Would you please take a chance on me?

If you asked anyone that knew me at all, they would all tell you that my music tastes are eclectic. I enjoy hard rock, country, classical, jazz, and even hip-hop.

Last week one of my new favorite hip-hop artists released a new CD. KJ52 released a CD named Remix which (as the name suggests) is mostly remixes of previous songs, mostly from his last CD a boy named jonah. I picked it up this past weekend, and I really identified with one of his songs - a remix of one of his older songs that I hadn't heard before.

It's titled Revenge of the Nerds. It goes a little something like this:


Chorus:
Would you please,
would you dance with me,
my darling would you please take a chance with me,
I see you over there with the jocks,
I see you over there with the rich boys,
I see you over there with all the pretty girls,
and I'm asking one thing...

Back in the day I used to rock the MC Hammer pants
jump in the middle of the party bust the running man
doing the Roger Rabbit at the middle school dance
got my man next to the bleachers now that's where we stand
walk up to the girl like "now will you dance with me?"
she's like "well listen you'll never ever have a chance with me
I got a boyfriend and he's at like six foot three
250 pounds and he could beat you up in his sleep"
and I'm like "well really what's that got to do with me?
I don't see him around here so why don't you just come with me
I'll get you some fruit punch maybe some cookies
I got the new Vanilla Ice tape how can you not love me?"
she's like "well first off all your pants is straight ugly
you can't dance and your personality just bugs me
so back up off me cause I really gots to let you know
that my boyfriend's right over there"
"ohh I got to go"


Though I'm a bit older than KJ52, this song is like a narrative of my middle school and high school life. I remember lots of dances, asking girls to dance, and getting shot down. It was painful, but it made me who I am now and I'm happy with the way I am.


when I was growing up it was hard to be happy
kids knock the books out my hand and make fun of my acne (exactly)
give me a wedgie while they throw spitballs at me
and stuff me in my own locker and laugh at me
(ahhhh ha..) oh you think that'’s real funny
cause I'm 5 foot with huge feet and I dress crummy
and all the school bullies want to just take my lunch money
c'mon man I only got a dollar twenty
ya know ya life is just really sad man
when you play dodge ball your picked as the last man
and ya run as fast as ya can just like a mad man
cause the football team wants to throw you in the trash can
so really will this madness ever end
really will the nerd ever get revenge?
will this girl call me back at around ten?
will you go out w/ me? I just want to be friends


One day walking down the hall, carry my notebook under my arm. I had this bad habit of just tucking handouts, etc. inside the front cover and never actually putting them in the rings. Ever. You can imagine, after several months of this, how my notebook looked. One day a guy came up behind me, knocked the notebook out of my hands, and proceeded to kick it down the hall scattering almost an entire semesters papers all over the hall.

I was picked last all the time. Always. Every single time. And I often "ran for my life" from those that wished to do physical harm to me. And I used to think about stuff like revenge, and wonder about those who treated me like that. Why did they do it? What made them want to do it?


Now days I'm a little older plus a little bolder
but it seems like I just can't get over
you ever have a day where nothing goes right
well that just seems to be the story of my whole entire life
so anybody out there know what I mean?
to feel like your third string on a football team?
and ya never ever gonna reach any of your dreams?
and your only hope is making onion rings at burger king
but now a days a lot of things done changed
since Christ came into my life now and just rearranged
the way I look at myself son it aint the same
I drive in a whole 'nother lane going against the grain
I know it might just seem a little strange
the fact remains I changed when I called on his name
so call me a nerd call me lame it don't matter to me
see all I need to know is that my wife will dance with me


I can't even imagine how eaten up I'd be with hate and the desire for revenge if Christ wasn't in my life. It might even be a driving force in my life. Several years ago I went to my 10 year high school reunion. A guy that was one of the main tormentors of my youth came over and talked to me. We hadn't seen each other since high school graduation. I was full of happiness and joy, and treated him like I was seeing an old friend. After we'd talked for a minute, he made a comment that if the situation was reversed, he'd have decked me then and there - see, I'd grown "up" some and filled out quite a bit. I told him that it did me no good to hang on to stuff from the past. I wish I would have told him it was Christ in my life - but I didn't. A failure on my part.

Maybe one day I'll have the chance to see him again and make up for that.

Save Internet Neutrality

Today we take a break from my personal naval-gazing to bring to your attention a matter of utmost high importance. There is a bill before Congress that will, in effect, allow bandwidth providers to meter traffic on the internet based on the compensation they get from the websites themselves. This could also result in these companies slowing access to sites they disagree with or that compete with them in the marketplace.

I first read about this on Wil Wheaton's blog. Though we differ politically on pretty much everything, when groups as diverse as those behind the opposition to this bill link up then there must be something very bad with what Congress is doing.

I'm definitely a competition-friendly guy. I definitely believe in competition between business, service providers, and heck even software companies (hear that, Microsoft?). But this is letting people drive different speeds on the roads based on how much they pay for the privilege. This just isn't right.

Go to SaveTheInternet.com for more info.

We will return to our regularly scheduled navel-gazing tomorrow. Please pardon the interruption.

The long awaited return

Hahahahaha..check out that title. I amuse myself.

I'm back from my near season-ending injury and ready to make another stab at this "write for 10 minutes a day" thing. The injury? No big thing. I'd love to give details, but if I did it would make this blog too easy to tie back to me if someone I know personally should stumble across it. Suffice it to say that it wasn't serious, just annoying. If any of my loyal subscribers want to know more details, just email me. And I know who you are, so if you're not one of them don't waste your time. :-)

I really want to write and improve my writing. My biggest problems are either time to do it, or time alone to do it. Even today, for my long-awaited return post, I got up extra early on a Saturday morning. My wife and I are similar personality types. We both like to stay up late and sleep late. I stayed up past midnight watching the end of the Spurs game - and she was up doing something else. I then got up at 7:30 a.m. in order to have some quiet time with a cup of coffee. Typically she (and I) would sleep in until 9:00 or so. For some still unknown reason she got up early today, too. So I am typing this without her knowing.

Why do I keep this secret from those I know? I've discussed it before - while going through this process to learn how to write I think I'll do way too much self-editing if I think that people I know are reading it. I'll be doing self-editing anyway to keep identifying details out, but I'll be more open and honest about my thoughts and emotions. If people I know are reading I'll be more likely to keep that stuff in. Hopefully someday I'll get around that, but for now I have to do it this way.

Well, not a very compelling return post, but at least I wrote what came naturally and didn't force myself. I guess that's a step in the right (write :-) ) direction.

Back (in black??)

I'm finally healed up and will be returning this weekend. Stay tuned. Or should that be subscribed?