Final Update from UT Dallas!

To my loving family,

 

I wanted to send this update of my closing semester at UT Dallas to everyone I can, just as I promised. Since I was the first recipient of the Christopher Davis Scholarship, and I had been updating everyone on my progress up until the Fall semester of 2012, I feel it’s right to do this now.

The night I was awarded as the first recipient of the Christopher Davis Memorial Scholarship.

A recap from my last update:

 

I finished my Fall semester of 2012, completing 13 hours as a student, a tutor in the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program at Plano ISD (PISD) and Recruitment (Rush) Chair for my Fraternity; Omega Delta Phi.

 

The following Spring semester of 2013 I continued my work as a tutor, taking 12 hours of coursework: Computer Imaging, Adv. Media Production, Intercultural Communication and Intro to Marketing. Achieving over a 3.0! I also continued my position as Recruitment Chair for my Fraternity.

 

I mentioned in my last update I was seeking internships, including one with FC Dallas (FCD). As most already know, I indeed obtained the Media Relations internship with the professional soccer team. But what most are not aware of, was that I was already offered an internship for that summer, before the offer from FCD. The internship was with Project Transformation, a faith-based non-profit that focused on mentoring young children in impoverished neighborhoods. They’re partnered with Exxon Mobile, so I would have been compensated a salary of 3k for the Summer, as a Marketing Intern.

 

So when FCD gave me the opportunity I was torn because it was an unpaid internship. Ultimately I decided to go with FCD because it was what I always wanted since day one.

 

Summer 2013

 

I knew the Summer would be exciting with my new internship, and I also took a summer course: Interpersonal Communication, and got an A.

 

It was the first time staying in Dallas for the Summer, and I missed my family a lot! But it was all worth it because the internship taught me a lot, and it has already opened some doors to my very young career!

 

Fall 2013

 

I could have graduated in the fall of 2013, but I decided hold off graduation until this Spring. I was still tutoring at Plano Independent School District and holding executive positions with my Fraternity. But primarily my reason for pushing back my graduation was because I needed the focused time to complete the three hours I needed for my Capstone Project.

 

The Capstone for my major, Emerging Media & Communications (EMAC), can be thought of as my “Thesis”. Essentially the last big project we do in one semester in order to graduate. I wanted to commit a lot of my time to my Capstone. After attending previous semester Capstone presentations, I observed some amazing work by my colleagues. I knew I wanted to do it when I had less coursework so I could excel with my Capstone – so I opted to take only three classes.

 

The semester was a rough one due to personal issues at home (you may have heard about Eduardo’s seizures). But my course/work schedule wasn’t too strenuous. I assumed the position of President-Elect for my Fraternity, and that took a lot out of me as well. I experienced the nastiness of Fraternity politics too.

 

My courses included: Persuasion, Mass Comm. Behavior and Ethics. These were by far the most rigorous courses I had taken at UT Dallas.

 

During the break I was looking for more internship opportunities, since I would only be taking one class while completing my Capstone. With my FC Dallas connection I was able to land another unpaid internship with the Dallas Cup (the largest and most prestigious youth international soccer tournament). I also got an internship with Lewisville ISD’s (LISD) communication department, after a rigorous application/interview process! This one was definitely a paid internship and it compensates well enough to keep me on my feet as a fifth-year Senior running out of loan and grants.

 

Current – Spring 2014   

 

This last semester turned out to be one for the books. I didn’t think it was possible, but after all my redundant updates talking about, “this semester was the busiest ever,” this semester takes the cake.

 

I’ll break it down:

 

I resigned my position as President-Elect of my Fraternity, holding only one: Public Relations Chair. It had to be done since I’m currently employed by four organizations: PISD, Dallas Cup, LISD and Campus Bellhops.

 

Campus Bellhops was something I was already doing on the side since last summer for extra money – simple moving job that worked around my schedule.

 

Mondays and Wednesdays I tutor half of the day, and the other half I work with the Dallas Cup. Tuesdays and Thursdays are full work days with LISD, and Fridays I have my only three hour class (Digital Writing) along with my capstone meetings.

 

Even though I wanted to graduate during this time to focus on my Capstone, I didn’t anticipate how ambitious I would get this semester. I got a little behind, but it’s just about complete now.

 

This is what my Capstone entails:

 

TItle:Playing Abroad: shining the light and reporting on the success and progress that international soccer players have made in America.

