Love Yourself, Then Someone Else

Hey everyone. So to start off this is not a post meant to offend anyone. Please do not take it directed at you because it isn't. This is just me ranting about how I feel.

Basically I am first off, finally happy being single. The best thing I am able to tell myself is the fact that by being single, it will let ME pursue whatever I want out of life, in my case, to be an actor in the industry (movie/tv industry, not theatre not that anything's wrong with it as even it gives me experience with acting) but basically like I was saying...the best part about being single is the fact that it means I get to be my own person and no one is there necessarily grounding me to one place. Well aside from my mother, but she's just looking out for me like any mother would their child.

The thing I'm annoyed about however is my friend base where I live...not the city I go to school in 30 minutes away, but in my actual city/hometown. Everywhere I look people are getting engaged, or married. Not a day goes by that I don't get ANOTHER event invite on Facebook to the stag N do or BBQ or w/e for another one of my friends who is engaged. This just pisses me off because seriously most of these people are my age, or younger than me, or no older than 25. And while love is great and all, I'm happy for them in some ways, but to me I just can't help but think "YOU ARE GETTING MARRIED WHEN YOU'RE ONLY 22, ARE YOU CRAZY?" Like I said, while I believe love is great and all, there's a time for it, and that time is AFTER you've developed a stable job or profession for yourself, after you've done what I like to call "settled" your life. Where you're truly at the point where it doesn't matter if you get a partner or not, because you're at that point where you're ready to enter the next step of your life.

To me getting married under 25 is just TOO young. I mean look at the past, and I mean the far past, before the 70s, when people were getting married at 18. It was all fine and dandy for them because the boy would work and the girl would be able to stay at home with kids. But now, now it's just gotten to the point where we're returning to that stage, but unlike back then, the world has changed and so has the economy. In most cases (unless you're a doctor or high paying job), both people need to be able to have jobs to support their home. And how does one do that? To me it's quite simple, go to school, or trade school or some form of post-secondary education, get a degree, maybe do a Master's or something, and get into a Profession. THEN you can get married. But here in my city, it's like people are hopping on the marriage train just a short time after they have graduated from high school. I mean sure, maybe there are some people who are able to get their postgrad quite a short time after graduating and are making a good living for themselves, and that's great, but that's still a minority of people. The majority are still generally in school around this time, and frankly starting a family at this time is just too soon. What if you end up having a kid? Then what happens? Your post grad could be flushed down the tube, or you barely ever see the kid. In this city specifically, my worry is that the people getting married young are going to wind up where? Flipping burgers at McDonald's for the rest of their days just to scrape by. Where will I be? I'll be in Hollywood, making a name for myself and then having a family when I meet the right person. (Laugh if you want, I have all the confidence I need in myself to get here.)

Anyway, that was my rant. So to those of you who are single, especially if you're around my age, be happy you're single. You don't need someone to make you happy, and what's more, being single will allow you to be you, to make your life what you want it, and to not have to worry so much about supporting a family or anything like that. Yes, if someone presents themself to me, yeah I might wind up dating them, but don't think you'll see me going into a marriage anytime soon. Love may "make the world go round" but the fact is, the first thing you need to do is love yourself, then be able to support yourself, before you can EVER think about being able to love someone else. And also remember these wise words from RuPaul: "If you can't love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love someone else?"

Love to all of you
Sean

PS. Autism-wise, nothing really big has been happening. I'm going to Florida again soon so my usual slight worry about flying is creeping up on me but otherwise nothing :) This summer really has been one of the best of my life so far :D

'Eclipse' Fails to Eclipse the Movies

Hey Everyone!

So nothing to report in the last week autism wise surprisingly. I feel the running and early nights and everything have really been helping me immensely and I feel my maturity has improved too. I'm finally developing into what I've wanted to be.

As for the title of my post, it's quite simple, I saw Eclipse, and it was horrid. So here's my review:

Going into 'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse', I had high hopes that this film would blow the first two out of the water. The dreary acting, the Jacob-Bella-Edward love triangle, and the fact a rock could act with more emotion than Kristen Stewart, didn't give me much hope and sadly I was not disappointed that once again I was delivered with another sequel that deserved to stay as a book.

