Healthyness (Spelled wrong on purpose, like the Will Smith movie.)

Just performed a random test of my physical fitness. I work nights and I have to do facility checks every once in a while. Well, on this particular check I saw one of the clients getting into the elevator and I knew what floor he lived on, so....I decided to see if I could beat him upstairs. Didn't engage the client or anything, just a personal race for me. Well the race was to the 5th floor. Well I beat the elevator by about two seconds. I was quite happy with myself. For the last couple of years I've been rather conscious of my health. I eat and drink relatively healthy. Whole Foods is my store! (The women in my life say I eat like a bird. Or a rabbit. I don't think so but they have their opinions.I know they love me.) I do not exercise as regularly and vigorously as I should but I'm active. I take Aikido, I've taken Karate and Tae Kwon Do in the past. In the Air Force I had to run. A LOT! Especially after this bullshit war started. I really do not enjoy running but I'm not bad at it and I understand the necessity of it. If I have to run for my life for any reason I want to be able to get away. Period. The fastest run I ever did was 2 miles in 9 minutes and 11 seconds. I'm still quite proud of that. Probably couldn't do that shit right now just to do it, but life on the line you bet your ass I'd pull it off. See, the one thing I know about me is my strength of mind over matter. I can consciously push myself past my physical barrier. I've done it on more than one occasion throughout my life. I love this capacity in myself. I know the excuses I use for not exercising are just that, excuses, not reasons, but I'm cool with that for now. I'm not complaining. I walk A LOT and though my schedule only permits me one night of Aikido, I take it seriously. My unhealthy doings are not a detriment to me because I don't do them on a regular basis. No bad habits. I like to drink. And I can drink A LOT and still maintain for a skinny dude. (I've surprised quite a few people with my drinking capabilities and yes, I'm proud of it. What?) I do smoke on occasion, which is bad any way you look at it, but hey, I like to smoke sometimes. I did let smoking become something like a habit once, though. Never forget it. 1996, Luke AFB, AZ, my first duty station in the AF. Some guys from my office wanted to play B-ball after work. I was like bet. Now, I didn't think about the effects of all the smoking I'd been doing the last year or so. Let's paint the picture: Single airmen, no car, stuck on base in the damn desert, little single room, with small paycheck. BORED OUT OF MY FUCKING MIND!!! I had my books and magazines and music to keep me occupied. Always had and will. But also I was smoking rather heavily. It wasn't even a conscious thing. I'd been smoking here and there, hanging with friends and whatnot. Got tired of bumming cigarettes so I started buying my own. And kept buying and buying and smoking and smoking. I was up to about a pack and a half a day. Fucking sick! SO, I was on a pack and a half for about 2 or 3 months now and I'm going to play basketball out of the blue. WELL, I'm running up and down the court and out of nowhere I feel my chest get extremely tight. Like someone clamped a damn vice to my ribs and was twisting them. I NEVER want to feel that EVER again. I quit smoking that day. Just quit. Threw the cigs I had away, didn't accept any offers of smokes from friends. Cold turkey, with no problem. It wasn't hard for me at all. I remember talking with my best friend, Ryodin (not his real name), about it and he remarked that I just didn't have an addictive personality, which I thought was cool. I don't. But yeah, I didn't touch a cigarette for a whole year. My friends were all like, "How the fuck do you do that?" I was like, "I don't like feeling helpless." I felt like a fucking weak ass retard on that basketball court that day. I promised myself never again. I keep my word. Ask my friends. So, I quit. But I did/do like to smoke, so I eventually started again but never like then. I will never smoke like that again. I don't really even have a desire to. Usually I only smoke when I'm drinking or other people around me are smoking, like at a party or something. Sad excuses, I know, but I'm honest with me. I'm in better shape than the average person, so I'm good. My mental health is great. I love me!! What's your healthyness like? That all.

Hey, look...

I'm not sure about this country. I need Obama to win the damn election. If he doesn't I will be seriously working towards moving out of this country. I know Obama is not a miracle worker. He won't be able to change too much in one term but his being president will show that this country is actually ready to work on change. I'm not talking about the political/governmental changes he talks of in his campaign but the psychological and social aspects of HIM (Black man) being PRESIDENT (Leader) of this country, the u.s. of a. I mean, he IS qualified! If he wasn't I wouldn't want him in. I'm not stupid (maybe YOU are). Can't wait to see.

Fuck supply and demand!

I've long held the belief that poachers are evil creatures and should be killed on sight. No arrest, no judge, no trial, just BANG! Kill 'em. They're not human beings to me. They're human but not human beings. For me there is a difference. You just don't eradicate a species for profit. That's not even intelligent business. Sick and stupid. I also hold the same belief for certain hunters. People who hunt purely for sport and don't eat what they kill should be hunted themselves and killed if caught. See how they like it. Those hunters who eat what they kill are cool with me. They hold to one of the basic human needs and desires and if, for whatever reason, our technology all just crashes, we're gonna need them. Except if they hunt with high powered fuckin' sniper rifles. That's just plain cheating. I hate that. That's really the only scene worth anything in that movie, "The Hunted", starring Benicio Del Toro and Tommy Lee Jones. Benicio's character is hunting hunters in the opening scene. These assholes have high powered rifles and he takes them with a damn knife. One of the best things I ever saw on film. The rest of the movie sucked. But yeah, I hate poachers. Don't know what my reaction would be if I ever came across one. This is what sparked this post.

