Was King wrong?

I'm beginning to believe so...at least partially wrong.

40 years later, and I'm still not sure all the words Dr. King spoke in Washington will ever come to pass.  That does not mean that I don't believe them to be true, I just believe that everything he said was way too idealistic for society even as a majority to ever hope to accomplish.

It's easy to say we can judge people by the content of their character...if they look like you.  No one is able to judge people by the content of their character if they don't because they cannot get past the color of their skin.  We can live side-by-side with people of different races, but that doesn't mean we accept them.  We're just in "live and let live" mode.

When it comes down to the bitter truth, and comes time to decide something important based on race, we still fall back on ours and our ancestors' prejudices.  No man can love a woman (or vice versa) from a different race without society as a majority, even those we hold so close, stepping in between them and saying it's wrong.  People will not trust another person from a different race because no one really can trust what is different.  We can say we can do these things, but in the end, our stereotypes will always come into play, whether we want to admit it or not.  And as such:

• White people will always be gluttonous, opportunistic, and power-hungry backstabbers.
• Black people will always be lazy, angry, and criminals.
• Asians will always be good at math, bad drivers, and quick to butcher English, while their women will always be green card-grubbing.
• Arabs will always be terrorists and jihad-obsessed.
• Hispanics will always be fence jumpers and cheap wage job thieves.
• East Indians will always be slurpee machines and piss-poor tech support.

It's sad, but it's true.  At least in the eyes of the whole world, because that's all they can see, and not the whole person.  And anyone from one race who believes differently about another race will be told that they are wrong, and that they will see how wrong they are soon.  If they don't see it, then they are delusional according to everyone else.

Saying that there have been steps taken in the correct direction are irrational, because those steps were, and still are, taken with everyone spitting in their faces.

You can say that KKK, Black Panther, and various other hate groups' membership numbers have dwindled.  That doesn't change the fact that people still privately harbor racial prejudices.

In the end, Dr. King had a dream.  I will admit that it was a good one, and one that I believed, and still cling to strands of belief, in. But in the end, maybe it's time to face the fact that it was just that: a dream.

Blowing Brains Through the Airplane

I would point the gun at you
Just to make myself feel better
Even if it's just temporary pleasure
It could cause you an eternity of pain
If I could make this easier
And promise everything would be fine
I would do whatever it took
To make it happen
But knowing what I know now
It's just too hard to take that chance
It's not easy to destroy your life
On this one slim hope of something real
I would point the gun at myself
Just to make you feel better
So let's say our goodbyes
Because I'm playing Russian Roulette tonight

T-minus 17 days

I'll probably write another one of these before I leave, but I'm just so anxious I can't even take it.

February 1st, I leave for Chicago.  I know that isn't a huge thing in normal terms.  For me, however, this trip will be monumental.

Why?  Because on February 2nd, Hyunsil will be joining me there.

Yes, you heard me right.  I know I've said me and Hyunsil are meeting up several times in the past, but this time it is for sure.  She has bought her plane ticket here.  She has her Visa.  We have arranged the hotel room and bought train tickets back to Indianapolis.  It is 100% certain that she is coming.

And yes, she is coming to stay with me for a while.  And we are headed back to So. ILL for a little bit too.  It's completely official.

She arrives on the 2nd, and leaves on the 5th of March.  Which gives us a little more than a month together.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am in shock.  Like, I have been dreaming of this happening for the longest time, but began to doubt that it would ever come about.  Now it's certain that it will.  I can't even fathom it.

As for the next couple weeks, I have to deal with the logistical nightmare of planning and plotting this out.  I'm pretty much done, but it's still a nightmare.  Including one thing I dread more than anything: O'Hare.  I'm to meet her at O'Hare, and we'll be taking the shuttle back to the hotel.  Unfortunately, I cannot go within the terminal she arrives from because I do not have a ticket, and the way it appears, the instant she clears customs, she is in the parking lot.  What a nightmare.  Now I've got to figure out a meeting place.

Considering O'Hare, this may take up until the last possible minute that I have to synchronize this meeting place with her to figure it out.

...I really hate O'Hare.  But O'Hare will not daunt me now.  Hyunsil will be waiting for me in almost 2 weeks.  I will kick security in the nuts to meet up with her if needs be.

***********DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT A TERRORIST. KTHXBYE***********

The Verizon Files: Google!

