I'm Dumb

One of the problems I have is with mistaking the words to a lot of songs. I'm guessing everyone has had done that at one point or another, but I doubt yours are as dumb as mine. Not sure if it's because I'm getting too old to relate to the "hippity hop" that kids listen to these days, or if I need to clean out my ears. Maybe my brain just lacks a "common sense" filter.

Here are a few examples I can think of:

1. "Half a million for the scones" (stones -> stones) - Ludacris, From Fergie's song, "Glamorous"



First of all, I really doubt that Ludacris eats scones on a regular basis. Call me crazy, I just don't see him as a big fan of British pastries for some reason. Secondly, even if he did like scones, who pays half a million dollars for them?

Yet for a long time, I still actually thought that was what he said, until I stopped to think about how little sense it made. Amazing.

2. "Reminiscing on days when I had a mustache" (mustache -> Mustang) - Fergie, from the same song




Ok, so technically, I know she doesn't say she has a mustache in this song. But every time I hear that part, I half expect her to say "mustache". Honestly, out of all the examples I'm listing, this one might be the most realistic. I'm sorry to all the people out there who think Fergie is hot, but I must vehemently disagree. In the words of Austin Powers, "she is rather mannish". I could definitely see her having a mustache at some point in her life.

3. "I got a Ford Focus, man" (I'm full of focus, man) - 50 Cent, In Da Club



Most rappers brag about owning Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentleys, Mercedes, Lexuses, etc. I actually thought 50 Cent was just trying to be unique by bragging about having a Ford Focus. Who knows, maybe it was really souped up version, or a rare hybrid edition or something. Haha, I'm an idiot.

4. "Addicted to Hello Kitty" (Addicted to how we kick it) - Bow Wow, Shorty Like Mine



Not sure how I rationalized this one. Maybe his girlfriend was a really big Hello Kitty fan, and he really liked that about her.

5. "Ya'll can't deny it, I'm a pumpkin rider" (I'm a f___in', rider) - Nate Dogg, from Fabolous's song, Can't Deny It



This one wasn't my mistake, I think it was actually my sister or one of her friends. But I thought it was hilarious and had to share it here. Plus, I can't believe I actually found a picture of a pumpkin rider.

Update

Looks like it's been several months since my last update to this blog. Not sure if anyone still checks this page, but some of you out there may be wondering what happened to me?

Don't worry, you're not alone - I've been wondering the same thing.

The truth is, there's a lot that's been going on in my life during the past year, and it would probably take way more than one blog entry to cover it all. I'm not sure that I'm ready to talk about everything at this point, anyways. But I did feel the pull to write a little something here right now, for whatever reason.

I started this blog way back in 2002, and I guess in the 5 years that's passed since then, I've kind of lost track of the reasons why I decided to put the time effort into this thing to begin with. Part of it was to stay in touch with friends, to give people a little window into what's going on in my world. I also tried to use it as kind of a creative outlet for myself, to talk about random stuff outside of work and hopefully keep my writing skills sharp in the process. The last thing I wanted was to become another stiff enginerd with no sense of humor, no social skills, no clue on what's going on in the world outside of op-amps and transistors.

But I think mainly, I saw this blog as an informal record of my life after college, a way to store up some memories about who I was and how my life was developing throughout my 20's. Kind of like being able to look back at a photo album and re-live parts of your life, I'd hoped to be able to look back at my blog and recall what it was like to be "me" at different stages of my life.

Which is why it's kind of ironic (and sad) that I haven't written at all in since last year. Out of all the years of my life, I think the past 12 months of my life have been the most challenging and filled with changes. Yet, I have not really written much about it so far. The thing is, I can feel myself growing a lot as a person, and a lot of things about my life have been changing. But it definitely has not come without a lot of growing pains to go with it. I've been telling people that I feel like I've aged 10 years in only a matter of months, and that's honestly what it feels like for me.

I know it is annoying that I'm basically writing only in general terms, but as I mentioned earlier, I don't know if I'm ready to talk much in detail about everything of the past year or so. I'm still trying to sort out a lot of feelings on my own and hopefully in time, I'll feel comfortable being more open again to share my life and thoughts on this blog.

Anyways, for those that care and still read this blog, yes I am still here. I can't promise I'll be back to writing regularly like before, but I will try to post more again soon.

For now, here's a picture I took today at the Asian supermarket:

Britney: Paris Is My Idol

Wow, just when you think she can't disgrace herself any further, Britney Spears says she looks up to Paris Hilton. How sad is that. I feel like Michael Jordan just came out of retirement again, and announced that he wants to remake his game by training under the tutelage of Ben Gordon.

Divorcing K-Fed was a a good move, but looks like it's one step forward, two steps backward for Britney. In the words of Justin Timberlake, "it's breakin my heart to watch you run around, cause I know that you're livin a lie..."

Brit-Fed Split Up

Britney Spears Files for Divorce

Now I'm really disillusioned. Nick and Jessica breaking up was one thing. But if Britney and Kevin couldn't keep it together, what hope do the rest of us mortals have??

Early Christmas

In the past, I think I've commented on how Christmas season seems to start earlier every year. It's gotten pretty ridiculous in the last couple years, as we're seeing Christmas stuff show up in stores before Halloween is even over.

At first, I think the phenomenon annoyed me, because I saw it as another representation of corporate greed imposing their will on the public. Kind of like Hallmark making up holidays, we see these retailers depending so heavily on the holiday shoppers that they try to stretch the season out as much as possible. (As if Christmas wasn't overly commercialized already).

But this year, I'm starting to see the whole thing a little differently. Not that I like the commercialization, but now I'm kind of glad that Christmas season is starting early. I mean, I love Christmas season - the movies, the songs, the overall "holiday spirit". If people want to make it last longer, I should be all for it, right?

In a way, I think I've started to depend a lot more on Christmas season to get me through the winter. Especially in the last few years, when it seems like the cold weather and shorter daylight of winter has hit me harder than it used to, when I was a kid.

Like right now, I'm already dreading the next few months of snow, blistering winds, walking out of work to gloomy gray skies. When it snowed that one day a couple weeks ago, I refused to bring out my heavier coat in one last act of denial, preferring to brave the cold temperatures in my thin windbreaker (it did not do the job). I find myself thinking more about when I could take a vacation to somewhere warm, to escape the Chicago winter for a while. And I'm already looking forward to next summer, even as summer 2006 barely ended a few weeks ago.

As I said before, I didn't always feel this way. I don't remember hating the winter that much when I was little. I remember it being cold, but it's not like I would ever dread an entire season. But yeah, now when I know winter is coming up, all I can think about is how much it sucks to leave work when it's dark already, the hassles of driving in snowy weather, having to bundle up in a million layers when I go outside just so I don't freeze to death, how the wool in my sweaters makes my neck itch, or the way my normally moist lips start to become dry and crack (yes, I still refuse to use chapstick). I just want it to be July again so I can wash my car, go to baseball games, and grill food on my deck.

Anyways, I guess what I'm getting at is, with all the depressing thoughts about winter, I especially need the happy thoughts about Christmas season to counteract all of that. Winter may suck otherwise, but what could be better to cheer everyone up with than getting multiple days off from work, exchanging presents, seeing the houses on your block decorated with lights, listening to Christmas music, spending time with family, or watching Home Alone and Home Alone 2?

Personally, it scares me to imagine what winter would be like without Christmas season. I seriously think a lot of people would crack during the long winter, if there wasn't anything to look forward to. So if the department stores want to bring out the holiday stuff a little earlier than expected, I will no longer complain.