Testing, Testing.... 1 2 3....

Greetings,

Me again, back to share one of my more recent encounters of life that I failed at. I always stress to my friends and loved ones to find the good, and although I failed this test, I am aware that I could have done better and will be better equipped for a similar situation. Hopefully I have engaged you to read on as I take you down the rabbit hole to what I call "The Test."

Its Friday, but not just ANY Friday, Its "PAYDAY" Friday, and boy do I love "PAYDAY." I get a feeling of accomplishment every payday logging into my accounts and pressing the SUBMIT PAYMENT button. To be single and be able to afford my lifestyle and do the things I want to do and rarely have to think of my assets is a worry that I love having. So I'm going, clicking and paying:

Student Loan: Submit
Internet Bill: Submit
Credit Card: Submit
Car Note: Submit
Electrical Bill: Submit
Insurance: Submit

I'm feeling better and better, I began to look up some ideas on ways to better my financial situation, whether or not to cancel my paid off credit card or move money around. I follow that by looking into defensive driving to lower my insurance and even inquire about my Internet bill. With all that going on, I whip out the calculator and do the match....... BLAM!!! *Wacka Flacka Voice* "Still got a whole lotta money, Bitches think I'm funny."

Soon after, I receive a call from a friend asking to borrow some money, *Ashlee Wit 2 E's Voice* IT'S NOTHING. I got you, how much you need!!

RIGHT AFTER that, my mother calls, "You bout to buy some Facebook stock"? I'm like OH YEAH! I dive right back in, Stock portfolio and my Etrade.com get opened, I get to moving some stuff around, looking here, looking their......

*GROWL* my stomach..... Man! its noon already. I decide to go grab something. Step out the building and stand in the wind pondering on where I want to eat. I think to myself, it feels good outside, I'm to walk to bricktown and east. THE TEST BEGINS

There's a 33-36 year old black man in a fitted hat and a black tee, he's groomed for the most part, but you can tell he is working with minimums with a 3-4 year old boy and a stroller. We make eye contact, he exclaims, "What's Up" I acknowledge him and tell him "You got it" and continue forward. He gets my attention again and I stop.

"He man, I'm not trying to bother you or nothing, I was suppose to meet the boys mama down here, but the bus was running late, she ain't answering her phone, I guess she tripping of something"

Asshole Rich Thinks: "What that got to do with me"

He continues: "The bus to get here til five and, well I,m hungry, WE hungry, all I smell is the food and shit, and I'm trying to get the boy a lil burger and a toy." I asked some other guy and he acted like he wanted to spit on me. I just wanted to know if you could help me out." Meanwhile the cute lil boy is bounce on and off the curb.

POP QUIZ HOT SHOT! I reach for my wallet and tell him I ONLY have $1 dollar. He says, no no, I'm not going to take your last dollar, but I insist.

I wish him luck and continue on, but not 50 yards away is a homeless 50 year old black man, torn and tattered clothes, scruffy face, smoking cigarettes. I don't make eye contact, and he continues smoking. Passing Trains.

Now immediately, I think, WELL FUCK, that was a test. As I continue to dwell, I think, damn, I just spent hours upon hours of looking at my finances, yet was only will to share $1. The more I walk and think the more disappointed I am with myself. I now think, well damn, I don't want to walk BACK that way because I don't want to see him again.We are suppose to be better people than that, I'm suppose to be a better person. Yet I failed.

I called my sister, explain the story. She was like, "Yeah, I don't ever give them money, I buy them food." So I'm like YEAH!

Sonic chick: May I help you?
Me: Ummmm, (why do you always say Ummm first??) Let me get a #1 AND Ummmm (SMH) 2 double cheese burgers. And can you put them in a separate bag please!

Yeah, in hind sight, it was the right thing to do, but I didn't feel any better, I still knew I failed and was TRYING to make up for it. But you cant do that. You can't take a test, turn it in, leave, and then run back in and say NO NO NO, wait... I know now! And this is what I was trying to do, I was TRYING to be great, but it was too late.

Walking back, still talking to my sister, I told her that very same thing about test taking, and how I knew the man wasn't going to be there. AND!! DING DING DING!! He wasn't!

