• *note* I obviously wrote this a long time ago, and I accidentally didn't publish it. Soooo...there!


I don't want to beat a dead horse. After all, that is Seth's job. But the whole nationalism thing is still clogging my brain, so I figure it'd be better to just flush it out on my site than make more problems on Seth's. Plus, since it is likely to come up again some day, I'd better hammer out exactly what I think so I can present it more clear when that day arrives.


I thought of two things while I layed in bed, the first being in regards to one of my comments I made on Seths page. I said that I found it ridiculous to walk around with my chest out like America is so great and better than the rest of the world. I want to clarify what I mean. I don't mean that we have our noses up to everyone else like a bunch of snobs (although that isn't beyond some people). I mean that being an American doesn't give me any more self worth than if I were part of another nation. It doesn't make me more confident. It doesn't make me smarter. It doesn't make me more of a person. It doesn't give me any moral, spiritual, or emotional advantage over someone from another nation. It's like being caucasion, which was my second thought.


I liken national pride to racial pride. They're barriers between people relating to other people as people. It changes from an American relating to a Frenchman to one of us trying to relate to one of them. It becomes a "your people" "my people" kind of thing. It creates seperatism that I only see leading to more problems. Nationalism fuels wars and political tension.


I am not saying nationalism doesn't have its place though. When war is indeed in affect, I think nationalism is a great benefit. It's something of a bond between the soldiers from the south and the soldiers from the north. It's something that ties the texan to the bostonian. It gives them a common thread in which they feel more like family, and a sense of being on the same team. It also gives them a broader sense of who they're fighting for. But to make this nationalism a part of your life still seems ridiculous. It doesn't make me a better personal trainer, or a better student, or a better son or brother. It isn't going to make me a better uncle next month, or a better husband some day. So, I am what I am. I'm a middle class white guy living in the suburbs of America.


 8:30 AM   •  1 opinonated piece of What? 

• Why do people think that national pride is something to be had? I mean, I don't think I've ever been as proud to be an American as I am to being Italian. And the freaks of this world didn't change those setiments by driving a plane into the Towers. I mean, I am what I am, right? I'm American. I live in here, I was raised here, and I'll most likely be a resident here when I die. I like living here too, but I don't see what the big deal is about "we're amercian and we're better than everyone else" is. I just don't see it that way. We have the most comfortable way of life, sure, but who's to say that we couldn't be any more happier in say, I dunno, Romania? the UK? Australia? Germany? I think most people are misguided, or they're mistaking preference for pride.
 5:47 PM   •  2 opinonated pieces of What? 

• If you're familiar with the show Dr. Who, then you'll be able to appreciate my story. Because the other day I went to Costco with me ma, and there's this shed that she's had her eye on buying forever. And every time we go to Costco we have to go look at it. It's like me at a movie store. This thing is so big though that you could make a bedroom out of it. This other day when we were checking it out there was crowd of about 6 people looking at the display. Me and my mom walked up, didn't say a word, and walked right inside it. As we both got all the way in, I turned around and pulled the door shut as if we were getting into the Tartis. I even mimicked the Tartis sound. It was pretty funny.
 4:13 PM   •  ø 

• Well, that was the last one. The Cavallo's have taken their last birthday trip as a family to Las Vegas. Now that Dave-E has turned 21 there aren't any more birthdays to look forward too. That's okay though, because Vegas is starting to lose it's appeal with me. I enjoyed the vacation part of it better than I did the gambling. As a matter of fact, I hardly touched the craps table. But you know what it is? It's that I can only play in the low roller hotels that makes it less fun. I mean, you can't really find a hotel that has exciting and energetic tables when the min. bet is $1. We did do a lot of walking around, which is exhausting, but it was just nice to be with my folks and Dave-E.


I wasn't disappointed by the drunks though. I don't know how I feel about admiting this, but I met a drunk at the urinal this time. I had left Dave-E alone at the bar on purpose because I thought a hooker was flirting with him, and I wanted to see what would happen if I left for a minute. When I got into the restroom I was the only person there. I chose my urinal, leaving the other fifteen empty and available for the next guy to use. Wouldn't ya know it that this staggering drunk black guy came in and chose the urinal right next to mine. He was grumbling a bunch of obsenities as he nearly dropped his bucket of nickles into his pee. That's when I had to start egging him on. Suddenly he turns to me and starts patting my shoulder. I was positive that I'd find my own piss all down my leg cuz he kept knocking me around as I was trying to finish.


I couldn't just leave this free interactive entertainment piece in the mens room without sharing him with Dave-E. The first thing that crossed my mind was that I'd come walking back to the bar with a staggering drunk guy and find Dave-E getting it on with a Vegas prostitute. I don't know how Dave-E could screw that up, but she was off some where else when I got back, but I still had my drunk. So we followed him around for a while and played slots with his nickles (naturally losing all of 'em). And when we got bored with him, we moved back to the bar where we met some hot ladies. One of 'em got so drunk that she burned a hole in my shirt with her cigarette. It's hard to illustrate how much fun that night was for us, but I'm sure you all understand that if you were there you'd know.
 1:54 PM   •  2 opinonated pieces of What? 

• "This precondition for the intelligibility of narrative storytelling is, in itself, an apologetic for the truth of Christianity. The fact that movies have plots with morals or themes intended by the filmmakers simply reinforces that the universe has meaning and purpose to it, unlike the ultimate randomness at the heart of atheism or the illusory reality of Eastern metaphysics. If an atheist would want to make a movie that comported with his atheism, he would have to show a series of random events without any true connection or plot, or even a beginning, middle, and end. He would in short, make a movie that no one would want to see because of its absurdity." Brian Godawa


An interesting article by me and The Danes and Johnny T's friend Brian. What do ya'll think?
 2:00 PM   •  3 opinonated pieces of What? 

