Saturday, February 26, 2005

Happy Championship Saturday!

I'm gonna keep it sweet and simple in today's blog...WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS! In Chicago, you don't get anything like this. I wasn't even born when the Bears won the Super Bowl in 1985. I was three in 1989 when the Cubs won the division. I was 6 when the Bulls had the first three-peat. I was in 6th grade sitting in my bed with a broken leg when the Bulls won their sixth and final championship. I was in 7th grade when the Cubs won the Wild Card. I'm not a Sox fan, so I didn't celebrate theie 1993 and 2000 division championships, and hockey what? In 2001, the Cubs tricked me by leading the division all year long and blowing it in September. In 2000-2001, the Bears fooled all of Chicago by going 13-3 with miracle finishes and horshoes inserted in happy places, then collapsing at home against the Eagles in the last game at the original Sodiers Field. 2003 was my best year. Cubs vs. Yankees in June was classic and Cubs vs. Cardinals in September, just the atmosphere was there all year. The first playoff game since 1998 at Wrigley, which I was apart of. The Prior dominance was the greatest thing I had ever been apart of until today. Today, Southern Illinois University @ Cabondale clinched their 4th straight Conference Championship in a 65-55 victory over Wichita State. The atmosphere, electric. Everyone was into the game, we were just all waiting to explode, waiting for revenge against the "Shockers" and finally, the moment was great. As the game went on you just felt the specialness of the moment. "Go home shockers!" (clap clap clap-clap-clap) "Warm up the bus, warm up the bus." "N-I-T! N-I-T!" And finally the countdown, and the rush was on. I actually got to rush the court, tht was the best feeling ever. Once again, you don't get this feeling in Chicago, so yeah I enjoyed it. I celebrated with players, cheered and viewed tehm Cut down the nets. I got a couple of autographs from my favorite players (SHOUT OUT TO D.B., Tatum (The Human Fast Break South), and T.Y.). So it was worth it. I didn't want to leave that moment. This was SIUs 4th straight conference title, I'm hoping for 8 in a row!

Friday, February 25, 2005

Bored and Lonely

I'm bored, lonely and tired. My friend is coming at 9:30, and we goin out tonite, but we can't be out late cuz we goin to the hoops game. SIU vs. Wichita, the revenge game, senior day and Saluki Maroon Out. Can't wait til the game, its gonna be the best game EVER ( I Hope!). In more good news, we're 90% complete on the Kevin becoming my new official roommate. Just some minor technicalities and we're set. Oh, even more good news. I was one of the blessed ones to end up with tickets to Cubs Opening Day on Friday, April 8th...6 rows behind the Cubs dugout. It'll be my 1st opening day in 11 years. And even better than that would be the Saturday matchup with the Boston Red Sox. I, like in 2003, get to see the return of a rivalry. I was at the only Cubs-Yankees game in which they lost (5-4), I hope that doesn't happen when the BoSox play the Cubs. I hope we stomp them, and I hope Clement goes up against like Wood or Prior or Z. I just got money rubbed against some black guys balls and put in my face...lmao. Only college life. I hope I get some sometime soon, for my sake and for the sake of the country. It should considered a national tragedy that I ain't got none. This place sucks and I can't wait til I get back to Chicago so I can see some real gals again. Talk to ya later!

