle on six-inch heels -- she was wearing a skirt and apparently on the way to a bar, maybe? She tumbled on the sidewalk. Good thing, her tight skirt did not rip -- I had to suppress the laughter and offered to help her out. She declined.

Then this morning, I turned my right ankle in front of some cheap-assed Asian and tumbled on the sidewalk en route to the office as a car darted by the road. It was pretty humiliating and painful. My right ankle always has been an Achilles heel for me after I twisted it in a high school basketball game. High school basketball game? Yes, a fag like me played on the team.

So I ended up getting back up here. Some Asian gibberish probably was spoken in trying to help me out but I shrugged 'em off. Just like the lady did to me. And that Asian probably suppressed a laughter as well. At least, I provided a good show. Bet you a dollar or two that if Rayni was there, she'd howl with heavy fits of laughter.

C'est la vie.

R-

Sunday, December 05, 2004

Craigslist.org and LePore's Birthday Bash

Amanda LePore will celebrate her birthday bash on Thursday at The Plaid. Ben wondered about how old she is. He asked. He found out and flinched. He told me and I flinched. I know that if I mention her age, Manny and Merritt will whack the poor monitor and say, "That girl is lying!"

She said she is going to be 22.

Yeah, right!

* * *

You know, I was boiling mad last Friday evening after the encounter with the hearie loser at The Phoenix. Then I wrote this on craigslist.org, urging the people to do something about it.

Let's hope that hearing people will be able to restore my faith in this society -- but my guts said ... fat chance.

R-

Jim the Bartender at The Phoenix on E. 13 St btwn Ave A & 1st Avenue
Reply to: anon-51308018@craigslist.org
Date: 2004-12-05, 11:30PM EST

Last June, my friend and I came to The Phoenix. Both of us are Deaf by birth, our parents, grandparents and before that are deaf -- guess what? We never bothered to learn how to use the voice to bark or utter a sound, OK? We use signs to communicate but when it is necessary to communicate with someone who cannot sign, we make sure to talk via paper & pen method. Not hard, right?

Not with Jim the Bartender at The Phoenix.

My friend asked for a pen and paper. Jim refused and said that he should try to use his voice. My friend refused because he, like me, is self-conscious with our voices. Jim insisted repeatedly until I told him that not all deaf people can use the voice. Jim got upset, became rude and abrasive to a point where we decided not to order a drink from him ... we switch to the other bartender -- Jim told the other bartender not to serve me and Mark. IN fact, they barred me and Mark from ordering anything!

I attempted to get in touch with the owner or manager of The Phoenix -- guess what? No bartender wants to help me to rat on Jim. They were protecting him.

This happened last June. Well, last Friday, when I got off from work, I needed a break so I went to The Phoenix -- keep in mind, I never saw Jim again since last June -- when I entered the bar, Jim saw me and gave me the rude, abrasive, degrading behavior that I was left speechless and left the premise.

When will someone else stand up and tell Jim the Bartender that he has NO right to do that to a Deaf person! Enough is enough.

Jim is the reason why many Deaf people are wary and cautious of hearing people. Hearing people, do something about it.

Go to that bar and lambast him for his behavior towards Deaf persons.

this is in or around East Villageit's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

2004Weblogawards.com Sucks

I nominate myself and some of my friends told me they nominated my blogsite in 2004weblogawards.com. I was hoping that some deaf bloggers get to do that. Apparently, I saw few.

And they selected the nominated ones out of hundreds and guess what? No deaf blog.

Nothing is new, right?

And they wonder why Deaf people tend to set up our own organizations, athletic teams, social events away from 'em? It is because they excluded us from day one. Patronize us as if we are just "cats" or "dogs" or even a side dish that can wait until everyone is done, then pay attention to us.

I must admit that I was hoping for a deaf blog to be, at least, nominated. But again, my guts warned me that it is always a *fat* chance. My guts was right. But at least, this gave me an idea. We should set up our own DeafBlogAwards.com where we *forbit* a hearing person from participating in the contest. Of course, they do not know what "forbit" is all about! If they knew the inside jokes, they'll know what "forbit" is all about.

Yeah, that's it. I'll figure out a plan and perhaps, pull some coins to purchase a website where I can organize and start the labor of love and do it for ourselves. Many of us deserved the pats for making an effort to share our thoughts on everything else -- but too bad, the one over at 2004weblogawards.com is not open or inclusive to deaf bloggers.

Shame on 'em. Like always, we screw 'em and build our own for ourselves.

R-

2004 MetroWeekly CoverBoy Of The Year

In Washington, DC -- there are ten boys in round 2 for the MetroWeekly CoverBoy Of The Year and guess what?!

There is Deaf guy who is one of Top 10 Finalists, he graduated from RIT and is now living in Washington -- I met him recently in Washington. He's nice fella. Name is Jeremy. Let's support the deaf dude by voting for him. Fuck hearies, they won too many awards year after year -- let's take it away from 'em.

I did.

R-

The Pivotal Question

Yesterday, Ben and I shopped at a local grocery store and babbled about things in life. I'm telling you, guys, the carts in the grocery stores here in Manhattan will make the suburbanites look at in amazement -- it is tiny enough to be a child's plaything! It is ridiculous at times, though.

Ben mentioned a good question -- why did the captions has CC2 or TXT1 whereas we never used it anyday, anyhow and anywhere. Why did it add up? Ben has a good point.

Anyone know why we have to have CC2, CC3 or CC4? What's wrong with only one, CC?

Also, the TV companies need to put the captions CC1 automatically, not fuckin' TXT1. I'm sick of going to places and had to tell the bartenders and/or waitresses to give me the remote control to adjust so that I can watch the TV with the captions.

Hey, you fuckers, when you manufacture the TV, insert CC first, not TXT1!

R-