• I got a call from my friend Jen last night around 3:15am, and like always, never failing to disappoint, she had another terrific story. Jen is the girl that twisted her ankle while trying to be sexy for some guy walking down the sidewalk.


Yesterday she was hanging out with some guy that she had a little crush on, until yesterday that is. While they were hanging out during the afternoon he turned her off big time with all this "player" talk. She was so disgusted that she almost puked, she says. But he asked her if she wanted to come over to his place with some friends of his to watch a movie that night, and with nothing better to do I guess, she said okay. When she showed up at the front door, this guy was there with five of his friends. The lights were off, they were watching the movie...in their underwear. Tighty Whities no less. I burst out with a shout of laughter as she asked me if this was normal for guys. I suppose it's only funny because they didn't rape her. They just all sat there watching the movie for three hours as if they were doing what every one does when they watch a movie...with five other people of the same sex. I laughed so hard as she was telling me this, because I just know that they were doing it on purpose to freak her out. Now, I have some wacky and funny friends...but I don't think I know anyone that would sit for three hours in their tighty whities just to freak a good looking girl out.
 4:17 PM   •  5 opinonated pieces of What? 

• If a girl (who is 24) were to say to you, "I'm sorry, I'm spoken for", would you read that to mean:


A) She's got a boyfriend


B) She's got a fiance


C) She's married


or,


D) "I'm spoken for" could mean A, B, or C equally and you wouldn't even guess.

*note* she's not wearing a ring because she's at the gym.
 8:53 PM   •  12 opinonated pieces of What? 

• I know Johnny T. will appreciate this. I wrote an email a while back that had a bunch of trivia on it, which I'm not even sure how true any of it was, but it seemd kinda cool if they were true, and today I just got it back. I think I sent it to the Curtos, and they must have sent to other people, who then just kept sending it around and around until it finally came back to me. And it's super cool because I KNOW that it's the email that I originally wrote because I know exactly where I found that stuff, and because there was way more information on the page that was boring, I cut and paste exactly what was in that email. So it had to be the one I started, yet I didn't even intend on it to get around like that. I think that's pretty cool.
 1:50 PM   •  3 opinonated pieces of What? 

• You know you've lost touch with reality, or at least you've lost the touch of distinguishing between fiction and reality, when you start to think that your life is boring because it's not like that of someone's character in a book or movie. People watch too much tv (which I mean subjectively, because what is too much to one person may not be enough to another) and then think that that is how life is supposed to be. When actually all you're seeing in that show or movie is the highlights of that characters life. Of course, I'm referring to a more realistic story rather than using Arnold as my example. Unless you're thinking of Arnold in Kindergarten Cop or Twins, because then he's a perfect example. But it's like baseball. If baseball were as exciting as Sports Center makes it look, then heck yeah, I'd be the biggest White Sox fan in America...slightly exaggerated of course. But lets face it. I've been to enough Angles games and AAA games to know that baseball is not even close to being exciting, and so we don't even let ourselves be decieved by those ridiculous attempts on ESPN or Fox. That's life too, I suppose. It's just boring, mundane, and run-of-the-mill. Once in a while we get an exciting event or series of events, or even some saga that we have to get through, and those can be very exciting. But the fact of the matter is that life is just -- plain. I'm okay with that.
 1:02 PM   •  2 opinonated pieces of What? 

• Well, I took the test today so I can get into the certification class. It was way easier than I expected...at least it seemed that way because I studied my gluteus maximus off. See what I mean? Now I can't even get it out of my head. Every time I look at my hands I think of carpals and metacarpals, and ulna's and radius'....it's insane. I keep telling myself what muscle I'm using every time I do anything -- even walking. It's scary. This is definitely not what I expected life as a trainer to be. Maybe I should do something else with my life?
 12:59 AM   •  4 opinonated pieces of What? 

• This is a real dealership: Rice Honda, La Brea.


Am I the only one that sees the humor in that?
 8:14 PM   •  4 opinonated pieces of What? 

• You're all familiar with the beer commercial that has the super hot chick at the golf course, and all the guys are checking her out while she struts all sexy like as she approaches her ball, and as she's walking she steps on a sand rake, which flies up and smacks her in the face? Yeah. Keep that commercial in mind as I tell you about my friend.


My friend came home from the gym and was walking to her apartment when an older man was passing her by. As he neared her, she could hear him say something to the affect of "I wish I was still young..." Now, I don't know if she was doing it to be mean, or because she was honestly flattered, but as she continued walking she turned her head and gave him a sexy look. But during this brief moment of -- multi tasking -- her foot caught the edge of the sidewalk, twisting her ankle and sending her tumbling into the bushes. The older guy had to pull her out and help her walk to her door.


If a moment could be so golden...
 6:54 AM   •  5 opinonated pieces of What? 

• In relation to Seths bumper sticker post, I want to know: Are Christians really that bad at creativity? Or is it that all the creative Christians are down to earth and know how to make "normal" products, and it's just the artistically challenged Christians who make "christian" products because, much like the "christian" music industry, it's easier to make a mark?
 7:24 AM   •  2 opinonated pieces of What? 

• Do we go to the Tabacco companies to find out if their products produce cancerous side effects? Do we ask them if second hand smoke is bad? Do we ask them if their product is addictive? Only if we're niave. So then why would we, guys, go to women to ask them for the facts on women?
 3:52 PM   •  2 opinonated pieces of What?