I read the news today, oh boy.

Blogging on more of a serious note here. This is going to be long but it is very important. Please just stick with it.

In the last month, there has been news articles about four different people who have committed suicide due to being bullied for their sexual orientation.

This portion will be upsetting and could possibly be triggering to some people. I’m going to be briefly going through each of the people who’ve died and sum up what happened. Please keep that in mind and skip down to the safer area (I’ll post another message like this when its safe) if needed.

Billy Lucas was fifteen. He was from Greensburg, Indiana and went to Greensburg Highschool. He was horribly teased in school. The website that has now been set up for him, billylucas.org, says that in school he had a chair pulled from under him and he was told to hang himself. That’s exactly what he did.

Indiana state senator Tom Wyss has said that he wants to make laws stronger for bullying, I hope he isn’t just saying that because it’s an election year. He wants to hold bullies and the administrators more accountable. The Greensburg High principle says that he didn’t know Billy was being bullied, but according to a students, everyone knew that he was.

Asher Brown was thirteen. He was from the Cypress are of Texas, right outside of Houston. He went to Hamilton Middle school. It’s been reported that he had been teased for his size, religion, clothing, and also for being gay. The school he went to denies getting any complaints from any Asher’s parents, but his mom has been quoted saying, “That’s absolutely inaccurate, it’s completely false, I did not hallucinate phone calls to counselors and assistant principals. We have no reason to make this up. It’s like they’re calling us liars.”

Asher came out to his stepfather, David Truong, the morning he shot himself. Mr. Truong was fine with the fact that he was gay and said “We didn’t condemn” when it came to the subject. Amy Truong, his mom had this to say to the bullies, “I hope you’re happy with what you’ve done. I hope you got what you wanted and you’re just real satisfied with yourself.”

Seth Walsh was also thirteen. He was from Tehachapi, California and went to Jacobsen Middle school. He attempted suicide by hanging himself from a tree. He was found unconscious and was airlifted to a nearby hospital and put on life support for 10 days before he died this Tuesday. In the school where he went bullying is not a crime, so no one will be charged with anything. Police did question some of the students that bullied Seth on the day he hung himself though.

His family says that they aren’t blaming anyone and they want the community to grow and develop more of a tolerance for different people. They want to celebrate Seth’s life and are just trying to stay positive in this difficult time.

Tyler Clementi was eighteen. He was in college and went to Rutgers University in New Jersey. He was outed by his roommate before he jumped off the Hudson bridge. His roommate, Dharun Ravi, and another freshman Molly Wei, actually broadcasted a live feed of Tyler Clementi in their dorm while in the middle of a sexual encounter with another man. Ravi and Wei have each been charged with two counts of invasion of privacy for setting up a camera in the dorm and transmitting the feed.

Safe to read again!

Going to throw some statistics at you now. Each of these have been taken from the website for The Trevor Project, which in short is a nonprofit organization which was created to promote acceptance and prevent suicide among the LGBTQ youth.

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth are up to four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers (Massachusetts 2007 Youth Risk Survey).

Nearly half of young transgender people have seriously thought about taking their lives and one quarter report having made a suicide attempt (Grossman AH, D’Augelli AR – Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior 2007)

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual adolescents are 190 percent more likely to use drugs and alcohol than are heterosexual teens (Marshal MP, Friedman MS, et al – Addiction 2008).

Nine out of 10 LGBT students (86.2%) experienced harassment at school; three-fifths (60.8%) felt unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation; and about one-third (32.7%) skipped a day of school in the past month because of feeling unsafe (2007 GLSEN National School Climate Survey).

Almost all transgender students had been verbally harassed (e.g., called names or threatened in the past year at school because of their sexual orientation (89%) and gender expression (89%) (2009 GLSEN: Harsh Realities, The Experiences of Transgender Youth In Our Nation’s Schools).

All of that being said, it’s rough. I’ve been fortunate enough to have a supportive family and no real major problems being accepted for being a lesbian. There are those people who don’t have it as good as me though. There are so many other people out there like Billy Lucas, Asher Brown, Seth Walsh, and Tyler Clementi who have been teased, outed, and mistreated. These are only the stories that we know of. There are so many other kids who aren’t even LGBT who get teased and end up news articles just like these ones too.

I was taught the basic “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything nice at all” and just that you don’t tease or bully other people. I know I haven’t always been the nicest person, no one is perfect, but when you take that extra two seconds to think about what you’re saying and how it may affect someone it really can make a difference. Sometimes there are things that are just better left unsaid. You don’t have to walk on eggshells whenever you talk to someone, just think of everyone like a real person with real feelings. Smile at people even if you aren’t really feeling it. Whenever someone smiles back at you, you just feel that little bit of warmth inside and it can change your day.