I'll accept that Kristen Stewart perhaps was able to get a few acting lessons in as she for once displayed some form of emotion. Unfortunately the back and forth action of Bella choosing Jacob, then Edward, then Jacob, then Edward again did unfortunately consume the majority of the movie, to the point where I saw people falling asleep in the theatre which is quite interesting to point out that this movie was so dull people actually were falling asleep because of it....

The only two good things that came from the film were that of Nikki Reed's scene in which she told the history of her character, Rosalie Hale, and how she was transformed to a vampire. This scene was well acted and Nikki was able to bring the character to life which perhaps partially saved the film. The true savior of the film however was that of the battle between the Cullen Clan and the Werewolves against the Newborn Vampires that Victoria had created. This probably was the best part simply because it was the only action sequence in the whole film and was exciting to look at.

All in all, Eclipse was a relatively dry film that I wish had never crossed my eyes. In the case of the books, they should never have been made into films. You can't make a film that has poor writing, and you definitely can't make a film that is about 95% talking about a vampire-human-werewolf love fest constantly. Sad thing is, it will probably make over a hundred million at the box office.

That's my thought anyways...what's yours?

Sean

Ch-Ch-Changes

Hey Everyone!

So sorry about not having posted in quite some time (the previous stereotype post was actually posted on the 22nd on Open Salon, so it's been nearly three days since I last made an actual blog post. Things have been changing I guess and I just find it either a bit more difficult to write or too busy to do so. Now don't worry, I'll continue writing until the "due date" I set in January, but it might just be more spaced out rather than everyday. I hope you all will continue reading however, despite the changes.

The one thing I want to tell you all because I think it is a great thing regarding my autism. But according to my parents, they've noticed that with going to bed early and running, I've apparently matured and aren't all over the place anymore. I guess just getting exercise as well as early to bed has allowed my brain to begin re-wiring itself in some ways. I could be wrong but I think it's a very good thing.

That's all for today though. Talk to you all soon!
Sean

Stereotypes: What Would We Do Without Them?

I've noticed that stereotypes are everywhere these days, and whether you like it or not, most of them are going to stay for a while.

Some of us love stereotypes because it allows us to group people into descriptions to make up the entirety of that population. Generally these people who enjoy grouping are bullies, but sometimes even we do it. How many of you have at one point or another thought Muslims were terrorists? Hopefully not many of you, but perhaps there are many of you, and it's because of what the media has given to us as a portrayal. However, I myself have friends who are muslim and they are some of the nicest people I know. What about gay people? Are they all limp-wristed, flamboyant people? No. They are a variety from actors, to football players, to parents. What about in school, how we categorize people into groups? Just because someone isn't a certain race, religion, sexual orientation, or gender, doesn't mean they aren't stereotyped. In high school and university alone we stereotype people as the "dumb jock" or the "brainy nerd" or the "loners", etc. We even do it in our Facebooks, even if we claim it as "fun".

So why do we do it? Why do we feel the need to stereotype people and automatically assume they're one thing? It's quite simply my friends, it's called the media. Every day we are given a view of a person or group of people who act a certain way and as a result that makes us believe that if these people are acting this way, then anyone who has that label: "Gay", "Black", "Muslim", "Nerd", "Loner", "Jock" is the same way. But let me tell you something, I've met a lot of jocks who are in fact quite smart, "Nerds" who actually have failed more than one test, and gay people who are just like the rest of us.

So before you stereotype someone, here's something to think about, what are you being stereotyped as?

Sean :)

Toy Story 3, The Princess Diaries, and Other Stuff

Hey Everyone!

So yesterday was a great day. Got to see Toy Story 3, which my review will follow me just expressing that my autism seems to be in low key this weekend as I feel nothing really happened. I was able to keep myself from rambling on about Rogers Video coupons I bought even though I thought I was about to continue, I wound up not continuing on and instead saying to myself I'd just tell what I needed to tell my parents tomorrow (tomorrow being today :P).

