Saturday, January 22, 2005

Friday Night in Carbondale, Never A Dull Moment

The first Friday back from vacation was as nuts if not more nuts than any other Friday. I didn't even have to leave the floor to see things that only a comedian would think about and things that would only happen here in Carbondale. It all started in a friends room when we were playing drink master. Its a drinking game in which you follow the directions on the playing card. It was ok, but a pain in the ass. We cashed like 5 bottles of alcohol. So some of us were unnecissarily drunk (not me for once) and some of us were buzzin (me, for once). It was crazy cuz Jameel and Evonne were teaching my white friend Nate to dance. Nate gained big time points for white people at that point. Steve and Evonne were the most drunk and we got some pretty interesting photos of them, Steve was "Keeping her from falling off the bed." Oh incriminating photos are the bees knees. I like using old english, its soo much fun. But that was only the beginning. White people took a major step backwards last night as a society. See, in the city, where I'm from, when we drink, we drink and we have fun. Not necissarily to get drunk, but to have fun and be sociable. White folk not from the city, they drink and they do stupid shit. These two girls decided it'd be cool to give eachother black eyes. Problem is, one missed and fucked up the other girl. Blood gushin everywhere like a faucet, got on my shirt too, and they thought it was funny. I'm sorry, no matter how crunked I am, I am not letting someone punch me for their enjoyment. That's just dumb. Just as dumb as when two of my friends became cigarette burn brothers by burning eachother's arms with a lit cigarette. Then later, I got a very interesting phone call at 1 AM from a female friend of mine back in Chicago. I spent hours with her on the phone, while taking care of my drunken buddy Hoos who passed out in my bed and yelled at me cuz he wanted to talk to my lady friend trying to get his crunk juice flowin while I was trying to get my pink lemonade on. "Get yo pink lemonade on" is a new catchy saying that i came up with while sober. It came about when Hoos said i was holding up the drink line. I said, "it wouldn't be so backed up if you wasn't gettin yo pink lemonade on." It's catching on and we're using it to this day.
I've got a lot on my mind, so I guess I'll spill it right now. I'm pesonally upset. I got a lot on my mind whether it being me leaving my heart at home in Chicago, or things with me and the girls. I guess I'll start with leaving my heart in Chicago. There are some issues back in the city that there are certain family members I worry about daily and miss a lot. My presence is down here, yet sometimes, when I think about the city, I miss it. Then there's the girls. It upsets me that when you like a girl a lot, but she won't give you the time of day and there's nothing you can do about it but just sit there and watch her go after guys that don't seem at all interested. But in all honesty, I'm not suprised, cuz that's the story of my life. Friends not lovers. For once I wanna be her little secret, not the guy she runs to tell her little secrets to. Everyone sez you'll have your day, but sometimes I wonder. But not too hard, because in all honesty, it is pointless to think about someone you have no control over. I've been down that path once too often and I really don't feel like going down there again.
So, last night was wild and crazy. I didn't go out last night, but will tonight as long as the weather cooperates. Tonite, I'm out to get my pink lemonade on, without a doubt. HOLLER AT YA BOY!

Friday, January 21, 2005

Sit Back, Relax and Strap it Down: It's Friday

It's Friday, I'm so happy. One week down, fourteen to go. I'm all smiles, I like my classes and the people in my classes. Well, I had a couple of rough spots. My TA for history is from Beloit, Wisconsin and owns a Cheesehead. He's a Packers fan. When he announced that, the room snickered and soured on him. That's nothing compared to what happened in my english class today. We were introducing ourselves today like we were in kindergarten and some goofball's "Interesting fact" was "For you in the back, I hate the Cubs." Oohs and aahs filled the room as I rolled my eyes disgusted not with the idea of someone hating my favorite team, but insulted because it felt like it was an attack on me. I thought to myself, what the hell did I do to you. As of now, he's a certified assclown. If you hate the Cubs, good for you, but you don't need to make it an issue between me and you, remember it is only a game.
Speaking of the Cubs, usually around this time I am decked out in my Cubbie blue gear getting ready for the 4 o'clock (or was it 5 pm) Opening Ceremonies of the annual Cubs Convention. I wish I could be there, I didn't miss much in my classes, I could've been there. However, in all honesty, it would've been a waste of money because I would have been most likely banned from question answer sessions. "Meet the Cubs Management" would've been grilled by me like they was toast. I wouldn't ask the simple "Why couldn't we make this trade?" or "Why couldn't we make this signing?" I'd be asking ball busting questions like "When you got rid of Moises Alou's $11 million and Matt Clement's $9 million you have $20 million free. You get millions of dollars from rooftop owners, money that before has not been in the equation for the Cubs, and you raise ticket prices 17 percent and you scalp your own tickets...with all that money, why couldn't you sign JD Drew (now making $11 million a year) or Carlos Beltran (now making $17 million a year)?" And they'd give me a BS answer in which my response would've required them to answer the question at hand, then I would be lead out by Tribune officials. Is there a doctor in the house? would have been another thing I would've gotten kicked out of because I'd grill them on last year's lack of a doctor in the clubhouse. Yeah, it woulda been a waste of money without a doubt. Well, happy thoughts now, it's Friday and I'm just gonna be here chillin. I might head out to the pit. Well Ill figure something out, its only 2:40

