on swimming: not just a summer madness

I was thinking back the other day about my childhood and teenage years. Granted I have always been an outgoing person. Thankfully my parents fed that hunger. They had me in a slew of programs athletic, academic, and creative. When it came to athletics I tried a few things. Basketball I played all the time in junior high and high school. Mainly sweated out in different cats backyards in the neighborhood. They kept their basketball rims either attached to the garage or as an independent post elsewhere in the driveway. 21 was the usual pick up game and when there was enough players, teams of two on two, three on three, four on four, or five on five. Guys would gather either on foot or 10-speed or BMX bike to wait their turn calling next forming teams to replace whoever lost. A good way to catch up with ya boys from the ‘hood for real because everybody was playing like we all got hip to it at the same time. When girls started coming by that made it even better to gain props for having ball handling skills and making shots. Girls made games real intense and afterwards it was time to talk to ‘em if you weren’t already hollering on the sidelines waiting your turn. Summertime days I’m talking bout and things were hot. It was fun.
I even played softball. They had a league about a block away from our house at the large gravel lot of Hampton Elementary School. It was cool but softball is kind of boring. Too much time standing around not doing squat. I know a lot of cats like it, baseball too, but I never got into it. I just didn’t.
Next was soccer, a game I played with the Police Athletic League (PAL). That was fun but it was really, really hard physically. I was a little out of shape by this time and it was just taking too much to keep up. When I tried track in high school I felt the same way- too much work sweating under the hot sun. Later like now, I wish I stuck with soccer. Track is still not my thing. I only run for my life-not the bus or the subway. I might jog a beach though.
In between all this in the winter I did gymnastics for about a year and studied Karate for three. Yeah they both happened at the same time but neither I stuck with. Gymnastics was cool but I just liked doing flips and dismounts off the double bars. Past that, I was good on it. Karate was dope and I even used a few moves later in junior high school but really though it was about discipline or rather mind over matter which I liked but I ain’t like enough to really rise through the ranks and collect different color belts and stripes.
Junior high school brought a lot of tennis outings. I learned tennis from my man’s dad. It was a lot of fun and I was good at it. My hand eye coordination was on point but thing was after a while standing around in the hot sun playing I would just get too tired to continue.
With all of these activities there was a wall that I hit and usually I wouldn’t go through it. Basketball was enough to go beyond the pain and fatigue but the rest weren’t. Eventually I found a sport that was and below is the reason why.
I mean for all that other sports are, none can be swimmers while all swimmers can do other sports. Skills and practice not withstanding football, basketball, track and field, soccer, and tennis are not easy but a swimmer can do them all successfully if they know the specifics. Conditioning wise, swimming works out every muscle in the human body. Can’t be a better exercise and it’s low impact so the bones and joints don’t experience the wear and tear of the shock of running, jumping, stopping, falling, or being tackled onto pavement or grass. Real talk a track team racing a swimming team will probably lose to the swim team 9 times out of 10. No bull swimming is just that sort of physical activity.
I have a friend who was varsity football and basketball in high school and played football in college. He used to always talk smack about swimming being weak and laughable. He used the term "sport" in reference to swimming loosely ya’ know?
When he actually took a swimming class in college I saw him one day. I had walked onto the swim team and was heading to practice early while there was class in session. He admitted it to me getting out the pool that day,
"You know what I was always saying about swimming? I was wrong. This shit is hard as hell! I don't know how you do it."
Uh-huh, football/basketball varsity player right?
