I’m not dead!

I’ve almost completely abandoned my site, but I’m not letting it die.  I’ve been working TONS (non-stop since my last post stating I was working tons).

So, I’m still working.  My photo gallery is totally busted.  I’ll have it working soon (I hope!).

Uh.. that’s about it.

Today’s internet image comes from CompTIA.  The reason is…

I FINALLY GOT MY A+ CERTIFICATION!

I’ve been working TONS in the last few weeks. I don’t have much time to come here and check on things, so here’s a little update.

I hit 64 with my character on WoW.

I had 20.25 hours of overtime on last week’s timesheet. (Woot!)

I’ve been to Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida in a week’s time. This was all for 1 project at work.

I like screwdrivers. I’m talking about Orange Juice and Vodka.

Here’s today’s image.

I love that line from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. It sets the mood for the upcoming, and dramatic reappearance of the young and healthy King Theoden. I think those three movies are my favorites.

Our family has been enjoying our new big-screen HD TV. I love the video games, the HD shows, the clarity, and the overall “cool” factor. It’s nice. Even non HD shows look good on this TV. Some HD TV’s make older shows look crappier than ever before. Not ours. Somehow, it just filters the signal better. Go Philips!

On a different note, I found a nice picture from Japan. It’s an image of many paper lanterns.  Enjoy.

(Click to see full-size!)

Ok.  On a third note.. different than the original 2, I’ll be doing a project for Cellular South tomorrow.  I have to move around and replace 13 PC’s in 3 offices in 2 states, Alabama and Mississippi.  It should be fun.  Lots of driving time, but EASY work.  I’m happy with it.

Until next time.. same trumpet time, same trumpet channel!

Actually I have no trumpet-based time-telling machine, or a channel of any kind dedicated to trumpet.   Eh.. whatever

Do you like bacon?

I am no expert, so please understand that all the information I provide came from the internet and talking with Emo and non-Emo people.

A few months ago, a friend of mine made some joke about a YouTube video and laughed saying the person was “being all Emo.” I had to ask, “what does that mean?”

He replied with a simple answer. “It’s kinda like Goth, but more emotional.”

I simply thought “oh,” and that was that.

A few weeks later, my wife made a similar comment about someone we saw at a book store. She said the person looked Emo and we should not bother them. I asked her why, and she just replied with, “they are weird, and you never know what they’re gonna do.” She didn’t have any specific knowledge of what the Emo culture is or was, and she was just talking and reacting based on stereotypical information she received from the last few months of dealing with the public at work.

It was then that I decided to investigate Emo and find out what it is. Starting in August 2007, I started searching the web for references to Emo. It was very difficult to find any real information on this subject because there is so much slander-laden humor all over the web about Emo.

Finally I stumbled upon a web forum where an enthusiastic, self-proclaimed Emo that calls herself Cynthia posted a paragraph to defend herself and her fellow Emo-labeled people. The post for this thread was titled, “all emo haters go to hell!!!!!!”

This is the first post from that thread:

“if you haters have issues with us, we ain’t gonna stand for this! u piss me off and you’ll get it good. i hate people that hate others for some moronic things. they think the worst of emo’s, they even make up stuff. people don’t know emo’s unless u meet one(OR ARE ONE), our style is based on how we feel. thats why we dress in a certan color and act in that dark way. but we r really nice people once u get to know us, just don’t piss us off. piss me off and i’ll fukin kill ur ass!!!!! as long as u have nothin against emo’s i don’t care what u r(sk8er, punk, goth, prep, gangster, or nomie), i will always be nice.”

All I got from that initial post was a threat of violence. The sentence “piss me off and i’ll fukin kill ur ass” is a fairly direct threat. It seemed unlikely that is was a true threat, so I took is as an emotional post. It’s a good thing I did.

I continued to read the thread, and it grew daily. There were many posts; some angry, some informative, and some that were completely useless. Most importantly, I was able to watch an online relationship spawn. Two of these Emo people seemed to have fallen in love. It was an emotional rollercoaster, and so far, it seems to have steadied itself out.

During the time I was reading all 1,307 posts (so far) on this single thread, I investigated the origins of Emo. I found that Emo spawned from Goth. Many people seem to be offended by this fact, but the fact remains.

Goth spawned from Punk, and Punk (specifically 80’s to early 90’s Punk) spawned from many ideas, cultures, and music styles. Again, I am no expert, and all the information I am presenting is based research, both online and talking to people in person to describe themselves and where they got their ideas to be Emo or Goth.

Punk culture was 100% a fan-based culture in the beginning. They were fans of Punk Rock music, and decided to dress like the bands that sang the songs. They dyed and styled their hair in eccentric patterns, wore clothing that was not considered “normal” or “proper,” and spoke their mind. Their clothing colors of choice were normally bright, flashy colors.

Somewhere through the 80’s, Punk music split and went 2 different ways. Some became harder, and some were more Pop. The ones that followed the Hard Rock style started to dress in darker clothes. Some grew their hair long and started dying their hair darker colors, or simply not dying their hair anymore.

Then some of the Hard Rock bands started singing songs of death and dying and killing. These were not violent songs; they were songs of hatred, love, jealousy, and indifference. Unfortunately, most of America, and some of Great Britain, considered this music to be evil and of the Devil.

The ones that still loved this Hard Rock music lived 2 different kinds of lives.

