On my way from the Metro... (a new series)

I have moved all of my entries from the series to their own blog which can be viewed at

http://onmywayfromthemetro.blogspot.com/

Thanks

08-16-08

2:45am fall asleep
5:05am sleep thru alarm and wake up call
6:15am wake up wash up and head out
7:00am 2hr drive down 95
9:00am embrace Mia - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
9:15am 1hr class
10:45am 15 minute ascent
11:00am 40 second free fall
11:00:40am 10 min drift
11:11am land
12:00pm brunch
1:00pm 4 hour ride back to dc  :-|
5:00pm USA VS SPAIN! ...tape delay
7:00pm Make all kinds of plans for the evening
7:15pm fall asleep

hermit mode

Last few weekends have been spent at the crib... partly cuz ive been freelancing again... mostly cuz i've been in hermit mode again. Thats what my brother calls it. See every now and then I get into my zone where im not trying to deal with nooooobody.. let alone crowds of knuckleheads. Nah i'd rather relax with my Elle, my tunes, and my game of choice for the evening. Usually chess... sometimes spades... if my boys roll thru, then dominos... my boys can come thru cuz they know how to be around me when I'm in my zone, so they don't say much to me, just play nucca.. just play. I also love a good game of scrabble.... my new love. My vocabulary is not the most extensive, but i make up for it with strategy... and scrabble has some ill strategies involved in it. I like to make the board ugly and short... that helps to even the playing field as far as vocabulary. My main game is chess cuz everything relates back to chess. Its the game of games. U always hear "its a chess game going on" during sporting events, debates, and numerous other things even wars, it all relates back to chess. As with anything, if u do it often enough, u should start to learn from it... so why not learn from the best. Chess sure has taught me alot.... More than anything, It's a way of thinking... U hear... "gotta think 3 - 4 - 5 moves ahead..." well its alot to that, cuz each move poses numerous possibilities... so its a matter of eliminating any if u can.. and maximizing others. Narrowing infinity down to 1... well its more like 50 down to 1, but u get what im saying... Then taking that decision... envisioning that move and resulting position in ur mind... and starting the process over again... any who... thinking like that, ur constantly evaluating all the possibilities... or as many as u can. Libras tend to do this naturally anyway. Its why we seem indecisive, but we're just taking our time.

-->> Detour

There i am entranced in those 64 squares... while outside the weather is getting chilly, so the women are covering up. I admit... I like a little left to the imagination... still some are trying to catch a few more days with the flesh revealing mini garmets that we all love. God bless'em. By the time my hermit mode moves on, all of the women done bunned up.. And there i am left... weepin creepin or settlin... lemme stop tho. no way i can complain about the women who have held affections for me over the years... Had some special and amazing women... ay.. it takes a special woman to put up with my ass. Eventually I figure a way out, though... only to regret it later, yet not. Trying something new right now... not being as guarded.. Yet can't seem to get that emotional connection down pat. Hell i'm still trying to master stability... Damn i feel like Aang... gotta master all this shit. Yeah im sure im the only one who got that one. moving on...

current female situation: She likes me. she doesn't, she got hitched, she off limits, she likes me but not like that, she a ho, her too, still love'em tho, she moved, she too bourgeois (or im too grimey.... hmmmm) She still with the white dude, she too far away.
............................. damn.

No matter... that works out well for my current mode... what mode?? Hermit mode!! What u forgot the name of the blog? or do i need to put the Elle down? Avatar has been pretty good, the first one was great till the end, the last one was light hearted, but an instant classic... "Flameo good sir... Flameo" . I'm gonna go to this party tomorrow tho. semi -celebrate my birthday there, cuz i still haven't tossed any back commemorating the close of the first third of my life.

well peace to everyone who has stayed with me this long. Im going to bed though. Just had to write cuz i hadn't written anything in months. I'll get back to the series soon.

"pride is not the opposite of shame, but rather its source...
true humilty is the only antidote for shame"
~Iroh

Shortcuts

Got a call this morning... from one of my best and one of my first friends ever, Nelson Lee Roberson who I've known since kindergarten.

"Bo!" ... (short for Jimbo) ... "What up shawty?? .. man I'm gonna be up that way around the 4th. Make sure u got the trees and the women ready for me!" ...