People always say swimming is easy but it takes discipline and endurance. You have to fight through the pain and fatigue to be good. Next you have to consistently practice. You have to breath and the goal is to be faster than you were last time they clocked you. It is also highly meditative when you are in rhythm working all aspects of your physical being in harmony. You can feel the breath you take in and hold. Your heart’s working hard pulling, pushing, and replenishing oxygen rich blood through your body. Your arms and shoulders rotate simultaneously as your feet and legs kick. Keep your hips up at water level. Low hips cause drag that results in slower times. You are conscious of everything concentrating on your technique. Simultaneously pushing for speed. Ever present is Fatigue and that dude is burning every fiber of every muscle you have yet you don't stop working them because your goal is clear. Be faster. Be better. There are other people in the water too but this is really a test against yourself. Will the You of the Now beat the You of the Then? Time will tell. It always does.
And if that doesn’t illustrate the why of swimming the jist is this, cooperative team sports are cool but swimming, like track, is truly a test of your will and determination. No one can win against you but you. Yes you race others but really you are only as good as your preparation. Every day you have to swim. Sundays off is cool. Saturdays off is maybe. It is a year round activity if you are trying to be competitive. You don’t take days off, slack, drink, smoke, or do anything other than focus on being the best you can period.
Every practice you go hard. Every stroke you go hard. Every kick you go hard. Every turn you flip hard. Every start you dive hard. And with every single finish you stretch your arm out to the fullest hoping when your finger tip touches the finish line that the time displayed is better than the last time regardless if you are first, second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth in your heat.
My last race in high school occurred at the conference finals. I was in the first heat of the 50-yard freestyle event. I was pre-placed last. I knew that because my lane, lane 6, was the one by the right hand wall of the pool. Okay, they see nothing in me well I got something for ‘em. The different teams were sitting around the deck of the pool. The swimmers were all standing behind their blocks waiting. The ref called us all to stand on our blocks and we did. The water below us was still. The lane markers weren’t even moving separating the lanes for each of us to swim in. The ref raised his gun toting hand in the air.
I took a gulp of breath because my heart was beating hard, adrenaline pumping through my veins.
“Take your marks.”
We all dropped to our dive positions.
Concentrate. Be sharp. Be quick.
When the gun popped off all I remember was the crack of the sound and the sizzle of my muscles. I dived in shallowly keeping my body straight as I could and kicked a hard short current behind me. Not taking a breath I started stroking hard with my arms in a circular motion. My hands were straight as knives and I was cutting into the water a head of me pulling myself through the lane with all that I had. The turn was coming and I flipped hard pushing off again straight as an arrow with the same kick and arm pull taking no breath. I put all I had into my kicks and pulled all I could. I had trained for years and could make the best of any breath I took using it to the last drop before I took another and when I kicked all the way to the wall and touched it with my finger tips I raised up. I probably took only three breaths going and three more coming. I needed to take a large gulp of air but what I really did was look at the time board. Lane six was first place with a time of 24.65 seconds. All other times listed read 25 seconds and change. I won. I beat myself and everyone else and that’s how I ended my high school swimming career on the third ranked team in my conference.
What’s better than that?
College of course.
School held it’s own trials. I walked on to the swim team swimming with cats I swam against growing up from D.C./Maryland and Philadelphia. Yep the team that the movie Pride is about. I remember that coach well. I knew em, swam against em, and now was teammates wit ‘em. Camaraderie. We swam against Howard University, Florida A & M, and other HBCU and white colleges taking road trips, laughing, winning meets and losing them. We all earned athletic scholarships and we all still are in light contact with each other. Swimming y’all. I just had to say that I love it.