Random Ignorance

Well, I had quite an experience on my train ride to work tonight. Something I had been expecting to happen but hoped wouldn't in my presence happened tonight. I'd been meaning to blog about my current dislike for Yankee games. Mostly Yankee fans. I live not far from Yankee stadium and I work nights, so, on my way to work I run into this zoo of fans, majority white, who live nowhere near the stadium, on the nights the Yankees play. It is highly annoying to wade through and with this mob of people who are completely oblivious to the environment in which they find themselves. The pure arrogance many of these people have would astound me if I hadn't already been witness to it before. It is not a purely white persons conceit but an american conceit that all is right with the world and nothing is going to happen. It just so happens that my current examples of this overwhelming arrogance happen to be white americans. The most glaring example of this arrogance is most of these people make their way to the stadium with absolutely no thought or plan whatsoever how to get back to where they came from. I see these people on the train trying to read the map or asking strangers about stops and directions and it baffles me. Where are these people from?! Maybe I'm just a paranoid, cynical city New Yorker but that level of stupidity and softness just bothers me. I'm a civilized human being and I'm all for helping anyone, no matter their ethnicity. I believe the world SHOULD be safe any and everywhere. But I know it's NOT! Period. It just isn't. And that's not to say that anything will happen or that the Bronx is a dangerous place, but it's not the suburbs by any stretch and shit happens. Shit can happen anywhere. And awareness of one's surroundings should be a given but it's not. Which also leads to dumb reasoning, as I witnessed tonight. Here we have a bunch of white people and a few Black people and some hispanics sprinkled here and there (this IS the Bronx). NOW, a young twenty something white dude decides to engage a slightly older Black dude, with kids, in conversation. I, being who I is, am not paying full attention to them but my environmental awareness is aware of what's going on. I couldn't give you any details of what they were talking about just that they were talking and as I was reading the pitch and tone of the conversation began to steadily rise. SO, when the Black dude begins to yell at the white dude, I am spectacularly not surprised. From what I gathered from the Black guys ramblings, the young white dude got a little too familiar in his speech, which is understandable, at least to me. My reaction would have been quite a bit less bombastic but there would have been one. Anyways, the young white guy stands there for like 6 or 7 minutes before he finally decides to walk away before it escalates to the physical, which it was really gearing up to. His companions had already moved away from the circle of confrontation, so he was really on his own, which I found rather amusing and interesting. Most non-white folks would NOT leave one of their friends by themselves in a confrontation. But that's another convo. Anyway, it was just annoying that it took that nimrod so long to decide to walk the fuck away. He obviously wasn't going to calm down this ghetto ass Black man, so, let it go. The young lady sitting right in front of me, who happened to be white, agreed with me when I mentioned he should have walked away, like, 5 minutes ago. And I refer to the Black man as ghetto, not because of the way he was dressed, but because of the manner of his speech and speech pattern. He kept referring to the young white guy he was upset with as nigga. Are you serious?! Yes. And because he was highly agitated that word among many, many others flew from his lips numerously with abandon. I have know idea what made that white boy think he could have a conversation with this Black dude from the street. Don't get me wrong. People should be able to talk to people know matter what. I get that. But our current society doesn't operate on what should be. And, yeah, the only way to effect change is to act but this was NOT the proper time to effect change. This and what follows is what I meant by dumb reasoning. Based on more of what the black guy was yelling, it seems what set him off was the white guy using the words, "I'll kill you," somewhere in the conversation. WHAT THE FUCK was this little lilly white boy thinking?! Are you serious?! Those are just words you don't use with a stranger, even in jest, or implied comedy. Especially with a Black guy, YOU DON'T KNOW, who is obviously not from your particular culture. Pure stupidity. And though the Black guy was HIGHLY annoying to everyone on the train car, those who were on that side of the train that heard the convo were obviously on his side, which did surprise me because most of them were, as mentioned in the beginning, white. But you could just tell that they ALL thought the young white guy was a fucking idiot (Though mostly I think they thought he was an idiot for even trying to have the conversation in the first place). Also, can you believe this young moron, even though he walked away and wasn't that far away, had the nerve to be talking shit and making stupid remarks to his friends, some in response to the ravings of the guy who he just upset. Now I could hear him and if that Black guy wasn't so upset and being loud HE would have heard him and that would've been a problem, 'cause that little idiot wasn't standing too far behind me. I swear I almost got up and punched him in his damn mouth on GP. But I felt the need to represent the obvious (civilized Black man). But, OH MY GOD, I wanted to hit that idiot. I felt sorry for that Black dudes kids, though. They did not need to see their father acting like a wild ass ghetto fool. Our children need to learn a better way than wild recklessness as problem solving. Oh well. A hell of a night to forget my damn ipod shuffle.

Prince

This man is without a doubt one of the best musicians this planet has ever known. Yeah, he's had his ups and downs but what artist with his longevity hasn't? And his ups FAR outweigh his downs. Plus his "downs" are debatable. Some of Prince's downs are light-years ahead of some other musicians best. Just saying. He was going through some shit in the late 90's and early 00's but when he dropped Musicology in 2004 he shut up everybody who was crowing he was done. This album was a triumphant showcase of superb, precision musicianship. Wonderful album. Then in 2006 he dropped the excellent 3121. Nothing but straight jams and awesome music. You can NEVER count out an artist of this caliber. NEVER! Plus, he served the music industry a big fuck you on a silver platter quite a few times. You GOTTA love that. One of these days I'll post my playlist of Prince favorites. I was just listening to Black Sweat from 3121 and jammin' hard, so I had to write something.

Register

Hey people, make sure your voter registration information is up to date and straight. This country is KNOWN for shady shit and with the "controversy" of this current presidential election you better believe the usual and very unusual suspects are going to be pulling some serious old and new tricks. Here's an article on an oldie but still current goodie.

FIGHT!

I love good fight scenes. I LOVE GREAT fight scenes!!! There is nothing better in film than a properly done fight scene. As a martial artist and fighter (there is a difference) myself I think I can tell a good one from a bad one. Good ones always, ALWAYS look good on film. Great ones are poetry in motion. Now, naturally, the capabilities of the actors involved in a fight are what really make the fight scene work. However, because we are talking about film/movies, the WAY in which the scenes are filmed is just as important. Perfect example: the Bourne Franchise. The first and third installments had the best fight sequences, especially the third. That fight scene was simply awesome. But the second film fight scene sucked but not, I think, because the actors couldn't pull it off, but because it was filmed bad. Really bad. Almost every shot was close up which is usually what you do when one (usually) or both of the actors can't get the fight choreography right. Close up with no face shots, just a lot of arms and legs and feet. Just like Art of War, with Wesley Snipes and Michael Biehn. I really like Michael Biehn as an actor, wonderful in Terminator, but he is NOT a fighter or martial artist. AT ALL. Wesley is BOTH. Therefore that fight scene should have NEVER happened because it had to be filmed SO bad that even people who don't know the first thing about fighting and martial arts knew it sucked. Because it was OBVIOUS that Michael was NO match for Wesley. (By the way I LOVE watching Wesley fight on film. He has to be one of the most technically proficient fighters I've ever seen on film. Him and Michael Jai White. Both of them are FLAWLESS on film. And they'd BOTH kick your ass in real life, don't get it twisted. Wes delivered one of THE best jump spinning heel kicks ever on film in Money Train. And the whole fight scene was good of course. Couldn't find the clip but buy the movie, the whole thing is good.)That's another reason that Dark Knight was better than Batman Begins, the fights scenes were filmed WAY better. Anyways, here's some clips I found, the first of which sparked this post.


Love this scene!


Had me hooked. Bourne Identity


Actually found a tribute clip to Wesley. Just enough shit to show how fucking awesome this man is as a fighter AND an actor. I forgot about Demolition Man! He was kickin' Sly's ass all over this movie. Real life, woulda been VERY different.