 

During my work and research in this project, I’ve learned a lot, especially about myself and what I think I want to do with my career.

 

So here I am now, having completed all my course work and so close to graduation – so close that I already feel like an Alumni. My Capstone presentation will be May 13, (the same day as my last day at LISD), then May 16, at 2 p.m. is my graduation ceremony!  May 21, is my last day as a tutor. And May 22, I return to Austin to celebrate my Mothers Birthday, Alejandro’s High School graduation and mine.

 

Post-Grad Summer – Brazil

 

As most are aware, I’ve been planning a trip to the World Cup in Brazil this summer. Ever since my best friend Caique returned to Brazil in 2010.

Caique and I at my 18th Birthday. The next Summer we had to say goodbye.

Tia Maribel and I heading to the volcanoes in Nicaragua

And this dream of mine has been realized! Thanks to Tia Maribel!! Her generosity and support has meant so much to me as she’s inspired me to one day, pay it forward in the future! Whenever I get to what I plan to achieve.  Her help and advice  during a tough time this past Summer at my internship was a big turning point. As she promised me that I will be in Brazil next year. I couldn’t have made it without her! Words cannot describe my gratitude.

 

June 4, I fly off to Rio de Janeiro to meet my host Caique. I return July 17, shortly after the end of the tournament, just in time to be a groomsman for the first time ever, and watch my Freshman – Junior year roommate get married. After that…the real-world life begins.

 

I’m happy to say that my girlfriend, Yareli, and I are still together. Going on two years and eight months.

Going to the ODPhi Banquet Spring 2013

My job search is in FULL effect, but it’ll be tough deciding anything right now, at least until I get back from Brazil. I was hoping to have something lined up beforehand, but unfortunately that was not the case. I’m not sure where I’ll end up, but as of right now I have my sights set on returning to Austin to be with Eduardo and the family. I do have more of a network and opportunity in Dallas, so we’ll see.

 

After graduation I will be on the job search, relaxing, celebrating and looking for any kind of way to help fund my trip to Brazil. Even though I’m sponsored and I have a host, my budget is extremely limited.

 

All the work I’ve been doing goes straight to rent, utilities, electricity, insurance and any other living expenses. I was fortunate enough to find two new roommates this semester, so that helped. But I am still very much a broke college student/soon-to-be graduate.

 

May 31, we are all celebrating these three great accomplishments! And I can’t wait to see all my friends and family who I haven’t seen in a while. It’ll be the greatest joy! So I look forward to seeing everyone and catching up in more detail.

 

Lastly I would like to thank everyone for the support and love all throughout my life! Special thanks to Grammy Grammy and Grandpa for giving me the opportunity to go to a four-year university! To Uncle Harvey for setting me up proper going into my first tender semesters in college, and envisioning the memorial scholarship in Christopher’s name. To anybody who was on the scholarship committee and everybody who’s donated, thank you! Whenever I was going through rough times in college, the one thing that I kept in mind that kept me going, was my entire family and how much I wanted to make everyone proud and never disappoint. That was the greatest motivation for me, so thank you for helping me in achieving our goal!

 

Love

—

Fernando Labastida

AVID Tutor

Plano ISD

We Must Protect Net Neutrality

Net Neutrality: the idea that Internet users should be able to access any web content they want, post their own content, and use any applications they choose, without any kind of restrictions or limitations.

This is something I can I firmly believe in.

The reason why the issue of Net Neutrality is such a big deal now is because it’s not only the future, but it is essentially the way we live and do business now!

If these big telephone companies take over content on the world wide web it would severely restrict the free exchange of ideas and commerce that has built so much wealth, freedom of expression, and allowed so many millions of people all over the world to connect in an unrestricted manner.

It would put millions out of a job, hard-working people such as my father.

Common Cause totally supports Net Neutrality. They believe the reason why this democratic medium has grown exponentially is because of Net Neutrality. It has forever altered the way we communicate and the way we market ourselves.

Like Latin IT marketing, the business my father is getting off the ground. He uses an interesting combination of free social networking tools such as WordPress, Twitter and LinkedIn. If these telecom giants lurking the halls of Congress and the FCC take over the internet it would leave people like my dad out in the cold.

Cuba Trip

The other night I was watching TV, flipping through  channels until I stumbled upon the Travel channel that was doing a show on Cuba. I ended up watching the whole episode even though I have seen it before with my father. It just re-sparked my excitement for a possible trip I can have this summer to Cuba.

