Would You?

I don't think I have mentioned it before, but I'm a huge, H-U-G-E, fan of Twitter. I'm not the kind of person that tweets constantly or tweets pointless things, there's just something about it that ropes me in; I even wrote a college paper about it. Anyway, my cousin and I follow each other and let me tell you I don't really know why she bothers having a Twitter; all she does is post links to writer things (hmmm maybe I should take a look). Normally, I just scroll past what she has, but today her tweet caught my attention. She wrote 

"Real Simple's annual essay contest: If you could change one decision that you made in the past, what would it be?"

I'm sure this is a question that many of us have come across at one point or another; and we all have varying options on it. Well, a few things came to my mind when I saw this. 

First, it reminded me of a book that I just finished, The Future of Us . It is a Young Adult novel (but that shouldn't discourage you) by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler. Asher's first novel, Thirteen Reasons Why, is great and deserves a look at from middle schoolers to adults. Anyway, I'll provide a brief plot outline of The Future of Us. The story takes place in 1996, when internet is starting to come to the forefront; and the protagonists are two high schoolers, a boy and a girl, who may or may not have unresolved feelings for each other. The plot revolves around a startling discovery: when they install AOL (does that still even exist?) they are linked to current day Facebook. Of course being in the 90s they don't know Facebook from Adam. It's interesting because they get a glimpse into their futures, some good and some bad. 


The novel does bring up some intriguing ideas. Mainly, how there are ripples of change that can affect the future. If I think one thing or talk to someone new that could, potentially, change the path I go on in my future. 


Many of us wonder what it would be like to get a glimpse of the future, and I'm sure we will all be tempted to take a glance. However, the novel does provide an anecdote (at least in my opinion) of living in the moment. Don't spend your time worrying about the future or dwelling on the past, focus on the now. That is how I try to live my life. 

The Good Life?

Maybe Nick Cannon is who we should be modeling ourselves after...

All this Liam/Miley talk really got me thinking. I have mentioned earlier that I would love to make it BIG, where I have too much money and can just relax all the time, however this may not be 100 percent possible. Still, I am in the quest for the "Good Life", the life that philosopher Kanye West describes as: "if they hate then let 'em hate/ And watch the money pile up, the good life." The lingering question is how to achieve this life? Lucky for you, I have a solution. 

To fully understand this solution we need to look at another concept known as the Trophy Wife. The typical definition of a trophy wife is along the lines of a young, attractive woman who is married to an older man...sometimes it is inferred that these women marry these men for their money, etc. Trophy wives have been around since, practically, the dawn of time; from Donald Trump to Michael Douglas to Ice-T these are all men who have these beautiful women draped around their arms. Though many find it creepy, it is, for the most part, socially acceptable. Now I will present the almighty solution: The TROPHY HUSBAND. 

"The trophy husband?" you ask. The trophy husband functions, for the most part, the same as a trophy wife. A man marries a successful woman, becomes a little arm candy, and gets all of the perks (This Chappelle skit comes to mind). In my opinion, with these concepts the "trophy" does not have to be married to a spouse that is significantly older, just the spouse has to be ubersuccessful. Many will point to Ashton Kutcher as the prime example of the trophy husband, though I disagree. The main reason I disagree is that Kutcher is quite successful in his own right, even before he got together with Demi Moore. To me a trophy husband is more of someone who could not maintain the same high standard of living without their spouse and I have a perfect example. 

The infamous Nick Cannon is the Holy Grail of trophy husbands. He is married to Mariah Carey (one of the greatest voices of all time) and there is not much to say besides that. Sure he was on All That!, he starred in a few movies- most notably Drumline, and is currently the host of America's Got Talent, he certainly doesn't have the same clout that Kutcher possesses. When Cannon got together it was a head-scratcher, many men wanted to know where they went wrong in life. I get the impression that Cannon is like a little kid and Mariah is just this unbelievable woman/diva, it just doesn't make sense (granted, love usually doesn't make sense). Cannon, if he wasn't married to Mariah could not maintain his lavish lifestyle; sure he could still live lavishly, but not the same way as with his Sugar Mama. Now his hosting stint is really a hobby. Nick Cannon is the like the Beverly Hillbillies, he struck oil and just made it rich. Quickly, other examples would be K-Fed, Cash Warren, and in a close second Scott Disick (baby daddy to one of the Kardashians; and probably my favorite). 

Scott Disick quickly climbing the Trophy Husband ranks

Becoming a trophy husband seems to be an easy way to live the good wife. All you have to do is sit there looking good and you pretty much have free roam throughout the day. I could golf all the time, buy frivolous stuff, and just relax. What more can a man ask for? 