That all for now. I gotta go. LAters.

Film Critics

I learned a long time ago, when I was very, very young, that film critics do NOT have my viewing interests in mind. Therefore, I never took their opinions/criticisms seriously. I was taught to think for myself in all things, so... I watch what I wanna. This article I found quite amusing, talking about critics. I agree with about 98.5% of it. I actually like a lot of arty, serious, intelligent films as well as the pure action, pop-corn movies. However, I don't want to listen to some old geezer wax bullshit philosophical about old shit compared to new shit. It's all shit. Make up your own mind what kind of shit you like. Here's the article.

Powerful message!

No commentary from me needed. Watch and listen.

Veronica Pt. 2

Going to continue a bit about Veronica. Let's see, I pretty much ended the last post when V moved in with me. Well let's backtrack a bit. A little about me first. I don't wear masks. I don't front. What you experience when you meet me is what you got. PERIOD! SO, on that first date I was VERY me. Complete gentleman, fully emotional, bit of a temper and speaks my mind. I was a bit much for her to take, actually. One thing that did shine through though was I was a good man. Her sister thought so, so she gave me a chance, even though she completely trusted her sister, and found that observation to be true. The first night she spent the night was cool. I cleaned up a little bit. But just a little bit. Like I said, I'm me, no false impressions, so my apartment was NOT spic and span super clean. Or I SHOULD say neat. My place was clean but I'm not a very neat person. Quite the opposite. A bit of clutter is the only chaos I can really deal with in my life. Anyways, she saw this and despite herself was impressed that I wasn't going all out to impress her. Weird, huh? See why I loved her. Of course, I WAS going out of my way to impress her, just MY way. I cooked that night. She liked. No bedroom homerun that night. I did try. She was playing hard to get. That was cool. I did something for the first time, that I found I enjoyed doing, that night. But only with special people. (I've only done that on ONE other woman, one time.) I was addicted to V though. The feeling was mutual. Not much time passed before the homerun happened. What a game night that was. Another first for her. She'd never had the big 'O' before. Like the real deal joint. Damn, I'm good! I must say, to be thorough and honest, the very very first time we were going to consummate our little union I was a bit too nervous. Yeah. That was weird to deal with, 'cause I wanted to. I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, WANTED TO. And even though we were new, she understood it wasn't her and didn't give me any grief about it. Once I finally relaxed though, IT WAS ON! We were completely compatible in EVERY way. Her body fit mine and mine fit hers. That's it. I've never clicked with another woman the same way. I guess you're not supposed to. Every person is different and good in their own ways but for me something will always be missing. I figure that's the pain talking. I believe I'll meet someone to fall in love with again, but right now I just don't feel it. Veronica and I weren't done with each other before she journeyed on, so....I'm stuck. Anyone I get with in the future will HAVE to understand that or leave me alone, period. I do not expect anyone to be her or fill her shoes but understand she will always be a part of me and she ain't going nowhere. I'm sure you been in love before me. If it was true it never leaves you. Getting off subject a bit I think. Anyway those early days were great, getting to know each other. It wasn't until many years later that I realized how YOUNG she really was. Myself as well. Such impetuous young ones we were. Next, I'll go into how I discovered that she has sickle cell. That's a story worth telling.


This is my favorite picture of us. V wanted to get some pics taken one day. We didn't pick this one for the package but got to keep the proof. I love this pic because she looks SO possessive of me. Like, "Yeah, he's mine. What!" How COOL is that!

Little Wing

This has to be one of the BEST covers of a Jimi Hendrix song. I love Stevie. Jimi and Stevie. Two masters too eager to journey on their next path. They are greatly missed but they left us with SO much beauty.

Watch out now!

Who wants to bet that if the democratic presidential nominee, the BLACK man, Barack Hussein Obama, wins the presidential election, a swift and sudden tragedy along the lines of 9/11 will happen and Bush will enact these bullshit, emergency powers.

NAACP and older Black folks

You know I am so sick of reading articles and statements, from the mid 80's until now, about how certain aspects of Black American youth are a disgrace to Black people. Don't get me wrong, I understand the sentiment. However, I'm part of the last few generations that are direct products of their movement and fight for rights and equality for Blacks. If young people from my generation and the generations after mine, maybe the one right before mine, are a problem, well, you made the fucking problem. (And I am quite capable of making my point without expletives, but I LIKE to use curses to accentuate my points at times.) YOU people fought, and fought, and got your asses kicked and then when you achieved a little bit of your objectives you just stopped. Like stopped cold. Okay. I can see that. That's some draining shit to endure over the length of time you all were going. But know matter how tired you are you still raise your children. You find the damn energy and properly tend to your children. And you all DROPPED THE BALL!! You all blaming us. YOU CAME BEFORE WE DID! YOU SET THIS SHIT UP! Now, I tend to set myself apart (But I understand and accept the responsibility of the generation I belong to, hence this little post). Most older Black folk who come in contact with me usually regard me as an intelligent young man to be proud of. Hey, MY parents RAISED me. MY parents actually TAUGHT me HOW to THINK! What the hell were you people doing. I think you older folk got your pictures kind of twisted. You know. Big picture, little picture. You all viewed the civil rights movement as the BIG picture, which it was, but it was at the expense of maintaining your homes. Home is NEVER a little picture. Home is where your future is. While you were away busy fighting for your futures you also blatantly ignored them. Your children.

Don't get me wrong. I understand the negative aspects of our culture that are portrayed in the media are blown way out of proportion. (For some reason, I don't think you older black folks do though.) It's called PROPAGANDA! And I do understand that the days before and during the Civil Rights Era we tough for Black folk. BUT, look at Black communities then and look at them now. Somewhere along the line, while integrating, Black communities slid downhill. FAST! My parents were children then. The generations after them, leading to and after mine, weren't even thoughts yet, but WE'RE the disgraces to ourselves? Please! We aren't the problem. Those set in long before us.

And another thing. Older Black folks are famous for saying when they were young they were raised and say they did the same and raised their children as well. The majority of older Black folks say this. SO WHAT HAPPENED?!

Now, that aside, there are A LOT MORE OF BLACK YOUTH DOING WELL, GOOD AND RIGHT, than not. I wish you older folk would see that and stop feeding into the propaganda of the very country you fought against for your and your children's and children's children's, ad infinum, rights. I know. I'm one of them and we are legion. Watch out.

