Be About It

This is a real, down-to earth sister who I have been following for a while on Youtube. She exudes truth and power through her voice, and wisdom and knowledge through her videos. Please check her video page out on Youtube - RealismsTruth. This blog entry is reference to her video titled, “Black on Black Problems" which is nothing more than the truth and an eye-opener for the Black Community, though some may disagree. It’s time we as a people collectively take active measures to advance and improve our communities one step at a time. We have to take responsibility ourselves and get involved by making a difference, and most importantly, we need to get OUR priorities in order. For those of you who are actually taking proactive measures by doing community service, volunteering, advocating, or mentoring, I take my hat off to you. For those of you who are not, I encourage you to give it some consideration. See what benefit or impact you can have in helping to serve in getting our communities back in order. I recently started volunteering last month, and I will be taking part in another event on the 25th in support of enriching and building up our communities. So realize that I’m not just talking about it, I’m being about it – That is about making a difference and improvement within OUR communities.

Move On: Stop Dwelling & LIVE

Many people tend to let thoughts and issues of the past consume them in their present daily lives (I was one of them). Dwelling on situations that you no longer can control is dead weight that you don’t need. It is normal to look back on things that transpired in your life and think about what you wish you would have done differently, or what you wish would have never happened if it was something beyond your control but don’t DWELL. Learn how to cope with those past issues and regrets by gaining control so that your life isn’t impacted by you continuing to live in the past and not the future. You’re forgetting to worry about what’s going on in your life at the present moment due to the fact that you’re spending too much time remembering and living in the past, let it go! Don’t judge yourself by your past failures and mishaps but instead, learn from them and make use of them in your present life. In addition, try not to limit yourself or position in life based on those past setbacks and mistakes. Your focus should be on today not yesterday, not the day before, not last month or last year, but today, present time, and future.

For another boost of inspiration or encouragement, check out my “friend in the Blogosphere” -Poet, Pr Writer, Journalist & Novelist ain hd.

“Don’t judge yourself by your failures. Those with great failures are blessed to be GREAT WINNERS. Just see YOURSELF in the FUTURE. You are royalty.” – Donald Lawrence

T.I. Sentenced to 1 Year & 1 Day In Prison

Photos By: WireImage

THE “KING”- Rapper Clifford T.I. Harris was sentenced to serve 366 days in Federal Prison Friday March 27, 2009 in Atlanta, GA. – He will begin serving his sentence sometime in May.

He pleaded guilty last year in March stemming from his arrest due to having control of silencers and machine guns. In addition to the rappers arrest for firearms, T. I. was already a convicted felon at the time, therefore was charged with two felony counts. To have his prison term reduced, T.I. was ordered to complete a total of 1,500 hours of community service.

He has already completed over 1,000 hours advocating to young children and adolescents, encouraging them not to follow down the same disparaging path in life that he chose to take.

T.I. has apologized constantly for his actions of wrong doings, while expressing how much he has changed, evolved, and grown to be a different man from his previous life experiences.
I respect him for standing up to the plate and admitting and acknowledging his criminal past and wrong doings. I respect the fact that he stood up and became a “voice” to the youth by upholding them to make the right choices in life while staying on the right path to fulfill their mission in life, whatever it may be.

T.I. – Keep your head man! Get in do the time, Come out drop another hit!

Unwitting Faux Pas

You know, I really don’t get it at times – or shall I say; I really don’t get some people at times. I have had this said to me over and over and over again: You’re so articulate or You speak with such intelligence, Okay And? What are you trying to imply? You mine as well just say, “I’m surprised you don’t sound like the stereotypical black guy- ghetto, and speak in broken sentences.”

Are you lauding me or being patronizing? Am I expected to thank you for basically telling me I speak proper? Am I displaying a type of behavior that you find surprising by being able to effectively hold a decent conversation? Maybe you were expecting me to exhibit unseemly manners or dialect when I opened my mouth. Well, I hate to break it to you but, I DO speak with such intelligence and I AM articulate when presenting myself and holding a conversation because I’m suppose to – It is what is expected from me as an educated, professional young black man, to speak STANDARD ENGLISH.

