Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Babysittin' the girls

Good Lord maaaaan!!!! Last night my sister went to the Laundromat and I went over to the house to watch my nieces. Hey, it was a lil’ after 8, so I figured they’d be toned down from being up all day. Boy was I wrong!!!! The minute I walked in the door I heard hollerin’ and screamin’. Now, keep in mind that we’re talkin’ about three girls ages 3, 2 & 1. (see Uncle Greg - Jan. 6, 2005) Yes, I know… I wonder how my sister does it. So I take off my coat, flick the channel to American Idol and prepare to eat my Subway sandwich I had bought only a few minutes earlier. My sister jets outta the house and hollers “I’ll be back”. I yelled back “I hope you weren’t just gonna leave on a road trip and not tell me” So as soon as she closes the door, my oldest niece walks over to me and eyes my sandwich, “Uncle Greg, can I have some”. Now of course I said, “Didn’t y’all eat dinner?” She looks at me and says “No”. Now I don’t believe this for a sec, but she’s rubbing her tummy and has this really sad face. So before I even took a bite of the sandwich, I let her take one. Next thing you know, tomatoes and lettuce is falling on the carpet and she’s holding out her hand for more. So, for the next 10 minutes I broke off lil’ bits of my sandwich for her and the minute she turned her back, I gobbled the rest of it down. She walked back over to me, looked me dead in the face with this mean look, then went back to the computer. My youngest niece was standing in her room and hollering “Greg… Greg… Greg”. I walked over to the room where she was contrained by the plastic gate and lifted her over to the other side. Now the 2 year old looked at me as if to say “Oh, they can be in the living room with you, but I can’t”.

I go sit back down on the couch and try to watch American Idol. The oldest is hollering for me to come help her play some Veggie Tales game on the computer. The 2 year old is jumping up and down on the bed and screaming like a wild possum. The youngest is following me around everywhere I go. I got tired of walking back and forth, so I opened the doors that connected the bedroom with the living room and dining room so that they wouldn’t have to call me to come and get them… or hurt themselves climbing over the gate. The next 20 minutes was filled with complete craziness. They were running all over the house. They were standing up on the dining room chairs. The 2 year old kept playing with the phone and trying to dial out. I think I said the words “No” or “Stop” about a hundred times in that short time period. So I went back to the bedroom and put on some kiddie tape thinking that it would get them interested enough to stop wildin’ out… wrong!!! So I did what any other good uncle would do, I went back to the couch and finished watching American Idol. Next thing ya know I’m waking up with my youngest niece tapping me on my knee. I dunno how long I was sleep, but it was long enough. About 2 minutes later my sister comes back from the Laundromat and maaan was I happy to see her. I got up, kissed those babies good-bye and grabbed my coat. I looked at my sister as I walked outta the door and said to her “I dunno how you do it”. I went home, threw the work clothes off and fixed myself a nice drink.

Monday, March 28, 2005

The Final Four

Maaaaaan look... it's Monday. It's raining and I'm sitting at my desk. What else is there to say??? I'm bored outta my mind. If you came here expecting me to drop some revelations of how great my weekend was... sorry to disappoint you. I mean, I am in the top 10 in my office pool for the Final Four. I picked three outta four teams: Illinois, North Carolina & Louisville... Duke screwed up and lost. With all that being said and looking at the amount of money at stake... Go Carolina!!!! Now, I'm not a Tarheels fan, in fact I can't stand em. I've hated them since the days of Len Bias dunking all over them at Cole Field House. I've been angry at Carolina since Fred Brown of Georgetown made that ghost pass in that '82 championship game. I hated James Worthy, Brad Daugherty, Sam Perkins, J.R. Reid, Rick Fox, Rasheed Wallace, Jerry Stackhouse, Brendan Haywood, Vince Carter, Kenny Smith, Hubert Davis, George Lynch, Donald Williams, Ed Cota,.... that's all that comes to mind right now. I know hate is such a strong word, so I'll just say that I disliked them. I only hate one team and that's the Washington Redskins. Back to basketball. I can't even say that I dislike this Carolina team. I guess that they've grown on me. With the squad that they've got, they can definitely take the NCAA title. With Sean May, Rashad McCants, Raymond Felton, Marvin Williams, Jawad Williams and the rest of the squad doin' it... I look for them to be victorious next Monday night. Now, this has nothing to do with the fact that there's $5000 in the pot and I'm due a share if they end up winning over Illinois by a total combined points total of 131. It really has nothing to do with it.... okay okay, just a little bit. Go Tarheels!!!!!

Friday, March 25, 2005

Happy 23rd Birthday Lil' Brother




Now, don't get mad at me cuz I dug up that old pic of you standing on the wall profiling in junior high. You were cool then and you're still cool now. I'm sitting here somewhat in disbelief how much you've grown up. Since you've been away at school, I only see ya ere' couple of months and then a few weeks in the summertime. I always knew that you were gonna end up being on the path to be a lawyer cuz you always had to (well... you still do) have the last word. You've mellowed out a lot since those 'argumentative days', but you still haven't changed much maaaaaan. But ya know, I'm proud of you cuz you stick by your beliefs no matter how ridiculous they are. I catch myself laughing when I think back to some of the things we've discussed recently. I hope that the insight and advice that I've given you over the years has been beneficial to you in some way.