I have had calls that made me lose my composure on the phone before.  I have literally crushed Tylenol bottles beyond the point of recognition during calls, because I knew if I took my aggression out on said bottle, I wouldn't take it out on the customer.  I'm a scrawny guy, with very little muscle mass, so for me to crush a Tylenol bottle is a feat in itself.

Unfortunately, there's some calls that go longer than it took for me to squeeze a Tylenol bottle to oblivion, and thus, take some of the brunt of my agitation at that point.  This guy is a poster boy for these kind of moments.

I had this guy on the line, and had to put his username and password into his modem. Seems simple right? WRONG! This guy is getting a bad IP. I know this because whenever he tries to pull a webpage, it says "Unable to access the Verizon network." But, for the sake of putting it in my notes, I have to prove he has a bad IP.

To do this, we have to pull up a page in the modem. To do this, at the top of EVERY FREAKING PAGE in the modem, there is the following menu:

Westell Logo---Home----Status----Configuration----Troubleshooting----Help

And when you pull down the Status menu, it shows as above, but with Connection Summary and About underneath Status. We're going to go to Connection Summary. Sounds easy?

...here is the conversation that ensued.

Me: Sir, are we back at the Westell page?
Customer: Yes.
Me: Ok, please click on Status, and then Connection Summary.
Customer: Where is that at?
Me: It's at the top of the Westell page.
Customer: I don't see it.
Me: Scroll up to the top of the Westell page.
Customer: Ok. (Fake scrolls up I think)
Me: Do you see the Westell logo?
Customer: No! I don't see it! Can you be more specific?
Me: Look at the top of your page in Internet Explorer, and please tell me what you see.
Customer: Wirespeed Dual Connect - Microsoft Internet Explorer
Me: ....Sir, that is the title bar of Internet Explorer.
Customer: No it's not.
Me: Yes it is.
Customer: No, no, no.
Me: Yes, yes, yes.
Customer: No, I am looking at the top of Internet Explorer like you said.
Me: No sir, I said the top of the page in your Internet Explorer, not the top of your screen.
Customer: Can you please be more specific?
Me: Fine. Look at the very top of the screen. Do you see where it says Wirespeed Dual Connect?
Customer: Yes.
Me: Great. Do you see below that File, Edit, View, Favorites, Tools and Help?
Customer: Yes.
Me: Great. Do you see below that Back, Forward, Stop, Refresh, and Home?
Customer: Yes.
Me: Great. Do you see the address bar below that?
Customer: Yes.
Me: And below that do you see the Westell logo, then, Status, Configuration, Troubleshooting, and Help?
Customer: NO!
Me: ...What do you see then?
Customer: GOOGLE!
Me: ...Google?
Customer: Yeah. Google Links, Google Mail, Google Popups, Google Search...
Me: ...Sir, that's a toolbar.
Customer: Yeah. What do you want me to click? Google Links? Ok I'll click--
Me: No! Don't click anything.
Customer: Ok, I'll click on Goo--
Me: NO! DON'T CLICK ON GOOGLE!
Customer: But google...
Me: NO! FORGET GOOGLE! WE DON'T NEED GOOGLE! WE'RE NOT EVEN ONLINE RIGHT NOW, SO HOW CAN YOU DO ANYTHING WITH GOOGLE! FOR RIGHT NOW, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, FORGET THAT GOOGLE EVEN EXISTS!
Customer: ...Ok.
Me: Below your Google toolbar...
Customer: But you said forget Google...
Me: Shut up. Below the toolbar, do you see the Westell logo, Home, Status, Configuration, Troubleshooting, and Help?
Customer: NO! Can you be more specific?
Me: It doesn't get more specific than that.
Customer: It has to.
Me: Please hold.
Customer: Ok.

*After I wipe the tears from my eyes, I decide to find the direct URL to that page in my notes*

Me: Ok, sir, type this in on the address bar please. *give full URL*
Customer: Ok.
Me: Where did it take you?
Customer: Nowhere.
Me: Did you hit enter?
Customer: No.
Me: Hit enter please.
Customer: Ok.
Me: Now, where did it take you?
Customer: Page cannot be displayed.
Me: Oh, for God's sake. Hit Back.
Customer: Ok.
Me: Now, do you see that menu?
Customer: No.
Me: Hit F5 on your keyboard. (For those of you who don't know, F5 is a shortcut to Refresh)
Customer: Ok.
Me: Now do you see the Westell menu?
Customer: Yes.
Me: Thanks, genious. You wasted 20 minutes on something that could've been solved by scrolling up.

