Everyone has been called a cutesy nickname at some point in their life. Whether it was being called baby, sugar, honey, kiddo, sweetie or anything of the sort we’ve all heard it.These names make me cringe any time anyone calls me them personally, and it’s not because I have a general dislike of cutesy things. In fact, I’d say for a guy I have an unnatural appreciation of romantic comedies and Disney movies (even going so far as being able to sing some of the Disney songs in full).
No, it’s not because they are cutesy. It took me a while to figure out why being called any of the pet names listed above made my skin crawl, but I finally figured it out. It’s because of the context in which they are being used.
If I am dating a girl, I want to be anything but a “baby”. Call it an innate desire to be macho if you will, but I seriously just can’t imagine a situation where being called baby doesn’t demean someone. It’s not just guys, but girls too. Being called baby is demeaning because it somehow undermines your intelligence. Maybe it’s just the mental imagery, but something seems wrong about dating a “baby” when you’re over 18.
The same can be said of honey or any other pet names you’re significant other may deem it appropriate to call you. My ex-girlfriend had a thing for calling me foofy, after little bunny foo foo. It bothered me to high hell, but I’m a teenage boy and I did what any other teenage boy would have done in my situation: I sucked it up so I could continue being with the girl obviously! Never again! Certain nicknames I’d be ok with but not ones that make me sound like I’m actually a cartoon character from a children’s show.
Kiddo bothers me for a slightly different yet similar reason.That’s because kiddo isn’t used in a romantic context, but it’s often used by adults to address people of younger generations. Kiddo, while not in the romantic context also demeans the intelligence of the person you are directing it at it. It may be ok to call someone who is up to even 16 kiddo, but I believe once you become a senior in high school you deserve a certain amount of respect. Or at the very least if young adults are allowed to be called kiddo, we should have a weapon we could throw back at adults like: “How ya doing today oldie?”
Pet names just seem unnecessary, but maybe this is just an aversion on my part to anything that is too cutesy. However, there is a fine line in my opinion between having some cute moments and taking it over the top. Pet names take cutesy way over the top and into orbit around the moon. You should be sweet to your significant other and dote on them occasionally, but do not talk to them the way I talk to my puppy at home.
A clarification: It's not so bad if the nickname is only once in a while, but if is every other word outta their mouth "baby, I'm going to be late" "hey baby what are you doing today" "I'm sorry baby" it gets old very fast.
Until next time,
I’m just your friendly neighborhood bloggerman
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
New York Soda Party
Admittedly I am not an expert on this debate even though I drink bottles and bottles of soda per day myself. I can only really offer my opinion as someone who has been drinking coke since he was 3 years old. Why does the soda tax bother me personally? It’s not because of the extra 12 cents that would it would be costing me, though with my caffeine addiction it certainly would hurt my wallet quite a bit ( I imagine with how much coke I drink this may actually outweigh the cost of my food). It’s more the principal that the state government is trying to get people to not drink the soda by putting taxes on it.
I understand that soda is unhealthy for you, just ask my dentist what he says every time I go into to get my teeth cleaned. He always says if I have to drink soda, drink soda like the white sodas. Is soda suddenly wine now? Did I miss something here?
I understand that drinking soda can even lead to obesity in a lot of people, though those of you who know me wouldn’t believe that if I was the only soda drinker you had met. On the other hand, I did have a friend in high school who gained a beer belly from drinking too much rockstar energy drink. The negative effects of soda drinking definitely outweigh the benefits of the caffeine.
However, I think it is up to the people to determine what they do or don’t put in their bodies. The government should be giving us information about what’s healthy and what isn’t, but trying to take away our power to choose by levying taxes goes against the freedom of choice that is an intricate part of this country's makeup. That is what really bugs me here, the fact that I’m being given monetary incentive to make one choice over another . If this happens with soda, who knows what could be next...maybe even a tax on my precious video games!
More responsibility should fall on the parents. If your kid is obese, sign them up at your local gym, stop feeding them bigmacs for breakfast, and pay attention to how much soda they drink per day. I understand some parents are on the ball and their kids still struggle with obesity. In that case though it’s most likely genetics isn’t it? In which case imposing a tax on soda wouldn’t really stop those kids gaining weight.
If New York State passes this soda tax, I think they may have a soda version of the Boston Tea Party on their hands. Which could either lead to the water being too sticky to swim in, or the best summer lake party ever for caffeine addicts like myself. I’ve always wanted a coke fountain, a coke lake would be beyond my wildest dreams!
Until next time,
I’m just your friendly neighborhood bloggerman
I understand that soda is unhealthy for you, just ask my dentist what he says every time I go into to get my teeth cleaned. He always says if I have to drink soda, drink soda like the white sodas. Is soda suddenly wine now? Did I miss something here?
I understand that drinking soda can even lead to obesity in a lot of people, though those of you who know me wouldn’t believe that if I was the only soda drinker you had met. On the other hand, I did have a friend in high school who gained a beer belly from drinking too much rockstar energy drink. The negative effects of soda drinking definitely outweigh the benefits of the caffeine.
