Last Post of 2007?

Seems fitting that since this is the last weekend I spend in Chicago I spend time this morning blogging about it.

In the last few months, I've been back and forth between my new home and what is to be my old one, not on the sly but at the time it is what one does when setting up shop in new digs. I think a lot of folk in the brown blogosphere thought maybe the wife and I were keeping secrets since the summer but no, we were just handling our business doing what we had to in getting things right to spend our lives together in harmony. We just didn't want to tell you. Shocked some, others had already figured things out. Good.

You don't have to know everything, do you?

Thought not.

Less talk and more action is something I've adopted recently. It really seems to work very well when trying to accomplish stuff, but I feel like talking today. You with me?

Good. Here goes...

My thanks goes out to all of those sending congratulations and well wishes our way. I really appreciate words from all of the online family both close and distant, and a mad shout goes out to all of those making the trip over here for the first time this week to check out the dude Diva digs... Since you all up in the medicine cabinet, I hope you wipe thoroughly, wash your hands and come back and exchange dialogue many more times in the future cause I'll still be here.

What, with change you thought I was leaving?

Speaking of change, in less than a week, the good folks over in Iowa will go to the polls and tell us what they think about the current crop of folk vying for that small opening in the oval office in DC. As thinking people with freedom of choice and the ability to vote we should be watching this one closely.

Not one candidate has publicly addressed the plight of a very important 12% American populous. I haven't heard anything involving interventions to stop police abuse, unfair sentencing by the criminal justice system, respect to communities that contribute to the economy but are hit with neglect in facilities and services vital to the survival of a constituent base, predatory lenders taking advantage of hard working Americans who can't afford the American dream and so on. But what specifically about:

There is the woman in West Virginia who was raped and tortured for days with barely any national coverage. They called her the N word but as of this writing, they still had not confirmed they are treating this as a hate crime.

We all know the young groom in NYC who was murdered by the NYPD on the eve of his wedding.

There is the teenage girl in Texas who was sentenced to jail time for an altercation with a school official.

The teenage girl who was sprayed with mace for missing curfew. You can see her in the video restrained by a police officer twice her size. She was in handcuffs when she was sprayed.

The California girl who had her arm broken by a school security official when she refused to pick up a piece of cake from the floor filmed by a school mate and is all over You Tube.

The young man in Georgia who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for having consensual sex with a young girl. He was 17, she was 15.

The young brother in Florida who died in the custody of the state when he was admitted to their boot camp. They said he died of sickle cell but couldn’t explain his battered body.


The assassination of Prime Minister Bhutto needs explanation and needs an American politician to make a statement of admonishment/support on the behalf of the millions of Pakistani residents of this country. What exactly are these candidates speaking about and who exactly do they represent? Why are you not paying better attention to this? Is the Chis Stokes/Raz B situation that damn important to you or are you just that easily distracted?

Homes are being lost by folks that are above the poverty level.
Fuel costs are soaring, and that includes natural gas.
There is a grain shortage looming in the next few years.
Takes haven't been adjusted to balance for the working poor.
Gentrification looms in Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Louisiana, California and New York, places where there are high concentrations of... Brown folk.
Our foreign policy sucks...

Wait, it's New Years weekend. You don't wanna hear this shit! All you wanna do is:

get a little tail... and

drink with your dogs

(I just had to use a couple of Vegas shots from this past week!)

As a 'professional driver' I urge you to get a cab or utilize the nerdy, non-drinking cat with no date as a designated driver this weekend and Monday night. I'll be counting on you all to be aware and use good judgement in getting through to 2008.

We got some work to do. I think I said enough.

Hotep.

Honeymoon In Vegas

Well, I made it back.

Okay, I actually went to work today, albeit straight from the airport and it was a half day for me so it ain't like I'm just getting back. Plus by the time I post this, it'll be Thursday morning. I'm late... Sue me.

Las Vegas was the place for holiday this year, and although temperatures ranged from the mid fifties down to about thirty eight degrees, my other half and I had a ball. Getting out of the airport was a somewhat hard task, but seeing the strip from the plane Saturday as I landed put my soul at ease. My other half and I took separate flights and she had already gotten a b-line on our joint at the Luxor.

We decided on a spa suite that came with a hot tub I put to use for these aching bones every day we were there except for our last. I swear on all that is sacred we are putting a soft tub at the rest in 2008. With all the walking we did all up and through the strip and thangs, I really needed to chillax in the hot tub when we did.

There's also a great story behind the hot tub in our suite and how my other half received the ring I hinted at in an earlier post but I'll save that for another day, you actually might hear of it somewhere else in the blogosphere... Who knows?

