Windows 7

So I just made the plunge to a new Operating System.  Windows 7  is supper smooth and downloads drivers for you (no more searching for printers).  For once I’m thankful for Apple; without them Windows probably wouldn’t have gotten their game together (read:Vista=awful).  Paid over $200 so I could get the  Ultimate Version, since it’s the only version of Windows 7 with multiple language capabilities (very important for Hebrew class that I’m taking).  But anyway Windows has a program built in that publishes straight to your blog, so hopefully I’ll be doing more writing.

Update

Got my computer back after a 2 week long hiatus and as a result, no blog. Oh and summer school plus working 32 hours per week plus summer school. So I think I'll just give an update on life since its been a while.

I'm working on building up my music equipment. I bought a Fender Stratcaster (guitar) used for $500 and an amp for around $100. Point is I want to start recording/making music,but I have to work my way up to it. Still working on a piano keyboard, audio interface, external mic, Ableton (recording program) upgrade. Did I mention I still need to eat? Stupid groceries.

I've been thinking what I want to do after a graduate, hopefully in a year. I've been giving thought to living in Israel for at least a year, love the history. I'd need a job first before going which is scary and know very little Hebrew. I love learning about religion and its history, so it would be a great opportunity.

Gotten a lot of comments from people that think I should go to seminary. That scares me so much, growing up I thought of pastors as people who couldn't get jobs else where. (It's official I've been skeptical since birth). Granted I wouldn't need to become a pastor necessarily, but I cannot think of anything I'd do with a seminary degree otherwise. Why do I have to be a college senior?

Music

So I was messing around with Audacity (yes I'm ghetto...thanks for asking) and came up with this. Sorry for the lack of noise filter was using an internal mic on my computer and Audacity isn't the greatest program ever.

Minor by justindeanwhitlow

Bohemian Rhapsody Old School Computer Remix

I love music and Amoeba Records. Seriously living Los Angeles is amazing for music. Speaking of which saw this video of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody on Amoeba's website using only old computer equipment. And yes it's the same one I already posted on my Facebook page.



P.S. working on a full fledged post, should be up soon. Just need to make sure the content is up to self-imposed standards. And yes I know that the video covers up the right side of the page;it'll change as the post moves down the page.

Dropped Calls

This week for a variety a reasons I've been thinking a lot about friendships and how hard they can be to maintain. To the point where I purposely thought of an analogy that makes sense to me in terms of how I usually look at friendship. It's like playing catch, only the chances are you're gonna throw the ball to the other person and they're just gonna walk off and keep it. It's the rare ones that decide to throw it back that truly have a chance. This is where I get depressed...this outlook means I often give up long before I try. So seriously call me up (yes YOU); it's so rare for someone to actually throw the ball back that I will go out of my way just to make sure you know that YOU are appreciated.

More I thought about the more I realize sometimes I don't even try. I'm an intuitive type of person so I observe people's personalities usually long before I will ever try to hang out. I'll often only make the effort if I see something in their personality that would benefit me. And here lies the problem.

I have kind of cynical view of friendships and by connection the cell phone. Many people I call I'm already anticipating leaving a message and never getting a call back. It happens often and I just assume it's gonna happen again, especially with certain groups of people. I literally will predict a person's likelihood of calling me back based on the group they hang out with. So for example, if it's a person I'm calling who was on my dorm floor last year there's about a 70% chance they will actually call back, but if it's a Christian girl it's more along the lines of 40% chance I'll ever get a call back. I'm not saying this is how it is it's just the way I think; which is again unfortunate.

So here's the deal I hate it, but am very aware that a stereotype people...a lot. I will not even try to be friendly with certain people based on what group I associate them with and I hate it. Why do past experiences need to be indicative of new ones? They don't. People don't fulfill my needs; never will. In the end only Jesus can do that. And only through that will I ever truly be able to stop USING people and start LOVING people.

[Oh and leave me comments people, especially since I think sometimes my writing can be abstract. Plus always want to improve. Later]

Very Random Thoughts

So I have writer's block of sorts so I thought I just be random, yep who would have guessed:

Black and Missing
Apparently it is incredibly difficult to find news coverage Missing and Murdered people of color even on the internet let alone in the normal news. Personally it's disturbing how much more news coverage is given to those who are shall we say, WHITE. Stupid, so please pass this blog along to people cuz I don't know about you, but I don't enjoy racism.


Facebook
There is apparently a new pirate option on Facebook. Scale down to language options art the bottom of the home page and click "English", now change it to "English (Pirate)". Now instead of "Friends" you have "Mates". You're welcome and I give credit to this one to blogger Lo Ling.

