Home Stretch

Here we are. It's the home stretch of this year's election. I was excited about it, but now I just think I'm burned out on the whole thing. I'll be happy when it's all over with. Of course, I'm hoping for a certain outcome. But in the end, I just want it to be over. I watched the debates, which were boring. I've listened to their ideas and policies. I've seen the commercials. I'm tired of it all. I think the fact that the world series will be backing up it's start time for a thirty minute commercial really makes me want to wish it all away. What can he really talk about in thirty minutes that we haven't already heard? It's ridiculous. There is no reason for the overkill. It's not like we can really trust either candidate to change things. Their job is to make us believe that they have our best interests at heart, but they don't. They just want to get elected. I don't trust any politicians. Before this whole thing is over though, I do want white people to stop assuming that Blacks are voting for Obama only because he's Black. These are the same people who are voting for McCain because he's not Black. It's a blatant slap in the face. I'm proud of him for getting this far, but if he gets to office I fear for him. We'll really see how far this country has come in November. Until then, I wish it would all go away.....

Donny Hathaway

If you haven't noticed by now, I love to talk about music. Different people come and go, but there has been one that I have always come back around to. I don't remember the first time I heard Donny Hathaway. I was young...maybe twelve or so. He not only had a great voice, but he also had great music behind him. As much as I love Bilal's music, he will probably never reach Donny's level to me. Of course, he doesn't have a huge catalog of music like Stevie Wonder or even Marvin Gaye. But what he left was great music. He is probably the only person who can make a gospel song that I would listen to. He makes you feel every note that he sings. Whatever he felt at that moment, you feel too. It amazing that over twenty years later his music still has that effect. He has influenced so many people, but you never hear him mentioned by the media whenever these lists come out of who is the best and so on. He may never get the credit he deserves. Donny Hathaway is one of the few people who can make a live album and sound just like he does on a studio album. I'm trying my best to give him some shine. He deserves it. Ask Alicia Keys who one of her main influences is. People in the know know the truth. Maybe soon we can all talk about his classic albums like we do "What's Going on?" and "Songs in the Key of Life."

Honestly Speaking

Honesty is a great quality to have. It's hard to find people who have that quality now. We all lie sometimes. Politicians and lawyers are basically professional liars. So what happens when you hear one thing and you find out it's not the truth? It can be embarrassing but it's always better to know the truth. I'm a naturally cynical person but there are lies that even surprise me. And honestly some lies hurt. Obviously something must have happened for me to go on this rant. Well, I won't get into all that. It's just one of those things that bothers me. Blatant lies are so frustrating. It only gets worse when you can't really prove anything. I won't use that generic phrase talking about being grown. I'm just getting this off my chest. I don't want to say anything here that might cross the line so I'll make this entry short and sweet. Honestly, I can't stand being lied to.

The walking dead

I watched the presidential debate last night, or at least parts of it. I don't really know how this is going to sound, but McCain looked like a monster to me. He lurched around the stage and talked in that low raspy voice, moving around stiffly. It reminded me of Frankenstein. It was funny but also unbearable. I know this isn't a popularity contest or a beauty contest but McCain just doesn't have the look of a president. How can they expect us to rally around someone who looks like he could...die any moment. I know I'm being harsh but I'm being honest. He really looks bad to me. It wouldn't be so bad if he only had to stand behind a podium. At the same time, that is only his physical appearance. He doesn't have a commanding personality to me. That squeaky voice is annoying. To be honest with you, I just can't stand McCain's personality. All this time he has tried to demean Obama with slick insults and it continued last night with his "that one" quote. If you missed it, you can probably find it somewhere on the web because it causes a small uproar. McCain is going out of his way to say that Obama "doesn't understand" but at least he understands that running a negative campaign is not what people want to hear right now. We want answers. The whole time that debate was going on, McCain never laid out any specifics about this "change" that he wants to bring. It sounded like he spent the whole night talking about his heroes and his life. Somebody saying that their hero is Ronald Reagan is not a good thing. McCain is old so he probably doesn't remember how bad things were under Reagan. I'm not old enough to remember personally, but research shows how things really were under him. Reaganomics??? Is that really what we need? It's not Halloween yet. Maybe McCain was getting a jump on his costume with the way he looked last night. McCain being president scares me. There is no punch line there. Vote people!!!!

Dreading it....

Maybe I'm a little too stubborn for my own good. I have a few friends on their way to being doctors, but that is one place I hate to visit. Why? I don't know. I guess it's just that fear that something will be wrong with me. Last year was my first time visiting one. I went for a specific reason but even then I found a way out of it. I just had a basic physical exam. Eventually I went back for the reason that I first thought of going for in the first place. My worst fear wasn't realized but there was still a problem. It's been nearly a year and I still haven't dealt with it. I'm still at that age where I feel invincible. I know it's not true, but I just don't want to admit the fact that my body is falling apart. I'm getting older so I need to deal with these things before they get too far out of hand. I'm speaking for myself but this is a common attitude for most of the men that I know. It comes from sports for me. We're basically trained to play through every bit of pain that we feel. If we don't we're viewed as "soft." I'm done with sports now but I still feel the effects of injuries I suffered back in junior high. I don't know how I feel about this whole situation. I can't be mad...well I can because I know some of those coaches don't care about risking your health if it helps them win. I regret keeping those injuries to myself. Now I'm having possibly serious ailments and I still have that mentality that I did back then, that it will all go away in time. So when does that day come?