KenNitro's Adventures in Everyday life

KenNitro Vs The Haters: Don’t Hate Me Half Way

2012-01-13T07:14:00.000-08:00

I decided to take a break from writing about the facility for a hot second, you know I have haters. What we all know about haters is that they have nothing better to do than to worry about what you are doing, but the worst thing you can do is give haters something legitimate to hate on you about. Let me tell you about the only thing that my haters have to hate on me about.

My luxurious, awesome, wonderful, spectacular, bone shivering, spine tingling, MY SHOES COST MORE THAN YOUR HOUSE WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Hair.

Now, this is nothing new to me.

At work, I have had a few passive and by passive I mean non-official meetings about my hair, and to be honest the only thing I really have to say about these meetings is, “is that all you got?” I mean, if the only thing you can think to drag me into a office about is how somebody else told you that they don’t like my afro, then to be honest, I guess I am pretty damn good at my job. As a matter of fact, this one kid started growing his hair out, and other kids and folks started referring to him as “Mr. Ken jr”, one day I heard the kids call him that and I stepped in with some REAL(CLAP)TALK(CLAP)

And it goes a little something like this:

REAL(CLAP)TALK(CLAP)

…Being me is not a bad gig, to be perfectly honest. To tell you the truth, it is actually pretty f’n awesome to be one Mr. Ken(Nitro). I mean I have lived in a foreign country, I have jumped out of planes, high jacked parades, I am competent in several different styles of martial arts, I have competed overseas, I have fought in cages, I can tie a tie, I have trained in Thailand, I can break bricks with my bare hands, I have also traveled to several other countries. So when you call him Mr. Ken jr, all you are doing is letting me know that somebody over here has the since to pick a winner and start acting like it…

REAL(CLAP)TALK(CLAP)

One of my other favorites was when my supervisor, before the triad, told me that some people where talking about my hair in the negative, but none of them were important so I shouldn’t worry about it. I asked him if he would tell me who they were so I could go talk with them personally. HE WOULDN’T DO IT!!!!!!

What is with that?

I had another kid ask me a simple question that I had to give a complicated answer too he said to me, “Mr. Ken, do people fuck with you about your hair?” I told him no, he replied with, “Well folks want to fuck with me about mine” I retorted with, “Well you are at that age where people can”.

It reminds me how one night at the bar I was telling my friend about how anybody that can look at my resume and decide that they don’t want to hire me based on my hair is the person that has the problem, and while we were on that subject, this mid 40’s-hanging with my wife-viagra chompin-corporate drone jumped into the conversation to interject his point that he works in corporate America and that he wouldn’t hire me at all. I looked at him, winked at his wife and said, “If you couldn’t get past my hair to see my resume, then I probably wouldn’t want to work for you anyway” he gave me this really sheepish grin and decided to walk off and as he grabbed his wife’s hand she says, “No one ever talks to him like that, you should do it more!!!”.

This past Christmas, my aunt wanted to go in on me about my hair, and she says to me, “…you will one day find your Delilah and just like Sampson you are going to cut your hair”

I was like, WHAT!!!!

C’mon now, that was like the worse decision Sampson ever made.

If you don’t know the story here is the short version:

Aight so back in the day God use to hook folks up as long as you keep it real and kept him close. One of them cats on the receiving end was this dude name Sampson. Sampson was given super strength for one purpose, which was to fuck with the philistines. The only thing he had to do was not shave or cut his hair. Easy enough right? Man, this dude is the definition of going in. See on the way to scoop his lady this lion rolled up on him, you know what Sampson did? He ripped that mothafucka in half, and kept it movin. Aight, so when he scooped up his lady and I guess some time later he saw that some bees had made a nest inside of a dead lion, one he prolly killed and forgot about, anyway he took the honey cause well, who gonna stop him?

I am sooo off topic right now but this shit is awesome

Aight , so like I said earlier his whole purpose in life is to fuck with the philistines so my man Sampson starts the beef like this, he tells these folks this riddle and promises them some cool swag if they can solve it. These folks got so butt hurt over not being able to solve it they threatened his wife. So ya boy Sampson killed all of them. So then the father of his lady is feeling some sort of way about how his countrymen just got done by one guy. So he gives his daughter to the best man in the wedding. Sampson sets fire to the town to let people know how he feels about it. The folks then decide that they gonna get the get back from the father in law, cause if he wouldn’t have done what he did, Sampson wouldn’t have set fire to everything they own (Sound logic if you ask me), so they set fire to him and his daughter that Sampson was suppose to get wit in the first place.

Sampson went all the way in again, this time tricking them into thinking that they captured him, and while all 1000 troops got to him, he grabbed the jawbone of a donkey and just got busy with the stroking of the philistines. Could you imagine, I mean if you gonna die during the bronze age or some shit like that it could at least be by the sword or at the old age of 20, but by a donky’s jawbone

C’MON SON!!!!!

So Sampson is doing all this Gangsta shit and nothing can stop him. Then he meets this chick named Delilah, and that was where he fucked up. We all know what happens next, her skank ass jams him up in a twist and he gets got by the philistines.

So I’m like, “AUNTIE!!!! You want me to get got by philistines????” That ain’t cool at all.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not above cutting my hair, but the list of reasons that I will cut my hair is way shorter than the list of reasons that I won’t! For instance, I am not going to cut my hair for an hourly wage. I’m not going to cut my hair, cause you don’t like it, and any other subset of reasons that you may think I should think is important.

2012 is here haters, I hope you have been working out, cause keeping up with me is going to be some work!

OH, BT dubs(you know BTW) like me on facebook!!!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/KenNitros-Adventures-In-Every-Day-Life/281243915256627

Oh and the person from Latvia that reads my Blog, WHAT UP PIMPIN!!!!

A Nook is Not a Book, Real(Clap)Talk(Clap)

2011-12-26T17:55:00.000-08:00

By Trista Edwards

So, having studied English literature and creative writing for about nine years I always get three questions, which to me are all equally aggravating—“So, do you want to teach high school?” “Yeah, but how do you teach creative writing?” “How do you feel about the Kindle?” The two first question are for another day, what I really want to focus on is the latter of this heinous trifecta—the eReader. I will not beat around the bush, I personally find the eReader appalling, maybe even borderline terrifying. Bookstores are disappearing from our landscape. Earlier this year we watched Borders file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and close 226 stores nationwide. This means, in most towns, there are now no bookstores. Nada. A big fat zero. That is distressing. If you have a book store left in your town, go stand in and mull around. Touch a few books and wander the isles. Feel a true bound spine under your fingertips. Turn a crisp, white page of print. Take in the fragrance of coffee wafting over the dictionaries, poetry collections, and memoirs. Cherish this moment because soon it will all disappear. You can gaze around and say, “Pretty soon this will all be a Kindle.”

How does that make you feel? If you are real blood-pumping, flesh-bearing being with a soul you might be crying a little. If not, you are clearly beyond the point of no return and have become some sort of cyborg that can’t wait for the V-chip to be implanted in your wrist to make life easier, because apparently anything not involving a button is just too complex. Bookstores and libraries are slowly fading away into Yesteryear, something we will tell our children about—these rare artifacts once called books.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines an artifact (artefact) as “anything made by human art and workmanship; an artificial product.” This sense of the word can be seen from the word itself: it is derived from the Latin words arte, ablative of ars (art), and factum, the past participle of facere (to make). The book is defiantly on the decline a source of recreation and information and fading into the realm of artifact. To generalize, we as a culture have shied away from concepts like “workmanship” because patience is, moreover, hardly required for day-to-day living. Everything is instant, convenient, and obtainable. Why drive to a bookstore, record shop, theater, playhouse, park, etc. when I can hit a button and have instant amusement and luxury in front of my eyes? If I don’t have the cash at hand I can just charge it with invisible currency and worry about payments later. Gone are the days of saving, waiting, and feeling the happiness of reward for striving towards a desire. There stands a great degree of artisan-like quality, patience, and workmanship inherent in a book. The line of antiquity from bookmaking hails from materials like, clay, stone, tree bark, papyrus, wood, parchment, scrolls, and so forth. Materials that first had to be harvested from the earth by human hands and molded into a workable, pliable substance before being inscribed with familial stories, prophecies, biblical verses, myths and epic journeys. Think of the humongous history of printmakers and revolution—the toppling of monarchies, the challenging of ideologies, grassroots underground mischief that changed many a country—because don’t forget knowledge is power. Books are dangerous, they make people think, they make people question, and, more importantly, they make people question their current situations and conditions. Why were minorities and women kept from reading for centuries? Well, because it is easier to keep the ignorant subjugated. If you don’t know, then you are easier to control. And how easy would it be to gain control if eReaders were the only source of literature that could essentially be taken away at any given moment?

So, soon we all have an eReader of some kind except for the few eccentric weirdoes that hole up in their home libraries huffing ink, reciting Dante, hording the that last few pages of papyrus like it’s the only pack of cigarettes on the cell block when some conspirator blasts the bookweb with government toppling design. Suddenly, that “book” disappears or your reader can’t download it or your reader won’t work for week. When you log on next week your whole Nook has been revamped with a whole new suggestion list, all your previous downloads gone, and pretty soon you are “told” what to read by the limited (*cough*approved) selection of electronic literature before you. The weirdoes in their home libraries become the new revolutionary leaders and we turn to them to initiate change, fight for freedom, and give us back the task of printmaking and book distribution as means of warfare. People gather and build up the community that we lost with the overwhelming amount of technological devices that kept us apart. The fear of people gathering has always been that mobs and riots start, and the scary part to those is power is that the bumpkins are gathering because they finally figured it out. I mean, it could very well happen. He who controls knowledge has the power. Fahrenheit 451, anybody? Are we our own culprits because we as a culture support the eReader? Are we setting ourselves up for our own downfall? You know, just keep that mind.

This of course is my hyperbolized rant, somewhat meant in jest and somewhat acutely nesting in the back of my mind.

But seriously, to tone it down a notch there are a great many things lost in the decline of the book. You lose a sense of community. Book sharing, that passing down of one great read to another, private inscriptions, jotted down insights you find picking up a used book in which you somehow commune with voices of the past are dying—and sadly, something that future may not know. I used to spend hours in a bookstore to pick out the gift of a book. I would pour over pages, titles, covers, blurbs in order to find something personal and suited just for the tastes of the giftee in question. Now, you just throw a Kindle gift card in their face and shoot them a “Happy Birthday” via Facebook. I mean, I can hardly say anymore, “Oh that story sounds amazing, you will have to let me barrow that when you’re done,” because who is going to let you barrow their whole freakin’ Kindle.

You lose an architecture. I have four (and growing) large bookshelves that make up the architecture of my home—and, in sense, make up the architecture of my life. Each book represents a person, a moment, a transition, a memory for good or bad. I read Almost Transparent Blue (Ryu Murakami) on the plane to Paris, On the Road (Jack Kerouac) still has sand in it from the beach, I was reading the poetry of Maxine Kumin when I received the most disquieting news that changed my life up to this point. If you value your books, they more than likely hold a sturdy place in your house. My books make up my home, literally and metaphorically speaking. If I were to lose my books I would lose my hearth, the foundation of so many memories.

If I drop my copy of Pride and Prejudice in the tub as I chillax to some candlelight and Sade I don’t lose my whole library. Enough said.

I don’t ever have to worry about the battery life running out in the middle of my hard copy of Dharma Bums nor will my entire library ever get a virus.

Lastly, but not finally, as a writer myself, and perhaps more pertinent to poets, you lose control of the page. Poets will spend hours, often a lifetime, arranging their words and meticulously crafting the way the poem looks on the page just as meticulously as the choice of the words themselves. The construction of a line break may be as thought out and planned as an aerial invasion. Few people have influence over the change of a line break—other revered poets, mentors, and editors—and from time to time those people are told to go to hell, the line break stays. Our current poet laureate, Billy Collins, put it quite exactly like this:

"... that's what we do, we make lines. Charles Olson, the poet, said no line must sleep, every line in a poem should be wakeful to the lines around it. And when you put a poem on a Kindle, the lines are broken in order to fit on the screen. And so instead of being the poet's decision, it becomes the device's decision."

Very few artistes of any genre are not one to give up artistic control to another human being let alone a device. In these respects I encourage the continuation of printed books and promote a steady consciousness to what the growing support of electronic texts will have on our culture. There is so much to lose in the face of advancing technologies and we forget a little bit more of our human aspects everyday. The convenience of the eReader is just a little too alluring, a little too seductive for me to jump head first into the world of literary gadgetry. Nothing compares to the solid back of book in my hand. Reading a book requires every crook of our senses: we hear the flurry of pages, we see the compiling of ink to form characters and landscapes, we touch the leather binding of ancient craft, we smell the musk of used bookstore’s shelves or the crisp freshness of the unread page, and we taste...well if you are tasting your books you must be out of Zig-Zags and, in that case, I hope you are using the endpaper. No doubt, reading an actual book is a sensuous experience, one that virtual texts cannot provide. So, I guess at the end of day you really have to ask yourself is how synthetic do you want your world to be? If you favor the eReader, I suppose I will see your sniveling face again during the revolution as you come bawling back for me to save you. And if you hold an old tried and true text in your hand I will see you at the next meeting, same place, same time, same dank basement.

A little about the author, Trista is a literary bad-ass. I mean she is already a pretty accomplished writer in her own right and I am super stoked that she was down to contribute a couple hundred words of her choice on KenNitro.com. I could go on about how great of a writer she is, but if you read all the way down to here, you already know that.

KenNitro's Giving The Game Away: The Game of No's

2011-12-19T00:13:00.000-08:00

Ok, last time, we spoke about “lanes” and how staying in them will yield you the best results for WINNING with women, but there is something that is just as important as knowing who are the women that you have the best chance of winning, but it is understanding a word that we hear all the time. I am talking about “NO”, but most people understand the word no, but not the types of no’s, and this understanding is crucial in winning over the females that are in your current lane and the expansion of your own highway.

There are Things Worse Than No

See, there are hard no’s and soft no’s, they are still no’s, but you know, no’s are kind of strange because they can flip flop and turn to YESES (within three days or thirty minutes) or they can go from soft to hard and vice versa, women themselves will admit to their flakiness but before we get into that lets talk about these types of no’s.

First no’s are something that all men are accustomed too. Any guy that has never been told no is not just lying, but telling a BOLD FACED LIE, why do you think there is even such a thing called a hard and soft no? Taking the word no is a lot like eating vegetables, sometimes you have to eat them, sometimes you don’t, but knowing when to do both is the difference between sitting at the table looking at the moved around peas and getting dessert.

Don’t worry women created the whole concept of hard and soft no’s, and they can either agree with me or accept my decision.

Let’s talk about the No’s

The hard No is something that all men are accustomed too because this type of no has everything to do with you, the good thing is that these no’s are generally based on a lack of information and it sets you up for the championship because the game is all yours to win, but how do you win when you seem to have already lost?

When you start at the bottom there is nowhere else to go but up, and that knowledge alone is enough to work with.

Ok, once you have the hard no from the target female, disengage. No matter the situation or your environment, you need to put her at the bottom of your interaction list and let her see you interact with everyone else; you can call it a “Strut” if you will. Now, this does not mean ignore her completely, it just means that you are going to be distributing your attention to everyone that is on the field in equal amounts when you work the room, it lets everyone know that you are concerned with having a good time and making sure that no one in particular can accuse you of being all butt hurt cause you got shutdown.

*PAY REAL CLOSE ATTENTION*

The “Strut” is not about making the female that gave you the hard no feel uncomfortable, what you are doing here is showing her that she is the one that is making the miscalculation in judgment and as she watches you maintain your lane and occupy the attention of other females, she is going to take notice. So continue to have fun, but don’t be all hell bent on offending some chick because you are all butt-hurt about her shooting you down.

*PAY NORMAL RANGE ATTENTION

Captain Save-A-Ho Showing You How It Is Done!

Now how long do you keep them at the bottom of your interaction list? Well you tell me? Women are quirky as hell and they may be the type to feel some sort of way about the fact that you aren’t chasing after them with engines on maximum warp cause they told you “No” in the first place. Women like to be chased, hell people like to be chased, what is important is that you do it on your own terms. The good news is that while you were strutting it out you have got you one or two that you might not have had an opportunity to conquer had that first one said “NO” up and said “YES”.

EVERYBODY WINS.

Soft “No’s” tend to require a little more finesse; a soft no can turn into a hard no really fast if you don’t understand the complexities of this type of “no”. A soft no has very little to do with you and more about the situation surrounding you. It might be something as simple as this fall semester is acting without mercy and she just can’t juggle you and 18 hours at the same time. So in this type of situation you have to be patient and take a back seat and wait out the semester while still staying relevant on her radar. If she got to study, bring a book and read with her or hey why don’t you study with her?

One of the more popular soft no’s is manifested in a battle for time. Hey, the rent is due on the first and you have to eat everyday of the week, so when the 9-5 conflicts with the 3-11 then you have a recipe for disaster or not…depending on the chef. At this point free time is at a premium, and if you are trying to win with someone with a seriously conflicting schedule you have to not assume and understand that whatever free time that they do have, that is shared with you, should be treated like a canteen with water in the middle of the desert, appreciate it.

This is Why it All Worth it.

So even though you are 99% sure that she is going to say no because of , call and ask anyway. Besides, folks always would rather be given the option of saying no instead of you assuming that they are going to say no. So the strategy here is having a alternate plan if time is not on your side. The suggestion is to give this person the first option, look at it like this, if she say’s yes, then you get some premium time with girl you are trying to win with in the first place, if she says no, then well, you have a chance to get out there and “strut” and at the same time assure the one you want, you still think enough about her to continue to ask her out even though the universe won’t get you some playing time on the field. Patience is the key here, cause you really can’t do anything more than wait for a window of opportunity and jump through that mofo at the first chance you get.

No Caption Needed

Another more what’s the word…normative situation is that the female in question is already deep in a relationship that is either in the process of crashing and burning or sitting up on the rocks like a boss, and while she is not going to cheat on her man, you already know through the flirting, innuendo’s, girlfriend like behavior that she exhibits around you even though she got a man, all you have to do is wait. To be honest, this is your game to lose and you are already set up to lose, because at any point they could reconcile stronger than ever…and it could be your fault.

How could that be?

Ok, let’s be honest, we can all agree that women are crazy. Seriously, how many times in our lives have we met women that say, “…That’s why I don’t fuck with females...” or “…Chicks lose they damn mind over a dude, so I can be around all that drama” and so forth and so on. So when you are the guy waiting on the other guy to fail, there are a couple of buckets of guilt that you are going to have to carry up river.

Let’s put it in perspective: Thoughts, words, and deeds are all interconnected. The internal conflict is a moral one at the very least, but it really doesn’t matter, cause well she has already cheated. See she is already in conflict about how she is feeling as it relates to the boyfriend and you, the guy waiting in the wings, everything you say should be calculated to maximize the return on your efforts. What normally happens is that the guy in question is probably a sounding board for the girl to vent her frustrations about the boyfriend.

Now this guy(you)if you are actually paying attention should be doing nothing accept listening and agreeing to some extent about the situation. Women by nature like to argue, but you aren’t trying to win arguments, what you are attempting to do is create a safe place for discussion about how she is feeling without tipping your hand that you are secretly trying to sabotage any attempts at she and her man smoothing things out.

Guess what, she knows it.

Press too hard and he will know it too. There is not a man alive that does not raise his eyebrow about the intentions of new men that enter into the lives of he and his girl that were not previously a part of it. You sir are no different and while the boyfriend may not know who you are, he is aware of your presence. Aside from that, show me a female that wants to be told that their relationship is a crap sandwich, and even if you are telling her exactly what her home girls are telling her is not going to help. Why would she listen to you, look women rarely listen to the good advice their close female friends tell them, and they go to the bathroom with one another, keep all this in mind before you open your mouth.

