Creative

Ever tried being creative? Ever had a really cool idea only to see a movie the very next day that has the exact same scenario? Yeah that’s really annoying. It’s hard to come up with ideas that someone else hasn’t already had. I’ve heard that when it comes to movies and television there is a lot of “stealing” of ideas going on. There are plenty of movies that rip off other movies. What you’re supposed to do is make our idea unique somehow or do it in a different way. That’s good to know but it’s a bit of a bummer when you think you’re being original only to find out somebody already beat you to it. I think it’s important to try to be original in creative fields and when you come up with something original or unique you need to act on it. Watching movies are always a double-edged sword for me. If I don’t watch them I have a lot of original ideas but I’m not well versed in film history and things like that. But if I do watch movies it’s great because I can be well versed but suddenly my ideas are turned out to be unoriginal.

“I have an idea for a movie where a couple dies and they traverse the underworld together and go on a wacky hair raising adventure.”

“So basically Beetlejuice, dude.”

“Shit…”

The Vaquero Situation

We all know about the new mascot at UTPA, soon to be UTRGV. Immediately after the decision was made it was made with mass disapproval. A friend of mine called it, “the hate train.” There was yelling screaming and protests about the name change. I’m definitely not a fan of the name change. In fact I hate it. But to be very honest I’m very tired about hearing about the whole thing. I totally support the protests but one thing they’re screwing up is their purpose.

The main point of their protest is to undo President Bailey’s decision to make Vaquero the new nickname. That’s great but there is a segment of the protesters that want to go back to the “broncs.” My problem with this is that it should not be the focus of the protests and people are beginning to see that message as their main message. Especially since it’s really stupid. As much as I hate “vaquero,” and love, “Broncs,” we can’t keep our old mascot. We’re becoming a completely new University and it makes sense to have a new mascot. The issue is not about the broncs anymore because it doesn’t exist. It’s gone get over it! The issue is about the vaquero. I haven’t heard much about the protests anymore. I guess it died off.

Pointless trash

I was in a gas station the other day. As I was browsing through the aisles something caught my eye. There are a bunch of candy products made for kids. What makes them stand out is the packaging. The candy is packaged in the shape of catroon characters. It's quite understandable why candy would be packaged this way. It sells. Children love candy and toys. So combining them together ensures the sale. What bothers me about products like this is the toy add on. As a former child myself I always remembered these products as "disposable toys." These toys were made of cheap plastic and quickly wore out their welcome, and because of this they ended up in the trash. And it really did feel like the only reason these toys were attatched to the candy was to sell it. Besides the candy always sucked, but since there was usually a plastic cartoon character tied in I would frequently get suckered into wanting them anyway. I always felt guilty about throwing these away because it always seemed like a waste. And it is. The thought of landfills filling up with pointless plastic toys scarred me a little bit. I can only hope that some of it gets recycled.

Homeless Origins

I spent most of my life in Austin, Texas. Austin. Homelessness is an issue that was always right in front of me. Almost every street corner has a homeless person on it and they’re such a common occurrence that some of them have even gathered a bit of fame. Possibly the most famous of the bunch was “Leslie” the infamous cross dresser who once even ran for mayor. I remember Leslie got in an accident and his status was unknown and rumors were flying everywhere. Leslie was a big deal in Austin. I say, “was” because rumor has it that he died due in the hospital due to his injuries.

During our stay in Austin my mother worked for non-profit organizations mostly involved in homeless outreach. Growing up in an environment surrounded by homeless people was very eye opening. A common misconception or rather, misunderstanding, about homeless people is that they are lazy or just can’t fin a job. While I don’t doubt that is a factor, I learned that addiction and mental disabilities helped land these people where they are today.

These experiences solidified “don’t judge a book by it’s cover.” I learned that everybody has their different stories and histories and it’s impossible to lump all homeless people into the same category. It really got me interested in the origin stories of different homeless people in America. When I moved back down to the valley I noticed more homeless people walking around. It got me thinking that I’d like to hear the stories of the homeless people around the Rio Grande Valley.

More on bikes

One of my earlier blog posts was about my bike. A few months later I’m still into riding my bike. Riding on campus is still a chore but it’s hard to park, get off and walk to class when I just rolled up going 90 miles per hour. GOTTA GO FAST!

Earlier in the semester I spoke to someone working in the health and safety department and he revealed some big plans for the future of cycling on campus. I was really excited about these changes but he was quick to spoil it for me saying, “oh we won’t be done with these changes until way after you graduate from grad school.” He told me they were planning adding bike lanes so cyclists could avoid the slow walkers of the RGV. I’ve been saying we need more things like this around campus and although I’m bummed I won’t see these during my time here at UTPA I’m very excited that future students will be getting a more bike friendly campus. I’ve heard of a lot of Universities adding bike lanes and making it easier to cycle on campus. One really cool innovation I saw was in Japan. Here’s a video about their new underground bicycle storage system.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcZSU40RBrg

The Homeless Situation

Anyone who lives around the UTPA campus should have at one point or another seen an old man riding his bike up and down University Drive. I’ve always wondered who this man was, where he lived and what he was doing riding around all the time. It seemed it would remain to be a mystery. Then it happened the other day, I met him face to face.

Sometime after midnight I found myself in a drive through for food. The old man rode up along side me gesturing at my headlights and trying to talk to me through the window. I rolled down the window for him to say, “you’re headlights are really dirty, I can clean em’ for you.” He said he had that special cleaner that they sell at Wal-Mart and that he’d clean them for me. I declined and he rode away. Now that I’ve met him it only raises more questions about him. I’m sure I’ll run into him again sooner or later.

Shock and Awe

Accidents on the side of the road are a common sight on highways across America. With every accident comes "gawkers," and with gawkers comes slow traffic. I've never been able to understand why people feel the need to slow down and gawk at an accident. This is especially frustrating on highways. There is a speed limit to maintain, please do so! Now I can understand slowing traffic for the safety of the victims and the emergency personnel. But I can't tell you how many times I've been crawling miles through traffic and thought to myself, "must be a bad accident up ahead," only to discover that it was a fender bender pulled over on the road. Was it worth slowing traffic? No way! If there was a semi engulfed in flames on the shoulder I might understand slowing down to take a look. But thankfully I've never had that chance. I guess what really bothers me is that people's curiosity gets the better of them and they jam everything up. They need to see the wreckage, the bodies thrown from the car and the EMS crew giving CPR to a businessman. I don't need to see it and I can't understand why people feel the need to stop and stare. But then again I'm impatient and I want to get where I'm going as fast as I can.