Music
I love music so I'm constantly listening to new stuff. Right now really into Led Zeppelin (again) and teaching myself (read "attempting") how to play blues on guitar...the internet is awesome for that! If you're into Metal at all check Mastdon's Crack in the Skye, it's like if Pink Floyd and Metallica had a baby Mastodon would be their child. Really enjoying Harmonic 313 an electronic album that I can't describe except to say INSANE! The bass intro on the first track blew me away! And for those who haven't listened to it yet check out Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago it's raw (very little editing) and captures the writer's emotions better than anything else I've heard within the last year.

P.S. Leave me comments I can always use new ideas.

Stalking People I've Never Met on Facebook

So I haven't written any posts for a while. Mostly because I was without any ideas I felt were worth mentioning. But anyway, for whatever reason I've been spending a lot of time on Facebook lately...I mean what else do you do when you're bored? (Don't tell any of my professors). But seriously, I found myself wondering about people I'd seen around the college campus and decided to search for them on Facebook...they just so happened to all be female...normal right? (Yeah even I don't believe the last sentence I wrote; I'm not very convincing).

So here I am wondering to myself: "I've seen that attractive girl on campus, but I don't know her name." Mind you; I've never met her, spoken with her, met any of her friends, don't know her first name, her last name, her grade, her interests, and quite possibly have never made eye contact with her. We have no deep relationship...nothing close. So what do I do? I search through my friends pictures (the people I've actually met) on Facebook based on what I know about this particular girl from seeing her around. Maybe she was wearing a sweatshirt that said some group or club she was involved in or maybe she wears purple all the time and I'll just search for a group called something like "The Purple People Eaters"; ok that's pretty lame, but you know what I mean.

Anyway, so I'm searching through pictures based on my friends that would be likely to know her. (In answer to your question yes this makes me feel like a creeper,but it's just being myself...right?) And finally I become excited and jackpot there's a picture in front of me and now I know her name. And we've still never met and I realize how utterly ridiculous this is. How the heck does this help me at all? Even a little bit? I've still never met her, but now I have the added pressure of pretending (if we ever do actually meet) that I don't know her name. So I've only made it harder on myself. I'm thinking maybe I should have been normal and just initiated conversation...and yet I've repeated this process multiple times. And now I feel lame because YOU know my secret.

"Borrowing" of Rock Music and Mexican Food

Sometimes I think I might be Jewish. And the fact is that I'm white. I'm almost completely Anglo(aka "very" white), I have no real culture to speak of, I can't dance to save my life, and I've had Scottish shortbread cookies before. But somehow I think I might still be Jewish, even though I am clearly NOT.

The idea first occurred to me first year of college. Somehow people kept wanting me to join their Jewish clubs for JEWISH people. Which I am obviously not. But then I began to think. What if I was? I have darker skin and curly hair, what else do you need? Jewish people are historically very resilient people and I liked the idea. A culture? Something other than a mutt? I could live with that.

But alas, its not true. My parents are even whiter than me and that's kind of a difficult thing to do. They live in one of the most conservative areas of California, which had white written all over it. I think maybe I'll just conform to mediocrity and go back to stealing ideas from other cultures and calling them my own. Just saying...

I find it really interesting that with the influx of technology people reveal their thoughts in such different ways than they would have just a decade ago. The reality is that I'm writing on a blog instead of writing a letter or talking to someone. What I really wonder about is why people are so much more open and vulnerable in technological ways, but much rarely face to face. Here's a good example:

This a vlog (video blog) that Natalie (the girl in the video) puts about once a week. Reminds me more of a one-on-one conversation than just a simple monologue over the internet.

Or this:

We want to know someone important. And a person's house is only usually for those who are allowed in. So is this video a way of creating a false relationship with a celebrity?

Or this:


Its just weird to see people using technology as a replacement for relationships. We desire honesty so much but seeking it out can be dangerous in real life. Our pride is too valuable to let our guards down and deep down we're just not that sure of ourselves. We don't want to take that risk, but still have a desire for that void to be filled. Now one enters Facebook, movies, and television that can give a false sense of intimacy with other people. I'm not saying technology is bad just that too often it's used to replace a need that is supposed to come from real people.

25 Things: Facebook Lists

I use Facebook and have seen the 25 things about me lists many times. Which makes this amusing:



[I apologize for the Ads by Google. Its in the original video.]

Introduction

I think...a lot. To a point where I think so much I need to sleep; just so I can think even more. I also spent could chunk of time on the internet. So I decided to actually do something useful with time by combining the two into a blog. So enjoy and feel free to link to me and leave any helpful comments.