A woman that is already on the fence about their relationship status is not going to fall completely for the “I’m-going –to-be-the-exact-opposite-of-the-dude-she-with” program. To be honest, the female in question probably trust you to be “honest” about what you think about the issues that she should be discussing with her boyfriend. If you want to win, remain neutral on all subjects unless you truly can support it 100%, consider everything about the boyfriend that she brings up in the negative as a preliminary test for you and it is pass or fail.

If you press too soft, she is not going to feel too sure about dumping the other guy to turn this soft no into a yes. Keep in mind, she has just been on the fence, and you are trying to push her into the direction that is going to benefit you. A lack of action will only allow the boyfriend time to regain lost ground through sincere apologies, a change of attitude, and shoulder rubs. After everything at home is in order, I can assure you that she is going to tell her man about you, in an (or not) effort to have transparency in their relationship, she is going to paint a picture of this new friend, and she will introduce you cause she is looking to move you to FRIEND ST, but there is no way that the guy that almost just lost his girl is going to concede to a new male friend. So she is going to be given a choice to make, and she is going to choose him. All you can really do is shrug your shoulders.

Strength Based

Oh yeah, there is one more type of “No” this was made mention by one of my comrades in arms at the facility, KD or “Mr. KD” as he is referred too made such a compelling case that there was no way that I could post this blog without it’s addition.

It’s called the “FUCK NO”

Fuck no’s are just that, and there is no coming back from it. A Fuck No is a lot like a pit of quicksand, the more you struggle with it the more likely you will suck into the bottom. If you struggle with a “Fuck no” you are looking to seriously be embarrassed socially by females, and probably physically assaulted by Superior males that are in close proximity, so I really can’t condone any other behavior except leaving the venue where the “Fuck No” got put on display and try something new next week.

I got one more in me for this topic of discussion next week and then we are going to be rolling into the new year with an all new look for 2012 and a plan for expansion.

KenNitro's giving the game away part one: Stay In Your Lane

2011-12-02T09:58:00.000-08:00

For all guys that have been struggling over the last 11 months to get it in with whomever you are trying to get it in with, you are in luck! See, the next 30 days presents an awkward moment in the female/male social dynamic. It’s Chirstmas time, and no one wants to be alone, so everyone will be looking for those possibilities to end the year on a good note.

So, guys if you got it like that, it’s going to be like shooting fish in a barrel. There are a number of women out there whom are looking to have somebody on their arm or be on someone’s arm for a number of different occasions over the next 30 to 35 days, so you can finish out the year strong and move into 2012 like a straight up BOSS.

If you don’t have it like that, that’s cool too. This time of year can give you that environmental boost that you may need. You know like when the crocodile is waiting near the edge of the water and snatches up an unsuspecting wildebeest like it was nothing, this was not luck, what this creature did was utilize the local landscape to catch his prey off guard.

That’s what you have to do with women, catch them off guard. Cause for the most part, they already have you pegged and the answer is already No. So I am going to give the game away in small bits so can easily digest it. I’m not going to hit you with 10 step, there are plenty of those out there.

Let me start off by saying this,

Seriously

FUCK SWAG

When I think of swag, I think of people posturing trying to give off the impression that they are something they are not. Whether your posturing is happening through clothes, fake confidence, or whatever it may get you off the launch pad, but it is not going to get you to the moon.

Seriously, most women have too much game for the swag to be a deal closer, and spending too much time on this aspect is an exercise in futility.

What we are going to focus on this week, is determining your lane and staying in it. What is your lane? I am glad you asked! Your “Lane” as we call it, is your area of expertise plus location that is the most comfortable for you to be successful at capturing women, the key word is capture because you can meet women anywhere, but you don’t want to meet them, you want to WIN!!!. The winning part comes into play when what you know is in tune with what they want to hear. This is where those listening skills come into play. If they happen to be into something that you have no idea what it is about, then find some sort of shared experience, anything that can keep the conversation moving, because at some point the conversation is going to come back to, “What do you think about that?”

Don’t stand there looking like BoBo the fool when you knew ahead of time, that she was intoand instead of reading about it , watching a documentary, or even wiki’in that MOFO, you decided to wing it…

any one that had that sword, did what
ever they wanted too, in STYLE

The next option is to bring them into your world. If you are passionate about something, that they could find interesting, then there is your Green Destiny right there. If you are not passionate about anything and you are over the age of 23 my advice is to stop reading this blog right now.

It won’t help you.

People like learning new things or more importantly, people like learning new ways to think about things that they think they already know, so if you got the inside scoop on something, present it in an engaging manner that does not come off as condescending or to technical. Too much of any of those things will equal a lose.

Next week we are going to talk about whatever I f'n want too!

November is for food: History is Hungry

2011-11-24T09:09:00.000-08:00

So every year Americans all over the world get together for a big ol meal called thanksgiving, every kid in this great country learned that thanksgiving went down a little something like this:

See, these religious people left England in hopes of finding a place that they could get down with the worshiping the way they want to, and not have to worry about being hated on by the legion of haters in the “Old World”.

So they came to the “New World”

Now, when you think about it, the world was new, but it was new like a used car, you know new to you, but not to anyone else…you know cause someone else already owned it or in the case of the Native Americans already lived there.

Anyway.

So, the settlers show up all happy and what not, but they don’t know jack squat about anything in terms of hunting, fishing, farming, or surviving in this “New” world that really should be called the “Previously Lived in World”, and the cool as hell Native Americans were all like

“Ay! Check it, we bout to hook yall up”

See, the Native Americans didn’t hate the players or the game, and so what they did was hook them up with all the buffalo, corn, fish, etc they could eat, and that is how thanksgiving happened and the Native Americans were our friends.

We all learned that, but that’s not quite how it happened though.

See, this holiday just like everything else has gone corporate. November is all about food, shopping, and not burning your house down trying to fry a turkey in the garage. If the numbers of people that are camping out in front of best buy, Target, and Wal-Mart just to fight with each other over a flat screen TV were to donate the same amount of time to a soup kitchen, homeless shelter, or after school center, the possibilities are endless as to the amount of the Lords work that could be done.

The Pilgrims thought they were doing the Lords work too, see instead of viewing the Natives as a real people they viewed them as a tool of the lord put on the land to guide them just long enough to get screwed in the RAWEST deal on planet earth. Squanto, the Native American that is credited with teaching the invaders of to live off the land, was actually kidnapped as a child and bought and traded as a slave and somehow he managed to get back the “New” world or “Home” as he would call it, just to find out that his people have been slaughtered by the very same people that he helped.

Ain’t that bout a bitch!

At least there is turkey right? Right now kids in school are putting on thanksgiving plays that are probably reinforcing so many negative stereotypes that the inside joke that they are letting the black kid be the lead pilgrim, who will no doubt get to be Martin Luther King jr in February, gets over looked all the way over.

Lets keep rowing this boat, Thanksgiving in the U.S. coincides with Columbus day. The day Christopher Columbus brought the first invading force to the “New” world. See, but that is political anyway, see Honest Abe came about and made Thanksgiving an official holiday (you know the one where we get holiday pay but not for MLK day…I’m just saying)and on that same day, he sent troops in to march against the Sioux Nation in Minnesota .

Anyway, back in the day, anytime there was a huge slaughter of Indians a day of thanks giving was called to celebrate the destruction of the “savages” because that is what the religious zealots at the time believed. It got to the point to wear George Washington was like, “Damn we can’t be doing all this partying after we get it in on these Indians, we got a nation to build!!!!!” So he decided that they would have one big party to celebrate all the genocide.

So Native Americans get a two for one in November!

This is the short version.

Around Halloween, I saw someone’s facebook on the facebook that is inside of facebook talk about how she was happy it was raining on Halloween because that day celebrates the devil and anyone that new anything knew that. So hopefully, everyone will take some time and learn a bit about what they are celebrating. If you really want to show how thankful you are this season doing something about it.

Volunteer at a shelter, give some can food items that you would actually eat and not the ones that have been sitting there for years to a can food drive, or go visit a nursing home and just sit with the people. That way you would actually be celebrating thanksgiving the way it should be.

KenNitro Vs Bullying: I Am In The Solutions Business

2011-11-21T20:34:00.000-08:00

“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”

-Friedrich Nietzsche

A friends facebook status on bullying, and from the responses of the parents all seem to think that teachers and administrators don’t seem to have a handle on the definition of a bully, much less the different types of bullying behavior. So what we end up having is a big ol cluster fuck of “Who is” and “What is” and “How is” going on, with everyone looking to place the blame and no one looking to find or create the solution. Seriously a RICCO case and proving bullying takes about the same amount effort.

It’s aight though!

GET SOME!!!

KenNitro, full time awesome/Killer, part-time child behavior modification specialist, and strength based from my ten deadly toes to the tippy top of my AFRO, has the answer to the question:

How does my child deal with bullies?

Wait, before we even go into that, let me go ahead and put it out there, that I do not have any kids of my own, nor was I bullied as a kid, picked on yeah, but who wasn’t, but I am real live rock and roller who rolls with a wild bunch of like minded individuals that are quick go in, get it in, and defend our parking lot titles against any and all who want 100% of our attention. By no means am I a bully, I am something much, much worse.

I’m an asshole.

They Came To Fight, We Came To
Turn The Volume Up!

If you want to do it the right way parents, it is going to be time consuming emotionally frustrating and I can’t promise it will even get the results you are looking for, but the children involved, parents, teachers, administrations will all know that you will not put up with some aspect of their job description interfering with the educational advancement of your college bound child. To be honest, this route does not guarantee victory, but it is the most honorable.

First is that when your child comes home and tells you that he/she is having issues with another kid, tell your kid to try to work it out through some sort of non-confrontational way. You have to do it in real life, and they might as well start learning now, and if that doesn’t work have your same kid tell the teacher what the deal is and hopefully the teacher will step in with the authority that the state has given them to teach kids and hold kids accountable to basic expectations in their classrooms. Now if that isn’t working, this is when the parents step in and ask for a conference with the teacher and principal and ask them open ended questions like, “So what is your solution to this issue we are having?” and “How do these disruptions effect your ability to teach, and what can my child do differently” If none of that works then I would suggest having a sit down with the other kids parents, and both parties can show their offspring how adults handle situations so they can have some positive behavior to emulate in the future.

If parents can say that they have done all of that, and kept their own egos in check during the whole process then you have given the universe all it ask in terms of karma’s repercussions, and if the results were not as you hoped, then an only then would I co-sign a child’s throwing hands with another at school.

The funny part is no parent wants to go this route. See what is going to happen is that everyone’s ego is going to get involved and the issue is going to go from kids not getting along to parents not getting along and then it is going to be an issue that has nothing to do with the kids and everything to do with the fact that the parents and administration can’t act like adults.

See now let me tell you something before we go any further, once you co-sign this there is no coming back. Whatever happens after that first punch is thrown; you by default are ok with it and anything else that comes from it. The cave entrance will have crumbled on you and the way out is the way through.

I am a pacifist, because I have the
option to be one!

So I am going to give you a KenNitro Anti-bully methodology that if done correctly will ensure that your child’s respect at school from their peers increases enough to be moved from the bully column to the “Leave me the fuck alone group”.

1. 1. No Bluffing, this is always the first mistake. Once you get up out of your chair or take a stand there can be no hesitation only action.

2. 2. Don’t pick up chairs or swing things like book bags, these items require too much commitment and without a proper follow-up, this will not go well for your child.

3. 3. A well placed sucker punch is much better than the aforementioned rules, the best time to sucker punch anyone is always when they are not looking, now if you want to utilize any of the aforementioned items in the second point, then fine. Following up the sucker punch with a chair shot is acceptable

4. 4. Fight as if losing never happens. Sometimes a war of attrition is exactly what needs to happen.

5. 5 .Make them bleed. If you go this route you can’t just beat the bully, you have to destroy the bully, that way they will remember what they are going to have to endure if they choose to continue this beef, and their friends will have to be willing to endure what their bully friends have if they decide to get into it.

6. 6. Talk shit while you are doing it, this is for everyone else really. Once you remove the bully’s support system, it will no longer benefit the bully to continue to focus on you.

7. 7. Go in on the bully’s friends (see rule 4), find the weakest one and beat the shit out of him for his support (see rule 5), then move up the ladder. As you do this, the bully’s lieutenant will realize that this war is not worth it and the bully is going to follow the advice of the lieutenant because his ego is not at stake.

The fact is, if you tell your child things like, “Handle your business” or “If someone gets in your face, you better not back down” or my personal favorite, “If you lose a fight at school, you are going to lose another one when you get home” Then good luck to you. Chances are, you are the type of parent that will also tell your child that you are not sending them to school to get into fights, but to learn.

Don't you think that is just a little bit confusing?

If you think that the school isn’t going to do anything, then be prepared to support your child’s actions and if he/she does not follow the seven steps that I just outlined, then well they are going to fail, and by fail I mean get the crap beat out of them hard and often and if they succeed they will probably end up expelled from school, and you will only have yourself to blame mom and dad cause instead of modeling a behavior that will set a positive example of conflict resolution, you wanted to prove a point.

Victory without honor, is no victory at all.

November is for Food: OCCUPY OMG TACO!!!!

2011-11-18T08:28:00.000-08:00

So this entire month everyone in the facebook universe has been filling their statuses with what they are thankful for on a daily basis, and while I originally said that I would not do such a thing because after all November is really all about food, I find myself about tell you all what I am thankful for:

What I am thankful for are people that strive to give people better options to spend their food money on, I am thankful for local places that fill up my belly and give me a chance to give back to the local community all at once.

Best Taco's Ever!REAL(CLAP)TALK(CLAP)

I am thankful for OMG TACO.

Lets get right into it, OMG TACO is the best place to get a taco in ATLANTA, GA period. If you ain’t down with that, you need to be flying triangle. What makes OMG TACO so amazing is how it somehow took these two culinary cultures and made one great taste.

Mexican food with Kim chi, do you even know what Kim chi is? Kim chi is fermented cabbage, and it is a staple of the Korean culture. Without going to deep into it, Kim chi is the culinary equivalent to cornbread in the south, and have you ever had a Sunday dinner without cornbread?

Exactly!

Look, you may feel some sort of way about cabbage, cause to be perfectly honest, if I never ate cabbage in my entire life it would be too soon. I lived a year in Korea and managed to eat Kim chi only when I really, really, really, had too. So if some people out there are turned off to the aspect of cabbage on a taco I have some words of encouragement:

Build a Bridge and Get Right Over It!

Anyway, OMG TACO is a fusion of Korean and Mexican food and it will change your life as it relates to tacos for the better. I suggest getting a short rib taco with the OMFG sauce as well as a calamari taco. The spicy pork taco is super flavorful, but the short rib is easily the crowd favorite. The atmosphere is super laid back with some classic hip hop tracks providing the background music and a staff that is as easy on the eyes as they are knowledgeable about what comes out the kitchen, and what comes out the kitchen, is nothing short of amazing.

Blake Bowman(left) and Jorge Segarra, pictured with first
eddtion Golf Bat.

If you are going to go to Atlanta, ask your Jesus phone how to get to OMG taco. More than likely if you are outside the perimeter like myself, you are going to eat while you are there. Why eat at a place that is in Atlanta and in your county way outside of 285? That makes about as much sense as a golf bat!

Why would you not want to try a new restaurant, comfort? Maybe cause you got a coupon? Maybe cause you just don’t want to trust a local restaurant because money is tight these days (I mean, we are in a recession) and I can understand going for the sure thing in most situations, but OMG TACO is not most situations. What you have in OMG TACO is a chance to experience a new trend in food, eat some really good food, and not break your wallet at the same time. I can honestly say that whenever I drive to Atlanta, I am saving room for OMG TACO and it is a non-negotiable portion of the evening.

Life Changer right here!

Did I tell you about the fries? OMG fries probably do not get the attention they deserve and it is OMG TACO’s own fault really. See when you go in, you go in on the fact that you want taco’s not fries, so you get tacos and you miss out on the complete and utter awesomeness which is OMG FRIES.

Imagine French fries(or freedom fries if you lean that way) covered in any of the delicious taco fillings(the short rib is the crowd favorite), drippin with the OMG custom SAAAUUUCCEEE, and covered with cheese.

November is for FOOD, break out of your comfort zone.

November is for Food: Eating is Serious Business

2011-11-15T07:19:00.000-08:00

Last week, I talked about how this November everyone is talking about what they are thankful for, I am still under the impression that November is not about thanksgiving at all, but that is a blog for a different week(Soon, like on thanksgiving).

Continuing on from last week's blog about local food vs corporate food on during this gov't mandated month of gluttony I am once again trying to educate the masses on what to eat vs what not to eat and why. Which brings me to the topic of the day

Mexican food

The food or the people one or
the other is coming over the fence

In America we speak ENGLISH!
(No Accents)

Well lets be honest, most of the american people couldn't tell the difference between a Nicaraguan restaurant vs a Mexican restaurant any way, and in the right light and Asian from a Mexican. So we take that kind of indifference and mix it with a society's desire to have everything fast, plus sprinkle a little bigotry and passive racial discrimintory policys then BOOM!!!!! Yo queiro Taco Bell. Seriously, with all the B.S. about building a fence with Razor Wire, and flying sharks with lasers patrolling said fence with the right side of our political spectrum feeding the sharks the leftover souls of innocent children that they just ate to the sharks we forget about one of the most awesome creations on earth.

Mexican Food

But for some reason, people seem to eat taco bell like is all good. I mean most of the stuff at that place really can't be considered food anyway. Then you have Moe's. Don't get me wrong, I like Moe's a lot actually, from the names of the burritos and the cheese dip, all the way down to how they get down with like five different kinds of salsa for the chips, but they are still apart of the problem, and Chipotle! Don't even get me started.

Actually, let me go in on these folks coach!

You can get down or you can lay down
but if you lay down, you gonna stay
Down!

How you gonna make burritos and tacos gourmet? I tell you how they do it, they use some better foil and claim that they are using fresh ingredients, but in reality you have a guy who went to school for culinary arts traveled a bit made it to san francisco and saw what the local Latino populous was hustling and after talking daddy into bank rolling his dream of raping a culture for their food and then getting even more money from "The Clown" we now have this thing called "Fast Casual Dining"

And folks actually go and eat there.

Meanwhile in every town, there are a number of Local spots that get enough love from the the community, but it is not cause of the food, it's the margarita specials.

In Carrollton, GA you got two spots that come to mind The Border and The Lazy Donkey(I know right)and to tell you the truth the food is off the chain and I have never had a bad experience at either one of these restaurants, but we are going to get a little deeper. I'm not focusing on these spots because they do just fine without a plug from KenNitro.com.

I'm talking about the *Mexican grill, it's a small spot that has big portions and a seriously family atmosphere well I can't say if it has a family atmosphere, whenever I go I am hanging with my peeps and we are a rowdy bunch, now if a family were to come there I am sure the atmosphere would be great for it.but the parking lot is never full, and that is a bad thing, oh and the best part.

It's not expensive!

What do you do? If you are a small business you can't expect people to go and try something new unless you do something completely out of the ordinary like have people eating on beds, Ipads for menus, a live sacrifice or something else that will make people swear that the food is something special, when there is nothing special about it.

See, as I have said before you have already have allocated those dinner dollars so why don't you spend them on a local restaurant that still puts their heart and soul into the food you eat? I am sure there is someplace local that you have not been to in a while, and you should fix that. Like I said before, we try to encourage our kids to try new things.

Lead by example.

*I don't have a good picture of the restaurant cause I wish I had time to just be running around taking pictures of stuff

KenNitro vs The Facility: All things considered

2011-11-11T13:38:00.000-08:00

Today was like any other day on the island. I stood with one of the other holders of the word and spoke about the world outside of the island, the weather was a bit colder than what I was comfortable with. As my equal and I spoke about the things we do our children stand close, not so close to be told to go and be amongst themselves, but close enough to be seen and not heard.