So much for that test, I failed AGAIN!! UGH. But I found the good, and the lesson was learned. And because there will be a next time, maybe I will be better prepared. Maybe you have or haven't seen this, but this is another situation that randomly transcribed before my eyes. I failed that one as well.

When We Crash Into One Another!!  

I have come so far in life, but somethings, I have not come to grasp! Obviously I am willing to bend over backward for the people I know, but what about the people I don't, is it right to ignore them? They say Jesus was able to help the rich and the poor, his friends and enemies, those that loved him and those that hated him. We live in a very selfish world where sometimes, giving is the right thing to do, and you might give, BUT are you giving just to give, or are you giving your all. I think that's a personality trait that we all have to evaluate. 

What did I learn today: Ones success can only be validated if and only if one is willing to share it with a complete stranger. 

I ask you this: How many of you are ready and willing to help a stranger out? If you are, is your effort really kind-hearted?

Just wanted to share..... Thanks for reading

*Nicki Minaj Voice* That's all I have.....

The Man In The Mirror

Howdy Folks

Been a while, just dropping in to spread a little verbage. Its been a roller coaster ride, filled with all the mysteries of the bottomless drops and the mountainous climbs these past months. But before I take my seat on the contraption of life and buckle in for the ride, every morning I begin the day the exact same, rolling out the bed and going straight to the bathroom and looking at myself in the mirror. I do this to remember who I am and what I stand for, I do this to make sure I know this is real, that life is happening, right before my eyes. I do this to talk to the one person that really knows me best, that man in the mirror.

The great thing about the man in the mirror is that he knows exactly who I am. He knows exactly what I'm thinking, he knows exactly whats to come next, sometimes even before I do. The man in the mirror is not what the world sees me as, rather the carbon copy of the original document. We all know that you can replicate the original and tweak it to the way you seem fit once you download it. But with that original staring right back at you, you see the truth of being right before your eyes.

Minutes turn to hours, hours to days, and yet I wake up and visit that man in the mirror every morning. With a blank stare, he tells me about myself, without moving his lips. He communicates with me letting me know what's going on for today, and recaps my events of life the previous day. He helps me cope with my pains, and cheers me on with my successes in life.

I have become quite fond of the man in the mirror. Before, I would have my meeting with him, then tweak the document and present it to the world, edited and equipped with all the glitz and glam for the untrained eye to deceive. But as of late though, the world has been able to see behind all the smoke and lights, for the man in the mirror as told me that it was time to be, ME. To be the same person, I was in the mirror outside of it. The man in the mirror as taught me how to be just what he is, a man. Through lessons of love, pain, failure, gain, he has guided me has given me great understanding with every conversation we have. He's really intelligent, if only I listened to him more often ya know!

Love me or hate me, it really doesn't matter, its all the same, for its not up to you to decide how I am to feel about it, and he has told me that things in life are just that, a mystery. It's up to me and the man in the mirror do decipher the mystery, but not to dwell on it.

So in closing, I wanted to just wanted to tell that man in the mirror, Thanks, thanks for being there for me during this crazy ride. The turns are getting less sharp, and I can feel the speed decreasing. Hopefully the end is near. Hopefully!

When We Crash Into One Another!!

Whats good people,

I wanted to share with you a recent crash I was apart of that gave me an awaking. Life tested me one night last week and I think I failed. There was so much going on that the situation just became hassle. We are given the ideology of what it is to be human, and live this life, but do we understand it when the time is right. Sit back and listen to my story.

Story: Thursday September 2 2010. My lights go out after the heavy storm that hit the metro area and it soon becomes too dark in my apartment. With my phone dying I decided to go to my office, be productive, play on the computer and charge my phone. (random decision 1)

After an hour or two, I began to become weird-ed out being in the office alone and I was hungry. I remembered Jack In The Box on MacArthur and I-40 just opened so I was like "Imma go there have hopefully my lights will be fixed by the time I get back home." (random decision 2)

So I debate on which way is faster and decide that to just go south down MacArthur coming from North West Expressway. (random timing 1)

I get to Jack and wait in line for the long ass line of cars (random timing 2) and finally place my order. Nothing unusual just a normal order and wait time. #GOODERDENABITCH!!(random timing 3).

