Sunday, April 29, 2007

WIWUTS 4/29/07

On this rainy Sunday, I had the pleasure of beginning my day supervising at another program. My friend Wolf Fighter was driving a kid to the airport from her program and her supervisor called out. It was only for three hours and the boys all slept in for the most part.

As I returned to my home program, it was so cool cause my boys were just boys for most of the day. Guys actually asked us to go play catch. In a rare occurrence, there was unanimous support of the television program choice and we watched pets in silly mishaps and crotch shots on America's Funniest Home Videos. There was even a minor wind breaking competition that I finally ended, mercifully actually.

But the quote of the night was delivered by one of our more develelopmentally delayed boys. He began to get a little unfocused during the TV watching and I sent him to bed early. As he was leaving the room, he flicked the light switch off and on. When I asked him why he did it, he replied in his abnormally bass voice, "I was just checking it."

Okay maybe you had to be there. Our street smart client did inquire, "Do you know every motherfucking song?" after I began to finish a song that had been playing during a commercial.

Cool day anyway.

"I was just checking it"

"Do you know every motherfucking song?"

Saturday, April 28, 2007

In A Giving Mood

For some reason, I am in a very generous mood. It's not like I am some sort of miser on the regular. I think most people who regularly interact with me would say that I am a giving person. Today, though, I feel even more giving. There is too much to enjoy for me to keep it to myself. I honestly just want to share.

The good feeling one gets from giving is amazing. And I'm not talking about the ego boost from helping somebody else. In moderation, I guess that's fine, but there's just a natural good feeling linked with the act ogf giving, regardless if the act is appreciated or not. I honestly enjoy the times when I help out or give and the recipient is unaware of the help or at least the person who provided it. I do need to hear the appreciation every once in a while but too much makes me uncomfortable.

Why I am this way, I do not know. I shall sally forth however.

Friday, April 27, 2007

Somebody's Manic

Yeah I'm laughing hysterically at the smallest of provocations. Just an update. I return to my ebullience. I leave you with two of the sickest goals in the history of soccer. Scary how similar they are. And that both players are Argentinian. And the goals happened like 20 years apart (The one on the right was last week). Enjoy

Thursday, April 26, 2007

What I Took From The Cookie Jar

As I have mentioned before, I am a packrat, whether of emotions or actual things. In the process of straightening up, I rediscovered some fortunes from some fortune cookies I had eaten the other day. Now I save my fortunes because once upon a time I had the creative idea to make like a collage of all the saved fortunes. My own little piece of kitschy homemade art to take with me wherever I roamed. I even thought it could be like a series of periods in my life. Needless to say, there are a bunch on my dresser in addition to the empty blank CD case that's half full of them as well.

These three fortunes were pretty special though because the message taken together could be very interesting. The night I read them I was kind of spooked but I threw them off to the side away from all the other fortunes.

Now first one said, "Soon life will become more interesting." Okaaaaay. I'm going to be optimistic about that. But the next one said, "Enjoy yourself while you can." Yeah not so settled down now. Remember this is late at night and I am kinda sleepy. Then finally, the coup de grace, "School is a building which has four walls with tomorrow inside."

Just eerie. Eerie.

This Is An Emergency




Days off are great.

It's surprisingly warm outside. Here's the view from the Milk Street Mansion porch. A stray black dog just passed through our backyard. I was too lazy to go get a picture.

I spent like 30 minutes reading Wikipedia articles on SportsCenter anchors. It was interesting enough. Nothing worth mentioning though.

I did do some productive things. My room looks slightly less disaster like. I also made tentative plans to actually physically be in church this Sabbath asopposed to my usual internet visitation. Not much more though. It's nice to be chill not need to worry to much about things.

Peace Out

Return to life as usual.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Trying To Cut Down On Superlatives

Let's evaluate the situation.

- In one minute, my bank account will return to the land of triple digits. Its return will be longer as well due to my pick up of overtime and a lovely fake holiday that Masachusetts created so that I can claim it as extra pay.

- I watched my second straight day of Champions' League Soccer. (Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, and Didier Drogba are crazy)

- Although I had to staff a child who is a mentally draining (and occasionally physically as well) for the second or third or fourth straight day, it was manageable because his family came and also because he wasn't too disruptive today.