One type lived their lives as normal as could be, and listened to the music in secret, keeping it from their friends, parents, or anyone that might think they were doing something wrong. The other type protested the “bashing” that the rest of society was giving them for this music style. They took more care in constructing elaborate clothing styles to express themselves, and makeup to match.

Goth was born. Goth lived alone for years. It wasn’t specifically a “Heavy Metal” thing. Many types of people joined the ranks of Goth. Some Goth people even hated Hard Rock and Heavy Metal music, but supported their friends. They simply didn’t want to live life as your typical “Martha Stewart” style. Goth was all about being yourself, being dark, being secluded, and admiring death.

Many parts of Goth came from Hippie life. Freedom of expression, love, hate, and the occasional joint were pulled into Goth. There’s not much Hippie left in Goth now, but it’s in there.

Parts of Punk still exist in Goth. Look at a typical group of Goth people, and you will likely see classic “belt buckle” straps on their jackets. You will see chains everywhere. You will see more metal on their clothing that Punk ever did, but one cannot deny that the idea came from Punk.

Now, somewhere in the mix of all this is the current topic, Emo.

Goth is generally embraced by young people who are either in high school or at a typical college age. Most people who are Goth will phase out of it by the time they are 25 or 30. Some extreme and “Hard Core” Goth people will stay until they are in their 40’s, but that will likely be less than 1% of those previous Goth people that reach that age.

Being that Goth was no longer about Hard Rock music, but was more about death, life, and general darkness, it was no longer tethered to the stereotypical Metal Music-loving crowds. Some people saw their “darkness” as a way to express emotion.

As history shows us, outward celebrated darkness spawns depression, fear, hatred, and jealousy. Some of these Goth people decided to stop showing indifference for the world around them, and started to show more emotion. They were aided by the help of various music groups that were still considered Rock and Punk. Their words were of depression, suicide, intense love and hatred for various individuals. They were… Emotional.

Emo was born. Emo people are not Goth. Emo people are not stupid. Emo people are not craving attention. Emo people choose to wear dark-colored clothing at times to hide as if they were hiding in the shadows. They hide their emotions. They hide their crushes. They hide their faces to remain anonymous. They hide their eyes to create an empty feeling to people around them.

From what I can find, Emo is almost exclusively a teenage culture. Yes, there are others, older and younger, but not many. The reason for this is scientific. Human bodies have more hormone changes during adolescence than any other time. (Women experiencing menopause is the exception, but at this age, no woman is “Emo” anymore.) These hormone changes cause the mind to experience a vast range of emotions. Most people can control these with relative ease. Some choose to embrace these emotional experiences, good or bad, and we call these people Emo.

Understandably, Emo people experience more emotional pain than joy during their “Emo” times. They experience depression, loneliness, anxiety, and self-hate. Some foolishly harm themselves in an attempt to gain support. These are generally considered a “cry for help” and should be taken seriously.

Most Emo people are not constantly depressed. They are happy that to have found a place to fit in with others that share their desire to express all emotions. While I don’t believe that anyone is “normal,” Emo people are just as normal as anyone else. They do not need to “get a life.” As long as they are alive, they have a life. They live their lives as anyone else would. They fall in love. They make new friends. They get in fights with their siblings. They look to their parents for help and guidance. They get offended if someone insults their culture. They come to each other’s aide. They are good people.

What am I?

Of the few types of people I mentioned here, I fit into the Hippie category most. I am all about peace, love, and Rock and Roll. I am into nature, environmental conservation, and overall happiness. I love my family, and together we play video games, go to the park, and read together. My wife and I have 2 kids, and when they get older, they will start to make decisions as to what group they will fit into. I am smart enough to let them decide for themselves and not choose for them. I will not make them preps. I will not make them Emo, Goth, or Hippies. I will not make them Nerds, or Geeks. They will find heir own place, and I’ll let it be.

Don’t hate Emo’s because they are Emo’s. Understand them, and if you don’t like them, gracefully move on.

———————————

And here’s today’s random image from the internet.

It’s kinda beside me.

The last 3 weeks have been filled with out-of-town work, so I haven’t been able to post.  I’ve been doing a project for Regions Bank.  Because of the nature of this work, and the security level involved, I really can’t post here what I’m doing.  It is a bank after all.  I mean, if you had an account there, I’m sure you wouldn’t want everyone to know what’s going on at all times there, right?

Anyway, it’s fun work so far.  I have a few more months of it.  Next time I travel, I’ll have internet access and I should be able to update daily.  As for now, I’m back.

I hope you all had a great Easter!  I did!  Yay for Jesus!

Oh.. and here’s your first picture in my newest and (almost) daily segment called, “Random Image from the Internet!”

The last few days, I’ve had to work in 3 somewhat distant places that took all day to do. 

1. Hattiesburg, Mississippi

2. Linden, Alabama

3. Santa Rosa Beach, Florida

I’ve been too tired to blog, so I’ve simply been going back to work, getting my car and driving home to rest.  Yesterday, though, since I was in Florida, I stopped at a GREAT Irish Restaurant/Pub called McGuire’s Irish Pub.  They make the BEST burgers.. period.

The place is pretty cool.  They let people sign $1 bills and they put them up on the walls, ceiling, ceiling fans, door frames.. everywhere!

My waitress was a girl named Tracy.  She looks about 98.3% just like a young Carrie Fisher, and was kind enough to let me take a picture with her.  What do you think?

Both pictures were taken with my phone’s camera.  Not too bad for a phone, huh?