I’m not huge on demanding that people respect me. I personally don’t give a crap if you do or not. But I have my limits. You aren’t just going to say any and everything to me and expect it to be cool. If we’re working together then I demand respect. If I’ve got the knowledge, skills, and experience and I show you a better and easier way to do something or if I’m responsible for you doing something, you better believe I EXPECT you to do it the way I asked without giving me shit. That said, in my personal life, I don’t demand respect. For us to be friends, you have to treat me respectfully or we just won’t interact. (continue reading…)

*Note*- This is a really long tweet that I originally intended to do from TwitLonger.com but I decided to finally post something on my blog. I’ll edit it and add pictures later.

At the (overpriced) Cheesecake Factory Sunday, I was having lunch with my friend. We get there, order, and while waiting I decide to go wash my hands. I come out of the bathroom and there was booth of 3 girls sitting 3 booths from the corner. In passing, one girl was talking to her friend about me. For some reason, the friend decided to be obvious as hell about it so she decided to peer out of the booth with her entire head. Well little did she know I was right there so as she puts her head out, I had to stop to avoid ramming it into my crotch. (continue reading…)

Today I decided to go to Burger King for lunch. I wasn’t aware that it was going to turn out to be an experience.

It was lunchtime. Needless to say, it was somewhat busy, and the newbie cashier wasn’t making matters easier. A 10 minute wait in line yielded my turn to order. I proceeded to get a medium onion ring, value drink, and a whopper with no onions & extra pickle. Oh and I filled out the survey to get the whopper for free. So I was happy.

My order’s in and I’m handed my drink cup. I go the the pop machine, get ice, hit Coke for my Coke/Vault/Fanta drink and pffffff- syrupless Coke pours into my cup. I mention it to someone behind the counter and she tells me it’s out of syrup and the manager will change it and she could fill me up from the drivethru window. Sure. No dice- it was out of syrup as well. Multiple apologies were made and I went on my way, unphased, and not really concerned that I couldn’t get Coke- it’s only a pop, who cares. (continue reading…)

Recently, people have started appending things they say with ‘no homo’. It’s intended to mean that whatever they said is not meant in a homosexual context as with “Dude I like you, no homo.” It’s much like when people add ‘for real’ or ‘I promise’ to things.

Well to me when people say things like that, it means I should think they’re a liar. If you have to promise me you’ll do something, that means I shouldn’t believe you when you don’t say it. Which brings me back to saying ‘no homo.’ If you say that am I supposed to take everything you say without the ‘no homo’ modifier in a homosexual context? That’s the effect it has. It also means that on some level you feel unclear about your sexuality. If you have to say ‘no homo’ then chances are there’s something about you that says ‘I’m a homosexual’ that you’re trying to overcome. Working on that aspect of your persona would have a greater impact than saying ‘no homo’.

People should think about things they say before they say them. It’s why I don’t promise people I’ll do things. Either you believe me and it’ll happen or you don’t and it won’t. Take me at my word or get outta my face.

This weekend was intense, stressful, revelatory, and résumé building. I spent 26.8 hours at work managing two events. I’d provide more details about where I work and what I do but there’s someone who’ll probably end up reading this that’s just nosy for no damn reason. He thinks for some odd ass reason he’s entitled to know my every move, that I should update him 24/7/52,  and he should provide unnecessary, condescending, second-guessing commentary for every action I take.  Well you don’t, you irritate the hell out of me because you do this and think when people attempt to inform you that your overbearing ‘advice’ is unneeded and unwelcome you: a)deny it, b)get pissy, c)start being condescending if you haven’t already, d)pretend you know best and that I’ll fail from a lack of taking your shit, e)bring it up out of context whenever you get the chance, and f)act like my ideas are worthless because I thought of them without your input. But I digress and you’re no longer worth the additional thought and frustration you cause. You didn’t even deserve that paragraph but I figured I’d write it so you can realize why I don’t take any time to talk to you. (continue reading…)