- Staff meeting was actually enjoyable at points

- A new supervisor gave me a very nice compliment in front of some of the boys.

- I am done with work for the week

- I am done with work for the week

- Yeah I am done with work for the week

- I am fine as hell

- I have tentative plans to do social experiments on unexpecting car salesmen

- Mocha Latte is always in full effect

- Finally, I opened my thin envelope (read: rejection) from George Washington Law School in DC (my preferred location) but found a card encouraging me to be part of the wait list which is great considering it is a top 25 school.

After the analysis, this must be marked as one of the best Wednesdays ever.

I wish I could celebrate more but I celebrate in honor of Mocha, who as supervisor today was involved in I believe eight (8) holds. His XBox 360 is still out of commission as well and if it had a profile on MySpace it would kick Tom's ass out of the top spot. So I pour some liquor on the concretefor the system. And I also send out all my good vibes to Mocha.

It's a good day. God be praised.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

WIWUTS 4/22/07

Today was a busy day. I didn't leave the premises until 11:08 p.m. There really aren't many reasons why I was happy to wake up, other than the obvious sustenance of human life. But digging I found something.

It's not the usual single funny commetn or anecdote. It is more about the development of one of our kids. He came to us a couple of weeks ago straight from the inner city and fulfilled all the stereotypes ignorant people have about blacks. And though he still makes incredibly crude comments and shows defiance whenever possible, he slowly is coming around to something better. He just did some really unexpected, admirable things like saving food for people that he's not particularly fond of and just a bunch of simple things that I can't catalogue completely cause there are so many. But that was a very worthwhile reason to wake up this sunday

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Beautiful Day

My sleep has been off so I am a little late in realizing how beautiful they day is. My housemates Banana and Uno are doing work around the house, making it look all springy and clean. Each day I live here the more the idea of home ownership is appealing. I always wanted to theoretically. But actually living in a house and seeing them take care of it, and contributing what I can, is just very endearing. Before it was something I didn't care about too much. I would be more concerned about owning something, even if it was an apartment. But the house idea is just nice. Plus backyards are cool. Which is where I'm headed right now.

Unexpected Realization

Waking up to country music blaring in your house two days in a row is somewhat disconcerting.

(Triple M Post!)

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Spirit of Peace

One of our charges at work is mentally retarded and has some psychosies. His mom is also mentally retarded but also fervently religious. he has religious word searches and DVDs but recently Mom gave him a Bible. Since his reading is limited to words he recognizes, obviously staff must read to him the "doth"s and "cometh"s and "begat"s that populate the Book. I remember the first time I was asked to read something religious and my supervisor clarified that I could read it but I had to offer no comments on it, positive or negative. That seemed like a reasonable compromise. Constitutional rights intact but separation of church and state also intact as well.

So I have regularly read to him and paraphrased without offering a bias since the mere reading would defeat the purpose. Lately he has been losing his mind and sent a supervisor to the hospital yesterday, which was the second supervisor he sent to the hospital in the past month. Now he has been removed from the community and has staff attention 1 to 1 for the weekend. Of course on the day I picked u, I got the responsibility. I didn't mind too much. He's mostly a chilled out kid except for his lapses of control. And I did hold him today for two minutes and he was in another hold when I left to get his dessert, but otherwise he was mostly copasetic. He's parking in the solution area where we've moved his mattress and he wants me to read him his Bible. Even though we're not supposed to be talking with him, I figured the exception would be the Bible reading.

First my buddy and supervisor CR says you shouldn't do that. In my crankiness and religiosity, I somewhat snap back ansd say I will read. Program director sees me and asks me to stop. I offer my side that I thought it was okay since you know religious and all. He offers me some mess about him having a serious incident and needing to follow the plan. I gave him back the Bible and quietly seethe.

Initially, I was just going to be rebellious and read the thing when they left. Then I thought better of it. I was going to write an e-mail to the COO and the Human Rights Officer. But then I thought that wouldn't be fair to my program director. I figured I'd e-mail him with a detailed explanation and blind carbon copy the aforementioned people. Then I thought, "Maybe there is a justifiable reason." I thought I'd do research on my own time and figure out how deep it should go. Then I realized I should pray.

The prayer was a sentence. I don't even know what I said.

And I was still seething.