I’ve known about this potential trip for over a year and I’m very enthusiastic to get the opportunity to learn and experience what Cuba has to offer. Once I received the notification that there will be a summer study in Havana, I knew it was something I must pursue, as I feel that my passion for travel and of Latin America would correlate will with the given courses.

Having travel experience to Latin American countries like Nicaragua and Mexico, and being able to speak Spanish, I believe it would be an easy transition for me to make in the 12 day stay in Havana. My uncle is a Cuban immigrant who has yet to visit his home land since he left 20 some years ago. I mentioned to him the possibility of  my trip and his face lit up. So I’d love to come back from Havana being filled with knowledge of Cuban history, culture and art, so I can have a great discussion with him. Maybe even bring back a piece of his homeland.

The Cuban revolution has always been interesting to me, especially after watching films such as “Che”, “I am Cuba” and my favorite of all time “Motorcycle Diaries”. It would be quite stimulating to get the different perspectives on the revolution and it’s leaders. And to learn all of that in person, in Cuba, would be a dream come true.

I also understand that my RHET 1302 professor as well as my Humanities 1301 professor will be accompanied on this trip, which makes me even more excited since I enjoyed both of those courses.

Analysis on 2 Pac and Biggie

Tupac and Biggie will always be remembered as legends in Hip Hop. Their music and legacy inspired Hip Hop’s culture and an entire musical generation. Shattuck(2011) states that in VH1’s Planet Rock documentary, “hip-hop artists tell the story of crack cocaine’s effect on their culture — from the Fair Sentencing Act and the drug policies of the Reagan and Bush administrations to the origins of gangsta rap and the murders of Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur.”(p. 10) This documentary brings up the theory that Crack Cocaine took a part in the emergence of the Hip Hop culture. As an avid follower of Hip Hop I was intrigued by this theory, as it gives us an idea of the true concept of Hip Hop from its origins.

To understand my analysis on the subject matter I must reflect on my own experience and opinion with Hip Hop. It wasn’t until my Freshman year of High School that I started to develop a taste for Hip Hop. I had been censored from it for a long time,  due to my mother. But it was only a matter of time that I would discover it for myself as I grew older. It was a thrill to listen to my Hip Hop station in my room secretly, I was captivated with the music because it reflected myself and my friends as it correlated with the “High School Persona” you create and take in as your own at that age.

However, my interest in Hip Hop weren’t the same as my friends. It wasn’t the heavy bass or the bad boy thuggish attitudes in the songs. Instead it was the lyrical content that was spoken to me that caught my attention. Learning and understanding the struggle and hardship many of these artists went through as like listening to a story of a whole generation. Against all odds, they were able to make out of poverty and become successful with hard work ambition and perseverance. That was what I wanted to have, the amount of work ethic and determination that many of the rappers I listened to had.

Many people do not feel the same way about Hip Hop. They believe it’s all about degrading women, promoting violence, drugs and luxury items that comes with being rich. I on the other hand see it a different way. It’s true that many of the songs do focus on those type of subject matters. However, I feel one must appreciate the background and understand the culture that comes with it, there are many other artists out there who focuses on more important subject matters. Ice T stated in VH1’s Planet Rock (2011) that the, “music reflected what was coming from the streets”. I’ve always considered Rap artists like Tupac and Biggie more as story tellers. In a way, a medium to the world that shares what happens in a community that  don’t have a voice because it’s impoverished, in other words the ghetto.

I believe The Planet Rock documentary makes a good point. Hip Hop emerged with the creation of the “hustler” many MC’s first began as drug dealers looking to make it. If they weren’t dealers they were associated with them is some way or another.  Rapper Too Short in his Planet Rock interview said, “it was a crack dealer that funded my music deals, if it wasn’t for crack dealers there will be no Too Short”.

Frost, A. (2007), In the mid 80’s under President Reagan initiated what we call the “War on Drugs.” (p. 1)after the turn of the crack epidemic and the death of  the NBA’s top prospect Len Bias. Stricter laws  imposing mandatory minimum sentences for drug offender called for  these were harsh drug policies that filled jails to capacity. This again was said to change the culture of Hip Hop as you start to  see more of the music’s popularity expanding from inside the prison cells. Rap lyrics would include the despair of prisoners locked up for in jail for selling crack cocaine. Movies like Paid in Full like Holden(2002) mentioned that the 80’s crack epidemic exploits inspired countless rap songs”(p. 27) Mediums like the movie Paid in Full paved the way to the glamour of the crack money in Hip Hop as it was being implemented in  the rap songs and Music videos.

