Fav quotes
-John Quinn Founder USA TODAY
"A newspaper is not the place to go to see people actually earning a living, though journalists like to pretend they never stop sweating over a hot typewriter. It is much more like a brothel - short, rushed bouts of really enjoyable activity interspersed with long lazy stretches of gossip, boasting, flirtation, drinking, telephoning, strolling about the corridors sitting on the corner of desks, planning to start everything tomorrow. Each of the inmates has a little specialty to please the customers. The highest paid ones perform only by appointment; the poorest take on anybody, The editors are like madams - soothing, flattering, disciplining their naughty, temperamental staff, but rarely obliged to satisfy the clients personally between the printed sheets."
--from a UPI Washington Bureau Manager, http://www.schindler.org/quote.htm
"I love you. And not in a friendly way, although I think we're great friends. And not in a misplaced affection, puppy-dog way, although I'm sure that's what you'll call it. And it's not because you're unattainable. I love you. Very simple, very truly. You're the epitome of every attribute and quality I've ever looked for in another person. I know you think of me as just a friend, and crossing that line is the furthest thing from an option you'd ever consider. But I had to say it. I can't take this anymore. I can't stand next to you without wanting to hold you. I can't look into your eyes without feeling that longing you only read about in trashy romance novels. I can't talk to you without wanting to express my love for everything you are. I know this will probably queer our friendship -no pun intended- but I had to say it, because I've never felt this before, and I like who I am because of it. And if bringing it to light means we can't hang out anymore, then that hurts me. But I couldn't allow another day to go by without getting it out there, regardless of the outcome, which by the look on your face is to be the inevitable shoot-down. And I'll accept that. But I know some part of you is hesitating for a moment, and if there is a moment of hesitation, that means you feel something too. All I ask is that you not dismiss that -at least for ten seconds- and try to dwell in it. Alyssa, there isn't another soul on this fucking planet who's ever made me half the person I am when I'm with you, and I would risk this friendship for the chance to take it to the next plateau. Because it's there between you and me. you can't deny that. And even if we never speak again after tonight, please know that I'm forever changed because of who you are and what you've meant to me, which -while I do appreciate it- I'd never need a painting of birds bought at a diner to remind me of."
- Ben Affleck as Holden in Chasing Amy
"Aah! Hey, get off my sugar. Bad bees! Bad!" (get's stung) "Ow. Oww! Oh, they're defending themselves somehow."
-Homer Simpson "The Simpsons"
"Follow your dreams. You can reach your goals. I'm living proof. Beefcake beeeefcaaake."
-Eric Cartman
"When I first heard that Marge was joining the police academy, I thought it would be fun and zany, like that movie -- Spaceballs. But instead it was dark and disturbing. Like that movie -- Police Academy."
-Homer Simpson "The Simpsons"
Moving to Missouri was quite a cultural shock. First of all, I was born at and raised in the nation's capital, which is populated primarily by Diplomats or people who came from Diplomats (myself not included). Columbia, Missouri was a little bit different. Being of Hispanic descent (Bolivian/El Salvadorean/American), I caught myself thinking "Where did all of these white people come from?" all too many times during my freshman year in college. This was a far cry from my days as a student at the Washington International School, where 100 nations were represented, or as my old Brazilian girlfriend from high school like to call it - a "freakshow" of diversity.
But it was okay. After time went by, I soon got used to all of their customs (such as tanning or chanting the word "beer" over and over again when someone brought a six-pack of Bud Light into a room that I was in.)
I think I learned a lot from my time I spent in Washington, D.C. First of all, I could speak Spanish. Second of all, I learned many different methods to curse in foreign toungues. But most importantly, I realized that people that are different colored aren't really that different from you at all. In fact, I felt I was more like my fellow Latinos and other minorities than I was like Midwesterners.
It wasn't that I didn't like Midwesterners. In fact, I did like some. It just so happened that the ones I did like were the ones that most reminded me of my friends back home. Is this bad? Was I being close-minded? I don't know really. Perhaps I was. But there was just something about listening to the same songs over and over again and having the same conversations over and over that ... made me get really good at knowing how to have those conversations. So I grew manipulative.
But then the being manipulative got old because I kept getting the same reactions, and no one ever really got it. So I just started the first salsa-n-merengue-only radio show in Columbia, building my massive music collection of over 500 CD's with the money I had saved from not joining a fraternity. It was there that I used my cultural skills of being able to throw wild fiestas with songs from Elvis Crespo, Fabulosos, the popular Mexican Ricky Martin, Ilegales, Proyecto Uno, Grupo Mania, Shakira and the ever-friendly MOLOTOV. It was there that I was able to help others.
So, eventually I did get my journalism degree. May 2001 to be exact. Even though it doesn't take a degree for me to call myself a journalist, there's a lot that I learned along the way. And I plan to use it. To make myself rich.
(Okay, just thought I would end with one of those trite j-school jokes where we talk about our future jobs at Midwest Dairy Illustrated and small salaries that we get because we are working for Midwest Dairy Illustrated or GQ - General Quilting.)
He has a penchant for using the passive voice and speaking in the third person (especially when
introducing his credentials). As a child, he couldn't wait until the day
that he would live in an apartment by himself and have real money so that
he could make Kool-Aid and Macaroni and Cheese. He has lived this dream.
Though he sometimes considers himself humorous, he is not actually so. Do
not be fooled by some close calls.