Avoiding The Hazards of Facebook Hookups

WORLD, I'm fed up! For the past few days, I've been listening to some people complain about straight up BULLSHIT! Seriously, get over yourselves! I'm not sitting here telling yall that I'm perfect. I know I'm far from that. BUT I do know that the only way to truly be happy is you gotta be happy with yourself, which I am. To bad a lot of people can't say the same. I'm ranting n raving now, but not without reason. I'm not one to complain with out reason, but I see a lot of complaints coming from people over stupid avoidable stuff. I believe the problem is rooted in lack of attention, so they cry out for some on social networks like Twitter and Facebook. One "friend" (I gotta use this phrase loosely) of mine, has a note on her page: "Not here for cyber sex, perverts not wanted.". OK, absolutely nothing wrong with that; in fact, I too have a similar mantra (although I don't feel the need to broadcast it). Now if I WERE to have it like a warning on my page, I think it would bear a lot more credibility if it wasn't under a half naked picture!! In review, you telling perverts to stay away, and you're dressing for them = Stupid! Now, I'm not judging her as far as what she posts; it's her perogative wheter she showing her body off or not. What I'm tripping on is the lack of common sense that the whole thing makes; you say one thing and dress as if you're lying about what you just said!! I'm sure she could have found a more appropriate picture than the one of her all wet and glistening in the water at the beach to make as her profile pic. I'm more than sure she has clothes that reveal less and in them, she would still be attractive, so I gotta chalk this off to just plain stupid (or in need of attention but well, that's obvisous too right?) Then I got a friend who is an actual friend but I might have to re-evaluate that, who keeps putting her willingness to date online, meets somebody who usually winds up hurting her, only for her not to learn her lesson and go the same thing all over again. Then she tries telling me hat happened and by me being who I am I give her my take on the matter, which is don't date nobody you didn't meet in real life first, a motto that some people don't get and some people read too much into (the next girl I'mma talk about does exactly that!!). Anyway, what does this nut go and do? The very next day, she got a description of herself that would shame some porn actresses! Any, my take is that Erica Jong said it best "Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't." I know what she means. Now the last girl is even more of a friend then the second one; in fact, I've known this one for as long as I can remember (with my alcohlic ass, that aint a long time at all!). I haven't seen her in years but we reacqainted on FB and now, all of a sudden, I suppose to be tagging that ass. No problem there! The problem is HOW she going about it, trying to ruch me into it! Ruching yourself is one thing, rushing me is not happening or you'll not like the results. She aint liking the results now; I just got a inbox from her that I didn't answer yet. I gotta show her that I like taking my time with everything, especially important like that, feel me? You probably don't but hell I'm better off for not moving to nobodies speed but my own and I know you're feeling that, WORLD!!!

WHEN YOU LEAVE A JOB (AND AREA) THAT LOVES YOU

Hello WORLD!! Today is a good day like most of them are, but it is still a sad one for me. After today, tomorrow and next week, I will no longer be working out of Comet Messenger Service's office on 13th and Michigan. I have been at this one location since early 2003 and it didn't really hit me that I'm being relocated til just now. I met so many cool people around here, like the good people at Jewels, mainly in the liquor dept, and this 1 light-skinned cutie at the AM/PM on Roosevelt (Note to self: I gotta make sure I get up with her before I dip). But alas, all good things, right? The fact is change is a good thing, especially since the change is for more money and better benefits. And although I don't work for Comet or Comet's owner Mr Jim Sailer anymore, I still work with Comet in the same fashion I've always worked for Comet, so it's not like the change is gonna affect the regular day to day things I do. It's just crazy that I've made this area such a big part of my life and now I have to let it go. Oh well, CE LA VI! That's enough for now WORLD!!!

Tragic Updates For 2 of the Most Infamous Crimes Involving Children in Chicago

WORLD, I don't know what to say. For people who live in Chicago, the names of Eric Morse and Ryan Harris will always be in our minds as some of the most tragic news to ever hit Chicago regarding Chicago. Now both are in the current news again; an unbelievable chain of events stemming from some of the most unthinkable crimes in Chicago's history.