Now Toy Story 3, what a movie is all I can really say. I grew up with these films, being 7 when the first film came out, and 11 when Toy Story 2 was released, so as you can probably expect, I was anticipating something that would really make me happy in finishing the series (unless they wind up making more Toy Stories with new toys which I pray to God they don't otherwise there goes the entire Toy Story franchise). The good news is it definitely did not disappoint. Tim Allen and Tom Hanks were in top form as Buzz and Woody, and the other characters were just as hilarious as I remember them. But sadly, and this is a spoiler here, some of the characters we had in the first film who were minor but none the less, still part of the gang had been given away or sold, including Bo Peep who I believe was Woody's love interest.

With the start of the film, we're treated to another one of Andy's fantasies of Buzz, Woody and Jessie against the evil Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, and Dr. Porkchop. This is then followed by a cute montage through the lens of a video camera of Andy and his sister Molly growing up. The toys are now unfortunately collecting dust in a toy chest, but Woody and the toys try to get Andy to play with them by using the phone and hiding Andy's cell phone in the chest. Andy unfortunately doesn't take and leaves the room. Sarge and his two army-men abandon the toys knowing that when the next yard sale comes, they'd be the first to go. One thing leads to another however and the toys are eventually put in the car to head to the daycare. What the toys don't seem to realize however is that this was never meant to happen and Andy was originally putting them in storage but they wound up almost thrown in the trash and thus decide to leave Andy. Woody on the other hand tries to tell them what really happened but the toys refuse to listen since Woody was going to be going to college with Andy anyway, so to him it wasn't a big deal.

The toys eventually try to get to know the new toys at Sunnyside Daycare and having seen many of the kids caring and playing with the toys gently, they were excited to finally be played with again. Unfortunately due to some trickery, the old toys at the daycare put Andy's toys into the "Caterpillar Room" which is full of toddlers ages 1-2 and this of course means that the toys are thrashed and beaten up by the kids, leaving them bruised when the kids finally leave. Only through Buzz investigating does he find out the truth of Sunnyside but before he can reveal the secret to his friends, he's captured and reprogrammed. Then Sunnyside just goes from bad to worse for Andy's toys as Buzz cages them all and has them follow a strict timeline.

Woody on the other hand was taken home accidentally by the daycare owner's daughter Bonnie. It's here where Woody winds up finally being played with and while he enjoys it, he still wants to get back to Andy. It is only through him saying his friends are at Sunnyside does he find out the dangers of the place and goes back to rescue them.

Thanks to Woody, the toys are able to escape through a garbage shoot but are stopped by Lotso the bear who winds up taking them with him into the garbage dump. While they're betrayed by Lotso and they fall into the incinerator, before they're incinerated, the three aliens from Pizza Planet whom Mr. Potato Head saved, winds up saving them using "the claw" to take them out before being fried.

The toys are eventually able to make it back to Andy just before he leaves, and they are then taken to Bonnie once more. Andy introduces each of them, and winds up playing with them and Bonnie one last time. It's at this point where I wound up crying because after growing up with the series, I couldn't help but feel sad after all of what has happened over the past fifteen years. The movie ends with Andy finally driving away, but not without first looking back at Woody and Buzz and saying to himself "Thanks guys.". This probably got me the most of all, but it was such a heartwarming film. And the dance scene at the end was also quite fun to watch just to lift your spirits after such a sad and touching ending.

So that's my review about Toy Story 3. I apologize if I spoiled it for people, but that's just how I review movies I suppose. :) Hope you enjoyed that.

As for the Princess Diaries topic, I love this series, and I just really wanted to quote something from the final book of the series that really put life in perspective.

"As you get older, you lose things, things you don't necessarily want to lose. Some things as simple as . . . well, your baby teeth when you're a little kid, as they make way for your adult teeth.

But as you age, you lose other, even more important things, like friends - hopefully only bad friends who maybe weren't as good for you as you once thought. With luck, you'll be able to hang on to your true friends, the ones who were always there for you . . . even when you thought they weren't.