Within 2 minutes, the program director came back in and realized that he couldn't read and said it was okay.

Can you praise Him now people?

There is nothing else to say.

Banana

I know it's late, but as I finished the last blog about my day at work, my mind wandered to this topic and I thought it should have its own special arena.

Sometimes the Lord does the amazing with the most unexpected of instruments. Once again, I refer to that devil of MySpace. But because of it, I have my friend Banana, and once again I am in its debt.

I did know her through work but it was she who initiated out of work contact through the MySpace message. And soon we were chilling. And that chilling has grown into living together with her sister at the Milk Street Mansion. Who would have thought a Caucasian from Central Mass and a black guy from Brooklyn would grow to be very good friends. Then again, we're not exactly the stereotypes from those places either. Banana might be the only member of her family who doesn't listen to country voluntarily (the rotation is rhythmic and bluesy) and I like going to the opera. Go figure.

But somehow we mesh. Whether its at work or if we're chilling at the Mansion. She indulges my endless blather about nothing on our car rides to and from work. Man she gives my broke non driving behind rides! Man she's the reason I got a place to live! We joke about being broke and the crazy people (staff) at work and also try to figure out what the hell we're gonna do with our lives. Plus she's included me in her awesome family from time to time and that's been an amazing blessing as well. She's awesome and I have God and MySpace to thank for her being in my life.

I'll never be able to repay her but I love her with all my heart. And the next time one of my clients mentions the unspeakable someone's getting a dropkick.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Oh My Goodness

What
A
Day

Let's recall that I was awake earlier than I would have liked to be and had issues going back to sleep. We'll move from that point. I was all ready and stuff on time. I went to work for our empty staff meeting and for some reason had the notion to speak a lot more than I have in recent months. I'm not sure it was because there were less people. Maybe I wanted to make a good impression on our new boss. Could have been my morning ritual just snaped something loose. Either way, I was talking.

I think it was precipiattated by the fact that I was reminded in an early part of the meeting that my position was effetively eliminated and that I couldn't even technically pass meds any more. And once again, I knew this was happening and I am perfectly okay with it. But I worked and earned that position so to have it taken away, even though I know it's not personal, I guess it still burns a little. So at one point in the meeting I was like"I think I am checking out today." But then I prayed a little prayer and I got my senses. Even if I plan on leaving eventually I need to give my all to the job. And if not for my own character or something, then just for the kids who already have jacked up situations.

So for the rest of the meeting I was offering plans to end swearing and offering caveats to proposed solutions to existing problems. And afterwards I had enough sense to hook up my good friend Special K with the nod to the program director so that she can come back and work at our program. And I confirmed that I will be backup supervisor ($2 more an hour when Mocha calls out). So that was nice.

And on my week when I should have run shift, I couldn't because my position didn't exist any more. So not only was I an active member of meeting, which for some reason is still important to me for some reason, but I also didn't have to worry about activities that did not exist. I got to be a staff. Hooray.

That all quickly changed. Kids were having fits cause it was campus clean up day and regular kids have fits with extensive cleaning. Now think about that when the kids also got behavioral and mental issues. For the most part guys did what they needed to, but one just decided to lose it and attack the person who was running shift. She had to go to the hospital, which also took our new boss who had to go make sure her eye was alright (8 stitches. She'll be alright but I am working tomorrow in her stead).

Let's do a reset of the situation. At 4:45 p.m., I am now running shift. I am down two staff I was expecting. One staff is stuck with the attacker and another is stuck with a child who was having an issue before the unpleasantness even happened. Which leaves 11 kids with like two staff and a newbie who really couldn't do anything cause it was his first day. Oh yeah and special dinner wasn't picked up casue the supervisor ordered it.

Well initial crisis handled. Assistant Program Director takes a child and goes to pick that up. Dinner commences. But hey, why are kids being amazingly loud and disrespectful. Long story short, by the end of dinner, there were only like seven boys who were eligible for fun things. Yeah that turned to five in a hurry.

Event after event happened. I wouldn't have been surprised if I saw the horsemen of the apocalypse coming upon us. But I just kept praying when I was smart enough to think of it. And it all worked out in the end. I just finished shift report from home. I couldn't stay in that place any longer. It was just too tiring. But I made it.

Why did I sign up for tomorrow?

O Say Can You See

First I saw this.