I have no problem admitting that I like certain tv shows that others say I’m lame for watching. Recently, I’ve discovered that the CW has a lot of shows that I like- 90120, Melrose Place, The Beautiful Life (which had an intensely long 2 episode lifetime), Supernatural, and Smallville. If you think about it, that’s a lot of shows to watch on one network that I like to watch. Which is good for the network but uncommon. NBC has fallen off my map since they canceled the rebooted Knight Rider series. I like Heroes but I don’t actually tune in to watch. But I digress…

I’ve found myself watching the CW more and more for it’s now 4 renewing shows. There are 14 that have not been canceled that I watch and the CW has the largest share at 4, closely followed by USA (which is owned by NBC) with 3.  (90120, Aaron Stone, American Dad!, Clone Wars, Eureka, Family Guy, Heroes, Melrose Place, Psych, Royal Pains, Smallville, Supernatural, Warehouse 13, and Wizards of Waverly Place).

I’m not sure why, but it’s the CW shows I end up talking about the most. I find the drama of @9o12o interesting and along with Melrose Place, I like watching to see when the other shoe’s gonna fall on some of their schemes. I’m often left wanting more or being shocked by Supernatural because I don’t see some of those things coming. I used to like Smallville a lot after Clark stopped acting like a whimpering puppy because of Lana (old blog about it here) but the season 9 premiere has put me off. It wasn’t worthy of a season premiere and it’s making the outlook for Smallville very grim. Burning the S into stuff? How TACKY is that?! Eureka’s a good show but it’s not really something to talk about with friends as with most of the shows I watch. Family Guy’s funny (missed this season’s premiere) and I usually make references or talk in the Cleveland voice.

I think this year has the most new shows on television that I watch and coupled with reruns of my favorite shows, I could spend all day watching TV if I really wanted to. That’s all for now, I gotta get back to Melrose Place and Supernatural that I missed last week…

I’ve recently noticed articles in the Iowa State Daily about the Greek community and how it’s supposed to represent the best aspects of the student population. That it might do but from my many interactions and conversations it seems like people in that community are a bit pretentious. It’s almost like if you aren’t involved in the Greek community you’re missing out on some special society that you’re going to regret for the rest of your life. (continue reading…)

Wow. I dunno what it is that makes people unable to accept the fact that Thomas is in fact my last name and not my first name. For years, one of my friends just KNEW Thomas was my first name and I finally had to whip out my ID and prove it.

But here’s my real beef. If you’re a casino guard, bank teller, card issuer, DMV/DoT employee, or cashier that’s been at it for years, HOW THE HELL DO YOU NOT KNOW THAT LAST NAMES COME FIRST ON IOWA LICENSES? Seriously wtf! You’ve got a license from the same state as me. And it’s your job to know, so why the hell you gotta keep asking me if Thomas is my last name? You saw my license didn’t you? I could understand (somewhat) when I had my Mississippi license (even tho my last name comes first on it as well). “But Thomas is usually a first name.” And? What’s your point? It’s still my last name and your idiocy &  disbelief won’t change that so WTF you telling me for? I don’t give a crap. “Are you sure?” Are you flipping kidding me? I’m not even going to dignify that remark with verbal communication. The sad and somewhat funny part to that is I’ve asked the person if their last name comes first on their license just like mine does (and of course it does) and they took the time to say yah I think so and then get out their ID to confirm it. 1 *face palm* for me and 1 *super hard bitch slap* for you.

Today I was opening my accounts at a local bank and I ran into this issue. It wasn’t the banker’s fault though. For some reason someone who reviewed my application online went all dyslexic on my name and put my last name as Bakari. Needless to say I was irritated that because of it I had to fill out and sign a Legal Name Change Request form. And after furnishing two forms of photo ID I was still asked if Thomas was my last name. :/

So here’s my point- if it’s your job to check IDs and collect information from them, know what you’re doing. It’s irritating, takes extra time outta my day, and is exceedingly difficult for me to inform you that my last name is indeed Thomas without making you feel like a complete dumbass because it’s your job to know, you have an ID fielded just like mine from the same state, and you’ve been doing this for quite some time. Seriously- if you can’t complete a simple task like copying my name properly from my ID, FIND A NEW JOB!