It’s 7pm on a Saturday night. I’m in a familiar place – my office – working on new designs, tweaking old ones, and weeding out the fillers.

Sometimes I think I should just get the hell out of here. I should do what everyone else hits me up to do, enjoy myself, get a little drunk, and be a little bit hungover when I go to see my daughter tomorrow. But I rarely do. I rarely leave this exact seat I’m in typing this post. Whether it’s Saturday or not.

Today gave me a huge burst of confidence and energy. Designing was refreshing, relaxing, enjoyable, and most importantly, fun again. I started to think about what opportunity I have to communicate ideas to people through my designs, clothing, poems, stories, blog posts, etc. And it excited me all over again.

I’m about done designing for the day, but I’m not done working. I’ve got some drawing to do for a project that I’m excited about with my homey Wristpect, and I’ve got some relaxing to do with the wife over a beer, a glass of wine, a movie, and a bunch of laughing.

This is just where my life is right now. Whether it’s right, wrong, strange or fitting, doesn’t really matter. It’s exactly where it’s supposed to be. No fuss. No rush. No pressure. And I’m okay with that.

Have a good night guys.
be.

A person isn’t meant to stay with one person for their whole lives? What the??

Of course not. That’s why you break up with crazy bitches, dump stupid dudes, and stay single for the freedom and fun.

But commitment isn’t a contract. That’s fucking absurd. Commitment is just your moral responsiveness to being truly in love with someone.

If straying away and cheating was something that you knew your loved one would be okay with and actually support, you are not jeopardizing their love. But knowing that it most definitely would hurt them is reason enough to not do it. You don’t stay faithful because your imaginary mental relationship contract states that you’ve signed away your god forsaken low level contributory life to some other low level misguided, misinformed sloth-like excuse for a lazy lover for an undisclosed period of time, such as “The Rest of Your Life”.

Get off that.

And I’ll say it again: Commitment is your moral responsiveness to being truly in love with someone.

People who swear off of commitment can stay single forever and play the petty field of swingers and VD distributers all they want. But to assume that people in general are not meant to be with one person for the remainder of their lives starting at whichever point they so choose to commit, is foolish. It’s not only foolish, it’s applying some barbaric, club-bearing cave dweller mentality onto people who can think and choose for themselves. People like me, who choose to be faithful.

Don’t get it twisted folks. Commitment isn’t a shackle, a chain and a ball, nicely fashioned for your ankles, your wrists and your balls. It’s a decision to share, for as long as it works, your love and life with an exclusive individual.

People who cheat because they don’t like the idea of commitment are selfish. They want the cake, they want to eat it, they want to put their genitals all over it, not let anyone else have some, then go and fuck the person who baked it.

People who stay single because they don’t like the idea of commitment have morals. And those morals say, I won’t fool and buffoon with someone else’s feelings for the sake of my personal gain. I’ll just let it be known from the beginning: I’m a rampant cake-fucker.

And that’s about all I got to say about that shit.

You can view the full thread on my friend Nebby’s Blog

Amazing QXL Commercial

A fabricated, material world can easily make us forget the importance of being human. The selfishness and self-absorption attached to personal gain starts to tear away our compassion towards others, if we started with any compassion in the first place. And so we magnetize towards those who own the material things that we too have goals to attaining. And we do not love them. We love what they can provide, what they can make us believe about ourselves, and how some of what they shine reflects a light on our selves.

People have an attraction to potential. They are mesmerized by the possibility of success, and they want to hold the golden hand of the leaders. But gold holds no warmth beyond when it is first taking shape. And the jeweled have no interest in the craftsman. They lust for only the jewels.

They say if you’re not changed by money, you haven’t made enough. I believe this. But I do not believe that the change should be one that makes a person forget base human qualities, or neglect the beaten paths they once had to tread to find a clear road. All too often we speak on our hardships, our struggles, our ways out of the dirt, onto our feet, and beyond the clouds. But we do so with an arrogance that says nothing of humbleness and warmth. It says all too much about remembering a moment in life, but not enough about remembering the experience.

Be aware. There are Homecoming Queens all around.
And most are nearly nothing without a crown.