Those are my favorites.

I noticed in the distance that one of the footballs was off in the distance; I decided to see how my young charges have improved on their interactions with one another and critical thinking. So I said to them, whoever can bring that football first, I will give a bonus point. Before I could say go, one of my wayward youths took into consideration that everything has a point and he did something amazing.

He thought it through!

He stops everyone and says, “Look if we all go and get it and bring it back we can all receive a bonus point” I actually held back a smile because he is applying a lesson that I taught in a group several months ago. Everyone seemed to be in agreement with his plan.

So I said, “Go”

With that, these kids took off like the wind, these are the good kids so seeing them run in any direction does not alarm anyone, but we still pay very close attention. I would like to tell you that they each took turns carrying the ball equally sharing in the work load so that they may equally share in the ever elusive bonus point from Mr. Ken A.K.A Dr. Doom-Megatron , but that is not what happened.

Instead the faster kid got out ahead of everyone scooped up the ball and ran it back to me with a smile on his face. As his peers made it back to me, they were all upset. I asked him, “Why would you do that, everyone could have gotten a bonus point if you all would have worked together?”

His response was probably the most honest thing I have heard anyone say in several months.

“I know we all could have gotten a bonus point, but I didn’t want them to have a bonus point”

In that above statement lies a deeper truth.

OCCUPY THE FACILITY!!!!

I’m just kidding, but if you are serious though, I mean, we can do it…I’m just saying. Working at the facility is not a job, it’s an adventure. The work at the facility is not work, but art and must be practiced every day. I say all this to say, and this may be the first time that I say, “I think I speak for everyone “when I say, I need a day off!

No, I am not talking about the two days that I get off every week, but I need like a day off that I don’t normally get off. The truth is I work in a very “Reactive” environment, but what is confusing is that being proactive really just creates more work for an already over worked group of individuals. So scheduling is essentially a love /hate relationship. Geez, relationships are never fair though, and when you do what you are suppose to and you do(put the time that you want off in when you are suppose to do) and you do not get the results(the time you asked off).

You tend to feel some sort of way about it.

Did I tell you about my most recent waffle house adventure?

Ok, see me and a friend were getting down on that waffle house awesomeness, I was enjoying my usual waffle and bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich with my hash browns covered and chunked, and they well I can’t really remember what they had but they enjoyed it none the less and we got spoke with our waitress (Wait, is it still ok to call them that? Whatever) and we talked about how it is hard out there for everybody and she went on to talk about how she had been working for the Waffle House for thirty years.

He saved your soul, so he can feed
it to the DINO's!!!!

WHAT!!!! SWEET JESUS RIDING A DINOSAUR did you say you have been working at the waffle house for 30 years!!!!

I felt really bad about bitching about my job for the length of time that I did, when this poor woman has been hustling waffles to every drunk, hipster, family, pre and post party going from the Regan Era to Obama. I should be happy to have my job cause well I don’t get paid as much as I feel like I am worth but hey I’m not grinding this waffle house gig ya know?

See that is where I fucked up, time for my favorite part of blogs

PUT YOU UP ON SOME GAME!!!!!

Waffle house servers make like 7.25 cent and hour waiting tables. Most servers at the corporate cafeterias that most of you all spend your dinner dollars at make 2.13 cent and hour. Now no one goes to the Waffle House and spends less than 10 bucks and if you tip based on the fact that you were not raised by wolves you probably throw down 20% like a BOSS!!!

This is what happens to your
brain when you realize that the WaHo
folks are living the dream, and you aren't

So 7.25 plus 2.00 bucks, but wait, I had a friend with me, so we have to add another 2.00. So right now we have 7.25+4.00 so now she is making 11.25 an hour and that was the one table we were at. Let’s say she had 3 tables of 2 people all spending 10 dollars apiece and dropping the 20% LIKE A BOSS! That is 7.25 + 12 dollars so that comes out to be 19.25 an hour. And she went on to talk about how getting time off is never an issue because for some known unknown waffle house folks have figured out how to make the most people happy most of the time.

I was mad all over again.

The source of the Strength

You couldn't ask for a
better handbook

If you keep you with my facebook statuses, you may see a lot of statuses that say “Strength Based on Deck” or something of that sort. Well, you may find it hard to believe but the strength based program is a living, breathing, document, similar to the constitution in the fact that it can be changed and adjusted as needed, but what I want to talk about is the secret to the strength of the strength based program. It is really quite simple these are the two words that hold the most weight at the facility:

Rewards and Consequences

The State will take everything
away from you, and we will take the rest

It’s pretty simple really, kids that do good get rewarded for their efforts and kids that do not do good do not get rewarded. Now the system starts to shake when there are kids doing good and they have to wait on the reward, a shake is not so bad though, kids need to learn that everything in life does not happen like clockwork and I do strategically promise and not deliver. The system breaks when there are no rewards to be earned and those that do not do good receive the attention from staff. What happens is the system is turned on its head, the bad continue to be bad and flourish in the attention they receive from Us, and the good ones fall into that behavior because they are confused as to why they are doing good in the first place.

So the new challenge is turning what should have never been upside down in the first place back to its original place and keeping it there, but the answer is right in front of you.

Consequences and Rewards

You can get with this

Actually, it is all about holding yourself accountable to the islands inhabitants, support for your team, and unity in the face of adversity.

On the island, we had to put the pyramid in its proper place and once we did everyone and I mean everyone was on the same page as to what direction the sun comes up, and that page simply said, “Whatever direction I say it

or you can get with that

does”Real(clap)Talk(Clap).

Once the islanders understood that those that make the right decisions will be rewarded and those that made the wrong one would not be, and that whatever the reward was going to be was going to happen, regardless of how those that normally make the wrong decisions act, the kids understand is that the best choice is to follow the lead of those in charge otherwise nobody wins.

November is for Food

2011-11-04T09:44:00.000-07:00

So I am noticing that on facebook everyone seems to be on this whole November being “30 days” of thankfulness and posting something that they are thankful for every day of the month, to see just how hard it is when you get to the end of the month…

I’m not doing that at all.

Google is one update away from skynet

This blog is all about food and not what kind of food you eat or even how much you eat of it, it is about where you eat it. See I don’t know any other way to say it, so I will just go on out and express myself the only way I know how to on this subject:

EVERY CORPORATE RESTAURANT SUCKS(except the Waffle House, that’s my shit right der!)

It’s true.

What does not suck are the number of local restaurants in your area that you don’t go to cause you would rather have applebees 2 for 20 b.s. It bothers me that it looks like damn Occupy Wallstreet outside of Longhorn steakhouse, Ruby Tuesdays, Applebee’s, O’charlies, and The Olive Garden.

When you have some seriously awesome local action as an option!

No caption Needed

For instance, in the great metropolitan city of Carrollton, GA there is the downtown square and on the square there is a restaurant called Plates. Most people will hang out and drink at the really awesome bar up top, but the menu is nothing short of amazing. I am certain that aside from the two and a half Japanese steakhouses, this is the only other place where you can get fried rice made to order. The menu is this Asian, Polynisan, American, Fusion with a good atmosphere. Seriously, you can come in with shorts and a t-shirt or in a suit and tie and not feel out of place at any point of the day. I can tell you that General Tso, would be pleased at his favorite meals representation at this establishment, and if you never had elk meatloaf, with the homemade ketchup, then your life is without meaning, and you don’t even know it.

That is just sad.

What about the PRICE?

That is not the point, see if you are going to go eat at any of the above corporate chuck wagons, then you have already allocated the money from your budget to eating out. This money is going to be spent and I am just asking the question: “Why spend it there and not local”

Let’s go back to the waiting line issue.

If you wait outside of here it is because you are stupid not
hungry.

Why would you wait in line at a restaurant when there is better dining options at a comparable price in the same town, this makes no sense to me and I know it makes no sense to restaurant owners in the local community. We tell our kids to try new things, we tell our kids to not be a follower be a leader, to take inititive, and what do we do instead? We stick to our routines, listen to commercials, wait for someone else to tell us what something is like, and we fall for the corporate Okey-doke.

What you do is more important than what you say, so I am saying get out there and eat something new this November.

So this month, I am going to write about how awesome a local restaurant is in my community and share it with the world in hopes that my super awesome diverse readership will forgo restaurants with commercials, download Scoutmob on your smartphones, and spend the money that you are going to spend already at a local spot.

Oh and on a side note, for all you parents out there that are/were on this whole I'm glad it rained on Halloween cause Halloween is the devil and all that non-sense. I got a conversation for you on the 24 of this month and I am going to finish it up in December.

KenNitro vs The Workforce: SMARTEN UP, DUMB IT DOWN

2011-10-09T23:59:00.000-07:00

Would you like to know the secret of having a long career in whatever job it is that you find yourself doing so that it can ultimately turn into a career?

The answer is simple really

SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH

Seriously, companies do enjoy the innovation and fresh ideas that come from people in a workforce that are happy with what they are doing and how they are treated. Unfortunately companies do not run themselves, people do, and what do we know about people?

People are stupid

So if you are thinking about some great new thing that is going to make that thing work better or at least be more comfortable for the people that are doing that thing, then the only thing I can say to you is this:

“You doing too much”

I know, I know, you are saying right now, that’s not true, the open door policy at my job is based on the fact that I can go to my supervisor and speak to them about anything and have it either considered or brought up for discussion with other higher ups because at the end of the day, it will only improve the company.

You doing too much

Chances are, if you are doing too much, you have been doing too much, and you will probably continue to do too much, so telling you to stop is an exercise in futility so I might as well give you some weapons to arm yourself for the career long battle you are going to be in(with some real world examples).

First thing, come to terms with the fact that you are smarter than your boss/immediate supervisor/lead/Indian chief or whatever, and they already hate you for it. So if you come up with an idea, just know that the word “NO” is waiting for you as soon as you say, “Hey, you got a few minutes I had this idea…” If you want to actually get what you need done, you are going to have to make these…mouth breathers think that this idea is actually their own.

Case in point, years ago I worked for Airtran Airlines and I was elected to a position called agent council which in theory was a group of crewmembers that would act as a liaison between the rank and file and middle management so that the wants, needs, and desires of workforce could be heard, discussed, and implemented if they were feasible and were mutually beneficial to the company.

Look Healthy people that like their jobs

This is the idea I came up with, a gym membership package for everyone in the call center. The info is out there on how exercise keeps you healthy, which in turn, keeps you working, which pretty much is a win-win for all involved. Now, this is what happened.

I went out on my own time and did all the leg work, did a comparison of the gyms in carrollton and met with the managers of each one and managed to put together a deal that was PRETTY F’N SWEET. I brought it all back to the agent council, just for it to be shut down for no real apparent reason, as a constellation I was able to present it to crewmembers, with no support from agent council and to my knowledge there is still no corporate membership in carrollton.

I wish they would have listened to KenNitro

It made no sense to me at the time, and my good friend and mentor Dr. Octagon explained it to me like this, “Kenny Envy, what you need to understand is that if you have an idea, and the ability to implement it but fail to include the attitudes and egos of your peers, they will turn it down based on that reason alone”.

no caption needed

I not so secretly wanted to high-five everyone on that council in the face with a ball-peen hammer, except for one person and they know who they are. If you want to avoid those kinds of feelings what you need to do is get smart and dumb your idea down. Make these walking oxygen stealers that you have to tolerate on a daily think that this was their idea in the first place, it can’t be that hard…these people are idiots.

Second, you need to have a thick skin.

See haters are going to hate, so what you have to do is never under any circumstances react to anything that you interpret as an act of passive aggressiveness. If you were to react, you will have fallen for the trap and the haters will be one step closer to their goal.

By no means am I saying do not act, just do not act as they do.

proud sponsor of haters worldwide

For instance, one day at the facility, I went and used the bathroom and one of my coworkers decided to leave the island and look for me. As I emerged from the porcelain throne, my coworkers told me of how one of my other coworkers was looking for me and my response was, “For what?” No one knew.

My phone rings and it is a supervisor and the conversation goes like this:

Supervisor: Where you at?

KenNitro: I’m at work

Supervisor: I know that, but where are you?

KenNitro: On the island

Supervisor: CLICK

So at this point, the co worker in question comes back to the island, claiming that they were sent on a wild goose chase by other coworkers to find me for a reason that to this day is still unknown. Perk, just said, “ain’t nobody send you no where”

Shortly after that, one of my supervisors brought it up to me about me that my coworkers are claiming that I am slacking on the paperwork, but I like to do activities. This to me, was the first act of open aggression and I handled it this way, and you should too if you want to WIN

I sent out an email, telling my coworkers what was told to me by supervision that was apparently told to them by them, and I asked in earnest what I could do to improve my work performance. I sent this email to everyone and included my supervisor so that any and all responses would be sent to him also. There were none, and when the subject was brought up again I referenced that email and the lack of responses.

That being said, understand there are going to be haters and if you want to not be drowned in haterade, you will need to control what the haters can attack, and make sure your work performance is where it is suppose to be.

"seed of the wawa tree"

symbol of hardiness, toughness and perseverance

For instance, right now at my job, folks really dislike my hair, but if the only thing a person can say is that they don’t like my afro at my job, then I suppose I am doing an ok job. I am sure, if I wasn’t the haters would let me know.

Haters are thoughtful like that.

Lastly, Stay focused.

Since you clearly are doing too much and you will have all of this passive aggressive negative energy surrounding you on the daily, a person such as yourself will at some point want to confront potential haters, relegate yourself to getting your eight hours in and that’s all, or find another job and start this vicious cycle all over again.

Don’t let people run you off from a job that you love or just happen to be good at it, because they are not so secretly horrible people.

What Has Two Thumbs and Does Not Want To See Your Underwear?

2011-08-10T01:54:00.000-07:00

THIS GUY!!!!

Ok, so a number of counties in Georgia have been passing statutes or discussing statutes involving the serious subject of

I bet these guys listen to "DRAKE"

Sagging Pants.

To be honest, I remember reading about these things a while back and to be honest my passing opinion on the matter was simply, “ I don’t care”, well at least not caring past the whole racial profiling blah blah blah this is only a way for cops to harass young black men that may or may not be doing something wrong.

Well, to be honest, the only things I ever see that are in the middle of the road are always dead and stinky, so I have decided to take a position on the issue, and that position is one in support of legislation that makes sagging pants below your waist a misdemeanor punishable by fines and community service.

Yeah, I said it.

Seriously, I don’t want walk around and see people’s underwear.

Wait, before we get into this, let me say this:

USE YOUR COMMON SENSE PEOPLE, IF YOU ARE WALKING AROUND WITH A BELT ON TO KEEP YOUR PANTS SECURE BELOW YOUR ASS, YOU DESERVE A CITATION FOR IT.

In Prison, this is called "Advertising"

Now, most people that feel some sort a way about the issue will basically try to lump sagging pants into other aspects of culture, Freedom of expression, racial bias, profiling, and anything else that can be used to deflect from the actual reason behind legislation about pants sagging.

“NO ONE WANTS TO SEE YOUR UNDERWEAR”

Now, you may say, “Well I feel the same way about people with full sleeve tattoos “ Why don’t we cite these people and fine them also. Well that is an easy one(and it covers the aspects of culture). Getting a tattoo is a lifestyle choice. Just like being a vegetarian, a combat athlete, a homosexual*, and one of those people that dive in dumpsters simply for the fact that they don’t want to pay for food, these people do not offend the senses of others in normal aspects of human interaction. As a matter of fact, if a person with a sleeve tattoo had a job where tattoos are not to be visible, for the most part I imagine they would just rock some long sleeves.

What is he really trying to say?

As far as freedom of expression, this is really just that bullshit. What are you exactly expressing through the artistic medium of showing the world your boxers, briefs, and the pair basketball shorts you have on under your 4 times too large jeans?

Seriously, how does the first amendment pertain to sagging pants? A person’s underwear is neither art nor entertainment, so let me ask you this:

What has no thumbs and doesn’t give a shit if you get a ticket for sagging your pants?

The first amendment, that’s who!

I’m just kidding, see there is a place for folks that want to sag their jeans and claim that it is freedom of speech. It’s called Miller V. California 1973, The short version of this important case that pertains to pants on the ground supporters is that this case gives a clear definition of what is Obscene.

Matter fact, let me hit you with the important part.

See there are three requirements that something has to meet before it can be considered Obscene. The work must first, appeal to the average person's prurient (shameful, morbid) interest in sex. Second, depict sexual conduct in a "patently offensive way" as defined by community standards, and lastly, taken as a whole, lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

As far as the racial bias and profiling, I can honestly say that if you are cited for pants sagging and you just so happen to have an ounce or more of weed on you, have a bench warrant out for your arrest, failure to pay child support or anything else that could be determined from a police officer running your license after they stop you for having your pants sagging, is your fault. That has nothing to do with race or ethnicity stupidity, like love is also color blind.

Then you know there is the whole, the city of is just looking to get money any way they can and that is why they are doing anyway. I really have one response to that.

So!

I wish they would take the money from the citations from people who want to sag their pants and pump it back into the community by funding afterschool programs, improving the local community, and anything that would be positive to the most people the most often. For the most part, the first offense from my research ranges from 25-50 dollars, which is really nothing, but the second offenses can possibly run as high as 200 dollars, and possibly community service hours.

Sweet!

How many times do you have to get hit with a 200 fine before pulling up your pants becomes a good idea?

I am interested to find out.

*if you read all of this blog and feel some sort of way about me stating that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice and you want to engage me on the subject, let me ask you this first. What has two thumbs and doesn’t give a shit about what two people do on their own time?

This guy!

KenNitro Vs The Facility: I'm just Saying

2011-07-18T23:32:00.000-07:00

So we had our 1^st(?)Facility appreciation bbq the other day, and I really don’t know what to think about it. The phrase has always been, “Morale” and how it is down, up, gone, etc. So I do think that this was a genuine attempt by the folks that make more money that me to show me that they appreciate what I do on the daily(If you are new to my blog then read up on the facility series).

So the bosses got together and cooked up some flanders burgers and hotdogs.

Yep, hamburgers and hotdogs.

I mean, it’s not that I(and probably my coworkers) aren’t appreciative, I mean we work every weekend, shorthanded, nights, snowstorms, and deal with the constant change while attempting to be consistent, maintain order, and control the island itself from the utter chaos that can ensue in the brief moment in which the above three tenants mentioned above are not followed.

Hamburgers and Hotdogs

I mean, granted the people that probably thought about how awesome it would be if we had a cook-out for the people that work the most and arguably the hardest at the facility, had the best intentions at heart, and while I am sure they thought about doing this a while ago, I just don’t think they thought too much into it after the birth of the idea. Granted that while living outside of the busy metropolis which is carrollton, ga one can get lost with this question:

“What can I do to show those that I govern over my appreciation for all their hard work, and how can do this?”

Hamburgers and Hotdogs

I’m laughing cause I thought it was a good thought and true attempt at boosting the morale of all of those that hold the word, but low morale is always the result of several factors and is slow to fall and slow to rise. So I do applaud those in charge for their attempt, but I hope that they continue to attempt to continue these true efforts to show appreciation.

Hamburgers and Hotdogs

I guess you got to start somewhere.

If I was in charge I would have done something like go on the square and see which business can hold a group as large as we are, and then ask everyone to RSVP a week or so before because the schedules are out a month in advance, then I would see what kind of deal I could get because well, can’t never could. After that, I would remind everyone to RSVP cause if you don’t sign up there will not be food for you, and you would be essentially seeing who all is actually excited about the event, because everyone can come up with reasons as to why they aren’t coming, but when folks see you making the effort, they tend to match it themselves…if they are in fact about something.

