I Have GOT to stop drinking so much...

Luckily, this doesn't really concern me. The title, I mean. I don't have a drinking problem. Not at all.

This past weekend, I had a blast. I'm talking football up to the ceiling, booze filled tailgates, and birthday parties. Drove to Michigan State for the football game. It was an absolute blast, except for the fact I was late for the GOOD part of tailgate. I didn't mind that so much, because after the game, I drove to Detroit to see my baby and celebrate her birthday. That proved to be less of a problem than I thought. See, I am a VERY paranoid driver. Ever since I flipped my car this past winter, I have been the worst driver on the road. Overly careful, driving slow in the pass lane, driving 5 miles below the speed limit, regardless of the weather. I have basically become everything I hate about drivers, all because of that tramatic experience.

What do I do to offset those bad feelings? Well, THIS time, I knocked down a pint of Jack Daniels! And it was good, too. So an hour passes, MSU pulls out a huge victory over Michigan, and I head to Detroit. I feel so much better driving now, that little bit helped take the edge off. I get to Detroit in record time, just in time for my lady friend to tell me she has to do homework and study and I should not distract her. HA! When I get there, everyone in the house is ready to party. Captain Morgan makes an appearance, the beer pong table is brought out, so the party has started.

Fast forward through shots, more shots, mixed drinks and birthday cake. The party is shutting down, sometime about 3 in the morning. A guest who was definitely staying the night is on the floor, passed out. You know I had to pick him up and put him on the couch. He's incoherent and as soon as I move from dumping him on the sofa, he begins to projectile vomit on himself. I immediately sober up and help take care of the poor guy. We clean the mess the best we could, or until I got fed up with it, and just left him to lie in his own mess. As I walk upstairs to go to sleep, this guy on the couch with the t-shirt stained in vomit whispers, "I have got to stop drinking so much."

You think?

Ah, yes. I am in college again. Lovely.

Hooray for Easy Lessons!!

I decided not to go to work again. If you know anything about me, I like to work and get paid. One example of this is my employment at Ford Field, working as a courtesy squad manager. Three levels above security, my job is really nice. I get to walk around, speak to anyone I want, and if celebrities come in, I get to tour them to their location. Only problem is, I have to drive to Detroit. So I almost never go. I usually work when my Falcons are playing, and I happily cheer, albeit silently, that my Birds are doing work. Most of the time, it isn't worth my time to drive down there. I literally have to be paid to watch the Lions. Once that happened, they had to pay me MORE to watch the Lions.

That same attitude ended up hurting my feelings. They actually won today. Wow. Go Lions! I might actually go to work soon.

Another simple lesson. I was with my older brother and my beautiful niece. We all decided to go to the mall, because girls give brownie points to guys who are good with kids. And I love my niece, she's awesome. My brother visits a couple stores, so I take Rachel to get something to eat. She decides to spend her money on extra candy at the store, after I got her a piece of cheesecake. She didn't need that candy but spent her money that way, so I can't complain.

Fast forward to Target, where she decides to start giving me the "puppy dog eyes." Little brat. She wants a Bratz doll, but no longer has enough money to pay for it. I explain to her that because she spent her money unwisely, she can't have the Bratz doll.

While studying, I turn on the TV and tune into a program with an economist speaking, probably CSPAN or something. I listen a bit as some economist is talking about where we as a country can get money. Of course, the panel has some Republicans and Democrats, all hitting their talking points and saying nothing of substance, until this quote.

"Where we get the money from is obvious. We are not talking about adding on to what we are already paying for health care. The cost is not going to be as great as say, a fruitless war in the Middle East. We do not LACK money, we just spend it stupidly."

A-freaking-men.

What we need as a country is someone to say that, but in a larger format for everyone to hear. We got cash to free up Iraq, which to be honest, I couldn't give a less than half a damn about, but not enough to make sure AMERICANS have basic health care for all. Again, I'm not a politcal blogger because I think most of these politicans are liars, hoods, and gangstas in every sense of those words. But common sense almost never interjects. We need common sense and truth to slap those people upside their heads and get their asses in gear. This shit is getting old. Quick.

Why Am I Doing This?

Okay, your boy got a story. Goes like this, here it goes. Names and places withheld to protect the innocent and guilty.

So I'm chilling out in an unnamed bar in your local college town. No problems, no stress. I'm posted at the bar, drinking my usual, Jack Daniel's and water, and up saunters a slightly inebriated, attractive woman, I'd guess her mid to late 20s. Closer to 30 than 13, I begin to watch with interest as she's pounding em out...shot after shot, after shot. She looks at me, I smile and attend to the hole in the bar I was watching. She comes up to me, and offers for me to buy her a drink. I inform her that charity work is not my game, so again, back to my hole in the bar. I look up every now and again to check the score of the football game. When I look up again, she's still next to me, this time with her back towards me. Cool, I'm thinking. All I wanted to do was be alone and enjoy my Jack. I needed some time to just think and drink.