So I get my food, and homie says he wants to steal my dog, CREEPY. I digress. As I am exiting the parking lot I get flagged down, by a white truck.(random timing 4).

A HISPANIC WOMAN IN A TRUCK BEGINS TO ASK FOR MONEY, SHE EXPLAINS THAT THEY ARE LIVING IN THE MOTEL AND SHE DOESN'T GET PAID UNTIL 2 DAYS, AND THE MOTEL SAYS SHE HAS AN HOUR TO GET THE MONEY. SHE SAYS "IM JUST AM TRYING TO TAKE CARE OF MY 5 BABIES", AS YOU CAN CLEARLY SEE THEY ARE IN THE TRUCK.

I REPLY WITH THE TRUTH, "I DON'T CARRY CASH IM SORRY", AND SHE IS LIKE "SIR, I PROMISE ILL PAY YOU BACK, IF YOU CAN GO TO THE ATM, I WILL GET YOUR NUMBER AND GIVE YOU MINE, SIR, I PROMISE I JUST NEED HELP FOR TONIGHT."

"A CREDIT CARD ANYTHING SIR, I JUST WANT TO TAKE CARE OF MY BABIES".... She seemed really honest and desperate, but it was just too much.

Suck in the moment of morality, I just told I was sorry that I couldn't help her, and she said thank you and drove off. Now if i had cash I would have given it to her, but I really don't believe in cash. (I lose it all the time).

And in hind sight I should have at least given her my food, but I was really stuck in the situation. I really don't know if I passed or failed that test. You know?

Its so hard, there are so many dishonest people out there, that you don't know who to trust ever, there are some really good actors, and she may very well have been honest and in need, but if you don't have cash, then you don't have cash.

Her asking me to go to the ATM and/or help pay her bill on my credit card is a bit much, but also an real act of desperation. One would think she would just say, OK thanks and go to the next person.

See, it wasn't was she trying to scam me, it wasn't about the money, it was the time that was gonna be spent, going to the ATM, getting the money giving it to her getting her contact info, trusting in her. It made it all too must to want to help.

We are suppose to trust in people, and help others, but I didn't, I didn't do anything and that's why i feel like i failed. Like i said i could have just given her my food, instead I just drove off. UGH

You help people when you can, and I believe to be a good person, yet still feel like I could for done SOMETHING, she was delivered to me for SOMETHING.

It says he will never put you in a situation that you cant handle. What was I suppose to do with that situation??

Ive been visited by a few people, and i think, i think Ive done the SAME thing every time, hear their story, and DO NOTHING. Have you ever met someone randomly by twist of fate, you crash into them for reasons of the unknown and they know or can relate to you easily. My mom says they are Angels, delivered to us for a purpose.

I believe its a test. And in this case, I think I failed. So maybe this lady that night, was sent to me to open my eyes to what your missing out on, and maybe now you will make it a point to be a witness to others as often as you can, as if, we are all sent to crash into each other at random times, and what we do determines our grade. I was told if that's how I feel, like I genuinely failed, then the best you can do is ask for forgiveness. By doing so, it will show that I may have failed the test, but I do understand the material.

My final thoughts are that we are all here for a purpose, to be a friend, a mate, a companion, a mother, a father, and to help. But we get so caught up in the giant blender of the world that we miss the core ideals of human life. I say that I fail my test the other night, but in return, I am not able to see the big picture, and for that I have to thank that lady I crashed into. I glad she was sent to me. Armed now with a new prospective, I await my next test, when I crash into someone unexpectedly again.

This Thing Called KARMA

Yo Ho HO and a bottle of rum,

Im back off an extended vacation, and ready to get the thoughts out my head onto something I can revisit. I must apologize to myself first for NOT continuing my writing, it's not an easy task for me, but I think I might finally be equip to write on the fly from my (Steve from Blues Clues Voice) handy dandy cellular device. Don't you just love technology. Any who so yeah, this thing called Karma.

NOW, let me start off by saying I'm not a believer in superstitious occurrences. I was the kid that always stepped on the cracks, the kid that ALWAYS spilt the pole (and laugh to watch people go back to undo my split). So needless to say, I had no idea, and probably not a care in the word for the phenomena knows as Karma.

