More James

More James Brown, because you can’t mess with this…



I used to wake up every day and play The Boss everyday before I went to work. I need to do that more.

So, I walked into a record store...

So I just got back from Grimey’s and I was proud of myself for not buying anything, but it was hard.

I saw the albums from Minus the Bear, The Rum Diary and even the new My Morning Jacket material and I didn’t buy any of them. I really wanted to, but the finances just aren’t there.

Anyway, I love going to Grimey’s because it has all of the albums that I need. Do you have that Omar Rodriguez-Lopez album? Yes, we do. Do you have that new Maserati disc? Absolutely.

I also love the vibe of the place. I guess it was a funk day there because they were playing some different artists before blaring the James Brown. Tremendous stuff. Everyone in the store was rocking to it and I was loving that. Men, women, white, black (ok, I was the only black guy in the store at that time, but you get what I mean), all types of people were singing along to James. Respect.

I need to find some money to get some albums, like now.

Now, here’s some James for your ass! I see you B.B. King. Maybe the nastiest, funkiest riff ever. GFOS, indeed. If you don’t know what that means, check yourself. Fred Wesley, much love to you as well.

BTW, this is from the documentary, “When We Were Kings.” I can’t recommend it enough.

Am I the problem with the NHL today?

I’m what has become wrong with the NHL over the last few years.

It was Tuesday night and I was just relaxing in the house and wanted something to watch. Of course, my first inclination is to watch sports. The choices I had were to watch game five of the Celtics/Pistons basketball series or watching my usual crappy reality TV shows, accept for A Shot of Love with Tila Tequilla, even I have standards. I ended up watching the basketball game, enjoyed it, then viewed my nightly set of Simpsons/Seinfeld at 9 p.m., Family Guy at 9:30, Scrubs from 10-11, Seinfeld at 11, King of Queens/bedtime at 11:30 and went to sleep content.

The problem with that is that I forgot that game three of the Stanley Cup Finals were on between the Red Wings and Penguins.

This is a problem.

When I was a little kid, my two main sports loves were the Mets and the New York Rangers. I’ll always stay loyal with baseball, however, I still have a place in my sports rooting heart for the NHL.

I used to stay up at night watching old Rangers games with such luminaries as Mike Richter, Mike Gartner, Brian Leetch, Tony Amonte, coach Roger Neilson and don’t even bring up the 1992 season, when the Blueshirts had the best record in the league, won the President’s Trophy, had a 2-1 lead in their series against the defending champs, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and somehow the Rangers blew it.

Frickin Ron Francis. I still dislike that dude to this day for scoring that goal that turned around that series.

But a funny thing happened. The Rangers somehow acquired Mark Messier from the Oilers, which was huge. He brought a winning attitude and didn’t give a crap that the Rangers hadn’t won a Cup since 1940. He was the perfect man to become my sports hero and replace Dwight Gooden, who turned out to be a huge disappointment.

Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Rangers/Devils, Rangers down 3-2 in the series and playing in Jersey. Messier guarantees victory, he has a hat trick, changed my life, for real.

So, during my formative years of the early 1990’s when the Mets stunk and the Giants were way too inconsistent, I loved my Rangers.

And when the Rangers finally won the Cup in 1994, it was the happiest sports moment of my life, besides the Giants winning the Super Bowl in 1990. It came at a time when I would live and die with every win and loss and would let that dictate my life. I’ve become smarter and working in sports takes away that intense passion, however those were fun times.

I would go to Rangers games and wish deadly harm to the Islanders, Flyers, Devils and Penguins in that order.

I would rather raise my child a fan of that hillbilly college in East Tennessee that wears orange then cheer for the Islanders. I would rather get kicked in the testicles with a steel tipped boot 10 times then cheer for the Flyers. Make that 20 times for the Devils, I really, really hate the Devils.

The Penguins, they’re a rival of the Rangers too, but I actually have always respected them, even though they beat the Rangers in this year’s playoffs.

I’ve liked the Pens because they have always represented blue-collar sports to me. I just like the city of Pittsburgh, very underrated by the way, and of course, Lemieux.