However, I think it is up to the people to determine what they do or don’t put in their bodies. The government should be giving us information about what’s healthy and what isn’t, but trying to take away our power to choose by levying taxes goes against the freedom of choice that is an intricate part of this country's makeup. That is what really bugs me here, the fact that I’m being given monetary incentive to make one choice over another . If this happens with soda, who knows what could be next...maybe even a tax on my precious video games!
More responsibility should fall on the parents. If your kid is obese, sign them up at your local gym, stop feeding them bigmacs for breakfast, and pay attention to how much soda they drink per day. I understand some parents are on the ball and their kids still struggle with obesity. In that case though it’s most likely genetics isn’t it? In which case imposing a tax on soda wouldn’t really stop those kids gaining weight.
If New York State passes this soda tax, I think they may have a soda version of the Boston Tea Party on their hands. Which could either lead to the water being too sticky to swim in, or the best summer lake party ever for caffeine addicts like myself. I’ve always wanted a coke fountain, a coke lake would be beyond my wildest dreams!
Until next time,
I’m just your friendly neighborhood bloggerman
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
The Reality Of Pokemon: Gotta catch 'em all gone horribly wrong
If you are a 90’s kid like myself, chances are you grew up watching Pokemon. Most of us bought the cards looking only for the shinies of course, played the games which would allow our parents some quiet time for hours, and probably most shocking of all woke up EARLY on Saturday mornings to watch the cartoons.
We all wished Pokemon were real. I for one would take my plastic pokeball and throw it at anything that dared to move in my front yard. That went pretty smoothly, until my neighbor’s cat got tired of the stupid kid throwing things at it and shouting, “Aww it popped out”. When I came inside that day my sister said, “Pokemon aren’t real you know”. Thus began the great flood of ’99! But what if Pokemon were real?
In the show, Ash begins his journey at 10 years old. Most of us were eighteen when we left home for the first time, and sometimes we still wish we were at home. Ash goes months without talking to his mom. My mom would FREAK if she didn’t hear from me for more than two weeks.
On his journey, Ash befriends many different types of wild creatures including giant fire breathing lizards. His mom must have never told him not to play with fire, because he seems to do it just about every episode in the first season. I was always told to stay away from wild animals, not that they were going to become my best friend.
Also, if kids became Pokemon trainers at 10 just imagine the destructive force they’d be wielding. Noogies would be a thing of the past, replaced by only being shocked by a little lightning...totally no big deal right? How many bullies would pick on you if you had a Dragonite standing right behind you? Granted, it would level the playing field...but would anyone really want the playground to become a war zone?
In the show, whenever Team Rocket loses a Pokemon battle they get sent packing. This wouldn’t happen in the real world, they may lose the battle but they’d end up silencing you forever with their machine guns anyway. No ten year old would foil an entire evil organizations plot just by having his pet beat up their pet.
Animal’s rights activist would have a field day with the Pokemon league. There would be constant pickets outside the gyms and indigo plateu. “Pokemon have feelings too causing them to battle like that is cruel”. It would however be a new sport for Michael Vick to bet on!
On the plus sides though, no woman would have body issues. Every woman that exists in the Pokemon world minus a few old ladies has the ideal body type. For the select few that don’t, it would be a lot worse than the barbie complex that already exists.
In the Pokemon world, when your Pokemon are sick they go to the Poke Center. There they are taken care of for free. In real life, with how often your Pokemon got sick even your great-grandchildren would still be paying off the medical bills.
I hate to be the killer of fantasizes but maybe it’s for the best that ten year olds are not running around with creatures with these destructive capabilities. It may be time to give up on the dream of being the very best like no one ever was, and instead settle for living life the normal way. All I know is the only thing I will be catching any time soon is some Z’s.
Until next time,
I’m just your friendly neighborhood bloggerman
We all wished Pokemon were real. I for one would take my plastic pokeball and throw it at anything that dared to move in my front yard. That went pretty smoothly, until my neighbor’s cat got tired of the stupid kid throwing things at it and shouting, “Aww it popped out”. When I came inside that day my sister said, “Pokemon aren’t real you know”. Thus began the great flood of ’99! But what if Pokemon were real?
In the show, Ash begins his journey at 10 years old. Most of us were eighteen when we left home for the first time, and sometimes we still wish we were at home. Ash goes months without talking to his mom. My mom would FREAK if she didn’t hear from me for more than two weeks.
On his journey, Ash befriends many different types of wild creatures including giant fire breathing lizards. His mom must have never told him not to play with fire, because he seems to do it just about every episode in the first season. I was always told to stay away from wild animals, not that they were going to become my best friend.
Also, if kids became Pokemon trainers at 10 just imagine the destructive force they’d be wielding. Noogies would be a thing of the past, replaced by only being shocked by a little lightning...totally no big deal right? How many bullies would pick on you if you had a Dragonite standing right behind you? Granted, it would level the playing field...but would anyone really want the playground to become a war zone?
