Because I said so...

My time growing up was spent the way I think everyone should spend their time growing up. I was more often than not found doing one, or more, of five things: eating, sleeping, playing, reading, or asking questions.

I can't imagine why a kid would really need to do a whole lot much else than those things. Healthy mind and body, right there. Eat, but not too much. Sleep, but not too little. Play, but do it safely. Read everything you can get your hands on. And never stop asking questions; about everything. This simple formula promotes intelligent, healthy, well rounded, individuals. Just like we all strive to convince ourselves we are. Though in our later years, too many of these things go neglected.

At just 25, I eat too much and sleep far too little, in erratic intervals. I don't play anymore, I work. Or on frequent occasion, in what may be described as either a desperate attempt to cram as much fun into a short amount of time as possible or an attempt to drown the imbalance of the other four neglected aspects of my childhood in copious amounts of alcoholic beverages, I "party". I read, quite a bit by most people's standards, but not everything and not enough by mine. I do however continue to ask questions, though as my questions get more complex and philosophical, I'm more frequently disappointed with the answer.

My best friend once said that children are the most intelligent people on the planet; because they learn at such an alarming rate that their parents are often fraught with grief over their efforts to keep ahead of them and they ask that simple one word question with complete honesty, "why?" "Why is the sky blue?" "Why did do I have to wear clothes?" "Why did grandpa have to die?" "Why did the chicken cross the road?" These questions are also peppered with the other four "W" questions, who, what, when, and where. But why is often the most important. The why gives something meaning, gives it a purpose. "What is that?" "It's a giraffe." "Why does it have such a long neck?" That's what everyone wants to know about a giraffe, right? It also has seven vertebrae in its neck and a black tongue, but why?

Having had a fairly significant role in the upbringing of my two younger brothers and being unwaveringly curious myself, I can understand the annoyance of being asked, "Why…?" dozens of times a day. Children have the attention span of a gold fish and are psychologically hard wired to seek instant gratification in all pursuits, so they don’t pull any punches in their quest for understanding.

Unfortunately as we grow up we're discouraged, through various methods, for some reason from asking questions or we're told to go find the information ourselves, which I'm a huge supporter of, but without being taught the methods of research most people get frustrated and just stop looking for the answers. Or, what I've found to often be the case, people seek to understand the world as they experience it and stop seeking new information. I'm an American, why would I have any reason at all to learn another language? Why would I want to know anything about the complicated and violent nature of relationships between countries in the Middle East if I had no expectation of going there? Those are fair questions I guess. I already speak my native tongue and, until I joined the military, the goings on in the Middle East were not on my list of interests. To be clear though, I do not condone this attitude.

The problem with all of this is that it's never been self serving to focus on ones day to day life as a basis for learning. Without asking questions and actively seeking the answers, life muddles on in stasis. Things don't get better, technology doesn't advance, and successive generations are no greater than the last. That is the general idea of being a parent, a teacher, or a mentor, isn't it, to advance the skills and knowledge of those in your charge and enable them to expand their possibilities?

Enter, "because I said so." I would like to believe that it was because I asked a question with an answer that my mother thought I was too young to understand. However, I find it more likely that it's because she didn't know the answer or because she did it out of reflex thinking that would shut me up. Not because my mother isn't intelligent, far from it, but because either A, it's a question about something that I'm supposed to be doing or should have had done that I wasn't doing or didn't do. B, it was honestly for my own good, not playing in the alleys of Imperial Beach after dark for example shouldn't be up for debate when you're 12. Or C, it's a leadership issue. You can't ask why a lot in leadership scenarios, often there just isn't time. Can you imagine the danger of stopping the heat of battle to ask your captain why you should be doing something he's ordered you to do? Or why you're being fired at in the first place. You're almost certain to have a swift, albeit tragic, resolution to all of your unanswered questions.

However, "because I said so" is often implied or assumed, neither of which serve a great deal of purpose outside of a combat situation. Asking why tactfully and at an appropriate time is always a good idea. It affords you the opportunity to further your understanding on the subject; it provides an opportunity for the person being asked to reflect on the issue, and it allows the issue to be reviewed and improved if required.

