2006 In Review Part II: Top 10 Highlights

Moving to part two of the year in review, 10 highlights. Despite what you might read in this blog, finding 10 highlights wasn't as impossible as it could be, especially if you read this blog and realize how emotionally and mentally unbalanced I can be at times. However I will say this about the "highlights" segment of 2006, when they were good they were real good. 2006 in a nutshell: like a .500 ballclub, when they're good they're real good, when they're bad, you hope it's fun bad. When it's been bad, it hasn't been "fun bad." With that said, the Top 10 Highlights (in no particular order) for 2006.

• The Cubs sweep the Cardinals, twice. Yes, I realize that the Cardinals won the World Series but they still get no love from me. They finished with a losing record to the worst team in the National League and for a majority of the games (minus the final three in St. Louis which served as the first signs of the team quitting under Dusty Baker save the Rich Hill start on Fox Saturday Game of the Week) and were dominated by the Cubs (and White Sox for that matter) when they played in Chicago. I'll admit the first sweep was sweet, a three game sweep which concluded on ESPN as their Sunday Night Game of the week which was highlighted by Sean Marshall's first start, Jacque Jones first hit (a 3-run home run off Sidney Ponson) and a game winning Grand Slam by catcher Michael Barrett. However, the sweep that was sweetest was the one in Chicago in July, concluding with a victory by Carlos Zambrano over reigning Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter. That might have been the peak of the summer, it ended a few weeks later.
• If this list was in chronological order, my 20th birthday would probably rank #1. It was an awesome 5 day period in which my "Southern family" came north from everywhere to help me celebrate turn the big 2-0. We partied like rock stars, taking in the sights and sounds Chicago had to offer over the 4th of July holiday. Arguably it was the most fun I've had in consecutive days this year!
• My trip to Puerto Rico was nice too. It was cool to see some of my family members again and take in life on the island. It was also pretty nice to use the Spanish I rarely use in Carbondale (or Chicago for that matter.) I wonder when I'll be returning to the island.
• The most anticipated moment of 2006 was probably meeting a new friend in Meagan. Meagan was a friend I knew through my old roommate Hoos who was coming up to see Country Thunder, a four day fest of country music that I was also slated at one point to attend. In preparation of the days in which she would stay a few with me, we basically spoke every day beginning sometime in spring 2006 until she arrived in July. That definetly softened the blow of what could have been initial awkwardness for it was to be the first time we'd ever meet in person. In addition to meeting Meagan, I was able to meet her friend Alyce who was to be attending Northwestern University in Evanston. Our time together was fun, and still I talk to Meagan on a regular basis.
• Another highly anticipated event of 2006 was moving off campus. I talk regularly in sports terms, especially when it comes to "change of scenery." Well the change of scenery has done me well if you ask me. To be honest, I've had my issues with former roommies, but I'll leave the past where it belongs. Currently, I love my roommates Marcus and Steve and I'm pretty sure the love is mutual between the three of us. No disrespect to my former roommates, but I don't think I've ever been happier with my living situation. Living off campus has been great. No RA's, no write ups, I cook my own meals and we can play music as loud as we'd like. Can't knock that now can ya?
• SIU Wins The MVC Tourney. With their backs against the wall and another consecutive NCAA appearance in the balance, the SIU Salukis turned out three wins in the MVC tournament in St. Louis clinching the automatic bid in the NCAA tourney for the first time since 1994. The highlight you ask? Probably would be when after SIU's overtime winner against Northern Iowa, I asked now-roommate Steve if he'd be interested in going to StL for the championship game. We rounded up several friends on the floor and headed to StL the next day on a spur of the moment type thing that really was a major adrenaline rush from beginning to end! Celebrating on court rocked too!
• Camping with Roy. Camping was fun, I enjoyed this version of camping compared to the stuff we did when I was a kid in tents in crappy weather. Roy's trailer rocks, Uncle Squeak calls it 'Condo Camping' cuz it has the ammenities of home (shower, fridge, stove, oven, beds) while also being outdoors. Drinking, eating, drinking, fishing, eating. That's the camping itnerary.
• KISS FM'S FRIDAY FREE FOR ALL. As I said in my last post, it was a good year musically, especially for new music. However nothing caught my ear like WKSC 103.5's Friday Free For All. It began when an outgoing deejay on his last episode decided to use his last show to go back in time and bring back classic songs from the 80s and 90s. Dance hits, club hits, songs that were popular when I was young, before I was young, when my mom used to party, etc. Songs like Holiday, Like A Virgin, Dangerous on the Dancefloor, Supersonic, Groove is in the Heart, What Is Love, Spring Love, Push It, Total Eclipse of the Heart, Jump Around....I COULD GO ON FOREVER! This flashback has contiued to be a Friday highlight and staple, now that I can get it streaming (along with the best morning show ever, the Drex Show) online @ kisschicago.com.
• The Bears Hot Start. A more recent add on to the happy moments of '06. '06 started off sour for the Bears with a loss to the Carolina Panthers (I'll get into that in the not so happy moments of 2006.) But the Bears started this year strong at 7-0 behind their dominating defense, super-special teams and the arm of a resurgent (and healthy) Rex Grossman. Since then "Sexy Rexy" has struggled, but has my support to lead the Bears to their first Super Bowl since 1985.
• The New Look Cubs. Not much went right for the Cubs in 2006, but they've set nice groundwork for 2007. President/CEO Andy "The Clown" MacPhail (should be F-A-I-L) resigned from his post, followed out the door the next day by much maligned manager Dusty Baker. In the weeks since the two failures have left the Cubs have turned the baseball world on its ear with their newfound willingness to spend and win right now. VP of Broadcasting and Marketing John McDonough was named 'interim' President of the Cubs. Next, they hired Lou Piniella to manage the team in an attempt to lead them to their first World Series appearance since 1945 and victory since 1908. They re-signed key pieces Wade Miller, Henry Blanco, Kerry Wood and Aramis Ramirez. They also added free agents Ted Lilly, Jason Marquis and Mark DeRosa to fill holes in the starting rotation and at second base. However those pale in comparison the the off-season coup they pulled off by signing Alfonso Soriano to an 8 year $136 million dollar contract. Soriano became the highest paid Cub in the history of the franchise and marked the first time the Cubs have signed the top player in a free-agency class in his prime in my life time. They're not done however, it could lead to an interesting 2007.