In the show, whenever Team Rocket loses a Pokemon battle they get sent packing. This wouldn’t happen in the real world, they may lose the battle but they’d end up silencing you forever with their machine guns anyway. No ten year old would foil an entire evil organizations plot just by having his pet beat up their pet.
Animal’s rights activist would have a field day with the Pokemon league. There would be constant pickets outside the gyms and indigo plateu. “Pokemon have feelings too causing them to battle like that is cruel”. It would however be a new sport for Michael Vick to bet on!
On the plus sides though, no woman would have body issues. Every woman that exists in the Pokemon world minus a few old ladies has the ideal body type. For the select few that don’t, it would be a lot worse than the barbie complex that already exists.
In the Pokemon world, when your Pokemon are sick they go to the Poke Center. There they are taken care of for free. In real life, with how often your Pokemon got sick even your great-grandchildren would still be paying off the medical bills.
I hate to be the killer of fantasizes but maybe it’s for the best that ten year olds are not running around with creatures with these destructive capabilities. It may be time to give up on the dream of being the very best like no one ever was, and instead settle for living life the normal way. All I know is the only thing I will be catching any time soon is some Z’s.
Until next time,
I’m just your friendly neighborhood bloggerman
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
I can be your hero baby (or get my ass kicked trying)
A few weeks ago I saw the movie Kick-Ass. One of the best movies I've seen in years, and no it's just because a little girl was beating the crap out of guys with her knives while simultaneously cursing them out. The visuals effects, the music, the acting and story line were all superb.
I won't spoil it for those of you that haven't seen it, but the basic plot line is that an everyday dork wonders why no one has ever decided to be a vigilante after reading all these comic books. He takes it upon himself to do so, and gets his ass kicked first. But later, as these things tend to go, he ends up saving the day.
It got me thinking, if he could be a hero why not me? Ok, yes I realize this is real life and that was a movie. But there are people who train in martial arts and do things with their bodies we'd never imagine possible every day. I'm not saying I want to try flying, I'd end up flatter than the pancakes they serve in the dining halls at my school. But am I really the only one who has fantasized about this?
Recently, when one of my friend's purses went missing my first reaction wasn't to notify the school's lost and found, no...it was to find the bastard who took it and give him a beating while wearing oh so trendy spandex! I was going to learn park-our and train with my friends on sword team to learn some weapon skills so I could smite my enemies with my bow staff. I'm not crazy, I'd never act on this obviously. But the movie did bring up a good point: with all the crazy people out there, you'd think one of them would put on a mask and go ape shit.
Maybe this blog is just an excuse for me to live out the dream a little bit. Or maybe it's just an excuse to procrastinate the academic papers I should be writing.
Until next time,
I'm just your friendly neighborhood bloggerman
I won't spoil it for those of you that haven't seen it, but the basic plot line is that an everyday dork wonders why no one has ever decided to be a vigilante after reading all these comic books. He takes it upon himself to do so, and gets his ass kicked first. But later, as these things tend to go, he ends up saving the day.
It got me thinking, if he could be a hero why not me? Ok, yes I realize this is real life and that was a movie. But there are people who train in martial arts and do things with their bodies we'd never imagine possible every day. I'm not saying I want to try flying, I'd end up flatter than the pancakes they serve in the dining halls at my school. But am I really the only one who has fantasized about this?
Recently, when one of my friend's purses went missing my first reaction wasn't to notify the school's lost and found, no...it was to find the bastard who took it and give him a beating while wearing oh so trendy spandex! I was going to learn park-our and train with my friends on sword team to learn some weapon skills so I could smite my enemies with my bow staff. I'm not crazy, I'd never act on this obviously. But the movie did bring up a good point: with all the crazy people out there, you'd think one of them would put on a mask and go ape shit.
Maybe this blog is just an excuse for me to live out the dream a little bit. Or maybe it's just an excuse to procrastinate the academic papers I should be writing.
Until next time,
I'm just your friendly neighborhood bloggerman
The justification of my blogging
As you can all see, I have decided to start a blog. You may be asking yourself, "but Bobby why would you start a blog? Can't any idiot who learned to type in elementary school write one these days?" And you'd be exactly right! How the hell do you think I managed to actually start one myself?
In all seriousness though, I have a lot on my mind and blogging seemed like a good venue for the random shit I want to talk about. If you care what I have to say about every day topics such as people texting other people sitting right next to them, or how the soda tax in New York is a stupid idea, or hell whether spiderman could beat godzilla (you really never know with me)...well then this is the blog for you! If not, thanks for coming and please do take a free tshirt on your way out.
In terms of updating, it will be pretty entropic (for those of you who aren't science nerds, that means random. Don't say the title of the blog didn't warn you that I'd be making a bunch of nerdy references, and if that didn't tip you off maybe the spiderman godzilla reference should have).
Until next time,
I'm just your friendly neighborhood bloggerman
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