Tommy Thompson, a rumored presidential candidate all the way from 1996, a 65 year old man former governor of Wisconsin and former Secretary of Health in the Dubya Administration, has a MySpace. The brain just started to work even though I haven't felt this tired in a morning in a while. Could this be Rupert Murdoch's candidate of choice? (For those who don't know, Rupert Murdoch is the owner of News Corporation which owns like Fox Television and a bunch of other media businesses including the controlling interest of MySpace. He's also a notorious conservative even though he can't vote in America cause he's Australian).


But I went back cause my login was wrong or something and then the "Cool New People" thing had refreshed and along with two new faces there was

The Parallels Are Unsettling

If you're wondering why I am up at this hour reserved for medical professionals, morning show hosts, teachers, and crack addicts, its because I took the supervisor's keys home last night by accident and I was up early in the hopes of calling the morning supervisor who actually lives in my neighborhood to come pick them up on his way in. Sadly the one number they had for him at work led me to a young woman's voice mail. I'll be in early anyway.

But being up has obviously thrown a wrench in my sleep pattern and as I try to lull myself to sleep, I'm noticing that my methods of returning to Slumberland eerily resemble our boys. There are certain sleep patterns that I never shed from childhood. To this day, if I'm sedentary for long enough and my body senses the need to slep, I involuntarily start sucking my tongue. Other people actually had to point it out to me. And I can't do it on my own. It really just happens and most times I don't notice it until its transpired for a while. I also sometimes end up sleeping with my ass up high and my legs crossed together exactly as I did as a ababy (I've seen the pictures).

Right now though, I have my DVD on, which one of my boys was asking for last night. That's not so peculiar. Lots of people fall asleep to some noise. But as I turnedit on and I was still having trouble I really started to rock slighly which is something I used to do with more frequency even in adulthood. But one of my boys is notorious for that. It's like his calling card. Maybe I'm just up too early.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Do You See A Fist Shaped Cloud In The Sky?

Sunday night was the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's breakage of the color line in American professional baseball. As players jockeyed to wear his #42 to pay homage to a significant moment in American history, the rest of the world seemed to have no recollection that the whole race thing was overrated.

All week Don Imus dominated headlines due to the fallout over his use of the term "nappy-headed ho" in reference to the Rutgers women's basketball team, which happens to be predominantly African-American and also coached by an African-American woman. Of course Jesse & Al were on the case along with the new black crusaders Tom Joyner, Tavis Smiley, and Stephen A. Smith (Sidebar: Is this really what we're left with in Black culture? We got more problems than racial epithets). And what was once a suspension eventually became termination for Mr. Imus.

Over in Germany, it seems that training officers in the military like to teach their charges to aim machine guns by imagining that they were shooting black people in the Bronx. I'm not sure what aspect of this story I should be most shocked about. The statement is shocking eneough in its ignorance and disregard for human life. But on a whole other level, what's up with the specificity? Fine, you hate black people, but who the hell fucked with you in the Bronx? You're in Germany. Germany. Was it one too many Terror Squad songs pumping through the iPod?

Finally, some lunatic went buckwild and opened fire on campus at Virginia Tech yesterday and over 30 people have already passed away due to the injuries he incurred.

Oh yeah I woke up to snow today. It's April 17th. Snow. April. Got that? Good.

What the hell is going on?

Monday, April 16, 2007

That Just Happened

One of the kids I work with just found my supervisor and myself on MySpace.



Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.


Exactly.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

WIWUTS 4/15/07

I was a tad late. I had intestinal discomfort throughout the day that I have not endured for some time. I had to pour meds at another program. Oh and it snowed and sleeted and rained all day which meant a bunch of kids stuck inside all day.

Recipe for disaster? Not for Ironsides (what I call the shift I work with).

Anyway other than the beauty of the whole day where our boys were 98% helpful, generous, and respectful, the single moment that would have made it so great to work today was the innonence in our newest boy who told me verbatim "I believe in Spiderman."

The kids have more faith than us sometimes. When do we lose it? Oh wait, we usually snatch it away from them.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

When Being On Hold Is Okay

it's rae for me to go for 24 hours without even looking at my e-mail, but due to my extended day out yesterday, that is what happened. So after my parents ambled off to church, I thought I would do a quick check before I got ready myself.