I'm going to interrupt this story to give you an important message. Ever get sick of people informing you about nonsense when there are a LOT more pressing issues to attend to? I hate it, too. This story was a narrative of the coverage of the health care issue. All filler, all ridiculous babble that has absolutely nothing to do with the issues. You know nothing about that crazy night I had, I still know nothing about the health care plan that our president is purposing. Feel good about the state of the media yet? I didn't think so. Have a good night!





I'm not nearly as stupid as the news networks I've been watching all weekend. Here's the end of the story.

Girl gets trashed, stands in front of me on the bar, and takes her shirt off. While I just sit there, anticipating on when I have to move before the bouncers come and get her off, she steps into the hole I was staring at and falls off the bar. Fail for her. As soon as she gets up, she feels a bit of blood on the side of her face, licks it off her finger in her most drunken, but sexy manner, looks at me and asks; "Why am I doing this?"

Excellent question. A tout a l'heure!!

P.S. This actually happened to me this past Saturday in Ann Arbor, BEFORE the Michigan game. Don't let anyone tell you the Wolverines don't know how to party, though I doubt school was this lady's day job, if you catch my drift. Till next time, I'll holla!!

Daily Reflection at 8am [Early for me]

I freaking love September. My oldest and youngest brother were born in this month [11th and 16th, respectively]. FOOTBALL, both world and American, starts this month. And school....again. You know, I don't usually like to complain, but low key, this sort of sucks. While I couldn't stand my employment with the "owners of Midland," I LOVED the paycheck coming in. I loved being a professional, using the knowledge I acquired the FIRST time from college.

Now I'm back. After working at a couple different papers, plus a stint at the worldwide leader [of chemistry], I'm going to complete my journalism degree, the one I actually enjoy. While chemistry could pay [not for the amount of school I have now, need a grad degree], I don't enjoy it. I actually loathed going into work. Well, it does beat going into school. I'm worried that journalism won't pay [already know it barely does] and I won't get to be as successful as I could have been if I just would stick chemistry out. I don't think I could though. I love writing. I'm addicted to it. Whether I'm writing rhymes or articles about whatever subject I'm assigned, I just enjoy doing it. Maybe that's why I can stand being back at school, when I should be pulling in that $60k [includes benefits]. The Lord says that what you have in your heart ends up being your master. I do not want money to become mine.

Let The Beat Build

Operation Finish The Degree I Wanted has began. I'm not one to complain, but I honestly didn't really want to do chemistry. Living up to lofty expectations that you don't really want to is never fun. I like chemistry, but it's not something I can do for the rest of my life. I used to listen to Wu-Tang while studying my behind off through Organic Chem.

"No question, I would flow off, and try and get the dough off..."

So while that classic Raekwon line from "C.R.E.A.M." helped me walk across the stage, it wasn't what I wanted to be doing. Since I was a kid, I've wanted to do three things. First, I wanted to be a lawyer. Second, a rapper. But third and probably the most focused of my three goals, was to be a reporter. A journalist. If I couldn't tell stories in rhyme, I would tell stories in lines. Even got pretty good at it. High school pretty much centered around journalism. My choices of colleges centered around journalism. I got side tracked by the lust of money and lucrative bids by my father's friends, urging me to go into chemistry so I could be "Little Femi," a younger version of my pops.

While I don't mind following Dad's footsteps, he's set the bar way too high for where I'm even trying to go. Doctrates in chemistry and physics....how the hell am I even to TOP that? Nor, why would I even WANT to? I like science, but that's cruel and unusal punishment. I guess living in a third world country will help build that kind of mental stamnia and desire to achieve. I do not have enough for that.

So fast forward to today. My lane is wherever I want to be. And while it is a lot of work, I'm pretty happy. If you don't grind, you don't shine. If you don't work, you don't eat. I like to do both. I like to achieve and be fed. As everyone does, naturally. But more specifically, I want to shine doing something I love. While at work, all I could think of is writing, music and stories. Inspiration can come inside emmense boredom. Since I've been in full supply of boredom, I'm excited about the prospects of this new semester.

Circle of Life is sort of a dumb theory until it slaps you right across your head. For one of my journalism classes, I have a professor that is a huge blast from the past. My Mass Media Writing professor used to be the advisor of my high school rival's newspaper, and the mother of a pretty good friend of mine. She also used to run the journalism camp I attended while in high school. It's pretty weird having her as a professor, but in a good way. Reason being, I want to do really well, just let her know that I've grown as a writer. And I have. I mean, my work junior and senior year of high school was mostly to impress her and the staff she worked with, so I could gain respect for myself, especially coming from an advanced paper as my high school paper and our rival papers are.