Cheating Culture & the Digital Theory

Extra-marital affairs and two timing have always existed. As long as there are relationships…there will be cheating.

But with social and mass media being such a big part of our lives, how has cheating changed?  Now that we can connect  in such efficient ways, via social media sites, chat rooms and online dating sites…cheating is much easier, but it is also more exposed.

I intend to explore some issues I have discovered through my reflections and research on infidelity. I will draw comparisons to the way people have traditionally cheated and how people are finding loopholes and defining new ways of cheating through online media.

Beneath each paragraph, where I cover each issue, there are some questions you can choose to answer on my interview.me profile. If you wish to remain anonymous it can be arranged.

TRADITIONAL

Opportunity:

Example: To Rome With Love

The concept of how Opportunity, is being presented with an obvious chance to cheat on your perspective partner. This is most common since more often than not there is temptation at some point.

The example I’m referencing is from the Woody Allen film, To Rome With Love,  which I used as the base of my inspiration to explore this subject since there was so much infidelity involved in the movie. As if it wasn’t a big deal…which I didn’t understand.

One situation in the movie involved an innocent newlywed wife who was presented with the opportunity cheat on her husband with her big celebrity crush. She decides that she will take that leap and cheat on her husband because she’ll never get the opportunity again. But when the moment was ruined by the celebrity’s wife interfering the spontaneous affair. The newlywed wife still goes along with her intentions of having an exciting affair with the first guy she sees! A criminal at that!

This had me in disbelief. She was fighting the temptation for so long and when it was not even presented to her anymore, she did it because she was committed to the idea. This is the opportunity issue. When being tempted multiple times already…sometimes even the most faithful of people can become unfaithful.

Gender Theory:

Example: To Rome With Love 

In the same movie mentioned above To Rome With Love, there was the other side of the story between the newlywed couple.

While the wife was being courted by a famous actor, the husband found himself in a peculiar situation of temptation as well. There had been some sort of mix up, where a prostitute had been mistakenly paid for the newlyweds husband who gets caught with her in the presence of his family. To cover up the idea of him being with a prostitute, he plays it off as if the prostitute(played by Penelope Cruz) is actually the newlywed wife.

At the end of the day he had denied the advances of the prostitute insistently and gotten away with making his family believe that she was the wife. But Cruz’s character decides to teach him a lesson….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1kHPZQBh9M

The prostitute believes that the husband must have a sexual experience with her , claiming “You really need a lesson in love.” after finding out that he was a virgin before he met his wife.

After the encounter with Cruz and finally reuniting with his wife, he’s suddenly a different man. A more dominant and aggressive alpha male which turns out to be an aphrodisiac to his wife…who JUST committed adultery as well. I understand this was just a movie..but it makes me wonder what Woody Allen was trying to say with this? The wife cheats on her husband was a dangerous criminal and at the same time the husband must have an affair with a hooker to feel more like a man in the arms of his wife?

It brings up the issue of the type of gender roles that may be expected in a relationship and the possible reasons why they may evidently start affairs. For example women may start an affair with a guy they see as more aggressive and dangerous then her spouse. Or how the man must brush up in his sexual deviousness to fully satisfy his partner, by cheating on a different less innocent woman. Begs the question, have these gender roles been seen as a social norm?

Power Issue: 

Example: General Petraeus fallout

Here we have the perfect example of infidelity by a party that has a great deal of power, and we’ve all seen it before. Clinton did it Schwarzenegger did it. But here we have a more recent example and how digital media played a part.

We all know the story, an apparent affair between with journalist Broadwell, pictured above. Which was confirmed with over 200 email conversations. The idea that not even the head of the CIA can keep his emails from being private really shows us that ANYBODY would be able to uncover any of our online conversations a lot easier than we probably think. In Petraeus’s situation he was probably given the illusion that through online messaging his privacy will be kept. But we can touch on that later.

Anyways there is a defiant trend of men in a position of power and being unfaithful. So why is that?

“Power is an aphrodisiac” according to Dr. Phil during an episode of the View while discussing the Petraeus scandal.

And it’s true by evidence of such stories like this. Often the men in positions of power like Petraeus find more opportunity to have an affair because women are drawn to them. This makes these men have a sense of entitlement, like this is just one of the perks of the job, and they think nothing of it, or the lives they are harming.

