Friends

The best thing about friends is that you get to pick them.

In this community they become your family.

They are a true reflection of who you are.

When you're in different cities they're only a phone call away.

If they've passed away you feel them when you need what they offered while living.

There's nothing better than good friends.

Who are your good friends?

Smiling Faces

Smiling faces sometimes pretend to be your friend
Smiling faces show no traces of the evil that lurks within
Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes
They don't tell the truth
Smiling faces, smiling faces Tell lies and I got proof
The truth is in the eyes
Cause the eyes don't lie, amen
Remember a smile is just A frown turned upside down
My friend let me tell you
Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes
They don't tell the truth,
Smiling faces, smiling faces Tell lies and I got proof
Beware, beware of the handshake
That hides the snake
I'm telling you beware Beware of the pat on the back It just might hold you back
Jealousy Misery Envy
Your enemy won't do you no harm
Cause you'll know where he's coming from
Don't let the handshake and the smile fool ya
Take my advice I'm only try' to school ya

Some of the people in your life might have a slight resemblance to the pic above. Unfortunately, they don't look as comical or you'd be able to easily recognize them. Even if you don't recogonize them right away the truth always comes to the light.

Know that you are in God's favor and you won't have to be worried about these kinds of folk. I'm praying this prayer every day.

Father, I thank you that your favor is coming on me in a new way, and it's going to turn this situation around. It's going to cause these people to start treating me well.

Know Your Truth

I was browsing blogs this morning and came accross this youtube post from Amourpropre. This brotha is 27 and he felt like he lost his truth. When you view the video post, you'll see what I mean.

It's so funny how we loose our truth. The truth being that we know who we are and what we want in life. Unfortunately, the desire for something is what sometimes takes you away from your truth. This separation from the truth can happen at any age and sometimes it can happen over and over again. It's the desire that takes us away.

I admire this brotha for so eloquently exposing himself so that others might learn from him. No matter the situation that is taking you away from your truth. There will be times when you will have to ask yourself if you are living your truth.

Ask yourself if you are living your truth.

I pray that you are.

What's Your Man Saying?

On Aol today they had an article on Why Men Don't Communicate. This part of the article stuck out to me.

Guys Are More Comfortable With Actions Than Feelings
Rather than talking about how he "feels," often a man would rather express his love by changing her oil, or bringing home a flower, or relinquishing control of the remote.
And when men do talk, they'd prefer to talk about actions rather than emotions. For instance, a lot of guys would choose to express their long-range faith in a relationship by talking about next summer's vacation plans, not by launching into a soliloquy about undying love.
Both conversations can mean the same thing (that he plans on sticking around); he just prefers to say it with plane tickets, rather than poetry. It's one of the reasons men are more comfortable talking at work (the practical universe) than they are at home (the castle that emotion built). But you can bring out his great communicator by making him feel more like he's operating in work mode, even when the topic at hand is your love life. Here's an incredible article, "The Home Office," that shows how he can use his best office skills for great success at home.

I thought this section of the article was pretty good. Sometimes in person the words just don't come to me because of my day at work or I'm in that mode of just trying to forget all that happened at work and unwind. I think living alone has caused that period to last longer than it probably should. I know sometimes that I can write down how I feel a lot better than I can verbally express it. So I think for men in relationships with men we probably need to pay attention to the things he does a little more than what he says.

As the old saying goes...I can show you better than I can tell you. I guess that fits me to the T. Unless you piss me off then I can find all kinds of words. Even then I still need to take a min to determine how the situation has affected me.

The article ended with this: It's clear that some men are just plain tired of feeling like they're on the witness stand. They're not necessarily hiding anything; many guys simply prefer not to have to relate confusing feelings that they may not even understand themselves.
An age-old tactic can make things better: Back off a little, give him room to operate in a conversation, and he's more likely to open up.

Am I the only one that is like this?

What To Do?

I watch a DVD today titled Twilight of the Golds. It was about a woman who found out that she was pregnant. Her husband, a doctor that does research on genes that can tell you all sorts of things about a child even at the early stages of pregnancy. When they found out she was pregnant they decided to do some test on the baby to see if there would be any abnormalities. Well in their mind there was one. It was determined that the child would be gay.

The movie centered around her decision on whether to have the baby or not. With plenty of input from her mother, father, husband and her gay brother. The movie was intersting to say the least.

