Ring Around The Leader And We All Fall Ashes

If anyone is excited for this Sunday, it is me. Warped Tour 2009 is only a few days away and my underpants are stained yellow from the excitement. Warped Tour always punctuates my summer, however, it is kind of bitter sweet. The event and everything going up to it is simply amazing. But Warped always marks the tail end of summer, it also means that on Monday we all have to go back to the real world, and lastly it means that I will be a full year away from the next Warped Tour. This year might be my last Warped for 2 years if everything goes according to plan and I go teach in Korea next year. Teaching in Korea seems like an opportunity and experience I can not miss. My underpants are brown from the excitement and the fear. But that is still a down the road a little bit so I try not to think about it.

Here are the bands I plan on rocking out to at Warped if the set times permit:
-Chiodos
-Underoath
-The Devil Wears Prada
-Senses Fail
-Meg&Dia
-Scary Kids Scaring Kids

And I will probably catch some All Time Low, Thrice, Saosin and maybe The Ataris.

At the beginning of summer, Dean and I joked about getting free passes to Warped this year. Well, I dreams have come true as our group won 6 free tickets. I won a pair through Warner Bros. Records and the Meg&Dia context, Richard won a pair through the John Lennon Education group (bless that man), and Dawson got two free tickets through an AT&T associate. This will be Ben Lee's first Warped experience. Saved myself $40 and all I had to do was put name in a drawing. That imaginary guy named god must have been on my side this time. I'll write my annual Warped blog sometime next week.

I saw a bumper sticker towards the beginning of my indefinite summer vacation that read, "God Bless The World, No Exceptions." How excited I was to read it! I get upset when I read bumper stickers that say, "God Bless the U.S.A," because that implies that everyone outside the U.S of A is excluded. Now if there was a god, I don't think he would be the kind of guy to pick and choose who is blessed. We are all his children and I would bet that he loves us all. At least these are the stories I was raised with at church. I suppose there actually has to be a floating man in the sky before any of these blessings can happen. I get confused when christian childern are not allowed to read Harry Potter because "he uses witches magic." Didn't Jesus use magic? Oh right! When he does magic tricks we call them miracles. There is a difference. Anywho, don't listen to people when they say, "god bless America." It's dumb in so many ways.

I have been kind of struggling with race these days. It is something I never struggled with, but lately I've been very sensitive to how white people treat other races. I think it has gotten to the point where I don't see things clearly and objectively. When ever a white person makes a comment about race, I pretty much assume they are wrong and racist. A white person could come up to me and tell me, "I love black people and Asians! I think they are the best!" and I would think he is being sarcastic. Really, I should be thinking, "what the fuck is wrong with this guy!?" haha. I think I started changing after I was a victim of racism. I started thinking after the incident, "What if I was being victimized and didn't know it until now only because it was so explicit?" So I promised myself from that day after I would be more aware of racism toward me. After that promise, I have caught many smaller acts of racism toward me and I think slowly the acts started to build up. I still think race shouldn't play any part in judging a person. I've always been a person to treat people on a human to human bases. It is just that I am more "snappy" when it comes to white people now. I don't think I hate white people, but I can't help but feel a little Black Panther-ish about situations now. Makes me appreciate MLK even more now. How he could preach peace when white people have been fucking him and his family over and over and fucking over is something I don't think I am strong enough to do. When I see a white person act racist toward anyone now, it always catches my attention. It doesn't even have to be toward me anymore. I feel guilty because by feeling this way, it makes me as bad as my racist white counter part. I am especially paranoid around old ass white folk. It always feels like they have something against me, like they don't want me in "their country." How come people always tell people to, "go back to China," but people never say, "go back to Europe"? If I knock a old white person out, will the police attack me? Going by that statement, I would agree they should. What if an old, NRA loving dude pulled a gun out on my and I knocked him out? Will the police still attack me? Probably. This is kind of a sensitive topic and I am not trying to offend anyone. Especially since race relations have been in then new with all this Obama shit. Our president is racist! What is new? This is an issue I am trying to fix. I think I am overly sensitive and seeing racism now when racism isn't even there. I need to return to my objective state so I can judge things fairly. Right now, I'm about as crazy as Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck and I do not want to be in that company. At least I know I'm a little crazy and paranoid right now. I don't think those guys have a clue. With all this said, I still have fun playing around with these already created stereotypes. I think it is important to have fun with these made up stereotypes. Maybe "important" isn't exactly the right word, but I don't think we should be overly sensitive about race (like I should be the one saying that right now, haha). However, it is an issue that obviously needs to be fixed. I'm just not the person to fix it right now. Maybe after I beat up some white people I'll feel better! I only joke! Jesus...

Before I close this blog, I just want to remind everyone that Sarah Palin is the dumbest bitch alive. EVER. Not because she is white, but because she is dumb. Just plain stupid in the head. She makes me want to stuff my stained underpants in my mouth.