Thursday, January 20, 2005

The Worst Officiated Games in Sports

Inspired by the SIU-Bradley game that took place tonite at the SIU Arena. By the way this is in no particular order. Just in the order in which I remember them.
  1. SIU-Bradley. Obvious call in both direction that weren't called kept the game closer than it should have been. Ticky-tack foul calls, traveling calls that weren't called, jump balls that should have been called fouls, etc. So many bad calls inspired the Dawg Pound to chant "You refs suck! You refs suck!" Oh to be sitting court side, they probably woulda kicked me out.
  2. Cubs vs. Reds 2004. What is known as the game that Sammy Sosa and Moises Alou went back-to-back to win the game, would be known as one of the worst umpired of 2004 if not for their heroics. Poor calls behind the plate. Strikes called as balls, balls called as strikes, half swings as full swings and full swings as check swings were only the beginning. Both managers were ejected on top of that as well. The absolute worst call was a foul ball hit to the Bartman corner in left field. The ball on the fly hit by Reds catcher Jason LaRue clearly hit the wall in left field which is in foul territory. Staring it down all the way down the line was the third base umpire Kevin Kelly, he emphatically called it fair. Sitting on the first base side lined up with the line I saw it with my naked eye too and nearly would've killed the ump had the call not been reversed. And it wouldn't have been reversed had Dick Pole not gotten out of the dugout to contend the call. The umps got together and they reversed it. Its all in the past cuz CUBS WIN CUBS WIN!
  3. Game 6? NLCS 1997 Marlins @ Braves. Grandma would've turned into Cy Young had she pitched that night. It damn near felt that if it was thrown toward the plate and not swung at it was a strike. Livan Hernandez took full advantage of the strike zone as wide as fat ass umpire Eric Gregg's appetite. The Marlins won the NLCS and went on their first World Series. Gregg never umpired again.
  4. NCAA Tournament Round 1 Game: DePaul vs. Kansas. Quentin Richardson, Bobby Simmons and Lance Williams were being attacked by Kansas like they owed Kansas money. Though DePaul kept it close, the fact that Roy Williams was on Kansas' bench Kansas got every call, and DePaul lost.
  5. 2004 Bears @ Lions. Everyone likes recent games. This officiating staff is rumored to be the staff to do the Super Bowl. Alex Brown was being held by the shoulder pads, no call. Late hits, taunting, pass interference were not called on the Lions, but called on the Bears. Not to mention the catch that got the Bears the #4 pick in the Draft in which the explanation of the incomplete pass was "The ball moved after he had possesion and crossed the plane, therefore it is an incomplete." The ball is constantly moving, if that were the rule there would be no scoring.
  6. Sabres vs. Stars. The Stars were given the series winning goal even though rules state that a skate cannot be in the crease when a goal is scored by that player. The refs had no comment and next year that rule was changed

Thats all i can remember? Do you remember any others, write em down and post them under comments.

Day 2, Semester 2, I'm all Good

After the second day of official classes, I am truely happy. As I have said before, I liked my first two classes that I had. Now, with today's classes I feel even better. My english class, well, the jury is still out because we haven't done nothing yet. My 20th American History class, I should do good in, especially because I just took Contemporary American History in my senior year in high school (which I aced by the way). Its basically that stuff, but in a higher learning place. I got my guys in that class, so its all good, we should all do well, but me first, then I help others. Then there's my creative writing class. No certified hotties, but it is the perfect class for me because all it is in that class is to write. Plus it's gonna be slightly slanted towards poetry. I love poetry. I love poetry so much more than fiction because in poetry you can tell a story in so many different ways. You can paint a picture using metaphors that have nothing to do with your subject, but make sense of your subject. But in fiction, everything has to be straight up, or else it makes no sense. I love poetry, that class, should be an easy A if I do all the work, thats what the teacher said. I love when teachers admit that, but now I gotta put in the effort and get it done. So, on MWF I'm done at 2:00 while everyone else is going out to their last classes I'm walking back to my room to chill out. I'm all smiles in Salukiville. Ooh yeah, SIU hoops squad beat Bradley tonite. This game goes down as one of the worst officiated games in sports. I missed the "mandatory" floor meeting but it was worth it cuz it was a close game, totally worth it. The only thing I needed to know about was the new alcohol policy. Which now says that if you are caught with alcohol you are sent to rehab and you have to pay for it. I immediately got rid of my stuff, and got some cash out of it because I didn't need to be caught up with that shit. I can't afford my phone bill, car insurance thats up in May, my new single room and all the other perks in my life and a stint in Rehab because I was dumb or whoever I was drinking with was dumb and got me in trouble. I can't even find a job downhere, its feeling a lot like last semester. Everyone out there in internet-land, please pray for me and my hopeful success. I will be working harder as soon as things pick up at school. I love you all and wish you all the success in the world, as I would for myself. I'm just going through some slow times in my life and I'm a little stressed and frustrated.