Hamburgers and Hotdogs

Case in point, I remember back when I worked at Airtran Airways, there was a snow storm that pretty much froze over Atlanta. There were several chats sent out about the snowpacalypse and asked everyone to do what they can. Matter of fact, airtran if I remember correctly has an attendance policy that is locked down real tight. I mean , the short version of it, “It is what it is”. On the day after, people showed up late, way late, stayed later, didn’t show up at all, and it was all forgiven. Also, Vince, gave everyone a shot glass a couple of days later and thanked everyone personally for coming in.

A gesture that is so small but the magnitude is so great.

So we had a snow storm recently and while everyone was aware of what was coming that Sunday around 7pm there was a really awesome email sent out to everyone that basically said, “If you don’t come to work we can fire you”, and then it cited some portion of the handbook that said something about not showing up and how they could fire you, even though you could die on the way to work to save your job

This was done in a very passive fashion and while I saw the money to be made from the overtime, for people in leadership roles to even suggest that you could be fired for making a decision about your personal safety is at the very least unprofessional and at the most heartless.

Hamburgers and Hotdogs

Now some of you will say, that I should for one be happy that I have a damn job and the fact that you get a paycheck is appreciative enough, and if I am so un-happy then I should leave and let them hire someone that is ok with

Hamburgers and Hotdogs

And you are absolutely right, my bosses could in fact stand behind that cold hard truth, and there are some jobs where that is the only reality. Fortunately, I have faith that the folks in charge will become more proactive in their approach and less reactive as we move forward, cause at the end of the day

Hamburgers and Hotdogs…

KenNitro Vs The Facility: The Program is Based on Strength

2011-07-10T18:42:00.000-07:00

You know normally, I write about the facility AFTER the battles have been fought. I'll will tell you tales of MEN who NEVER BACK DOWN, MEN who FEAR only the fact that they HAVE NO FEAR.

TODAY

THIS VERY DAY

You all, my friends, my loved ones, hell as per google analytics, I may even have some fans out there!!!

You all get to hear about the STRENGTH BASED PROGRAM that the inhabitants of the Island endure on a daily basis.

REAL(CLAP)TALK(CLAP) the strength based program is happening right now at this very moment. You all are at the forefront of some of the most DYNAMIC, NEXT LEVEL THERAPEUTIC TECHNIQUES ever utilized and before you ask the question,

NO, I AM NOT A THERAPIST

I AM ALL THINGS THERAPEUTIC can ya dig it?

Now at this point, you are probably asking yourself, "What is the STRENGTH BASED PROGRAM"?

I can sum it all up for you really. MEGATRON in the 1985 movie transformers pretty much summed up in one line the question we ask any inhabitant that chooses to make the wrong decision

"Why throw away your life so recklessly"

And before any of yall fanboys get up, keep in mind, OPTIMUS PRIME LOST THAT FIGHT.

Since I have pretty much summed up the STRENGTH BASED PROGRAM, that is BASED ON STRENGTH all I can really do for you is play a song for you.

Keep in mind that the inhabitants of the island know that when these beautiful songs are heard, the UNDERSTANDING IS SURE TO FOLLOW

Actually go ahead and hit play on this and then read the above again if you really what to get down with The STRENGTH BASED PROGRAM

This SONG just got added to the rotation and it is truly a song that fortells the future and is a great post crisis song to listen too

BOOM CREW ANTHEM

Now I am not going to lie to you, we didn't create the STRENGTH BASED PROGRAM

he did.

And he got it from him

Seriously, if you have to ask yourself the question, "Is this strength Based?"

THE ANSWER IS NO IT IS NOT.

Rap Music, before these Day Spa Rappin ass coons killed it

2011-07-01T21:38:00.000-07:00

So while I am chopping this here writers block down trying to get to the hot gooey center of creativity that I know that what ever gets written will be epic.

but there really is no reason to force it in...unless

you know what, I am just going to leave that as it is.

Anyway, if you listen to rap these days, I really feel bad for you.

Seriously, whenever I hear a grown ass man talking about any rapper with "lil" "Boy"(and all alternative spellings) and anybody rapping with a Mohawk

I am secretly killing you in a very violent way.

Now in the interest of being more Christ like in my thought word and deed, instead of telling all you drake, lil wayne, roscoe dash, soulja boy fans, that you really should be beaten within an inch of your life with a ball peen hammer,

Imma do something different and try to educate yall ignant asses.

So we are going to start off with 1995-96, dungeon family was straight killing it.

I took the liberty of posting the youtube mix of the goodie mob, you're welcome.

http://www.youtube.com/artist?a=GxdCwVVULXeHk_gNq-9_oTJ4PAbTPN5F&feature=bottomfeedr

you really can't mention Goodie Mob without their brothers in arms OUTKAST, so here is some of dat real life dirty south music

http://www.youtube.com/artist?a=GxdCwVVULXeHk_gNq-9_oTJ4PAbTPN5F&feature=bottomfeedr

I have pretty much taken your whole day from you at this point.

But wait there is more.

This song guaranteed a nosebleed.

No intro needed

This song can still turn best friend into mortal enemies if played in the club

REAL(CLAP)TALK(CLAP)

I know people are going to say that when I was younger the older folks said the same thing I am saying now about the day spa rappers, see I really don't you all get the picture.

If you think this is ever going to be considered a classic, then you really need to do some soul searching.

Writers Block: Ki-YA!!!!

2011-06-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

So it has been a while since my last blog, the last one was one of my favorites. Read it if you haven't. Anyway, since then my life has been lacking the proper amounts of drama, adventure, intrigue and time and so that really prohibits me from the pseudo self-depreciating, misogynistic, ego-based blogs that everyone loves to read.

Basically, I don't hang out in bars as much as before.

Honestly, my life for the last six months have been filled with work, training, and the search for new hobbies. My job, which has been for the most part a great source of material for my blog, but even that has evened out. See, I work with a really good group of people on the island and through our collective efforts alone, we have boring days at work.

I spent a week in New Orleans doing Capoeira and I am still putting together a blog about that experience. I think it is going to require a two parts. I mean on the one hand I do want to share with all my friends the complete awesomeness of this art, and at the same time we all know how KenNitro gets down.

Also and this is more important than everything else I imagine, the Netflix, Hulu, Youtube triad with my TV has a serious strangle on my immediate free time. So I guess I can share, with you all what I have been watching instead of finding drama to commentate on.

Lets start with something awesome. EPIC MEALTIME

Now I have to say this before you watch this video, these guys are Canadians, and there is nothing wrong with that, these guys know how to get it in. These are some of my favorites.

And this one

Roll one up HOMIE

Then there is Fist of the North Star. To be honest, the only reason I started this was because I was tempted to buy the game, and then I remembered watching the live action movie as a kid, and I downloaded the animated movie, but then I was like, "Do I really want to watch the animated movie when there are 150 episodes that I have not watched?"

Here is the first episode, 'GOD OR DEVIL, the Mightest man appears in HELL

150 episodes of self-righteous violence, SMART!

and then the TV Show Numb3rs.

This is pretty much which has been taking over my social life for now.

Well, that's not 100% true

Are people really that dumb?

2011-05-04T02:56:00.000-07:00

Are people really that blind?

This could possibly be the most un-popular blog I have written, well to a few people. Well, I hope they can build a bridge, and get right over it.

So, on May 1, 2011 Osama Bin Laden, the face of evil in America was killed by U.S. military action in Pakistan. Our country rejoiced in the killing of a man that we all look at as the physical manifestation of all that is evil.

So everyone is happy and sure why not, but lets be honest.

THE USA KILLED A MAN

And that is all.

If you believe that one’s man death will reverse the actions that have adversely affected the American populous home and abroad. Everything from airport regulations, racism against anyone that looks like they might be Arab, and the price of gas

You are sadly mistaken.

That being said, there are a lot of facebook statuses out there that raise questions of rejoicing a man’s death, celebrating the manner in which he died, and who is looking at your profile, but what has been amazing to me is this on particular status that I have seen around the interwebs.

“Let's be clear on this: OBAMA did NOT kill Bin Laden. An American soldier, who Obama just a few weeks ago was debating on whether or not to PAY, did. Obama just happened to be the one in office when our soldiers finally found OBL and took him out. This is NOT an Obama victory, but an AMERICAN victory!! PLZ REPOST IF YOU AGREE!!!”

Here’s the thing, I tried really hard to ignore this…but the marginalizing of Obama’s efforts as it relates to this is hilarious. Honestly, the guy has to fight tooth and nail to get anything done. He comes into an office with an economy that disastrous and as the right wing, conservative; neo-cons constantly look to sabotage anything that will ultimately affect any change in the status quo. Then, they turn around and scoff at him for not being able to fix the economy with his bare hands.

Anyway back to this status, let me start off by saying that I have seen this status all over my newsfeed, if you posted and you feel like I am singling you out, stop being so sensitive, if you were worried about what people think, you wouldn’t post stuff like this anyway…

“OBAMA did not kill Bin Laden”

You are absolutely correct, Obama did not hop off a chopper and put the work in himself, but he did make the decision. He could have dropped bombs on the compound, which would have been the safe move as far as soldiers lives are concerned, but you would lose the strategic advantage, because well I imagine you can’t just fly over a sovereign land dropping bombs on shit. He decided to risk American lives and his political career by sending in troops. Imagine the backlash he would have gotten from the right if the operation was a complete failure.

“An American Soldier, who Obama a few weeks ago was debating on whether or not to pay, did.”

I agree, it was an American soldier. Now, lets talk about the whole debate on whether or not to pay. See this is what I believe to be a minimization of the issue. Now people that swore up and down that this solider was not going to get paid are lacking in some facts about what a gov’t shut down is.

A gov’t shutdown is when the gov’t stops providing all but essential services. Generally speaking, the services that continue to operate regardless of said shutdown are police, the military, fire departments, correction officers, post office(they pay their own cost) and you know…other services that are crucial to the day to day functions, so yes this soldier that everyone is concerned about will receive his pay. Unfortunately, park rangers will have to take “L”, the people in the passport office will also be carrying an “L” for the day, and maybe even the entire courthouse itself. Oh and the trash may not be picked up.

Ok, now that we have what a gov’t shutdown encompasses, let’s go over how the good elected folks up in DC arrive at this point.

But first, lets go over some 8^th grade political science

The U.S. gov’t is separated into equal parts, the legislative, Judiciary, and the executive. The Legislative also known as congress has the power to pass, amend and repeal laws. They also can raise or lower taxes

Pretty cool huh!

They also handle the budget for the year for all the gov’t programs (this is important, we’ll get to this later)

The judicial in turn interprets the laws that the congress passes and acts as the final say in court cases that can’t seem to get handled in the lower courts

Now the Executive Branch is runs the day to day operations of a nation, now the executive branch does not make nor interpret laws, but enforce the law as it is written.

Now inside of the legislative branch you have two houses, you have the House of Representatives (congress) and the Senate. Now these two groups determine the budget for the year, and they have to get it done by a certain day or else the gov’t has to shut down because well…folks can’t get their shit together. Now, the Congress is controlled by the republicans and at the time of this blog the democrats control the senate. Now the president has nothing to do with creating the budget, but when both houses are not in agreement there tends to be a problem.

Ok, now that the crash course is over let’s review that line again:

“An American Soldier, who Obama a few weeks ago was debating on whether or not to pay, did.”

Now we have determined that the American Soldier falls under the essential services list and his paycheck is secure, but now we can infer that Obama did not debate about whether to pay him or the military, because the executive branch does not create a budget. It is the legislative branch that could not compromise over 2 billion dollars that could have in fact shut the gov’t down.

“Obama just happened to be the one in office when our soldiers finally found OBL and took him out.”

No, he didn’t happen to be the one in the office, see he is a democratically elected leader who is in charge of all branches of the armed forces who regardless of what the opinions of generals, experts, reports from the front line etc, he is responsible for what they do or fail to do, so when the troops went in and took him out, it was because the president gave the go ahead.

“This is NOT an Obama victory, but an AMERICAN victory!!”

This is petty to say the least, what exactly did America win?

In my opinion Osama Bin Laden represents an idea. The idea that America is in fact the source of all the strife, hunger, and any other calamity that has hit the Arab Nations over the last thirty or so years. An idea given breath by a generation of people living under economic sanctions for decades at a time, suffering under U.S. supported dictatorships, and ravaging of the natural resources.

I’ve said it before; one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.

Just as Americans take to the streets to celebrate the death of Osama Bin Laden, as newspapers printed the corpses of Saddam Hussein’s children, as we laughed during the fall Saddam Hussein on the other side of the world there are groups, we become the monster.

You all remember the Virgina Tech shooting that happened a while back, you know the Korean Kid that shot the campus up, I remember speaking to people when I lived there and one of the concerns was that the U.S. was going to retaliate against the whole country. I kind of laughed it off and assured her that the U.S. doesn’t wage war against individuals that have attacked us, but was I really telling the truth?

The U.S. attempted to fight an unconventional war by conventional means against an enemy that lurks in the shadows, has no ties to any government and does not fear death. This demonstration of Americas might cost us billions upon billions of dollars, countless American lives as well as innocents in the war zones themselves, for one man that was able to fund his war out of his own pocket. As that war waged on, the U.S. military machine moved into Iraq, because there was a possibility that there were WMDs, that Saddam had the capacity to develop them and that we needed to neutralize the threat before it becomes a threat.

Anyway

You can’t kill an idea, Osama’s death has done nothing but galvanize the resolve of those who chose to follow him. They have seen firsthand how one act can change the lives of a country, how the actions of a few can affect the lives of many. Did you see Batman begins, Ducard tells him, “…if you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal and if they can't stop you, you become something else entirely, you become a legend”. Don’t believe me, look at Saddam Hussein, where are his followers and supporters? He was found ducked down low in a hole…hiding. Tried in a court in his own country and subsequently hung. You remember Zacarias Moussaoui, exactly. This guy was an alleged highjacker that got caught, got a trial, and is sitting in a supermax prision for the rest of his life, and mine, yours and the person next to you. These men will disappear into obscurity in time of course, but Osama…this man knew his time on this earth was limited, and I am sure the United States of America has already trained his replacement.

Wake up people, Wake up

P.S. Lets be clear on this: Obama did not kill Bin Laden, an American soldier, who obama signed a short-term spending bill so he could continue to get paid, did. Obama is the commander-in-chief, who made the decision to green light the operation which gave our soldiers the opportunity to take him out. This is not a victory by any means, this is a war of attrition, with no end in site! PlZ POST IF YOU AGREE!!!!

I am sooooo confused, well not really.

2011-03-07T18:59:00.001-08:00

Like everyone else in my age bracket, I try to eat healthy. Eating healthy is very difficult with all the dollar menu's, .75 wings, 1.00 draft, free stuff from chic-fi-la, and the proverbial turf war between dominos, and Papa johns pizza that gives everyone in this back water town 5.00 pies almost all of the time. Which is cool, because well...no one makes anyone eat at any of these places.

Well no one strong arms you at least.

I guess that is well enough, because as much as these companies spend enticing you to come and eat at these places you got a bunch more people telling you how evil it is. Now I am not going to go list any links for other things for you to read.

If you want to read it I trust you are smart enough to google it yourself.

Now a few years back there was this documentary called "Super Size Me", it was about this guy who obviously has this overbearing vegitarian bitch of a girlfriend that has him eating like a rabbit and probably gave him the option of eating grass and bark or never getting laid.

So what does he do?

Well he does what most men do when faced with that situation, he does what he has to do, and he eats the rabbit food. Of course he gets tired of it, and instead of telling his obviously overbearing vegetarian bitch of a girlfriend, "I ain't going for it! If I want to eat 12 baby cows and wash it down with tiger blood, then dammit Imma do it"

He makes a documentary about how fast food is bad, obviously as a head-fake so he can actually eat it.

We all do it ladies, and you fall for it every time.

Anyway, this documentary was pretty awesome. He is a youtube clip of basically what this guy does for thirty days

So after that, I watched this other documentary called food inc.

This documentary talks about how evil any food product that has a president, CEO, and VP of marketing is in fact the spawn of Satan with no other purpose in life but to pump you full of delicious, inexpensive, and easily accessible poison.

And they did a good job of it too!

While I didn't go full fledged Vegan off of this documentary, I did in fact curb my fast food intake to a screeching halt for about 60 days. Even now, I think I have only eaten at fast food places a handful of times.

By the way, I am not counting quick trip in this tally.

This documentary was crazy, now I can't trust the grocery stores. 100% all natural, Rubbish! Farm raised? Old McDonald didn't have no fish! Organic, huh? I was starting to feel the same way I felt when I was a kid when Shawn Michaels Super Kicked Marty Jennetty through Brutus the barber beefcakes window Wayyyyyy back when, in case you were living under a rock

Oh yeah, I forgot a clip of Food Inc(I got too caught up in the awesomeness of the Rockers).

So what have I been doing to steer myself through this storm of information?

Well I joined a gym, started reading labels, and set some fitness goals. I figure, if I worked harder and cut my calories then I would lose the weight that I got from the year or so of dollar menus, 1.00 draft, .45 cent wings, Chinese buffet, and individually wrapped snacks. Then I see this documentary.

This guy basically puts a middle finger to the above posted documentary and uses a mixture of math and common sense to not so much disprove super-size me, but disprove how he got to his destination. Obviously, this guy doesn't get laid as much as a man that eats grass and bark like their overbearing broccoli headed girlfriend does, but at least he eats what he wants. He even played a race card, and the only thing I could say was, "Well played sir, well played". He called up Morgan and asked to see his food log several times so he could actually see what he ate daily, and low and behold, ol'boy's people were not trying to give up the goods.

I mean, why not? If everything was on the up and up why not.

hmmmmmmmmm

Oh here is a clip from his documentary

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/ifram&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/b&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;e&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p class="MsoNormal"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;I mean, it's not like he is saying stop exercising and eat all the fast food you want, but that is kinda what I felt like he was saying. He went on to talk about how everyone has it all wrong about calories and all of this technical/biological stuff that just makes you feel like no matter what you do it is all for nothing. For every exercise that say's do "X" and you will get result "Y", there is somebody out there that say's "No you don't have to do that at all", It's all genetics! You were doomed from birth!, seriously what are we to do?&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p class="MsoNormal"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Everyone will say there is no short cut, but that is not what all the media says. Show me a "Mens Health" Magazine that shows you how to get rock hard&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;insert&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; in more than 10 days!&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p class="MsoNormal"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Just get out there and sweat. &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p class="MsoNormal"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;I ask myself, "What did the Spartans do, no homo"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/div&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

So what do you do, for every idea about exercising that say's do "X" and you will get "Y" results, you have somebody else telling you that is not true at all you really have to do is "B" to get "Y" results. Then you have people telling you that it is all genetic and you were really doomed from the start.

Eat Low Fat

Eat All THE FAT

No carb

ALL THE CARBS

What is anyone to do? Now, I understand that nothing get's done without effort, but seriously can you take that seriously when every health magazine is guaranteeing results in less than ten days on average to the populous! Whenever I get overwhelmed by all this (dis)information, I ask myself, "What did the Spartan's do(no homo)?"

Then I just get outside and sweat.

KenNitro Vs. Fake People : can it be so simple?

2011-02-18T23:18:00.000-08:00

Fake people are always interesting to me, you know everyone can sit and tell you about how they know someone that is in fact fake, and I am willing to venture if you took the time to read this, it's because you yourself know some fake people.

Truth be told, you are probably fake yourself.

Just as I refer to myself as a "Situational Bad Guy"(I explained that in a blog so I am not going to repeat myself), people are situationally fake(just like you!) The problem you have with other fake people is the same thing that they have with you.

Consistency.

Seriously.

