Monday. Copyright Infringement. Pet peeves. Stress Relief.

I stayed home today. I didn't feel well enough to work on the phone all day today. Had me some tummy issues. It just felt great to have a day off though. So a little pepto. A little laying in bed for a while and I was good as new in the later afternoon. Played some video games. Hung out a little. Twas a nice relaxing day.

Today, I had dinner/lunch with my good friend Luke. We were hanging out at my apartment, when I said that I was craving dinner. We pretty much left right then and there, but I told Luke I'd meet him out by the car after I checked the mail. I got a letter from my cable/internet provider saying that I was in violation of the terms of agreement and I committed copyright infringement by downloading Shutter Island. I was in shock. I did not know what to do or say, but I put the letter on the coffee table and just went out to lunch. I told Luke of my little situation, and he was freaking out. I was still freaking out, but lunch wasn't gonna eat itself.

Luke is the type of person that breaks you down. He likes to analyze all aspects of body language: posture, eye movement, speech patterns.. He also asks the most random questions to get to know you.. So needless to say, Luke and I are very much alike. He asked me two questions that I thought would make a good topic for discussion on here.

1. What do you do for stress relief?
Well. He stumped me.  I do not recall doing anything to relieve stress. Was it mentally unhealthy to not have a regular stress relief? I just recall as a child being very angry and ragingly throwing fits of the hissy variety, hitting walls, yelling, crying, and acting.. well yknow.. CHILDISH. I told him I ate to relieve stress.. But that wasn't accurate. BUT NOW that I'm thinking about it, I took drives back in California to clear my head. One time I drove down the cost all the way to near Mexico to clear my head. Here, I don't have that luxury so much. If I drive, I get lost. But I did tell him my number one stress reliever.. Which is talking or writing about it. I have such great friends here. The best roommates I could ask for... Well, if they're not downloading pirated movies. I'm under so much stress with my job, and back home I didn't have that support where I felt everything was going to be fine. Here, I do. And I'm so glad I am where I am now.

haha

2. What are your pet peeves?
Ha. I hate when people say words when they say the abbreviation for those words/ tat word in front of it.
EG: ATM MACHINE. EIN Number. AHHHHHHHHHHH! It drives me nuts. Also the cliche, 24/7. I hate shortened words like 'delish' or 'ph'nom'.. But I have allowed some exceptions.

and there you have it. I don't feel like writing anymore. But to summarize. Copyright infringement. Bad. I don't freak out about things like I did before. Redundancy kills me. I'm cool.

Thoughts of a Fat Guy

Lately, I have been thinking about death more than usual. As dark as it sounds, I don't think about it in a sad way for the most part. Every time someone asks me "Hey are you going to _____?" or "I'll see you ______!" I typically say, "Unless I'm dead or something, yes." But I've stopped saying that because I get puzzled faces and long uncomfortable hugs... sometimes followed by "No you won't!!" or "Don't say that!" I'm just not ruling it out as a possibility. And to borrow a comedic situation from Gabriel Iglesias's I'm Not Fat, I'm Fluffy,

"Why do we have to measure life in how long we live? Why can't we measure it in the quality of life we live?..... Cus I'm not about to go on a diet, get hit by a car and die knowing that I could have had cake... When I die, I want the coroner's lab to smell like potato wedges"


As funny as that sounds, he's right... to a point. We don't know when were gonna go. So I eat. I enjoy. I live life.

Funny... That's a word that people would describe me. Every time I address my weight problem, it's in a joke. In fact about 45% of the stand up comedy I used to perform revolved around my obesity. I've been fat since about 4th grade, and looking back on it, I think I can attribute my [sometimes] good sense of humor to it. I used my weight to make friends. Growing up I made fun of myself so that I didn't give other people a chance to. Thank you belly, for my friends. I've come to terms with it. I'm a big dude. I'm insecure. I'm always thinking about how to position my body to where I look least fat. I dress in layers to distract the eye.

I put on facade of cockiness. Of assuring people I don't think I look hideous. I'd rather be called a pompous jerk than a pathetic mess. Fact is, I am insecure. Every time I thought a girl proved my pessimism wrong... It wasn't whatever x-factor qualities that initially brought any girl into my life were somehow shadowed by some force called friendship. Who'dda thunk friendship would be detrimental to my relationships with the opposite sex? I'm not dumb.. I was dumped in the past cus I'm fat. They're not to blame, though.. I am. Not gonna blame it on my mom for feeding me taco bell twice a week when she took me to [vision] therapy. Not gonna blame it on my grandfather [Lord rest his soul] for cooking well. Not gonna blame it on the California School district for feeding me salt, preservatives, and fillers. It's all on me. And I really gotta shape up.

I don't know when I'm gonna die. But I don't want my fat to be the cause of it.