And there you have it.

The Verizon Files: Them Ain't Lice!

My first week out of Tank was very interesting, to say the least.  Some of it can be contributed to the fact that I still was going into calls blind, and how no clue for the most part, what I was doing.  However, I can state for a fact that most of it was due to the following call.

You would think that having lived in Southern Illinois my whole life would have desensitized me to redneck activity.  However, in all my days of living there, never has anyone fallen under the redneck stereotype in my opinion more than this caller: a women living with her mother and her three children in North Carolina.

Thick Southern accent aside, every statement that came out of her mouth drove the stereotype further and further home for me.  After she explained that she couldn't get online, she then accused her Momma of doing it:  "She knows nothin bout them computers.  All she does is play them there online games.  I went and done got some computer learnin books at the Wal-Mart for her, and she went mad and said, 'I don't need them there learnin books to learn how to use that dern computer; all I want to do is play my online games.'  She loves them there online games..."

I'll take Infamous Grammar Police Raids for $1000, Alex.

As I'm begin to ask her about her equipment so that I can start helping her fix this, I hear her scream into the other room, to her kids, the following statement: "THEM AIN'T LICE!"

If there was a moment where I thought I could not be hearing what I thought I was hearing, and just didn't want to ask if I WAS hearing what I thought I was hearing, this was it.  However, she felt the necessity to clarify that she said exactly what I thought I heard, and WHY SHE SAID IT:

"Those damned kids in there were picking at that there dog we have, and thought it had lice.  They love lice."

I wish to GOD I was not making that last sentence up.  She said that, and if I'm lying, I'm dying.

By this time, I have her on mute laughing at her, taking breathers, and help her fix her connection.  I figured this was the worst this call could possibly get.  But just when I assumed that, she proved that she could continue to shock and amaze.

I took her into her modem's setup page to type in her user ID and a temporary password.  The user ID, which she doesn't know, because it's different than her username, ends in Zero.  You know, 0.  I even told her as I gave her the password, "The number Zero."

Well, when I tried to take her to Verizon's homepage to change her password, it gave us an error.  So, I had to go back into the modem to confirm what I already knew: she typed the user ID in wrong. I have her read back the user ID to me, and that Zero has magically changed into an O.  Which, it's an honest mistake, people do it all the time.  However, what was then said between us, is NOT an honest mistake.

Me: Ma'am, that last character is a Zero, not an O.
Her: Oh, you mean the NUMBER Zero!
Me: ..................Yes.  As opposed to the NEW alphabet that's going around where the letter C is now written as 758349, this is a numerical Zero.

If the South would've won...

I guess it's time for an annual survey.

I think I did this one before.  I'm not sure.  I don't remember whether I did or not.  If I did, oh well, I'm doing it again.  And then I'll just compare answers from the last time.