(And move aside. Your time is done. Your fight, however necessary and right, is dated. NOT the objectives but the methods. It's a new day. A new year, new decade, new freaking millennium! Certain things change. They HAVE to in order to progress. You'd think you older folks would get that, being you all were fighting FOR change in the first place.)

Just wanted to say the youth, no matter what ethnicity, but especially Black youth (because it's the group I most belong to),is NOT a lost cause. We're the products of YOU, like it of not!

Arsenio

I just felt like mentioning this. The Arsenio Hall Show was THE best late night television show ever! Arsenio went with and AGAINST the grain and still pulled that shit off. Some of the best interviews and definitely some of the most classic television musical performances ever. Pop, rock, and especially Rap, the music of Hip Hop culture, he embraced it all when NO ONE ELSE was. And, really, they still don't. Who doesn't remember the A Tribe Called Quest performance of Scenario with Busta Rhymes?!! RAOW, RAOW, LIKE A DUNGEON DRAGON!!! That was the shit, and the main platform of Busta's rise to stardom. And my favorite rock band, Living Colour. I absolutely LOVED that he had them on. From celebrities to political candidates clowning around, Arsenio did it all. I miss that show. Late night has sucked big ever since he left, but I understand. Check some choice moments.


ATCQ - Scenario



Living Colour - Cult Of Personality


BIG DADDY KANE - I Get The Job Done - And the mini interview before the performance was really cool, and very necessary. Arsenio respected Hip Hop as a viable culture and rap as real music.


With the master Eddie. You can tell they're really friends. This is only pt.1 of the interview. Hit youtube for the rest. Really go check the rest of the Eddie interview.

There's mad more Arsenio show clips on you tube. Go reminisce.

Veronica Pt.1

(H.S. pic)

I miss her. Terribly. Remembering 9/11 from reading my man Dave's Blog, I naturally thought of V. We were together when the sad events of that day transpired. My thoughts always in some way return to Veronica. Not always do those thoughts bring tears. At least not anymore. Except they did this early, early morning. Maybe it's just because I'm tired or I'm just really missing her. (It AIN'T because of 9/11. That no longer holds really strong emotions for me. Everyone I personally knew was safe. Aside from the fact that NY is home, I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later.) But, Veronica. I still hold really strong emotions for Veronica. She died of complications with her sickle cell anemia. She passed to her new path last year, May 27. (Damn, I didn't want to cry while writing this!) I met V in 1998. I had been in Southern Cali for almost a year. I worked with her sister, J (who was/still is Hella FINE!), and actually asked J out. We went on a date. Blow to my ego, taking her back home, she informed me I was a bit too young for her (guess she realized I was mature enough to handle that info right away, which I was and did)but I would be perfect for her little sister Veronica. I realize now, all these years later, that most peoples reactions would have been negative, at least in their heads. Like, YEAH RIGHT, THANKS! But I didn't. We'd really talked to each other and vibed so well, just like she felt comfortable letting me down in MY car, right after OUR date, I trusted she wouldn't hook me up if she didn't think it would work. Plus, she told me her sister looked like her. And she wasn't lying. I actually thought, upon meeting my lady love, she looks BETTER than J, which was, of course, MY good fortune. But I'm getting ahead of myself. So, I think it was like a week later I met V at her sister's house. Well, we had talked on the phone a few times before we met. J gave her my number and told her to call me. Anyways, I get to J's house and I meet the woman my heart always belonged to. Little did I know that this night would be the first of many firsts for V. I'm old school, gentleman, courting style,so, naturally, I bring a rose for my date. No one had EVER bought her flowers before. SO, LIKE, I'm really ahead of the game before I even get started right. (I did not know this info until much later. J purposely did not tell me much about her sister so that our possible union would be true and not prevaricated in any way. She just set us up and that's it.I still love her for that!) Basically from that first date until a few years later Veronica and I were inseparable. I'm pretty sure it was only like a week after that first date that she was packing overnight bags and staying at my place most nights. Three months after that first date she moved in with me. I'ma end this post here 'cause I'm gotta go. I won't break this up into too many parts, though. Didn't mean to in the first place but sometime the tale writes itself the way it want. Haven't written about this in a while. Guess it needs to come out longer and clearer. More later. I MISS HER.

(We took this not long after we were together. Just came back from a Renaissance Faire. We looked so good together. I'll post more pics of us, you'll see.)


(Her first modeling comp. card. I added the text at the bottom at her passing.)

Tribute to the Great JB.

The UBJB. I figured this was worth posting. Fuck the dude who's name begins with an E ( he was good, but....just check what P.E. said in "Fight the Power!" ) JAMES BROWN is MY musical Idol.

Damn, damn, DAMN!!!

This is one of the FINEST women film has ever seen. Cameras have rarely captured such a beautiful representation of femininity. My eyes absolutely LOVE to watch this woman, whether the image is moving (film) or still (photograph). I've been infatuated with this woman ever since I first saw her as the housekeeper "Carmen", on an old HBO sitcom, Dream On. That show was rather hilarious, but the episode that this woman was in hooked me on her for life. And I've liked pretty much every project I've seen her in. Much more than a pretty face and SUPERB!!!! BODY, she produces and directs her own projects as well as projects for others. Like Prince's video for the song Te Amo Corazon. This woman is in her forties and is STILL finer than 99% of the women in the film industry today! Simply beautiful. My public announcement of a crushh on the one and only Salma Hayek!!



DAMN she's FINE!!!!

Politricks

Look people, if you care at ALL about the next four years of your life as a part of this country you need to start paying attention. McCain is so old he can't even keep up with his own lies. Doesn't even have the intelligence to HIRE people to help him keep up with his lies. And Palin is a joke. If you can't see that, something is really, really wrong. I admire Matt Damon as an entertainer immensely and I'm not saying we should base our political/social views based on an entertainer just because they're famous but TRUTH is TRUTH. And Matt is speaking the plain truth, period. Check the links.

Coney Island

Well, it was announced on the news on Sunday August 7, 2008 that that day was supposed to be the final day Coney Island was to be open (Turns out they extended the days. Big surprise). The lady I'm with wanted to go one last time before it shut down. (I'd promised I'd take her last year when they announced the same thing but it didn't close. I did try to take her but she had something to do that day. Then I found out it wasn't closing, so, no rush.) So, after I crashed after work for a few hours, we went. It was cool. I hadn't been down there in a very long time. First we went to the world famous Nathan's. In the interest of mass consumerism, the quality of the place has decreased drastically. Too bad. I still like their franks though. Walked over and rode some rides. I rode the Cyclone by myself though. She don't like roller coasters. I happen to LOVE roller coasters. Riding Cyclone, I realized, is where that love began. I hadn't ridden that roller coaster in like twenty years, yet I remembered EVERY SINGLE TURN on that thing. Talk about memory. That isn't just mental memory but physical as well. It was a good time.