Lemieux was the second-best player ever to play hockey in my opinion. Even Gretzky couldn’t F with Mario at Lemieux’s peak. Problem is Mario’s peak was shorter than Wayne’s, so Gretzky is the greatest, which is fair. However, give me Mario and Wayne at their peaks and I take Mario. Disagree with me all you want, but it’s the truth.

Actually, I take that back. Here’s the top players all-time for me. One is Gretzky, he’s just the greatest. Second, Mario. Third, Gordie. Fourth, Orr. Fifth, Roy. I’ll have a more in-depth list in the future.

So what does all of this have to do with the Cup Finals game?

Ten years ago, I would have watched the hockey game, without a doubt. However, things have changed.

I moved from NYC and went to Nashville and really got into other college sports like basketball, football and baseball. I learned about international soccer and really fell in love with it, particularly leagues in England, Spain and Italy. My strong interest in Mixed Martial Arts has also taken a lot of time.

I only have so much time to follow certain sports while leading a normal life. Hockey became a casualty to this.

The thing that really affected my viewership of hockey was the lockout. The pathetic dispute between the players and owners cancelled a season and it eliminated my passion for hockey.

Its slowly coming back and there are some exciting young talents in the game like Crosby, Ovechkin (this year’s MVP, in my opinion) and a cast of others that are making the game good again. Some rules changes have helped as well.

Hopefully in a few years, I can regain my passion for hockey and will not forget a Stanley Cup game is on TV.

Especially since I really don’t like the Red Wings (they’re like the Yankees of hockey, either you love them and respect the tradition and buying of championships or you despise them, I’m in the latter.) and would like to see them lose to the Penguins. Game four is on Saturday and I’ll try my darn best to watch it. For old school sake.

Facebook and feeling Yes at the same time

Facebook is a trippy thing man.

Today was an interesting day for me from a Facebook prospective. The first person that I caught up with was a girl that I used to hang out with in college constantly named Alicia (if you read this blog enough, you know that’s not her real name). She was a few years younger than me, so when I was a senior, she was a sophomore. We used to hang out all the time and she was chill because she was from Georgia, was really nice and friendly. We used to kick it in my room often. Nothing ever went down with us and I don’t know why, but it just didn’t. I guess if I had some game, it could’ve. However, if you think I have no game now, I had negative game in college, it was sad, yet funny looking back on it now.

So, Alicia and I have a common friend on Facebook and I was going through her friends list and saw Alicia and just had to become her friend because I wanted to know what she was up to. She was a teacher out in LA the past few years and even got called Ms. Smith, which is what I will call her now because it’s cool and kinda sexy.

Don’t give me that look from your computer. I’ve always wanted to be disciplined by a cute teacher and call her Ms. Whatever while she teaches me all types of lessons. Wow, that may be the first TMI (Too Much Information) moment in the history of Pourtout Institute of Pancakes. Only took two months, good times.

She’s now working in education in a different capacity. And, I have to admit as a guy, she gotten incredibly attractive the past few years. Like one of the cutest girls that I’ve seen in a long time attractive. And if she has the same personality she had in college, that’s a monster combination I’d like to kick it with in the future. Not that I wasn’t attracted to her before, but she’s improved in that department greatly. She seems to be in a good place and I’m so happy and proud of her at the same time. Alicia was always that one person from college that I wanted to know what she was doing and had no way to contact her until today. Anyway, we exchanged e-mails and hopefully will keep in touch.

That’s the cool part about Facebook, seeing where people have gone with their lives. Seeing everyone’s profile, I’ve associated with some amazing smart people over the years. Everyone is either in grad school, graduated from grad school or working at cool jobs. It’s great to see many of my old and new friends doing good things in their lives.

The second thing on Facebook that happened to me today was that an old buddy, Katie, just announced her engagement. This is the same Katie that was a freshman when I was a senior and we took a women’s studies class together. She was so quiet and shy yet super nice. We just happened to sit in the back row of class and would just chat all day. I would even try to make crude jokes and make odd statements and she would just look at me with that face. She was such a cutie and proper. We even saw one of my favorite movies ever, Kissing Jessica Stein, together at Sarratt for extra credit in class one Friday night. It was the one pseudo date that I had in college. Anyway, to see sweet Katie engaged to someone not only makes me feel a little old, it puts things in prospective in a good way.

