tastes like feet

So last night i ended up at this Spoken Word event at Jazmines uni, was a last minute type thing, but you know how they say you have the best time when your plans are impromptu, yea, this was one of those times.

It's funny coz the Man Utd v AC Milan game was on too, and inbetween eating some delicious carribean food and Jazmine politely asking people to "please move" there were moments of perusal where i found myself just observing the different types of people there, needless to say, the spectrum was varied.

So after the match, we moved our chairs to go and watch the people do their thing.

Now if you've never been to a spoken word night, it's simply people coming up and performing some form of verbal art, whether poetry, story telling or singing, it's all there for your consumption.

I sat there listening to different performers, the first guy, he bombed, i mean, he REALLY killed, and then, to top it off, he started insulting the audience after he performed, very nice...fool.

But after him and his "song" it picked up significantly, most of the performers touched on love, and what it means to them, and hearing them express it verbally was something that i was enamoured with.

Their absolute and unequivocal way in which they all performed was inspiring to me, as someone who appreciates the power of words, i admire all the thought and dedication they put into each sentence. A great night overall.

but the absolute highlight of it all was the journey home, J and myself have a mutual love for Friends, the tv show, and she brought up a favourite scene of hers, "tastes like feet" and we stepped onto the train rolling with laughter, i'm sure people were staring.

Anyway, this reminded me of the spoken word performers and how their way with words and the way Ross delivers his line have a relation to one another, they both evoke an emotional reaction, whether reflection from one or laughter from the other, it's this power that words has that i can't explain, it's the classic line of "it's not what you say, it's how you say it"

I think i'm gonna give the spoken word thing a try, see where it takes me, that's just one more thing to add to my bucket list.

“Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning.”

- Maya Angelou

Stay Up

it is what it is

Another trip on public transport and another moment of inspiration for the blog.

Sitting here, just looking out the window, eyes red from fatigue, T.I. Telling me to no forget about him, and the greatest copywriting book sitting in my bag, and it hit me, Sunday evening around this time, just after 8pm is the most peaceful time of the week, for me anyway.

If you manage to read this on a Sunday evening, then you're probably there in your pj's or just had a shower, got all your clothes ironed and packed, ready for the unexpected that the week ahead will bring, or you're just there lounging watching tv, either way, hopefuly you're at peace.

That ubiquitous type of peace, when nothing said or done can take you outta your zone. I get like this mostly on Sundays, which coincidentally is the day I seem to write my material for IDLT, maybe its they key to practice my writing, to get better at what I do, whatever it is, I wanna share it with you.

Got me thinking about how little time i've had recently to just sit and be at one, just chilling on my own, no interruptions, just enjoying my own company, you knw what i mean, just me, myself and I.

I once read that there are four enemies of peace that live within us all, avarice, envy, anger, and pride.  If those enemies were to be defeated, destroyed or even banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace. I'm trying to just get to where it is i wanna get to by the time i leave university, battling the four enemies daily, suffice to say, my Sunday peace makes me realise that i'm making giant leaps in defeating my enemies, and when you're in your moment of peace, just remember that you too are conquering that which aims to hold you down.

Stay Up

Saints Stay Up

Sitting here on my tube to Brixton, been a long day at work, mainly coz I'm tired as shit from staying up to watch the Superbowl. WHO DAT SAY THEY GON BEAT THEM SAINTS!! It dawned on me what I've thought for a long time was proven to me in the early hours of this morning.

The New Orleans Saints were a team that went from providing a shelter for Katrina victims, their own Superdome Stadium, a team with no home stadium seemingly at the bottom of the pile of the NFL pecking order,to a team who in '06 drafted Reggue Bush out of the USC and things started looking up.

Fast forward a few years later, a whole lot of player trading and a new head coach, and what you have are first time SB participants and eventual first time SB winners.

So what do they have to do with the thing I've long suspected, that sports, are a microcosm for our lives, which is why I think people speak about their favourite sports team as "us" and not "them".

Sports teaches us that with absolute effort and dedication to your goal, that the right frame of mind, confidence in self and those around you will only lead to one place, success.

Some of you out there might not watch sports, but you do have someone or something you look up to, who's positive and represents what you define as success, whether spiritually or financially, they're not where they are because they got lucky, they're there because through it all, through the adversity and tests that life threw at them, they triumphed.

"Our victory last night was the culmination of four years of hard work, fighting through a lot of adversity, ups and downs and more importantly than that, representing a city that has been through so much,"

Drew Breese, Saints Quarterback

Stay Up

A LAUGH A DAY KEEPS EVERYTHING AT BAY

told you i had a lot to say, third blog in a week, enjoying this a lot recently.

Sitting here at work, it's Sunday afternoon and i'm just here chilling to some R. Kelly, nothing much happening around here.

Was watching some stand up comedy earlier by Rhod Gilbert, you'll know him when you see him, but incase you don't YouTube him, he's awesome.

And this got me thinking about how much i value having a good laugh, and how much we should all laugh just a little bit more. I'm blessed to have friends and family who enjoy nothing better than just having a laugh, at eachother and themselves, being the topic of ridicule is something we'll all endure and remember forever. The funniest moments are those where we're the joke. Maybe that's just me, but it's always hilarious.

I can't tell you how many hours I've searched the net for the comedians, blooper reels, outtakes from movies, anything that would make me laugh, nothing is as valuable as a good stomach hurting laugh, which is why the more i think about it, humor is an absolute prerequisite for whichever girl i end up with.

I say some pretty outlandish shit sometimes, and if you've ever spent a certain amount of time with me, you'll have witnessed this, i can't really distinguish why i say such things or where they even come from, but i know they make me laugh, even if it's just me, at least i heard it.

And in my current state of mind, just being happy and laughing at life sometimes is something i'm doing more and more of. Recent events have taught me that tragedy can strike at any moment, and that sometimes people never get the flowers when they can still smell 'em, you gotta smell the flowers, harvest them and remember them, coz one day, they too shall pass.

"the most wasted of days are those without laughter"

Stay Up

("much love" is no more, decided on "Stay Up" coz i think it reminds all of us that no matter what, you gotta keep it moving, time waits for no man)

cleaning out my closet

So as my new found clarity continues I've been rummaging through some old stuff of mine as I've moved house recently, so as with all house moves you end up asking yourself, how in the blue sam hell did I end up with so much crap?

It's funny but as I was going through the stuff I started remembering where I was when I got some of this stuff, that NFL ball, or who I was with when I got some chinese money I'll never use, weird stuff like that.

All of this nostalgia got me thinking about what "baggage" I've had laying around in my head for god knows how long, and what the hell am I still doing with it?

You know what I mean right? Those old songs you used to hate because they reminded you of an ex, or not going to certain places for fear of running into that semi-serious person you were dating, all that becomes irrelevant after a while, but you still carry it with you out of habit.

Well I'm having a mental spring clean if you will, and I'm listening to Ne-yo's "sexy love" again, and Michael Buble's "I wanna go home", because the importance I once attached to those songs is no more, I actually just enjoy them for being just a good song.

Time to make room for new trials and tribulations, and maybe in a few years time, I'll look back and have some new smiles and some new cries, which inevitably will become as important as the crap in my room.

Feeling really focussed on what it is i have to do in order to achieve my goal and complete my five year plan. Maybe it's something we can all do to gain a more positive outlook, try it, see where it takes you.

much love.