I wonder what most parents would do if they could tell that their child was going to be gay if born? The whole notion of it is sad to me. On one hand I understand where their confusion came from. On the other hand it saddened me because them simply having to think aobut whether to have it or not said volumes in regards to how people see gay and lesbian people. Not that I didn't already know, but to think that someone would terminate a pregnancy based on that was sort of spooky.

What would you do?

Be Prepared

It's time to get prepared. Corporate America has gotten extremely greedy. Many people have gone to college to get skills that would help them solidify a decent position in corporate America in fields such as Finance, Human Resources or Technology. Well, Corporate America has grown tired of paying you what you are worth. So now with a vengeance these types of jobs are callously being shipped off-shore. India is getting quite a few of these jobs. You will be training these Indians, Coasta Ricans etc., to take over your job. It's scarey to think of all of our personal information being sent to other countries. Is our information secure? (That's a whole blog in itself)

Black people it is time to get prepared for a new direction. It's time to get prepared for a new way of life. It's time to get prepared to see many of your friends and family members looking for jobs. You may have noticed it happening when you call your credit card company or other company's customer service and you can barely understand the Hindi accent on the other line. It's happening more and more.

What are we going to do about it? What can we do about it? Why is the government letting this happen so prevalently? How will Americans survive?

What we've got to do is provide services that people need even after all the corporate type jobs are sent to India and other countries. What we've got to do is stop being those crabs in the bucket fighting each other to get ahead. Instead we need to work togher and create alliances that will be beneficial and profitible for each other. We are a creative culture and I know we can do it. We must first find ways to shed the slavemaster teachings that our brothers and sisters mean us no good. If we do not do this we will face a backwards spiral to a time when things weren't so promising for Black folks. So with that I say...BE PREPARED so we don't loose out.

Runaway Slave

When people would ask me what type of a man I wanted to be in a relationship with I would say. I want a runaway slave. (Maybe I'll explain that in another post. It's not really relevant for this one) Well now I want to be a runaway slave!!

I'm in a dilemma and I haven't been this unsure of my destiny or happiness in years. I'm usually pretty content with my life. Lately that has not been the case. I don't even have anyone to talk to about it that can relate to where I am at this point in time. So I thought I'd post on here and see if anyone had any concrete and intelligent advice for me. That's one thing that I don't ask for often either, advice.

Those that know me never think that I ever have any problems. Or at least if I do have problems they always believe that I can handle them and then just move on. So eventually I do end up handling the situation as I have no other choice or options in most cases.

Anyway I am feeling very unsatisfied with my life here in California. Everything that you hear about California is probably true and there are something's that you may not know. It is very superficial, laidback, expensive and prejudice. I've just about had it up to here with California. It's just so dayum difficult to leave the weather and access to activities.

I've been wondering if the weather and access are things that should be keeping me here. I'm not in a relationship currently so what's holding me back you say? Fear! Fear of the unknown.

Now if I was in my 20s still I would've been gone! However, I am not. So where I need help is with making a decision to move. I have a home that I love made some friends and basically comfortable. I've been at my job a long time and it's difficult to step out into something new when you haven't had to in so many years. How do you wrap your mind around leaving?

For some of you the answer may be easy. Just do it. However, that's too risky for me because it is just me. Do I just not have enough faith in myself? I'm probably answering my own questions as I type. Still it's not giving me the tools to take a step in any direction. Where can I get these tools? Does anybody know? I want to be that runaway slave and get away from these Slave Masters I work for and the mannequins that surround every corner of LA

Where is Harriet Tubman when you need her?????

Possibilities

What are the possibilities of the Black Man or Woman? It's said that possibilities are endless. What do you think? Sometimes it feels like at every turn in one's life there are obstacles that get in the way of one's success or happiness. Is it a conspiracy crafted by some unknown source that knows the beginning of our dreams.

We're told to just keep trying and all will work out for the good. I'm scared right now that the good is too far out of my reach to enjoy it while I'm able to enjoy it. Is anyone else afraid of that? It feels like a curse when you have so many dreams that they don't allow you to focus on one. I've heard that the most intellient people are those that dream and have an imagination.

One thing that I can say that I do have is hope. Hope keeps me going each day. It wakes me up and gets me through. Is hope enough. I say no. We all need the following:

Skills
Support
Resources
Guidance
and Love

My mission is to acquire all of the above and to give them as well. I want to be free of the bonds of societal norm and work the system like those that have before me.

I know I'm blubbering on and on, I'm just tired of being tired.