Here's hoping I have more trouble finding 10 highlights next year (hoping I have more than 10!)

Finally Part VII Of Lu's Fun W/Poetry: The Final Chapter

The final chapter, for this semester at least. I'm not a big fan of "New Years Resolutions" because they always fail, but next year I'll be making an effort to keep writing. This year I've seen the quality of my work increase as I've contiued to write this year and would love to keep this up.

I'll preface this final piece by saying that this was one of my favorite ones to write and read this semester. I put together some interesting ideas portraying how I was feeling at the time and it seemed to get good reviews from the people in class and others that have read it. With that said, I'm glad that someone out there can read my work and appreciate it for what it is. Without further to do, my final poem of 2006 'Down, Not Out.'


DOWN, NOT OUT
by Luis C. Medina


An open ear listens
to close-minded thoughts.
Stomp on the doormat to your life,
and dragging dirt inside.
In search of inspiration,
I fill the void
he left behind.
My ideas go ignored,
unwelcome words turn
into shredded strands of failure.
Beaten and belittled
I crawl back.The pain feels good.


This was to be the love poem and the goal of this poem was to show how much you love someone, and trying not to say, “I love you” with the idea of show, don’t tell. Understand that this isn’t your typical love poem. I really flipped the idea of this poem by showing another side of love, which is love that goes unreturned, which was the underlying theme and inspiration for this poem.

As for changes, I didn’t make many because I felt that this was my strongest poem that I wrote for this class. I did tweak some of the words in an attempt to perfect the flow and pace of the poem. I also cut out other words that were filler and broke up the flow of the poem. There were several suggestions on lengthening the poem, but I felt that it being short gave me the best chance to get my feelings clearly across. Though I could argue that leaving more to be desired by the reader is exactly how I felt when writing this poem. Oh, the irony!

