Writing and more writing

Once again, I'm back to pollute your minds. Since I've already posted to my other blog, you don't have to worry about another long post today. I know I've been straining your attention spans with my recent entries, but not today. Like I said, I have another blog now, so I'll be splitting time between the two. I figured it was time to expand my writing a bit and go beyond what I normally consider to be enough writing for a day. It's my way of sticking with my New Year's Resolution to write everyday. I know there aren't a lot of people hanging on my every word, but I don't want to cheat those who do expect me to produce something worth reading. I came to this realization while visiting a few of my favorite blogs and noticing the lack of new material. It's not the end of my world, but I only read blogs by people whose writing styles almost speak to me through the screen. You can imagine the letdown when I click on these blogs and don't see a new post for a while. I vow not to put what readers I do have by doing what I did before the New Year. Well, I gotta run. See ya'll tomorrow. Hi-Lo.

People

Good morning all. This time slot is fast becoming the best time for me to write. I guess it's because I'm wound up right after getting off work. As the title of this post suggests, today I'm going to ramble about getting along with people. In my younger days, when people agitated me it usually meant fists were gonna fly. I had the worst temper in the world. Thanks to a lot of work on my part, and my wife's patience, I'm no longer a serious physical threat to people. One thing I had to learn was to accept people with all their traits. Having said that, it is my belief that everyone has something wrong with them. Think about it. How many times in your life have you met someone and thought,"She's a cool person, except she complains too much", or "She would be a model if she lost two pounds". Even the people you think the world of have something wrong with them; you just don't know what it is or you don't want to know. It's just easier not looking for it and getting on with life. Some of my friends have been singled out as having a character or physical flaw at some point, heck we all have. As it is, I'm known to get along with almost anybody nowadays. Since I'm also a good listener, I also hear a lot of people's deepest thoughts and desires. I'm not saying go out and make friends with the rudest person you know, I'm just saying you shouldn't be so quick to write someone off because they don't fit your exact specifications. The most important thing I did to be better around people was to shelve the perfectionist in me. It wasn't easy, but I managed to do it by 1) not setting these ridiculously high expectations of people, 2) NOT listening to someone's judgement of a person before getting to know them, 3) treating everyone with common respect, 4) listening to a person, I mean really listening to them talk, and 5) observing their actions in different situations ( how they treat people, how they act in good and bad times, etc.). This isn't in any order and some of you will find one more important than another. These aren't even all the ways I use to get along with folks, but they are certainly some big ones. Some things go without saying, like not going around telling someone's business after they just told you. If you can't be trusted with even the most mundane information, you'll be the person no one wants to be around. One final note on getting along with people; STOP BEING PETTY. I can't count how many times someone has complained to me about someone else they have a problem with because thay have a wort on their hand or they have a high voice or some other nonsense. There are more important things to worry about. Hi-Lo.

Advice

Hey ya'll. Ever notice how people give you advice whether you want it or not? I'm a person who constantly gets bombarded with this. Most of the time it's obvious stuff that any person with a functioning brain would know, but sometimes there's a golden nugget in the dirt. Since I look a lot younger than my age, anyone over two years older than me has to tell me some tidbit they think is need-to-know. I'll admit, I'm guilty of dispensing some knowledge of my own but only if a youngster asks me for it. I find that many of the youths out there are wandering the Earth with a serious deficit in the useful knowledge department(notice I said useful). I am not one of these poor souls who have trouble with something as simple as telling time on anything that isn't digital. Yes, kids, there was a time when people looked at the clock, saw two hands and a bunch of numbers and knew what time it was. Anyway, getting back to the subject, I was given some advice today by a co-worker about what women really want from us men before anything else. He said that a woman wants to know she can be safe in your company and be your friend before she considers anything else. This is something my wife told me a while back so I'm inclined to believe there's truth in it. Good advice or bad advice? Although I already know this, and the subject came up while discussing someone else, I'd have to say this is good advice for the brothers out there reading. It does seem elementary, but there are many young and old cats in this world who don't get it. I'm not a pimp, or even an assistant pimp, but I am comfortable around women and my experience tells me that they are more receptive when they don't feel like they're in the company of a stalker. Translation; don't approach a woman like you're a pimp and she owes you money. That goes double for brothers with a few nickels in their pocket and a car note! Another thing; if it's too easy, you don't want it! Matter of fact, RUN IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!! If not, you too could be the winner of a baby's momma. You'll be standing at freeway offramps with a cardboard sign asking for change. And remember, 18-to-life doesn't just apply to prison. You could even win a psycho, hiding in the bushes just waiting for you to come home every night! Also, there is a difference between ghetto girls and the dreaded hoodrats. If you know what they are, you know the difference and the last time I checked, D-Con and Raid don't do a thing to hoodrats. Hi-Lo.

