A Man of Leisure

Don let me go today; told me I had to clean out my desk by Wednesday. Short notice!
Apparently, the company (Devine) actually won the contract (hooray!). But, as usual, the losers contested the bid. I was assured that this is normal, and that there was nothing to worry about.
That is, if the company responds on time. He didn’t. He was at Carnival, in Brazil, getting his freak on.
Consequently, he lost a $20 million dollar contract with the Air Force, and I lost my Trainer position.
C’est la vie…

Now, About that Wedding…

As I was saying, we postponed the wedding for several reasons. The biggest reason, and the one that comes to mind most often, is that we wanted to do it right. We didn’t want a half-baked wedding that seemed rushed and ill put together. By giving ourselves more time, we can plan a better wedding. And save more money, which brings up my second point…

Mitsy really wanted a bigger wedding than was originally planned. Bigger wedding = more money, and since her Mom can’t even rub two nickels together, we have to foot the bill for the wedding.

So, for right now at least, our desires outstrip our means. Don’t worry though, we will do the do, we’ll just be doing it next year. So mark your calendars.

Just Reminiscing

Several years ago, while still active duty in the Navy, a friend and I were walking along side a construction site, on our way to our barracks. The construction site would later be a Mini Mart (the Navy’s version of a Circle K or 7/11). At the time, it was just a concrete slab and a dirt road.

Like I said, we were just walking to the barracks on that dirt road. The day was hot, and the wind didn’t provide any relief from the intense sun that seemed so hot, it had burned away any cloud cover. Something seemed vaguely familiar about the road we were walking on, in companionable silence. Instead of forcing the memory to the surface, I just relaxed and let it take it’s sweet time.

I realized it was a childhood memory, of when Wilkins Edition was unpaved, and Grandmas’ house was the last house on that side of the street. From her house to Alamo was nothing but tall grass and one huge tree. As kids, we dubbed it “the Shade Tree”. During the hot, lazy days of summer, we would take cover from the sun under its branches, and eat pecans by the handful.

Walking down the road in Pearl Harbor brought those memories to the surface. The more I reminisced, the more powerful the memories became until suddenly, I could not tell the difference between memory and real life.

Literally.

I found myself walking down that dirt road once again. That same road I had traveled so often as a child. The hot, dry wind brought the same smells of fresh grass and fragrant flowers. It even carried the sounds of my youth; cicadas, barking dogs, the crunching of rocks beneath my feet, and the rustling of leaves from the Shade Tree. It even seemed to gently push me forward, towards Grandmas’, or Alice’s, or to Momma Ida, just a little further in the distance.

For an instant, I was transported back in time, whisked away from Pearl Harbor and brought to Brenham. The journey there was instantaneous; the time between one footfall and the next. I looked around in wonder (and not a little homesickness) at the days of my youth.

I didn’t have long to linger, though. It seemed that as soon as I was taken home, it was time to be brought back (to reality). The sounds faded, ’till all that was left was the soft whispering of the trees, and the crunch of rocks under my shoes; the smells faded, until all that was left was the hot, dry smell of the wind.

And finally, the vision faded, until all I had left was the dirt road, a quickened heartbeat, and a lump in my throat. All in all, the vision only lasted an instant, yet it has lasted a lifetime.

I found myself wondering, “Was I really there? Had I really found some way back, if only for an instant?”

I shook my head to break free of the last, tenuous grip of the vision. My friend looked and asked, “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “Just reminiscing”

MixedFolks.com – Names for MixedFolks

MixedFolks.com – Names for MixedFolks
Although I came up with Sushi & Grits all on my lonesome, I happen across it in this website, although with a slightly different twist…Scroll down to number 77.

A Ripe Idea – Black History

A Ripe Idea – Black History
This ain’t just the run-of-the-mill black history…
“…In the courtyard of the thirteenth century cathedral in Magdeburg Germany stands a statute carved in honor of St. Maurice, the military saint in chain mail armor and Nubian from his lips and nose to the lineage cuts on his forehead. James Mitchner in his Jewish history epic the Covenant writes about the tragedy of European Christian knights mistakenly warring against Ethiopian Christian knights, who came to aid the Christians in the Crusade against the Islamic knights.

Magdeburg is not the only medieval church to still possess centuries old art work celebrating martyred Christian Nubian or Ethiopian knights. In Herferdshire in western England lies the parish of Brinsop, where the exquisite stained glass window created in the thirteenth century prominently displays a knight with a distinctly black face.

Sometimes I think that the reason Africans were separated from their friends at the start of slavery was because there was a time when Africans were extremely organized. J.A. Rogers writes in his book, Nature knows No Color Line, that Maurus was the Greek word for African, as in Mauritania and Morocco. The Romans pronounced it Maros, and in English, Africans were referred to as “Moors” thousands of years before anyone heard of a Negro in 1700…”

African American Business Directory

African American Business Directory. Get a free Listing for your Black Owned Business. Search our directory of Black owned businesses and professionals.

Found this surfing the net, doing research for my upcoming local portal for Honolulu.

107879205896985934

Remember Super Fly & The Equalizer?: “Ron O’Neal: The 66-year-old star of Superfly passed away on Wednesday at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. “

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Interesting: “Morgan Freeman: Soldiers at the Schofield Barracks in Hawaii are in for a treat today (Saturday, January 17). Freeman and Sara Foster will be visiting the troops to sign autographs, pose for pictures, and talk with the men and women who protect us daily”

Local News

Interesting: “Winfrey and her former personal trainer, Bob Greene, bought 1,000 acres of Haleakala Ranch land in Upcountry Maui on Thursday. ” Remember when she slammed the beef industry a few years ago?

Electablog* Campaign News with all the Carbs

Just found this somewhat funny piece about the Janet Jackson “scandal”. Click the link to read the whole story…

Electablog* Campaign News with all the Carbs: “Fighting Stiffness with Stiffening
Baring a Nipple for a split second in the good old days:
$27,500

Proposed hike in that fine:
$275,000

Actual cost just approved by a House Committee:
$500,000

Amount we should all now be willing to pay to catch a glimpse of Janet’s nobs:
$500,000.01″