Now, I will be the first to say that I do use “slang” as some would put it, and use “black speech patterns” because it is rooted within my culture which is a part of me HOWEVER; I know when it is acceptable to use and when it’s not. Obviously, I’m not walking around 24/7 chopping consonants off every word I use in a formal situation but, in some informal situations, yes. Even within this blog you will come across some slightly informal posts in which I employ “slang” or “black speech patterns”, but on the more formal posts you will not detect any being utilized at all. Again I say; there is a time and place when it is acceptable and not acceptable to use.

Some people may think I’m being too sensitive or looking too far into things but the truth of the matter is, the phrase – You’re so articulate has much more behind the meaning than just speech.

Take It Back By Force!

There have been plenty of times when I questioned my faith during my trials and circumstances or questioned if what was happening to me the will of God. The feeling of being challenged, tempted, stressed, discouraged, deserted, and alone beyond one could bear. I kept asking the questions, WHY ME? One minute I’m standing, the next minute I’m falling, one minute I’m up, the next minute I’m down, WHY ME? Why it is that life keeps sending me such painful moments? Why is the enemy constantly attacking me? Why is my faith CONSTANTLY being tested? WHY ME?

I’ve been through valley’s, hurt by people who I thought was on my side, so- called “friends” and even family members tried to tarnish my character and attack my integrity, I was down and out, and so hopeless. Being out of my right mind with my life beginning to spin out of control, I felt that God hated me from all the things I’ve done (more wrong than right) in his mind, and from this I believed he had forsaken me. During these times (out of my right mind), I was fortunate enough to have parents and some family who had the FAITH strong and prevailing enough to intervene on my behalf.

You see, all those trials and circumstances that were thrown my way were for a purpose and reason, but I didn’t see it at the time because the enemy was so busy working overtime on me. The enemy wanted me to rely solely on myself rather than relying on the works and word of God. The enemy wanted me to give up and give in when the load became too heavy for me to bear rather than depending and leaning on my faith. I decided that I had to take back EVERYTHING the enemy (enemies) stole from me; my peace, happiness, joy, mind, and most importantly my faith.

I can finally say after 8 years of going to hell and back, I am now a stride closer to accepting my purpose in life. It feels good to be highly favored despite the odds that were up against me because I could have given it all up (I was very close) and been dead and gone, but I was favored. I now have the power to change everything in my life despite Satan still being in existence, but I will no longer let him try to destroy me or have control over me AGAIN. I will NO longer let the enemy claim his victory in my life. It feels good to say that I am able to now go on, not by my own power and strength but by His spirit. I had to let go in order to let God lead me where he wants me to be. He has a purpose that he see is fit for me, so all I can do now is continue to put my faith and trust in him while following the path he already had paved for me.

“I TOOK MY LIFE BACK BY FORCE AND TOOK BACK EVERYTHING THE ENEMY STOLE FROM ME.” It feels so good to be free from those shackles…. You too can get EVERYTHING back that the enemy stole from you including your life!

Enough with me preaching...GO ON AND GET YOUR LIFE BACK!!!

~CONTINUE TO BE BLESSED, ENCOURAGED, & INSPIRED~

Multiple "Baby Daddies" & Proud

This has been on my mind so I feel the need to briefly address this issue after what I heard earlier riding Marta. Two young women probably between the ages of 19 – 23, were having an OPEN detailed conversation regarding their children and their 3 and 4 “Baby Daddies” loud enough for everyone on the train to hear. Yes, I said 3 and 4 Baby Daddies! I found it dreadfully repulsive, sad, and a complete turn-off how these young women boasted to each other about having multiple men father their children with no shame. Is having baby after baby by different men becoming the norm in our society? What happened to self-respect, self-esteem, morals, and values? It is distressing when I hear young women disclosing the fact that they had or have babies with multiple men; as though it’s something to brag about. I am fully aware that out-of-wedlock pregnancies occur and will continue to occur but when do [you] stand and take responsibility for yourself? Would you rather keep putting your “babies” in hindering and disadvantage conditions by continuing to have baby after baby with different men? I understand the fact that some of these young women are in committed relationships overtime with these men, but to have a consistent pattern of different men fathering your children is ridiculous.