A Weekend of Potential

The weekend begins now. Thursday is the new Friday. I'm not going to any classes tomorrow so I can get Cubs tickets. I need Cubs tickets, I need em bad. I honestly only wanna go to two games, Opening Day and the sunday night game against the Red Sox. Would I like to see Cubs vs. Sox, of course. Do I want to see Cubs-Cards before I leave for Carbondale...HELL YEAH! Do I wanna give Alooouuu my final send off and Barry a true Chicagoans heckle...OH YES! But I'll settle. I find myself settling for lotsa things. I won't go into those. The whirlwhind weekend actually began today as I spent my whole day writing a paper in which I mostly B.S.'d it anyways. Then my quasi-roommate will officially become my roommate tomorrow as soon as I sign paper work. Yes, no more $50 a month, and just in time, I'm running out of the scholarship money I've been living off since last semester. This will only be the third and fourth times I go out this weekend when my boy from the U of I comes down along with a former SIU student and her friends. I can't wait til spring break. I need to see some real girls, cuz the girls down here, sorry, they suck. My friend managed to convince my sister that there were quality girls down here, without putting a gun to her head. Any quality girls here are taken or are currently whoring themselves around (but obviously not around me). Thats why I need to go home. My female situation up north was better in the beginning of the year, now, its resembles my love life at SIU, its in fucking shambles. More blown oopportunities than a White Sox closer. More broken ties than Sammy has with the Cubs. More fumbles than Rashaan Salaam. I've just fucked myself when it comes to girls. I've now become everything I've hated. I've fallen into the friendzone, well, not really fallen, I took a drunken dive and you know how much alcohol and bodies of water mix. Friendship is good and all, don't get me wrong, but sometimes, I honestly want more in life than being friend to the world. I'm tired of looking for girls at the Pit. Honestly, I can see myself explaining to my son or daughter that I met mommy in a place called the Pit. And they'll ask "Daddy, what's the Pit." And one day they'd learn that the Pit was a shit-hole of a place in which STDs ran rampant, smoke filled the air and hell, the scent that stayed in your clothes ended up with its own nickname among the regulars as "essence of pit." Which consisted of cigarette smoke, marijuana smoke, must, sweat, B.O., alcohol, spilled alcohol, ass, puke and anything else you can find in a small-town college basement party. I think I deserve better than that. To quote Chris Rock, "I'd hate to be the one having to pick a wife outta this bunch. 'Daddy, where did you meet mommy?' Well, I met her at the club singing about balls...skeet skeet!" I should be ashamed of myself, but this is a situation that I brought upon myself. This is the only time I wish I had a true older sibling that could've shown me the ropes and how to approach things. Instead, I listened to friends (which was the last thing I should've done looking now at their wonderful situations ), and finally when it was too late to matter, I finally went with my own gut. But it was too late, it was like I had just handed in a failed test. And it's not like I surround myself with these girls that you would be ashamed to be around. My friends are gonna kill me if one of my gals doesn't come and visit. They know all their stories that I tell them, I just don't tell them how I've damn near fucked up all of them. I've got major damage control to do when I go home for summer. I can't do anything for Spring Break, one week is too short, and I have to get caught up wit da fam, but summer, I got my work cut out for me. I've already dropped pursuit of the girl I used to work with at McDonald's because of lack of contact, I might call her one of these days, for the hell of it, but I know a lost battle when I see it. I shoulda just tried to tap it while I was home for that one October weekend. Instead I was chasing another lost battle. What is it with me and going after girls that have no interest in me in that way. It sucks, cuz they all say the same thing, about how they want a guy to treat them right, they want a guy who listens and they basically describe me and then they go after some guy who ends up being an asshole and guess what, they end up crying on my shoulder in the end. If there is anything that is taking years off my life, it isn't my deteriorating relationship with my father, the stress that comes along with being a Cubs fan, living the city life as a well-off minority, or the life of a college student, but instead, my downfall will end up being my relationship (or lack there of) with women. Drive me fucking CRAZY! I am currently sitting here shaking my head in disgust of my own self. Hell, I don't even want a random one night stand, because that's not my style, I want soemthing, something of substance. But I'm in the mecca known as friggin Carbondale. I HAVE NOTHING TO WORK WITH HERE PEOPLE! Unlike DePaul, where it is a requirement that you are drop dead gorgeous, where beauty won't cut it, down here, at SIUC, the requirement is that you are either a Hoebag, a potential hoebag, someone who dresses like a hoebag, or something to that extent. Of course you have those exceptions that slip through the cracks, but the good girls, end up outta here quicker than yuppie Cub fans leaving a Cubs-Sox game at U.S. Cell Block 5 (err...US Cellular Field). School isn't about girls, its about getting an education, expanding your horizons and bullshit like that. I've made plenty of friends down here, in fact, if I get married by some miracle, these guys and gals are all invited to come and get crunk cuz they know city folks do it the best. I'll be inviting everyone from small towns like Texaco and Albany to people from the city and the wannabe cities that surround us ;-). I love you all. Wow, I just realized I titled this blog 'A Weekend of Potential'. It has turned out to be another one of SIU Lou's rant and rave sessions. I love it. So to summarize the weekend: Cubs tickets go on sale on-line at 10 am. My friend that used to go to school here arrives around 4 pm. My friend from the U of I arrives at 9:30, we go to the Pit at 10. Saturday: Wake up, shake off any potential hang over, SIU vs. Wichita State (The last home game, Senior Day, Maroon Out, potential conference regular season clincher) and the game is at 1 pm, Rest after the game until 7. Shit, shave and bathe, off to the Pit or Mills (I'm up for something new), thats between 9 and 10. Sunday, my friend leaves ????, Lou works on his paper and on his FAFSA report. Notice I mention nothing about getting laid...welcome to the world of SIU Lou where expectations are like a pregnant ant's stomach...THAT FUCKIN LOW! Holla at a playa when you see him in the street!

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

New Poem

I've found myself in the last two creative writing classes writing poems. Now yes, that is what we do in class. But I find myself, while people are talking about the poem, and after I've thrown in my two cents I find myself miraculously writing on my purple folder. I think thats what the folder is gonna be used for, random thoughts of poetry. It worked for me in grade school and grammar school where I used either a notebook, binder or folder to write my current feelings, it helped me get through the day a lot easier. For example, the last poem "How opposites attract" that was written in class. So here is another one. It's called:

Don't Quit On Me by Luis medina

Please don't gice up on me
Wait! I can explain myself.
I know I've let you down in the past and
I've taken your childhood away from you,
money out of your pocket and in the end,
years off of your life
And though I can't give any of that back
the least I can do is apologize.
But that was then, I've changed
Ask anyone
This is my time, I know it and guarantee it!
Gimme one more chance, please!
If I can guarantee no more pain,
no more heartbreak
and nomore suffering...
Will you take me serious again?
I'm sorry that I've brought you empty promises in the past
but now I can bring you the infinite rewards in the immediate future.
Are you ready to give me another chance.
I know I've broken more hearts than ex-girlfriends
and have dashed more dreams than loud, obnoxious roommates.
But I'm finally ready to take that next step,
and take it with you,
all of you.
From the 3 million that showed up last year,
to the few that scattered the streets after October 15th 2003 in tears.
Come with me on a journey,
at least one last time.