Welcome To TheLegendsLeague

I saw these photos last week and I was really intrigued by the message of vanity over family. The execution is fantastic and the imagery really moved me.

The Homecoming Queen
by AORTA/Marco Grizelj

A young girl returns home after being away for a year, working as a model.
To her younger sister, she is a hero.
But life in the fashion world has transformed her…

About a week ago, I entered a contest on the And Still blog after seeing it posted on their twitter account. All you had to do was name the players in the photo up top and the awards that they all won that year.

I’m an 80’s baby, and I never really win shit, so I thought I’d just give it a shot and enter. I grew up with friends whose parents would buy them these shirts every time a new one was out, so there was a level of nostalgia in entering, and hell, everyone loves free shit!

So, I won. And yesterday I received this in the mail.

There was a Oakland hat that I wanted more, but there was no way it was gonna fit my noggin. So I asked for the biggest hat they had…

…. and it’s still small. lmao.

That business card is actually from when I went to go check the shop out last May. It’s a really dope spot that you should definitely pass through if you get the opportunity.

Big shout out to the homies at And Still La Brea. Follow them on Twitter HERE

But it doesn’t show you where you can go from here.

In the darkest hours,
A window has reflective qualities.
It will show you everything that a mirror will,
Enough for you to recognize who you have become.
It will teach you that with a slight change in your perspective
You can see yourself,
The World,
And the both of you, combined,
In an instant.

And when the sun shines again,
You are not staring at what you have already put behind you.
You see possibility,
Motion,
And life.

However bleak,
However limited,
However dim.

This morning, as I was getting up, I looked on my Blackberry and saw this tweet from my homey Clay, also known as HXFOUR. He usually posts some cool and intriguing shit, so I got up out of bed, went to youtube and searched for a video to try it out on.

Here’s what the result was:

You get your selected video in a bubble, surrounded by what seems to be it’s “Related Videos”. When you mouse over a related video, it pops out the videos that are related to that video. And so on, and so on.

If you click on the bubble it opens the player in the same window. Then, when you close the video..

It creates a string from your original video search to the video you have just viewed in sequence. In the top left hand corner there are colour coded circles that correspond to each level of relation to the video you originally viewed. When you mouse over the circles, they’ll lead you to the video that you watched on that particular level.

New Ways To Do Old Things
I love that I saw this this morning. It provides people with a new way to do a familiar thing; an exciting spark to something that has become mundane. Realistically, there are plenty of people who watch more YouTube than they do television. I know I do. Having an opportunity to browse videos in a new way that is actually more affective than the original click-through style of YouTube is something that will keep the viewing experience for a user fresh on a website that is more about content than it is about functionality and browsing.

This “Warp Player” has been around for almost 2 years now (I believe), but I wanted to share it with you guys in case you, like me, hadn’t seen it before. I know you’re gonna go showing someone, who is gonna show someone, who is gonna show someone, and so on and so on and so on. But that’s the point right?

Shout to Clay for the link. I know nobody is gonna credit him when they go showing this off. lol.

People think I eat too many chocolate bars.
Or that I don’t wash my face.
Or that I wash my face with chocolate bars.
And then I eat them.
And then I get acne.
From confusing soap bars with chocolate bars.

LMAO! I used to clown this commercial all the fucking time!

Sorry to anyone suffering from acne.

“Tipping” scene from Reservoir Dogs. Mr. Pink explains why he doesn’t tip.

Tips
I just came back from having breakfast at a greasy spoon by my house. 4 eggs, some bacon, toast, homefries, a sliced tomato, and a coffee. It cost me $7.85. But I gave the waitress a dollar tip. Why? Because she’s not the best, but she’s not the worst. So the question is, how do you handle tipping servers?

Usually, this is how I handle my tipping scale:

Everyone starts off with 20%
I think that everyone, if they hit all of my expectations and exceed them a bit, deserves a 20% tip. But here are 10 of the things I mainly look for in a good server:

1. Introduce Yourself
You are personally responsible for the food I am about to ingest, and hopefully enjoy. Let me know your name so this doesn’t feel like I’m a lab rat and you’re injecting me forcefully with something I’d rather find at the end of a maze riddled with electrical currents. It’s polite, and I enjoy responding back with, “Hi (insert cute name here)”.

