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What’s Going On?

I’ve been absent for a while, I know and I apologize. Thanks to all who have reached out to me. 🙂

I have not been inspired to write except for one or two pieces for my crazy friends at O’ Hell Nawl. Being crazy busy at work hasn’t been a help, in fact it is another reasons for my absence.

For the past week, one of my closest and dearest friends has been visiting from out of state. Since she is a remote employee she can work from just about any where as long as there is an internet connection. My evenings have been spent laughing, talking, eating, and drinking with her eliminating my evening blogging time – and that is a good thing. Sometimes it’s best to unplug and step away for a moment.

This quality time spent with her has been good. I’ve had a few epiphanies, a couple of “WOW!” moments, and a couple of moments that made me pause. I’m left with a deeper resolve to pray for not only her but for my own emotional healing. I will not go into details because my purpose is never to hurt her or to put her on blast – I love her too much for that. However, I will say that fathers, you have a PROFOUND effect on your daughters that reverberate through every aspect of their lives. If you’re a good father and husband – kind, loving, nurturing, protective, and involved – you’ll see the fruits of your labor. If you are not, you may not see nor feel it – but the rest of the world will.

Another, close friend (I have only 2) is beginning divorce proceedings and will be moving in with me this weekend. I am not sure how long she will be with me before she gets on her feet. This too has me in prayer. I’ve lived alone and been on my own since I was in my early twenties. Having another person in “my space” will be nothing short of a challenge. I know this is what I am to do for God has placed it on my heart so strongly that it is “a charge to keep I have.” If you have a personal relationship with God, you know what that means. 😉  But I am not so naïve to think I will not be challenged to grow and learn from this experience either. So I pray for strength and I ask that you keep me, and her, in your prayers also.

Once the dust settles I am certain I can get back into the groove and begin posting regularly. I’m looking forward to jumping back into Old School Fridays and giving you my views on everything from A to Z.

Peace, Love, & Blessings!!

Chocl8t

Stop. Look. Listen.

I want to tell you about a couple of people to whom we should pay close attention.

What will you be doing on 08/08/08? I plan to be watching the Olympic opening ceremonies and for the following weeks…the games. One person, and one person alone, has sparked my interest in the summer games.

Dara Torres is her name and swimming is her game!

In case you’ve been under a rock, or just not paying close attention, this 41 year old wife and mother has just claimed her spot on the U.S. Olympic Swim Team for the 5th time!! Yes, 41 years old!! Nevermind the new record she just broke, nevermind the fact she’s the oldest person on the team, nevermind that half the team could be her sons or daughters, nevermind that even before making it to the games in August she’s already made history…shyt, I can’t remember the point I was trying to make! LOL (You can read more about Dara HERE and HERE)

What I love about Dara is that she has dayum near, single-handedly eliminated any excuse you could ever conjure or cajole about not being fit in your “mid-life”! Blown them completely out of the water…pun most definitely intended! Barring the fact she was, by far, a superior athlete in her teens and 20’s, and has the income to employ a trainer and (2) full-time “stretchers”, she serves as a good example of what women over 40 can achieve, physically….if you would just get off your butt, toss the excuses and commit yourself to your temple…your body.

Granted, we all can not and will not make any Olympic team at 20, let alone 40, but we can strive to be more physcially fit and STOP marginalizing women when they reach a “certain age”. (Watch the video of Torres at the end of this post)

Dara, simply put….GIRL YOU ROCK!!!!!!!!

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T. Boone Pickens has a proven track record in the oil industry and knows what he’s talking about. The billionaire oilman is building a massive “wind farm” in Pampa, Texas in a concerted effort to decrease our country’s dependence on foreign oil. Mr. Pickens believes that oil prices will not come down and, in fact, suspects they will go much higher.

Instead, said Pickens, the price of oil, now hovering above $140 a barrel, will hit $200 a barrel.

This is not good news for those of us struggling with the high gas prices now….this shyt will not get better! IT WILL NOT GET BETTER!!!