Standing up for other people is also extremely important. If you see or hear about someone getting bullied, you can be that person that can make things better for them. You can go and tell parents/teachers/whatever other adult and you can just be a friend to the person too. People always need friends. I was always that kid in school that used to stand up for the other people just because it isn’t right to let that happen. It isn’t right to tease someone because they’re different than you. The great thing about people is that we are all different. No one else is like you and that makes you special.

There is a recent project/campaign thing that came up that’s called It Gets Better. I love it. It’s videos that people have made up on youtube, and they all are telling the LGBT community how things really do get better. This video is probably my favorite one that I’ve watched from the It Gets Better youtube channel.

I’ve said what I’ve had to say now and will leave it at that. Just think before you speak and know that everyone needs to be loved. It doesn’t matter what they wear, how they talk, how they act, who they like, or how they look. People are people and we need to treat everyone like they are a person.

Sims 3: Late Night

New expansion pack coming out in the fall! Exact date is still unknown, but it’s this fall which is pretty cool. It looks like it goes along with the Hot Date/Superstar and Nightlife expansion packs seen with The Sims 1 and 2. The information of all of this was posted 6 days ago so not much about it is known at the moment.

This is what the Sims 3 website has to say about it at the moment:

For the first time ever, your Sims can experience late night fun as a VIP!

Get your Sims an all-access pass to the hottest spots in town. Whether they mingle with celebrities or enjoy a casual night with friends, your Sims’ social lives are getting a boost! But keep in mind that some scenes are more exclusive than others, so make sure your Sims have the right connections to get past the bouncers at the hottest clubs. Wherever your Sims go, they’ll discover new things to become—adored celebrities, all-night partiers, rowdy bandmates, or sexy vampires. What will your Sims get up to after dark?

FEATURES

Hang out at the hottest spots in town, from dive bars to dance clubs to chic lounges, complete with bouncers.
Gain fame and fortune as a member of a music band, mixologist, director, or local celebrity.
Wander into a certain part of town and your Sims just might uncover the secret to becoming a vampire.
Gain access to exclusive areas and enjoy celebrity perks like penthouse living, luxury hot tubs and cars.

I’m happy that they’re bringing back hot tubs because the first two installments of The Sims have them but TS3 has yet to get them yet. It also looks like they’ll be bringing the piano (along with the double bass and drums I think) back too which is awesome. I was surprised when I didn’t see it in buy mode the first time I looked.

I’m looking forward for some time to go by so that I can see some more about this! I think it’s going to be pretty cool.

Not been up to too much.

It’s crazy how NOT humid it is here. I’m used to being in Maryland where you can practically swim to the store. According to the news it’s been unusually humid and so I compare the humidity percents here versus there. Here in Denver it was like 47% and out in Maryland it was 49%. Not that much of a difference, but it was unusually high here and quite low for there. I just found that kind of interesting. I looked at it last Saturday also and it was 7% here and 59% there. Hah!

This weekend there is a soccer game to go to which I am really looking forward to. We’re playing the Seattle Sounders (who suck and have really stupid obnoxious fans… but that’s another story) and it’s rumored to be a sellout game! The high is going to be 87 degrees but our seats are in the shade so it wont be that bad. I just hope no thunderstorms or anything come around, which there are a chance for.

Yesterday up in Commerce City where the stadium (DSG) is, there was a hail storm and a tornado was spotted 5.5 miles away from DSG. Everyone and the stadium are fine which is good. If it rains at the game I’m fine with that, I just don’t wanna deal with any crazy severe weather like that.

We’ve grilled three times already which is awesome. I normally just get the fake hot dogs that are tofu, but in the store we found some that are gluten so we figured we would give those a shot. The tofu ones are not so good for the grill, but the gluten ones are recommended to put on there, so I was pretty excited. They turned out so good. I hadn’t had a grilled hotdog in years so it was so nice to have one again. It’s definitely a make again.

Five days until the sims expansion pack is released also. I went through my music on my main computer and I got rid of about 800 songs.  I just have 1000 on there now which is good. Now there will be a bit more space on my computer and it’ll run a bit faster for the game. 

It’s a shame how fast computers get old, I haven’t had my iMac for that long and now games are coming out that have higher standards and my poor young iMac is like, “Hey! Not cool guys!” It’s a great computer and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon it’s just a shame. I could get a higher graphics card and other stuff for it if I really wanted to but eh. It’s more work to do all that than it’s worth to me at this point, really.

I also should go through my pictures ’cause with my new camera I’ve gathered more and more pictures. I’ll do that this tomorrow or Sunday. Just gotta get more blank disks to back stuff up.

May Snow!

Monday while watching the news, they said that it could snow Tuesday night and some of Wednesday but it wouldn’t really stick because it’s been so warm recently.  So around 8 or so last night, it started raining and there was some thunder. It eventually turned into snow and came down for a while. It is pretty much melted by now. I don’t think any of it stuck to the roads at all, mostly just on the roofs of houses still.