Three Questions: Revisited

Over the years, I've come across a lot of people. Growing up in church, going to school, working in customer service for forever, and living day to day with an analytical nature got me to break people down really fast. As a camp counselor, you have to get to know 10 children in a mere 7 days and gain their trust, and see where you can guide them. In my lines of work and especially in customer service I learned to read people, and seek out their needs. There were many buttons I've pushed and many toes I've stepped on to make the right balance of aggressiveness in a sale. I really like to break down and simplify things. It's part of my job as a tutor to dumb things down for people... So why did I just list my qualifications? What does this have to do with the Three Questions in the title? Let me tell you... Based on my experience with people... I have a theory.... That I can break down a person.. well just about anyone's personality by asking them three simple questions. Due to the 'faith filter' my old blog was blocked. Since like all my friends go to faith.. they can finally read it.. So here's my finally coining my slick moves. haha. So I've been on quite a couple of dates. And if you know me I hate wasting my time on things.. especially women... cus yknow if I see a dead end, I don't go down that road. My typical first date usually consists of coffee first, and if the afternoon/evening is successful, then we can take it to a meal/walk depending on hunger, and if that is successful, then we can venture to a scenic place to talk some more, or maybe even a movie, and the plans make themselves until the end of the date. Typically during phase 1 (coffee) I try to have a good conversation, and if I don't then we call it a day, and we have the rest of the day/evening ahead of us as we part ways. During that conversation I like to ask my favorite three questions: What kind of music do you listen to? What's your favorite color? What do you typically get on your pizza? Depending on the responses, I have a pretty good idea of what kind of person the responder is 1. Music - Obviously this is where one can get most of their assumptions. You can gauge a person's socio-ethnic tendencies, culture, spirituality, religion, demeanor, and even their sociability based on the kind of music they listen to. FOR EXAMPLE: Christian music - it's safe to assume that they're Christian. Rap - urban. Country - fun-loving non-conformist. You can tell a lot of how reserved and how tolerant/flexible someone is based on their music. For instance, I usually will not get along with someone that ONLY listens to rap/trance/that voice in their head that tells them to listen to crappy music (: 2. Color - Well... This one isn't so obvious. I usually use this to combine with the music. But it's more of an idea of a person than actual colors. Like if a girl likes pink, she's TYPICALLY a classic girly girl. Yellow - loves life and living in the moment and always seeks instant gratification. Green - creative/unique. Blue - Tomboy. Black - ew. haha. 3. Pizza - probably my favorite question to ask. And this one seems like it doesn't really belong here... but it's probably the most important one. As americans, we have ALL consumed pizza. And as humans and our natural instinct to commune with food, we have SHARED a pizza. Now there's those people that will ABSOLUTELY not eat some toppings on their pizza. Pizza is not only a food, it's an experience to be shared with your fellow man. Now if I find that someone is persnickety about their toppings, i find that they are not a team player. And if they take a long time to respond, i take it as a good thing because it's just pizza, but they're thinking so carefully on such a question, and want don't want to mess anything up in the conversation. Too long, and they're kind of indecisive. boo. People with classic toppings usually tend to be more caring than others. Same goes for "i'll just pick off the toppings." I think I can write a book on the theory... and my eyelids are getting heavy, I may elaborate later based on response. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this issue. haha. and yes, i essentially cut and paste the bottom half from my xanga entry. ha.

The Next Episode

Ooooo... Another blog. In all honesty, I like to write. I love publishing my thoughts. I find that I can save this here and look back on another day to reflect on how much better/worse I am. I strayed away from my other blog site because I wanted to separate my past self with me right now. I know that sounds kinda stuck up, I did not kill Jason Reyes, I just merely wanted to hide the broken-hearted, emo, self-loathing Californian and disassociate him with the new, I-don't-know-where-my-life-is-headed-but-I-like-it, upbeat, responsible Iowan. Wow, I hate hyphenating words.

Welp... Here I am. In Iowa for the 5th month, going on 6th  in a couple weeks. I still feel like I just moved here, but I'm sure I've grown so much and it's sad to say but I have grown apart from my friends and family back home.

I have a job at the Internal Revenue Service, and to be honest, that job has killed a couple of my emotions. I am a robot, and sometimes I have to snap myself out of it. The once, compassionate, loving, sensitive young man from Long Beach is now a working robot. Almost nothing phases me, and this blog is a thing to salvage some of that old Jason.

Being on my own out here would be tough without a strong support system. I'm living with a great friend, Alex, and my brother, Ryne. They keep me grounded. They keep me honest, and, in Christ, they make me a better person. I don't know what God has in store for the next couple of months out here in Iowa outside of my element, but I know that he's doing things. Welcome to my life, Blogger. Here's to overcoming mediocrity and making the ordinary adventurous.