A reason to write

I know some of you probably think I'm crazy since I went off for what looks like no reason yesterday, but we've all had days when we had to get something out of our systems. I find that when I get these things out of my head and onto some form of written communication, I feel better all around. Like I said, not all things I write are fit to be read by the world so I put the stuff here that doesn't sound like the ramblings of a madman. Yes, I do get more enigmatic than the words you see here lead you to believe. I did speak to one of my co-workers today and I found out that I'm not the only one in the workplace who spills out thoughts on paper just because. It always amazes me when I find out someone, who I never expected, is a closet writer. All I could do is encourage him to keep writing down his thoughts everyday, as he's been doing for years, and something good will come of it. It doesn't matter if it's ever published. Just the practice of doing it is enough because you find out so much about who you are and what kind of person you were at one time, sometimes in disbelief of what you wrote so long ago. That's what he conveyed to me and it reaffirmed what I have known for some time about why I write. It's the biggest reason to write; for yourself before anyone else. Hi-Lo.

Red eyes

Well, I'm sitting here emptying my thoughts on the screen at this hour because I got off work two hours ago and I can't sleep guilt-free unless I've fed my blog. It's part of my New Year's Resolutions, in case ya'll are wondering. I swore I would write everyday, as a writer should, on paper or screen. I didn't specify what I'd write, just that I'd write something everyday. If you don't see a post from me for a day, chances are I did my daily writing in one of my notebooks instead. You know, not everything you write should be seen by everyone. Some stuff I write shouldn't be read by anyone but me. I tend to go off about things that mean nothing to ya'll and everything to me. I don't want to waste your time because I know that when we surf the Net, our attention spans are microscopic. Most of you who read my thoughts here are probably frustrated by the same issues that bother me. As a writer living on the broke side, I force myself to find the good in my everyday life since I see so much ugly in the world. True, I'd be a lot happier with a bigger bank account, but until I get there, I'm going to continue this daily writing therapy to get me through. If pride wasn't such a big deal to me, I would sell that fluffy writing to pay my way. I just can't do it! I'm not the Blue Eyed Sellouts. I want my writing to mean something; to make people think, to inspire, to touch lives, to be remembered for more than the money I made off it. So, if you're looking for me to write and put a blonde out in front of me to help me blow up, think again. I don't hate white, I'm just down for the brown, in all of it's beautiful shades, because that's what I am and that's what I know. Anyone who questions that definitely isn't feeling me. Yeah, I'm a funny person most of the time, but I can be real serious when necessary. I have a lot of thoughts streaming in my head all of the time and writing is what keeps me from overloading. I believe if more of us picked up a pen instead of a gun, we would deal with people better and our situations would improve. As you read my words this year, you will see my life change for the positive. That's the reason I do this. If you're feeling my words, holla. Hi-Lo.

Watching TV

What's goin on everyone? I'm just sitting here watching the Jamie Foxx special on the tube in between surfing the Net. It's really good . For all of you who have missed most of it to this point, it's supposed to come on again Friday. I won't give away any of the highlights so you'll just have to watch then. I didn't see anything too interesting online today, but it's hard too concentrate when there's something good on TV. The only thing I did see was the article about the Ron Artest trade. Great, now the Kings have a viable defender who can score! I don't think Artest is going to be too happy in the capitol city. You have to deal with the locals sure, but it's not them he has to worry about. The chance exists that he might run into that so-called Governor up there. I hope he's got a shovel. Hi-Lo.

Who said what about Kobe Bryant?