As I opened GMail, one of the more recent messages was from Northwestern Law. I thought it was some message reminding me about some element of my application that I overlooked or some fee due. Wrong. "The admissions committee has completed its review of your application." Wait a minute. Y'all doing this stuff by e-0mail now. I was expecting the envelope, thin or large, in the mail. And so soon. I swear that everything just got complete like last week.

We're at a crossroads here. Open up the address where my decision lies and possibly have Jesus stolen away from me on the Sabbath. Know that it's there, leave it, and get ready like I planned. Now this would have been the sensible thing to do. GOd can take care of stuff. The e-mail would still be there. Even if I checked it after church at least church would have been in my system to help me weather any blow. I rose. I sat. I rose. I sat.

Damn impulses had me click the button. But I needed to find my applicant number, which required a search through older e-mail. FInally Last name punched in. First name punched in. Social in. LSAC number in. Applicant ID number in. And the PDF says.....

"On Hold."

Now for some that's an anti-climactic moment. For me, tears of relief and joy. Why? Well friends, my academic career throws up more question marks than affirmations. Truly, the most attractive part of my application is that I scored in the 90th percentile of the LSAT and black people don't do that too often. But of course that does not make the whole case. So considering how crappy my resume may look, Northwestern still said this guy might be worth a shot. ANd in no way am I under the assumption that I will eventually be offered admittance. Wait list is nowhere near sure. But if the #12 school in the country thought I was worth a look, it makes me feel good. And they all could still reject me (Update: When I came home to Massachusetts. William & Mary went the conventional way and sent me one of those thin envelopes) but there is a weird sense of peace around the whole ordeal.

I keep telling myself, and others, that they could all reject me but that I would move on. And I think I honestly believed it. But in the midst of believing there were unattended scraps of worry that I put under the carpet of my soul and they bothered me more than I realized. That would explain the tears. But God has kept me and keeps on keeping me. I've already played Mary Mary (Thank You) and Hezekiah Walker (Faithful Is Our God) at least three times each.

That mustard seed faith is hard at times but when it comes through, it does with a vengeance

Okay This Is Surreal

Over 16 and a half hours ago, I started my day. Since that point, I have not shut my eyes longer than the requisite blink. I have made sure that 95% of the clothing I have here in Mass is clean. I have written a number of postings on the blogs. I also did some tag updating too. I did some computer maintenance until the bondage it created was unbearable. I downloaded. I did shower and eat and all that stuff. Fit in some Jeopardy and SportsCenter. Discovered new music right before my very eyes.

And no DVDs or sleep.

It's all very odd. It's kind of nice though it still is suspect. I kind of like being productive but with the freedom to decide how I will best do that. Tomorrow I might be asleep all day, but it is the Sabbath and that's what it's for. I'm gonna enjoy still being wired though. Now it's midnight though, so I think I'll languish.

Friday, April 13, 2007

My Computer

...is starting to show its age. Already I feel as though it has robbed me of 20 minutes of this increased productivity I have been granted. Off to the living room to sort laundry and watch SportsCenter.

Yeah...So....

I'm up. Been up for 15 minutes. I have no desire to go back to sleep. I don't have to go to work today.

Is this what they call an opportunity to be productive?

Oh Just Something I Noticed

Just got off the phone with Socrates and something he said struck me kind of deep. As we were getting off the phone he told me to go get a story and holla at him soon cause I had a way of telling stories. Now I don't say that to blow myself up. I say it because it totally caught me off-guard. Here I am thinking that I was taking the most out of the relationship as I sat back and basked as Socrates spit from his soapbox. See he can talk about anything - politics, celebrities, his own family - with total comfort and humor. I end up laughing my head off. So whenever I spoke, I viewed it as just fodder for him to make even more entertainment or insight. i never really viewed myself as much of an active participator. But he said that I had a way with the stories that I guess entertained him.

And it made me think how peculiar human connection is. Somehow we got what we needed from each other without explicitly stating it to each other or possibly even understanding it ourselves. Cool

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

What's This Salty Discharge?

Yeah my eyes were getting a tad wet towards the end of my viewing Charlotte's Web. Nostalgia for childhood. Honestly moved by the story. All plausible reasons, but did my body have to react with like almost tears. Even that is a little disconcerting. Maybe it's just my time of the month. My body is somewhat achy.