Q U O A T A B L E
"What is success in this world? I would say it consists of four simple things -- to live a lot, to love a lot, to laugh a lot, and from it all, to learn a lot."
-Richard J. Needham

The Roots Part Two (four?)

PHOTO COURTESY OF MOLAUNDO
First off it was a rainy windy chilly night. The show wasn’t until 11:30pm. I got there round 11:45. My man Molaundo was already posted up out front under the awning.
“I think they just started fam,” he said after the introductory pound was passed.
We ascended the stairs, got our tickets ripped, stubs returned, and crossed the double doors to the main floor. Damn, the spot is packed front, back, and side-to-side. I hit the bar for a couple brews and Mo held down a spot maybe five steps diagonally from the door. Returning to where he was I passed him a beer and then looked where everyone else was staring, ahead, to the stage.
Front and center Black Thought was ripping through a jam head bobbing and shoulders swaying with the mic in one hand. The other hand was moving and pumping to the beat. Behind him ?uestlove was drumming up something fierce. Classic Afro nodding while the drumsticks blurred on cymbal and snare. Between Thought and ?uest was a dude seated playing percussion drums. As the changes came and went there was a point when the percussion dude switched from a brother to this Asian cat that pretty much ran it down to the end of the night. To his right was one of the wickedest electric guitar players I have ever heard strumming something real chill in his composure. To his right was some dude that was not Kamal on keyboard. To ?uest’s left was dude on bass guitar I didn't really know and a dude to his left on tuba belting out some low notes. Diagonal left diagonally towards front stage was a deejay set up. In front of that were four microphone stands and two saxophone players.
They rocked hard beats for a few joints while Black Thought displayed what the art of emceeing truly is. I’m serious. Dude needs to teach classes in how to rock a crowd. His delivery and flow are so sick. How many emcees can just pop up on stage and rip from a reservoir of jams off of six albums of materials. Not that the beat he rhymed over went to any one of the songs he spit but the verses were definitely from albums Phrenology and Rising Down. This is the jam not the album, let the rhythm hit ‘em. Remember in The Roots One (three point seven?) when I said their show evolves? Well, Thought’s delivery does the same; rather he uses his voice as an instrument and the lyrics as his contribution so the actual cadences and tempo adjust to the beat at hand. For more on his lyrical skill and development click here for my man Toure’s Black Thought interview.
Back to the beat.
?uestlove drove the band with hardcore breaks KRS One would love, Pete Rock, J Dilla, and Primo fans would love em too. Tempos changed and moved around from bass line to snare to high hat but the general sound was the hypnotic groove. It was less band-ish than the Roots are usually known for. Since this was a uniquely hip-hop Jam it sort of had to be. Yet incorporating other instruments brought crescendos throughout the night.The crowd loved it. I loved it. As different artists performed the musical peaks and valleys accentuated and moved the concert along.
Wait, getting ahead of myself here. Back to looking at the stage.
Three or four Roots songs in, Black Thought started bringing out guests. And to my great surprise and glee, Dice Raw came through to rip shop. Any Roots fan knows that this dude doesn't always show up but he's all over their albums. Rare treat via my man mo's video below. Enjoy it. As for all the other acts, I didn’t catch everyone’s name. There were two emcees up first. They were cool. Next was Joe Buddens who said about three or four times “I smoke too many cigarettes”. It affected his flow or rather his delivery. No doubt he ripped it but he had to rock it at the end acapella just so everyone knew what he was saying. There were a few females on stage singing. The first girls name I didn't catch. The second was Melody Fiona. She killed it plus she’s real easy on the eyes. Looking forward to hearing more from her. Also after Black Thought ripped into another Roots jam two Latin cats came up: one on trombone and the other on a horn and they killed it but that wasn’t it. Thought this was interlude concert hypeness at the end of the Roots song but no, it was really the intro as Black Thought brought up Peter Hadar. Um. Hadar RIPPED IT! Whew there were a few other acts like the sister with the locks on the violin. Thought she was going to be weak but she rocked hard second only to Hadar. Really that means third because Black Thought still was number one. Black Thought said they met most of these acts on tour in Europe. That’s whassup. I got friends over seas and if they got stuff I like it's time to get over seized and bring it stateside too. That’s the ultimate compliment really.
Bottom line I had almost too much fun at this show y’all. First as you read in The Roots Part One (three point seven?) I hadn’t been to a show in a minute. Now I got my live hip-hop show fix on and well, I’m hooked again. More shows coming. “A live show should be more than just entertainment, it should be an experience.” I said that back when I was penning a column in Uptown Magazine on live concerts to check out in New York City in 2006.
Now the show’s over, house lights up, Black Thoughts handing pounds out to the crowd front stage, and I’m leaving. The Roots stuck to their guns. They presented the Jam and if it comes down to it, I’m going again cause I think they are holding this weekly show thru June.

Q U O T A B L E
A live show should be more than just entertainment, it should be an experience." yours truly

The Roots Part One (three point seven?)

