"BAD BOYS... BAD BOYS...WHATCHA GONNA DO?"

Went to my boy Cass' (a.k.a: Ca$$ Money) Police Graduation last Friday at Madison Square Garden.  It was great.  I took 3 of the kids that I work with.  Cass was real happy  to see us.  He gave us all hats to wear.  awwww.  Here are some pix:

         
            All the cadets siting uniformly and in uniform!                                             Graduates throwing their gloves off.

 Looking like one of the kids, huh?

It's great for him because he needed a career change.  But the best part is that he is the same 'ole Cass.  He's still the same guy (for all of my loyal Xanga readers who remember) who took his time as we were supposed to do a drill at school to "save" a person who suffered a heart attack and we FAILED miserably. .  He's still the same guy who told me he was afraid that when he went to shooting practice, that he would accidently shoot himself in the leg when he had to reholster! . 

What's messed up...is how NYPD gets a bad rap from people.  People are always calling them "pigs" and other names.  Saying how they hate cops and sh*t.  They can hate them but guess what?  Those are the people saving their asses!  They might hate cops but cops need to protect people EVEN if they hate the haters!  I know I feel safer when I see a couple of cops on my block.  If ya didn't do anything wrong, why be worried about them? .  Sorry for the rant but it had to be done. 

"WHATCHA GONNA DO WHEN CASS COME FOR YOU?"

Sorry....  Long story.  I was driving home on a wet stormy Monday night...rushing home to Xanga, may I add.  As I was daydreaming about what new entry to post, I must have hit a bump and landed in a ditch.  I Anyway to make a long story short, I had a broken leg  and there was no one in sight so I had to crawl for 17 days, spent Christmas in a cave and New Year's in a hole and finally made it home...just in time for MONDAY!!!  I'm always a man of my word . 

Long break, I know but things get hectic around the holidays like you all know.  How is everybody?  I'm alright.  Hope everybody's New Year's was cool.  Mine was excellent!  More to come!  Here's my New Year's resolutions:

1. Stretch more. (I say that every year)  But this year, I swear!
2. Although I am a pretty patient dude, to be more so.
3. Maintain a cleaner apartment.
4. Eat better, meaning LESS candy!

Nothing crazy or new but my mom sent me an email today and she said the same thing!
" To maintain a more tidy apt. and of course, I do expect ,and know for certain  that you will -stay your loving caring self, maybe just be a little more patience will make u perfect in that aspect. Ha ha."

Isn't that crazy?  You got it mom!  I'll try my darndest! .

P.S.  Don't put too many jackets on your coat rack because it might end up looking like this:
                              
There goes my Tim "The Toolman" Taylor era. . 

sorry y'all.  be back Monday!

Just call me Tim "The Toolman" Taylor... or something like that.
Now for my close family members, they know that will never be the case. I never was one to be Mr. Build-it.  I tried to and I like to think I'm good at building and fixing things, but unfortunately I'm not.  Hate directions.  Especially double-sided, multiple page directions.    But I think I proved my critics wrong today. 

I bought a coat rack today.  Of course, I assumed that it would come AS IS.  But it came in this little box.  .  Great.  I knew that there would be some assembling involved.  I think the one reason why I hate setting things up is because I want the purchase that I just bought right then and there.  But what a surprise when I opened it!

  pm.   This is what I had....               

 pm.   This was the finished product..  

 pm.   Voila.                                      

Ha Ha. .  Don't know why it took me longer to put my coats on it! .
                                                                                                 

Another college trip.  What fun.  .  No, but seriously.  I am tired.  Chaperoning 43 kids is exhausting.  Even though I got 2 days off of school, I still was responsible for ALL 43. Talk about pressure. .  The main difference is I don't get to leave them at 3 pm.  I stay with them all day and all night long.  My duties include:

- Making sure everyone is accounted for when they get on and off the bus.
- Making sure I communicate with the bus driver what time we need him to pick us up and where.
- Provide itineraries for the trip and leisure activities when we get to the hotel.
- Make curfews, rules and room checks.
- Travel all the way back to the college we just visited since someone left their cellphone at the college's library.
- Look for pillows and blankets for some of the kids who were missing some.
- Making decisions where to eat and trying to satisfy everyone.
- Giving room assignments.
- Making sure they clean up after their mess on the bus.
- Making sure they're not having pillow fights in the hallway, foodfights in the cafeterias, and orgies in their rooms!
- Keeping them awake when there is a financial aid speaker and keeping their attention during a campus tour.