Once again, I'm here. The good news is that I'm blogging at a later hour because I have the night off. The bad news is that I'm not feeling very well today. I haven't eaten much all day since my stomach is bothering me. I went to the farmer's market in town and was surrounded by food that smelled so good even the barbecue smelled like dessert! Don't you just hate it when there's all this great food nearby and you can't eat because you're sick? And , of course, that's when the food commercials come on every thirty seconds. Right about now a cracker sounds like filet mignon. Still, despite my ill condition, it's nice to have a day off. I was checking my e-mail today and one of the sports headlines said that Vince Carter thinks that Kobe Bryant's 81 point game the other day set a bad example. What kinda crap is this? Is someone jealous that he hasn't scored that many points in a game? I saw the highlights and if Kobe hadn't carried his team, they wouldn't have won. Considering Vince Carter admitted to giving less than his best effort while "playing" for the Raptors, I didn't give the article a read beyond the headline. Say what you want about Kobe, when he plays, he brings it all EVERY NIGHT. When you're team is shooting with no ammo what are you supposed to do? Fake an injury and watch them suffer? Oops, I guess that's been done. Call us when you got a ring or three Err Canada! I would respect it if it would have came out of Allen Iverson's mouth. Why? Because rain or shine, blizzard or earthquake, sprained ankle or broken ass, AI shows up, all 165 ounces of him. Yeah, I'm a disappointed Laker fan since Shaq left town, but I'm going down with this ship and if Kobe has to score 80 for us to win, I say drink your Gatorade and fire away young fella! Hi-Lo.

Surfing and writing

Hello again. As you may have noticed, I put Google ads on my blog the other day. I pondered about it for the last six months and came to the conclusion that since I have already have a Google link on my blog, I might as well put a few Google ads here as well. The good thing is that the only stuff that should show up here is stuff that directly relates to the content I write in my blog. I know, I know, the other day I went off about flogging, but this is different in that I am not personally vouching for any of the ads that appear on my blog. Besides, I figure the stuff I write shouldn't bring too much related-content ads. I'm kind of curious to see what would be stimulated by these musings of mine. Still, it is an experiment of minute proportions in my little world. I don't think or expect to become a millionaire from this, but I do expect to see some funny things to pop up on my blog since I write about a variety of topics. I didn't find anything really interesting during this session of surfing. I did the usual e-mail check, the craigslist scan and, of course, updating the blog. You can really waste some time being on the Net and get a lot done all the same. Today was one of those waste-time days. As long as I, as a writer, have put some thoughts down, it's never a waste. Well, I have somewhere unimportant to be to bring home a couple of pieces of bread so until tomorrow. Hi-Lo.

Cool writing sites.

Hello all. I said I'd be back to let y'all know about those cool websites I looked at yesterday and here I am. If you're already a writer and surf the Web regularly, you probably know about these sites. Although there are a million sites about writing, I'd say these are some of the most helpful that I've seen to date. They also link up to other helpful sites so there's no need to tell you about the other dozen sites I feel should have your attention. They are writersdigest.com and absolutewrite.com and they are freakin' great. Remember, I wouldn't waste my time tellin' you about them if I didn't try them and if they weren't good. Any question you have about writing could most likely be answered by these sites and, if they can't, they link up to other sites that can. Well, it's back to the wonderful world of wage slave for now. Peace. Hi-Lo.

Doing some research

Hi everybody! Once again I've been neglecting my little blog for a few weeks, but one of my unwritten resolutions for this year is to keep spilling my thoughts here daily. As for today, I've been around the Web doing some reading about improving my writing skills and getting paid to be a scribe in '06. One thing I don't like is the idea of flogging. For those who don't know, that's when a blog is nothing more than an advertisement for a product or products for money. I simply won't put anything on this here blog hawking products simply to get paid. I don't think that's what this is all about and there are other outlets for that kind of activity. Yes, I do have bills to pay, but there are more honorable ways to go about meeting those ends. Hell, I'd rather write cookie-cutter romance novels than push stuff I don't believe in on my blog. To me this is my own little ranting board and I like to provoke thought, not a mindless buying spree. It's all about expanding your minds. That being said, if I do tell you about something I find helpful, you can be sure of three things; 1) I have tried that product, service or website, 2) I truly believe in that product, service or website and 3) I didn't get paid anything, not a piece of lint, to tell you how good it is. Also, I won't bash any products on this blog. If it's useless, I won't waste energy on it and it will eventually be discovered by all that it's useless. Don't get nervous everyone. If ever I tell you about anything worth mentioning, it will be rare. Just know this about me; my writing comes first here and with that comes my opinions of the world. Don't ya'll just love the Internet? I did find some very helpful resources today. I won't go on about them here right now because I've already been running off at the keys for a minute, but I'll tell all about it tomorrow. Later. Hi-Lo.