It started on a Friday a few weeks back. I was at my man Milton’s doing it real easy when I got an email from my girl Nyesha.
Nyesha: Anyone available for The Roots on Jimmy Fallon taping Monday? Have to be there at 4pm.
Hmmn. I like The Roots. Got all the albums even the first one Organix. Plus rumor was that they were considering the late night show house band move. U2 did it. I think that was the tipping point for The Roots to be up next. And let me be clear: I likes a Roots crew show.
ME: I can do it
HER: 100%?
ME: Yeah one hun’ed
The next day she called me about logistics: when to get there, where we would meet, what I needed to bring, et cetera. She sent a confirmation email for me to print out and that was that.
Monday it would be on.
A little background on The Roots Crew is that I have seen their show evolve from album to album. When Do You Want More!? dropped I was in Atlanta, Georgia in college. I heard word of a free concert at Emory University. Emory used to have a spring hip hop show every year.Even though I knew one or two co-eds there, it wasn’t like I kept up with the events calendar. It just so happened that if you knew the right people you would have heard what was going down and when. The spring concert info always made the rounds of the Atlanta University Complex (AUC) those-in-the-know or B.MO.C.’s. That grapevine extended itself to me. Emory didn’t have that many black students but this concert always seemed to at least halfway fill the field with many chocolate brown faces. Full to capacity might be a good two thousand people. This specific time was my freshman or sophomore year. The line up was The Fugees, The Roots, Grand Puba, and someone else or another was going to be there. My whole crew was like “Bet! We out!”. We took the MARTA public transportation there.
No cars, least not yet.
The location was a large open yellow-grassed field on Emory’s campus. The stage was set off the center back and raised about ten feet off the ground with the back end resting on a hill. The field was encircled by a tree line I think. The day was sunny and warm probably round eighty degrees. When I got there The Roots were already on stage doing their thing. Again, at this time The Roots only had Organix and Do You Want More!? out. They pretty much performed the latter but they were such a good band that they also did wickedly good covers of other hip hop acts’ songs. This manifested itself as the live mix tape section of their show. So they were holding down what cats listened to at the time like Wu-Tang Enter the 36 Chambers, Diamond D, Gang Starr, and A Tribe Called Quest like they were DJ Clue himself. If you have never seen it, you missed some good covers cause The Roots do it real big. Actually I recall The Fugees being a lil salty because The Roots covered songs during the mix of their album a little to well or let’s just say better than they did themselves. The only thing left was, you guessed it, a freestyle session. When you have Grand Puba in the house you better get one going and at this concert they sho nuff did. I specifically remember one point after The Roots mix tape medley when Black Thought sparked the freestyle fellowship as ?uestlove, Kamal, and Hub held down a tight hard beat, pure hotness of course. This came after the Scratch versus Razel human beatbox battle. I was standing in the crowd thinking ‘damn is that a cipher?’ cause Puba was on stage while other emcees gathered getting into the groove and waiting their turn on the mic. Guess who was standing like two feet from me crowd side thinking the same thing, Lauryn Hill. She was talking to some girl she knew, paused mid sentence hearing the freestyle fanaticism, turned her head, looked at the stage, and broke out with the quickness. Next thing I know she’s on stage all up in the cipher head nodding, bopping up and down like it’s double dutch trying to jump on the mic next!
Like I said, I likes a Roots crew show.
Fast forward to Things Fall Apart (The Roots: Part Two). I missed all the Illadelphi Halflife shows completely. Oh well, hopefully someone else can drop a blog about ‘em cause at that time The Roots stayed on tour. I was still in Atlanta recently graduated and writing for the new weekly paper on the block. The album is undoubtedly sick and they have five different album covers to boot. It took me a second to decide which cover to get but I think I made a good choice with the bombed out church one. So the paper is of course one of the media sponsors and the day of the concert held a media session at the Yin Yang Café. BTW Yin Yang was the independent artist performance space/ lounge/dance/chill/poetry/creative spot off a dead end street that was really just that block. Yeah it was exposed brick walls, bar, tables and chairs, stage, pool table, and white rock graveled enclosed backyard but it was intimate and in the cut which pretty much made it the best spot ever. They street teamed the interior walls with double sided posters of two of the album covers: the baby in the rubble and the close up of the black baby’s face crying with a tear running down the right cheek. The Roots came, answered press questions, took photos, and was out. The concert was going down in a few hours.
I almost didn’t snag a poster for myself, almost.
They did it up classic style entering from the rear of the crowd single file as ?uestlove struck the cow bell in announcement as they rolled around and up to the stage, took up their instruments, and started to jam. Common showed up later rocking a few colloaboration joints amping the crowd even more. Jill Scott was introduced to sing You Got Me just like off The Roots Come Alive that was released a few years later, and Dice Raw was even there and you know how rare that dude is for an appearance. Yeah, it was pure uncut dope.
Next time I saw The Roots was in New York City (The Roots: Part Three) after the last set at Black Lily and it was the beginning of the end, The Levi’s Tour. It was supposed to be 9-11-2001 but we all know what happened that day so it ended up being 10-11-2001 at B. B. Kings.Yo the show was hot of course. My old roommate Hussein was one of the Coca Cola Brand Managers on this project. This is the beginning of the now mind you. I moved from our loft to his house to New York to launch this paper right. I was doing it covering events, doing interviews, taking photos, and all that. While I was busy doing me, he was busy doing him and our worlds intersected at his event. Of course I had to take flicks which you can see all through this blog entry. It ain't ever been an ordinary life y'all. It's just how i live it. I was so amped I couldn't take it.
This was the first time I saw The Roots play house band behind
Musiq Soulchild,