You know, I fake it...I even fake it when other people are faking it, it is one huge imaginary party where everyone is acting as if they are really excited about some variable that in reality they all wish didn't exist. It is really self-serving, fake people can just chalk it right on up and call it a head fake secretly while they know just how much they are flexing.

My problem is that I have learned to leave well enough alone.

So in reality, I am actually enabling the fake people to keep being fake, kind of like a magicians assistant. I mean, they know they aren't really being sawed in half, but they have to act as though they are just as surprised to see their legs moving on their own as they are separated from their lower regions, and they don't even have a sigh of relief when they are joined back together.

See, they are not ignorant of the situation, they are just being fake.

Like most things in life, you got two choices.

You can check it or respect it, but after either choice

you got to god bless it.

Tax return a go-go

2011-01-31T08:49:00.000-08:00

So every year from now until April 14, everyone in the United States gets either happy or depressed about one thing.

TAXES

Now for all my peoples around the world that are not exactly sure what I am talking about, this is the short version. Americans have money taken out of their paychecks every time we get paid, at the beginning of the year, the gov't sends us a W2 and we get it filled out and send it back in and then in a few weeks or so we get a check from the the government.

Honestly, getting a tax return is not a bad thing, unless you are the guy that wrote this

http://money.msn.com/tax-planning/why-i-hate-income-tax-refunds-schnepper.aspx?GT1=33005

See, now here is the thing, I understand if you are making 50 trillion dollars a year and half your paycheck is going to taxes, leaving you with 25 trillion dollars and you are like, damn I don't want to get a tax return because that would mean I have been paying too much during the year and I could have used that money, but now I have to wait to get it back.

Now for the rest of the working population that is essentially living from paycheck to paycheck, The smart move is to get a tax return. Honestly, you work the whole year and you are still broke on the first and the fifteenth of every month, and then sometime between January and april, you get a check for anywhere between 1,ooo to 2,000 or whatever, feels really good.

So seriously, fuck this guy.

KenNitro Vs The Facility: The WAR REPORT

2011-01-16T21:06:00.000-08:00

So there was this huge ice storm that hit Carrollton, and as usual the people of this town and any other town in Georgia did not disappoint. All the bread and ALL the eggs were purchased with the veracity of angry wilder beast. I even went to the store myself, late and I picked up a loaf of bread too. I actually already had eggs, so while I still fell into the madness it was more of a casual walk.

The snow was a crucial moment at the facility and if you read my previous blog you know the decision I made and the perilous journey to work. I along with the “Professional Wild Boyz” did in fact go and “Get dis Money HO!!!!!”

However, in preparation for such an even there was a great email sent that in a very professional said the following “Regardless of the weather, get yo ass to work. There will be repercussions, no one will be over looked.”

It was wild, after I decided that I was going to risk it on the road, I started to get hype. I started to feel like how I guess you should feel if the zombie apocalypse was going to happen and you had a six hour head start on the whole thing. I put together an anti-cabin fever package containing all things necessary for such an event as this epic snowpocalypse.

First on my list was food. I know for a fact that the children of the facility will have their nutritional needs taken care of and just like on airplanes where it says put your air mask on before you help someone else, I had to make sure I had food for me so I can handle all situations at work.

Second, my toothbrush.

Third, a 24 pack of cokes, see the soda fountain might have been available for my caffeine needs, but like I said earlier, this is the cold weather version of zombies coming to eat my brains, I can’t take the chance that the machine is off and I can’t get a coke. I can promise you there would have been a death, and I could prolly tell you right now which child would be made the example and which one would be the object lesson.

Forth, my Xbox 360. This time it was for me. On rare occasions I disable my entertainment hub for the kids but I figured if I am going to be snowed in, I need to have something to give me the idea that I am not at work.

Finally, the mental preparation to know that sleep will be what I am working for not without.

Seriously, I worked about 23 hours and had maybe an hour worth of sleep. Sleeping was not really an option because there is a third shift from 11-7 that had to be covered, but there were enough to where we could sleep in shifts, but I like most of my coworkers would rather go without sleep than not get enough. Around 10 that morning I was coaxed into taking a nap because my actual shift did not start until 3, but I am working the 1^st shift from 7-3. I sleep for about five hours in an office with a locked door, I could actually relax.

I worked my shift and finally made it home Tuesday night/Wednesday morning at 12 am.

What is funny is how some people at work apparently have their nose turned up at the people who made the inverse decision to stay home. Honestly, I don’t blame them. I live 13 miles from work and there are those at work that live 45+ miles from the facility.

I was reading all over facebook how folks suffered from cabin fever and all this snow related nonsense. I would have killed to have been at my house during this stuff, but you know this flat screen tv is not going to pay for itself.

FACT.

KenNitro Vs The Facility Vs The WEATHER: This is for the TV title

2011-01-10T08:52:00.001-08:00

As we all know, the TV title was actually the hardest belt to win in WCW. The match was always the last on the show and the challenger generally had 15 minutes or TV time remaining in order to defeat the champion. A lot of champions, especially Diamond Dallas Page or DDP as us real fans refer as was the king of exploiting this particular rule. I remember as a kid watching this guy not cheat, but take full advantage of the opportunity of the rules set forth. Not to mention the Diamond Cutter, this move was in fact the business because it could come from anywhere at at any moment and then BAM!!!! you are looking like the dude in the orange spandex I mean just so we are on same page here, I am going to give you a little hot youtube action of the man, and you will see that not only could the Diamond Cutter be delivered from any angle of position, but it was a game changer!!!!!

and anyone could in fact get it!

Like Muddy Waters said, "Ain't that a MAN!!!!!"

Well right now, I am in a similar position. Here I am, the facility is thirteen miles away, and the only thing stopping me from coming closer to the flatscreen tv that I want is ice on the road.

The smart move is always the safe move.

The safe move would be for me to stay my ass indoors play this call of duty, and watch dexter.

The pimp move, would be for me to get out there, get this money, like a hungry lion. Cats is on the island counting money like....like....

LIKE THIS NIGGA HUURRRR

Seriously, if Brian Nichols can walk into a court house, and walk out, not because a judge told him he could, but because he decided he did not want to go to jail. Why am I sitting here not gettin this money?

ACT LIKE YOU WANT IT, GO HOME WITH THE TROPHY

I base a lot of decisions around this phrase, sometimes it works out, sometimes not so much, but in the end, I made a decision, which is something a lot of people never really do. So I am going to pack up some sandwiches and teletron and brave this 6-7 inches of snow in Georgia.

I think I get it now

2011-01-09T23:01:00.000-08:00

So collectively we all know certain kinds of people. Hippie's, conservatives, pill heads, douche bags, etc, and right.

And we all know about the site people of wal-mart right?

Well this blog has nothing to do with anything I just mentioned. The other day while out and about before I went in to work, I decided to go to Publix for lunch. I guess you could say Publix is to wal-mart as G.I. Joe is to Cobra.

And we all know people who only shop at Publix if the "Whole Foods" is not an option.

Anyway, I typically don't go to Publix for much because I like most people have a Kroger card and even though the discount is small it adds up and I actually like seeing my final price decrease, even if it is just a little.

At Publix you don't get that.

I remember one time I was at Publix in the produce section and while looking at whatever the fuck I was shopping for this chick in her late twenties early thirties starts up this whimsical conversation, and I just looked at her like

"What the FUCK do you think this is some kind of romantic comedy?"

At that point I knew this Publix shoppers were crazy. I am almost certain no one goes to wal-mart to pick up chicks. Kroger...well I don't shop early enough there to truly get a read on that, but only one of these female Publix shoppers would put themselves out there in the produce section to be picked up...

I'm digressing.

So I stop in for lunch, cause the deli is just as good as quizno's and cheaper to boot! I order the Publix daily special and I wanted to pay for it at the deli so I can eat it in the little section they have there for them, but the guy behind the counter wouldn't ring it up.

He said, "Just keep the box and pay for it at the register"

What?

You mean in this age of identity theft, credit card fraud, and face book stalking, I can go to Publix and post pay for a sandwich? Everywhere else in this town I live in requires you to pay for your purchase before you leave/eat them. So I enjoyed my sandwich and then did a quick walk through of the store because...well prettier people do shop at Publix.

So I get to the checkout line and there is this lady with a shit load of groceries and me with this empty box, now I am prepared to wait in line, but she lets me go ahead of her, which was nice of her, but all it did was put me behind another lady with another cart full of groceries.

I chuckled at the irony

Well that lady, either in a female’s innate sense of competition for men or mere consideration for others also allowed me to go ahead of her also. I was really thrown back. I mean have you seen the news lately? You really can't trust anyone.

As I walked to the car I pondered all that just transpired.

Paid for lunch after I ate it at a grocery deli

Was allowed to go in front of one lady

Was allowed to do it again in front of another lady

What is it with Publix?

Then I realized something.

People at Publix pride themselves on not being like people at wal-mart, and to be honest the difference price is not so high to where people that shop at Kroger and wal-mart could not afford it, just the people that do not want to shop at Kroger and wal-mart will pay for the convenience of not having to go there.

I think that has created this culture of politeness that is just not found at other stores. I mean I can’t speak for publixs elsewhere but the one in Carrollton is the only grocery store that does not have one of the self check-out kiosks that all the other grocery stores have. Instead there is this trust factor that the employee’s of the store have for customers because well…

They don’t look like they shop at wal-mart.

Seriously.

Where did 2010 go?

2010-12-19T22:11:00.000-08:00

No seriously, it seems like I just wrote this blog yesterday.

Read it if you like, but the best part is this:

"Anyway, I just try to be better than what I was before, good or evil, I want to be better at it than before."

I did start learning a new instrument...

I do believe that I have been a better person, but I don't really know what that means past doing good deeds? This year, I have cast out, let in, sinned, forgave, been forgiven, pushed and shoved, hustled, created and destroyed.

I would like to say that it is all in the name of forward progress, but I don't know. Lately, in the last few instances that I have been angry which have been less than five times, I see myself compartmentalizing all of it, and never really purging myself of the actual reason I am angry. I use to think that I needed that, this angst that keeps me on edge.

The proverbial hare in front of the hounds

Anyway, this year has been interesting enough, the good parts of it are

I have a job that I am good at

I have my own apartment

I have my health

I have some of the best friends ever

I think therefore I am

I think I will own 2011

I am going own 2011

RANT

2010-12-18T20:55:00.001-08:00

Sometimes I really don't think I am cut out for this job...

I have patience, as a matter of fact I spent a good part of my life learning that through the lessons taught at the Southeast Martial Arts Center, I generally feel as though in my personal life I weigh my options and make a decision based on what I want and what I can deal with and I roll with it. I have worked at my job(I work with kids facing obstacles) for a little less than a year and I am hear to tell you.

TEACHERS NEED TO GET PAID LIKE PRO ATHLETES.

I spend the better part of the day observing kids and taking notes, seeing patterns of behaviors and learning what makes them tick. I feel like if I can tell you something that is pretty much the real truth about the education. There are two types of kids sitting in the desk in any class room

The kids that want to learn and the kids that don't.

As much as I hate sweeping generalizations, this is what boils to the top.

I'm not talking about the kids that have a hard time getting through lessons, they are truly deserving of help, I am talking about the kids who actively seek to disrupt the learning of others, for no reason other than the fact that they themselves do not want to learn.

Truth is, they want no part of the world we are looking to prepare them for. We are wasting their time and fooling ourselves into thinking that we can change a child's mind who does not want to do good at all, and desires to be rewarded for mediocrity.

Immortal technique has a line in his song, "Dance With The Devil"

"...Ask a nigga doing life, if he had another chance, but then there is always the wicked that knew in advance..."

Honestly, I hate the whole "Label Theory" but Jesus Christ on a cracker, if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it damn sure ain't a T-rex.

I guess what I am saying is that sometimes treatment is not the answer, but jail is.

There Are Only Three Types of Men Out There (as it relates to women)

2010-12-18T10:13:00.000-08:00

I like to write about relationships and people and I like to think that I call things pretty down the middle. My uncle always told me, “To thy own self be true”. I always thought that was some stuff he would say to me to keep me from telling a lie to him, but as I got older I am certain that the life lesson was learning to not lie to yourself even when that is in fact the comforting thing to do. I have come to the point that there are three types of men in relationships. The guys that don’t know, the guys that do know, and the guys that found out. The weak always want to be whatever it is that they aren’t.

When I returned from Korea, I was visiting with my old roommate and his new roommate and I started a conversation about women and how he “Doesn’t want to be the guy that doesn’t know” and we all laughed at the horrid notion that ignorance is bliss, in any situation involving women. If you have read this blog and this one you will see prime examples of “The Guy That Doesn’t Know”. The cold hard truth is that guy is the only one that doesn’t know, reminds me of the emperor’s new clothes.

You remember that story right? It was the flick about the guy whose head was so far up his own ass that some ol hustling ass mofo’s showed up and made him some invisible clothes, but the real pimp shit was that they had his eyes all wide open, telling him shit like, “Only folks on your level can see this fits we hookin you up with” and then they told him if folks couldn’t see it, they was just plum dumb.

Game was on SMASH!

We all know how the story ended…you know looking like a fool wit yo pants on the ground!

I bet the person who coined the phrase ignorance is bliss probably was not strong enough to handle the reality of the situation.

Guys that know, are the sum of their actions, and play things by ear. Protecting themselves at all times never being too close to any situation, but always aware of such situations. Guys that know will be honest with themselves and ask the question, “Why am I angry” and after careful internal discourse a decision will be made. Guys that are generally in the know are what some refer to as “players”. Mainly because of the nonchalant attitude about feelings of others and inability to be anything more than considerate given any situation; I think a better term for them are emotional disconnects. These types can be frustrating for women that do not know how to define them, normal stressors that would indicate emotional connections don’t normally react, not because they are not there, but because they are not always attuned to the females they have relationships with, and that tends to be the underlying cause of issues with men of these types. Also, these types have to deal with a lot of haters…Some want to see you fail; others want to see you take your own medicine, but it’s ok. You already knew that.

The down side to being the guy that knows is that nothing is ever constant. It’s a delicate balancing act keeping ones emotions in check, you spend enough time with anyone and feelings will in fact start to develop, and while if left unchecked they could lead to comfort, and comfort is always a slippery slope, when you get comfortable you lose the edge that you had in the beginning, and when that edge is gone the only other thing left to be

Is the guy that found out.

The guy that found out is at best a transitional phase from not knowing to knowing or from knowing to knowing more, but for the most part the guy that found out

DIDN’T KNOW SHIT

And when they find out that they were the last to know, they tend to get upset with everyone else that knew and didn’t tell them, even then they still don’t get it. At this point you really are looking at a fork in the road. Once you find out you have options, and as we all know options are better than obligations. The options are simple: Leave, Stay, or run.

When you leave, you walk away with nothing but your anger and a wounded ego. Of course, your anger will subside and your ego will heal, but at least you have your dignity.

That by far is more important than your ego.

If you stay, you are now in a position to discuss why this particular bit of knowledge makes you feel the way you do. This may require you to eat your own words, show your own hypocrisy, and maybe just maybe admit that you were wrong.

First, running is not the same as leaving, when people run, they are trying to get back to where they were before they found out. The roads to these forks are long and arduous, and there is no coming back from that.

You want to know some folks that found out?

Jedi’s, yeah…all them found out at the last possible moment and look what happened to them. Oh they thought they knew. If you don’t know the story, it goes something like this:

See these folks was sitting all kinds of pretty in their big rooms picking things up with their minds, so one of them is like, “Man see there is this kid, that is going to bring all this stuff into balance”, so these cats were like, “that’s what’s up” and they go back to chillin.

Meanwhile, the Sith were posted up in the back hittin licks left and right, ya dig putting clones in check, makin death stars, all that shit!

Jedi’s were just chillin.

Aight, so when obi-wan show up with this straight up G named Anakin, and then they started hatin on him. I mean but on the low, palpatine was like, “Maaaannnnn FUCK YODA” so when they started dumping on Jedi’s they was all like

“OOOOHHHH SHIT SON, I’m SCARED AS SHIT, WHAT WE GON DO”

Yoda, straight ran like a little bitch.

Finding out is a lot like pulling teeth too. How many times do you see people with their hands on their face, chopping down pain relief medicine, complaining about a tooth, instead of going to the dentist and getting the bad part over?

Far too many.

Relationships are the same way, and trying to stand on the fine line between knowing and not knowing is uncomfortable at best and at worst it is like getting a tooth pulled,

It hurts, but only for a little bit.

These relationship archetypes are all interconnected; you can’t be one without being the other at some point you won’t know what you are until you accept what you were. Truth is we all want to be wanted more than the others and we people to want us as much as we want them.

Open your eyes and play your position or you could in fact just be playing yourself.

REALLY?

2010-12-11T05:38:00.001-08:00

I think this this whole blogging from my phone may be a little too much

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

KenNitro Vs The Facility: The Revolt That Never Was(part II)

2010-12-02T11:23:00.000-08:00

At last we left, there was a child that acted against the word, and in that one act he changed his fate. His actions on that day brought him the wish that he so desired, but be called a man and be treated as such. His day came, and he stood in front of he who speaks a greater word than me, whose acolytes move swiftly to carry out his word.

The child that would be man saw other men who had and will stand before the word, being among his new peers did not give him the contentment that he so desired. His new desire was now for the old way, the way he fought against, that way was over and a new way was in its place.

As he took his place on the field of battle, He who spoke a greater word saw through the facade and gazed directly through, to the boy behind the mask. He looked down and asked the boy if he knew what it was to be a man, and sheepishly the boy adverted his eyes, realizing his unworthiness to be in the presence of this great word.

So the man, realizing the fate changing action the boy took, refused to turn back time, and act in which he is quite capable of, and instead gave the boy a guide.

I believe the fight is going to happen, but the word desires true understanding, so this boy will have to learn to be a man so that he can understand the word

KenNitro Vs The Facility: Back is Front, Backwards Is Just Forward But In The Other Direction

2010-11-22T20:38:00.000-08:00

As the Good Warrior King That I am to my charges on the Island, even I have to be careful of those of equal position.

No, see I am going to be normal blogging KenNitro, not the Rosetta Stone variant.

See it is stuff like what happened at work not too long ago that prompted me to write the "Why Cage Fighting Is Easier Than Corporate America".

Honestly, I thought I learned my lesson about people and their egos when I worked at airtran, but no I can honestly say no matter what job you have, you will always have people that want to stir shit with a long handled spoon...

Either way, as I have said before, my job requires a thought of forethought in whatever plan of action you take. I work with kids whom have never had shit, and are being taught that there is in fact value in aspiring and being more than shit. In all honesty, you have to spell it out for these kids and make sure you know that they know that we are all on the same page.

Make no mistake, there are no such things as "good" surprises at the facility.

I was asked to come up with a list of expectations for use of a certain Item at the facility, which I sat down and thought past the normal and began to paint a clear picture of what is expected for the use of said item. What happened was a list written so eloquently was created that other people decided to use it after adjusting it to fit there own needs. That being said, someone for some reason took offense to the list, and instead of talking with me who wrote it, or even the person who asked me to create such a list.

Instead they go to our boss and drop it under his door with some snitch like sticky not attached to it...

Anyway, I am brought into the office and told about it, we both laughed at how some people "Do to much" and it turns out really being not enough.

So the bigger boss sends out another list for the use of said Item, and it looks like he just took mine, removed all the sarcasm and bold truth and sent it out as if it was the gospel itself. Honestly, if the bigger boss would have had one already made I would't have to had made one.

Reminds me of something someone really wise said,

‎"SO THERE I WAS...", The Sage has once again been held in a perplexed state as another A@#B@# ignites the flame of complete incompetence. Holy Sh#$ for brains, how many more trips to the Ilse of F@#%nuts' will it take for those to realize they make the job harder than it was to begin with.Suprise no pebble weedhopper!!.Hatfuscious 2010 a.d."

