Thanksgiving Revelations

How's it hanging, blogosphere? Welcome black to my rants and raves. It's been a long time, and I shouldn't have left you ................. without a dope beat to step to.

How did you all spend your Thanksgiving? Great, okay my turn. So this past week, I returned home to Richmond, VA for the first time in damn near a year, and I was glad to be back to me old stomping grounds. I could see all my old friends, eat mostly home-cooked food, reminisce and catch up with my old high school teachers, and take in a game of the local pro sports team -- all the things that one does when they return home after a long absence.

I did barely any of those things. 

But, that's not to say that I didn't enjoy myself. To the contrary, I had an opportunity to rest, relax, and enjoy time with people I no longer see a lot while enjoying a holiday that encourages the consumption of large amounts of hearty food. I also wanted to hopefully accrue enough noteworthy happenings to relay them onto you, and I'm glad to declare that mission accomplished; here it comes.....

- Once again, HM and I failed to get-together while in the same city. Apparently, the only thing rarer than us even being in the same city is us seeing each other. At this point, I'm not sure she could point me out of a lineup. On the bright side, that means I'm off the hook for stealing her heart a few summers ago when we worked together. 

I promise it's not always this bad

- Generally, when I go home, I like to get my hair cut either before I go back or sometime while I'm there, but I completely disregarded that tradition this time around. This year is the first time that I've willfully participated in No-Shave November, though to be fair, I had basically been having a no-shave fall semester all along anyways. I will say that while there is something that is admittedly very liberating about letting lush forests of hair grow untamed wherever they may, it doesn't work the same way for everyone. I've been all atwitter about that (amongst other things) this weekend, as my hair grows too slowly on my head and my chin to look like a completely different/cooler person like most would, but plenty wildly enough on my sideburns to make me look like a bewildered jackass sometimes; think a facial bikini wax. Image disturbing enough for you? 

- With my parents having moved down to North Carolina -- GO HEELS, FUCK DUKE! -- after my mom took another job down there, it left my younger brother Han Solo(CUP) in residential limbo for a few months. Things were getting sticky for awhile, as he had to find another place to live before the lease on our old house expired, or else risk having to uproot and move to NC with them. Luckily, the mother of my best friend Qui-Gon GIN from middle/high school came through in the clutch and found them a place to move into, which was right next door to her own house. This is where I stayed for the duration of my visit to Richmond. Shout out to my partna'dems for sheltering a brotha for the long, harsh (read: moderate and relatively weather-lenient) winter week. That being said, it it too much for a brotha to ask y'all to keep some food in the house? I can only have sleep for dinner so many times.

- It was good to see my other family members that I've heard from less than my parents and brother since I started college. Let's face it: when we were all living there, it was easy to talk on a regular basis because we all saw each other quite a bit, but now that I only come home 2-3 times a year, our communication is probably good at being restricted to holidays, birthdays, happenstance, or other newsworthy events. Let's not force it here, people; in most places, you can go to jail for forcible, non-consentual contact. 

- On one day, my partner-n-crime from high school Malcshakes dropped by for a little fellowship and conversation that was enlightening for multiple reasons. While I'm not really at liberty to discuss them all, I can shed light on something that that conversation underscored for me; something that became more and more apparent everyday I was home, which is the growing disparity between the ideologies in myself and most people I know, surprisingly even with my friends back home. 

We all got to talking about drinking, which inevitably leads to questions about my own choice to declare myself (mostly) straight-edge. I'm very used to being one of the only (if not THE only) non-drinkers in any given group of people I spend time with, so I field this question a lot. It's not as if I'm an alcohol virgin, but it's rare that I'll be caught drinking something with alcohol in it; it's just not for me. We all got into a fairly spirited debate as to why I feel this way and why they don't. When pressed for a deeper reason, it's always easy to point to family substance abuse history -- the last thing my family needs is more experience there, but even I admit that jumping right to that is a bit of a copout; I'm sure most families can go to that (though that doesn't make the reason any less valid). No, my REAL reason, pretentious as it may sound, is that I take pride in not being susceptible to peer pressure the way I think most people are. I really don't mind talking or joking about it with other people because I'm 99% (never say never!) sure that there's nothing they can say to me to make me change my mind on it. 

Though it came out that way, I didn't mean to exactly insinuate that I'm better than them, but I DID mean to emphasize that I absolutely revel in the fact that I'm comfortably different than most people. At the end of the day, as I told them, I'm always going to feel much better about not falling into that crowd at the imploration of others than I would if I turned around and said "Fuck it, I'll just get drunk too." I think it'll reflect better on me if people are able to see that I didn't just do what everyone my age is expected to do and I held strong to that stand, not caring what those people said. I really don't care even a little bit if people that drink a lot find me to be boring and lame -- as my homegirl recently told me, those that care don't matter and those that matter don't care. 