For those who don't know about Eric Morse, this excerpt was taking from the blogsite THE VIEW FROM THE GROUND (http://www.viewfromtheground.com/archive/2001/06/in-memory-of-eric-morse-part-i.html): "On October 13, 1994, two boys, ages 10 and 11, dropped Eric Morse, age 5, from the window of a vacant apartment on the 14th floor of 3833 S. Langley, a CHA high-rise at the Darrow Homes. Tried as juveniles, the boys were found delinquent in the killing of Morse and given the maximum sentence of five years."

Here's the update, taken from a July 2nd 2010 Chicago Sun Times story by RUMMANA HUSSAIN (Criminal Courts Reporter)(http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/2456852,CST-NWS-lemon02.article):
"When he was 9, Derrick Lemon took the stand to testify how he tried to save his younger brother before he was tossed out of the 14th-floor window of an abandoned Ida B. Wells high-rise. The case received national attention in 1994 because of the age of his 5-year-old brother's killers: 10 and 11. Lemon, now 23, was back in court this week. This time, however, it was Lemon who was convicted of taking the life of someone trying to protect another. A Cook County jury found Lemon guilty Thursday of murdering his aunt's 40-year-old boyfriend, Illya Glover, on March 1, 2006, after Glover tried to stop Lemon from choking her at a family barbecue.
Lemon started attacking his aunt when she asked him to leave the residence in the 400 block of West 57th during a heated argument, prosecutors said. When Glover attempted to intervene, Lemon shot him several times.

Earlier this year, Lemon was also charged with home invasion and intimidating a witness to the murder after he allegedly broke into the home of a witness, prosecutors said. Lemon, who had been free on $750,000 bond, had a gun with him when he sneaked into the residence at 3 a.m. on Feb. 18, prosecutors said.
Lemon's brother Eric Morse was thrown out of the Chicago Housing Authority building by two boys who were apparently angry at Eric because he wouldn't steal candy for them. Lemon suffered from nightmares and extreme feelings of insecurity after watching his inseparable brother die, fellow CHA residents said at the time. A fund was established to pay for his long-term counseling needs, and officials at the Doolittle School gave him a plaque declaring him "the Little Hero."
During the trial of Eric's killers, Lemon said he couldn't save Eric because one of the boys bit him when he tried to grab his sibling's dangling body. "I let him go, and [the older boy] still had him, and he let him go, and he fell," Lemon had testified."


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Now, for those of you who don't know the story of Ryan Harris and one of the stupidest arrest in Chicago history and an update,courtesy of a July 6th CHICAGO BREAKING NEWS article (http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/07/boy-held-in-1998-ryan-harris-slaying-convicted-of-attempted-murder.html):"

"When Romarr Gipson was just 7 years old he and another boy were the youngest people in the country to be charged with murder.
While he and the other boy were later exonerated of the 1998 murder of Ryan Harris and he was awarded $2 million in a settlement with Chicago officials, Gipson was convicted today by a judge for attempted murder in a separate case.
Gipson, now 19, along with attempted murder, was also convicted of aggravated battery with a firearm and aggravated discharge of a firearm into a vehicle following a bench trial at the Markham courthouse, said Andrew Conklin, a spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office.
Cook County Judge Brian K. Flaherty convicted Gipson in a bench trial. Gipson is expected to be sentenced on Aug. 18, Conklin said. Gipson faces six to 30 years in state prison.
Gipson's conviction stems from a 2006 double shooting in south suburban Calumet Park where he was charged as an adult along with his stepbrother, Roman Foreman.
Gipson and Foreman were caught on video surveillance as they approached a parked car at a gas station, then opened fire with handguns, police said. Both men had guns, but Gipson's gun jammed. One of the victims was on a breathing machine as a result of the shooting.
The shooting stemmed from an incident that occurred involving a female in Chicago, officials said.
In 2008 Gipson was arrested on charges of drug possession, aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon and resisting arrest, according to court records. He was also charged in June with aggravated battery to an officer, according to court records. Those cases are pending, according to court records.
In 1998, Gipson, then 7, and another boy, then 8, were accused in the murder of 11-year-old Ryan Harris, making them the youngest murder suspects in the nation at the time.
The girl's body was found in a vacant lot on the South Side. It took almost a month before they were cleared in the killing after tests showed semen on the girl's clothing that could not have come from the children.
DNA tests later led prosecutors to charge Floyd Durr, a convicted sex offender, who pleaded guilty to the girl's murder and was sentenced to life in prison.
A lawsuit filed by Gipson's family against the city of Chicago was settled for $2 million. The other boy received a $6.2 million settlement."