KenNitro Vs The Facility: The Revolt That Never Was

2010-11-16T14:00:00.000-08:00

As I have said before, I rule the island with a firm and righteous fist. All the inhabitants learn to spend their time maintaining or gaining my favor, for the word is law. That being said, there was a revolt. Throughout history, people have risen against their oppressors in order to carve out freedom from the soulless flesh of those that would seek to subjugate them.

At times, this is not only the best, but the only course of action.

On the island ruled by the Good/Warrior King Nitro-Dr. Doom-Megatron, revolt is neither tolerated nor necessary. The word is law, the word is good, the law is good. As usual there are those that seek to demonstrate their might and resist, testing the limits of the word which is law, mostly in order for reassurance of their safety.

Sometimes, just sometimes, the children of the facility seek to put themselves alongside those who speak the word, the word that is law, the word that is good, the law is good. These children who foolishly resist the word which is law find themselves as object lessons for those that follow the word as to why following the word is best. If these children would think before they speak and act, the wonders they could create, I ponder this daily as I watch my children live.

One child starred into the abyss, and they blinked. The child managed to force those who speak the word, the word that is law, the word that is good, the law that is good, to speak a new word. In the moment the word was spoke, the child was no longer the master of his own fate.

It was and is a sad day.

I speak the word, the word is law, the word is good, the law is good, but I do not speak the word alone. There are others like me who are as different as clouds in the sky, but we all speak the word. As we conversed about the new word that was spoken, many kept silent. The word was law, the word is good, the law is good. A few spoke out against the word, for reasons pertaining to things that may or may not change the landscape of the island, but once a word has been spoken it cannot be undone.

So now the child will have to stand before those that speak the word, not as a child, but as a man. In the end I guess the child got what he wanted, just not how he wanted. The Man, now in full understanding of his situation asked to be a child again, but it was too late, I who spoke the word cannot change the word, I am thankful that I cannot undo what is done.

I will be there to speak, not in defense of the child, but in support of the word. The word is strong and does not need to be defended, and now the child who would be a man and resist the word now must face the word as a man and fight again to be called child.

The child that had the wish of manhood granted was also given the gift of fear, we shall see how he endures.

KenNitro Vs. the Facility: Hold that, number Zero

2010-08-07T08:01:00.000-07:00

As I am sure in any profession, sometimes your job gets in the way of the real work. The youths I am in charge of come from a myriad of backgrounds, but one thing is even across the board from the oldest to the youngest and even surpassing socio-economic boundaries:

These kids will in fact break bad on you, and you have to be ready.

Now I don’t work in a war-zone, most days don’t even seem like work but it all balances out. When these kids can no longer control their behavior, they have to be handled so they do not injure themselves or others. This is no secret and anyone that works at the facility is well aware of the possibility of getting into a hold. Normative culture throughout the facility has changed the context of the word, “Restraint” and “Hold”, but regardless you are going to get one so my advice to all the neo’s is hurry up and get you two or three really quick.

Let the children know that you are not only, not afraid but you are willing to do the paperwork. Peace through strength, strength through consistency of actions, thought, word, and deed. In the end, the children will thank you for it.

Consistency sometimes equals safety

Recently, a new kid was brought to us. They were different because there was almost no “honeymoon” phase. The actions of this child were completely unnecessary.

But I am looking at it from the wrong angle.

See, when these kids act out, it is not always a reaction to external stimuli, a lot of times it is a manifestation of their own inner turmoil, expressed through the medium of violence. The only way these kids know to express their feelings of fear, anger, and frustration is to destroy. It’s like a pressure valve, these kids in an attempt to control their anger and behavior hold it in. They will hold it in and in and in, until they have to release the pressure so they can make it through the rest of the day.

The kid in questions was restrained several times in less than two weeks, why they felt the need to act out is beyond me, but if I had to guess I would say that the establishment of boundaries was necessary in order for him to feel safe.

Here is the logic:

I am new à I don’t want to be bullied àI will bully others to avoid this àMr. Kenneth’s tolerance of bullies is abnormally low à I am not allowed to bully others à No one is going to bully me, I am safe

Makes sense sort of?

So now, after we establish that particular standard of living we had to adjust some other aspects of this kids attitude, but I can say with all confidence that he and I have an understanding that keeps the day going smooth.

There was another instance where a child got into a restraint and for several minutes attempted to best me and a co-worker in a battle of wills. As soon as the child exerted all of their energy, they very calmly said, “Ok, I’m done. Y’all can let me up, I just needed to burn off some energy”

I was like WHAT!!!! DUDE, I could have taken you outside later today, but instead you want to create paperwork for me! They apologized and went to their rooms.

In my opinion restraints and the ability to restrain is an important part of the therapeutic process, the kids at the facility have lived lives without boundaries and without the forethought of consequences of their actions. The short-term consequences for positive and negative actions are just as important as the long term consequences. We all want the kids to do the right thing and not the wrong thing, but not because there is a reward or punishment, but because the right thing is always the right thing to do.

But of course, others disagree.

Numbers are always a favorite topic of leadership, we had “x” amount of these and “x” amount of those etc. The leadership’s favorite number for restraints is always ZERO, mine too. The difference is that they only like that number, and I am ok with numbers 1-5.

A child getting into a restraint is a child’s expression, in order to avoid a child getting into a restraint, we must show the child alternate ways of coping with their negative emotions while waning them off of the one copping skill that they have only known.

Violence

I sometimes get communications from the facility’s overlords about how they want us to use more de-escalation techniques to avoid restraints with kids. Ok, but this creates a different kind of logic. Remember (x= person)

I am angry at(x)àI am not allowed to harm(x)àMr. Kenneth’s tolerance of this behavior is abnormally high, because he has spoken to me more than three times about not harming(x)àI will now throw everything not nailed to the ground in order to express myself,àMr. Kenneth has allowed me to do so,àI run this facility

While doing this will in fact create the number ZERO, it will also create a shift in the perception of power.

The shift in the perception of power(among other things), is what got them here in the first place.

Another Music Blog

2010-06-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

Ok, so a while back, I posted a blog with some examples of good music that I listen to. This blog is SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT because I am still giving out good music, this time I am slowing it down a bit. This blog is all about the music to "Get it IN" to.

Seriously, we as men do so much just to get laid, and then ruin it by not having anything to keep the mood going.

Now music is not going to get you there alone, but the lack of it can in fact slow your progress down. So I am going to share with you all a few of my Fav's that keep the ladies distracted so they don't see me taking off my shoes.

Before we get started, I do want to say that if you start the music right before you start making your moves, you started too late. Timing gentlemen, timing

First up

Robin thicke, this mans first album could in fact do all the work for you

In my opinion the only other artist to pull this off is Maxwell.

Speaking of which Maxwell should be a staple in your collection. This contribution is from his album Embrya, which I think was better than Urban Hang Suite! YEAH I SAID IT! So check it out

Here is something from his first album, you all can be the judge as to which is better, they will all get you to the same destination.

Honestly, these three alone should get the job done, but you are anything like me your palate is really versatile so we are going to cut an angle right quick.

Everyone that knows me, knows of my weakness for Spanish and Latino Women, so in my arsenal I keep a one or two WMDS to show that I am paying attention to their needs, so I can get to the maxwell!!!

UNO

This next one is a personal favorite of mine Chris Isaak

This one is a given, but I suggest placing this towards the end of the playlist...

To be honest, PRINCE will trump any list a person can come up with, that is why it is so necessary to have him on the list.

And unfortunately the same can be said for this guy(just the part about having to be on the list).

Before we get to that here is another Prince song

Ok, as I was saying now a days having this guy on the squad only hurts because it is noticeable when you don't

Now this right here is only for the advanced. If you are asking why it is for the advance, it is cause you are not advanced.

How could anyone expect to make any babies without this lady in the mix

grrrrrriiiiiiittttttsssss

Well I think I have given enough game away for free.

Enjoy!

disclaimer*

Like I said before, music only hurts if it is the wrong song at the wrong time, but anything is better than nothing. So if you have something you want to play....like this next one....that's really all about you...I mean they got like fiftylevn songs for them...just make sure you play it after the Prince songs...you know

The Facility: The only easy day was yesterday.

2010-06-24T17:48:00.000-07:00

“Working here is not a job, it’s an art, and you have to practice it everyday”
Mr. “Big” John

So when I finally put my application in at the facility, I kind of had an idea of what to expect. I already knew that most of my friends had already spent some time at some point working there and that if I was there not only would I be working in an awesome environment, but I would be increasing the coolness factor there by another 33 percent. I also knew that I would be working with at risk youth of varying degrees.

So the short version would be I get to work with all the guys I have been bouncing with in another lifetime per se, in an environment where nurturing and violence take place on a semi daily basis, and there is free soda involved!!!!
Where do I sign?

I mean some people have these strange ideas about therapy and treatment for children with varying degrees of mental illness, but truth be told, SHITS REAL OUT HERE SON!!!! And what I speak on from here on out is what I witness first hand and participate in on a daily basis. Now through a series of events I was not placed with “The Wild Bunch Professionals” but placed in a same same but different scenario that while not as appealing as the above described was still a better deal that what I had.

I was placed on the girls unit, I mean how bad could it be? What is the difference between working at the facility with girls that are “Crazy” and the women in my personal life?

Prescription medication and free soda, FACT
Moving on, on day two of this new chapter I called my main man Ronnie Johnny AKA Dr. OCTAGON and shared with him a story about a girl who gets mad and starts bleeding from her nose.

Easy enough right?

Well when I say mad I mean demonic possession angry, and one of her coping mechanisms singing.

You still with me?

Now imagine a girl who gets so angry that she starts bleeding from the nose and refuses to accept anything to clean it off, as a matter of policy we treat all as if they have HIV or any blood pathogen that you want to imagine, suit yourself.
Now if you have ever seen a horror movie where some nosey ass white folks is all up in some house where some kids got killed a long time ago or some shit like that, and you here this really beautiful music being sung by children who in any other context would be beautiful, but since we in this dark ass, evil ass, decrepit ass house it is downright creepy? You know, right before the one black man gets killed?

So all of this is happening at once while she is making circles in the pool of blood that has accumulated on the floor, all is quite except for this song that she keeps singing, and at 10:30 in the evening on an otherwise quiet milieu
Mr. “Big” John opens the door to the opportunity room and shouts “HEY STOP THAT!!! That is just creepy” and she does just that. After a few moments she comes out and gets some paper towels and cleans up her blood and goes back to bed.

Dr. OCTAGON says to me, “Congratulations, from here on out everything else easy.”
And he laughed.

Last week, I was doing what I do and this girl says to me, “I don’t like your name”. At first glance, this is really a smart ass comment made by a smart ass kid that should be responded back in an equally smart ass manner. My response was simply,

“Oh well”

Your name brings up my issues is the next volley from the upstart, and so now the game is afoot! I roll my eyes and say, “just what issues does my name bring up” her response,

My rapist name is Kenneth.

GAME, SET, MATCH

I was caught off guard, not so much by the comment of it, but the casualness in which she said it. None the less, I was at this point the one thing that I am almost never at any point

Speechless.

Everything else with the exception of a few things could be thrown under the category of “Mean Ass Kids” cause seriously, teenagers are jerks anyway. So if you take a bunch of teenagers who are already jerks and sprinkle in a mental illness of some sort then most of your day is spent quelling gossip and breaking up cliques and removing power from their social hierarchy.

This is a delicate procedure because as long as you can keep the “Alpha” in pocket, the day can go very smoothly. The “Alpha” can in fact keep the otherwise nonsense of the “beta’s” from getting to you simply because they have no interest in seeing how it will play out. Which means you are free to handle the other business of the day, without being bothered with questions that everyone already knows the answers too, sounds like a secretary doesn’t it? Yeah, but no, the flipside to this is that at any moment her beta’s will squad up and feed into the attitude that the alpha has about any situation positive or negative. Which depending on how you play it can be good, bad, or downright ugly, which is fine my team works together and we are more than capable of handling anything that the kids want to throw, but the struggle is still there, and that’s why we are there too I imagine. Teaching kids the delicate lessons of tact, true leadership, why the truth is constant, see kids learn more from watching the authority around them, this is probably why a lot of them are where they are(it almost always goes back to the parents), and we as the adults, the authority, the positive role-models have to be worthy of the trust that these kids hold dear because at the end of the day, everyone else that they have given it too has failed them.

Writers Block

2010-04-25T19:22:00.000-07:00

You know I have not been blogging for a good part of 2010, I could come up with a few different reasons, but it really it comes down to one.

Writers block.

What causes that is different for every writer I guess, but for me, the mundane is my bane of existence. From factory work(an epic blog that I am currently working on)to my new job that I will simply call “The Facility”. What “The Facility” gives me is more than a paycheck…but it gives me that human interaction that gave me the ingredients to cook up the likes of FRONTLINE: an expat that’s back and IT IS WHAT IT IS.

So here is my first offering from this new kitchen.

The Bad Guys had it right

So a few weeks ago I was on facebook and my friend Borboleta had an interesting face book status that like most good facebook status if it can get more than ten or so more responses you know you have a good one. Well the long and short of it is that one of the responses was that “Disney movies gave me a horrible impression of what I should look for in men” or some shit like that.

I’m at work at “The Facility” and I am talking with my co worker about how having plans to have something to call an audible against is better than having no plan at all, my co worker is like “dude, having a plan is cool, unless you are on a road trip and no plan is the best way to go” and of course I am in agreement, but having no plan is in fact a plan. I started thinking, how over the last few years I have had plans that for some reason or another the wheels always came off. Then as we kept on with this seeming pointless conversation I said to myself, you know who else had a plan?

COBRA!

That’s right COBRA a ruthless organization bent on taking over the earth.
Seriously, every day as a kid I would watch COBRA and they had a plan, a plan while not nice for any reason the M.A.S.S device or even the B.E.T come to mind, they had a plan, and that is way more than what anyone else generally has when doing anything these days, and guess what happened.

G.I. joe comes right on in and ruins it.

What plan did G.I. joe ever have!!!!

That’s right, no plan. They waited, they waited until COBRA got there shit going and then they jump out with the monkey wrench.
You know who else does that?

Haters.

Not that I am saying that G.I. joes are a bunch of haters, but seriously haters wait around for you to do something, anything, so they can hate.

Anyway, my coworker was like dude! When you are that awesome, you don’t need a plan. I was like yeah, but –He’s like no, what you don’t understand is that DUKE was the plan.

Duke was the plan?

Wait, you mean to tell me that patience and planning will always give way to fast action and brash decision making? How messed up is that? I understand the concept of nothing ventured nothing gained, but you can’t go all in on every hand.
I get it though, you can’t plan everything out, but you can’t leave it all up to chance.

Amazing isn’t it.

2010: New Years Resolutions, Reflections, and Hindsights

2010-01-05T00:49:00.000-08:00

Wow.

Just Wow.

I made it through 2009 to see 2010, thank god. Not for nothing, 2009 really sucked balls for your boy, and when I finally publish the "What I did for summer vacation" blog you all will be able to experience through my writing the massive suckfest which was my 2009.

This year is going to be different. I just like everyone else that graduated with me in like May of 1998 will be hitting the big 3-0.

That's right, I am turning 30

I have done a lot of things but I have never turned 30. I have been 29 twice(seriously ask me about it, it was legit), but I have never been thirty.

I remeber back in the day a friend of mine was telling me how we were living in the "end of days" and how soon we will see the battle of the "Haves" and the "Have Nots". I can't lie, I meditate on where I am and where I am going to be, I even look at people that are younger and maybe a little older and I am like, "Damn, they really have their shit together"

Then I realize that the grass is always greener on the otherside.

So I don't dwell. I understand that everyones path is not going to be my own.

I have resolutions this year, which is different because I hate the whole resolution aspect of new years. Seriously, if you are a douche then why would you change the first of NEXT year, why not strive to not be a douche once it is known that you are a douche.

You can substitute douche for anything else you want...

Anyway, I just try to be better than what I was before, good or evil, I want to be better at it than before. Oh, I am digressing, I did decide that I am going to do some things this year

I am going to learn a new language
I am going to learn how to play an instrument

I know, this is a short sweet list. Most people use their resolutions as pavement to hell, but my road there is fine...just fine.

Well, I am acutally about six beers and three shots in and everyone else is asleep and I am still dtinking. I will have a little more later on, but right now I am just stretching out a bit.

Frontline Vol 10: I remember you, Bwahahahahah!

2009-09-02T20:16:00.000-07:00

You know, I rarely do a blog on relationships. And anyone that dares say that they know everything there is to know about relationships is a liar. Human relationships are easily the most dynamic unearthed treasure in the world. So it is really impossible to talk about over all relationships, but it is quite possible to talk about certain universal aspects of them.

The other Monday, while enjoying the ritualistic domination of the mouth breeding masses by showing our intellectual dominance through the venue of “Trivia Night”. I saw something that reminded me of something else that was really funny.

The couple sitting behind me, this guy…Oh man this guy, he was sitting there with his girlfriend laughing, eating buffalo wings, staring into her eyes.

Having a good time,

Having a real good time.

I paused, and looked at my good buddy Bender the Great and said, “Hey, isn’t that the guy who was up at the mansion crying cause because our buddy Blake F(not “B”) fucked his girl”

The whole table stopped because everyone was like, “Damn dude, I would have never thought about that again ever in my life had you not brought it up”

Then we all remembered that night of nights when this man, this broken man was at the bar, drinking the liquid courage to build up his strength to confront the other man, the current bane of his existence, and the knowledge that his girl has been doing the freaky deaky with a guy whom he has no chance of besting in any type of competition.

You sir have been cuckold by a stronger male. We see it on wild discovery on the discovery channel and we don’t feel bad for the turtle, the baboon or the tiger, why should we feel bad for the human?

That night was hilarious, I don’t even think Blake F knew that he knew, and the swagga of not giving a shit only frustrated the young man who just knew that he knew. Me and the rest of the Wild Bunch sat on that day and laughed the way we do.

And then we all moved on with our lives.

Then many moons later on a day like any other he happens to be in a bar with a group intellectual thugs with a memory for remembering the damnest of all situations is sitting across from him.

Oh we got LOUD.

Everything was a set-up for a joke with this guy. “…damn Ken do you think about this shit all day?” my response was “well, it’s not like I am the only one, I am sure he thinks about it every day too!!!” Bender chimes in with, “I bet she does too”. I sat there and looked at the table at his friends, his compadres, amigos, chin-gu’s, fam, crew, whatever they want to call themselves and I shook my head. Cause they all know how dirty this chick did their boy, and they are all acting like it’s all good.

Key word here is acting, you know good and well that all of them got the same jokes we have, but we are the only ones throwing them in the air.

So All I have to say is that you don’t want to be that guy.

I mean because if you are they guy that knows then you can rest assure that everyone else knows too.

FACT

So what happens next? Well it is Carrollton and the “Wild Bunch” and I were out doing our Friday bar hop session and I ran into Blake and we laughed all over again.

See, when you are that guy people laugh in front, behind, and on the side.

What do you do with that?

Now, I have had girls and sometimes guys use the phrase, “Well, in the end he won…he is the one with her”

I hear that.

You know, he won the race, she with him, blah blah blah. I have an honest question “what did he really win?”

I think in my follow up to this, I will attempt to tackle that phrase He won phrase, that those type of women and those types of men will say.

Cause I think it’s bullshit!

From the office of KenNitro: There is no good music

2009-08-18T20:11:00.000-07:00

So there is no good music out there. Seriously, this summer has been the worst period for new music, so what I am going to do is give my readership some good stuff to jam out too when you want to get down with something that isn’t auto-tuned up or stuffed with swag and any other new term everyone in the music industry is using to pimp their played out agenda’s on a suspecting up apathetic population.

