Notes from a Friend's Town

Golden Earth Day before Chewy chases squirrels for hrs...

1. I've been your slave for as long as I've been your friend... (© Van Hunt) Glad the chapter of my life that included song on it's soundtrack is done. I know for sure I've finished with said chapter because even the urge to be vindictive doesn't move me. 2. SoHo, Tribeca ... 3.   Pulled a job that would've had Danny Ocean jealous recently. 4. As the election day nears, support for Romney & his antics only make it clear that progress is an ongoing process. 5. 100 million for the QB in a season w/ a ref lockout in full effect. Seriously, who does the long range planning for the New Orleans Saints ? Lookout has ended & that investment doesn't have a healthy  forecast. 6. I know more kids in K-12 than I know bartenders, this is what your 20s really look like. World traveling, epic partying, career development optional, nap time & uncle status mandatory. 7. What's really good though? 8. If you want to know some...

Flying Lotus x Frank Ocean

1.  Dealt with Hurricane Issac this week. It reminded me of my first hurricane experience, watching the rains fall from the living room door of a  dark muggy hot house. I would open the fridge more than need be just for 5 seconds of cool air. This was quite a windy experience, lost power for a few days just to make the experience authentic. Glad that's over with for me now, my thoughts to my city as most are still in dark, attempting to sleep in conditions most are three decades removed from. 2. As always, it will be what it is for it can be nothing other than itself.  3.  Romney seriously followed Clint Eastwood's monologue at the RNC last week?? Clint loses his mind, meandering through the fog of his typecast character, addressing an empty chair on national television. I can't believe this circus is able to raise funds via donations. Totally bizarre. Shit's a bad acid trip and lives are being lost.  4.   Looking forward to Flying Lotus's new albu...

Evenin jawn

1. I am consistently under-engaged, mentally. I wrote the problem out, thereby acknowledging the problem furthering the process to discover the solution to the problem. (so I've been told) 2. No adult should fight sleep with the same fervor of a 2 yr old. I'm not as passionate as the 2 yr olds, but it gets close sometimes. 3. I will always stand by the assertion that marriage for people under 30 without children is a questionable idea. (if you have kids, it's still questionable but the questions are centered around providing for the kids, since they can't take care of themselves, ya know) Life teaches you more and more about yourself the longer you are immersed in your own company. It's a bit presumptuous to assert that you have a vested interest in the needs, wants, and dreams of another person if you haven't spent time learning those things about yourself.  What do I know though, I'm merely a spectator. 4.  That annoying moment when your well mean...

1.  Thank you July, for being soo damn nice. I certainly didn't expect you to be soo considerate given our history. My apologies for expecting the worse from you. 2.  Had the pleasure of meeting Denzel Washington recently. He's a very observant and humble man. I need to revisit his catalog because I suspect his best works are the films that didn't receive awards from the academy. 2a.  Always listen to the barber's (personal) story. You'd be surprised how much is wrapped up in the narratives of "ordinary" people. 3.   Still amused by a recent "challenge". No clue as to how it'll come to fruition but that's never meant anything of significance before. 4.  Always address unfinished business when the opportunity presents itself. Also, address it when there is no opportunity. That is, make one. 5. I've had issues with time management since I was a little kid. I'm too old to have the same concerns. I think I'll need a leather ...

Midnight has no interest in showing up for this performance. Low clouds masking as suspended rain hang thick on my nostrils as I turn onto Claiborne Ave, headed east from the most reliable of shot nerve conduits, South Carrollton Ave. The moon appears to be on vacation, lost somewhere behind the haze of sulfur filled bulbs and the dense row of rain crowding my mirrors. I left in search of food at 11 o'clock on a Tuesday night in a sleepy college town, in the busy bend of the Mississippi River following a typical July day. A day with little breeze, plenty of attitude and no end in sight . I watched traffic in fifteen minute intervals from the front entrance of the shop until the workday officially ended at 6pm, wondering what had become of some of who am I.  Twasn’t lost or misplaced, but the echo suggested dormancy. I left the house Tuesday night restless, and hungry. My intention was to address one of these humors, the most immediate with the greatest retur...