Here is just an example of some men in power who have cheated.

Another gender role that we may be touching on here in terms of power?

DIGITAL THEORY FOR CHEATING

Accessibility: 

Examples: Craigslist, Chat rooms, Dating sites

Over half of all U.S. households have Internet access and there is an estimated 40 million sexually explicit web sites, chat rooms, bulletin boards and interactive games that are available to anyone. Now imagine a time before these types of resources were out there. If a spouse was intending to have an affair or even considering it, would they have actually followed through without this type of access? Now because it is extremely accessible, affordable, and the ability to hide one’s identity, these digital devices may help people feel that they can escape being caught and in effect actually following through in being unfaithful.

I know a friend of mine who ended her marriage because her husband met a girl on Craigslist and had an affair. I’m sure there are many more examples like may friend who had to end a marriage because of that. Many online dating sites have members who secretly are already in a marriage or relationship. Even Facebook is being used to meet people and be unfaithful. I believe it’s the easy access for some people in relationships that may encourage this type of behavior. Just imagine the possible broken marriages or relationships that could have occurred back when people didn’t have this time of access to meet people.

But I digress I understand virtual media has also started many relationships instead of ending some. Can we agree however that this is an issue in this age of technological communication for struggling relationships? Is the Issue of accessibility a concern for a worn out relationships and or marriages?

Legitimacy: 

Example: Catfish

The documentary Catfish brings up a disturbing concern of how legitimate an online relationships may be. It touches on the fact that the person you may be talking to through social media…may not be who they say or even appear to be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y28mRCOxpg8

What was brought to my attention in the documentary was something that wasn’t really explained in more detail in the aftermath of the whole ordeal. Like Nev(The main subject in the documentary)said, the girl he was talking to wasn’t really who she said she was. In fact she was married and had kids.

In the movie Nev explains how he was involved emotionally with this person he was talking to online and even admits falling in love. Same goes for Angela(the impersonator) So is it safe to safe that they had some sort of relationship? Even though it wasn’t legitimate. What concerned me was what her husband thought about all this..? Would he of considered this cheating on her part, or would he just brush it off since it wasn’t a real physical relationship, even though emotions were indeed involved. The movie never specified on it.

This brings up the issue of Legitimacy and how this is in question, a form of cheating. Impersonating yourself as someone and developing an emotional relationship with someone else in a virtual space. Would most people considered this cheating or a new loophole for people in a relationship or marriage for some sort of adventure?

Moral Issue:

Example: Ashley Madison

When presenting this concept to my peers I was made aware of a very real dating site which exclusively is intended for married individuals looking for an affair. This by far is the most concerning media object that I discovered in my research on this topic. To actually have a community of cheaters online is a new barrier that has been broken.

This is of course the moral issue that is being brought up. It’s true that there are already individuals involved in relationships on regular dating sites. But to actually promote it as a source of revenue, questions how far people are willing to cheat through these digital means.

The fact of advocating adultery has brought up some of the medias displeasure and talk shows hosts in an up rage. CEO and founder of the site Noel Biderman has been confronted and brought to many talk shows pleading his case, claiming that he is a businessman who saw an opportunity in an untapped market. Key word, untapped. This solidifies the ideas an issues I have already mentioned. There is indeed a community of people with intentions of cheating online and with sites like Ashley Madison this community can continue to grow. Why? because it’s easy access for that specific community of cheaters looking for the same thing, which there in lies even more opportunity to commit adultery. This I fear can only get worse

So has cheating become such a norm that there is a social divide of morality on the web?

OVERVIEW

I understand that we may never fully understand why people may continue to cheat(knowing they can just leave a relationship, but that’s for a different discussion) But I do believe cheating is more common now since there are a lot more vehicles for cheating. And one thing is for certain, technology and the internet has indeed made it easier for couples to have affairs and commit adultery. It can almost be as easy as shopping on eBay, because you literally can just google, “I want to have an affair”. So can we say that before the internet some couples would just struggle within their marriages, since they may not have had a resource like the internet with its type of access to follow through with it?

There is defiantly some other issues that I may not have covered so feel free to add-on with anything else that I might have missed in the comments.

Or to participate furthermore in this discussion, feel free to answer these questions on my interview.me page.