Sunday, April 08, 2007

WIWUTS 4/8/07

One boy was coveting the toy his peer received during his home visit over Easter weekend.

Coveter: "Oh that's so cool. I wish I had one of those"
Possessor: "Well, too bad you're not me"

The possessor is eight years old.and loves the Wiggles & G-Unit.

Saturday, April 07, 2007

I Just Saw....

A Connecticut license plate that read "SKEETS"

Some questions that arise immediately:

1) Does the person realize what the word could mean? I mean we are in a county where having a country club membership is as normal as having a BJ's card. Skeeter is probably still an acceptable nickname.

2) Will the 16 year old boy who finds humor in such things ever going to die?

Time Capsule

I am on my way back from a very fulfilling trip to the city. But the text messages are blowing up and my phone chooses to inform me that the inbox is 95% full. I should mention that the phone I am referring to is one I haven't used since we moved to the house cause for some reason it dosn't work in here. So as I am going through the text messages, it all takes me back to December and previous and a whole host of conversations and emotions that seem so distant but are actually pretty recent.

In three or four months so much has changed. My outlook on life has really done a turnaround. Close to the end of the year, I was beginning to retreat into myself but there were still glimpses of promise. When I turn on my current phone, there's a whole different vibe to the texts. They're more lively, as opposed to the maudlin tone many of the December ones take. It's amazing how drastic a turnaround can occur and how quickly it all goes down too.

Time capsule is just one more feature the cell phone companies can use in marketing efforts. It would get the nostalgia junkies and self-analyzation junkies to switch plans.

Chuuuch

That's the only way to describe the religious experience I had today. I totally forgot that it was Youth Week of Prayer (which is why my parents were somewhat miffed when I returned home last night). I already was going to church with something extra to praise God for but the environment heightened the experience exponentially.

For one we had a crazy band to accompany our praise team. This included my former music teacher who eventually became a musical director for gospel artists so you know it was on point. They even sang my current favorite gospel song which I had played all this morning (Hezekiah Walker - Faithful Is Our God). The youth choir was on point too.

But it was the sermon. The highly regarded son-in-law of our senior pastor was up to the plate and boy he delivered. My thumbs were never motionless because I was typing so many notes in my cell phone. Working out of Acts 12, this is the main stuff I took.

1) When your faith is awake, you can go to sleep. Me and mom looked at each other on that one. That is some power right there.

2) When God calls, you have to "arise quickly" so the chains will come off. Too often, stuff is leading us in a certain direction and we dawdle and miss out on things that were supposed to be ours. So when the spirit is moving, you have to get up. It's what Peter did in Acts 12 when the angel came to free him from prison.

It was truly a fulfilling service. I haven't been so juiced leaving church in a while.

Friday, April 06, 2007

When You Change Your Name One Too Many Times

So dad is asleep and Conan is keeping him company. As I talk to Posh online, Diddy comes dancing out to the carefully picked song by the Max Weinberg 7. Now the three main things that we picked up during the course of his appearance. (Interview implies too much structure to what transpired)

1) Diddy likes to dance. He dances in the morning when he gets up because he believes "you should start the day with how you envision ending it." There are a load of inappropriate jokes that could go there but in fear of not nailing it, I'll let your mind wander to your favorite. But I ultimately do concur. That's why I have a whole morning playlist on iTunes.

2) Diddy likes extravagance. He switched sunglasses mid-interview as Conan was asking him a question. Yeah that did happen.

3) Diddy has really soft skin. As he explained his ritual in the mornings, you know after dancing naked for wifey, he does daily exfoliation (Is this before or after the Proactiv?). He then boasted about having some of the softest skin in the world and proceeded to walk to the crowd with his sleeve rolled up and proffered his arm for examination. The front row did agree, especially a college-aged young man who was emphatic with his head nods.

Oh to be famous

Thursday, April 05, 2007

The Obligatory Barbershop Post


Since I arrived in the city much later than usual, I had to hustle down to get my cut since I had a busy day tomorrow. Plus it's Good Friday so everybody and they momma gonna be up in chairs looking to be nice for Easter Sunday. Just in time for Jeopardy I placed my butt in the chair.