1. You can't discuss tomorrow with yesterday still on your breath.  2.  Speak it to me plainly, so I know it's real. 3.  Met a friend of a friend last night and dude is really a dog man. From what he relayed and I pieced together, he's had 3 dogs consistently over the past decade, that's crazy. He's also a single man with no kids, so after working 50hrs a week, some canine company sounds like it's in order.   4.  For a myriad of reasons, I don't do well with people who were only children growing up. I've ignored prior disappointments only to be reminded why it doesn't work out well for me. Lesson learned though, I think. 5.   I suppose nostalgia or naivete... 6. I'm glad it was a decision backed by desire. Shuukroon. 7. If I'm absent, I doubt I'll be missed. If I'm present, I doubt I'll be recognized. We call that saving gas, time, & a dandy ensemble several months in advance.  8.  Weeping and a moaning and a g...

1. I recently bumped heads with Pops over religion, rather my lack of devotion to Christianity as he taught my brothers & I since birth. We ended agreeing to disagree only after I stressed my decision wasn't a challenge to his devotion. You've got to love the binary discourse that these systems birth. 2. I've known my neighbor since my childhood, over 20 years. Learned his real name tonight, my whole life I've only known him as June. Yes, like the month. Maybe I'll learn the meaning before another 20yrs pass. 3. It's time he learned the life lesson regarding the limits of gifts & generosity. He won't though, his pride prevents him from being wrong. 4. World Cup came around this year and I couldn't get into it for anything. Sat in a bar with the match playing, watched 2 mins of it, & completely lost interest. 5. The lowest one of my desires is the only one I need - Van Hunt 6. Sockless in the summer with talc in the leathers because i...

1.  If you elect to acknowledge them, life will be happy to introduce you to your enemies. A word of advice regarding their handling : Wish them undying love and pray for them. 2.  There's a moment when you're reaching by contacting someone but you do it anyways. In the professional world, this is sometimes what networking demands. In a social context, this is known as "thirst".  Down here in hell with me, it's called acting accordance with your reasonable desires (wants). 3. I'm proud to announce to all 15 of you that, I happen to know very little short of nothing. The answers do not keep in contact with me, opting to chase a life of leisure instead. If anyone in your travels asks you to refer them to me, do deliver the previous message. 4.  Why is that people literally can't wait to be an emotional drain? I've my own issues, concerns, and persistent thoughts (known as fears in some circles but I'm not inclined toward that emotion). I need t...

1.  Officially a Xavier University of Louisiana Alumnus!! 2.  First Mother's Day without Moms was yesterday. As a teenager I told her everyday was Mother's Day so I saw no need in doing something excessive one Sunday out of the year. She commented on my commitment to consistency. I spent the day with friends, because time allowed such. 3. I Would Like to Call It Beauty x Corinne Bailey Rae = wonderful writing soundtrack 3a.  This Remix is good too! 4. I've befriended quite a unique family, their patriarch, an entity all his own. I enjoy their company, more so than some of my single friends. It is an interesting choice and so far, very rewarding. 5. I've enough sense to know when to make the responsible decision. I need to plan a time where I can ignore said sense and respond to the fleeting phenomena known as impulse. 6.  I've been invited to workout with some Rastafarian brothers I've known for years. Not sure how I can juggle my schedule, but ...

I had no idea I was up for this, let alone being 1 of 2 names that were even mentioned for the award.

1.  Don't marry for the money, the exchange rate declines rapidly. 2.  Hitachino 3 Days is the business. Bought 2 bottles, might have to buy 2 more. 3. There are some sentiments that are better left in the journal than in the sent folder. Such is beauty of it, I suppose. 4.  Don't be surprised to find a doubting Thomas perched in your familial circle. Even if you've no inclination towards the faith. 5.  I'm mildly excited about Graduation next month. This excitement seems to be dissolving my senioritis. 6.  I rejoice not in (hopes of) Zimmerman's (sooner than summer) death. I rejoice in the enriching of natural law, a life for a life. 7.  Middle America. what best can you offer me for your life's worth?