I treat my loves in my life the same. It always goes back to music for me. There's nothing in this world better than a fresh, newly made instrumental. Beats, rhymes, life is not just a Tribe Called Quest album title, but a way of life for those of us who live hip hop. I'm always going to love hip hop, and I think journalism has that spot in my heart, too. I just gotta communicate, ever since the doctor who birthed me told my mom I was a talker. I always have been, and writing is talking, just with paper. I've spent forever with a journal/rhyme book.

So when we were given the assignment to have a blog....a blogspot blog, I was geeked. I'm already a step x 1000 ahead, because your boy has been getting it in with the Brainiac Society and the WordToEm website. I got a blog and a site. I don't know if I will be able to use this one as a school blog, nor do I think I want to. My classmates might get a chance to read it, and I'm excited about that, but it might cause a change in tone of writing. Tone of writing is important. It is the difference between dropping knowledge and talking down to the readership, and that's a thin line. Do I think I'm going to have to patronize a few of my new classmates? Time will tell. The inherent problem with the class assignment is that it will possibly expose me as a pompus jerk who looks down on people who don't write at my level. That's why it's called the Brainiac Society. I believe I know everything until proven otherwise. My brief time in Chicago allowed me to meet Jay Mariotti, from ESPN's Around The Horn. I was speaking to him in passing and he gave me some advice for an up and coming sports writer/columnist. He told me to be a truly good journalist is to know you know everything and my job is to prove it through my words, but if I don't believe myself, my readers won't either. That might be the second best advice I ever got in journalism. First was not to close until you save TWO copies.

So if this blog becomes Central mediated, I don't think I'm going to slight them. I think I'm going to keep going hard in between the lines, because it is my job. I'm serious with this.

Running Two Blogs is tough...

You see the title, I don't really have anything deep to drop on here. Between my website, entering school again, coaching, and all the other things I have to do, I haven't had too much time to devote to properly research things before I talk about them. I wish other people would take that hint. But they don't. Case in point, of the news I have been watching, Obama is getting his behind whopped over this health care thing. Listen, this isn't hard, he's trying to have a government-set public health OPTION. I can keep my Blue Cross Aetna, which is some good insurance to have right about now. In my view, it is setting up COMPETITION for these insurance companies and health care providers. I'm pretty miffed about how people in this country have perverted this message, just to get their way. There's no plan for an old people hit squad, or any of these outlandish claims that are being made. It's ridiculous. Some people need to get a life.

But that's just my take on it, folks. You disagree, cool. More power to you, but stop with the Fox News type propaganda BS, because it's not a good look. Let's be straight people. This is a simple logical equation. And it helps people. Those uninsured people could have been treated at, I know, a public cost. But they aren't getting treatment because they can't afford PREVENTATIVE health care, so when they come in with half a million dollar health problems, the public will STILL pay for it. And we'll pay much more for it later. Catch the small stuff for a small cost, or keep things the same and pay for other's extreme bills later. Which way do you want it? I swear, real talk should be currency nowadays, because it seems like people are stuck on stupid. Change can't come until people work together.

That's it for this time. There's my "We are the world" speech for the day! Take it easy, people! Peace!!!

Been Too Long...

It certainly has. I've been busy trying to get my website going. It is going pretty damn good, I must say. I'm happy with the new layout, despite the crash that caused us to lose a lot of our posts. We've gone from Blog status to a legitimate website. All things point to Wordtoem.com being a movement that will not die out. We got a good, dedicated staff, and more to come. It's building my dream and our vision from the ground up and it feels good. Shout out to Stig, my cousin is supreme. We are holding it down for hip hop and all things involved. It's grind season, and hopefully, we can mark our niche here in these interwebs.

A little professional info, school is finally paid for again, and this time, through more of my own ingenuity. I feel good about where I am and where I'm going to again, and it's been a while since I could say that. I've had more than my share of bad breaks in the last three years, and while it could have been worse, the struggle is the struggle, and my own self-destructive habits had an impact on where I have been going. It took soul searching, but I have done a good job eliminating the fake and evil from where it doesn't belong. I never knew how important your inner circle is until the last three years. Your inner circle is those who care about you the most and want you to succeed. It is beyond friendship. You can't really grow out of your inner circle. You can grow ahead, but not out. So I'm going to give props to mine. My girls Lauren, Alex, and Bridget have held me down in ways I can even explain, so shouts out to them. While we don't talk and see each other as much as we like, I know I got them and they got me. To my boys, they already know who they are. The fam. That's my offensive line, they block off the nonsense. Some are successful, some not so much, but all still important. Big up to all of you who have assisted me in this.

Normally, I don't take up blog space to do all this mushy stuff, but sometimes, you got to give credit to your inner circle of people who are in the game with you.

To those hating, outright and undercover, keep doing your job, too. Because while you should not judge your success on the amount of people who hold ill feelings towards you, some people don't like people doing better than them. Thankfully, I've never had that problem.

So to all of you out there, I hope that wherever you are, you're winning at whatever you're doing. I mean, for real, check the site. Wordtoem.com. TELL me I'm not winning. More to come from your favorite know-it-all. Peace!!