C Notes by the Layers

In the beginning....

2009-03-08T21:18:00.000-07:00

I can hear out of both ears good.
All 4 of my wisdom teeth were pulled and there's no more mouth pain.
My wrist is completely healed....

Up Next?

Learn to Swim.
Boxing training.

Degree's of Pain

2009-03-02T20:57:00.000-08:00

I figured I would title this article this after I have been going through this whole wisdom teeth ordeal. For any of you who don't know, last Wednesday I started to have serious pain in my mouth to the point of not being able to chew or swallow. I was drinking only fluids for days, and still am to a degree. I need to get all 4 of my wisdom teeth pulled. But after talking with a good friend of mine... I decided to rank the most painful things I have experienced... in order.

To begin, let me say this is physical pain. There is mental pain that at its worst I believe trumps physical pain. Now that we have that established, lets continue on.

Wisdom Teeth - I have never been in so much pain that I couldnt sleep, eat or function at all. Thats exactly what I was from Wednesday to Saturday (before I got the Vicoden!) Easily number 1.
Getting kicked in the balls - Stop, drop and roll, my God somebody help me, why is this happening to me?!?! Now this could easily be #1 as well, but the problem is at least this goes away after 15 minutes or so. The wisdom teeth thing is with ya. When a man gets wailed on in his junks, I mean a real placed kicked with power behind it... his entire body freezes up and goes into emergency mode. Its like we were programmed with something that says "Hey guys, our reproductive organs are under attack, HELP!" This particular incident happened during high school playing soccer and some uncoordinated guy who went for the ball, missed and got my nuts. I was out for 5 minutes moaning in agony. Trust me, its not fun.
A real Trip - What does this mean? Freshman year, my first week in champaign I was late for class. I was running FAST which at the time was pretty damn fast. Anyhoo, I'm from New York where bike racks that are placed on the ground in little circles are not common. I was running full speed ahead, didn't see this, my FEET got caught and WHAM. I went FACE down flat HARD. 3 people saw this and all of them were like "DAMN, are you alright man?" I could respond, i just moaned over and over... I remember some guy calling an ambulance as 2 people tried to help me up, I remembered where I was, told them I was fine and limped to class. My teeth are still chipped from that incident.
Shutting the door on your fingers, a normal door or car door will work. Nuff said.
Being punched in the gut when your not expecting it.

Luceo non Uro!!

2009-01-04T21:14:00.001-08:00

New Years has come and gone.

Last year I made the resolution to gain 25 pounds of muscle. I ended up gaining 30.
Last year I made the resolution to pick up MMA again. I was off and on, im going to rate this one a TIE.
Last year I made the resolution to get my finances in order. They are in order, but im still giving too much money away to the city in parking tickets. FAILED. Time to bench the car.
Last year I made the resolution not to get into any fist fights. Mission accomplished!
Last year I made the resolution to get a tattoo. Ive got a big one on my chest now.

THIS year Im resolving to gain 10 more pounds of muscle. I want to be about 180 lbs.
THIS year Im resolving to gain back my 6 pick which has morphed into a 1.5 pack.
THIS year Im resolving to get serious with my MMA/Boxing training again.
THIS year Im resolving to get to the know the NYC nightlife. I think im pissing away my youth.
THIS year Im resolving to do a LOT of studying and gain major ground with my nursing degree.
THIS year Im resolving to play a lot less video games.
THIS year Im resolving to work my ass off at work something wicked.
THIS year Im resolving to pick up another sport besides basketball. Baseball/Football or Rockclimbing?
THIS year Im resolving to pick up another language. Ive narrowed it down to Spanish, Chinese or Latin.

The Life

2008-11-24T13:05:00.000-08:00

Recently I have begun searching for God. He is everywhere. Ever since I made the decision to formally attend Seminary along with Nursing School I have been at peace. Its strange how God works in mysterious ways.

Have you ever gotten the feeling that your less of a person? I have experience that many times growing up, being black, being relatively intelligent and being well... a heathen.

Color? Not once at any job I have been at has this NOT happened: Me being by far the most experienced person available, and somebody choosing not to ask me under the assumption that I am stupid.

Intelligence? Most of my friends are from the lower echelon of society. Intelligence has been more shunned than accepted. In the words of Chris Rock (Nigga's love to NOT know things). For a great deal of my life I had to pretend I was stupider than I let on.

