Feelin' Alright

It's a good day when you go to work and Mavis Staples says she wants to do it again...

And you're driving your pop's truck, trying not to come out smelling like cigarette smoke when, all of a sudden, you remember that you need a temporary parking decal!... And you go to public safety hoping you have enough time, but opting to be a little late for work rather than paying a fine... And you go to the little window and the lady behind the counter--- not exactly young, but pretty fresh nonetheless---has on a nice two-piece outfit, showing off a little middie on a hot day. And, when its all said and done, you make it to work with 4 minutes left over...

I'm feelin' alright right now. My baby sister has gone back to UNC; she left about 2 sumn this morning I think (I was KO'd, I can't say for sure). It's... different around the house now. But it won't be long before I adjust to my solitude again. It's just another opportunity to grind...

I'm working on publishing Romancexpress v.1 into a book, and the process is going GREAT this time (it's my second time trying). I've learned from my prior mistakes---putting the entire work into one file and completely overwhelming myself--- and now, I've already organized all the entries the way I want them. It took me about a day and a quarter, versus the week it took me to get half that distance on my first try. Now I'm proofreading, which will probably be the hardest thing. No biggie though, I'm ahead of the curve at this point.

I'm also in the middle of a "break" from school; allegedly Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are holidays for the students at ASU. Nobody told ME though, plus I'm still on campus anyway because I work here, lol. BUT, I'm not gonna trip about it; the week is scheduled to be hectic from Thursday through Sunday for me, so I'll enjoy this time while I still can.

And might I say, I earned this break. As of last Friday, my first class of the summer came to a close. I kid you not when I say I went from an F to a B in about 2 weeks time; I got off on a horrible, horrible foot, but ended up on the best foot I could've asked for. I thought I was doomed; I blew the first exam and missed a few days. But I held it together solid for the duration of the semester, Marxed all the discussions (i.e., smashed the establishment, lol), and aced the final. That's one history class down, 2 more to go...

Summore good news--- by way of one old friend with whom I've established contact, I've established contact with a SECOND old friend! After her, there's practically only one person I have yet to reconnect with. I feel like I've accomplished... something.

It's funny because I have a cousin who's a freak about geneology; "the family historian" we call him. He makes an enormous deal of keeping all in touch and chronicled, and teaching lineages and such. Well, I'm actually that way about keeping in touch with old friends. That's a big thing for me because you can't recreate lifelong friends easily. I'm a man that prefers familiarity most of the time, and my old friends are still the people I feel most comfortable around.

About two, maybe three days ago I recorded a new song with my "son" Dalayrius (I call him my son cuz he's like me, but meaner, lol). I was a little daunted by his title at first, "Satan's Bridge", but its misleading; the song is actually a conscious and fairly positive joint, so I was down with it.

I'd just like to say, the boy never ceases to amaze me; he's got a rhyme work-ethic that nobody I know can match! And because of that, he keeps getting better and better and more and more versatile. I love the fact that he will rip on anything (chip off the old block). Even this track was an old instrumental from OutKast, who we're both fans of.

What I like most is that this cat, unlike many artists nowadays, doesn't really rely on hooks; he jumped on the track and just ripped and ripped until he got thru saying what he had to say. I merely came in as a clean-up at the end of the song, but you know me: I'm efficient... I don't need a lot of time to make my point and make it STICK. We kept up with each other friggin' well, and the track came out exceptionally nice. Even my baby sister was like, "You need to put that one on your Myspace."

I'm almost done here, but I gotta tell you about this one too. I was in my car the other day listening to the first CD I ever owned: D'Angelo's "Brown Sugar" album. As I was riding, I had track 2 on repeat. It was a joint called "Alright". Gotta be my favorite song on the album, if not the classic "Lady".

Anyway, I was thinkin' to myself how God has already told us everything would be alright, but sometimes I just don't feel it. Yet, whenever I hear this song, it always feels that way--- though the song is only talking about a relationship, the song as a whole creates a feeling of good things.

I started thinkin'... What would it mean to me if God was, in His way, singing this song to us? Singing a song of things working out in our favor. Not literally "singing" of course, but just whispering to us in His way that every little thing will pan out, just as surely as D'Angelo tells his lady in the song.

And, knowing that He is telling us just that, I thought I'd bear record that things are going pretty well for me at the moment. Grace abounds.