2. Talk To My Wife
Okay, I’m not married. But you get the idea. Speak to my girlfriend, ask her what she would like to drink first, and take her order before mine. I like to see a server treating my lady how I like to treat her, and this, to me, keeps you in the 20% tip bracket.

3. Come Back with Drinks, Ask for Apps
By the time I get my drink, I’m usually ready to order. But sometimes I’m not. When a server comes back and suggests an appetizer or asks me if I’m interested in ordering an app it shows me a couple of things: They’re interested in getting some loot. They’re interested in me feeling satisfied and fed while waiting for a meal. They know their product. I like that.

4. Apps Before Meals
It’s nice to get your appetizer before your main course, and actually quite annoying to get them both at the same time. An appetizer gets my taste buds and stomach going a little bit, but more importantly, it gives me a bit of time to share some food with company, and get some nice conversation going.

5. Bringing Out Meals & Drink Check
When the main meals arrive, I love when a server notices whether or not the drinks can use some topping up. There’s nothing worse than eating a meal without having some kind of refreshment available. A quick glance will tell them that much, no need to ask everyone at the table.

6. Quality Check
When a server comes back after 5 or 10 minutes to check if everything is okay with the food and service, it shows concern for customer satisfaction. I appreciate this a lot.

7. Talking & Walking
This is a huge pet peeve of mine and will drop the tip percentage that I give a server pretty quickly. When a server is speaking to me while they’re walking, it’s as if they don’t expect me to respond. This is like sprinting past someone and yelling out “High Five!”. How the hell are they supposed to connect with you if you’re passing them by? It’s rude. I understand that servers are busy, and often are asked questions mid-stride. But at least stop to respond. Simple courtesy goes a long way.

8. Clearing the Table
I don’t know about you, but when I’m having a meal I don’t eat all the salad all at once, then move on to the vegetables, then onto the steak, then onto the rice. It’s silly. I eat with the intention of enjoying the food that’s in front of me, together. So when a server comes to my table and starts to clear off things that me or my company haven’t entirely finished with, it’s as if they’re coming by to say, “Yup, you’re done here.”. At which point, my mind is saying, “Yup, so are you.”. It’s not that difficult to just ask if I’m ready to have some things cleared.

9. Dessert Menus & Coffee
Once my meal is finished, I don’t usually get dessert. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. But the suggestion for it is nice. Coffee after a meal is one of my favorite things to have, so when a server suggests a dessert menu or coffee, it adds a welcoming element to the experience that doesn’t say, “You’re done here. Get out.”.

10. Returning with The Bill
I find it a little bit rude to have the bill placed in front of me because I am the man at the table. When a server leaves the bill in the center of the table for me to pick up, it shows that the expectation that I will be the one paying for the meal isn’t being played into. There is nothing wrong with a woman taking a man out for a meal or a drink, and there’s a level of ego-bruising that happens when the bill is placed in front of you and taken away or passed off to someone else.

It’s pretty rare to have a server do all of these things in a single visit, but when it happens, I usually tip really well. Do I still give 20% if all of these things aren’t done? Yes. Pretty frequently.

For me, the element of consideration, hospitality, and a welcoming environment that isn’t just waiting on your money is what drives me to support the idea of tipping. I worked for years at McDonald’s, as kitchen staff, a cashier, and as a trainer. I also worked full-time at Tim Horton’s working 7am-5pm shifts. Neither of these jobs are “deemed tip-worthy”, and believe me, neither of those jobs were at all rewarding. But some days I’d come home from Tim’s with $10 in tips. Some days I’d have a loaf of bread or food that customers at the drive-thru window would bring me for my service. This, to me, says nothing about an expectation to tip. It says that the tip is a response for a well-provided service.

I am also a firm believer that as patrons at restaurants, we have a responsibility to communicate well with our servers. If our visits and subsequent tipping methods are solely based on what a server does and we don’t account for our own behavior, we’re being ignorant and inconsiderate. It’s up to us to make requests and complaints with a decent amount of respect and courtesy so that they’re responded to appropriately. If we don’t give a server reason to show any decency, we can’t blame them for being really shitty at their job.

What’s your take? How do you tip? Or do you tip at all?