I encourage you to visit his website, www.PickensPlan.com, to read his plan. Or you can read excerpts from an interview on Good Morning America, HERE.

Pickens does have skeptics about his plan to which he says:

“A fool with a plan is better than a genius with no plan,” he told “GMA.” “And we look like fools without a plan, that’s the way that we’ve been operating for 40 years.”

Priceless!!

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Armed & Dangerous

That deep sigh you just heard was Gun owners in America taking collective sigh of relief!

The court’s 5-4 ruling strikes down the District of Columbia’s 32-year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment. The decision goes further than even the Bush administration wanted, but probably leaves most firearms laws intact. [SOURCE]

You can also read more HERE.

As a gun owner I’m very pleased with the ruling. Had it gone another way, I would have made the conscious choice to disobey the ruling and chunck the US Supreme Court the deuce. There is no way in hell I was going to give up my firearm…PERIOD.

I can understand the argument from both sides but we must find a way to deal with the underlying issue without trampling on our 2nd Amendment rights. I’m all for stricter control which could entail a longer waiting period when purchasing guns and a more extensive background check. That my curtail those with mental illnesses from purchasing a firearm but the real issue lies with the illegal firearms on the street in the hands of criminal. But let’s face it, these cats don’t go to gun shows or dealers to purchase their “pieces”. Lil’ Ray-Ray copped his Glock from ole dude ’round the way for about $75. Stop THAT  shit from happening and you’ve put a major dent in the homicide rate in our urban areas.

This is just my opinion. Whether you agree or not is fine by me but I’d like to hear your thoughts.

 

A Father’s Love

I received the following in an email from my best friend “Spoon”. Her comments are followed excerpts of the orignal article which appeared in The Charlotte Observer Father’s Day.

Could you imagine 6 days w/o food and 18 months in a refugee camp eating rice and soy sauce just so that your children can have a better life???? This reality brings home how spoiled we Americans are, with our 2 and 3 televisions, closets full of cloths, pantries and fridge’s full of food, thrown away left-over’s, evenings and weekends at play or in front of the television while the youth of America make pregnancy pacts, sell drugs, commit murders, and run wild in the streets. Talk about sacrifice! These things (people starving in camps searching for a better life) go on today all over the world. Parent’s in other countries risk their lives to provide for their families the things we effortlessly have at our disposal. Something is VERY wrong with that.

Spoon

Instead of eating Sunday dinner at their parents’ house as usual, today Hau and Luan Doan are cooking.

Hau will fry chicken wings and Luan will fry crab cakes in honor of their father, Dung Doan, who sneaked his family out of Vietnam at night in 1978 on a boat he built to flee the communists.

The story of the escape is one Hau (pronounced How) and Luan (Loon) heard many times growing up in America. Six days and six nights without food or water, their father, mother and 2-year-old Hau, grandparents and friends, lying exhausted and dehydrated on the bottom of the boat, then jumping to safety when they drifted close to Malaysia, where they lived in a refugee camp for 18 months before immigrating to America.

Not until his mother told him two years ago did Hau understand the significance of his red tricycle. He was 4 when his family arrived in the United States in 1980 and settled in Virginia Beach. Hau saw other boys riding red tricycles and he wanted one. And so around their third day there, his father, who had been studying to be a lawyer in Vietnam, cleaned up sea shells scattered in front of a building near the beach. He earned $20 and he used that $20, the first money he made in America, to buy his son a red tricycle.

Please read the entire article HERE.

We as Americans can be very intolerant of immigrants regardless from whence they came. We despise the cultural differences and their refusal to assimilate to “our” ways simply because we do not understand. Our arrogance allows us to judge them harshly blinding us to the simple truth…most immigrants want the same thing we want: an opportunity to live free from political or religious oppression and to raise their families in a safe environment.

I include myself in that group of people whom I chastise because I have had my moments of ranting and venting about a particular group of immigrants in my area. The next time I get my dander up I would do myself a great service to remember the Doan’s story. Maybe we all should too.