My ticket to ride one last time.


One Car


Two Car


Big Sign on the Tracks. LANDMARK, MAN!!!!


Me, ridin'. My lady friend don't like roller coasters so she didn't ride. (That's bad.) Side note: V loved to ride Roller Coasters.


I remember seeing this when it looked new in daylight.

Stairs

I HATE WHEN SLOW ASS PEOPLE WALK UP OR DOWN THE MIDDLE OF PUBLIC STAIRWAYS!!!!!!!!!!! Yo, I know I move faster than your average person on GP (general principle), but DAMN!!! Could you slow MUTHAFUCKAS with nowhere in particular to go choose one side of the damn stairway and get the fuck out of the way of us people that like to move faster than a damn snail!!! I'm particularly referring to stairways in subway stations, but this shit applies everywhere. FUCKING MOVE OUT OF THE DAMN WAY!!!!! Especially in airports, too. I have a PLANE to catch. MOVE!!! I can't STAND slow ass people with no damn courtesy. And then want to get an attitude if they get bumped. Asshole, if I didn't have somewhere to go I'd kick your ass up AND down these damn stairs. Move slow, get bumped. IDIOT! Old people get a pass 'cause they usually move to the side anyway 'cause they need to hold on to something. But if they pick the middle, they fair game. You old enough to know better. MOVE!!!!

Had to get that out.

A gift I possess

I have a very special gift. I do NOT abuse this gift. It is rare and to be treated with the utmost respect. And I'm really, really honored that my higher power has chosen me to harness this particular gift. Oh yeah, the gift: I have an uncanny rapport with very young children. Especially little girls. See why I wrote that second sentence. Every once in a while, actually quite often, I am reminded of my gift. Mostly because I live in a big city and always, always, always find some child, usually a little girl, blatantly STARING at me. Never fails, wherever I go. Specific reminder of my gift: Yesterday morning I'm going down the stairs into the subway after work. There's this lady going up carrying a stroller with a baby in it. Her very young daughter is climbing the stairs by herself. Very, very slowly. She couldn't have been more than four. I'd bet money that little girl was only like barely three. Her mom is at the top and she's barely halfway up. There's another lady waiting to go up because she has a stroller, too, and can't go around the little girl. Now my natural instinct is to help. How? Well, pick the kid up and carry her swiftly to her mother. However, like I mentioned, I do NOT abuse my gift. I realize children are people and deserve to be treated as such. So, instead of touching the little lady, I look up at her mother and as she puts down her load, I ask her if she'd like me to carry her daughter up to her. She replies, "If she'll let you," which I, of course, thought was a wonderful response. So I bend over so the little one can see my face and I quickly ask her if she'd like me to carry her up to her mother. Without a moments hesitation at all she replies, "yes," while simultaneously nodding her head. SO, I put my hands under her arms and lift her quickly to her waiting mother, who is standing there eyes wide, open mouthed, in surprise and mild shock. As I put the child down with a quick, "There you go," her mother says, "She never lets ANYONE touch her." I just smile, give them a wave and head back down on my merry way. That shit made my day. Confirmed my gift is still in full effect. That is not the first time a parent has said those words, or a variant thereof, to me. I've heard that more times than I can count. Children like me. That's good. Most of them have a more than decent sense of people and act accordingly. Usually. My favorite memory of my gift (this current one is in my top five right now) was right after I got to my first base when I was in the military. Guy I had just met in my office, Arturo, takes it upon himself to show me around and basically take me under his wing (I realize my gift applies to adults to). It was only my second day there and he brings me to his house for dinner. (Just met me!) He had a wonderful wife and two of the most beautiful and fun kids I had ever met, Arielle and Aric. They were little. I think Arielle was like maybe three or almost four and Aric was barely one. From the moment I walk in the door his kids and I are playing like I've known them all of their young lives. Not only that but they listen to me when I tell them to do or stop doing something. Now, me being who I am, didn't think anything of it. Was just natural for me. Arturo and his wife on the other hand had been watching in AMAZEMENT the whole time I was there. Art told me the next day at work that he had NEVER seen his children react to ANYONE like that before. EVER! There was a friend of Art's that worked in the same office that did know his kids their whole lives and it took a long time for them to get used to him! And because he was their father's friend they called him uncle. But it took a long time. With me it was instantaneous. That was the first time I realized that I had a real gift. I always was aware of it but just not as a gift until Arturo spoke with me. Naturally I do not tolerate anyone treating children bad at all. All pedophiles need to be executed and removed from the gene pool. Period. I'm not god or judge, jury, executioner but that's something that's just plain evil. I actually wrote an essay about that for an english class. Maybe I'll post it. Harm a kid in my presence and it might be a real problem! I take my gift VERY seriously!

Charmed life

For some reason,at times, I seem to come across information I need ahead of time. Like I came across that webpage about Martin Luther King Jr. the other day that I posted about. Now, today(last night really) I started a new class and the instructor asked a question about MLK that I was able to answer quite officiously because I had JUST read about the info the day before. It was info I already knew but the way the instructor asked the question I might not have pulled the answer out of my head as quickly if I hadn't JUST been reading about it. This type of thing has happened to me periodically throughout my life. I come across some new info or old info is refreshed right before I need it. I guess it's nothing that major for anyone else but it's a self observation I've come to note. And I'm major to me. I'm sure I'll blog more on how I know I have a charmed life. That all.

Speculative Fiction films

Interesting premise here. I admit that for an SF admirer, both literary and film, I haven't seen much of the older and/or more obscure of some films on these lists. I agree with most of the ones I have seen though. I was immensely thrilled that Enemy Mine was on the list. That is still, I feel, one of the best Sci-Fi films ever done. Louis Gossett Jr.'s performance is superbly excellent. One of the films I think should have been on the list is Waterworld, though I'm sure the reasoning for it not being on there would probably be about the same as for A.I., though for the star instead of the director. I was also pleased with Gattaca being on the list as well. Very rare we SF admirers get an SF film that is almost purely cerebral and not be completely boring but entirely engaging And, yeah, Aeon Flux was never going to match the damn anime so, those who use that as an excuse for not liking the movie go suck a rhino's balls. It was actually very decent for what they did. And yeah, Strange Days should have been on the original list. I have a very personal reason for that AND it was a damn good film, period. I get the writer's comments about Equilibrium. Even agree to a degree. But I still really like that movie. Yeah it's fluff with a purpose, but it's good SF fluff!!!