Heathen? It does not matter that I am Christian, if I make a mistake, my entire faith will be called into question by people. I have been a Christian for about 6-7 years of life. I have been Godless for 21 years of my life. I have tried like hell to go back, but I can't. Once you are shown the truth it is impossible to go back.

Now this does not apply to everyone by far, isolated incidents that occur frequently if you will. But I believe God has power over all these things. He is in control , and he has a plan. If my purpose in life was to serve as a warning to others, then I would be perfectly happy if it was fulfilling Gods will. Ultimately God's plan is the utmost importance.

My country tis of thee.... SWEET LAND OF LIIIBERTY!

2008-10-14T09:12:00.000-07:00

I am a christian. I am a single black male. I have no kids or people who depend on me to live and by my salary I am considered middle class. I don't belong to a political party, as there are issues that I agree with on both major party sides (Republican and Democrat). I am a partial homeowner.

This upcoming election is important to me. I have actually been following it pretty closely. Whenever I am home with my aunt or uncle, we always talk politics. We can argue and disagree like crazy, but at the end of the conversation we still love each other. If its anyone I learned that you could respectfully disagree from, its my aunt and uncle.

I believe that not only as a christian, but as a citizen of the United States, you are obligated to vote if you are over 18. The presidency is the most important office in politics. Sure it doesn't wield the most power, but the presidency has the most influence and is essentially the face of the United States.

What we have now is a race that has boiled down to 2 candidates. I am going to list both positives and negatives about the respective candidates from my point of view. Both are Christians, which made the choice harder.

Barack Obama

He's the first black presidential candidate (who has an actual shot to win, so the others don't count). I will put it blunt and say it, he already has my vote. But I did not come to this conclusion off the bat, he was actually my third choice when all is said and done. Many people assume that just because I am black, I am going to vote for Obama. No, NO, and NO. I am firmly against this and in my opinion its a huge step back.

Positives:

Hope inspiring. Say what you will, but Barack has given hope to people who have NO faith in the government.
Joe Biden. I think his vice presidential choice was great. Biden is knowledgeable and I would consider him to be a presidential candidate if he ran alone. I really like his platform and I'm confident that if Obama is assassinated or dies, Biden would be a great president.
His ideas are right on target. Now keep in mind I said ideas. Its one thing to say the right things, but its another to DO them.
He is smart. Read up on his credentials and you'll see what I mean. He has a pretty impressive list. He is definitely qualified.
Seems to be more in touch with my generation.
His domestic policies in my opinion are excellent. Read up and we will talk more

Negatives:

Inexperienced. Say what you will, but being president DOES require experience in the political circles. Not just any schmo off the street can be a president. Obama is relatively young to be president and does not have as much as most presidential candidates.
No clear cut plans. Remember when I just said his Ideas are on target? He does not state specific plans on how is to accomplish these. That's a big down side.
His earlier post Iraq stance was WAY too shortsighted. I was mainly against him when he promised to remove troops immediately when he came into power. If you know anything about Iraq at this point, you would know that it was a terrible idea.
I thought his handling of the current economic situation could have been better. Even though McCain got hammered for "failing" to help the wall street financial situation, at least he tried. Obama was in-active.
I still have no idea how he is going to handle foreign policy. While meeting with leaders with no pre-conditions is good, you have to be careful how you do this.
He has already backtracked on some of his promises.

John McCain

McCain was actually closer to having my vote than more people think. Before they chose vice presidents, I was leaning 60% McCain, and 40% Obama. As soon as they chose VP's though, and McCain chose Palin, that shifted from 0% McCain to 100% Obama. The reason was two fold. The first was that everything I have read on Palin suggests that she is GROSSLY unqualified to be the VP. Never mind International experience, but she doesn't have any DOMESTIC experience and shes not "in touch" with the rest of the continental united states. One thing that jumps out at me on this was the "rape kits" controversy surrounding her. Can you imagine if they tried to "charge" for kits in NYC? If McCain somehow kicks the bucket, I would be terrified that she would be the one leading our country.