21 Days and 196 Days

In 21 days, The Sims 3: Ambitons will be released and will show up at the house.  I’m already thinking about what I want to do first! Normally when an expansion pack comes out I make a new me and then start over, but I think I might just keep the current me and use my fancy cheats to change around my character traits and then I’ll go to the mirror and dresser and look at any new hair or clothes they put out. It’d be easier to do that then make a new me, build/furnish my house, and then get my skills up to how they are now.

In 196 days, Roger Waters is coming to Denver and I’ll be going! Tickets became available today at 10 o’clock and we ordered them at 10:30. I woke up at 10:30 and said “OH MAN! TICKETS WENT ON SALE HALF AN HOUR AGO!” then I ran downstairs to Mom’s office and we ordered them. I am super duper excited for it and still kind of can’t believe I’m going to see Roger Waters in concert. I’m glad we were able to order them this early (the actual concert is November 23rd) because you know a bunch of people are going to be on it.

Yesterday was Mother’s Day and my brothers birthday. We all had a pretty good day. We had an afternoon outside for the most part. Did some yard work, kicked around a ball, gave the dog a bath, and sat around some. 

Today my books should be arriving so I’m waiting for the mailman and the delivery guy. They normally come late afternoon and it’s almost 2 o’clock now so I’m hoping it’s soon.

Fanciness.

Things are going awesome here in Denver. Weather is great still, I’m so glad that I’m not back in that Maryland humidity and everything. It used to feel like I could swim everywhere. Another great thing is that my birth certificate request was accepted so I am now a real person. After nearly 17 years of trying to get my birth registered and all that jazz, I now can do all sorts of cool things like open bank accounts, prove who I am, and stuff like that.

I was also able to pre-order The Sims 3: Ambitions . The game is released on June 1st and will show up at the house on that day! It’s in less than a month now.

I got some books too. I’ve been really feeling like reading recently which is a bit odd for me but eh. I read a book a few weeks ago and have wanted to read ever since then so I got the following books:

Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy: Curiouser and Curiouser by William Irwin
This book looks at the deeper meanings of some of the things in Alice in Wonderland. It’s one of my favorite books so I thought this would be an interesting read. I always like reading all the in-depth analysis’ on things like this.

Free for All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Ganstas in the Public Library by Dan Borchert
Dan Borchert had a couple jobs before getting one in a California library. He ended up writing a book about the job ’cause some crazy stuff has happened.

Tiny Acts of Rebellion: 97 Almost-Legal Ways to Stick It to the Man by Rich Fulcher
Not exactly sure how to describe this one, the title sort of does it for me. I just think this book is going to be hilarious. The author played a part on a show “The Mighty Boosh” and is just pretty funny himself.

The Mighty Book of Boosh by Julian Barratt, Noel Fielding, Michael Fielding, Dave Brown, Rich Fulcher, and Richard Ayoade
This book has archives and original stuff from the show. It’s got behind the scenes pictures from the tv as well as the live shows, short stories, and some concept art. I think it’ll be pretty cool!

Moab is my Washpot by Stephen Fry
This is Stephen Fry’s autobiography! I’m most excited about this one I think. I really like and respect Stephen Fry and I just can’t wait to read this book.

I’m also happy to say that the bonsai tree I got about a month ago is not dead yet. It’s a dwarf juniper bonsai and looks kind of like an elephant from the side. I’ll post a picture of it shortly. I’m actually going to make a page on here just for my pictures (I don’t know if I blogged about my camera or not?) so I don’t have to spam them all on the main bloggy part.

Sims expansion pack!

I found out about two weeks ago or so that there is going to be another expansion pack for The Sims while I was in the middle of doing stuff so I didn’t really read about it until now. The information for it was actually released in March but super geek me surprisingly didn’t find out until a little while ago. I read an article on it and it seems like it’s going to be pretty awesome.

It’s called Ambitions and you follow your sim when they go to work. In The Sims 1 and 2 your person goes into a car and they’re gone for x amount of hours and then come home. The Sims 3 is slightly different in the fact that you can see the building your sim works in and you can choose a couple things for them to do (work hard, suck up to boss, meet coworkers and stuff like that).

Here’s a quote from Grant Rodiek (sims associate producer) giving an overview of the game:

The Sims 3 Ambitions allows players to control their sims while they are at work in a variety of new careers. Instead of sending your sims off to work all day, The Sims 3 Ambitions lets you pick a career like firefighting, investigator, architect, ghost hunter, stylist, or doctor and then guide your sim to make choices and succeed (or fail) every step of the way. You can also make your sim a tattoo artist, sculptor, or inventor.