WORLD for a change, I have nothing left to say except we simply MUST do better than this!!!!!

6 MONTHS of TWITTER & FACEBOOK (10 Things I've Seen & What I've learned on them.)

Hello, WORLD!! Last December, while working on a job for Amazon Mechanical Turck (look this up if you're unemployed or if you are looking for a way to supplement your income), one of the tasks had me start a Facebook page if I hadn't already done so, which at that point I hadn't, and "Like" a status. I dont really remember which status but I know for that $0.75 it wasn't too much trouble to do. Little did I know that that one act would limit my A.M.T. production. I haven't went back on there that much since. One of the last times I did return, however, had me do almost the exact same thing except I had to "ReTweet" something via Twitter. I figured why not? I did both jobs and thought nothing about them until a week later when I checked my eMail. By that time I had maybe 100 request from names I hadn't seen in years. Just what was this Facebook thing I had gotten into? I had no idea at that time, although I remembered a few of my friends had wanted me to check it out on various occasions. I was skeptical, but for the life of me I can't remember why I felt that way. Anyway, I decided to see what was to it and lo and behold, I had fun. Enough fun to make me regret all the time I wasted not being on Facebook. This feeling of fun lasted on Facebook until maybe March or April when I started noticing how fake some of the people on here was. Not my friends from real life; out of all of those friends that I also had as Facebook friends, I only know of one that was being phony and she has since deleted herself from my page and my life to which I say "Good riddance, with your phony ass!" Nuff said on that, for now. Anyway, around that time I decided to give Twitter a try. And lo and behold, THAT was fun. I can't believe I had so much fun on just thinking out loud (which is all Twitter is, IMO). As much fun as I had on Facebook, it seems I'm having more fun on Twitter because the Followers on Twitter (as opposed to "friends" on Facebook) are not obligated to follow me; instead they follow because they want to follow. I figure you gotta be saying some good shit in order to get a few 1000 or so followers and over the course of these 6 months I believe I have had at least that many followers total but never at one time. On Facebook, at one point I had 1000 friends until I realized I didn't need that many people in my life that's not worth knowing period and started cutting the loose ends loose. I am now @ 600 plus friends and almost 300 followers. As far as followers go, it's modest but the people who follow me are more than likely worth following in return. There's that at least. As far as my Facebook friends go, I know each and every last one of them. Admittedly, some I met through FB, but these people's insights are as valued as the insights from my real life friends, some I look at as true friends in every sense of the words, feel me.
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What have I learned in these 6 plus months?: I've learned a few details about social networks in general and Facebook & Twitter in particular:

1.)Not everybody on these pages keep things 100: A no brainer. Remember I mentioned an ex-friend? She was always posting stories of her traveling and such when she did not go anywhere. I found this out when I told her to "Enjoy a trip" she had been discussing earlier on her page. She responded "I'm not taking a trip. I did that so I could make the nosy people more jealous of me." My thinking is why would you do this unless them same nosy people were only being nosy because you lied in the first place? Whatever.

2.)Even if you had been friends with a person in the past, that doesn't mean yall still cool just because you befriended each other on Facebook: Time changes outlooks, you know. A person whom was ya closest friend might not recognize the new you, even if you aren't the one who has changed. #SadButTrue....

3.)Twitter is more "adult" than Facebook: Another no brainer. My major pet peeve with Facebook is the fact that I have a gang of inboxed things that have absolutely no beneficial properties for me at all, like invites to fan pages such as "I like Doing Hand-Stands" or "Vote for Banana the Chimp as Facebook's Sexiest Animal". I made them up, but look through some of the pages you guys are part of and you'll see I ain't that far off the margin. Twitter, however, doesn't have these annoying messages or games and game request ("Send my a Bulletproof Shield" ala Mafia Wars and the like) for that matter, or maybe it does and I don't get the junk mail for it. IDK but as long as I am not receiving it, hey...