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Today is the First Day of the Rest of my College Semester

1st day back officially at school, going to classes. For the first time in a long time, if at all I got up for breakfast. It was good, I had egg-n-biscuit sandwich. Yummy! I had two classes today. History of World Civilaztion Pt. 2 and Nutrition. Both classes were awesome because I knew peoplein those classes. I got Jameel, Josh, Yoav, Jack and Ryan and Betsy who are all on my floor in my history class. In my nutrition class, I know one guy, Charles, but there's a buncha fine girls in that class. All smiles over here in that class. I know I have 20th Century America class with Donnell and Keith and Julian, so more people in that class. So, I'm done for today. So far so good here in Carbondale. Sorry about the outburst last night, I was a little emotional. I get that way when it comes to meaningless bullshit. Holla at ya boy! Leave me a message, I love the interaction wit people.

Monday, January 17, 2005

Welcome Back to Carbondale, Semester 2

I'm back, and it's good to be back. It was cool at home, but nothing beats a second home in which you live independently. I miss my Carbondale people, i really did. I missed my gals, i missed my homies,and i missed my room. that view outside of my window of the field. I am sooo happy to be back. I hope to start off the semester well. In my opinion, I have already done so by declining to go out to the Pit tonite. I wanted to, I truely did, cuz the Pit is the place to be, but i decided to stay and chill and write to you, my readers and to myself. I have set some goals for myself this semester. I want to work harder in my school work. Party hard, work harder for this semester. I want to chill out on going out all the damn time. I can't afford it, well I can, cuz I have loot, but I've just realized that I've been going out for the wrong reasons. Either I was drinking disappointment, sadness, anger or depression away, or it was female related. It kind of sucks to realize this hundreds of dollars later, but better late than never right? Speaking of females, I'd like to have one before Valentine's Day. Just saying this statement makes me laugh inside. "I'd like to have one" sounds like "Man, if I can get the money before Valentine's Day, I can have a girl, but I need that money." That's how it feels when I say it. Since I've been back, I've seen the Valentine's candy sale at Wal-Mart, a pop-up ad from an online dating service telling me "Know your Valentine's Day Options" and Valentine's candy in the dining hall. It all makes me naucious, makes me wanna puke. But I say it because I want this year Valentine's day to feel different than Valentine's of past. Let's retrace our V-Day footsteps. 2004: Car show with brother in law, cut school, chilled at the crib. 2003: Absolutely nothing, because I don't remember. 2002: A prolonged rejection that lead to a slight depression and a drop in my grades (As and Bs 2st quarter to all Cs 3rd) and a little bit of drinky. 2001: Rejection, followed by absolute anger, followed with Absolut Vodka. I think the worse one was from 2002, because the situation was lengthened. Her decision came after a week of her avoiding me, after I thought we were good friends. I bought her flowers and kissing bears. You know, the ones with magnets at the mouth and they kissed. I thought that'd put me over, it didn't. It just proved to be a waste of $20. At that point, I had seriously quit with women. No, I'm not gay, don't get me wrong, but I figured out that it was as pointless as a dog trying to catch his tail. So, I'm trying to figure out this Valentine's day. Will this dog finally have his day, or will the curse of the chain letter continue. Oh, I can attribute these Valentine's day massacres to a chain letter I refused to forward in the 6th grade. It said that if i didn't send it to a certain amount of people, I'd have a horrible love life for the rest of my life. After that, I had my 2 day relationship, and numerous girls that are my friends. Girls that like me, but don't like me like that. Girls that just want to be friends. Have I had my kissy-kissy, touchy feely? Sure, kinda, I guess but that is all I have. But nothing in Chicago. It sucks because I feel that I have done absolutely nothing as I am surrounded by sex crazed people who seem to have experience and me, I'm a beginner. Have you ever heard of the base system, I'm sure you have. Well, let's just say, I'm still on my way to the stadium and tickets are selling fast. Tis a shame too, I'm a good person, and you would think that I deserve a little better. I don't ask for much in a girl. Just at least an awesome personality at the least. I like them to be cute, they don't need to have this slamming body with double D boobs or a gigantic ass. Just a cute girl with a nice personality. Sounds like I want marriage, well I don't, there's only one girl as of right now that I can see myself marrying and she's in a relationship with a guy that I consider to be really cool. He's the white version of me. But why is this happening, because I didn't make the effort to get after it. Well, I am going to make a concerted effort to go out there to (in the words of my friend Anthony) "do what you do" or "do the damn thing." As I sip on my coke and vodka before I go to sleep for I have class at 11 am tomorrow, I leave you with this...good luck next semester and may the force be with us all.