In the article it adds on the some of the careers. There is the architect which I think my sim is going to end up doing. Your sim will be hired by neighbors to build rooms for them which sounds pretty fun. One of the things I always like to do is just build and redo everyones houses so I might as well have my sim get paid for it!

I of course will have my sim be a stylist at some point also. Just like the architect your sim will be hired by neighbors to give fashion advice and partial to full makeovers.

Along with the new skills (sculpting and inventing) new character traits will be added, they will be environmentally conscious, savvy sculptor, eccentric, and dramatic.

At city hall you can make your sim self-employed which is pretty cool. Any paintings you do, rocks you find, inventions you make, and so on you can give to the consignment shop in town.

It will be released June 1st and I think it’ll be a pretty cool game!

Ambitions Q&A article I used for quotes and such.

OH MY GOD!

Roger Waters is coming to Denver in November to preform “The Wall” in its entirety. I’m super excited because not only am I excited just ’cause he’s going to be here, but reading about why he’s doing it makes it even more awesome to me. I’ve read about three different things the tour now and I just think it’s going to be awesome. They say it’s gonna be a Floyd-worth tour. :3

On his website he’s written something titled “Why am I doing The Wall again now?” and in there he says:

“30 Years ago when I wrote The Wall I was a frightened young man. Well not that young, I was 36 years old.

It took me a long time to get over my fears. Anyway, in the intervening years it has occurred to me that maybe the story of my fear and loss with it’s concomitant inevitable residue of ridicule, shame and punishment, provides an allegory for broader concerns.: Nationalism, racism, sexism, religion, Whatever! All these issues and ‘isms are driven by the same fears that drove my young life.

This new production of The Wall is an attempt to draw some comparisons, to illuminate our current predicament, and is dedicated to all the innocent lost in the intervening years.”

He seems to add on that a bit in an article by Billboard.com saying this, which I think is really awesome:

“I started to think that maybe there is something in the story of ‘The Wall,’ which is about this one guy…that could be seen as an allegory for the way nations behave towards one another, or religions behave towards one another. In other words, could the piece be developed to describe a broader, more universal condition than we did in 1980 and I did in 1990 in Berlin?”

I’d agree with him fully because The Wall is so symbolic of stuff in so many ways. A while ago I read an in-depth analysis of the film (which goes hand in hand with the album, just with some visual goodies) and it really does make you think more about it than just it being some crazy dude who shaves off his eyebrows and does weird stuff. Of course the guy who wrote it was just another Floyd fan like the rest of us, but it’s still good stuff. It’s like Pink is at war with himself and he’s two the two different sides but ultimately the same person. It’s the same way with how us as a whole race should be pretty cool with everyone else because we’re the same, but we can behave so badly towards one another just because of the ‘isms Waters mentioned.

In the same article as the previous quote, it states that even though there is a more universal focus on the tour, Waters isn’t planning on changing the songs very much. It says that he had thought about swapping out a reference to Britain in the song “Waiting For the Worms” but for “us” but he’s leaning against it. To me if he changes it or not doesn’t really matter, I just think the whole thing is really freaking awesome.

It’s just like starting over.

I’ve been meaning to change around my theme and such for a long time but never really get around to blogging. I started this evening and finished surprisingly fast, normally takes me forever. Hopefully I wont get sick of it anytime soon.

I’ve been living in Denver for a month and four days now and I’ve got to say it’s pretty awesome. It’s absolutely gorgeous here and I can actually see the Rocky Mountains out the living room and kitchen windows. Every time I see them I still have an internal chuckle. We also live two blocks north from a park with a lake, and then a few blocks north from our house is another park. Lived near two parks back in Maryland but I haven’t been to these ones countless times yet so it’s pretty good.

About two weeks ago I got a new camera which I’ve been enjoying quite a bit. I’ve always been a bit of a sucker for cameras but this one will last me for a very long time. I keep getting on the cat and dogs nerves ’cause I’m all up in their business taking 50 million pictures of them.

I’ve also taken it to two soccer games now which is pretty awesome. DC United is of course my number one team, but because we’re out here we’re also supporting the Colorado Rapids. We’re also season ticket holders so we’re going to be going to all of the games.

On Mom’s birthday we went on a private tour of the stadium and it was pretty awesome. Went into all of the private viewing suites or whatever they’re called and even got to walk like a yard or so into the field. Couldn’t go all up on it ’cause there was a game in a few days and they were prepping it for it and all that, field wasn’t even painted or anything yet.

We have a gas stove in this house too which is so good to cook on. In the old house was where I started being able to cook things by myself and it was an electric stove. From talking with Mom about it I thought I’d like it a lot but I like it way more than I originally thought.

Anyway, I’ll stop before I write a novel but I’m going to attempt to blog some more. By that I mean that I’ll post a few times within a week and then not again until November or so.