Thursday, February 23, 2006

Lucky Day

Lucky Day
not the Axe body spray
But because I woke up today
Instead of fading away
Today is my lucky day...

“Now that I’m eight, does that mean I can go bowling late at night with you (all)?”
--kid brother, on his eighth birthday

Hey everybody,

Been so long since we talked, but…and I’m sure you guys can relate to this, a brotha’s been busy. Not so busy though, that I should neglect the folks that are in my corner (no jabs to anyone, so put your guard back down for a little bit :-D ). Well, enough small talk…I wanted to tell you guys about some days in my immediate memory that were pretty enjoyable, like…

February 12th-13th

February 12th…a Saturday, I believe…it was a real interesting day. I was feeling down for some reason, likely just getting bogged down in the triteness of day-to-day monotony. What brought me out of the funk, was something really small when I think about it, but it was a pair of Jordans. Not just any pair, but this pair:

The thing about it was this current pair of Jordans happened to be sitting in the bottom of my closet at Dad’s house, and I actually didn’t have any ’kick-it’ shoes to hang around in…as they were all at the apartment. This unique turn of events threw me into a pool of thought. For one thing, it’s funny how the little things we do/we like can take us out of a funk, or make us feel exceedingly important. For the fellas, seems simple enough, a haircut, pair of J’s, classic joint on the radio. Ladies, you know the drill…getcha hair done, nails done, good day of shopping, a kind word or few. Everybody has their something, and I laugh at it sometimes, because no matter how advanced we get in our thinking, how much we overanalyze our existence sometimes, all of us are surprisingly susceptible to little things that trigger fond memories that we have. Guess that why folks keep teddy bears, notes, and in my case, a certain comic book box that happens to keep growing…

Anyway, this little event, in conjunction with the fact that my kid brother's birthday is on February 13th, also kinda took me back to moments with the youngest brother of our clan. Aside from the fact that he was dropping off golden nuggets that kids turning eight often do…you know, things like ‘yeah, I’m going to run 10 times faster when I turn eight’…you know things like that. Things that, again, take us back to the park shooting hoops, double-dutchin, pushing that cute girl in the swing (got you Jig), those type memories.

Well, to bring the two things to a point, Denzel was born on February 13, 1998. The day of his actual birth is relatively fuzzy to me, especially since we weren’t in the room with Mom at the time of conception. Matter of fact, J and I were walking back into the lobby of the hospital…and a certain role model of mine just happened to be on TV. That’s right, Michael Jeffrey Jordan was in a game against the Atlanta Hawks. We walk in to see MJ making a move against Steve Smith, game tied at 110. MJ makes a move, shoots a jumper, money. Then, like clockwork, we turn around, and there Mom is with Denzel in her arms. And at the time, I really didn’t get it, but I suppose that if we tend to look at the little things in conjunction with things that make a big difference, then it allows the journey to be much sweeter. That, and you’ll find that the little things tend to be candles lighting the way to what God had planned all along.

Well, 8 years later, kid brother takes some bites from a Spider-Man cake (don’t know where he got the love for Spidey from), we enjoy life, play around, and that’s February 13th. And for what it’s worth, I was the luckiest guy on Earth for 48 hours.

Friday, February 24th

Went by Jig’s house, and he wasn’t there, so younger brother and I went to hang out a few places. Yep, you guess it, more quality time to spend with kid brother. Went to this pizza place that’s similar to Momo’s in Tallahassee (yep, the pizza place that makes the 20, 28-inch pizzas) and pretty much stuffed ourselves. Laughed it up, went to a nearby Borders and listened to some music, put him on to some old stuff, while relaxing myself with the sounds of Roberta Flack (she’s got a hot new ‘Best Of’CD out right now), the new Floetry CD, best of Isaac Hayes…you know, the good stuff. The day turned out pretty well, in addition, because I took time to budget out the days ahead, and addressed the little things that I could take care of so that the day as a whole would be affected. Hard as heck to do that with work and all, but there again, I guess I was a little lucky today.