For those of you that don't know, here is a little Webster action for you:
Main Entry: kar·ma
Pronunciation: \ˈkär-mə also ˈkər-\
Function: noun
The force generated by a person's actions held in Hinduism and Buddhism to perpetuate transmigration and in its ethical consequences to determine the nature of the person's next existence.

Long story short, the idea of Karma is "what comes around, goes around" "if you do good things, you get good results," you do bad... Well, yeah, you pick up what I'm putting down.

Seems pretty simple and even ties into "The Golden Rule": Do onto looks as others do onto you. Thats right? RIGHT? I hope so. I digress

2010 has been a year of ups and downs, fun and pain, sorrow and joy, but has been a very unique twist of fate for myself. You see, for the first time in the 27 years on of life, I have actually had the opportunity to experience of what I have put others through. You know when you arguing with someone, and they say, "You just don't understand how that makes me feel," well I actually got the chance to "feel" on more than one occasion. And that shit SUCKS, to finally come to grips, see, and experience what my actions do to people has really been an eye opening experience for me. HA! I laugh in jest because I'm usually the one "opening peoples eyes" but its true, it really has. Being able to take a step from the game and watch from the sideline so something not many of us do, but would be great if we all could. Seeing objectively gives you an edge that no one and take from you, and applying that knowledge once you get back in the game makes you an even stronger player.

So with that said, I just wanted to apologize publicly to the people that I have hurt or betrayed unknowingly due to my selfishness and lack of responsibility, and would also like to thank each and every one of them of allowing me to experience that Karma that is rightfully mine. I can say it has become a true life altering experience that I will cherish.

I close with some creeds that I currently live by, just to share for your entertainment. The first is "every action, has a reaction" and second is "there are two sides to every story, its up to you to find the positive in them." Armed with those thus far, I have had some good times and some bad. While sitting on the sideline I have realized that this thing called Karma just might need to be equipped more than ever before because you know what, I'm just trying to be a good person. My name is Rich.

Thanks

The Wheels On the Bus!

Hello and Good Day.

Dropping by to shed some words of maybe non-wisdom coming from me, but just some of my twisted and morbid ideas about this thing we call life. Have you ever taken time off just to think about life, the gift of life and all that accompanies it? It sends chills down your arms the deeper you think about it, but that's just to alarm you and bring you back to reality.

You see life can be an as simple of a blank piece of paper. In fact we are all blank pieces of paper. It not until we begin to write, do we start becoming who we want others to read us as. Now you see, I picked, "what we want others to read us as" for a reason. Many people begin to write on their paper and dont like what they see, so, they create the person they want to become. You follow?

Ok so with that said, your paper is read and evaluated, liked and dislike, kept and thrown away, all these things happen across a normal lifespan. Now the tricky part is how do you handle the "negative" parts of your paper's evaluations?

For many, the "negative" replies bring their world to a traumatic holt. Its almost as if people become so shocked about the world not liking them, they shut down and don't want to be apart of it anymore. I've been there, its not a fun place to be, I can assure you that. But I'm here to tell you that there are two sides to everything in life, for everything "negative" there is a "positive". Its up to you to see the "positive" in EVERYTHING you do. I live by that creed, and by being positive and knowing that everything negative can be seen as positive it allows the wheel on my bus to keep going round and round. Lets keep it moving people, if not, life will sure enough pass you by.

Bold Faced Lies

Hi Again All,

Stopping by to discuss the topic of the LIE. We all do it, we all have our reasons for it. But the real question is, who are we lying to. We lie to deceive, save face, for business strategy, for personal advancement, and avoid hurt and pain. Lies are told to close and distant people, from children to parents and from parents to children. Lies are so much more used today, we sometimes get so far wrapped in a lie, we cant escape it.

The reason I bring this to the table is just that, to find out who we are lying too. I do believe that we as humans have rendered the art of lying so much, that we cannot depict that we are lying to ourselves. The mind is indeed a powerful thing, we can MAKE ourselves believe what we want. People lie to themselves to make them feel better about the decisions they are making in life. We all know the rights and wrongs of the world. BUT we all justify. It's OK if I tell him this because... Im an advocate for justification. Doesn't mean its right, in turns two lies get told. We lie to that person and ourselves. Doesn't it say somewhere, every time you lie, you lose a bit of yourself.