Sorry...I started to rant.  Stop me when I do that.  I had fun though.  We saw Cornell University and Ithaca College on Monday and Syracuse on Tuesday.  Here are some pics...

                        
* Ha Ha.  My cousin, Rachel, goes to Law school at Cornell and my uncle and aunt were there to visit her.  I met up with them for like 5 minutes on our tour and my aunt wanted Rachel to take a picture of them with my camera!  .  (I'll send you this pic, C-Wing!)
                       
* This was of Ithaca College.  Not nearly as nice or pretty as Cornell (hence the lack of photos) but the students were the friendliest and the food was good!  I thought it was funny that there was a dorm building called the HOOD.
 This photo of a building in Syracuse was designed by the designers of the Addams Family house.  Oooo scary!

Exhausted though.  Glad to see them go...  I mean on the trip that is .  Highlight of the trip?  I bowled a 136 and 146.  I think those were the 2 best bowling scores I ever had!  Must be something in the Ithaca air... 

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.  I did.  .  ThanksgivingS...that is.

I was fortunate to have it on Saturday with my brother aand mother and I felt that if we didn't have one on Thursday like everyone else, I would feel left out.  .  So my mom cooked AGAIN for me and my boy Jimmy "Cafe".  Yummm.  Thanks MOM!   
     * It's amazing how this....

            
Can look like this...

  or   or  or  or

 Oops.  My bad.  I finished this one the other day!

* Gotta love leftovers.  I feel like I will have 9 Thanksgivings this year!

Thanksgiving.....

Can't wait...again.  (Had my 1st Thanksgiving last Saturday).   

To me Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday by far because... (I feel like I'm in 1st grade)

1. "It gives a chance for people to realize what they're thankful for."  Ha Ha.  I know it sounds reeeal corny, but Ma Dukes actually makes me go and tell her what I'm thankful for!  It's a good habit to get into kids..

2. Its a chance for people to get together and "break bread".  In a world when its becoming more prevelant to not have dinner with their families, watch TV or read while eating and popping in microwaveable meals...Thanksgiving brings family together at least once a year to chow down on some real food.

3. In a world when it has become "trendy" to have a diet, excercise, cut out carbs, etc...people allow this ONE DAY of the year to enjoy eating whatever they want.  [By the way, turkey is a good source of protein, and cranberries and sweet potatoes have essential vitamins and nutritional value than most think!]

4. Its a simple holiday.  No pre-Thanksgiving day... you're allowed to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING the next day, you get a parade, leftovers, football games and a sale.  Can't beat that!

* This had to be done.  Trying to convince a new special reader that this is da best holiday in the world! .  Enjoy your turkey all.  I defintely will.  . 

My bad.  I dropped off the face of the Earth.  Long week.  Whew.  It's over...kinda.  Sorry for the long break my fellow Xangans, but this week was unusually looooong:

Monday: Work [1st Parent Teacher Conferences] until 5:30 pm - met up with some friends for dinner and drinks... left at 1 am.

Tuesday: Work until 3 pm - Girl's Practice until 5 pm...everything else was a blur.

Wednesday: Work until 3:30 pm - Girl's JV Game until 6 pm - my own Playoff bball game at 7:30 pm [We won!] ... home at 9:45 pm

Thursday: Work until 3 pm.- Girl's Varsity practice until 4:30 pm.- 2nd PTA Conference until 8:00 pm.- Bball league game [diff. one] at 9:00 pm.....home at 10:30 pm.

Friday: Work until 3 pm.  Girl's Varsity Team Bonding Time until 5:00 pm - 1st Varsity Game at 6:00 pm [WE WON!]  - Celebratory Dinner at BBQ's until 9:30 pm - Head to Queens to see brother [in town] and mom....home at 11:00 pm.

Saturday: Up for early Thanksgiving preparation and dinner with Parry and mom until 9:00 pm [Hey! eating all day gets hard too!]  - Head into City for a couple of parties...home at 5 am.

* Thats pretty much my week in a nutshell.  Just basketball, work and turkey.  Soooo tired...Zzzzzzzzzz.
 

GIT YA' FREAK ON....