The Good Doctor

Hey Snuggles, you posted a valid point under the comments of “Black History Revisited”, and I see you…will get to those ASAP. Well, hope to hear from everybody soon. Take it easy.

Friday, February 10, 2006

Black History Revisited

Hey everybody,

Haven’t really talked to you guys since the yellow, black and white ref--ahem, Steelers won the Super Bowl 21-10 over the Seahawks. Well, football season is over, and we’re diving here headfirst into the…(thinking of a word here to describe it)…month that is Black History month.

What I’m gonna do here right now is drop off this classic poem that I wrote last year, just so you guys know how I kinda feel about the whole endeavor…and oh yeah, I have some things to tell you about the Aiken-South Aiken basketball game, and some comments Sanaa Lathan made when I come back. Later everybody,

The Good Doctor

Another note: If you guys haven’t been checking out Jig’s V-Day series on his site, then you guys are missing some serious thangs going on. But here’s the classic:

--A Good Doctor Exclusive--

Black and White (History Month)

The black face cries white tears
Over still being enslaved after hundreds of years
Does the white represent pain?
Does the white represent light?
Can we really say if white is wrong or right?
I think for every obsidian truth there are some ebon lies
So for every stealth attack we get got not by surprise
Thus black and white fusion representative of seeing with clarity
So black antacid with white water help to stomach life with regularity
Would be nice to see things without a gray area race patch
But America’s vision is 1/12th black
And even that fuzzy vision is being blurred
When President Valentine’s Groundhog Day occurred
Hispaniorientaleuropeanvision caused a vision deterred
Eating away at Carter G’s soul like a vulture
Not to say I’m not appreciative of a cornucopia of culture
It’s just that the fruits of our labor become rotten and my heart slips
Ironically as we go away from black, we slide more into the darkness
So the month becomes more of a mockery
But I’ve used up too much space for philosophy
Quick!
Harriet Martin Sojourner and X
Orators politicians and masters of text
Henson Douglass Hansberry and Haley
Fitzgerald Dandridge Baker, other sophisticated ladies
And yet still you’ve heard of these folks before
Sadly I don’t have time for anymore
I only had 28 lines

Oh yeah, and I got this nice little text from a friend of mine...she's not a Valentine (ha ha, St. Val), but this was a good look. It reads...

Distance and time may separate us
But friendship and memories won't
Just thinking of you today
May your troubles be less
Your blessings more
And nothing but joy comes in your door


Yep, low-maintenance brotha...catch you good folks later...and I haven't forgotten about Lost Art, just making sure it comes out right. You guys'll see...

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Precursor to Lost Art

Hey everybody,

Just so everyone knows what I’m talking about, go to the last blog (entitled King Day Blog), and go to the comments. Peep out ashleyfamu’s comment, and you’ll see that I’m all for having a CSK day, or Coretta Scott King Day. Well, sort of. What I think should happen is that on every third Monday of January, we should celebrate “King Day”, and celebrate the achievements of both the good doctor, and also the first nurse. Good look lil’ homey.

Interesting week for me here, let me tell you…I was fortunate enough to experience my first signing day at work, and it was a pretty cool experience. For those of you guys that don’t know how National Signing Day rolls, basically, the stellar high school athletes sign with the college of their choice on this day. Well, we had a guy that I’ve become pretty cool with sign with Florida State, and it was a nice occasion for him and all of Wednesday’s signees. Proud of you all, I am.

Well, I want to tell everybody why I called this blog the “Precursor to Lost Art.” Basically, my upcoming poem ‘Lost Art’ (sorry to make J. Dot and Snuggles wait for some new-new) is a poem about my hiatus from writing poetry, and I feel like it’s a defining piece in my life. It’s something that has a lot to do with me not writing, and how the busyness of the day-to-day hinders the writing sometimes, but it’s about so much more as well. I hope you guys enjoy it, and I don’t think I’ll make you guys wait a week to read it. Hopefully I’ll be able to post some pics from Signing Day as well, just so you guys can see how it was. Be back soon,

The Good Doctor