But as I sat down and dude starts cutting, the guy I usually see steps back in with his evening snack. He and the barber cutting my hair playfully jaw about "taking his customer." And that's an unavoidable element of the barbershop, competition. Like when I came in, the barber that did cut my hair was sitting towards the entrance and waiting to meet all comers. Now someone to his right was just chilling in the cut and his eventual customer actually came and searched him out. Always interesting.

Jeopardy was good. I got Final Jeopardy right too though I can't even remember what I answered. Plus I'm clean so who can complain.

Dancing In The Subway

Leading back to my possible chemical dependency on the city, I was particularly joyous as I got on the 1 train after a walk through Washington Heights. As my iPod bumped an amazing selection of tunes, I naturally kept in rhythm with it all. And at points my movements were a little involved, as in I was actually moving my hips and shuffling feet along with the music. Nothing too grandiose in my opinion. I wasn't pole dancing or being provocative. Just appreciating the music.

Oh but the people's reactions were interesting. Most looked and were stunned but then they realized it was harmless. Sometimes, the people that had headphones on as well looked over in a state of jealousy. Kind of like "What's he listening to?" Often they would return to their music but with a new outlook. Now they at least bobbed their heads or silently lip synced words.

Why they weren't doing that before is beyond me. I don't mind dancing to help people remember what it is to live, but it's sad that sometimes we forget so easily.

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Got That Icy S On My Chest

An adapted allusion to Superman via Fabolous but I did feel like that at certain points of the day. Was it my tad too small sweater which emphasized my musculature or just the way things got handled all day? Probably a touch of both, but I think the sweater had more to play into it.

We were in early today for a training that was really an infomercial about all the administrative restructuring taking place. I learned that my position was technically being eliminated, but we already knew that. I still get to keep my salary so no sweat. It still burned me a little. I guess you earn something and you'd like to keep it but then I stepped back and realized that it wasn't that deep. If I was there any longer I would have cared, but as time winds down, one more way God is blessing.

So my turn to run shift in the Wednesday rotation. On Sunday, we played all day and even had a cookout. Three days later, it's snowing?!?!??!?! And it is sticking. Why is it sticking? There goes the safe community trip and any other trip since there's a van ban in place. Whatever, the boys are copasetic for the most part. Then our newest charge decided to bolt away from my boy Mocha so we did a sick transport. Textbook. Mocha's mom, who wrote our training manual, would have been proud. And after we were done with the chair, I uncharacteristically threw a chair. Luckily, none of the kids saw it.

Throughout the day, kids were wilin' out. I mean poor space with each other. Threatening each other with belts. Just plain smacking staff cause they felt like it. I swore there was a full moon at least twice to two different staff. Then I had to go over to the house where Banana works cuase one of their kids had smashed a whole in his wall and had a belt around his neck. So we got that off and we talked him down without the need for a hold. But thank God I went when I did. Banana's co-worker just called for male staff, forgetting to even say where she was. Cause those girls would not have been able to get him where he needed to be.

Then I ran back and the house was quiet and shift report still needed to be done plus oodles of paperwork to be signed.

Hectic. Unpredictable. Regulated though and all with my cool intact.

I do have skin made of adamantium though

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Why I Woke Up This Sunday

Every week, I pull myself out of bed between 6:30 - 6:55 in the morning and go work a 14.5 hour shift with the boys. It is actually the best day of the week sans the early morning call. Usually some boys are out on visits and oddly enough it's the day that we actually have an extra staff. We get to chill all day and the boys are pretty copasetic. Why today was so unseasonably warm that we spent 9 hours straight outside. The boys actually looked like real boys, running around and getting bruises that weren't the result of a flip out over missed snack.

And that in and of itself makes waking up worth it. I thought that this would be a regular feature because there is always some quotable on Sunday, and other days too, where we staff look at each other and smile or laugh just because the little guys can be so cute.

So this week's moment is brought by our 8 year old genius who doesn't realize it because his heart beats like a hummingbird even when he sleeps. So he runs into the solution area upset about something and bangs his fist against the wall. He's still going a mile a minute as I try to calm him down and try to figure out what is happening. Mid-sentence, he hawks up a lugie, spits on the floor and exclaims, "Look there's boogers in my spit!"

And that's why I woke up this Sunday.

(He also once called me a "fucking Jedi bitch" when I put him in a time-out)