http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/editors/115/Ten-Truly-Underrated-Sci-Fi-Movies

http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/editors/116/Underrated-Sci-Fi-Movies:-Five-We-Missed,-Five-We-Didn't

The Madd Face Invasion

I'ma just say this straight: I AM AN ONYX FAN!!! PERIOD!!! When the west coast was smashin' erething in rap in the early '90's they was the FIRST cats that held down the hard core side of rap on the east coast. I know Naughty By Nature was out first, and I was and still am a huge fan of theirs, and The Wu-Tang Clan dropped the same year as Onyx but Onyx were just HARD and I have been hooked ever since. Bacdafucup is a mothafuckin' HIP HOP CLASSIC! PERIOD! And if you really listen to their second LP, All We Got Iz Us, you can see these dudes was trying to spark a damn revolution. Like the one Gil Scott Heron said would not be televised. Yeah, that kind. You gotta really listen to that album. Another CLASSIC! And Shut 'Em Down is just the shit. The title track is STILL one of the hardest and tightest tracks ever put on wax. And to show you what good dudes they are as far as Hip Hop is concerned, on that 3rd album they gave two little known but up and comming rappers a chance. DMX and 50 Cent. I'm an X fan but he never really gave Onyx any love publicly after he blew the fuck up. Same with fiddy. And it's not like Onyx just let them get on the track, no! They let these dudes get shine in the VIDEO as well. Who the fuck does that now?! Who did that then?! And they never got NO LOVE back from these dudes once they became successful themselves. To this day they still remain good dudes, helping up and coming artists. I think it is a shame and really, really fucked up how Onyx is rarely mentioned in the history of Hip Hop music we call rap. You know every one talks about the early nineties as the era of the west coast take over and that's true. However, people always seem to remember to mention the Wu-Tang Clan and sometimes Naughty. But no one EVER mentions Onyx. And that is some BULLSHIT!!! Like P.E. these dudes is STILL doing they thing. Still recording and releasing albums. And I'ma always be down for the U.S.G. Onyx. True originators. SHIFTEE, LOW DOWN GRITTY AND GRIMY!!!!!!!

My musical predilections

I've had a particular affinity for solo female singers for quite some time now. Whenever I see an article about a new female artist that's favorable or I just see the album in the record (no more records! showing my age! shoulda said, music) store I'll buy it. Examples: I found out about Billy Lawrence by reading the in-store mag. I've been a fan ever since. I bought her album that day and years later when she finally released a second I bought it immediately. I keep checking but she seems to have given up recording solo. I bought Susie Suh's album off the strength of an article in Blender magazine. It was a good album, however, it was released during the time sony was putting that seriously annoying and crappy protection software on all of their releases making it difficult to transfer the damn music to digital media. So I haven't really listened to the album as much as I normally would have. That shit sucked. The company, not her. (sony did the same thing to Amerie's album Touch. I LOVE that album but it is SO damn difficult to listen to it because of that damn digital protection bullshit.) Anyways, one of my most favorite discoveries has been the band AlonA. I actually met the lead singer, Candice, at a Chris Cornell concert in Baltimore. That was a most fortuitous meeting. We met in line and actually hung out together for the whole concert. AND she actually gave me a ride home. She has to be one of the coolest people I've met in a long time. And she let me listen to her first demo song in the car. I was hooked from that first listen. I immediately noted she has a wonderfully powerful voice, and she knows how to use it. Well! In addition she's an excellent songwriter. Being a writer myself I have a profound love for song lyrics and Candice's are beautiful. Go to her site and get BOTH of her EP's. They're excellent! And my latest musical passion is Maiysha. I simply saw her album on the new release shelf in the front of the Virgin mega store. I'd be lying if I said her beautiful face didn't draw me to her. However, it wasn't JUST her face. I kind of instinctually knew this was not a big music company release. Which I confirmed by picking up the package and checking the company. I trust my feelings/instincts so I bought it. I am thoroughly satisfied with the music this young woman has produced. Check her out. Another artist I happened to just pick up off of the vibe was Res. I came across Res years ago at a Best Buy and have been hooked ever since. Thank the higher powers for the internet and myspace, since she's never put out another solo album, because I know she's still in the business doing things. She's down with Talib Kweli in a group called Idle Warship, which also has a very good artist by the name of Graph Nobel. I look forward to the release of that album and hopefully seeing them live.
OH YEAH, my really, really, really, favorite artist who's not really new but new to me is Imani Coppola. She's also started a band, Little Jackie, that just released a new album called, The Stoop. It makes know sense how much I like this album or how much I identify with some of her songs. Like the song 28 Butts. And the song LOL is jacked up but funny as hell. She actually finishes the first verse with the line, "You just sent the wrong text to the wrong bitch." How cool is that. Imani is a really good songwriter. I would love to meet her. Definitely want to see her live. As an aside I found her on myspace.
Another great artist out there that is not "big" is Leela James. She has an awesome voice. She's on a major label but they seem to not know what to do with her. Shame. I look forward to another album of her work. Check her out. As you can see I love female singers that aren't in the mainstream but who deserve to be. I like some of the mainstream artists out there but not many. Artistry is still out there. It never left, just less and less people paying attention. But everything is a cycle.

I wish Cree Summer would do another album. Street Faerie is my SHIT!!

Well, well, well....

I've been saying this shit for years: The amerikkkan propaganda machine is the best in the world. Hitler and the Nazi's got NOTHING on the united states of america! For instance we have this. Something everyone knows but nobody knows. It was proven, in court in 1999, that the u.s. government was directly responsible for the assassination of MLK. Check it and really read it and really try to wrap your mind around it if you have trouble dealing with truths you aren't comfortable with. Let me state clearly, I love the country of my birth but I do have some serious problems with it. The heart of it is sick and it seems, to me sometimes, that know one wants to heal it.