The worst reason for doing anything is, "that's the way it's always been done". Doing something some way because that's the way it was done when you got there is detrimental. I'm not saying you should employ a third party agency to come in and evaluate the things you do. But certainly you could take a moment to think about the reasons you do something when you find yourself doing it. Ask yourself, "Why do we do this?" "Can we save time and money doing it differently?" "Does it even make sense?"

When someone asks you why something is done the way it is done or why the sky is blue or whatever, answer the question. If you don't know the answer, find the answer and let them know when you do. Or even better still; take them with you to look up the answer. What better way to teach the importance of continuous learning than taking them along for the ride?

When doing the same monotonous tasks day in and day out at work, ask why you have to do them the way you do. By doing so you will reinforce the importance of what it is you're doing, you will force yourself to evaluate the methods you use, and you will give yourself the opportunity to think of improvements on the current system. If you are the person that put those systems in to motion in the first place, be receptive of the opinions from a fresh set of eyes. Though we would all like to think so, there is no way of knowing if our way of doing things is the absolute best. Revisit current methods from time to time as well, the way you do things now may work just fine, but that's not to say that there isn't a better way.

A wise man once said,

"To expand your mind is to expand your possibilities." I don't know where the guy got it from. I'm pretty sure he got it from somewhere because a quick Google search will bring up the exact phrase all over the place. But it's pure wisdom none the less.

so tired...

i don't know what it is, but lately i just can't seem to sleep when i'm supposed to. i'll try to sleep before work but that doesn't happen so i end up sleeping after post. then i stay up until work starts again and half way through the shift i get tired.

Movies

This was supposed to be a reading list, but it turned into this instead.

13th Warrior, The
28 Days later
28 Weeks Later
50 First dates
6th Day, The
Accepted
Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The
Alien Vs. Predator
American History X
American Pie
American Pie 2
American Pie 3 - American Wedding
American Psycho
Annapolis
Artificial Intelligence
Back to the Future
Back to the Future 2
Back to the Future 3
Batman Begins
Be Cool
Beeny & Joon
Better Luck Tomorrow
Bicentennial Man
Big Fish
Boondocks Saints, The
Bound
Bourne Identity, The
Bourne Supremacy, The
Break-Up, The
Butterfly Effect, The
Carriers
Cinderella Man
Collateral
Cool World
Count of Monte Cristo, The
Crank
Crash
Dane Cook - Vicious Circle
Dark Knight, The
Dawn of the Dead
Day of the Dead
Déjà Vu
Diary of the Dead
Domino
Donnie Darko
Dude, Where's my car?
Empire Records
Employee of the Month
Equilibrium
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Euro Trip
Evil Aliens
Fallen
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Fifth Element, The
Fight Club
Final Fantasy - Advent Children
G.I. Joe - Rise of the Cobra
Gattaca
Girl Next Door, The
Gladiator
Gone in 60 Seconds
Good Will Hunting
Gremlins
Gremlins 2
Hancock
Hellboy
Hitch
Hook
House
House 2
Hudson Hawk
I Am Legend
I, Robot
Identity
Incredible Hulk, The
Ink
Inside Man
Into the Blue
Iron Man
Italian Job, The
Jumanji
Juno
Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park 2 - The Lost World
Jurassic Park 3
Just Married
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Knockaround Guys
Land of the Dead
Last Samurai, The
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Leon, The Professional
Lolita
Lord of War
Lucky Number Sleven
Machinist, The
Mask of Zorro, The
Matrix, The (10 Disk Set)
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible 2
Mission: Impossible 3
Mothman Prophecies, The
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Mummy Returns, The
Mummy, The
Mystery, Alaska
Neverending Story 2, The
Neverending Story, The
Night of the Living Dead
Not Another Teen Movie
Ocean's Eleven
Ocean's Twelve
Office Space
Phantom of the Opera, The
Point Break
Poltergeist
Poolhall Junkies
Protector, The
Real Genius
Reservoir Dogs
Resident Evil
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Resident Evil: Extinction
Riddick Trilogy
Robots
Rock Star
Roll Bounce
Rounders
S.W.A.T.
Sahara
Saw
Saw 2
Saw 3
Saw 4
Saw 5
Shawshank Redemption, The
Short Circuit
Short Circuit 2
Shrek
Sin City
Sixth Sense, The
Sling Blade
Smokin Aces
Snatch
Species
Species 2
Star Trek
Stickmen
Surrogates
Suicide Kings
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3
Terminal, The
Thaw
The Beach
The Blind Side
The Gaurdian
The Hunted
They Live
Time Bandits
Titan A.E.
Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life
Top Gun
Transformers
Transformers - Rise of the Fallen
Underworld
Underworld - Evolution
Unleashed
Up
Waiting
Wall E
War
Wedding Crashers
What Dreams May Come
Wild Things
Wolf
Zombieland

