As I think back on my academic career I often wonder to myself what was my favorite school year. This may seem like a rather easy question to answer until you actually try and answer it, when you try to answer it; it is actually a lot more difficult to answer truthfully. As I have been out of school for almost 5 years now, I ponder what my favorite school year was, which chances are, my favorite class, was a big part of that answer. Since I went to school for over 18 years of my life, I've taken a wide variety of courses, from Macaroni Art 101 in Kindergarten to the Neuromechanics of Human Movement in graduate school, you can say I've been exposed to a lot of learning, some of it stays with me, some of it, not so much.
When I think about what my favorite school year was, it surprisingly wasn't my elementary years, my college years, or even my graduate school years. It was my high school years, to pinpoint a year specifically; it was my senior year of high school at
My senior year in high school was nothing like the years before, I had properly learned the mechanics behind wiping my ass, I knew I had at least 4 more years of school, albeit expensive, and I knew I didn't have to go looking for a job two weeks after I walked across the stage at The Compaq Center for graduation. I still talk to some of my friends from my senior year, some I talk to on this website, others I run into playing softball, and others I run into at various bars and pubs throughout the city of
As stated above, my favorite school year coincides a lot with one of my favorite courses I ever took; English IV. My English teacher my senior year was Mr. Wales, some of you reading this may remember him, some may not, but I can attest to you he was a good teacher…that, and he let me get away with saying just about anything I wanted to in his class and I thought him how to properly "chunk da' deuce". Actually, a lot of me writing these blogs are because of him, so I guess I have him to thank for that…for him writing "Talks too much in class" on my report cards, I can thank myself. Anyway, every week we would have to write a journal entry on a specific question, or what we thought about on certain events. Right around my senior year, Sheryl Crow's If It Makes You Happy (It Cant Be That Bad) song was out on the radio, and seeing how Mr. Wales was a white dude, he inherently heard this song and posed the question on the board one week: "If something, no matter what it is, makes you happy, is it really that bad? Explain." And herein is where the blog take a turn for what I am trying to get at…are certain things in our life, even though they may seem taboo, necessarily bad?
As Sheryl pronounces so boldly, if something makes you can, no matter what it is, it can't be that bad. Or can it? Granted the obvious things in life are good for you: friends, food, water, sex, family…basically all the things in life we need, not necessarily the things in life we want and here is the difference between the two things…some things in life we need in order to survive and keep living, on the other hand, we have things in life we want, not necessarily because we need them to survive but because we want them. Yeah, we need food and water to survive, surviving, for the most part, makes people happy, therefore, it can't be that bad. Conversely, people don't need caffeine to survive, even though some people would beg to differ, but caffeine, in any form: coffee, cokes, Red Bull, generally make people happier than their previous state. Honestly, you can take just about any type of example in the world and tell yourself it's not that bad because it makes you happy, I don't want to be to general when writing this, so for the sakes of keeping your interest, I want to talk about specific things that may seem bad superficially, but are they really that bad? Specifically, I'm talking about vices.
Herein is what I am trying figure out, by now we all know about the dangers and possible medical problems associated with smoking, cigarettes. Simply stated, it sucks. I hate the smell of smoke at bars (thankfully there is a new ordinance passed which requires people to smoke outside), but it doesn't stop there, the smell gets on your clothes, in your hair, and generally makes you smell like a smoky chimney getting heavy playing time somewhere in the Midwest. It just doesn't stop there, I can't count how many times I have seen a, seemingly, attractive girl start smoking, which just does nothing for me by the way. Yeah, we know smoking causes cancer, it can lead to emphysema, stained teeth, breath smelling like ass, and is an expensive habit to feed, yet, people need to smoke. By now all the real truth about the dangers and side effects about smoking have been well documented and shown in the forms of commercials, ad campaigns, and newly passed laws, so in its most basic state, we know that smoking is bad for us, but is it really that bad? I mean, people need smoke breaks, need cigarettes; need nicotine because it calms them down, soothes them, and makes them feel relaxed. I guess it can't be that bad.
Side note: Personally speaking I hate smoking, well, specifically speaking, cigarettes. I cant stand them, it so fucking gross to be inhaling thousands of carcinogens and to think nothing of it. I made it a point that whenever I date someone to make sure they don't smoke. I really don't think kissing someone who smells like the Marlboro Man is very attractive. Interestingly, smoking weed, and, to a lesser point, crack, is okay in my book, because, well how many times have you meet someone who had weed-breathe, or crack-breathe? None, well at least I haven't. Yet.
You know what I always thought was funny? I go out a lot to different places, different pubs and bars, and usually when I am with my friends, after several drinks, I'll usually hear one of my friends ask someone for a cigarette. I'll tell them that I didn't know they smoked because, well I generally know my friends I never see them smoke. So, when they tell me they are social smokers I usually call bullshit because just because we are in a social setting (bar in this instance) doesn't automatically give them an excuse to smoke. When we are playing co-ed softball, a social setting, they never smoke, so what gives?
Here is what gives: alcohol. As with nicotine, alcohol can cause many health problems, personal problems, and legal problems, that much is given, yet why is alcohol one of the biggest industries in the world? We all know about liver cancer, cirrhosis, kidney failure, whatever it is, we know excessive alcohol can lead to these health problems, hell, people you may personally know have been going through these pains, I know I have. Other people have personal problems which lead from arguing with significant others, causing family strife, distancing themselves from close ones. How is this not a problem? People have been in rehab for stuff like this, so obviously it's a problem. The most severe problem would be the legal problems that can lead from excessive alcohol consumption. Sure, it's illegal to be in possession of alcohol as a minor (as I found out when I was 17), but its even worse to drive under the influence, driving while impaired. The dangers of doing them are often noted and preached and preached, yet it still happens everyday, as you hear about people killing other people as a result of a drunk driving accident.
