I'm still here

Just haven't had much of anything that I felt was worth posting to my little corner of the web. I'll be visiting the family in San Diego this weekend for Christmas, which I'm looking forward to, and visiting some friends in San Diego the following weekend for New Years.

One weekend or the other I'm supposed to see an incredibly sweet girl, and hopefully I can get a better idea of whether we're just friends or if she sees potential for more. I'm fine either way, but I feel that its important that I know what my boundaries are with her.

Nice Guys Don't Finish Last

I'm so tired of hearing and reading the phrase "nice guys finish last". It is absolutely untrue. There was a point in my life where I attached myself to this phrase with a deathgrip. I was that nice guy; the quiet unassuming guy who treats everyone nicely, and then lets people walk all over him. Was it because I was too nice? Absolutely not.

It was because I didn't have a backbone. If you're reading this, and you're one of those nice guys that I was referring to above, then maybe you need to read that last sentence again, just for good measure. There are plenty of nice people in the world that know when to speak up for themselves and not let themselves get stepped on.

There are also a lot of not-so-nice people in the world that will test their boundaries with people (may or may not be consciously done), just to see how much they can get away with. If they find that they can take advantage of the nice guy, guess what? They'll do it at every turn.

As I mentioned, I used to be that guy that would be taken advantage of. Now I demand raises and pave my own way to promotions, even if it means taking promotions from less qualified people. I'm learning to be more aggressive when going after the girl, and kicking her to the curb if I feel like she's taking advantage of me. But I still go out of my way to do nice things for people, and anyone that really knows me would describe me as "nice", because I am.

So here is some advice to all you nice guys out there. Grow a damn backbone! Speak up for yourself. Quit letting people step on you for their own gain. You don't have to sacrifice being nice in the process.

I've come to really appreciate Christmas

Amazing how moving away from family and friends makes you appreciate them so much more, and since the Christmas season (religious significance aside) is so much about family togetherness, I've really come to love just about everything about it. I've always hated Christmas music, but this year I find myself smiling when I'm in a store and they've got Christmas music playing.

I've never decorated my own place for Christmas. I've always lived close enough to family and friends that had their places done up, that I could just visit if I wanted to feel Christmas-y. This year, I bought a (fake) tree, a stocking, and a few other little things to Christmas up my place.



In the past, all the Christmas gettogether stuff was just what we did. I think this is the first time that I've actually found myself looking forward to it. Funny, I had assumed I'd be like so many people who get depressed during the holidays, but I find it to be exactly the opposite. It really is a great time of year.

People have a right to speak their own language. Get over it.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10372148/

I'm all for people learning to speak English if they're going to live here in the States. In fact, I think it should be mandatory that anyone requesting a visa or citizenship should be able to read and speak English on a functional level. This does not mean that they should be forced to master the language. I can find plenty of American born people on my own block who are probably less capable of forming a coherent sentence than some of the immigrants I've met. And it certainly does not mean that their native language should be banned.

Who do these heartland hicks think they are to suspend a student based on a non-offensive conversation he had on his own time. Absolutely ridiculous. Someone needs to lose their job over this.

So I'm not attracted to Asians. So what?

Why is it that everytime I answer honestly about my tastes in women, when I get to the part about which races I like, the fact that Asians just don't do anything for me always ends up with me getting funny looks. I've never once questioned it when I've been turned down and told "I only date black guys" (not that this has happened more than a couple times). We all have different tastes.

Some people like blondes, some people like brunettes, and some people like redheads, and you're unlikely to ever get so much as a raised eyebrow over voicing your preferences in regards to this. Why should racial preferences be any different? There are physical traits that go along with each race that not everyone is going to find appealing. This is how I am with Asians. Its not that I think of them as lesser humans, or that I can't like them on a personal level (I've had several Asian friends over the years, and worked with plenty more that I liked just fine), but if I'm not attracted to them, I'm not attracted to them. Don't give me shit about it, or try to make me explain why.

And even so, my lack of attraction to Asians is a general rule, not a universal rule. I do occasionally see an Asian that really strikes me as attractive.

Michelle Yeoh is attractive


Lucy Liu is not


This is, of course, only my opinion. And I'm sticking to it.

So you say you want to be a blogger?

What the hell? I might as well start one of these things. Who doesn't have one these days?

What's the point of this blog? I'm not really sure what shape it'll take at this point. I'm guessing that it will follow the standard formula of part diary, part rant space, and part social commentary (I'll likely stay away from political commentary for the most part, as I keep myself somewhat blissfully uninformed). I'm not a Harvard grad, so don't expect to read any high brow intellectualism here. I would consider myself just a regular guy (single, white, atheist, 30 years old). So I guess that's the kind of point of view you can expect to find in my blog. I don't concern myself with being over the top pc, but I will try to stay away from being too offensive. On the other hand, if I do say something that you find offensive, I probably don't care.

A little background info:

I was born in Pullman, WA on the campus of WSU in 1975. I lived in a small town outside of Pullman for the first three years of my life. We then packed things up and moved to sunny California, where I lived in the San Diego area, where I lived until about 3 months ago. I now live in the city of sin, Las Vegas. I find it kind of strange living in a town that thrives on gambling and partying, when I don't particularly enjoy either. I've received an AA in Liberal Arts and Sciences, and should have received a BA in Geography, but my own lack of motivation stopped me in my tracks. I'm now working in sales with plans of returning to school out here in the desert to pursue a computer science degree, and hopefully a career more rewarding than sales. I'm currently trying to start to save to buy a house in the much cheaper Vegas housing market, and hope to do so before things get out of control here like they have in Southern California.

I have a great ambition to write, and make a serious attempt to get a fictional work published. Very little in life would make me happier than accomplishing this. I'm always running ideas through my head, but I usually end up with some sort of obstacle that keeps me from writing it to completion, whether it be a plot hole that I can't seem to work around, or the story taking a direction that I end up not happy with, or any number of other things. I might be a bit too much of a perfectionist about this, but I want it to feel right. I've got a few ideas currently floating around in my head, but I'm not sure they'll go anywhere.

I'm not huge on traveling the world, but I would like to see Western Europe, Australia, Hawaii, and possibly Japan and parts of Latin America. I plan to learn to snowboard this winter, and spend some time on Lake Mead next summer. I love the ocean, and miss living next to it. I enjoy video games, and don't care who thinks I'm too old for them.

So, uh, there you go, hopefully this gives you some insight into where my opinions are coming from.