First up we have an all time favorite top five on anyone with a diversified musical taste a man that needs no introduction. So I am going to give you three of my favorites.

Henry Rollins.

Rollins Band - Love's So Heavy
Uploaded by jesus_lizard. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

Now, that man knows how to get a message across to his.

Next up, is a mix. Of Apathy, Esoteric, and Celph titled. They all have solo careers but they and some others are apart of two super groups Demigodz and Army of the Pharaohs. What is cool about these cats is that they and a few other groups are attempting to keep hip-hop legit, and not this pop-hop that is all to dependent on a hook and a beat. Also, I did Apathy's ability to rhyme over 80's rock remixes effortlessly, Celph Titles skillz at consistently finding the most hardcore way to describe how many guns and what he is going to do with them.

Enjoy

Eso is also strong enough to hold a track on his own as well as handle ALL OF DEF JUX...yeah I said it.

Celph completely DOMINATING this track with no regard for human life

Switching gears, I personally enjoy anything by Kool Keith, Dr. Octagon, or any of his persona's.

This is one of my all time fav's right here, and it is also on my playlist simply entitled "Baby"

Here is some Kool Keith, don't get him confused with Dr. Octagon

Dr. Dooom. Now this was back when No Limit basically had the whole rap game on lock, a few rappers out there had the balls use satirical no limit(esque) album covers.

It is very important that you do not get the three mixed up and confused.

Wow, so this is a short glimpse of what is in the file folder called "Music" on my hard drive. So I hope you enjoyed this, if not, listen until you like it!

I'm pretty sure I may have another one of these again, but I am going focus a little bit more. Here is a hint

Wise & Proper: The Best Clothing Line Ever

2009-07-30T17:42:00.001-07:00

Style and Sophistication have never been so harmonious than when her hands touch fabric. If a beautiful sonnet could be something to be held in the hand, I am certain that it would be any one of her creations from her fall and spring lines.

Who am I talking about? I am speaking of none other Wise &Proper’s very own, Ms. Elizabeth Law. An example of independence, she is at every stage of the creative process, and at the end of it there is a creation that is classy, sexy, and ready for the office. All without sacrificing a key ingredient to any ones clothing choices, style.

For women her clothing enables its owners an experience of class and sophistication that celebrates the feminine form. These clothes are chic, yet still leave something to the imagination. For men, we now have an all around winner for all things involving gifts ranging from birthdays to apologies and all things in-between.

Currently her designs are available at over nine boutiques in the Vancouver –British Colombia area. Soon her website http://www.wiseandproper.com/ will have an online store available so that people worldwide can experience the dream that she is living.

With education and world experience, Elizabeth Law has larger plans for Wise&Proper,
while donating a percentage of her profits to the Canadian breast cancer awareness foundation, an organization that she has participated in to raise money before she was a fashion designer, she hopes that she will be able to do more than make people look and feel pretty. Elizabeth Law’s designs are the perfect balance of style, sophistication, and consciousness, guilt free fashion is what this is all about.

http://www.wiseandproper.com/

Frontline Vol.9: I can't make this stuff up

2009-07-19T23:11:00.000-07:00

So, this past Saturday I decided to check out the new bar in Carrollton “The den” with my buddy Dolph, this bar is like most others of its kind: Booze, a band, an assortment of women from scary skinny to scary over weight and then any combination of the two with prison tats and missing teeth. Nothing to out of the ordinary, but I digress

I sat there drinking a pitcher with Dolph and our insanely gorgeous friend Gina whom was already there laughing and catching up on summer adventures in the weeks since the mansion closed. Since that lovely establishments closed its doors everyone has been struggling to find a place to lose the loves that they have and find new ones…at least for the evening at least. None the less, I always enjoy hanging with the bar crowd, hell they made a show about it (cheers reference).

So anyway, there are this townie’s that fancy themselves as a dance group. AS IF. At most they are a group of guys that come to the bar to not drink but demand space on the dance floor with the promise of cool dance moves, when all I have seen is a bunch of shake dancing and ticking…. They have one legit b-boy in the group but that is about all they have. So as we are discussing the above mentioned one of the bartenders comes over and advises us that “It is soooo about to be on”.

What’s about to be on?

This was the question on my mind, lately I am all about watching bouncers do their job and cosigning the bravery involved in wrestling drunken adults to the ground, but this was so not what “it” was. What it was has no real explanation, and I have to qualify this before I go any further by saying this:

You know me, I say a lot of funny things, but this shit I cannot make up.

The answer to the above question was that the group of guys dancing was in fact beefing with another group of dancers because….WELL WHO GIVES A FUCK REALLY

But, apparently they use to be one crew and there was a split and now there are two groups and they don’t like each other and they could get to fighting. I looked over the bartender at the two guys dancing on each other and only two words came to mind.

That’s gay.

So, the sociologist came out and it was time for my favorite game. Participant Observation with control factor KenNitro, I wanted to see just what all this beef was about and how could a guy that was vogue(ing) and another guy that was popping and locking could find a way to actually start fighting. So as I stood on the edge of the circle I realized that I need to get in with this core group…

What could I do?

I had limited options of space and I’m not equipped to handle a b-boy outside of the 1st round, I didn’t have a partner to put their hands under my arms from behind and do jazz hands while I move my head from left to right, no one was c-walking.

Ladies and Gents, I was in the shit! I am out there in the circle with no way out but my wits and my mad skills that I got from every 80’s dance movie. So I did what any one would do.

I did the bill cosby.

Oh, you don’t know what that is? YOUTUBE ACTIVATE!!!!!!

Well…Gina pulled me out but the fact still remains

Men in dance groups that are beefing with other men and Va jay jay are not a factor in it is gay…or at least fairly odd.

To think, I was all but done with the frontline series. I guess I needed another bar to go to.

Han-gul people in Migu

2009-07-16T22:27:00.000-07:00

I had a great conversation about one of my favorite topics

What I would do if…

This time the if was what if the Korean people that I know and love were to come visit me in the U.S. what I would do to keep them entertained. I imagine the first thing I would do is pick them up from the airport and take them out to get some Korean food. I assure you, that would be the last Korean meal they would have, but it would reassure my guest that there is food available is everything else disagrees with them.

First we would go to the Georgia Aquarium,http://www.georgiaaquarium.org, It is the largest one in the world with over with over 8 million gallons of water and whale sharks!!!! Depending on the persons attention span for sea creatures this could take up the better part of the day, but luckily there are tons of things to do at night.

Now since we are already in the downtown area, we might as well stop by the “World of Coke”www.worldofcoca-cola.com , here my Korean guest would learn the history of such a wonderful creation such as coca-cola and there they will learn to hate the vile pepsi and all of it’s evil offspring. I have never been here, so it would be an adventure for all involved, I think things are more fun that way.

No trip to the ATL can even begin to be had unless you go to The Varsity, www.thevarsity.com, the food is guaranteed to fill up your guts and destroy them all at once, but it’s about the adventure, so even though the food is horrible for you it still taste good going down.

Also, a visit to little five points, , it is a place that kind of exists in its own world, unlike any that you have seen. Who’s homeless or hipster is a game that I like to play while there, but there are tons of shops that have things you really couldn’t find anywhere else. Awesome restaurants www.l5p.com, even cooler bars surround you. Even just walking around is entertainment enough.

Centennial park, www.centennialpark.com, is also a gym of the city of Atlanta, there is always something to do and it is most likely always free. It is an awesome place to people watch and any visitor would have awesome time taking pictures and things of that sort.

What would a trip to Georgia be without going to a Braves game, http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=atl people put their lives on hold to watch this team play and the game is only half of the fun. Seeing it live you get to participate in events such as the Dance “Cam” where if the camera is on you, you have to get up and dance. The real game is to see how long you can keep the dance camera on you. Oh, and it is a site to see. As well as the Kiss “Cam”…well you get the picture

Now before we leave ATL, we got to go to the strip club. That would be an event within itself, showing my Korean friends some of the intrinsic differences between Booking rooms in Korea and Strip Clubs in the U.S. Then I would take it a little further and bring them to Strokers, www.strokersclub.com, or Magic City, http://magiccity.com, to give one aspect of Atlanta.

Now of course, I would have to bring them to Carrollton, in order to visit the place where I live, which would be more important to my guest than me(ask anyone that lives here). Here we would visit the university that gave me the piece of paper that enabled me to leave the country and teach in the first place The University of West Georgia, www.wesga.edu, and then we would venture to the square hopefully on a happening evening and demonstrate how the bar scene is really “Same Same, but Different” in the U.S. Of course, whomever that is with me will be immensely popular because they will be completely exotic to all those around and will spend lots of time answering dumb questions like, “Are you from North Korea?” and “How would you say my name in Korean?”(ok I made the last one up, but you get it).

Friends from abroad can’t the whole picture until you come to south Georgia, things are way different and a lot slower, and the air is better too, so a mini road trip would be in order to Waycross, Ga . Here not only would they be able to see where I lived, but I could seriously take them to see things such as an “American” farm and GATORS!!!!

That is right, I said GATORS, and Waycross has a national wildlife refuge called the Okefenokee Swamp. It is 700 square miles of un fragmented intact wilderness. People come from all over to camp, Kayak, and site see in this place. The kicker is that live gators still walk around, not trained by any means, but they are use to people walking around. Seriously, these gators roam freely through the park and this is what really gives the park something that other places like it don’t, A CHANCE YOU COULD DIE!!!! A person really can’t buy that anywhere else.

I think I have the site seeing covered.

As far as food goes, there are thousands of different places to eat, but I know of a few industries that we would have to partake of in order to truly give my guest a trip to remember.

BUFFETS!!!!!!!

Yes, I don’t know who invented it, but I am sure Georgia perfected it, there are so many of them , a person could be over-whelmed by the aspect of ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT. So a person has to have someone with them to guide them, and that would defiantly be me!

We would have breakfast at Golden Corral, www.goldencorral.com, the breakfast here is completely off the chain! They make Omelets right in front of you will everything you could ever want on them. The food display is also done very well and the servers almost make you forget that you actually had to go and get the food yourself this place is kinda of like V.I.P.s, except that you don’t have to buy a set in order to truly enjoy it.

After that, we would go work it all off at a gym somewhere, while I know I can eat buffet food all day and not break a sweat, My guest may feel the need to burn off some calories, because the carbohydrate load starts at CiCi’s Pizza, www.cicispizza.com. Unfortunately, there is no sweet potato on pizza’s in the U.S. but they have just about everything else and pizza is really expensive in Korea (at least I thought so),so an opportunity to gorge oneself on such things is always appreciated.

Wing night, MAN (and women), weekly put their issues aside for one thing, WINGS!!!! This would be great for the guys because they would be able to do some participant observation of a really big part of male culture in the U.S., the consumption of large amounts of wings and beer! Every man worth a damn has a story of how they ate more wings than anyone else or at least how they tried too. And now, you will too!

Sushi, this delightful dish is aplenty in the ATL and I have two places where I eat on the regular Hong Kong on Mondays for the dollar sushi night and Rusan’s www.ru-sans.com (this is the Nashville restaurant, but it is the same everywhere). It is the loudest sushi place ever and they have an all you can eat buffet for a few hours every day. The deal is that you have to eat the rice. You can even purchase a set of chopsticks that you can leave there for when you come back.

Of course there will be other meals involved, but these are the ones that my friends would have to have in order to get the full experience.

And to End the trip, we would do the only thing that could really end this trip, SIX FLAG, www.sixflags.com, Now I have been to songdo and I have rode the Viking, but I promise you the experience of outdoor rollercoaster’s at this location will be worth it. This would defiantly be an all day event because my friends would want to ride everything at least twice.

Now, if my guest happened to be some of the beautiful ladies that I met while abroad, then I imagine that I could take off the strip clubs or NOT, you know I’m flexible.

So this could be the KenNitro vacation package that changes your life. Now, I know I have friends literally all over the world(non-korean) and I don’t want you all to feel left out either, I promise if you come and visit me all this and more could be yours!

Frontline VOL 8: Trapped in the Matrix

2009-06-18T22:32:00.000-07:00

Wow, three blog post in one week. I’m just saying, normally I try to spend some time out in the field doing some participant observation in order to get something to write about, but to be honest I can stay in and just read the paper and see that the world is fucked seven ways from Sunday, and I don’t think any sane person can disagree with me.

You know I was reading an article that someone wrote about the inherent differences between Stallworths DUI murder and Michael Vicks Ultimate Dog fighting league. The technicalities come out like thieves in the night when you get lawyers talking about the differences in the two cases.

Here is one excerpt:

“"It's hard to compare apples and oranges," …"You're dealing with two different systems. You're dealing with a federal system in Vick's case; you're dealing with the state system in Florida."

Can I go on record and say that in Florida a DUI is a second degree felony with most people getting at least 10 years for every death. And we all know that federal cases are a much better route to run than state ones

NOT!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously Michael Vick’s case was a federal court and he still got more time that what normal people get for a DUI in state court.

Sure, I will go so far as to say that with money comes privilege, but to have such a blatant show of the power of the dollar still astonishes me. He killed a man and cut a deal that keeps him out of jail and the family suing him in civil court…for an undisclosed amount of money. The best part of the whole charade is that the media keeps harping on the fact that his 15 year old daughter wanted the whole thing to be over with.

So far, we got one man with a death of a human and he gets 30 days in jail and an undisclosed paycheck

Ok, so what’s next

A woman in Minnesota is being forced to pay out 1.9 million for downloading music? Seriously the RIAA is still upset about people being able to try before you by music. First off, there is no good music going around right now, so how can stealing garbage be a crime. Second, the average person may make a million dollars over their lifetime so I have no idea where the beast is going to get the other 900k, and third, this is the best part

The stupid songs are only 99 cent on Itunes in the first place.

Then we got PETA.

You know, I am ok with people doing whatever they want, as long as they do it with sincerity and consistency. What I don’t get is PETA crawling up the President’s ass over swatting a fly and chuckling about how awesome it was to be able to do that. Seriously, the president is answering questions about N. Korea and the cache(supposed)of chemical weapons, our struggling economy, the Asian chicks in N.Korea jail, and who knows what, and PETA finds it necessary to complain about that? I went to PETA’s website and I noticed that there was jack about the cat killings in Florida on their message boards, and I even checked the first five pages. No, I didn’t look until I found one, because this story is so new it really should jump at you.

Instead there is link to a Michael Vick article about how they don’t think he is truly remorseful for what he did, and that he is in fact the scum of the earth blah blah blah

Meanwhile the guy who actually killed a human being is going to be speaking to kids about how sorry he is for what he did.

Does anyone else see something wrong here.

Sources

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/200407-donte-stallworth-vs-mike-vick-its-better-to-kill-people-than-dogs

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/18/minnesota.music.download.fine/index.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31422688/ns/us_news-weird_news/?GT1=43001

http://www.examiner.com/x-5919-Norfolk-Crime-Examiner~y2009m5d21-Like-most-criminals-Michael-Vick-is-only-sorry-he-got-caught

http://www.peta.org/index.asp

Frontline Vol 7: I Can't Call it

2009-06-16T22:29:00.000-07:00

I like to think that I am above the craziness off the world we live in…just like everyone else in the world. So if I think I can’t be effected by the world around us, then I am sure we all think the same thing, which means we are all wrong as fuck.

Plain and simple, folks are still seriously trapped in the matrix and anyone willing to proclaim that the emperor has no clothes is locked away in the deepest darkest dungeon with the key lost like a prom dates virginity…a year ago.

I have two things to exhibit the first is a story that I found on CNN about a kid who has been arrested for killing cats in the Miami-Dade county area.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/15/florida.cat.killer.arrest/index.html

Now, before anyone here jumps the gun, I don’t support the reckless killing of any animal (ask me about hunting when you get a chance). But I hardly think calling this guy a “serial killer” is hardly appropriate. To call this kid a serial killer puts him in a category with the likes of John Gacy, Jim Jones, Ted Bundy, and the multitude of lesser known serial killers.

I seriously doubt that the killing of kittens qualifies him for such a title or punishment by our justice system

“He could face a maximum of 158 years in state prison if convicted on all counts, said Terry Shavez, spokeswoman for the state attorney's”

Really?

Did I seriously read this correctly? Hell O.J. didn’t even get that much and they had to wait to catch him fuck’in up before they were able to get him for the murders that he was aquitted for.

158 years!!!!

Brian Nichols Showed the world that he will go to jail when he damn well pleases and killed 5 people on the way to his surrender and he just got life

158 years

Michael Vick was actually fighting dogs for profit and he is already out and regardless of what anyone says all he has to do is perform as if it never happened and he will be forgiven

Don’t believe me, I got two words for you: Kobe Bryant

He went from being guilty of rape to being guilty of getting caught cheating on his wife

158 years!!!!!!

Now in another area of Miami this is going on

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/16/florida.nfl.player.plea/index.html

So let me make sure I got this right. This guy was drunk and hit someone with his car and killed him. And he was able to plea down 15 years to 30 days in jail, revoked drivers license for life, 2,500 dollars to MADD(mothers against drunk driving), eight years probation, and an undisclosed settlement to the family of the victim.

If I am reading these articles correctly a man has lost his life and his family has lost a brother, husband, and father, and some family’s have lost their pets and while traumatized by the loss they still are able to go and get another animal eventually. Then again, the humans were actually able to put a price on their loss.

Honestly, if the science is correct, then they caught this kid before it was too late, before he went and actually took a human life. There is still hope for him, somewhere in this bizarre world there is a help group and medicine cocktail that will keep all unsuspecting kittens and possibly people from being under this kids knife. The other guy is going to be able to tell other people about how this mistake has affected his ability to drive a car for the rest of his life, and how he is inconvenienced with additional drug testing for the next dozen or so years.

Go figure

Frontline Vol 6: BACK IN THE WORK FORCE

2009-06-16T22:13:00.000-07:00

So six or seven months back from Korea and I finally found myself a job. There is a saying that has been around for years or so that goes, “Desperate times call for desperate measures” and they are right, but I think that sometimes people lose sight of what that really means. My family, whom I love with all my heart honestly would have been content for me to work at a fast food restaurant. Under the guise of the above mentioned ideal.

Seriously, WTF

This is what I know:

I am smart, ambitious, industrious, and patient. I have a wealth of experience in real world and academia and I have a real world understanding of myself worth.

What all that means is that there are just some jobs I am not going to do because on the hiring end I would be considered “Over qualified” and on my end I would consider myself “above” it. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love my peoples working at such culinary nexuses such as Burger King, McDonalds’, and Wendy’s, and I support them by purchasing items off the 99 cent menu whenever possible.

But I am not going to work for you.

I think that even in this economic downturn a person should choose wisely the odd job they take. Unless you have a plan, you can probably see yourself working at a job of your own choosing for at least 2-3 years before you decide to move on to something else. So I would suggest that you find something that you would not resent showing up to work to. After all, if you cannot come to work with the plan to do the best job possible, then you should find a job that you do.

Let me switch gears, now I know what I said about not working for food service, but sometimes life makes you a hypocrite and I recognize that as well as anyone. I almost went back to Airtran. Now, I left that company to seek my fortune elsewhere, I left people that I know were happy to see me leave, people that were sad to see me go, and people that were envious of my ability to get up and leave the country. Oh, there are also the people that could have given two shits.

But if I went back to that place, what would have been the point of leaving in the first place? So even in the face of personal financial disaster, you have to push forward. I can’t work any old job, and I know there are hundreds upon thousands of people that feel the same way about their resume’s and work history.

I say to these people, “Keep your head up”. Take a day here and there to lament to yourself your woes, have a good cry every now and again, it cleanses your soul. Hell, take a day off from the job search. But don’t give up.

Am I doing what I want to be doing? No I am not, but now I have the ability to continue looking for what I really want to do with the comfort of a paycheck, without the resentment of working a job that I believe to be “beneath” me.

