Road Trip

My cousin who recently graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy was stationed in San Diego CA. So instead of shipping his car and flying, he decides to drive cross country from VA to San Diego. And of course, like a fool I said I'd ride with him. I must admit, I've always wanted to drive cross country and this was the best chance to do it. So armed with a car full of his clothes, a laptop that wanted to work after the trip was over, and 2 4GB Ipods we left for San Diego.

We were supposed to leave Monday morning, but the going away cookout lasted well into Sunday night and early Monday morning. So after we woke up and got ready we left Hopewell VA at noon on Monday.

Day 1:

The first leg of the trip was pretty much lack luster for most of the day. We drove through western VA and into Tennessee. Tennessee doesn't look that big on the map, but damnit it seemed like it took forever to through Tennessee. We stopped in Knoxville and rode around the University of Tennessee but since it is the summer, nothing was really going on. We decided that we'd drive to Memphis and stop there for the night.

We pulled into Memphis at about 1:30 am tired, but ready to ride around Memphis to see if any Strip Clubs were open. As we rode around downtown and past Beale Street, we see the sign for the Civil Rights Museum and decide to ride by it. We both knew what the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis was luckily because if we didn't we'd have thought what was the point of going to a museum at 1:30 am when it would probably be closed. So as we were following the signs and riding towards it I looked down the street and saw it, "The Lorraine Hotel".

Other than the lights from the hotel, it was pretty dark but we decided to get out and take pictures (I will post pics later). Now, I watch First 48 and I know Memphis aint a place where you want to get out the car and walk around at 1:30 am. But, we had to do it. Plus, you would have to be as low as whale shit to rob someone where Martin Luther King died. So we walked up and took pictures of the hotel and the room he was shot outside of. I've been to a lot of memorials, but something about this one was different. I really can't even explain the feeling I had looking at the hotel and the room that they had roped off. After about 10 minutes we left. Needless to say, after being at the hotel where MLK died, we decided that we shouldn't go to the strip club and we went in search of a hotel.

We decided that downtown Memphis would be too expensive for a room so we headed across the Mississippi river and into West Memphis to rest for the night. As we got into the room I didn't feel tired (my cousin drove the entire day) so I decided to work on this blog. I tried to fire up the laptop but it wouldn't turn on for some reason, so I said forget it and went to sleep......... To be continued.

Frozen.....For 2 months

Apparently, I have been frozen like David Blaine by my man G-Mo and wasn’t allowed to post another blog until I “thawed” myself by posting this blog. I guess technically I could have but I want to abide by the bloggers code since I am new to this. Well, thanks for the inspiration G.
Here are the rules:



-Link the person who tagged you.-Mention the rules in your blog.



-Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.



-Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.



-Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blogs letting them know they've been tagged


6 Quirks


1. I hate people sitting behind me on the Metro. Ok, some of you are probably saying to yourself “I wish I could get a seat on the Metro”. But I have been spoiled. Riding the Green Line in from Greenbelt in the morning, I’m among the first people on the train. And if I time it right, I can catch the 7:30 am 8 car train and it’s usually only 4 or 5 people in the last car with me. So then, why is it that someone will come and sit directly behind me when there are seats available everywhere else on the train? It pisses me off and I’ll usually move. Not before I ice grill the person who invaded my personal space first. Now when the train is crowded, I don’t care, but if it’s not damn it gimmie my buffer zone.


2. I randomly say rap lyrics to myself out loud. I can be chilling in the house playing Madden, driving, at work, or on the Metro and I will just blurt out a random rap lyric. As a matter of fact this morning when I woke up I said out loud “Rich bitch shit, drinkin Cristal till they piss the shit UNHHH” Notorious B.I.G (You’re Nobody Till Somebody Kills You). One of my favorite lines to recite “Wake up in the morning got the yearning for herb” Channel Live (Mad Izm). I just hope I never blurt that out loud at work.


