Lowered expectations

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

The impetus: State of Georgia’s HOPE scholarship AKA the free in-state school tuition available to children with a B average, has lowered the grant qualifications from a 3.0 B average to a 2.0 C average.

You know what I had coming to me when I brought home C’s?  An ass-whoopin.

Okay, maybe not a real ass-whoopin, but I certainly would have preferred an ass-whoopin if it meant I didn’t have to deal with the mind-fucking my mom would give me with her disappointed behavior and passive-aggressive self-loathing at raising such a mediocre child.  When your own mother doesn’t really want to talk to you because you brought home a C, it makes you feel a little bit like shit, and develop a complex for getting C’s, let alone anything worse.  C’s may as well have been F’s, because it really didn’t change the way my mom acted.

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Photos: Denver Trip, Coors Field

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For my birthday, I ventured out to Denver, Colorado, a city and state I’ve never been to in my life.  Obviously, baseball was on my agenda, but it was also a perfect excuse to get to see and catch up with a long-time friend that lives out there now.  Who was gracious enough to show me the ins and outs of the Downtown Denver area before I headed off to go watch baseball at Coors Field, the home of the Colorado Rockies, and ballpark #23 on my list to eventually see all 30 Major League Baseball parks.

As a whole, I liked Denver as a city.  It feels like the vast populous of people are kind on the young spectrum, and I can’t recall seeing too many actual families and older people in general.  For the matter, the diversity in the city seemed a bit lacking in comparison to what I see on a regular basis in my daily life.  In other words, not a whole lot of black folk; but not a whole lot of other demographics either for the matter.  And of course, there’s the whole pot thing; now aside from the occasional drink, I’m pretty much clean as a whistle, but far be it for me to criticize the Romans in Rome.  It kind of makes the place kind of relaxed, if not devoid of any chips in any convenience stores late at night.

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Real Men Don’t Wear Small update: Colorado

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The journey continues on in the 2013 season, with, depending on how you want to look at it, is either my first official ballpark trip of the season, or unless seeing Marlins Park for a WBC game should count in its own right.  But whatever, I made a trip out to Colorado, where I was able to visit and see baseball at MLB park #22 on my journey, Coors Field, the home of the Colorado Rockies.

And because I’m such a baseball hipster that likes minor league ball more nowadays, I also made a secondary trip, 70 miles south of Denver to Colorado Springs, to see a game at Security Service Field, the home of the Rockies’ AAA affiliates, the Sky Sox.

Photos: Birthday Happy Hour

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Now that I’m back from Denver, I’ve got a little bit of a backlog as it pertains to pictures and things to write about… so with that in mind, it’s time to get cracking, and start catching up with all of the events before and after my trip.

I’m not really that big on birthday parties, but one thing I like do to do every year is simply get my local buds out for good food and drinks in honor of my birthday.  This year, I invited those who wanted to come and drink and eat good barbecue out to Moe’s Original Barbecue, which is like my current favorite BBQ restaurant in Atlanta, because they have the greatest wings in the city, seriously.

I was honestly nervous about the weather, since there were some dark rain clouds looming up above throughout the afternoon, but fortunately for all of us, it stayed put, and it turned out to be a pretty relaxing evening of good food, drink and company.  And I would be remiss if I did not say that I am very grateful and thankful to those who showed up to give me a little bit of their time all because of my silly birthday.  You guys are all awesome.

So anyway, I’m 31 now.  Old as shit, and feeling it in my back and shoulders these days.

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The best ironic holiday of the year

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You know who’s not working today?  Me.

You know why I’m not working today?  Confederate Memorial Day.

Yessir, a day that only a handful of states actually acknowledge, and really that’s only privy to state workers.  A lot of my co-workers often say that it’s embarrassing that Georgia acknowledges it, but I don’t hear them complaining about the paid day off work that comes with it.  Personally, it’s funny in an ironic way, but I’m also of the mindset that it’s best to embrace and acknowledge all history, good and bad.  It’s what makes things what they are, and it’s what makes Georgia, Georgia.

Either way, I’m glad that I have today off.  Having spent the entire weekend in Denver was fun, and I was happy to catch up with my homegirl Amy, as well as knocking one more MLB park off of my list, and getting to go see a minor league park in Colorado Springs additionally.  But after a weekend of lots of food and drink indulgence, with not enough sleep, high altitude effects, and even less sleep after taking the redeye back to Atlanta, today being off is a little bit of a godsend, even if it’s for “embarrassing” circumstances.

Why can’t things like this happen to me?

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Long story short: Korean woman makes transaction with CVS, CVS enters her name as “Ching Chong,” woman sues CVS for $1M dollars.

No seriously, why can’t something like this happen to me?  I would love to make an easy $1M on something so foolish and silly.  If I went to CVS, and this happened to me, and I busted them right on the spot, I would be laughing myself to tears at seeing Ching Chong written on the receipt.  I would laugh for at least three straight minutes, and try to gauge the reaction of the people behind the counter, the perpetrator likely amongst them.

And then with an amused smile on my face, I would simply ask them if they’d ever been sued, and regardless of what the answer would be, I’d simply retort “well you’re about to be!”

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The real SMB3 MARTA map

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There’s a guy fairly recently that has been enjoying a few minutes of e-notoriety, because he’s producing recreations of particular cities’ public rail transportation maps, themed with Super Mario Bros. 3 sprites.  At a quick glance, he’s done SMB3-themed maps for Portland, Washington D.C., and a few Canadian cities like Calgary, Montreal and Toronto.

I’ll admit that they’re cute, it’s kind of a creative idea, but the fact of the matter is that he’s still using someone else’s properties as its theme.  Regardless, despite the fact that they are aesthetically pleasant to look at, the one glaring flaw in all of them is the fact that they’re all pretty general and standardized.  Every single one of them is based on the SMB3 map of World 1, which is all pleasing, happy and green grassland.

I get what the guy is doing, and that he’s clearly going for consistency in his productions.  But this is where I state that I live in reality, and the truth of the matter is that the world is not this happy-go-lucky, bobbing-in-the-wind green grassland.  I can’t really speak most of the Canadian cities, but I have been to Portland, and I used to live in the D.C. area enough to have an opinion of his Metro map, but I didn’t really bother other than a few cursory snide, curmudgeon remarks with the latter.

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