Happy Birthday Moms!! It's raining today, how fitting.

1. Wendell Allen      Trayvon Martin     James Craig Anderson As a man of African descent in the United States of America, I've never been a fan of law enforcement. This nation law's and their loose interpretation have always been in opposition to my life. I've friends in law enforcement and their presence there simultaneously baffles & angers me. These are 3 recent examples, 2 within less than 30 days of this post. 2.  This final semester of college has been a roller coaster ride from hell   that I'm anxious to end. My post graduation plans are still in their formative stages, not as because of fear. Rather from exhaustion. Petition the universe in the manner you do, should you feel so inclined, as I push through these next 40+ days. 3.  I've reached a new (read: remarkably tainted) sense of awareness about companionship, love, and absence. There was a time when I would critique such a view as being the result...

I refuse to deny the moon it's glimmer cause the Sun failed my days in the dead of winter. A shooting star, caught lagging. Rough start out the gate, shoes tightened, jockey alert eyes vacant. I shall celebrate the moon, not for illuminating the night nor for giving birth to shadows that hide things that go bump, when sleep evades me, or pleasure evades them. I celebrate the moon for showing the night the clouds.

1.  Dreams money can buy, three racks just spent on my Marty McFly's     Now I’m back to the future, my career deja-vu you     When you muthafuckers thought I would hardly survive - Pusha T This isn't the time for me to be impressed with lyrical compositions and coded speech. Alas, I'm lightly amused. Escapism done right, in my humble opinion.  2.  Subgenres in Hip Hop as mythologies for inter-cultural groups. 3.   Too much of a good thing and it ceases to operate in a productive manner. 4.  Too Short spoke like a Pimp. Where is the problem? Ahh yes, the editors went public with his ramblings. Ethically responsibility and journalistic intergrity don't apply to print media centered around lifestyle marketing and consumerism, in short, there is no church in the wild. 5.  Soo many elephants in the room, the Ringling Bros. are jealous.  6.  When you only have what you want, much is lost.  7. I love how y...

If properly inspired, words run together with wires would celebrate cement housewarmings. Christenings of curtains and covers and countertops assembled to welcome the pinnacle of posturing, Khalil & Basquiat renderings to drive your mind's chronograph. If properly inspired, words run together with my breath would incite wildfires, scorching the underbrush and old tires, clearing the way for autumn harvests . If properly inspired, words linked together in my mind would cease the need to purge. Musings on my potential if properly inspired ...

1. Surprised I've lasted as long as I have without being checked on neglecting the basics. Special thanks to all the women who noticed I didn't sufficiently relay compliments and opted to say nothing. 2. I'd tell you "I miss you" but I don't want to risk being ignored or worse yet, hearing some trite saying about moving on. My pride won't tolerate that. 3. By design, not desire, I'm suspending one of my vices. I'm sure this will include some period of adjustment that will last x weeks. Hopefully, not a soul will be able to tell the difference until long after I've established a new routine. 4. There was a week, some time ago,fell in love and forgot to do my laundry. The week that followed it was unnecessarily awkward for obvious reasons. 5. The older you are, the more effort it appears is involved in rebelling. This is how 20yr liberals become 30something conservatives with political amnesia. 6. For 20 yrs he wanted cable TV ...

1. I've never started a year in this manner before, quite frankly, I never want one to begin like this again. Yet, I know better, rather I'm aware that my wants mean nothing. 2. I lead a life aided by technology, however certain conversations are always better had in person. I'll take a death sentence in person versus over the phone any day. 3. Courtesy of recent bump in the road, I've elected to embark upon a path that doesn't allow for any casual dating. It's not that it's a horrible practice, it's that I manage to acquire some of the most involved losses. It's beyond clear to me that my energies are better focused elsewhere. 4. Don't ask me who's going to win the Presidential Election of 2012. It's not apathy, I simply can't be bothered with such shenanigans when there's bills to be paid. 5. Convention advises that I consume copious amounts of alcohol as a means of managing the less than enjoyable emotions that thi...