The Jazzyfatnastees,




Jaguar Wright,



Bilal,




and Amel Larrieux.





Jazzy Jeff played the part of resident Deejay.


I say it was also the beginning of the now because after that ?uestlove started deejaying sets here and there and The Roots became the house band for the neo soul set for years. Really, I just didn’t have the time or energy to keep up with ‘em. I mean they “stay on tour” like Black Thought said. So much so that I haven’t seen them since. This was why when Nyesha hit me about the Jimmy Fallon taping I was amped but not super amped. For real I’d seen it all before, or so I thought.
Now it’s Monday and I am standing inside the NBC building waiting for ol girl and her girl so we can check in for the show. Its first come first served and I am not trying to not make it. Time passes, they show up, we get in, sit down, and the show begins.
The Roots step out single file (classic) with the trombone player belting out notes up front. The crowd was amped (as usual). They rocked out like two of their songs on the fire escape set up stage left. Kamal was set up on the second level up the winding staircase. ?uestlove, Thought and the rest of the band were on the first level. Jimmy Fallon came out and announced the guests and then it got ill.
GTFO!
Public Enemy is going to perform today with The Roots!
Aw hell, this is how you supposed to start ya’ week for real!
Sidebar
I haven’t seen Public Enemy since back in the day in Detroit at the Joe Louis Arena. They killed the show and left the crowd wanting more. It was them Queen Latifah, De la Soul, Slick Rick, and someone else on the tour or was that the Nitro tour? Can’t remember the name of it. Don’t know the year but De La Soul and Latifah only had their first albums out. Every act’s show was good.
End sidebar.
Bring the Noise never sounded so good with a horn section set up stage right, the deejay center stage rear, ?uestlove band stage set up stage left, the S1W’s center stage with Professor Griff, center stage front Chuck D, center stage front left Flava Flav, and center stage front right Black Thought. They ripped it so hard y’all. Took me right back to that kid at the concert back in the day. I was dancing in my seat lovely wit it!
That was that. Show was over. Jimmy gave the crowd hi-fives up and down the aisles. Day was done, we left it was only like 6pm so we hit up Katz deli for some pastrami and corn beef sandwiches. It was a good day y’all, real good.
Whew, I had a lot of fun and didn’t spend a dime. Thanks Nyesha. Part Three coming soon The Roots show at the Highline ballroom. You better hurry if ya trying to go is all I’m saying. Ya better hurry for real cause at the Highline they ain’t the house band. It’s a 100% Roots Crew show! And if you know The Roots, you know their show evolves and I love a good evolution so I’m wondering what’s next and I can’t wait!