Go figure, I guess you can have your cake and eat it too…eventually.

Kenneth and Korean Kulture vol 12 : Holy Reverse Culture Shock (repost from myspace)

2009-05-06T18:42:00.000-07:00

Look at this picture and tell me what you see. Looks like a club right. Looks like your average Saturday at anywhere USA right.

WRONG

This shit is happening in Bucheon South Korea.

AND I DON'T LIKE IT.

Well that is not fair, I actually wasn't ready for it. This bar is called Rhythm and Booze and it is nothing that you would expect from a western bar in Korea…because these people got it right.

Most "western" bars in Korea have a cowboys and Indians type of theme going on and the décor is almost always wood and the beer selection is always shitty and but the thing is, these types of bars are their(Korean people's)interpretation of the American bar scene while at the same time keeping it as close to the Korean social dynamic as possible. This place on the other hand had everything that a person that just got to Korea or a person that has never been to the U.S. would need for a jolt of American culture straight in your face!

Over crowded

Hot

Overpriced drinks

And for what is certainly going to be the hardest thing for me to get over when I get back to the states, which is the first thing I was surprised about when I got here. This place had a line to get a fucking drink.

Really, that shit got on my nerves for real. Call me spoiled, but the places that I frequent here have buttons on the table. You press the button and the server comes over and takes your drink order and brings it to you. Real fast too! I have actually been in bars where it is crowded and when I press the button I still get my drink really fast.

Needless to say, there were no buttons on the tables, but you had everything else. A shitty cover band, people smoking all over the place, old creepy dudes looking at the hot Asian girls, young creepy dudes, looking at the hot Asian girls.

And it was fucking loud.

When I saw what this place was I realized that I wasn't ready for this. And when I get back home there are prolly going to be a lot of things that are going to hit me all of a sudden and I am not going to be ready for. I think I am going to need like a halfway house or something.

Now when I go to places like Itawon or Hongdae, I expect this kind of atmosphere, I expect to see a bunch of drunk foreigners acting rowdy. Honestly I think places like that are strictly designed for that kind of behavior. Seriously, Itawon was buit for Waygookins and that is why it has such a bad rap for fighting, crime, and prostitution(well crime in the Korean sense of the word) Now bringing that kind of party to other places in Korea require some work and some effort, and paying off the right cops.

No really, cops are sooooooooo fucking dirty over here, but that isn't the point.

Actually what makes hongdae and Itawon different and ok is the amount of Koreans present at the clubs. This one had non Koreans, only the Gyppo's(Koreans that have lost their citizenship due to immigration or adoption). Not that that means anything, but you can be assured that the western club scene is not what the normative Korean would consider fun. I think that as more Koreans meet other waygookins clubs like this will become more popular. Where else will the korean people learn to do things like the "Stanky Leg" and what not

I don't think I am going back there…well maybe….I dunno.

Frontline Vol. 5: Let me put you up on some game.

2009-04-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

Now most blogs I write are about my observations not advice. Mainly because I think people generally deserved to be laughed at as often as possible. Right now, I am feeling all sorts of generous inside and I am going to give some good advice on shit that comes up on my radar on the regular.

Bar Fighting

While bouncing, I had my fair share of “work related incidents” and I believe have a sure fire way of serving up beat downs with little repercussions from the boys in black. Now, keep in mind this advice is not about how to avoid but how to succeed in fighting in the club without getting sprayed with mace or beat up yourself.

1. Tell the bouncer about the guy you are going to hit

Now this on the surface only looks like a bitch move. What this does is create the image of you not wanting to cause trouble because you told the bouncer. Now the bouncer will almost immediately go and approach the individual and make some small talk in a non accusatory tone and non-verbally establish the fact that he is in fact watching you.

2. Get in the above mentioned face.

See, now this move is important because you have already established that you have a problem and the bouncer has all ready non-verbally said he is watching the guy you plan on hitting. You all will be separated and threatened with being thrown out if you keep up with the bull shit. Now this is where you back up, cause after all you want to maintain the rapport, that you have cultivated with the security.

3. HIT THAT MUTHAFUCKA!!!!!!!

Seriously, if you wait five minutes or twenty-five, the bouncers have been watching the whole time and they all will wait for the shit to go down instead of stopping it before, so you seriously have at least fifteen to twenty seconds and if you need more than that for a club fight, I suggest you stop reading right now.

4. Stop when they show up

This is where people fuck up royally. You are not going to win against the bouncers, and you will lose any good standing you had with them. So the best bet is to stop. Lets be honest, if you follow this to the letter the guy you hit will not have a chance to hit you back. Now, feel free to yell shit like “I TOLD HIS ASS” and “I TOLD YALL WHAT I WAS GON DO” etc.

5. Leave Immediately
Cops that are not in the parking lot will take at least ten to fifteen minutes to arrive, so if you are gone before then guess who is not going to jail. Also, if you are in fact leaving, then they are not going to touch you. Matter of fact, you can continue to talk shit, buy saying stuff like “DON’T FUCKIN TOUCH ME” and “DON’T PUT YOUR DAMN HANDS ON ME” because in the end, you are merely attempting to leave under your own authority.

Seriously, you didn’t think you were going to stay? You only get to stay when you are friends with the bouncer previous to them being bouncers.

Seriously, follow this to the letter and unless you have no hand craft whatsoever, you will be an unstoppable force in the bar fighting scene without the reputation for being a trouble maker.

FACT

Moving on, lets say for some strange reason the above written guide did not work for you and you are in fact being beaten or dragged by bouncers you need something to fall back onto to make sure that you take as little punishment as possible.

1. Yell out loud that you are bleeding

See there is a distinct difference between having blood get on you and knowing that a person is bleeding. Most bouncers deal with the scum of the nightclub/bar scene on a daily basis and believe that most of them are hotbeds of communicable diseases, and they are probably right.

2. While they are all grabbing you, say you have an STD

From a young age we are all taught that cooties are bad. Well that is still the case, and herpes is easily the worse set of cooties that two circles and two dots can’t protect you from. So if you are in a fight with security, just utter these words, and watch them back right off.

Those are pretty much your best options for receiving the least amount of punches to the dome. Most people make the mistake of saying other things like “Do you know who my dad is” and “I am going to call the cops” and all sorts of stuff that is really doesn’t mean shit.

So there you have it, the best most efficient way to cause trouble and not have to suffer the consequences.

*about the author

Kenneth “KenNitro” Graham has worked in security for longer than he wants to remember and has vivid memories of being paid late and not enough mostly. Sure you get to get in the parties free, but so what! Either way, I have seen stuff that was stupid and some that was just awesome, as it relates to people trying to punch other people. Do this at your own risk. If it works, I won’t be surprised, if it doesn’t, it is prolly because you are a dumbass!

deuces

Frontline Vol. 4 : small detour from the norm

2009-03-25T08:53:00.001-07:00

Normally my blogs are about what I have been witness too in social situations involving the kaleidoscope of human emotions and interactions that are lubricated by drugs, booze, and the continuing quest for sex. These things by themselves provide limitless material for me to write about, but my own personal stress has been too much to even laugh at those that truly deserve it.

I have been home for about five months. In that time I have been experiencing which was my greatest fear about being back home.

Not really having anything to come home too.

Seriously, save a few personal goals that have been placed on the back burner due to some personal issues, there is little on the larger scale that keeps my person here in the U.S. For one, it is damn near impossible to get a job.

Now I personally think that because I have a degree as well as a wealth of personal and professional experience, I shouldn’t have to work for peanuts. And by peanuts I mean the rank and file, cannon fodder, grunt work that I went through to get where I am today. The crazy part is that I want to work. I have hunted for jobs everyday for the last several months and to tell you the truth it is very hard to just give up and say, “Come and get my car! Who cares about my credit card and score” Seriously, the way things are going it WON’T even matter.

You know, whenever I get in a financial rut, I tend to buy myself something. At least something that I can look at and say “Well at least I got this out of the deal”. Honestly, I am a big fan of buying gifts for myself, I think it is healthy to treat yourself to some product of your hard work and money.

I haven’t.

I haven’t because I can neither afford it nor justify it.

Wait, I am digressing.

Truth is I have spoken to staffing agency’s friends, friends of friends, every internet job board and so on, and I have come up with NADA! I have even actually spoken with people and the question is

“So when can you start”

My response is always, “Right now”

Is that the right answer? I have been told that the truth is always the best route but hell, I guess it can be downright scary. Want to know something else that is scary? The unemployment rate in Georgia is 9.3 percent in Florida it is 8.6. Alabama a whopping 7.8 and Tennessee is 9.1

Wyoming has the lowest rate(cnnmoney)with 3.2 percent.

Am I going to have to move to Wyoming? Give me a fucking break people!

Long story short, it is bad all over.

People are moving back in with family and everyone is watching the auto industry and insurance companies beg the government for money when the people themselves are starving. I watch politicians with their own agenda’s cut their noses just to spite their faces just to maintain favor in their political party. I see people; the uniformed from all sides of the political spectrum take what little info that is correct on the news and run with it as if it is the gospel itself.

Everyone looks to put the blame on someone. Everyone on Capitol Hill is looking to be in place when President Obama fails or succeeds in his endeavor to save our economy from the state that it is in. Meanwhile, Former president bush sits quietly probably ashamed at how he left things. I have always been told that you should leave things better than how you found them…

So what am I to do? I can’t stay where I am forever and hoping for the best is…well hoping for anything in life at this point is just plum dumb.

Maybe I will just become a cop, get corrupted, make a bunch of money, and move to Costa Rica?

Well…it is a thought.

Frontline Vol 3: It is what it is, but what exactly is it

2009-03-12T17:47:00.000-07:00

You know, I think I was on that whole, “it is what it is” bandwagon from jump, but for the most part I don’t think people know exactly what it is, before they knew what it in fact was. I think I have figured it out. Now the trick is making sure everyone around you finds out at the same time.

Last night, I think I saw a glimpse of it all.

At the bar that I frequent, there is a woman, a very beautiful woman. This lady always has a smile and a kind word and a blindingly bright set of bling on the left hand second finger from the pinky. Now, I am sure I have mentioned how fragile the male ego is, and I am almost certain I have seen her explain to people that she is married in a manner that can be more understood by watching a new mother put her child gently inside of a crib.

Of course there are the rumors, but I think it is mostly wishful thinking. I think everyone gets their eyes wide open whenever an above average female talks to you and actually listens, even if she isn’t you wouldn’t know it, but this apart of the charm and they can’t see that reality is a pothole on their road to achievement. It is, in fact a trip. I think that is almost all the time what it is, just a trip. The trip itself is that she has already chosen, and it surely will not be one of us. I get it.

Now, the only thing that is better than her entrance is truly her exit. Lawd, Lawd, you have not seen an exit. The same smile, take cares, hugs, everything that a man wants to hear from a woman that he hopes to see again in hopes that next time will be the time.

But I saw it, I saw what no one else wanted to admit, I saw what happens in asia all the time, and understanding what it is, is the key. I think this lesson that I picked up while traveling is what separates my own personal classification of women and girls and men and boys.

If you read Frontline Vol. 2, you can see and example of what it truly is not. If you haven’t read it take some time too.

Now, on this day different from any other, her husband accompanied his lady to the bar. There was no change in her swagger and her consistency in that sense only adds to her overall desirability. As usual, she surrounds herself with the elite of the establishment, but at the same time still gives a welcome arm to anyone else that may be confident enough to come and start a conversation.

So we have a kind hearted disposition to add to her otherwise awesome attributes, what are these mere mortals to do? Personally I do not know, I can’t take everything in at once, but I can reach back to similar situations that I have either participated in or even observed and I can postulate this much.

Men will always look to establish a pecking order, if they don’t do it themselves the women will do it for them, fact not fiction, seriously did you pay attention to “The Mack” So at this point the game of one ups man ship, is going to be played but this time the judge and the prize are one and the same.

Normally speaking, this game than men play to establish the rank and file involves the retelling of manly feats to include but not limited to, amounts of alcohol consumed, the number of wings ingested in a set time period, people that have been assaulted because they were unaware of what the deal was”, and the ability to lift heavy objects. Generally a good time is had by all and everyone can leave with ego’s intact.

Now when you add a woman such as the one described, it does nothing but raise the level of the game, because some how, some way you have to make your feats seem far superior to those of your contemporaries, and everyone has the chance to be a winner, but there is only going to be one. This idea that there can only be one winner undermines the structure of the game itself and chaos ensues, and by chaos I mean all men involved in the game will sink to the level of having to criticize each other and mitigate everyone’s experienced in order to gain favor.

It is the first past the post in the truest since of the word.

Where is the husband in all this? He was present right? Of course! Well he was at the far end of the table speaking with other men about topics that he wants to talk about, casually trading smiles with his wife as they make eye contact. This went on for the better part of the evening, with people moving about the chairs going and coming, from a distance it looks like people having a good time, because that is exactly what is happening.

As the evening progressed, The Mister decided that he was ready to go, as he wrapped up his conversation with the men present he casually and confidently walk to the other end of the table where his wife was tapped her on the shoulder and said, “ I’m ready” or “lets go” or some other saying that a person would use to articulate that they are ready to leave, and you know what happened?

Sweetie, cut the conversations right there, gathered her personal effects and ever so gently gave a group goodbye where everyone felt like she was talking to them a little more than everyone else on that end of the table.

And like that, the game was over.

Grown men for the WIN! See grown men don’t feel the need to have to compete against others for something that already “theirs”. See, that’s what “ it” is, before the what of course. Knowing this before the situation keeps a person so far ahead of the game that you won’t even want to play.

Frontline Vol 2: Just cause it's nothin don't mean nothin

2009-02-26T20:37:00.000-08:00

This is a repost from nov 25 2008. Normally, I would edit and add some changes or something to that effect, but it is still just as good.

Enjoy

So, I went out last night. It was 35 cent wings at the mansion and my friends were already there, it was an otherwise good time. Then the sociologist that I use to explain and sometimes create devious schemes popped out and good part of my night was watching a bad situation unfold. Here we go people. And I am talking to the guys here

YOU SHOULD BE THE LAST PERSON TO TAKE A BODY SHOT OFF OF YOUR GIRL.

Seriously, last night there were several different contest happening at the same time in real time and the above perspective gave me a better understanding of the whole thing, kinda like when you look at atlanta from a plane or a town from the top of a mountain.

Now the first contest was the normal ones you see at any bar, women attempting to show how desirable they are, these are normally done through dancing with each other, wearing provocative clothes, dancing on bars, etc. Today's event was the body shot. There was the one girl, nice body, but it wasn't what it was 3 years ago. But she has a punchers chance at being "the hot chick". So anyway she and her friends are having body shots with the bouncer, then the bartender, then each other, then other chicks.

Then one participant outside of the core group became a competitor. At this point the game was over, she has already won the title of "Totally Awesome bar skank" congrats, but that doesn't mean the game is over. See even though the new girl is a day late and a dollar short, she was still going to wait to have a body shot done off of her and gracious as any first place winner in any sport, she took one off of the runner up.

After the winner took her tribute the girls boy(friend) took one off of her too. Now the fun part happens. This other guy is trying really hard to have a body shot off of the runner up and the boyfriend from my angle of view did not appear to want that.

I'm just saying, if your girl is on the bar, waiting to have a shot taken off of here, and your behavior is anything other than "Shit man have at it", then you are going to have a problem. So this discussion appears to ensue between all parties involved. I couldn't hear only see, but this line came to mind so I want everyone to reflect on this. Matter of fact, relive the greatness which is Pulp Fiction

"... I mean you saying that a foot massage don't mean nothin, but I'm saying it does. I have given a million ladies a million foot massages and they all meant something, but we act like they don't but they do, and that is what is so cool about them..."(pulp fiction)

Can you dig that.

So now the second place runner up becomes the prize for the new competition. Now as we watch as this unfolds the girl comes down off the bar and as the conversation continues the boyfriend leaves the scene for some reason or another. This is what happens.

Not even 3 minutes pass and the other guy has the girl back on the bar and body shots were ordered. As the boyfriend emerged from the bathroom I believe he was in slight disarray, I mean he has been disrespected at this point, but from who. The girlfriend or the other guy? Well the other guy bought him a shot to drink while he took one off of his girl, so the answer's HER!!!!!

Guys don't get mad at their women about what they do with other men. They get mad at the men. That is just a fact and the subject of a different blog all together, but the boyfriend left the scene again and this time the boyfriend left the scene again. I was joined by a colleague of mine who added the information that the guy(not the boyfriend)has previous experience with the girl in question. So instead of the game called, don't rub your lips on my girl. It became the game of

"IS THIS YO GIRL!!!!!"Now what is interesting is that the girl went on to be further separated from her boy, by his own device. The boyfriend did the whole, I am just going to make you my friend move and started with another shot and conversation to keep this guy from his girl. Brilliant!

Now as we watched the two men actively participate in this game, I knew that it could seriously pop off at any moment. Booze is in the blood and manhood is on the line, and anything can turn into the catalyst that sets off the powder keg that has been brewing since the body shots.

At this point my friend and I got closer to the action, I love watching people fight, but I needed to get a closer look and low and behold, the other guy went on about how if that dude looks at him wrong again he is going to punch him in his shit. My colleague then went on to tell me that this person is a real can/will do kind of guy and that if it goes down it is going to be nasty.

Well as the night progressed to the end of the evening and I think everyone lost.

The boyfriend was accused of being a drunk ass and so he didn't get laidThe other guy didn't fare any better and I believe he didn't even get an updated phone number

Well she...Hell I think she blames herself.

Frontline Vol: 1.1: Culture shock therapy

2009-02-17T22:08:00.000-08:00

First I want to say that this is actually a revised version of a blog written several months ago when I first got back to the states. Anyway, here you go

What do you know; I made it back to the states. Re-integration into American society starts at the airport.

FACT.

No really, I thought my head was going to explode due to the sudden rush of the ability to understand EVERY SINGLE WORD spoken by EVERY SINGLE PERSON. Now I have only been home a week and to be honest, people don't have much to say.

Well that is true, just not accurate, people have plenty to say, about themselves, other people, etc, but most of it is generally for their own benefit. Actions on the other hand will always be what either corroborates what your mouth says or becomes states evidence against it.

That’s what is real, I got back from korea and my friend nigel came and scooped me up from the marta station no problem. Not to mention some other things that Nigel has rode shotgun with me on. See, ACTIONS. Sure I should have called before I left, gave people my information and all that stuff that makes it easier for people to prepare for my return. Honestly, I wanted none of that. I didn’t want to be surrounded by a bunch of people, I didn’t want a party, I didn’t want fifty-leven people at the airport. I was so torn from being happy that I am home and being torn from my home I wasn’t in an emotional position to deal with everyone’s emotions, I wanted one thing

I wanted waffle house, seriously! One year, six months, 4 days and 18 hours later, the only thing I wanted was a waffle and a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. Oh Sweet Jesus, that meal at the waffle house would go on my top list of meals in no particular order that are the most memorable.

A few days later, I found myself on my big brother Jay’s couch. I don’t think I could ever repay the kindness that he and his wife Felicity have shown me over the last 10 years. I have been holding it down basically since I touched down because I didn’t have a job waiting on me when I got back. I force myself to not get comfortable and I make it my business to look for a job that can get me off of their couch.

Jay says, “don’t worry about it, stay as long as you want”.

See both he and Nigel’s actions corroborate the feelings of their hearts. See these men as well as the women that they hold close to them, and others in my social circle are on that frontline every day. Their actions validate their words and not the other way around. Hence the name of this series of blogs is all about the actions of people. Everything, under the title of frontline is all real filtered slightly to be read by the people from me. So sit back and enjoy FRONTLINE: Observations of an Expat…That’s BACK!