Please note; I am not in any way passing judgment on anyone who falls into this category, nor am I trying to be bias to the situation. I am aware that the same can be said for some men out there; I'm more so stating my personal opinion on this particular situation that occured.

Too Distracted To Be Motivated

Spring is officially here! The days are warmer and longer, the air is filled with sunshine and the streets around the "A" are packed with beautiful ladies of ALL flavors and trucks, jeeps, and drop-tops cruising with systems knocking. To add to these "distractions", there is a different party jumping off every night of the week whether it be on the North, South, East, or West side of town. This is the time of the year when I start to lose my focus,and become less motivated on keeping up with the important things set forth before me due to my interest in extra-entertainment happenings. For instance, I have a little more than 5 weeks to go before the end of the semester and I have an overwhelming amount of readings and assignments to complete; talk about procrastinating!! I can't blame anyone but myself but trust, I will be on my grind EXTRA hard over the next few weeks. A boost of motivation and a priority check never hurts so give me a minute and I will be straight!! Besides, this is ATL and one would want to entertain themselves in what the city has to offer from time to time.

Protection??!!?? Not Really...

OK, this is so random but I must vent – So, I thought it would be cool for me to go on to imeem and listen to some music earlier today while [attempting] being the operative word, to work on a project for my Research Methods Class. I log on, type my man Dwele’s name into the artists search box to get a complete selection of playlists, and proceed to select a certified playlist of his. 10 minutes later I noticed the hour glass in the bottom right hand corner of my screen is STILL rotating – populating requested information. At this point I’m wondering what’s going on because usually a playlist will populate automatically after like 10 seconds, but that was not the case this time around. Next thing you know, my computer started acting crazy, jumping from various screens, and different websites popping up when I did not try to access the sites in the first place. After closing out of imeem I tried to gain access to another site but no luck, just another pop-up! Mind you I have pop-up blocker enabled on my computer to “prevent” this from occurring. After about an hour I realized that the playlist I tried to play must have had some type of virus and therefore screwed my laptop up. With all this being said, what was the purpose of me paying $59.00 downloading and installing a McAfee Security Center package on my computer if the program wasn’t going to PROTECT, PREVENT and BLOCK potential spyware and viruses?!?! It wasn’t like I didn’t have the security center enabled because I did in addition to having the pop-up blocker on. I’m just annoyed and needed to vent my frustrations real quick. I paid to have my system protected but that wasn’t the case; I could have kept my $59.00, especially in the economic woes of this recession!

Tossin' & Turnin'

Here I am Tossin’ & Turnin’ and NO I’m not talking about the song recorded by Bobby Lewis. It’s Saturday 4:30 in the morning and I am WIDE AWAKE and restless as hell. This is yet another night where I have been up the majority of the night with little to NO sleep at all. So here I am; sitting-up in bed writing this random blog about the irregularities of my sleep and wake cycles hoping to keep you entertained. Can I blame these crazy sleep cycles and patterns on the exposed hormone called MELATONIN, which I must be producing very little of; or do I blame it on the daily stresses and challenges from being laid off by Corporate America while managing to run my own business minus the Business Partner I started with a year ago?
At any rate, I need to get THIS under control or continue popping pills in order to fall asleep. I know, I know, it’s not good, but not getting enough sleep at night is no good for me either. In addition, the lack of sleep is only feeding into my daily addiction of facebook and twitter, I'll admit I’m a stone cold addict. To top it off, having a Blackberry doesn't help at all because I find myself utilizing facebook mobile and twitter more than ever as oppose to using my laptop. Oh well, it's late and too much time has passed since I began writing this nonsense, so I will attempt to get a little shut-eye while I can.. But wait, DO I HEAR BIRDS CHIRPING??!! I guess since it is almost sunrise they have every right, hell I'm the one that can't sleep!!