My First Uploaded Video on YouTube

How I met Facebook

As I can remember, the whole social networking through the internet started in middle school. It was all about instant message and “Aim” chatting with your friends for long periods of time, and starting rumors about girls without picking up a phone. All of my friends had an Aim account, even my younger sister was always typing away after school. But I refused to give in to the popular fade. I’d always been asked by many of my friends to make an account so I’ll be able to chat with them, but I never did. I felt it was childish and I was too mature for it, and my friends didn’t get why I was so stubborn about it.
Once High School started people began to forget about Aim because MySpace was blowing up. In a matter of weeks everyone had their own profile and for the first time I can see everyone’s social status right in front of my computer screen. I honestly became addicted to MySpace, checking to see if anybody’s profile changed or what song this person has on their profile. But like Aim I refused to get my own personal account because of the same outlook I had on it(even though I’d use my friend’s account to log in every time I was on a computer.) Then it came to the point where I made my own profile, but hid it from everyone else just so I had access to actually browse the site with ease, but didn’t actually engage in the socializing of MySpace.
The first time I heard about Facebook was the summer going into my junior year of High School. I was a part of the National Hispanic Institute and I was participating in a youth camp where I met many fellow thriving Hispanics. On the last day of camp everyone told me get on Facebook so that we can be friends and stay in contact. Facebook was brand new to me and most people were still on the MySpace tip. So I thought that this could be a site I can use since nobody I know from school had one. So I ended up setting up an account on Facebook. But sure enough I found out that I wasn’t the only one who had discovered Facebook, so I immediately deleted my account. I was back from where I started, using MySpace but not actually using it.
After a while I noticed how MySpace quickly started to become unpopular (except to my sister) and people started to talk about “facebooking” instead. I became sold when my best friend who didn’t believe in network socializing and never made his own account as well, actually had his own profile set up on Facebook. I decided that I would finally get my own legitimate profile on Facebook. It seemed like I finally found a site that was mature enough for me. It took me the day before moving to College to actually make one. Knowing that I’d probably never be able to stay in contact or become any closer with some of my acquaintances, it seemed crazy for me not to make a profile. Since then I’ve been using Facebook religiously especially for my EMAC class, and can’t think of ever going back to MySpace.
Now for the question of who owns who, I believe if you are dependent to a constant surveillance of social networking, then yeah Facebook defiantly owns you. In my situation I believe I own Facebook, I use it for many ways of staying in contact with friends and or acquaintances, but I’m not completely dependent on it because I always use other means of communication. Like I don’t know…I actually call some of my friends, set up lunch meetings to catch up, text once in a while, and emailing forwarded messages to people I haven’t seen in years. I do admit though at one point MySpace did own me even though I didn’t have my own profile, but that time has passed, and like I said I’m on the Facebook tip…for now.

Don’t Wanna Believe

One night watching Sportscenter I saw the clip of the “World’s longest Basketball shot” The clip of college students from Texas A&M shooting a basketball into a basketball net from the 3rd deck of Kyle field, where the football team plays. My initial reaction is that it has got to be fake, I’ve seen too many commercials and videos of stunts like this, knowing that it was setup to give you the illusion that the stunt actually worked.

But then again people have made unbelievable shots before, it has just never been caught on camera. But to actually believe that these college students spent the time to take after take after take of this shot knowing that it could be impossible to make, makes me continue to question it, especially because it was a couple of aggies setting this whole thing up.

When I looked up the video on youtube, the comments were almost exactly what I expected. Comments wondering if the video is fake or not, people explaining the physics of how and why the video is real, and then of course the constant bickering between youtubers with pointless personal attacks on each other. After reading the various comments and looking at both views, I still rather not believe that a couple of aggies have actually successfully accomplished this, being a life time Longhorn fan.

Still being skeptical and a non-believer, even though it was on Sportscenter, I decided to call up a close friend in college station how has gone to the dark side, and ask him if the creators of the video “Dude Perfect” are legit. He confirmed that it was indeed real, and that he actually knows the guys how made the video. So as of now I guess it do believe, but I’ll probably continue my skepticism with videos like that on youtube…but if it was made by some UT students it’s probably real. Oh and I’m not gonna rely on the youtube’s comments to decided if it’s a hoax.

Michael Phelps Loves Marijuana

Michael Phelps will forever be remember as the freak of nature in the water who had the best Olympic performances ever. No matter what you can say the man is an athlete It’s a gosh darn fact. It’s also a fact that Phelps likes to smoke marijuana. How do I know this?? Because a real marijuana smoker wouldn’t deny that he smoked.