Anyway. We had a ball in Vegas... We gambled somewhat and lost a bit, won a little. It really wasn't the focus of our stay. We ate well and discovered that Old Vegas whoops New Vegas' ass when it comes to food and circuses. It was my other half's first Vegas visit and I attempted to bestow her all things I knew of sin city, but so much has changed since my last visit. Of course construction changes a lot but all the basic stuff I knew came in somewhat handy.

Thank the lord for the monorail. We made the walk from Freemont Street to the Stratosphere Monday evening and I tell you... Somebody needs to hook that up a little faster. In the words of Rhonda Deane from the movie 'White Men Can't Jump': "There ain't no vista and there damn sure ain't no view..." when it comes to Las Vegas Boulevard from Freemont to Charleston streets.

Sheesh.

Fix that ish!


Anyways, fun was had, things were learned, souvenirs were bought and the monorail and a certain hot tub was abused in what I'll call our Vegas honeymoon. I call it that because Monday afternoon we got married. I get all puffy in the ocular region when thinking of it but I'll let her tell it. She does a better job than I when it comes to relaying that one.

Hold tight... You'll get all the info you need in due time, okay?

Wait til' I tell you how I got a hold of the ring... You'll laugh, you'll cry. Hell, you're probably reading that one paragraph up there over again just to make sure you read it right.

You did.

Status Check

Peace, y'all...

I'm working on the very important posts I spoke upon last week and plan on getting them up here in a hot second, but right now I'm out running errands in preperation for my vacation celebration demonstration. I'll holla in a minute, aiight?

Hope everyone is well.

Consistantly Inconsistantly Consistant

Okay, I've been a little absent... Sorry.

Well, maybe not. I'm not that busy but I have been planning my vacation and new year's plans with my other half and enjoying the fact that she's actually there. I mean, right here *points*. I know, I was supposed to explain all of that and I will... Next week. I promise.

I tell you, I've never been this befuddled in blessings in my life. Ever. Its a good thing though. I just needed time to sort out how something, someone, some situations so good happened to me of all people. Let some folks tell it, I am one cold hearted Martha Focker worthy of nothing but bad karma for the rest of my years.

That's another thing. I had to get over some deep seeded hatred that still kind of resides in my heart. Small traces though. One thing about finding love and re-establishing a relationship with my mother is that I had to get over an event or two that happened to me this year that had me hating someone. I never thought that I would ever be in such a predicament seeing as I've gone thru some shit in my short life.

We're taught as children to not even use the word hate, and some of us even grew up in christian households with extreme love and forgiveness being taught both in school and at home. I was one of those children, having that principle beaten over my head to the point where I thought it had settled in and thought that it regulated my behavior. I guess sometimes it takes a few things to make stuff like that dissipate.

Even when someone thinks they are doing you well they could actually be doing you harm. I know one thing, I had to let go of anger and resentment when it came to my mother as well. It took that release of anger and hatred to make me see that I was wasting time and energy when it came to folk who never mattered in my heart, so how did I feel hatred in the first place? I see my mother now and I see a different woman than the one I remember.

In the 15 or so months I went ignoring her calls and not speaking and seeing her I can see with fresh eyes that life is beginning to take its toll on her. Know that my mother is strong and will not let the simple shit in life whoop her ass. I'm just saying that she doesn't even look the same in my eyes and knowing how foolish I was to hold a grudge against her and be out of her life when she could have been easily taken away from me makes me feel that much more of a special feeling because I still have her and I need her now more than I ever have.

Sometimes, I can be stupid. I thank the universe for the opportunity to rekindle. If it wasn't for her, I would never know the love that I attempt to reciprocate from an amazing woman born on the same day she was. It is my mother who coached me up with a few pearls of wisdom that had me to understand and act upon something I had no clue on, and that is love from a good woman.

And then she tried to kidnap her away from me. In other words, for someone that has never gotten along with previous boyfriend's moms and such, My mother gave her a warm embrace of welcome into the family, investigated the beginnings of our relationship, told her every Hassan secret, gave her pearls on how to treat and keep her son and immediately asked for grandchildren.

My mother. What the hell was I thinking in the past few years?

When this year started, I was working a job I didn't want in a place I didn't want to travel to, reeling from injury that I thought at the time would affect my career as a big rig operator. From then to now things got progressively worse to the point of depressed anger, relocation and then homecoming with me getting back into a rig. It was when I came home that my crooked got straight and of course, with me taking the last two weeks of December off to go roast in the sun on a much needed vacation and then ringing in the new year with my other half, I will take next week to look over and reflect on the events that got me here.

There were a few things that had me jaded on love, life and the opportunity to make good in life which lead to me having feelings of hatred for someone I once held close to me as a friend. I knew that I had to let that go in order for me to to even have that simple conversation I had with my mom that first week of August. It took death, love, hatred and despair for me to get here right now. I can't write this shit, trust me but I'll try in the coming days.

And then... Vacation.

And rebirth.

And family, and then I can celebrate 2008 and do my dance.