Have you ever met those people that live in their own personal fictitious world because the real world has disowned them for lying?? As you observe that person, you watch the person as they attempt to create a bigger and better entity than what they are to over compensate for what they have lost via lies. It becomes sad to watch the bridges of bonds they have collapsed, among family, friends, and loved ones all because of one peoples selfish acts.

Many of us don't have the strength or awareness to see that we are doing it. Some of us are just nieve to the pool of lies in which we create. And to what means?? Minutes or hours of satisfaction?? The bold faced lie, the little white lie are all the same, some are needed, but some harm us in means that we cant even fathom, at least not as yet. Take this time to evaluate the lies you tell, hopefully, enough of you has not been lost to make that change.

So in conclusion I pose to you AND myself a deep question, Richard who are you lying to REALLY? The sooner you realize you've been lying to yourself time to time, the sooner the world will change for you.

Mission accomplished!

See It Before You Do It

Hey All

This is Rich again with another blog entry. Today I wanted to talk bout taking a leap of faith. Now, I don't necessarily mean religiously, although we all can attest to that concept. But I mean taking the big step without planning. That step that you just say "fuck it" and throw all your worries, pride, fears, and values away and go for it. All or nothing, the sink or swim gamble, THE decision of your life, when you look back and say, "Damn I really messed that up". Many of us make this "leap," thinking its the last resort, but really for no reason. We think the gain is going to be so far substantial that we risk giving up all we worked for thus far, on a chance, a lil orange card flipped over on the board.

Its good to feed off your emotions, its NOT good to let your emotions feed on your decisions. (Thats a good thought, never put it in words like that) I digress. As much as I'm ANTI-GOAL minded, I see the strategic concept behind them. When we plan, (CORRECTLY) we put ourselves in a good to great situation for success. We develop the "if/than's" that we might encounter and virtually devise ways in which to incorporate them or work around them.

My mom (Mama Allen)is the queen of the Plan ABC method. She tries to get me to follow, but for some reason all I take in is the Charlie Brown teacher. (Waa Waa WaaWaa Waa Waa Waa) I know, I know its not right, but yes I'm hard headed. The point is that we do all need to set goals. My father told me last night, that he wanted a family, a wife, 2.5 kids, and a dog, so he planned for it to be in his future, and took the leap knowing that he was heading in the right direction.

Goals are very abstract, but more importantly, are created by you. We can set goals for the minimal as well as the max, just depends on our mindset. I do believe we should all set standards for ourselves to where we want to be in our futures and start working on it day to accomplish that blind goal. I think most people believe that fixing today will aide us in the future, but those fixes end up being weak, and underdeveloped due to the desire of immediate results. We all have our personal opinions, and this is just mine.

So I as where are you in life, are you ready to jump? That's a question that we all should ask ourselves frequently, it wont hurt. As for me, in the year 2010, I have my eyes on a distant prize, having officially rolled out the blueprint, and drafted a master plan. This is big for me, because I live a very safe life. I don't believe in taking uncalculated risks. Many people believe that I'm "go with the flow" but I'm not. So this concept will be new for me, the execution of actions to reach my endpoint, when it becomes time to leap. I have faith that I'll be ready. I grow so fast in short stages in my life and thus far I can say I have my I've seen it, planned it, and soon will be ready to finally take my leap of faith. I guess mom really does know best :o). Wish me luck, there no turning back.

Home Improvement

Hey people,

Today I wish to embark on you an idea that I'm trying out. Now, this is nothing new, rather the implication what I'm about to attempt is rather unique. I thought I share the process and maybe inject the thought of becoming a better you than you were yesterday. How do you do that? My friend S.Dot uses the coined acronym K.I.S.S.(Keep It Simple Stupid), and this is so simple that we have done it in our lives externally, but not internally.