2006 In Review Part I: Top 10 Songs!

As I've been saying, this year in review is going to be different from the previous reviews of previous years. I will not go month by month and detail every little thing that made 2006 special. Instead, I've broken it down into the following categories, making everything easier to read, and make people actually want to read it (for what reason I do not know.) As for the catergories: 10 Favorite Songs, 10 Highlights, 10 Lowlights, 10 Things I'm Looking Forward To, and 10 Things I Don't Want Following Me In 2007.

My 10 Favorite Songs (in no particular order):

• Sexy Back, Justin Timberlake. Every summer there's a song that blows up the airwaves, this year it was JT's 'Sexy Back.' It comes right at you with a pounding beat and intriguing vocals that make you want to scream along "I'M BRINGING SEXY BACK, THEM OTHER FUCKERS DON'T KNOW HOW TO ACT!"With the backing and re-emergence of super-producer Timbaland (who produced a majority of JTs album Future Sex/Love Sounds and hits for Nelly Furtado ), Justin ruled the charts in the summer and has continued to do so with his 2nd #1 hit...
• ...My Love, featuring rapper T.I. Timberlake's ballad which starts with "If I wrote you a symphony/Just to say how much you mean to me/If I told you you were beautiful/Would you date me on the regular?" That's some deep shit, and I love it, absolutely love it. T.I.'s rap is just icing on the cake to go with Timbaland's production. TIP kills it with the line "Friends so fly i can go fly/Private, cause I handle mine/T.I. they call me candle guy, simply because I am on fire" and makes me wanna go "damn this song is off the hook!" Song of the year and album of the year, hands down go to JT, but a close runner up is...
• ...How To Save A Life, by The Fray. The Fray are new comers to my world, and this is one of two appearances they'll make on this countdown. How To Save A Life, is equated by many as the song from hit television show 'Grey's Anatomy' which is quite a good show if I must say so myself. How To Save A Life, is a mellow song that reminds me a lot of my 2006 especially in these lines: "Step one you say we need to talk/He walks you say sit down it's just a talk/He smiles politely back at you/You stare politely right on through" and "Where did I go wrong, I lost a friendSomewhere along in the bitternessAnd I would have stayed up with you all night/Had I known how to save a life." I must ask you the reader, who hasn't had a moment like that, I know I've had my fair share.
• Over My Head, also by The Fray makes the list as well. The video really made this song for me, if you get a chance search for it on launch.com or some place that plays videos on line. I love everything about the song, everything, it'd probably be #2 behind Sexy Back if I had to put these in any type of order. I love the opening lines "I never knew that everything was falling through/That everyone I knew was waiting on cue/To turn and run when all I needed was the truth", the line in the chorus "eight seconds left in overtime", and my absolute favorite line of any song this year (at least on the list) "And suddenly I become a part of your past/I'm becoming the part that don't last/I'm losing you and its effortless." That my friends is some real deep shit, "I'm losing you and it's EFFORTLESS!" I feel it, cuz I've been in that situation, once again if you speak to me in music, I will like it!
• Next is Bad Day by Daniel Powter. Another song known by its television affilitation (American Idol.) And again, another song that strikes a chord with me. I had myself plenty of bad days this year, this song really just sums it up. Good call, DP!
• What's Left of Me by Nick Lachey somehow won an award for being the best love song of 2006, despite it being a song about losing Jessica Simpson. Ridicule me as much as you want for putting both Timberlake and Lachey on the list, but if I was him I'd be depressed about losing Jessica Simpson (especially knowing how much Lu has a thing for hot, blonde southern girls.) And she's rich! Nevertheless, Lachey did a good job not only on this song but on his album as well, granted every song is 'What's Left Of Me' with different words, as is The Fray's 'How To Save A Life' which Meltini from the Drex show put it best "I love the album, but its How To Save a Life each song with different lyrics." But hey, it works.
• A sleeper pick for the Top 10 is Ashley Parker Angel's, Let U Go. This song got a major push when APA performed live on the Drex show one morning. Though he didn't perform this song (a Billboard certified hit), other songs like "Crazy Beautiful", "Who Cares?" and "A Beautiful Lie" were performed and also became staples and in heavy rotation in my I-Pod.
• The hip-hop song of the year is arguably Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It by Dem Franchize Boys. Behind the production of rapper/producer/midget/over-achiever Jermaine Dupri, DFB put out a few hits this year in their album On Top Of Our Game. Though it wasn't a great album, Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It had people everywhere doing one of the most simple dances known to man! And they had a squabble with fellow Atlanta rap group D4L (of Laffy Taffy fame) about who originated the dance. Love when hip-hop beef is born from a dance off!
• 4 Minutes by Avant is a song about a dude who's literally gonna lose his girl if he doesn't give her a good explanation on why she should stay. Love the hook "I only got 4 minutes to do what i gotta do to prove to you that im gon' do anything/i only got 4 minutes to say what i gotta say to make you stay and show you that i will change/cuz in 4 minutes ill never have my girl again/ in 4 minutes ima lose her to some other man/ four no less no more/ im desperate cuz the clocks tickin/ i got 4 minutes to go" and along with guest appearances by Krayzie and Lazy Bone, Shawnna and production by DJ Smurf aka Mr. Collipark, 4 minutes was a hit for me. Once again a strong that strikes a chord in Lu. Unfortunately, Lu ran out of time and his 4 minutes in reality turned into the clock striking midnight.
• Finally, the hit for the first half of this year was Ne-Yo's, So Sick. A common theme here, Lu finds a song that he can relate to his life, go figure. Ne-Yo did something I'd love to do, turn heartbreak in to millions of dollars, the difference between he and I is that A) he's a bit better looking and B) sings much better than I do. But if you've read my poetry, I can write about heartbreak as good as the rest of 'em! I love how Ne-Yo really tells it how it is saying how sick he is of love songs, I can't blame him, I feel the same way, especially with the recent batch of love songs this generation has put out. C'mon, when Nick Lachey is winning awards for best love song for a song about being dumped, we've got some issues writing love songs people! That's besides the point. So Sick, hits a chord with everyone who can't stand not being in love, being dumped, rejected, overlooked, etc. If I did rank these top to bottom, So Sick would land probably at #3.