Ahem, like i said at the top of this, I likes a Roots crew show and up next is The Roots presents The Jam.

Q U O T A B L E

"The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me."
-Ayn Rand

scrimmages from the front lines of the battle between the sexes: happiness versus regret - a gut's tale

After leaving Machupiccu we headed back to Lima for one more night. The second half of our trip took us to a fishing village on the northern coast of Peru near Bolivia. We had just landed in Tumbes from Lima and piled in a van. Next stop Mancora where we were renting a bungalow on the beach. It was dusk when we landed and dark rolling down the highway. No one’s really sleep. We all are kind of keeping each other up and we get into that discussion of significant past relationships. There was a round of how many significant others and a round of whys and what happened.
My why comment was about a good relationship, seriously it really was. Ol Girl, lets call her Dana, was great. Still is. We met at a house party in my post college (P.C.) Atlanta years. These were some especially good house parties back then full of beers, liquor, and young upwardly mobile blacks from around the country looking for a good time with friends and a possible hook up from the opposite sex. Yep, pool parties counted. Birthdays, barbeques at the park, and crab boils were on deck too. Some parties were annual but most were just because. This house party came complete with it’s own margarita machine or was it snow cones? I forget. But I didn’t forget the girl I saw when I walked in the door. I didn’t forget her when I first called her to hang out or when I broke the glass in her kitchen on our first date.
My bad.
Anyway Dana and I were kicking it strong for a few days, weeks, months, and things were going good, real good - holiday parties, birthdays, new years and all that type good. I was writing for Rolling Out and teaching at the time. The paper was two years old and growing sponsoring events and stuff. Jill Scott concert? Got that and some flicks in the paper to boot. Radio station jams? Housed that one too. Movie screenings? Gyeah. Yeah it was all good. Ol girl? Aw man, she was perfect. I mean if I could have drawn and ordered a sister with specific height, measurements, skin tone, and a fierce competitiveness I couldn’t have done better. I was like “yo, I can really get out the game on this one,” but there was a problem. One I tried to ignore but couldn’t. I am good at a lot but I am great at projection. I projected the future of this relationship for real. Had to. It had no flaws. So I imagined kids, houses, financial security, et cetera but I saw something else-regret. I was telling the Peru crew the highlights but not the dark side.
“She was everything I wanted at the time but it didn’t work out.”
Stunned and bewildered looks and then, “So what happened?”
Look at who I am now. I like to explore be that continents, countries, social groups, and cultures and write about it. This usually means moving from place to place, region to region, and hemisphere to hemisphere. I am also a voracious reader-see natcreole.com/lit plus my staff picks at mcnallyjackson.com. I could be just as happy reading a book or thinking one up. In 2001 who I was then? I was a teacher who wrote for a paper on the side living in a fly loft downtown Atlanta and my girl was chilling with her own house one county away. I was happy but was I? I wasn’t thinking about taking any trips while before that I was trying to get to Tokyo with the six hour layover in Amsterdam to holler at my boy Phil (see publisher natcreole.com). Didn’t make that cause the flight was sold out. And I could of just shifted back into gear but I didn’t. I had plans that included moving to New York City (NYC). Do I try and maintain this relationship? Would it even be fair? Same answer to both. I don’t ask any woman to change. Be you, I’ll be me. If we work, we do. If we don’t… My gut speaks truth. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to maintain it long distance trying to get this paper on in NYC but if I didn’t move what path would my life be on then? Would I be the writer I could be? My gut says the whole writing gig’s a gamble. Life in Atlanta was good as is financially stable as ever. I knew that if I did not move I would regret it and that regret would slowly poison any happiness I had over time. But that’s more than went into my answer in the van. What I said to the Peru crew was,
“She doesn’t like to fly or to read (for pleasure).”
Which was true and major reasons why I felt the need to break up. It wasn’t her, it was me. I didn’t want her to be unhappy. I didn’t want me to be unhappy either but if we stayed together one of us, me, would have been. Sucks right? So I picked up the phone and in a few words threw in the towel with little explanation or extras and got the hell out of her way. Real talk I did want her to be happy even if it wasn’t with me.
“This ain’t gonna work.”
Sitting there on a trip in another country on another continent in another hemisphere it was pretty clear to the group what happened. I mean it was easy enough to say in the van then but it really was kind of messed up to say at the time. Come on, you meet a woman who is like everything you are thinking of and find out that it wasn’t enough is a lot. It’s messed up. I was still processing that one for a few months while I was working my way into the New York entertainment matrix. It made me really re-assess what I wanted and why. I thought I was done with that but I was just getting started. Damn. Black College life wasn’t enough? Thought I made nuff mistakes there but oh no, I had to go find new ones. Note to self: don’t forget to add “travel” and “reads” to The List. You live and you learn right?
I did.
Ol girl and I are actually cool to this day but I am sure she is wondering what the hell happened. I know I could have told her all the reasons why back then but really I didn’t. Brook version 2001 wasn’t that dude. Brook 2008 wasn’t that dude either but Brook 2009, yeah I’m that dude. Now I got a few tales from my book “Ghosts of Women Past” but this particular story I was never expecting to have or really tell. All said and done I am glad it happened.
Trust.
And if you missed what I was talking about the nutshell is real easy: when you get what you want, it may not be all it’s cracked up to be. Your gut knows and your gut ain’t wrong. Least not mine. Because on top of everything else, I wrote the least I have ever written when I was with her since I started creative writing and I don’t regret that lull but I would have if we stayed together. Real talk that ain’t what I want and I know it!
What about you? What do you want?