Yup.  That's me you see.  One thing that I pride myself in is being to like all different types of music. .  Last year, during Christmas time, me and 5 other staff members threw a Christmas party besides the normal party we get from the school.  I figured "Why not 2 parties?".  Anyway, we all chipped in like $100 each and bought large amounts of alcohol. 
- The party was held in the Cafeteria and we brought teachers couches and decorated it with Christmas lightsand served Cheese and Crackers.
- We had teachers as Guest bartenders.
- It was open bar for anyone and their friends.
- And I got to DJ!!! .  That was the best part!  I was DJ Flex9 and I played Hip Hop, Reggae, Old Skool, and the 80's!  Of course it was thru burned CD's but it went off real well and everyone complimented me on my musical selections.

So of course when my friend asked me to pick music for her sister's wedding, I jumped at the opportunity to do so.  Only bad thing is I need to have music for ALL generations.  .  Well, my instructions were to leave the chessy stuff out, since the DJ will probably play that [i.e.: Macarena, Chicken Dance, Electric Slide] and pick some other stuff.  So here was some songs I picked out.  Lemme know if you think some are inappropriate for a wedding or some songs I left out!

Suggested songs
  “Rock around the clock”- bill haley         abc” – Jackson 5 
 “I want you back” – Jackson                          “rockin’ robin” – Jackson 5       
“brown eyed girl” – van Morrison             “we are family” – sister sledge                                      “celebrate” – kool and the gang                “Come on Eileen” – dexy’s Midnight runners “
"billy jean” – Michael Jackson"                     “ footloose” – Kenny loggins"
 “girls just wanna have fun” – cyndi lauper"  “ walk like an Egyptian” – bangles 
“groove is in the heart” – dee light"           “faith” – george Michael"
 “fame” – Irene cara"                                          “ can’t touch this” – mc hammer
 “Beat it” – Michael Jackson"                         “ kiss” – prince"
 “sweet dream are made of these” – eurythmics  “ party like its 1999” – prince"
 “twist” –chubby checker"                              “ I will survive” – Gloria gaynor"
 “respect” – Aretha franklin"                        “ get busy” – sean paul"
“yeah” – usher                                                    “ sir duke” – stevie wonder
“let’s get it started” – black eyed peas   “ toxic” – britney spears
“hip hop hooray” – naughty by nature “ it takes two” – rob base
 “in da club” – 50 cent                                    “ crazy in love” – beyonce feat. Jay-z  
“family affair” – mary j. bilge                   “ hey ya” – outkast “
"stayin’ alive” – bee gees                                  “ I feel good” – james brown
“sexual healing” – marvin gaye

Slow jams
“Unchained melody” - righteous brothers  
“I finally found someone"  bryan Adams “
"from this moment” – shania twain                      “ Crazy for you” – Madonna
“BY your side” – sade                                                     “ this I promise you” – n’ sync
“at last” – etta james

* R.i.p. - ODb aka DIRT McGIRT

"APPARENTLY, FEAR IS NOT A FACTOR FOR YOU."  

.  Well, it was for me.  Fear Factor had their 100th episode and it was held in NYC.  Besides being known as the greatest city on Earth, we're also know for our BIG and EXTRAVAGANT... Rats.  .  Gross stuff.  So my biggest fear came true Monday night.  They made the contestants eat...RAT STEW.  That sh*t
was awful!  They took a dead rat, and some liquidy rat juices and put it in a blender and...mixed it all up!  That's like my worst nightmare coming true.  Needless to say, I would've lost easily.  There was a time when I thought I could win...

So a few years ago, I tried out for FEAR FACTOR.  I was selected by the Health Club I worked at.  They asked the GM to choose 5 employees that they felt would "look" the part.  So we were asked to go.  I was real excited.  I met a couple of my friends "the chosen ones" and we took a cab to Webster Hall [Audition Place].  We were asked to bring a photo of ourselves.  Both my friends had these huge black binders with them. 

Me: "Hey!  Can I see the binders?"
Inside were... a portfolio of all their... Headshots!  .  They all had like 20 pictures each!  It was so crazy!  What did I have you ask?  Here let me give you an idea:

PROFESSIONAL HEADSHOT                                                  NOT -SO - PROFESSIONAL RIPPED PICTURE     
                           
Yeah.  Out of my league.  Ha Ha.  Whatever.  We had 11 minutes to impress 1 judge.  Except there were 12 of us.  Long story short, they wanted answers to questions like :

"What would you do with the money?" 

Preferred answer: "I WOULD RUB THE MONEY IN YOUR FACE BECAUSE I WILL KICK EVERYONE'S ASS!"
My answer: "Probably save and invest and do a little shopping. "

Needless to say, I didn't make the cut.  .
                                                               THE END