Song quote of the year, from So Sick: "And I'm so sick of love songs/So tired of tears/So done with wishing you were still here/Said I'm so sick of love songs so sad and slow/So why can't I turn off the radio?" Gotta love it people.

SIDE NOTE: It was also a good year if you're looking at albums as a whole. Really good albums this year came from artists such as: Panic! At The Disco, Daniel Powter, Teddy Geiger, T.I., Ludacris, Clipse, Jay-Z, The Game, Busta Rhymes, Lupe Fiasco among others. In a year where the theme of the summer songs was girls sluttin' it up with songs like Me & U by Cassie, Promiscuous by Nelly Furtado, Loosen Up My Buttons by The Pussy Cat Dolls among countless other songs I deemed as "whore anthems" (jokingly of course) I came up with a damn good top 10 list and a nice start to SIU Final's Week and a good beginning to the end of 2006!

Part VI Of Poetry Fun

COMPARING ERAS
by Luis C. Medina


As the calendar turns
The Doors’ vinyl record turns into their greatest hits
on compact disc.
Tapping typewriter keys
replaced by click-click computing
followed by a voice announcing proclaiming
‘You’ve got mail.’
Black and white scrap-booked memories
Are supplanted by digital images.
Gone are those groovy bell-bottoms,
swapped with dragging jeans
headed to the hip-hop spot,
not the disco.
Love makers against war
now residing in corporate offices
spawned today’s progressive,
leisure loving kids surfing the net.
Time may fly,
but the past keeps us grounded.


This is a revision of the museum poem. I liked writing the museum poem because I was able to compare replicas of what dorm rooms at SIU have looked like throughout time. When preparing myself to write this poem I took pictures of each living setting and I took notes on what was in each room. I took the best and most interesting objects and made a poem out of it. It was a contrast of “new school” and “old school” so to speak.

As for changes I made minimal changes. I added some details such as the love makers against war now residing in corporate offices and progressive, leisure loving kids surfing the net, in an attempt to give more descriptive characterization of the people I wanted to be describing. In addition, I dropped the mini-skirt line and added where the kids were going. Knowing that many parents are against a lot of the hip-hop culture, I figured that would be a nice place to send the kids that would make the parents cringe a little. I also added a few descriptive words too in an attempt to liven up the poem a bit.