Name: Corey
Siblings By Blood: none
Brothers: none
Sisters: none
Eye color: dark brown
Shoe size: 10 1/2
Height: 5'9"
Innie or Outie: innie
What are you wearing right now?: boxer shorts
Where do you live?: Indianapolis
Righty or lefty: righty.
Best place to go for a first date: to a nice restaurant followed by a walk (if it's warm out)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Favorites
Number: 147
Boys Name: adam
Girls Name: katrina
Drink: propel fitness water or barq's root beer
Month: April
Juice: orange juice
Breakfast: Cereal bars
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
Have You Ever..
Smoked: yes
Bungee jumped: no
Made yourself throw-up: no
Gone skinny dipping: no
Loved somebody so much it made you cry: Yes
Broken a bone: Yes, my toe twice, once playing hackeysack, and once playing poker (believe me, don't ask)
Played Truth or Dare: yes
Been in a police car: no
Came close to dying: yes, seriously, yes, i almost died in '03.
Been in a sauna: no
Been in a hot tub: yes
Swam in the ocean: no
Fallen asleep in school: School = sleep
Broken someone's heart: I don't know.
Cried when someone died: Yes.
Cried in school: Yeah, that was a horrible day.
Fell off your chair: Countless times.
Sat by the phone all night waiting for someone to call: Yes
Saved AIM conversation: I save the all.
Saved e-mails: I'm an e-mail packrat thanks to Gmail.
Made out with just a friend: no.
Been cheated on: Yes, but I had found out AFTER we broke up, so it didn't phase me too much.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
What is...
What's your room like: like a basement or something
What is beside you: water, tissues, and food.
What is the last thing you ate: chicken soup
What kind of shampoo do you use: whatever's in the shower
------------------------------------------------------------
Ever Had...
Chicken pox: nope
Sore throat: yeah, right now.
Stitches: yes
Broken nose: technically
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Do You...
Believe in love at first sight: No
Like picnics: Yes
Like school: No
---------------------------------------------
Questions:
Who was the last person you called: Cat
Who was the last person you danced with: wow, that's been a long time...i seriously have no clue.
Who makes you smile: hyunsil
------------------------------------------------------------
Who...
Did you last yell at: some donk in 3-6 razz, but he didn't know it.
Broke your heart last: Cat
Told you they loved you last? Grandma
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Do you like filling these out: meh...
Do you wear contact lenses or glasses: neither
Do you like yourself: sometimes
get along with your family?: sometimes
-----------------------------------------------
What are you listening to right now: my humidifier
What did you do yesterday?: nothing.
Hated someone in your family: i hate my dad with a passion
What car do you wish to have: bmw z3
Where do you want to get married: someplace beautiful, doesn't really matter.
Good driver: yes, my Saturn wrecked itself.
Good singer: i'm a good screamer
Diamond or pearl: diamond
Indoor or outdoor: indoor
 ---------------------------------------------------------
Today did you...
1. Talk to someone you liked: yes
2. Buy something: yes
3. Get sick: yes
4. Sing: no
5. Talked to an ex: no
6. Miss someone: Yes
-----------------------------------------------------
Last person who....
10. Was in your bed?: me
11. Saw you cry: mom
12. Made you cry: Cat
13. Went to the movies with: Jake, Caleb and Ashley
14. You went to the mall with: mom
16. Ever been in a fight with your pet: when i had to put nametags on them
17. Been to California: no
18. Been to Mexico: no
19. Been to Canada: no
20. Been to Africa: no
--------------------------------------------------------
Random.....
21. Who was your first celebrity crush: Dolly Parton (sad, right?)
22. What books are you reading now: Ace on the River, Sklansky on Poker
23. Best feeling in the world: Going deep in a huge tourney for a sum of money that makes a difference to you.
24. Future KIDS names: not sure
25. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal: no
26. What's under your bed: nothing
27. Favorite sport to watch: hockey
28. Favorite location?: I'll go out on a limb and say Vegas.
29. Piercing/Tattoos: Neither
32. Who do you really hate?: my dad, jamie gold, kelis
33. Do you have a job?: not exactly
35. Have you ever liked someone you didn't have a chance with? yes
37. Are you lonely right now: yes
38. Song that's stuck in your head right now: woman by wolmother
39. Have you ever played strip poker: yes, but no one wanted to play with me
40. Have you ever gotten beat up: yes
43. Have you ever been in a mosh-pit: yes
44. Ever liked someone but thought they'd never noticed you? yes
__________________________________________
random

What's the first thing you notice about the opposite sex?: their face
Your Favorite Food?: pasta & korean food (rock the bulgogi)
Have you ever cried for no reason?: yes
Hugs or kisses?: kisses.
Butter, Plain or Salted popcorn?: butter
Favorite Flower?: red roses
Have you ever fired a gun?: yes
Do you like to travel by plane as opposed to car?: car
How many pillows do you sleep with: one, sometimes two.

2007 New Year Resolutions

Happy new year everyone.  It is now time for me to make my new years resolutions.  I'm actually shooting off the hip for the most part with this.

1. Start exercising again.  I definitely feel drained a lot, and I know it's due to me not getting any exercise.  I also feel my mental focus slipping, which can also be attributed to it.
2. Learn to speak Korean, at least at some level of competency.  I've been trying to learn for almost 4 years, and have really gotten nowhere.  I would definitely like to be able to speak, read, and understand it.
3. Continue improving my poker game.  It's starting to step up, but I still have a LOOOOOOOONG way to go. If I could win the WSOP Razz event, FTOPS Razz Event, and/or WCOOP Razz event this year, I would be extremely satisfied.
4. Finally get to meet Hyunsil.  Hopefully to God, if everything goes like it's SUPPOSED to, this is supposed to happen in early February.
5. Update Josh in the Ghetto regularly (updates will resume on the 2nd).