Got it

Well, I did get the HP laptop. I like it. It's rather larger than my old laptop. Which is a given since it has a full keyboard, you know, with the 10-key keys. It is vastly superior to the one I had. And I have know problems transferring my old files to my new laptop because I kept all my files on an external HD anyways. So, that's two dead laptops under my belt. I'm going to have to buy a new carrying case, though. That sucks but a small price to pay for getting what I wanted. It barely fits in my hiking backpack. Granted my backpack is not like the full gear super duper joint that serious hikers have with the back support bars and straps and stuff. But I use it for hiking and it has a pocket for a camelback reservoir pouch so it works. Anyways, it fits in there so you know I had to lug my new toy around with me. Not for completely selfish purposes though. I want to test out the wi-fi connection at school. I have class later on today, right after work. SO, after class I'll hit the student center and see what I can do. THEN, I'ma go to Dave's so he can see my new toy and we can both play for a while. Then I go home and CRASH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Zombie moment

Ever been so tired you did something just completely stupid? The other day I'm getting off of work, I work nights, and go down into the subway to go home. Well, I live in NYC and to ride you need a metro card, which I have. I have an unlimited monthly, which means, quite obviously, that I can ride for a month straight as many times as I want anywhere I want that NYCMTA public transportation can take me. Now the subway have these neat little turnstiles which you need to swipe your handy little metro card through in order to gain access to ride the train. WELL, I was SO tired I quite mechanically descended the stairs into the station and proceeded to just walk through the turnstile without my metro card, which you cannot do, and if you persist can actually get arrested for. Anyways, as my waist banged against the unyielding turnstile bar for a very, very split second I wondered what the fuck was wrong with this damn machine. The very next split second I realized I did not swipe my metro card. It wasn't even in my hand. I never even attempted to extract it from my wallet, which is what I usually, mechanically, do at the bottom of the stairs. Really, really tired was I. Zombie moment. I've had quite a few of those in these three decades of mine. (I ain't old, forget you!) Any of you had a zombie moment?

What we learn from TV

My man, The Bimillennial Man, has a very interesting and poignant post up on his blog. It is actually quite similar to a piece I've been working on for quite some time now, that I just never got around to completing. His deals with "father figures" because of his life growing up. My unfinished piece deals with the examples from television and film that formed my style of friendships. I just had an idea: I'm going to stretch this into a series of posts. I figure this will be better so I can go in depth, beyond just the friendship angle, with each example without you reading forever and coming back trying to remember where you left off. So let's start!

NUMBAAAAA 1! Beverly Hills Cop



This movie is one of the single most important films in my film watching experience for my WHOLE LIFE. It is still one of my favortie films of all time, for numerous reasons. First and foremost because Eddie Murphy singlehandedly changed the way Black males acted and were perceived on the big screen. He was NOBODY'S sambo. He was NOBODY'S sidekick. In fact, for the first time in my movie watching experience the white characters, ALL OF THEM, were there to support Eddie as Axel Foley. He was genuinely the STAR of the movie! And he looked like ME! My father! My uncles! WHAT!!!! This was absolutely MINDBLOWING for a 8/9 year old Black boy, who was consciously aware of the racist history and practices of the country he lives in. And the premise of the film is what kind of solidified the sense of loyalty I hold for those I choose as friends. Axel's childhood best friend shows up out of the blue and after a night of catching up, he is knocked out and wakes up to find his friend murdered beside him. He embarks on a quest to find the man responsible and exact revenge for his friends death. AND he achieves it. He actually gets to kill the man who put a bullet in his friends head AND the man who sent that man, Victor Maitland. Now, since Axel got to kill the henchman that actually killed his friend, they couldn't let him kill Victor, the main antagonist, on his own as well. That would be just a bit TOO much progress for the white viewing audiences. So they had Lt. Bogomil, played expertly by Ronny Cox, shoot Victor WITH Axel. They STILL let Axel shoot the big white bad guy just with help, which fit the story anyway. But Eddie was, like, THE first Black action star in a real big budget hollywood film. Absolutely wonderful. See, in depth! But yeah, Axel chasing down the men that killed his friend and not stopping until he got them, despite the obstacles, and there WERE obstacles, was kind of the genesis of how I deal with my friends, the level of loyalty I give.

Like my man Dave asked in his post, what screen media has influenced who you are and in what ways?

Oh yeah

I meant to mention this like two days ago. My fucking laptop just up and DIED!!!!! WTF!!!! I am so distressed and upset. I should have seen it coming, I guess. I bought it used like 3 years ago, so I figure I got my money's worth. I really have know idea what happened though. One day the power button just seemed not to be working but finally it switched on. Well, it ain't switchin' on no more. SO, I'ma buy me a new laptop this weekend when I get paid. I seen this really nice HP at PC Richards the other day. I like it mostly because it has a FULL keyboard. I mean with the ten-key pad. Most laptops don't have that. That is really a selling point for me. I am a master at the ten-key, MAN!!! Ten years in accounting and finance in the military. Shit! I have fleet fingers, damnit! I wish to use them. I hate, HATE, having to type series of numbers using the number keys above the qwerty keys. That shit is ANNOYING! So, I'm pretty sure, though I'm still looking around, that I'm just going to get that particular HP. Plus it's on sale. Well it has like two mail in rebates, so that's kind of like a sale. I HATE mail in rebates! They take fuckin' forever! Oh well. That all.

Update

The young lady in this picture is the one I was talking about in my previous post titled, Hope. Also, the young man in the picture, Daquan, is also a gifted young person that gives me hope. This young man is very intelligent and really thinks past the superficial materialism that plagues so much of his generation. And the one or two ahead of him and the one right behind him. Two young minds that proves all is not lost.

Getting around

Hello kiddies!!!!!!(said in the voice of the crypt keeper!) Well, I bought a skateboard today as part of my efforts to get around faster. The idea sparked when I realized how busy my life was getting in the last two months and how much walking I was doing. I'm all for being physically fit, and I am more than your average person, but jeez! It wasn't like I did a gradual transition. I went from hermetical lazy bones to Mr. Bizzee!!! Now, I love to rollerblade. I have a rather decent pair. A bit old but fully functional. The problem is, they're not very portable. And you really can't ride the bus with them on. I do live in NYC. SO, I began looking for a pair of 'blades where the wheel assembly could snap on and off. And when off the footwear looks regular and not like you have fuckin' spaceboots on. I had actually seen someone with these so I knew they existed. However, as I searched, and searched, AND SEARCHED, I finally found out that those cool converter blades I saw were no longer made. FUCK!!! I really liked the way those things looked, too. There is one company that makes detachable blades but it still looks like you'd be wearing spaceboots, so, no fuckin' thank you. SO, since I couldn't have what I wanted, downgrade to the next best thing. Skateboard. Been a LONG time since I rode a 'board. I gotta get used to this shit again. I didn't fall. YET! (I know it's coming!) But I have stumbled a few times. It takes a quite a bit more effort than 'blades. Still faster than walking though. Got a cheap one. Has decent bearings, ABEC-3's, but I'm going to upgrade those puppies as soon as possible so I get a bit more range out of my efforts. Shit, I have ABEC-5's on my 'blades and I coast with those. But those are a couple of years old. They have so many new and improved bearings now it's staggering. I want to get these ceramic bearings called Bones. Bones is actualy the company name, but I think they were the first with the ceramics so naturally the name sticks to all that follow. Anyways, Bones' bearings don't use the ABEC rating system but they're pretty much superior to most all others out there. Probably too much for me to handle but that's okay. I'll deal as long as I can go faster, longer with the same energy. I'd still prefer to rollerblade though.