I love my niggas... The convo got me to thinking about some of our funnier times growing up... one of my favorites is when we were on our way SOMEWHERE... not sure where, not important... all i remember is asking him why the hell we were going this way and him saying...

"Oh... this a shortcut.... but the other way quicker"
(straight face)

I start my infamous chuckle that grows into a hearty all out laugh. The look on his face when he said it... so serious, so intent. Shortcut, but the other way quicker - haaaaaaaaa.

I continue to iron my clothes as other parts of growing up run threw my mind... about my life, my situation, and how the hell i wound up where I am today... I start thinking about all the "shortcuts" i took that seemed like good ideas at the time... U know... ignoring a traffic ticket... dodging a bill collector... cheating on a test... tellin her whatever she wanted to hear... ... half assing just to get something or someone off my case. So as I stand there deep in thought... it finally hits me like the wind around a chicago corner in mid march... This mf was droppin knowledge....

Shortcuts but the other way quicker... damn who knew?!

Percy the Small Engine

My nephew, Kedar Sol is one of the funniest, smartest, coolest cats i've ever met... young or old. Wise way beyond his years. I asked my brother about him the other day, to see what was new with'em... he says "Im thinking about giving him a key". Mind u... Kedar is 2.

So one evening I'm hangin out with him... Watching him while his parents were out. During the course of the night, he starts looking for his favorite toy... Percy the Small Engine.

So constantly thru out the night i hear him trying to find Percy... u know saying things like "Where is Percy?" ... " I want Percy!". Thing is, Kedar just started talking, and still hasn't quite mastered his R's yet... So his 'Per' comes out sounding more like "Poo".

.................................................................... yeah





Needless to say, I had a ball listening to him that night :D

Have you seen Percy?


Percy is the best!


I want to play with Percy!


Percy is my friend!


I love Percy!

............. so do I Kedar... so do I.

chuuuch!!

Chess Lesson 2 ("You ain't gotta take it")

"The shit's chess it ain't chekers!!" .... One of my favorite quotes from the movie Training Day. Many novices to the world of gaming see the alternating squares and think the games are the same, when they are worlds apart. One of the biggest differences is in chess... You almost never have to take an opponents piece, while in checkers if you don't you will not only lose your piece but also your turn.

In chess as in life, there are times when material gain is offered to those unsuspecting and oft times too eagerly accepted with no regard to the position that it will leave them in. Material superiority does not win the game.. Positional superiority does... granted, more material can help you achieve a stronger position, but as we learned in lesson 1, we have to keep in mind what is important.

Nothing in life is free.... Words to live by right there. Now yeah maybe your opponent had a mental lapse and left one of his pieces wide open. But I'm not referring to those times.. rather I'm referreing to a "good game". In any case its imperative to ask yourself "what kind of position will I be left in if I take this piece". I've witnessed games where Queens were sacraficed so that a positional advantage can be gained... If it looks to good to be true, it probably is...

These first few lessons are very basic... In terms of both life and chess... they are (well they should be) common knowledge... We will start going deeper, and touch on some of the more intricate secrets that we can learn from the chess board... things like "the advantages a pawn has over a queen" and "why bad moves are the best moves" ... but thats down the line. We just gettin our feet wet right now.

Peace

p.s. if you need real chess lessons, (ie. how the pieces move/ basic strategies) just contact me... its been a while, but I still think I can teach u.

Chess Lesson 1 ("Object of the Game")

The most important thing to remember is "what is the object of the game... what is it that you are trying to accomplish". With this in mind, you'll be able to start formulating your plan, and strategies designed to execute said plan.

While this may sound simple its amazing how many times we lose track of this. Finding ourselves chasing that which is not essential to our goal. Some think.... if I can capture the queen, the game is won, or that trading a bishop for a rook will give me the material advantage needed to claim victory.... when in fact, all these things are pointless if ultimately they do not lead to the accomplishment of that which we have set forth to do.

I oft times say "Its all a game.... life, love, happiness... just sometimes the stakes are higher, and the rules are not as clear cut" but if we are able to remember this first lesson, all these things are achievable.