The fact that I'm almost a full 10 years older than you, should serve notice that I'm much wiser than you and that everything that I say is the gospel truth aiiight!!!!???? You don't go to the barbershop do you? That's cuz you learned to cut your own hair and who is it that taught you those skills??? The BIG BROTHER who's been cuttin' his own hair since '88. Now goin' back to those high school days of yours. You didn't just happen to start selling candy and sodas on your own now did you? You had to get a ride to Price Club to pick up those items right? Do you know that BIG BROTHER used to ride his bike to the bakery thrift store and buy 'discounted' pastries and then sell the donuts, honey buns, pies & cupcakes in the gym the next morning? They used to call me the 'Stale Pie Man' in high school. You've got a boomin' system in your ride and think it's on point huh? Try driving a '72 sky blue Volvo stationwagon fully equipped with the best soundsystem that money could buy. I had a Sanyo radio with knobs... no digital, a Radio Shack amplified equalizer and two house speakers in the back. I was pumpin' Big Daddy Kane and EPMD back in dem days... wha'chu know about that!!!??? You got the nerve to laugh at my old school rap. That's aiight though chump!!!! Oh yeah, one mo' thing. Your Playstation 2 Grand Turismo aint got nothin' on my Atari 2600 Pole Position!!!!

Sike!!!! But fa real though, I'm just messin' wit'cha a lil' bit. Continue to stay focused in your studies and know that all that work you're putting in will definitely pay off in the end. You're gonna be one hell of an attorney and hopefully I won't be needing your services anytime in the future. I know it goes without saying, but I love ya maaaan. Since you like to clown my favorite sign-off phrase, I'm gonna leave it here for ya to clown me about it some more...

PEACE & LOVE... PEACE & LOVE... and more... PEACE & LOVE... ha ha!!!

Monday, March 21, 2005

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

Although I’m now 32 years old, I still love my Mom with all of my heart. Today is a special day because we're celebrating her birthday. I still have the piece of paper on which I wrote this poem for her back in 1977. I can recite this as if I wrote it yesterday.

A mother is someone who always cares
She’s watching you here and she’s watching you there
She trying to make sure that you grow up good
To do the things that you know you should
She’s watching forever time after time
To make sure you haven’t committed some kind of crime
She’s just like a bird, she watches like a dove
She’s trying real hard to give you her love


click thumbnail for larger view




Ma,
I'm still that lil' boy that loves you tremendously. In the darkest times of my life, you have always been there to give me light. For all the wisdom and all the love, I can only say thank you and love you back.





Happy Birthday Mom!!!!



Thursday, March 10, 2005

The Comeback

So after struggling for almost a week with this sickness, I feel like I'm coming back to life. I don't ever recall trying so many remedies to try and get rid of anything in my life. I think I musta had at least 30 cups tea or lemon and honey. I was even drinkin' Red Bull's tryna pep myself up at work during the day. Tryna fake at work as if ere'thing is okay is not easy, but I'm not tryna use any sick days that I don't have to. If God gives me the strength to get outta the bed pain-free in the morning, then I'll be on the J-O-B. I just grab my Ziploc freezer bag and toss a lil' bit of ere'thing from the medicine cabinet into it. I'm know for tryna self medicate so this prolly isn't the only time I've overdone it. I swear that yesterday I was drunk off Tussin cough syrup. I bought the bottle at 9 in da mornin' and by 7pm the bottle was empty. I was feelin' kinda euphoric and spaced out til like 11 last night. I've drained bottles of Dayquil and Nyquil respectively and that Tylenol Allergy Sinus has about 4 tablets left. Needless to say, I'm up in here taking all kinda vitamins and half of em I dunno what they're supposed to do... seriously. I got GNC Mega Man joints, Vitamins B-Complex, C, E, Fish Oil gelcaps, Cranberry extract, Ginger, Chorella, Magnesium-Malic Acid and a bunch of others. Look, I'm just tryna get healthy!!!!! Anyway, although I had a headache at this moment, I know I'mma feel betta when I wake up... I just know it. The two Tylenol tabs that I just took should help alleviate the leftover crud in my system... I hope. I just lit this aromatherapy candle and I'm bout to cut the lights off and hit the sack. But first I'mma download some more music.... ha ha......

Saturday, March 05, 2005

Aches and Pains

I'm coming down with the flu. A lotta folks on the job have been outta the office with the flu or bad colds the past number of weeks. I've been fortunate up to this point not to have any symptoms. However, now my ears are ringing, my throat is scratchy, my body aches like a crazy and I'm having chills. I've got the heat in my crib on like 85 degrees and I'm sweating something awful. But my body feels like I'm outside in the snow cuz I'm up in here shivering. This is terrible cuz I hate being sick. I can't sleep comfortably or even lay in the bed without aching. I've been drinking herbal tea & OJ since yesterday mornin' tryna fight this crud. Although I take an assortment of vitamins daily, I really have OD'd on Vitamin C the past 48 hrs. Last night I drank almost half a bottle of Nyquil in an effort to get to sleep. Popped a Percocet and 2 Tylenol, followed by 2 Benadryl tablets. Yeah, I really did take all of that stuff. I think I was able to get to sleep around 1 o'clock or so. Obviously my remedy didn't work too well cuz I've been wide awake since 6:30 this morning. Every couple of minutes or so I get this shrill piercing noise in my ears. Oh my God, this hurts like hell!!!! The only thing I've been able to eat the past 24 hours is a can of chicken soup. I have no appetite whatsoever, but I guess I need to try and eat something else. I'mma get back in this bed and try to go to sleep again. I dunno it I'mma be able to, but I sure as hell am gonna try.