When I look at the now infamous photo of Phelps using a bong, I notice that you don’t even get a good look of the guy taking the hit. There is no paraphernalia on him, nor do you even see any kind of smoke being sucked through the chamber of the bong. It does look like he is lighting something with his left hand but his hand blocks the lighter or whatever if anything that he is sparking. For all I know he was just kidding around with an empty bowl and someone happened to have taken a picture.

Phelps could have denied this to the end, and even the local sheriff’s department couldn’t find enough evidence that he was smoking marijuana. But he chose to admit that he did smoke. He of course did apologize for the incident because the subject is so taboo and extremely frowned upon especially if you’re a role model to so many. Even though it’s no worse than alcohol; the only difference is that it’s illegal. Think about it though, he has ADHD so perhaps he was just treating his disorder. Researchers say that cannabis is more effective way of treatment than Ritalin. It calms users down and helps them focus without the side effects of Ritalin like loss of appetite and insomnia. It’s an unconventional, but effective way of treatment.

When I look at Phelps I still see him as any regular guy who doesn’t mind a toke every now and then, just like any other person in the entire world. I’m convinced that Michael Phelps didn’t just tried this once had guilt and gave in to the allegations, but has been an adequate user of marijuana, loves it, and is able to maintain he’s use in a smart way just like anybody who consumes alcohol in a wisely manner. Maybe the whole party scene at the University of South Carolina from the photo wasn’t too smart. But it did show in the picture that he was no stranger to bong hits. You could tell Michael had smoked before. A witness from the party also stated that,

“He looked just as natural with a bong in his hands as he does swimming in the pool. He was the gold medal winner of bong hits.” But since his use has been made public he is forced to apologize and lay off of the plant for a while.

So of course with these strong belief of mine that Michael Phelps has and will continue to use marijuana in a safe environment in the future, I would edited his wiki saying that the world’s greatest swimmer does indeed likes marijuana. I was very skeptical that this edit was going to stay on the page for more than a day because I’m sure this edit has been attempted before and the only thing it says from the article is a quote from Phelps on the photo admitting to his “behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment”(To make things clear he regretted taking a hit of the bong where someone was taking a picture and bad judgment on trusting the guy with the photo knowing he is a celebrity.)

I edited on the discussion page over the “Bong Incident” But editing in the article was a lot trickier than I thought. I found it hard to reference anything I said on the article because the articles of Phelps admitting to using a pipe and a user of marijuana that were requested on the discussion page have been already removed from the sites. So I had very little hope that my edit on the article would stay up for more than even an hour. No less than 10 minutes after I tried to re-edit my source, I noticed that it had been changed back to the way it was originally posted. I later checked back at the discussion page and noticed that Phelps quotes on using marijuana from reliable sources have been already added to the article but removed several times. And most of those articles have already been removed like I said.

Overall the fact is that Michael Phelps may be one of the greatest athlete ever, and he smokes marijuana…I guess he doesn’t want people to know that he likes it.

What I use Twitter for…

Three years ago I probably never even heard of Twitter. Heck I wasn’t even on that Facebook tip yet, it was all MySpace for me. And to be honest I still haven’t truly grasped the proper way to use Twitter. Like most people may only tweet to express the way I’m thinking or feeling, besides that not many of my friends have twitter. So I don’t really use twitter to stay in contact with friends and I can’t imagine why anybody would want to follow me as I am not involved in music or TV in any kinda way.

I have tried to promote my friends new band, but it seemed useless as I’m pretty sure I don’t have any music producers or record companies following me to see if I might have a band that they’ll even been interested in. But I have found one use of Twitter that I continually log or for…which is looking for new music by my favorite artists. I’m currently following 56 people on twitter now and most of them are my favorite musical artists. Granted I did use MySpace to listen to new music from my favorite band or rapper as well, but the edge I get from twitter are of brand spanking new songs. With Twitter it always constant updates from the artists who gives their  followers exclusive previews to their next hits.

Now a days the new music on the radio I’m already sick of hearing because I have been listening to it for more than a month now. With the help of Twitter and even YouTube, I’m the guy that my friends always asks if they want to listen to any new hot music once the radio gets repetitive. Since most of my friends don’t even know what Twitter is I’m always the first one to get the hot tracks for the week. Their always asking though, dang  Nando where are you finding all the exclusives….