Once again, interpret as you may.

A strange but wonderful dream

I just woke up from a peaceful two-hour nap. I was only awaken by a random black man asking me about his hair...only a dream that beautiful would be interrupted by a vision so ugly. No offense dawg, but you ain't the prettiest person I know. I digress. Wow, well, it was cold today, very cold and rainy and depressing. Oh yeah and hail. Not golf-ball sized, Chicago-style hail, but cold creepy hail that hit you in the face and sent shivers down your spine. So I came back, and took me a long quiet nap. I left an away message that quoted The Game's "Dreams" "And I brought you all my dreams...because I love you..." well, here is my dream. It was a great dream. It was peaceful and mellow, yet I was in good spirits. I think I was outside because it was dark and tehre were trees surrounding me. And a path in which people either walked or they were riding bicycles or jogging or something, I wasn't really paying attention. I was paying attention to the fact that I was surrounded by a dozen gorgeous women. We were all huddled, sitting on the ground listening to something, or observing nature or...I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT THE FUCK WE WERE DOING! Once again, I wish I knew what was going on. But once again, my dream resembles real life in which I was not paying attention to something I obviously shoulda been paying attention to. So at one point we all got up and began to say our goodbyes, and one cute brunette stepped over to me and said (to what I can remember): "I'd like to finish this meeting somewhere, can I have your number?" In a state of shock, I of course obliged. I still sat. Another approached me and asked me for my number. Three others came and I got all their numbers. I only remember one number though, and only the first three digits: 141. What kind of sign is that...well, wait the dream gets weirder. I got back to my dorm room (so I must've been at college) and everyone was standing in the hallway, everywhere I went, every floor I was on, it was weird. This old man stood outside my door demanding to see my ID and saying I couldn't be in my room. Oh yeah, another part to that dream. Okay, my friend Larry (who is an actual person) came to me and told me that cops were going thru everyones rooms for no reason, just to fuck us up. I was scared, so in the scared state I was I panicked and tried to hid bottles of Bacardi Limon, Absolut Vodka and Bacardi Zombie and Hennessey in a tiny drawer. If you are an SIU student or parent and remember the small desk drawers on the top, yeah, that wouldn't fit. But, I got everything in by some miracle. I was saved being arrested. However, I spent time in the jailhouse bailing out all of my friends. But I can't get over the girls. I wanna know what that was about. In the state that I am currently in, where I'm like Puffy, I need a girl, I want to know if that was a good sign of things to come. It's dark and cold and quiet outside, just like my love life...what did that dream mean, if anything?

How Opposites Attract

How Opposites Attract by Luis Medina

Big city, bright lights
corner stores and
street fights.
Dirt roads, country calm
farmers market
makes me yawn.
Movie theatres
drive ins.
Films before they come out,
got them through a friend,
bootleggin.
For you its John Mayer, me
it's Lil Jon
loud booms of the King of Crunk,
contrast with Mayer's eerie calm.
But when our eyes met, you didn't know me
I didn't know you.
But I wanted to be with you, not for just one night,
not even just two.
So here's to the night, I thought I was in love
with an angel from above...
But I was wrong.
So as I turn around and leave, its one more slurred song
as I walk away I mutter,
good bye and so long.

Sunday, February 20, 2005

My Second Poetry Assignment

This was the second of my poetry assignments for my creative writing class. I really changed the tone in this one, compared to the depressed, isolated and lonely tone of my 1st poem (see My 1st Poem, January 21st 2005). This one, well, judge for yourself.

Hey Buddy

Your smell is disgusting
like old trash exposed to the summer’s heat.
Your style is ridiculous!
If it’s not your polyester shirt decorated with unknown stains,
it’s your jeans you’ve been holding on to since the Nixon administration.
Don’t you think it’s time to move on?
The way your hair is everywhere,
it’s wild and uncontrollable.
The people at Rogaine want your secret to rapid hair growth
When you speak it makes me cringe,
as if I was in grade school again,
and Mrs. Jones is running her nails down the chalkboard.
Even the slightest thought of it makes me want to hurl,
but if you had a taste,
It’d probably be comparable to spoiled milk.
I’m sorry,
you’re as attractive as the mold growing in the fridge.

Hope Springs Eternal

As Promised, Part two of the baseball poetry series

Hope Springs Eternal by Luis Medina

A cold, dark night interrupted
by the flash of a warm summer's day.
The brisk, chilling wind comes to a dead halt
with the recurring memories of the summer's breeze.
The reality of naked trees and dying grass is now replaced,
by the lively green ivy and the thick freshly cut grass.
The eternal hope brought by the plain white winter
is followed by the blossoming brought along by spring.
Which leads us to the joys brought by the boys of summer.
This is finally concluded with the ultimate reward,
earned in the fall.
It's enever ending cycle,
that begins on a cold, dark night.