4.)Make sure you dont embarrass anybody that has old pics of you you dont want to see online: Nuff said on this but then again...Nah, this one is self explaining. BUT I do want to add a note or two about sexting here. It's a couple of guys that be on Twitter that admit they save pics people tweet and sometimes save profile pics. But if that pic you saved is of a half nude minor, that could cause a small problem. Another small problem could be sexting on your behalf. You meet somebody, feeling 'em, and soon you're sending 'em pics of ya naked ass. The problem arises if yall have a falling out and that person still has them pics. You already know whats next, right? Right. You know. Watch what you send people in regards to yourself and how you want to be viewed.

5.)Engaging in Twitter Wars/Facebook Beefs is worthless: Instead of wasting your time trying to put down somebody that you probably don't know in real life anyway (what's the sense in that?), why not use your energy wisely and try to help others you don't know? #ImJustSaying... And with that said

6.)Stay out of your Friends/Followers beefs: Nine times outta ten, if it involves real friends you'd do your best to stay out of it unless you're a drama king or queen. Try to remember that next time there's an Internet war of words between people you are cool with. You find yourself in the middle of some stuff you really ain't got nothing to do with and it might wind up costing you not one friend but several after all the smoke clears, feel me.

7.)You don't have to accept every friend request/Screen who sends you a friend request before you accept: I just got a friend request from a JASMINE YOUNG (she's looking for friends so feel free to look her up). The first thing I do is check her page. I see she has just become friends with 9 people by one line on her page, another line says 10 and then it says 4 more similar stories. The thing is she only has 113 friends. She just got started on her page, I assume. What does she post? Her only posts reads "hi guys come view my webcam". The WORST kinda people get you to leave a relatively safe website like Twitter or Facebook to come to a Webcam site which is usually the home of dozens of viruses and spyware, just waiting on a sap to come and check it out so they can infect the user's computer. Avoid these like the plague! Also be weary of any friend request you get and yall have no mutual friends in common. It's strange how a person in San Jose can request your friendship and you dont even know how they came across your page. Sometimes it's nothing; sometimes it's a person trying to spread more of the viruses that you see on other websites. #SadButTrue...

8.)Being thirsty gets you nowhere!!: Take this advice on EVERY level you can! First, I'm not a fan of dating anybody I didn't meet in person first, but that's just me. If you are into that kinda thing, be careful. If you try to talk to a person based on the picture you see as their profile pic, you're setting yourself up for an epic #Fail. See Lesson #1 again in case I need to elaborate. Then if you're satisfied that that pic is the person ya feeling, you STILL should be weary. I mean, after all, that person chatting with you over the computer isn't just chatting with you over the computer no matter what you think. Again, #ImJustSaying...

9.)Maybe you're not right after all...: We, as people, have a tendency to think that whatever we say or do is the end all be all of whatever. This is not the case. Say you share an idea and your brainchild gets heavily criticized. Does this mean your idea is a bad one? No, nor does it mean that your friends/followers are idiots. It could be exactly what you needed to hear in order to take your brainchild to the next level. Then again, it could be total shit just like your people tried to tell you. Learn to accept criticism for what it's worth. Conversely, if you're the one giving criticism, do so in the manner that the critized person can learn and build from instead of tearing down his or her hard work and not so much as leave a 'what's needed for improvement' note.

10.)These are websites, not your life!!:Typically, I dont do websites after I get off work. Main reason: After work, I live my life! Secondary reason:I got things to do. Even if there is nothing I have to do, the main reason is good enough to warrant me a break from posting/tweeting. I know for a fact that there is a few people who surprisingly are on this sites all day long. How can that be possible, especially if these people: have children?, have real friends?, are human (24 hours without sleep?!?!)?,etc. I understand some people are not really social and yes I will admit that this site can help a person in this regard. But the fact remains that having a cyber life doesn't constitute having a life. It's just one aspect of life and just like the rest of them, it does not complete a person. Get off the website for a minute; see what the real world is doing once in a while.

Of course, I've learned more than just these things but these are the main points that stand out to me as "Why doesn't everybody know this shit?" department. That's all for now, WORLD, but isn't this enough?

A Funny Thing Happened At (and Leaving) The Taste of Chicago Yesterday...

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