Kindergarten

So our daughter graduated from Pre-K this week.  This fall she will start kindergarten.  It's just funny to watch her growing up.  She acts much older than five.  It's never been hard for her to make friends and take a lead role.  She's playing softball/t-ball and is just capable of so much.  She still shows signs of being a kid.  She laughs at everything and she still doesn't realize when she is being mean because she's in that selfish stage.  But it's always an adventure with her.  I'm proud of her.  It's only the beginning.  I remember when I was young that I was always being recorded.  I don't want Amiyah to get tired of being in front of the camera.  She has a bright smile and the camera loves her.  Until that day, I'll keep recording.

The Sports Reporter

So my wife pitched me on this idea of having a blog focused on sports.  I'm playing around with the idea, but one thing keeps me from stepping out there.  I'm not well rounded with sports because I don't really watch everything.  As we speak, I'm watching boxing.  There may be six other sports that I watch all together.  There are just so many that I could care less about.  Some sports are extremely popular, but I have no interest in them.  These analysts that I see think they know everything and those are the same ones who sound like they have absolutely no idea what they're talking about.  I can do that.  It's hard to be entertaining when you're speaking truth because people love drama.  Sometimes you that they say things just to be controversial.  Someone like Skip Bayless who just says asinine things for the sake argument.  Or maybe he actually believes what he says.  I believe everything that I say when it comes to sports.  I've always had this reputation of being quiet.  It's not quite true.  I just don't always say what I'm thinking because of the attention.  I hate it.  That's why I disappear from Facebook every year on my birthday.  There's never any doubt about what teams I support though, as I sit in my New Orleans Pelicans shirt.  It's much easier for me to do this than to sit on ESPN and run my trap about things that I can only claim to know about.  So for now I'll stick to what I know and what I know is that I'm trying to get this blog off the ground.  I've been doing this one for years, but it was only done for my sanity.  I didn't really tell many people that I was doing it, nor did I advertise it.  I'm doing more with it now so we'll see where it goes.  Maybe one day, I'll bring that option out of the trunk.  But for now I'm going to keep posting on this blog.  It's only getting better.

Rebel with a Cause

So I was sitting in the parking lot at work and something caught my eye.  I saw this truck roll by with a huge rebel flag flapping in the back.  I wasn't really surprised based on where I work.  There are plenty of times when people walk right past me after I speak like I never even spoke.  I had a complaint against me because I didn't "shuck and jive" with a customer.  I'm numb to it to a certain extent, but it is annoying.  I've been in retail for ten years now.  There has always been the occasional shaft, but now it is much more prevalent.  You learn to deal with it, but that doesn't make it easier to deal with.  So seeing that flag just made me shake my head.  I see them all the time and I've even heard people try to validate their reasons for keeping the flag.  People claim it's about the history.  But it's a racist history.  So if you support the rebel flag, are you supporting the hatred that came along with it?  That's the history of it.  Burning crosses, lynchings, beatings, slavery.  That's the history that I think of when I see the rebel flag.  So whenever I see someone with a rebel flag on their shirt or on their vehicle, I'm automatically judging that person.  And that probably won't change.  It may be wrong to judge people, but it happens everyday.  That symbol is one that everyone knows.  Advertising it let's everyone know what your beliefs are.  And they have every right to support that flag.  I'm glad that South Carolina decided to take that flag down from the state capital.  It has no business being up in a position like that.  But at the end of the day, I don't care.  People can do whatever they want, as long as it's  not affecting me or my family.  I'm going to keep making my observations.  If I've offended anyone, then.....OK.  I'm only here so I don't get fined.

Backbone

So it's time for a little story.  So I come from a family of six, two brothers and one sister.  When my parents were married, my father told my mother that she didn't have to work.  So she decided to become a housewife.  That's not something that kids many kids growing up today will have any experience with.  There were plenty of days where my father would get home late or be gone for a few days on business trips.  My mother was always there.  I never rode the bus, or had to buy lunch, or worry about how I was going to get home.  Undoubtedly, my father is the head of the household, but my mother is the backbone.  They both did what they had to do to make our family a well oiled machine.  I remember the days of my brother and I playing sports and knowing that she would have a hard time watching my brother get hit in football.  But she would still come.  She cried when my oldest brother went to college, but after that she was use to it.  I'm sure anybody in my family can attest to getting some type of card on their birthday from her.  She never misses that.  When I would come home from college, all I had to do was tell her what I was craving before I came and it would be made when I got there.  The small things made a huge impact.  That love just always comes out.  I don't have enough words.  As I get older, I start to appreciate things more.  I don't know how I feel after this long weekend.  But it's mother's day and so today we celebrate.

Genius at Work

As I get older, people that I came up admiring are dying.  So what makes a legend?  Greatness is sometimes recognized only after death and genius is taken for granted.  We fawn over their past work, even though we haven't paid attention to them for years.  I say we because I'm guilty of this also.  Prisoners of the moment.  When that moment passes, we are still left looking for what's next.  It's a subjective topic.  I never spent a dime on anything Micheal Jackson ever made.  Nas is the G.O.A.T.  I can't believe people watch golf.  Inception is my favorite movie of all time.  What is a hashtag?  I can go on for days.  It takes confidence to put your ideas out for the world to see.  There is no such thing as undeniable genius because there will always be that one agreeable person who is that way just because.  The youngsters would call them a hater nowadays.  Honesty is feared, especially if it goes against the common line of thinking.  I think it makes things more interesting.  I wish I could say that I'm a genius, but my brain doesn't like exercise that much.  It's out of shape.  I have to rely on my natural abilities to get anything done and sometimes it throws me off.  One day I would like to be recognized as a genius and I'm working on it.  Hence the title.  I love this picture because it shows two of the greatest jazz artists ever, but one leading the other.  But who is the greatest artist?  Who is the true genius?  The student or the teacher?  My brother would always say that the student can never be greater than the teacher.  I don't believe that and this picture could be a prime example.  They are just two geniuses at work.  Nothing more, nothing less.  I can acknowledge that much.