Things that I hate

This is something that I've been contemplating writing for a little while now. I know that everyone has things that they just can't fucking stand no matter how many times they are forced to deal with them. I'm no exception. In fact, being as proficient with the English language that I am, saying that I actually "hate" something should be considered to actually have some force behind it. Though I do often choose to use other words like, loathe, disdain, and abhorred. But then again when confronted with some of these things I revert to simply saying, "Fuck", a lot and cursing the existence of said object of my "affection". I'm not going to get real deep into these, it's just going to be quick, down, and dirty.

Things that I Hate:

1. Stupid People - I'm not talking your run of the mill below average IQ individual, I'm talking about repeat offenders. People that continually say the most inane fucking retarded shit. People that mindlessly regurgitate rumors and hearsay as though it were gospel. People that teach their kids to be fucking morons because they don't want to be outdone by their offspring. The kind of people that couldn't point out their own fucking home town on a map or can't tell you how many stars are on the American flag. Stupid, mindless, useless, wastes of flesh and perfectly good oxygen. The gene pool needs a little more bleach, these fucking assholes are breathing my air.

2. Pooping - This one is different, because try as I might, I just can't get around it. I've always been a very clean person. I shower every day. I take care of my teeth. Even when I was a baby, I've been told that I would wail like rape victim if I made a mess in my diaper. While I don't scream about it anymore, I still just don't like the whole filthy act of it. I think it's proof that there is no God. If we were created in his image, don't you think he'd figure some other way to get rid of our waste? He could at least make it smell like roses or something.

3. Doing things a certain way simply because that's the way it's always been done - If that's not the most fucked up retarded reason to do something, I don't know what is. Fucking evolve, people. Shake things up a little, improve things. And I'm not talking about coming up with some high speed solution to a problem that isn't there, I'm talking about shit like views on homosexuality or everyone in the Middle East hating everyone else in the Middle East. What the fuck is up with that shit? Gay people have been around for fucking, well as long as people in the Middle East have been trying to kill each other, probably longer. Specifically, I apply this to the Marine Corps. We've got a lot of fucked up little rules put in place by someone 15 years ago because one asshole got in trouble and now the rest of the Corps has to pay for it. People need to get educated and re-evaluate the status quo.

4. The government raping the education system - We've gotten ourselves into a sad state. First it was language programs, then it was music programs, then it was physical education programs. Where will we stop? We've now got a system that tests our youths knowledge on Math and Reading, that's it. Where the fuck did Science, Art, Music, Philosophy, Economics, and Government go? Sure, we have those classes, and you have to "pass" them to graduate high school, but do they matter? NO! The No Child Left Behind act was the icing on the cake. What happened to getting held back a year. We're so apt to let gifted students skip grades, but why not hold some back. Why not pay teachers enough money so that people actually want to become teachers. We spend billions of dollars on shit we don't need, why not redirect some of that money to things we do need, like better education. Who is going to solve the problems we're making now when we're producing citizens that can't fucking read?

Drowsey rantings from the back seat.

On my way to Turkey for a base run. I’m really glad my battery is lasting for the time being. It’s a six hour drive up there. I can’t wait to get a cheese burger. I know it’s only been a month and a half since I waved farewell to my beloved homeland, but nothing makes you miss home more than knowing you’re eight thousand miles away from the nearest In N Out. I wonder how well a Double Double keeps… *stares thoughtfully into the distance*

To pack for my journey I decided to use my brand spanking new Swiss Army backpack which boasts sufficient space for my 17” behemoth of a laptop, I got hustled by Amazon.com, again, though not entirely an impulse purchase, as I’ve been in the market for just such a satchel for some time now. Much to my surprise, the dedicated compartment for my electronic companion is clearly only large enough for a 15” computer. I can however squeeze it in, though just not where it’s intended to go. I’m torn between leaving it the way it is and trying to send it back for the right model. I did purchase the bag specifically for its 17” design, but I do plan on one day getting a smaller laptop. We’ll see how this trip goes. If I can live with it the way it is, I’ll just leave it be.