Because friends like that are more precious than all the tiaras in the world.

I've also learned that there are things you want to lose . . . like that hat you throw into the air on graduation day. I mean, why would you want to hold on to it? High school sucks. People who say those were the best four years of your life - these people are liars. . . . Who wants the best years of their lives to be in high school? High school is something everybody should be ready to lose."

Just to interject here with my own thoughts, I have to say I agree. High school was probably the most horrible part of my life seeing as how I was still unaware of my autism and while I seemed fine amongst the popular kids, namely because I didn't hang around with them too much, it was my "friends" in my group that I hung around with who all but abandoned me because they thought I was too weird or I had pissed them off with my ramblings or interceding on their personal space or conversations. But as Mia says above, hopefully you'll only lose bad friends, and frankly in this case it's all to true because the ones I've kept are still great people, whereas the ones I lost turned out to be nice on the outside but completely rotten on the inside :).

Continuing on:

"And then there are the things you thought you wanted to lose, but didn't . . . and now you're glad you didn't."

So to me that's pretty good words from Meg Cabot, the writer of this book. And frankly it really gives an interesting outlook to life. So hopefully you all take it into consideration yourselves, as I know I have.

Finally the last thing I need to talk about is the teacher of the student I've been tutoring. He got his essay back that I helped him in the grammar and sentence structure, and now the teacher is refusing to give him a good mark which she said it's at about a 90% or higher level essay, because she thinks it's not his work >_>. Apparently she doesn't realize that at times editing grammar can make a paper look slightly different, or that perhaps some students are better at different things. They might be better at essays when their answers to study questions might not be as well written. It just ticks me off that she's doubting his work and not giving him a mark for it. Hopefully it all gets sorted out, but I just had to post a bit about that because of how frustrating it is.

Anyway...talk to you all soon!

Sean

HELLO WEEKEND!

Hey Everyone!

So it's finally the weekend, which makes me quite happy. Especially since tomorrow (Saturday) I get to see Toy Story 3 :D I'm definitely looking forward to it and I definitely will be giving you all a review of the movie once I see it. Autism-wise not much has happened in the last two days. I think I kind of came off a bit abrasive to my Mom when talking about my courses and how one of my courses I might be unable to take due to the teacher being out of the office.

On a lighter note, I was actually just accepted into the Creative Writing course at King's for the upcoming year which is AWESOME! Though hopefully the writing samples I gave on this blog helped possibly prove that I'm suppose to be in that course. But anyway, I think that's all for today and yesterday.

I'll talk to you all later!
Sean

School Blues -_-

Hey Everyone!

Sorry for the absence the past two days, been busy with things and since I kept falling asleep so early, I've kind of been forgetting to post. Just to recap; Monday I had to meet with an academic counselor in London after hanging out with Lauren, but unbelievably I waited an hour and a half just to meet with a counselor for about 10 minutes. It was so unbelievably ridiculous that despite me getting to the Academic Dean's office on time to sign up for a meeting, it still took an hour and a half! When I finally got that done I had to e-mail this Professor to try and get permission to register for her course but I get an e-mail from her telling me she's out of the office. So now not only will I possibly be unable to get into the course because she doesn't return till July 1 and the course selections start June 24, and there's only 20 seats available in the course, BUT I also don't know if there's a course I can take as a replacement should I be unable to get into the course! It's just stressing me out more than it probably should but I can't help but be stressed...this is my final full year of my Undergrad in Psychology...so I want to get as many credits as I possibly can before next April so that I only have a few left to take come September 2011.

As for Tuesday, that was a relatively dull day as it was my day off from work. Hell's Kitchen was about the only good thing about it that wasn't boring :P.

And today, Wednesday, I was worried I wouldn't be able to meet my friend to get a key to his place as I have to stay in London come the 26th and 27th because of Budget Weekend for the KUCSC. So obviously I needed to have a place to stay for that night but luckily my friend came through.

Autism-wise, I was rambling again too much about the course selection things and couldn't think to just stop and let it go, but you can hopefully understand my reasoning behind it.

Anyway, that's all for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday :P
Sean