Q U O T A B L E
"This life is yours. Take the power to choose what you want to do and do it well. Take the power to love what you want in life and love it honestly. Take the power to walk in the forest and be a part of nature. Take the power to control your own life. No one else can do it for you. Take the power to make your life happy."
-Susan Polis Schutz

Peru Chronicles, the end is the beginning: machupiccu

After long days and short nights we made it through the rain, the elevation, and our wills and our won'ts to one of the wonders of the world in a place that seemed to reach into the heavens. Was this the image the greeks conjured when they thought of Olympus the home of the gods? Incan design and purpose for an Incan center of learning and sacrifice. Incan selection of location and an Incan Trail to take you there. Machupicchu is an Incan destination for their best and most deserving citizens. it took up until the early 20th century for anyone else to be taken there. keyword: TAKEN. Quecheua's knew but weren't telling.





















Okay. Machupiccu is...


Q U O T A B L E
"When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and your discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be."
-Patanjali

Peru Chronicles: The Inca Trail Hike

Pictures tell the hike's story. I will say only this: My dad would say this hike is like a game of golf.
Stay on the path. To the left there is certain doom, to the right comfort, or vice versa. Sometimes you are moving up the trail, others down, and stlll others around. Even in the rain, keep going. In the sun, keep going. Rest. Refresh. Look around. Now go. It ain't over yet.
Don't forget this one thing tho.
Take a look around, it is beautiful out here.
HIKE DAY ONE












HIKE DAY TWO- AFTER DEAD WOMAN'S PASS







HIKE DAY THREE: STOPPING TO SMELL THE ROSES













Q U O T A B L E
"You will achieve grand dream, a day at a time, so set goals for each day / not long and difficult projects, but chores that will take you, step by step, toward your rainbow. Write them down, if you must, but limit your list so that you won't have to drag today's undone matters into tomorrow. Remember that you cannot build your pyramid in twenty-four hours. Be patient. Never allow your day to become so cluttered that you neglect your most important goal / to do the best you can, enjoy this day, and rest satisfied with what you have accomplished."
-Og Mandino

Real Hip Hop 1: So Far to Go by J Dilla

just in case you DIDN'T know the quotable...