Beware the wrath of a disgruntled former lover. Nothing you can say will be enough. Nothing you could possibly do, short of offering barred jugular for evisceration, could serve to satiate the blood lust. There isn’t any way you could ever understand. There isn’t an ice cubes chance in hell that you could even fathom the pain that you’ve inflicted with your cavalier approach to the relationship. Never mind the facts. Never mind that you gladly went out of your way to make them happy. Never mind that you think she has an amazing body. Please forget that the sex was great and not just about the physical connection. And oh by the way, sir, whilst you are forgetting, purge from your mind that you ever considered a future with such a far superior individual. You are not worthy.

I’m having a pretty good time out here in Damascus. It really isn’t anything that I thought it would be. I was expecting great expanses of nothing but sand. Not that Syria is in short supply, but there is far more vegetation than I thought there would be and it’s actually quite mountainous. I especially like the last part. After living in Riga, which I’m convinced is one of the flattest places on Earth, I’d really begun to miss the jagged landscape silhouetted in the morning sun. The city proper is chaotically impressive. I could do without much of the traffic, but I don’t drive, so It’s not one my main concerns. There are fountains everywhere. It seems that they are a display of power. As if they are defying the desert. I don’t know how big a feat it is exactly, but they too are impressive. The old city is everything I expected it to be. It’s packed full of little shops. Some of which I could literally touch the back wall of by just leaning in from the outside and reaching over. The effect is actually quite deceptive. You’ll walk past a series of miniature shops and speckled here and there are decent sized walk-in stores. Then you’ll go a bit further and an ornately inlaid set of double doors will open to a hidden courtyard restaurant that is kept secret by these sell anything closet stores. Contrary to my preconceptions, they have most modern services, though the internet sucks, you just need to know where to go. And it’s delightfully cheap. You can go out three nights in a row on 20 bucks. It’s not short on its oddities though. Some of the customs and norms still throw me off, but being away from home for 5 years bouncing from country to country gets you used to such things. I have to say that the best part is the diversity. There are lots of students and ex-pats from all over the world and the Syrian people are very welcoming. I don’t miss California any less, but my stay here is turning out to be more comfortable than I had expected.

Yahoo! sucks

Damn it YAHOO! What the hell are you thinking? Here again you’ve taken a simple service and perverted it. All I want if my fucking email. I don’t want you to track my search history and suggest custom advertisements. I don’t want you to give me the weather for every location that I’ve logged in from in the last 12 months. I don’t want an up to the micro-second status report on the people in my address book that I haven’t talked to since I joined the Marines. Why can’t you leave well enough alone? About 6 months ago, Yahoo changed the interface of it’s email portal yet again. Adding dozens of new features that nobody uses and rearranging everything. I’ve gotten used to it though. I’ve been using the same email address for going on 11 years. Like clockwork, as soon as I figure out the new spread, they go and change it up. This latest rendition though has got to be the worst. It’s almost gotten as annoying as those fucking Facebook quizzes. The new and improved spam blocker still lets through the porn, the penis enlargement ads, and all the Nigerian scams that it used to. The picture previewer is still ass achingly slow, and the size of the emails you can send hasn’t gotten any larger. Sure you now have enough room to keep all the lolcats and propaganda, but you still have to send the files one at a time. I’m out! Gmail, here I come. If you need to reach me, shoot your traffic over to aaronpleas@gmail.com. Better spam protection, virus software, and better yet, it’s brand new and I won’t plaguing everyone with whatever zombie emails I may be sending out. The interface is better, simpler really. If you want to write a novel, get some publishing software. If you want to keep up with your social networking, get on Facebook. If you want to send an email and just an email, Yahoo is no longer the answer. Besides, sooner or later, Google will own stock on everyone’s soul anyway so you may as well make it as smooth a transition as possible. Jokes aside, it’s a better service. You can tell that they took the complaints and mistakes and really focused on making a superior base as an email service provider. Rejoice! Email is simple again. Though I must say in advance, if you start sending me forwarded emails, you will receive some serious hate mail.