Like Mike, If I Could Be Like Mike..

Jackson. Yes, most controversial title yet but there's just something about little boys...

Okay, that joke went long enough. I did, however, go to the doctor today. I mentioned to him that i have the sickle cell trait and that turned into a subject about race. After mentioning how much easier life would be if i was white he informed me that might just be possible.

Apparently there's a new technology to actually morph your features and pigment to favor a race of your choice. I was leaning towards white, though asian has its perks. While i was at it decided to see how being west asian would work for me.

Here's the original pic we used as a reference:

east asian

west asian

white


I mean, mixed ian is cool, but the possibilities that open up with being one race are endless...

Suggestions?

Wow.

"My greatest competition is, well, me . . . I'm the Ali of today. I'm the Marvin Gaye of today. I'm the Bob Marley of today. I'm the Martin Luther King, or all the other greats that have come before us. And a lot of people are starting to realize that now."

- R. Kelly tells the new issue of Hip-Hop Soul magazine

Town Bound...?

You already know that my love for Oakland is ridiculous. Luckily Oakland is a female, otherwise i'd be hella gay. Anyway, over the years I've noticed a transition (for lack of a better word) in my responses to "where are you from?"

When i was younger, any chance i could tell people i was born in New York, i would. I mean, shit, it's so much cooler than California. Right? That evolved into me saying 'Oakland raised," as tends to be my answer nowadays. Or simply, 'the town,' 'city of dope man,' or just 'Oakland.' It all depends on who's asking and where they are asking. If i say 'the town' to someone in Kansas they won't know what the hell I'm talking about.

Well i was in Mexico last weekend and i noticed myself telling people i was from the bay, more specifically, the East Bay. The most bothersome part of that is that i HATE when other people do that. Normally i feel like if you say you're from 'the bay area' then you're from some shitty city like El Cerrito *;)* or Pittsburg and just want to feel like you're really from THE Big Bad BAY (which to me is the East Bay and Frisco. Fuck the restuhyall. It's like how half the kids who are 'hyphy' are from Walnut Creek or Pinole [another reason that shit won't go away]. Be proud of your square city, and let us have ours. When's the last time you heard some cat from East Oakland claim San Leandro? Now when's the last time you heard the opposite? Shit, until recently (from my experience) South Berkeley cats claimed North Oakland (God knows why)..

After years upon years of 'oakland is ghetto' maybe i just got tired of explaining that every major city in the world has bad neighborhoods, and the nice spots in Oakland trump most places you've ever been. So instead of saying im from oakland i tell people the bay, sometimes even the SF bay area (when far away from home). The shame and disgust associated with Oakland is appauling. While some of it is deserved (what happened to our originality Oakland? [read: all black, dreads, hyphy movement, ugh]) a lot of it is simply because the abundance of black folks. Yes, YOU are racist. Trust me, you are. Yeah, even you.

Well, anyway, I don't even know what i was talking about, you racist bastard. Oh, yeah, Oakland, what is it about this city that's so shameful.... ..that's unique to THIS city? When people say they're from New York or even D.C. you never hear 'oh, that's ghetto." "New York has 8 million people and 5 boroughs." Fair enough. "D.C. has the capitol and president." Also fair. "Oakland has 3 major sports teams, one of the wealthiest ports in the country (remember, california would be the 7th [is it?] richest country in the world, if it was a country), and a history with so many stories your grandfather would be amazed.

So, what is it? ...where was i going with this? fawks.

Blogs To Anticipate

-City of Shame

-Things to look for in a travel partner

-Born Shit Talker

-Words/Phrases from Mexico (this one will be an inside joke, sucks for you)

-My Mexican Adventure (this one should have some good reading in it)

-plus a grab bag of bloggies!

Pissing Funk

So i drank my double espresso, as i tend to do every few days-if not a triple, and when i went to the bathroom my urine smelled like coffee. Not the first time this has happened.

I think when i ate an abundance of asparagus a couple-uh-times my piss smelled wild then too.

Beets made me think i had hemmrhoids a few times too..

Wonder what other amazing, 'altering,' foods exist.

It's My Birthday

Turned 24 at 11:15 this morning. That means I have offically started my 25th year of life. Kinda scary to think, considering my [lack of] accomplishments. Here i was told my 23rd year would be amazing, because im born on the 23rd, ehh. Not so much. Amazing things happened, amazing people were met but I'm still poor, degreeless and working for the man.

In the past year I've completed more school than i had in the previous 3 or 4 years, got a promotion and a raise, had a slow love life, met an amazing woman, had a [needless to say] better love life, and took a break with said women.

I lost touch with some close friends and rediscovered some gems from the past. I met the most innocent, beautiful and bossy little girl on Earth, and lost her, all within the year. My niece that is. I experienced the final chapter in the book of the life of Cheryl Norman, my step mother, an amazing woman. No sympathy is needed, as i can't think of anything i didn't get a chance to ask her, tell her or explain to her. Ironically enough, cancer was a more giving death than almost anything else coulda been. Yeah. Figure THAT one out.

I saw my father, and countless other family members/friends, go from king of the world to trying to hold it together, emotionally, while experiencing the same myself.

On many levels i finally entered life. I finally experienced what it is to be human. In a matter of weeks I shed more tears than I remember ever shedding in all of my life. I learned that letting the tears go can be the most amazing feeling on Earth while still learning when to turn them off and be strong. I learned that people deal with everything differently, no matter how you expect them to deal with it. Some of us can make torture look like ecstasy and some can make a splinter look like a shotgun wound.

I learned that just because you're family doesn't mean you'll always be together and communicate with each other. I learned that even when things don't affect me directly, they can still affect me, a lot. I learned that when two important people in your life don't talk or dislike each other it's painful. To me. (it's MY birthday)

I learned that you can stop speaking to the person you raised and that the person being raised may cut off contact with you. I learned that those you love can look each other in the face and lie. I learned that all of that shit affects more than those two people. I learned of selfishness, and complete lack thereof. I learned talk is cheap and often times nothing more than just that.

I learned that I have so many things i want to change about myself i don't even know where to begin, or if it's possible at all. I learned that being who i wanted to be was a weakness.

I learned, i learned.. ..i learned.

Momma said knock you out

I feel bad for my coworker.

My feet are on HIT right now, fawks. No more sleeping in shoes.

Need some Febreeze, and some shoes that aren't 5+ years old.

=(