Side note: Let's not forget about the embarrassing moments that too much alcohol can bring: blackouts, hooking up with ugly fat chicks, a plethora of drunk dials, and acting like a complete asshole on a first date…my bad (you know who you are if you're reading this). It's always funny to fuck with a drunk guy, but no so funny when you are the one who's getting fucked with…funny how it works out that way huh? Like I said in a previous blog, alcohol is a great way to loosen up inhibitions but also the most dangerous.
Don't get me wrong, not everyone who drinks alcohol is subjected to these instances, hell, a lot of times, when alcohol is involved, some of my best memories have taken place, but coincidentally, some of my worst memories have also included alcohol, but that's precisely what I am trying to get to the bottom of, we know how bad it can be, but it is always that bad? Again, like Sheryl deduces, it cant be that bad…well, done in moderation. That's the key, moderation, unfortunately some people, present company included, don't exactly understand that every time…as last Saturday would prove with myself (but it was fun).
About a month ago, when I was writing about how screwed up this world can be, I wrote a statement that was incomprehensible when you first hear it, but the more you start to think about it, the more it becomes more and more believable. I posed a question to you readers asking which industry grosses more money than the NFL, the NBA, and MLB combined? When you think about how well off those leagues are in terms of finances, popularity, and more importantly their place in our society, you would be hard pressed to find a more worthy industry than any of them, let alone all three of them combined. If you don't know the answer, the correct answer is the porn industry. Yes, the adult entertainment grosses more than the NFL, MLB, and NBA combined. Think about that for a while.
How is it that some, gross, raunchy, perverse form of entertainment is actually more of a cash cow than athletic competition? Look, as long as I can remember sports have always been wholesome, they've never really crossed any racy story-lines, well except for Wilt Chamberlain claiming to sleep with over 10,000 women and the Carolina Panthers cheerleaders lesing out on each other in a bathroom two years ago. Athletic competition, in its simplest form is wholesome…although Greco-Roman wrestling begs to differ. From the days of Maximus in Gladiator to Football Jesus, we know what the premise is behind sports: to win.
While I was growing up, it was always engrained into my mind by my family, and even the Catholic Church that any form of pornography was deemed bad, almost taboo. It was one of those words where just thinking of the word would mean you were going to hell when you died. Saying the word out loud, would excommunicate you from the church, not to mention your family would think of you as some weird perverted bastard of a child; getting caught with any paraphernalia was pretty much the same thing as getting a scarlet letter "A" branded on you for the rest of your life. But why?
Here's why: When someone says the word "porn" the first image that comes to your mind is butt-sex and Turkish Snowcones. Ok, well maybe those weren't the first images that come to you mind, but this is precisely what I intended to do…use the word "butt-sex" in a blog. When you hear the word "porn" you immediately think "nasty", "gross", weird" funny", and "damn, she must be getting paid a lot to do that shit". But, in reality isn't porn just another form of entertainment, albeit, twisted, it's still a form of entertainment. So, what that said, why exactly is porn viewed as taboo in this world? How is that twisted form of entertainment different from reality shows like Strange Love, because honestly, Strange Love is more perverse than porn?
Here's how: porn is associated with negativity, with good reason, however, when objectively looked at it, porn isn't necessarily a bad thing, actually there is a lot of good behind it. Look, I'm not trying to be naïve, cynical, or, hypocritical because I've seen my fair share of it, hell, last week I saw the whole Kim Kardashian tape (which I was disappointed with), but, people have grown up with the idea that it is entirely bad. Actually, when used right, and with the right actors/actresses, it can be quite the aphrodisiac. I'm brave enough to say I've seen it with my significant others in the past, I mean, that's one of the main reasons it was invented, as well as having a excuse for carpal tunnel. I mean, sure not everyone gets the same thing out of In Diana Jones and the Temple of Poon as some others do, but, as a whole, it's a form of entertainment.
As a society, people want gratification, almost instantly, which explains why there are so many fad diets. Face it: porn allows for instant gratification, nothing groundbreaking there, everyone's done it, and if they say they haven't they're lying, I swear to you. Like I said, nothing groundbreaking there, but you know what is groundbreaking? Admitting that. Back in the days it was taboo to admit any of this stuff, porn, masturbatory tendencies, Hot Carls, etc in public. Over the years, as we have evolved as a society certain things have become okay to discuss in public without the threat of feeling persecuted. Porn is one of those things, yet, it still is looked down by others. This makes no sense, yet, it does.
When you get down to it, vices, whether it be too nicotine, too much alcohol, or too much sex, or too much whatever, it's okay, sometimes we need those things as much, if not more, than other things in our life. They keep us sane. Yeah, going overboard with them will cause problems, whether you start to develop lung cancer from too much smoking, or enrolling in Pornoholic's Anonymous, but eating too much food will cause problems too, overweight, obesity, bachne, etc. Just because something is viewed negatively by people doesn't inherently make it negative. We all have vices, no matter what, I drink too much beer on Saturday's, my brother Chris watches too much porn (I'm assuming here), and my little brother Anthony is named after a male erection, but it doesn't make us bad people. We may have bad habits, but, hell, who doesn't? I don't know of anyone.
Sure, simply stated, smoking or watching too much porn can be a bad thing, but if they keep us normal, how can they be bad? They can't, because after all, like Sheryl's says, if it makes you happy, it can't be that bad. I wonder what Mr. Wales would think…until next week, stay low.
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