Another reason is that I'm someone who admittedly suffers from being painfully self-aware at all times. Yes, that is a personal issue that I could stand to lighten up on, but that being said, I see no wrong with always wanting to have control of my facilities in social settings, something that getting drunk doesn't always afford you. I'm always told that it's nice and liberating to not have to worry about that, to just let loose and have a good time, damn the consequences, and I'm sure that's the case sometimes. There have been times -- albeit few and far between -- when I've been able to do that without the help of alcohol and found myself to have a great time. But, that's always been one of my points about alcohol all along -- it's not necessary to have a great time, and if you've gotten to the point that you feel you can't do so without it, then I think it's a bigger issue than most people are willing to admit. I'm not here to lecture about the perils of over-indulgence in alcohol -- we've all heard that song and dance our whole lives. I certainly don't mean to cast dispersions or shame on people who drink; obviously most people that we all know do, and I'm a "live and let live" kinda guy. I've always maintained that drunk people can be some of the most fun to be around (provided they do so in moderation and don't become too whiny or belligerent).  But what I'm saying is that I personally just don't see the appeal and though it might lead to some semblance of a good time more often than not (at least for a little while), I'm honestly fine with just not knowing. We came to the comical conclusion that I was better than them, but they were cooler than me. That'll do, donkey - that'll do. 

- Much on the same note as the last paragraph, I always seem to find myself in situations in which I'm the lone voice on one side of an argument and though I don't mind because I'm somewhat of a loner anyways, it can be frustrating to feel like no one ever really gets you. Case in point: Han Solo(cup), Jar-Jar Drinks (formerly known as 5Deuce4Trey), and I got into a discussion about movies we had recently seen, which led to me declaring that I had to deduct points from "Due Date" because I felt that the events in the movie leading to the climax were a little too farfetched. I'll keep it vague so as not to spoil the movie, but things happened to the characters en route to the hospital that I thought would have stopped the average person from making it on time. Anyways, when I pointed this out, they pointed out that it was silly that I was taking this movie so seriously while dismissing the events of "The Hangover" so easily. My rationale was that in a movie like "The Hangover," you go in understanding that these guys are going to Vegas and that alcohol/drugs could lead to anything crazy happening. In that, you EXPECT crazy shit to go down. In "Due Date," it's presented as if two normal guys can get into various situations that would stop anyone else and STILL manage to drive from ATL in L.A. in 3 days. That time frame isn't unrealistic, but given what transpired on their trip there, I found it a bit harder to believe than most. 

Damn you, Hollywood

But I assure you all that the relative unbelievability of "Due Date" was CHILD'S PLAY compared to that of "Hot Tub Time Machine." Now, going into a movie with a premise that ridiculous, you know you have to suspend your disbelief more than usual. Even if I allow myself to believe that a hot tub could somehow send us back in time, there are things that happen in the movie not predicated on that inane premise that completely jaded my enjoyment of the movie. Yes it was funny, but I certainly don't need to see it again, lest I ruin someone else's experience with my over-analyzation. When I brought this up, they both argued that it was ridiculous to even be having such a discussion because you are supposed to suspend disbelief going into movies anyway, but I don't see why that always has to be the case. For a movie like "X-Men" or "Harry Potter," yes. For movies like "Hot Tub Time Machine" and "Due Date," where these events occur to regular-ass people like me and you? Sorry, no sale. 

Now, I'll be the first person to claim that I think I may be becoming too cynical in my old age to objectively enjoy most movies, but the big picture here is that this was yet another case where I felt like I was arguing on a level all my own. It never ceases to amaze me how people often fixate on minute details that won't allow them to meet me on the same level that I'm on. I'm beginning to feel like Sheldor the Conqueror, with the way that I just always seem to be seeing things in what I think is a bigger light than others. I'm constantly misunderstood in arguments and flying way over everyone's head, I feel. I always assumed that back at my home base with my home friends, it would be different, but even then, it didn't seem much better.

Is it that I'm being too trivial or is it them? It was probably me when we argued the movies, but generally, I feel like people just don't get me. It's amazing how things make perfect sense to me but no one else when I'm on the other end of an argument. I am befuddled at times that there can be such a wide gap between my line of thinking and everyone else's. It's entirely possible that it's just me, but I really don't think that's ALWAYS the case. I just tend to feel as if I'm casting my pearls before swine. Not always, but enough to make me wary of how I dispense those pearls from hence forth. 

Long-winded condescending rant aside, y'all aren't that bad. I have noticed a growing disparity between myself and my friends back home, but variety is the spice of life, right? My homies back home keep me centered and most of the time, I realize that they kick up shit with me just for the sake of playing devil's advocate, which I can appreciate; it keeps me young. I love them no less for it. 

Anyways, it seems that we're all caught up, blogomaniacs. I'm back in CoMo for the stretch run of my senior year, and will need to buckle down more than ever, but don't think I'll love you knuckleheads any less, so you should still stay tuned for further developments. 

Until next time, this is Sir Marcus T. Williams signing off....Yall take care now.