Every year we write these New Years resolutions in attempt to better ourselves, following these goals so well for a week, a month even, but many of us revert to previous mindset, locking you in, or even caging yourself back into your former situation. Famous quote: "If you keep doing the same things, your prone to get the same results." I agree with that statement WHOLE HEARTEDLY, as I'm as guilty as they come, falling back into the hell hole in which I've attempted to crawl out of over and over. That rock that I place my foot on, the slick one, that I know is slick, yet keep trying to use as my exit, finally it has hit me that I just cant make my way out by that means.

So why am I going to do, to better myself, become a better ME, the best me I can be (Damn sounds like I'm promoting for the Army) I digress. How do I move forward in becoming new and improved. Well its so easy, yet so misunderstood, maybe I can help.

See we all want nice things, we all envision ourselves in the life of material things. But what happens when we don't have it. Take a house for example. You decide to purchase a home, it's not the IDEAL home, but we know the phase, "HOME IS WHERE YOU MAKE IT". Now, your home is fairly old, and dated, and needs work to becoming a better home. So you decide to fix it up, and how do you do that? You search the house for all the "problems" and decide if its salvagable or does it need to be redone, right? So I'm referring to the floors, the roof, the tile, the plumbing etc, etc. These are the things that need to be fixed in order for your house to become better. Now, it's not easy, and you cant always do it yourself, but you tend to get it done right?

Well becoming a better you uses the same concept. Finding out, what's wrong with you, evaluating what is manageable and what you are going to need to fix or replace, and putting out the time, effort, and acquiring the right people to help you fix yourself. See, where we fall is that we say that we want to become better people, but our foundations, our core problems are never addressed. So you start building on top of faulty, rotted, rusted, foundations its only a matter of time before all you worked on begins to breakdown, the "problem" spreads like a virus, like mold, like cancer, virtually killing all the work you've done on top. And for what, because you didn't do it right the first time. Well, I haven't, I didn't do it right the first, nor second, nor third, but nows my time. Nows my time to build the house from the ground up, the house that people love and enjoy and want to be apart of, the house that doesn't shut down every year for reconstruction. They say a happy home, is a healthy home, well I say being happy with your personal home (yourself) is where we all want to be, we just need the tools to get it done, and the want to begin our home improvement. So if you know that you have been just covering up your problems, I hope this has enlightened you to gut yourself and fix your roots. This will help you become a better you, and thats what we all want to be.

Race of the Cure

Howdy Partners,

Its been an interesting week for me, but that's another topic. I lost my phone, rather broke it, and upon getting it back and reconfiguring it, i stumbled on a little memo I wrote. Just another creation I had from before, but was so fitting to the way the week has already progressed. So enjoy.

Following your dreams takes you all across the world, doing the unthinkable, proving others wrong, but most importantly, proving to yourself that you can. Time and time again we are so doubtful of ourselves that people begin to have doubt within you as well. Its a level of comfort that has crippled the human nature just as a deadly virus. We all tend to give up, because someone, somewhere has given up on our potential. Most of us in the real world don't get hired off of potential talent, you either have it or hit the road.
When a person is given talent, or is talented, they tend to take it for granted, not realizing how much that initial talent will open doors, but only going to the extent in which that attribute will take them, in turn settling. This is a virus of satisfactory that I spoke of, a disease that spreads so vastly that everyone catches on and feeds into it. But alas, there is a remedy for this deteriorating disease, its only cure, self-confidence. Find confidence within yourself and go shock the world, I know I plan to, by becoming a better me than I was yesterday, beginning with believing in myself today....

Warnings In the Air!!!

Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum People,

So I wanted to talk to you bout something we all can relate to, yet we don't know when to pay attention to it. Today's blog is about your warning sign. Your warning sign is that feeling you get when you know, "OH SHIT, SOMETHING AINT RIGHT." Many of us negate this feeling for whatever reason, but we shouldn't. Others are really networked with this sign, giving it an identity, which can be very funny once you see it in action. Some have many warning signs, you know, like the angel vs the devil. But we all need to become more in touch with our feelings, and understanding your warning sign is key to succeeding in this manner.