Of course I'm gonna try to make it big on my own first, but this is a good plan B. 

So "if you feeling' me now then put your hands up in the sky/And let me hear you say hey, hey, hey, ooh/I'm good."

Mr. Cyrus

Why give up so soon, Liam? 

Forget the anniversary of the D-Day invasion, forget Scott Walker's victory in Wisconsin, forget that the Dow has had their biggest gain of the year today, there was a more important story today: Miley Cyrus is engaged to her "long time" boyfriend, actor Liam Hemsworth. This is a tough pill to swallow for anyone; hell I never thought Miley would be engaged before me (we're the same age, but I do love the bachelor lifestyle), but there is a high likelihood that she could be divorced before I am married. I guess they can be considered a good couple: young, good looking, fairly popular. Still a few eyebrows have to be raised. Why does a couple whose combined age is 41 feel the need to settle down? There are very few Corey and Topagnas in a generation, and it may be safe to say that Miley and Liam do not have that distinction. My first thought was that Miley's pregnant (c'mon I can't be the only one). 

Over the past few months, pretty much since The Hunger Games was released, there have been reports (from my trusted sources that shall remain nameless) indicating that Miley is-was?-worried with Liam's sudden fame; that he could end up being more famous than her (how dare he!). There were even stories that Miley was jealous of Liam's costar, Jennifer Lawrence, and perhaps that she would steal Liam right from under Miley's nose. Because of these rational fears Miley has gone to great lengths, such as hiring her own personal trainer and the like. So it seems that Miley would benefit the most from this engagement, it puts her troubled soul to rest and now she can get back to doing her mission...a follow up anthem to "Party in the USA." Though this engagement does take away from this "bad girl" image that she has been trying to build recently. 

I guess the question for Liam has to be, why? He seems to be on the brink of stardom and probably will be holding quite a large chunk of the world in his hands soon. He could at least be the next Channing Tatum, a heart throb and make a nice paycheck. So why would Liam want to settle down so soon, he is after all only 22. He seems to be handing over his pants to Miss. Cyrus. Hell, they could continue their same lifestyle without the label; I would think that at some point that Liam and/or Miley would like to see what else is there. I guess all that can be said is, "Oh Well." 

This may seem to be a little harsh, I'm really just trying to create a little conspiracy theory (+200 on pregnancy). The timing is unusual after hearing those previous stories of jealousy, etc. I would like to see Miley and Liam work out for the long haul, to prove that young love can last, to prove the naysayers wrong, and most importantly that they are happy. 

So cheers to you Miley and Liam, with (hopefully) many more years to come. 

The Great Debate

Perhaps the biggest debate this past year among my friends and I, you know besides girls and who's paying for alcohol, was my hypothetical NBA career. I guess first I should provide some background. First off and most importantly I am white and not the John Stockton or even the Keith Van Horn kind of white. I'm not tall, but not short either. I'm not an outstanding dribbler and I'm a decent shooter. Still, I did play on my high school basketball team; a modern day Hickory High with our state championship and even our mascot (the Hillbillies, that story will be saved for another day). 

My redeeming basketball skill in high school was my ability to rebound. Obviously I wasn't the tallest person on the court, but you would be surprised how much easier it is to grab a board when you execute a simple box out, certainly a lost skill. I remember the summer going into my junior year I was playing in a summer league and I put up arguably one of my greatest performances on the court, I must've channeled the Force or something, I grabbed just about  every rebound and I finished with 0 pts (as my grandfather would tell my uncles: "Never up, never in" bless his soul) and 25 rebounds. My knives for elbows certainly contributed to this success as well. I had a few other memorable performances, but I won't bore you all with those...yet. However, for the majority of my high school career I did put up my fair share of Trillions (shout out to Club Trillion). I was robbed of playing time, but that's another story. 


For some unknown reason this rebounding skill has not translated as well to the college level (intramurals/pickup, in case there was any confusions, as I'm sure there was) as I would have expected. Sure I still get my fair share of boards, but I have to play more of a small forward position rather than the power forward/center position that I have been accustomed to; this is due in large part that I haven't grown and guys in college can be pretty big. So I'm currently working on my long jump shot, in particular my baseline jumpers which my friends can tell you more about, and I should be working on my dribbling. 


Nevertheless I am still a competitive and a competent player. I am not afraid to set that screen against the man-beast, I hustle, and I love doing some give-and-go. I think I have armed you with enough information so now onto the debate...