Positives:

P.O.W who chose to stay with his comrades. That to me shows character.
His own party seems to dislike him as much as the Democrats. That shows Bi-Partisanship and the ability to not follow your party like a lemming. That's a good thing
He is a man on action. He has more clear cut plans. I don't agree with many of the plans, but he will still take action. IMO action is better than no action.
I am in line with his POST-Iraq methods.
I am big on his stance against big business and wallstreet. His stance on the oil companies isnt bad either.

Negatives:

His VP. Palin was a beyond horrible choice. If he happens to die, I don't want Palin in power.
He is old/rich and out of touch. The fact he didn't know how many houses he owned speaks volumes. I don't know about you, but I can tell you in less than a second how many homes I own.
I agreed when he said that he had more experience, I thought it was arguable when he said Obama didn't have any, but it was a good argument. Then he picked up Palin. How can you say shes qualified and at the same time say Obama isn't? This soured me greatly.
He is not bright. He was almost dead last in his class (894 out of 899)

One of the things that really irks me are one issue voters. I mean people who vote for a candidate based solely on their stance on one issue. There are tons out there and its shameful and downright... stupid. You really have to weigh the positives and negatives of the candidates involved. Sure some topics are more important than others, but would you vote for a horrible candidate just because he was in line with your stance on Gun Laws? Lets get it together people....

3 Point Failure

2008-09-29T08:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, so daily updates was a bit... zealous.

So I have decided to become "fiscally responsible" this year and hopefully the rest of my life. I sat down the other day and actually tally'd up where my cash went. I waste a lot of money. In particular I waste a lot of money on eating out and just random crap. Therefore I imposed a new 100 dollar per week limit on EVERYTHING. Food, clothing, games, transportation. Everything. With that much cash I should be able to manage, but more importantly it will make me more aware of where my cash goes. The rest? Paying off loans and save, SAVE, SAVE.

You would be surprised at how much money you can blow here in NYC on food and random stuff. Get a parking ticket? Thats a cool 120 bucks out of your pocket. Say you want to eat at Dallas BBQ and order a standard combo and drinks. That will set ya back about 15 bucks. So heres some useful tips from the cheapskate himself....

Never buy anything from Penn Station/Madison Square Garden. They operate as a completely seperate entity from the rest of NYC. Example: You can step outside of Penn station and buy a fresh bananna from a fruit vendor on 33rd street for 30 cents. That same bananna in Penn station will cost you 1 dollar. We are talking over a 100% surcharge for a walk that would take you about 45 seconds. The thinking and pricing though is for good reason. Penn station is a hub. If you want something to eat quickly, you cant stray too far from the train station for fear of missing your train. Therefore, if you want something, your going to have to pony up some extra cash for it.
Stay away from tourist venues. They usually jack up the price for anything that has to do with tourists.
Street vendors are your friends... sort of. The cheapest food you will get is from the Hallal carts and other assorted food vendors. You can get a good meal for 5 bucks or less easily (includes drink). Now keep in mind I am talking about the actual food cart vendors. The other ones you need to stay away from. I think it was "Ask Howard" special on the news that tested the central cart vendors and found that over 80% of them were overcharging customers on purpose. Which leads me to my next point....
Be sure on the price. Somebody is always trying to rip you off in this city, and its your responsibility to make sure it doesnt happen. Before money exchanges hands, always quote the price and make sure you are getting what you should be. Always count your change as well. There are a LOT of dis-honest vendors in the city and it will save to make sure you were charged the right amount. I honestly didnt think this was a big deal since I had spent 6 years of my life in central Illinois where being scammed does not happen frequently. Coming back to NYC though gave me a harsh reality check.
If you work in the city like I do, bring lunch from home and plan ahead. If its not feasible, then look for other cheap alternatives such as chinese food lunch specials/ 5 dollar subway footlong sandwhiches.
Only carry a certain amount of cash. I usually withdraw about 100 every week and leave 80 on my dresser. The most cash I will carry on me now is anywhere from 20-40 dollars. I make sure not to do any ATM withdrawals during the week to limit myself. You think differently when you have a self imposed cap on how much money you will spend.

My presidential philosophy up next! Stay tuned!

It's been a long time....

2008-09-21T18:49:00.000-07:00

I have not written in a blob in well, about 3 years. Somewhere along the way I stopped journaling my thoughts. Even so, as you walk about your daily life you cant help but think "Man, I really could write about this" or "This would make a good entry". Well its back and in full force.

I am going to regulate myself to once per day and see how that goes.

Until then......