Picture this, my boy, S.DOT, has this character that pops up in his think bubble in astute rage yelling "GAWWWWWDDDD DAMN!!! Thats some Bullshit!!" muscles flexing veins popping out, very over dramatic if you ask me. I'd like to say this is daily process as he is a very organized person, but the chaotic structure of his complex, over tasked work gets the better of him. Releasing his frustrations, sometimes aloud, sometimes to himself in this manner is a accurate warning sign of the downward spiral into "FUCKITVILLE." His warning sign allows him to refocus, before buildings get blown up.

Another example is $. Yes that is $. $ comes accompanied with his very own "Red Flag Man". You know, like on the race track, frantically waving his flag when there in danger ahead. Now, $ is in very good connection with his flag man, (long pause) SOBER! The problem is that the red flag gets waved more and more when he is intoxicated, AND even worse him and his red flag man sometimes yak together, meaning he REALLY doesnt pay attention to it. None the less, its funny to watch the battle unfold before your eyes. Quite humorous.

My final example is A! And boy I got to tell you the best one of them all, see, for the previous examples, these guys warning signs developed in their think bubble. For A! its a whole new story, hers is located in her gut, AND LET ME TELL YOU, THAT THING IS ON POINT. Her warning signs are tailored to more friendship, people, relationship oriented ideas, but you cant deny its accuracy. A simple text message is sent belly up, (BLING) New Message: ALERT! Umm, something aint right. Damn body technology, I digress.

So, whats my warning sign? Your probably thinking something just OFF THE WALL if you know me. But I really haven't defined mine as of yet. Picture in my think bubble (although I wish he would relocate down to my gut) I digress, picture in my think bubble an unconvincing old ass man, rubbing his chin, with his eyebrow raised. Each and every idea, situation, or event is questioned, and 75% of the time, he's contradicting the results vs what that person thinks is gonna happen. The old man warns you of the lack of success, but allows you to live you life, and gives great pleasure in the second meeting, where he gets to say, "I TOLD YOU SO" LOL. I love that old as man for being on point with his warning skills.

We all have this ability, and I'm sure most of you you have a character to help you out and I encourage you to should use it, it will help us take control of our lives, knowing that warnings in the air!!! Whats your warning sign?

In The Game of Life Whens Your Turn??

So I've been wondering why the world is the way it is? For the average guy, the world can be a harsh place you know. Just think you do all the right things, make all the right "personal" moves: go to school, work hard, make good grades, go to college, graduate college, not on drugs, no kids, got a job, got a car, etc, etc the list can go on and on for all the things you do in your life thats "positive" for you. Yet you are soo far behind in society among your peers because now, you owe money, got debt, got bills, make "so-so" money, etc, etc you just find yourself at a dead end resulting you in actually contradicting yourself and the decisions you've made to come this far.

You take a look around you and everyone is doing well, yet you have the credentials that are supposed to surpass them. Can someone explain that? How are you to catch up from so far behind in the race, wheres the express lane, wheres the cheat code, what corner do you have to cut? Because you look at those ahead in this race and you see a lot of them are born into their success or sell their soul to become this term that we call "successful." That's what we want to be right? Successful, in school, in our jobs, in our marriages, in our homes. Successful.

So you ask, what is success? Ah yes, and here is the beauty in the term we call success, it's a wonderful thing because we get to create our very own definitions. But, and there is always that big fat voluptuous round end waving right in front of your face, yes, that BUT! We all, you, me, mom, Granny, Me-ma, and AYO's (All you others) decide that you need to educate people on what success is. Who in the fuck are you to tell ME, the creator of my OWN PERSONAL definition of success is, what success is and have to audacity to tell me that I'm not successful. And why not you ask, why are I deemed UNSUCCESSFUL? Because I'm not you? Because I'm not rich or famous? Because I cant get a Coach purse or drive a BMW? Is that why I'm not successful?

One of my good friends, Lyfe, tells me to "fake it till you make it," and I say why? Why not continue your path, be it slow and steady, carving and defining your work of art. Why not tune out all the outside input and focus on the stability of clarifying your definition. Once we realize that it really not a game, that it's not a race, we will begin to see. Because years upon years you'll be able to look back and appreciate the time you spent on becoming, what you know and lot yourself to be known, as successful, and that what we all just want to be. (Que Drake) LOL!