Saturday, May 28, 2011

My Baltimore...

So this week I thought I would go back to talking to you guys about my impressions or my take on what Baltimore is. I have seen videos on how Baltimore is such a great place and I have heard people talk about how much they love Baltimore or how is a great place to live.
Baltimore has a lot to offer don't get me wrong, it does. I have just been around a few people lately who have tried to sell me, the native baltimorean on how great a city it is. (Like selling milk to a cow or eggs to a hen!)

For some folk their vision of Baltimore comes from what they are around or word of mouth from others. For some the only bad or downside to Baltimore is what they have seen on TV (The Wire, it was a great show by the way) Further still Baltimore has a deep divide of social status in it. For some they see Baltimore as only confined to the downtown area. Venturing outside of downtown Baltimore takes you to some other worldly city that "money" has forgotten. There are blocks of rowhomes, where every house is boarded up save for one or two. Yet there are so many homeless people or people looking for places to live in the city. You venture downtown and you are greeted with new condos and lofts going up and opening up in old buildings. While still outside of downtown Baltimore things are in need of renovation and construction.

Getting back visions of the great "state" of Baltimore, Baltimore like most urban cities in America is plagued with crime. Sometimes walking through different neighborhoods, I think to myself if your aren't from Baltimore and decide to move here where would you move to. There are a numerous areas where I feel that if you aren't from here you should or would not definitely move to. Not saying that those neighborhoods are that bad but their " ne sais quois" is more suited for native baltimoreans. I actually know people who don't venture out of west Baltimore to go into east Baltimore and vice versa. Not necessarily for fear but because of not knowing and not being from that side of town. But those people will venture downtown. For them going downtown I assume would be the equivalent of baby boomers putting on their "Sunday's best" and going to Sears Roebuck back in the'50s and '60s. It's not a bad thing...its a good thing but I am still amazed by that.

I used to watch the Wire and think that they over exaggerated things. I mean there are Chrises' and Snoops in a lot of cities. Every city has it's share of Avon and Stringer Bell. So some where in my mind I had blocked out just how bad the "state of Baltimore" outside of downtown could get. Had it been my own naïveté denying me the common sense that I have inside to know that there were plenty of truths in the Wire? Maybe. Crime had been on the steady decline in Baltimore the last few years but recently it has seemed to spike. A few days ago, some kids were sitting on their porch watching the NBA playoffs when someone came around a corner and opened up fire hitting them. Tragic. Back in the day my friends and I would have no fear of enjoying time outside. Playing football and baseball in the streets. Nowadays the urban city can be almost as harrowing as a third world country. My Baltimore is filled with brazen people who have a blatant disregard for human life. My Baltimore is one, where the young generation don't see past the confines of Baltimore. My Baltimore is one that is more known for what you see on the 11 o'clock news rather than what comes out of it. Now don't get me wrong, I am not trying to badmouth my city. I love Baltimore. I am just portraying My Baltimore how its portrayed by it's inhabitants in the cardinal directions outside of downtown Baltimore. Wherever I go from Chicago to The Carolinas to NY, I am proud to say I am from Baltimore. One of the first things I do when I move away from here will be to get Baltimore tattooed on myself. My Baltimore has always been and will always be apart of what shaped me as a man. The last few days I have been really thinking about my time in Baltimore. In the past I have commented about how I feel my time here and how I feel my time here is over. The older and older I get the more it feels that it holds true. As a Son of Baltimore and a proud Baltimorean, I just feel this chapter of my life has begun it's descent. Time to move on to bigger and better things. People tell me that when I leave that I am going to want to come back. I have also had friends tell me that I don't really want to leave. As a self-professed lone wolf I have always felt that I was always the friend...the brother...the son who left. My heart is in Baltimore but my mind has always dreamed of worlds outside of the great "state of Baltimore."

Sorry for the long and drawn out ramble but once I started typing more thoughts kept popping into my head. I trust that my post this week is not too incoherent and that you guys enjoyed my musings. Until next week.

-Namaste
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Saturday, May 21, 2011

The Rapture, what Rapture and other grumblings...

You know I am truly amazed at how we are drawn in to the ramblings of some "wing-nut cultist." The thing is, because we sometimes already believe some of the "propaganda" spewed by these "cultists," we are open to heresy or conspiracy theories. It's nothing wrong with that. You should always feel as though you can question things as they stand. Never buy into the status quo. Change the system. Start a revolution. Play Devil's Advocate. Question everything even the obvious if you so choose to. I for one, believe it's a must. Thats all I have to say about that.

I am still playing around with Sketchbook Pro and I plan on showing you guys some more of my sketches using the program soon. I still need to get back to my last painting I posted for you guys a ways back. It just seems like after work and all, that there is not enough time in my day. My girl said I should probably just set aside a day and keep that as my scheduled art day. I think I will def do that this week and see if I stick with it. I mean I am going to still be creating when I get the urge (I'm a starving artist!) but now I am going to do it like I do this blog. In an event, I will keep you guys informed.

-Namaste




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Boy oh BOY...

So I have had my iPad for a couple of weeks now and I gotta say it's one of the best purchases I have made in the last few years by far. I find myself using it more sometimes for recreational web browsing and YouTube viewing than I do my computer. I have also found a lot of other practical uses for it.

I have an app called Sketchbook Pro that I have begun to use that is great for digital art (the enclosed image is one of the first things I did with it) I have a pogo stylus that I just got that I have been practicing with a lot. I am really to get the nuisances down of using a touchscreen and stylus as I would a paintbrush or a pencil. It's a great new medium to work in. I have seen the work of some artist who have been using the iPad for a minute who really have a handle on it. In school I sometimes messed around with computer manipulation of images and have always been fascinated by it enough that on occasion I will create profile pics using some sort of digital software. I am pretty "geeked" about this little gadget. If you are ready have a computer or think that a computer is too complex for your blood I highly recommend a iPad or an Android tablet. I love IOS but I am still an Android fanboy. (As a side note my phone is a rooted Samsung Vibrant phone running 2.2 or 2.3.3 Android OS depending on my mood and week; Geeks Unite!!!!!!)

P.S. I have also found the iPad a pleasure to blog from;)





-Namaste


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Saturday, May 7, 2011

A new blog coming...maybe?


So I am trying to debate on whether or not I want to start another blog. I have a lot of friends and people who come to me for advice on their gadgets, electronics, computers and whatnot. I feel that by having a blog I could now and then post little tips and tricks I know about certain things would be quite informative for them. I can also post some reviews of applications and software that I have used or currently use.

This blog would work two-fold. I could share my knowledge base with the outside world and for the people I help I can refer them to certain posts on my blog if I have blogged about their problem. That way instead of trying to remember what I told them or showed them, they can come to my blog and find their answers for themselves on occasion.

The only problem I am having is whether or not I won't to or should I say if I have the time to devote to another blog. I mean there is nothing that says I have to constantly update the blog but sometimes when I start something I just have to attend to it. I end up treating it like a new toy for a while and then I eventually put it down. I will come back to it but it's usually months later, LOL. I don't want to do that with this new blog though. I want it to be something that I can truly share. Something that people can use a reference. Hopefully in the coming weeks I will decide what I plan on doing. In any case you guys will be among the first to know.

-Namaste

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad