Entries for March, 2005

The other day, I went to a nearby restaurant to grab some grub for lunch. After playing at my degenerate electron imitation for about ten minutes, I finally found a parking spot and ambled over to the shop. I saw this woman in her mid-twenties approaching the doors from my left. She was a bit ahead of me, so she reached the door first. I expected her to [naturally] open the door and step inside the restaurant, maybe even hold the door open for me for an extra three seconds. Common courtesy, right?

Nope.

She walked toward the door, saw me approaching out of the corner of her eye, and then stopped and waited for me to get to the door. She then gave me this quizzical look, as if to say, "What, you're not going to open the door for the lady?" I was taken aback, and in my mild surprise, I opened the door and gestured for her to enter first. The woman gave me another look, this one saying, "There. That's what you're supposed to do."

I was kind of annoyed with her, but I put it out of mind and paid for my highly overpriced, preservative-enriched, just-thawed slab of fast food. As I walked toward my car, I saw the woman getting into her black Ford F150 and driving away. But as she pulled away from me, I noticed a bumper sticker on her rear window. In gaudy, retina-scarring neon letters, it proudly proclaimed: "Feminism is not a movement - it's JUSTICE!!!"

My. Freaking. Gawd. That is what I hate about those hypocritical, double-standard feminazis. They say they want fair and equal treatment of both sexes, make us endure picket lines, screech their incessant propoganda at us, and generally get people really annoyed at women as a whole. Then they turn around, magically change from their jeans and work boots into their dresses and jewelry, and demand to be pampered by the male species. What kind of twisted logic is that? Why does it have to be the guy who opens doors for a woman? Why do guys have to leave the toilet seat down? Why can't women get turned down from a job interview without having to nag the Feds for a lawsuit for sexual discrimination?

This double standard bit has got to stop. You want equality? Fine. Let's talk about equality. You open doors for men. You throw out your fanciful ideas of chivalry and gentlemanly conduct, because we wouldn't want you to live in an unequal world. Aha. How about the whole draft issue? Feminists, no matter how gung-ho, are always so vehemently against the drafting of women into the armed forces. Why? It's too dangerous? It's too mentally exhausting? Boo-frickin'diddly-hoo.

If you're going to ask for equality, then expect to live equality. You want men to go out to the battlefield and sacrifice their lives for freedoms that you'll simply latch onto? How about you go fight for your own damn equality? Why won't you do that? Why, after all the arguments for fair and unbiased treatment of women in today's society, aren't you willing to put your own lives on the line for the freedoms you so adamantly demand? Your two-bit circular reasoning crap doesn't cover that gaping hole in your argument, does it?




ahem.




Now, I'm not advocating that men shouldn't be courteous or cordial. I try to be a gentleman myself, and I enjoy treating women nicely. However, you know when they've crossed the line when you find yourself getting yelled at because you used the pronoun "he" in an sentence. Oh, I'm sorry. he/she. Now, here's your M-16 Gauss rifle, two magazines of shells, and your army-issue helmet. Good luck in Iraq.

I apologize if I offend anyone. Most of you know that I don't hate feminists. [that much.] But most of you also know that I make a valid point.

That's it.

I'm tired.

I'm going to go study for State.

Written by jihwan at 12:04 AM.

10 x 0 = 0

It's Wednesday, March 09, 2005. The Decathlon team is leaving for the hotel now, and in five short days, we will know whether or not our hard work has paid off in dividends.

I leave for the state competition.

Wish me luck.

Written by jihwan at 09:42 AM.

3 x 0 = 0

We won. Details later. Just too tired from the whole ordeal.

Written by jihwan at 10:47 PM.

7 x 0 = 0

He is an autumn leaf on his way down a cold, chortling brook. As he floats by the brilliant oranges and reds and yellows of the season, performing a little leaf dance, getting tracked this way and that by the swirling currents, and stopping by the riverbank once in a while to contentedly commiserate with the world, he occasionally brushes into other little leaves, just as important and just as individual as he.

Some decide to join him in his journey to destinations unknown, and accompany him to their own little niches in the world to play a larger part in this great thing we call Life. Others give him a little nudge this way or a small push that way and part with him, never to come into contact with him for the rest of their little leaf lives, never to understand how his voyage turned out and where it has led him.

Unnoticably, unknowingly, they have altered each other's futures in ways their little leaf minds cannot comprehend. Perhaps that one little bump in the middle of the stream, that one tiny prod from their rest stops in another direction - has affected them so minutely yet so irrevocably that they part from each other with indelible signs of their fortuitous meeting.

As this little leaf finishes high school and goes onto college, he is departing from one bank of the stream to another, grander end. He has left his mark on this part of his life, and is going to see where the sinuous waters will take him next. He doesn't understand how he's affected his friends, his family, or that unnamed person on the street. He does know, however, that without each little experience, without every precious drop of knowledge gained, he would not be who he is today. He is eager to reach his destination.

He just has to go with the flow.

Written by jihwan at 10:13 PM.

7 x 0 = 0

When your family faces trials and tribulations, you feel the pain.

You walk around with a dull, empty sort of clanging in your chest. You can't seem to find that extra push in your step as you walk up the stairs. You feel like you're sitting in a room with a flickering fluorescent bulb - the stale, white glare leaks into every corner of your mind with nagging suspicions and worries that constantly eat away at the little perks of your life. It's physically, emotionally, and mentally taxing. You want to curl up and escape from your responsiblities. You want to want to punch a hole through the drywall and scream your throat raw. You want to sit in a corner and vent your frustration in a quiet, cathartic way because you can't seem to make amends.

But because you're not alone, because you're part of a family, you persevere. A family supports each other, cares for each other, and encourages each other. That kind of love, that kind of devotion, really wakes something within you. You realize that you're not a child anymore, and that it's time to take control of your life in ways you've never dared imagine. You decide that it's time to be a man and forge on ahead, strapping on the harnesses and pulling your own weight in the family.

And when it's all said and done, you want to be able to look back and know that the family's moments of hardship were nothing but bumps in the road that helped you become stronger and grow closer together.

I've screwed around long enough.

It's my time to be an adult.

Written by jihwan at 01:39 AM.

8 x 0 = 0