Subtitles

I just feel the need to mention: I HATE WHEN THE FUCKING SUBTITLES DO NOT MATCH WHAT THE ACTORS OR ARTISTS ON SCREEN ARE SAYING!!!! I mean I REALLY fucking hate that shit. Especially when it's like the concert or videos of hip hop/rap artists. I always get super annoyed then wonder what fucking nimrod non-black person they got to do this shit! I realize most of you out there don't care one fucking whit about subtitles but I do, for various reasons. The main one being that sometimes you just can't understand what a particular character is saying in a particular scene. The other being the sound mix could just be crappy as hell. I HATE THAT SHIT, TOO!!! The damn, score and sound effects are LOUD AS HELL and the dialog is just low as shit. FUCKING HATE THAT!!!! But I really hate when the subtitles don't match. Now on foreign films I KNOW the subtitles never really match but I know they make a much better effort to translate as close as possible. At least on the better productions, just like here really. I entertained the idea of starting my own subtitle company but you know...that's too much like work. I mean I enjoy watching movies so much I'd hate to have something like that take the joy out of films for me. Maybe I'll do it one day though. Oh yeah, one really good reason why I like subtitles is this: One of my best friends, Chris has a daughter. Chris like myself is a movie/film lover. So, naturally, he watches them with his daughter. Now, he always put the subtitles on when they watched movies. The result? This young lady's reading levels skyrocketed. Chris,again like myself, also loves to read. So, again, naturally he passed that love onto his daughter. And she is a wonderful young lady, too. Highly intelligent. Can't wait to get out to Cali and see them again. That all.

Hope

I have had my hope in Black youth restored once again. The first time was back in March. I went to The Black Writers Workshop that is held at Medger Evers College in Brooklyn every two years. I had a wonderful time. Now the restoration of hope was at a spoken word presentation they had on the first day. I was privileged to witness a number of young poets and spoken word artists present work that was socially relevant, emotionally engaging, thought provoking, and all around phenomenal. They were all under twenty years old. Like H.S. juniors and seniors, some maybe younger. Two stood out. One was a young lady that performs under the moniker, Eloquence, and if you ever get to hear her spit you'll see why that name is so apt. I wish I had an audio eidetic memory but I don't so I only remember one really good part of her piece. As best as I remember it goes: ...fighting a war for peace is like having sex to gain virginity, it makes no fucking sense!!! I was enraptured with the piece already but when she spit that line I damn near lost my mind, along with the rest of the audience. Naturally, if you can't tell from that little tidbit, the focus of that piece was our current global climate and the u.s. as the perpetrators of the current misery. The next impressive piece was from a young man, whose name escapes me. However if I remember correctly, the title of his piece was, 'Cuts'. The premise being he'll give the youth pain now while they're young so it'll be easier to deal with when they're older, "so, where do you want your cuts?!" This young man put SO MUCH emotion into this piece you KNOW he had seen and endured way too much at his age. Yet, instead of succumbing negatively to the negative energy he's been privy to, he turned it into something positive through words. I was positively amazed that day and have been ever since. I remember thinking that day that the propaganda that this country's various media outlets promote about young Black people is exactly that: PROPAGANDA. We, and I mean ALL people when I say we, but especially Black people need to see that shit for what it is and stop believing and perpetuating through belief this slanderous propaganda about OUR youth. They are NOT all criminals or on their way to becoming criminals. Fuck anybody who believes otherwise. Get the fuck out of the hole you live in and pay attention to the real world of these children and maybe lend a hand in helping them to better and positive paths instead of ignoring them then complaining about them. Okay,enough soapboxing. Anyways, I once again witnessed the wonder of youth spitting some thought-provoking and rather HIGHLY INTELLIGENT words yesterday. As I mentioned in a previous post, my friend Wisdom put on a little showcase of performers. One of them happened to be a 10 year old young lady by the name of Ashanti. The title of her piece was 'Tel-Lie-Vision. Get it? This young lady spit for like 5 minutes straight on this one piece. And before she even spit she felt the need to give the piece a little intro/explanation, just to let you know what she was about to do and make sure you were on the beginning of the right path she was about to take you on. This is a room full of adults. She's TEN! She attends a small private school at which she also teaches various subjects to the 1st thru 3rd grades. Did I mention that she's TEN YEARS OLD!!!! And the piece was just off the chain, stupendously intelligent AND good that some of the adults in that room probably DID need that little intro. Which is sad. For those adults. I mean I KNOW I could have had a really good, intelligent and better conversation with Ashanti about the current political landscape than with some of those 'adults' in there. Extremely intelligent young lady. I hope Wisdom got a video capture of her. If so, I'll link it later so you can enjoy the experience. MAN was I impressed! Here's part of the intro: Most people say that their home is drug free. But did you know that the telievision, and x-boxes, and playstations are drugs. They're mental crack." MENTAL CRACK!!!! This young lady is on FIRE! She's TEN!!!! Can you just imagine what she's going to be like when she hits puberty? Adulthood? Shit, she's already more grown than most adults I know! She's renewed my hope for the future. She damn near shut the showcase down and we were only half way through. Damn. Wonderful. Just simply wonderful. Pay attention people. You feed positive info you get positive results, especially when it comes to children! I'm done.

I am the fuckin' man!!

I'm feeling rather good with myself. My co-worker just bought a rather nice digital camera. He's kind of an older dude, not much but enough, that he's not completely familiar with modern technical thingys. So, naturally he asked for my help with the thing. While he's trying to find the english instructions and look through them I had completely set up the camera already. Time zone, time, date. Ready to point and shoot. Now, that's not why I'm so pleased with myself. What I'm pleased about is the most untechnical thing that was initially giving me a problem. The fucking neck strap. I could not get the damn thing in properly. The little loops on the camera are set in a way that it was difficult feeding them through the right way. I could have done it backwards and it would've been perfectly fine. However, I am a bit of a perfectionist and rather stubborn, so, I wanted to do it the proper way. Since I don't really carry a blade on me (not even my gerber multi-tool because we now live in a damn near communist society [more on that in another post]) I couldn't use the point to try and get the damn strap through. SO, brain working, I figured I needed something thin but strong, like a piece of fabric, to feed through first then feed the strap and drag it through. Well, I spotted a rubberband, and viola!!!, I got the damn neck strap set properly. AND that is why I am the fuckin' man!!