3. Like the dude that froze me G-Mo, I’m a pack rat (or boxer) too. I don’t have much stuff from the 80’s (my mom threw a lot of my stuff away) I still have my 2 way pager from the days of FAMU. I also have my first Redskin’s shirt with my name on it. I still have old college acceptance letters, SAT scores, and velour sweat suits. I’d still have my big ass WWF wrestling glass with Hulk Hogan, Junk Yard Dog, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and Nickoli Volkoff on it and my Redskins Super Bowl XXII victory mug but some bitchass broke in my crib while I was in the process of moving and stole both of them. Yes, that’s all they took. Then again, that’s all that was left. That and a cable modem but I guess when they plugged it in and it didn’t start playing go-go music the thief felt it was of no value.


4. I crack my knuckles obsessively. About every 2 minutes. There is a myth that cracking your knuckles will give you arthritis but it as to be false or my fingers would look like they had been beaten with a sledge hammer.

5. I have a crazy memory. I am terrible with faces and directions, but pointless trivia and little insignificant details of my life I am great at remembering. I can remember my pediatrician Dr. Familot’s waiting room having 2 seating sections: Sick as a Dog, and Healthy as a Horse. I remember my white friend Nathan singing the Hall and Oates song “Out of Touch” but he was saying “Piranha Touch”. I can go on for days about the dumb shit I remember.

6. I laugh for what seems to be no reason at all, but it’s actually because I am thinking about something funny that happened. I do it all the time. I caught myself doing it at the grocery store the other day. I was in line and was thinking about the time when my drunk cousin fell at Christmas dinner, right after the prayer was finished. It was “Amen”, and then she hit the floor like Flo-Rida. And the worst part was, it happened right by me so I had to be the Good Samaritan and help her up. This happened over five years ago, but anytime I think about it I just start laughing out loud.

I'm going to freeze the followin people, but since I'm new to the blogging world they will probably pay me no attention. Hell, they probably don't know who I am:

Metro Man
Bag Lady
Imnotarolemodel
Chris Cooley
Dhaani-James
Field-Negro

Ass whipppins

Do you remember that epic ass whipping that you got as a kid (or teenager) that forever changed your life? I’m talking, an ass whipping so good that to this day you haven’t done that deed that got ya ass whipped again.

I can remember it like it was yesterday. I was about 6 or 7 when this happened. It was a school night and I had just gotten out of the bathtub. I smelled like Mr. Bubble and had on my fresh Tanto (Yes, the Lone Ranger's sidekick) Underoos. I walked into the kitchen and saw my mom talking on the phone. She put the receiver down and told me that she would fix me a bowl of ice cream when she got off the phone. So I sat in the kitchen for what seemed like hours but in all actually it was probably more like 2 or 3 minutes. So feeling bored, I decided to go into the living room to pass the time until my mom finally got off the phone and started scooping the ice cream. While in the living room something came over me (temporary insanity) and I decided to pass the time by jumping on the couch. Man, was I having fun. I jumped from one end to the other, did twists; even did poses in mid air before landing back on the couch. I was having so much fun, I didn’t notice that my mom had come around the corner and saw me jumping on the couch.

Next thing I know I hear her say to whoever was on the phone “Girl, this boy done lost his damn mind jumping on my couch. I’m bout to beat his ass, and I’m gonna call you right back”. Knowing that I was bout to get an ass whipping, the first thing I thought to do was run. If I ran and jumped in the bed maybe I could just get away with having to go to bed with no ice cream. Or if she started swinging the belt, I could use the covers as protection. But it was too late. By the time I decided to run, my mom had hung up the phone, went to the room, and got the belt. Man she whipped my ass. And I had just gotten out the tub and was still damp so the belt had an extra sting to it (kind of like getting snapped with a towel after getting out of the swimming pool). And my mom used to talk and whip my ass in syllables. You know, “Boy, you, must, be, out, yo, mind, jumpin, on, my, couch, like, you, cra-zy……..”.

So after what seemed like an eternity of an ass whippin I was sent to bed (no ice cream of course). So while I was lying in bed still trying to catch my breath, I get the worst insult to injury ever. I hear my mom get back on the phone and say “Girl, I whipped his ass good”. I mean it’s bad enough she whipped my ass like my name was Toby, but she was bragging about it. Well apparently that ass whipping taught me a lesson. To this day I have not jumped on a couch. Not even my own couch that I paid for with my own money. I just can’t bring myself to do it. Maybe one day, I’ll get the courage to jump on my couch, but right now I still feel the effects of that mighty ass whipping.