If I found out that Katie was engaged before I started this blog, I would have been devastated because it was another person I knew younger than me engaged while I was living the lonely life. I’ve documented this in the past: http://pourtoutpancakes.blogspot.com/2008/04/im-tired-of-being-lonely.html

However, through this blog, I’ve worked out a lot of internal mental issues and am in a better place. I can actually now be happy for other people’s happiness in relationships without internally hating them.

That’s it from me on this topic.

Finally, I’ll leave you with the song that I was listening to while typing this post. It’s a song called Angkor Wat by Yes. So frickin beautiful that I get teary eyed listening to it sometimes.

Weezer showing love to the YouTubers out there

Being a huge fan of YouTube, I'm loving the new Weezer video for the song Pork and Beans. Not only do we get cameos from Afro Ninja and the Daft Punk Dancers, we get an appearance from my girl, Kisesie. If you don't know who she is, google her, watch her videos and thank me later. Sex education has never sounded so good.

Anyway, here's the video. Enjoy!

Your boy is now a Tennessee resident (live the dream)!

Sorry for not making a post the past few days. I’ve been busy even though I’m technically not working right now.

One thing that did take up a ton of my time was visiting the DMV yesterday morning. Its one of those rites of passage that each of us needs to go through when we drive a car.

The special part about this event was that I was transferring my license from Georgia to Tennessee. This added a lot of bells and whistles that weren’t needed.

So I wake up yesterday morning and I debate if I want to go through this stuff now or later. I decide to just take care of it right then and there, knowing that it would be a long morning.

I go to the first place to get my license transferred and the line is already forming outside the building and this is at 9 a.m. Oh, I forgot to tell you that I got lost getting there, which is standard. I looked up the directions the day before and was doing a good job on I-40, but I missed my exit, so I had to reverse directions and find my way back, not fun. And the place was about 10 miles away, yay for me.

I enter the first place and I have to show them everything, my Georgia license, bank statement, electric bill, passport and everything else to prove that I actually exist. I have all of this stuff in my pockets and getting confused. So, after I check in, I have to fill out an application for my new Tennessee license, which takes some time.

If you haven’t been to the DMV in a while, you check in, tell them what you want to get done and then you’re given a number and you have to wait for it to be called. The DMV was efficient in the fact that they let me fill out the application while I was waiting for the number was being called.

When you’re waiting for your number to be called, it’s like the most agonizing form of anticipation you can have. You just sit there. My number was B115 (yeah, I remember the number) and I remember seeing numbers like B109 and B110 being called, knowing that I’m coming up. However, there are also another set of numbers like G198 and A045 in the “g” and “a” categories. So you here your category, in my case “b” being called and you’re excited that you’re going to be next. Then numbers from the other categories get called and you’re mad. I was getting mad that other categories were getting called. Where were the “b” numbers, I was wondering.

I actually started texting people looking for some conversation because I was bored.

So, my number finally gets called and a nice lady helped me, including giving me an eye exam, which I passed with flying colors. So she processes me, tells me to wait to get my picture taken and says welcome to Tennessee.

I’m officially a Tennessee resident, y’all!

I’m cool with this and I tell the lady to start processing my tags and my license plate. Bad news sports fans. She tells me that I have to go to another place about 10 miles away to get the tags done. Argh! And she tells me that I have to get the car inspected at another location. I thought I was done with this inspection crap in Georgia. So she gives me directions to both places and I get my official license.

So, then I have to head to the inspection place, which was actually less than a mile away, so no beef there. However, I enter the wrong direction and almost get into an accident because they can’t frickin label their driveway properly. I then enter a line of other cars wanting to get their cars done too. That took about 30 minutes of my life. When I finally get the car inspected, the guy wants to crack jokes, which I’m not in the mood for. I’m not a jerk to the guy but I’m short with him to make sure that he knows that I’m not in the mod.

Torrie gets inspected and she’s good to go. Then I finally head to the tag place to get my new license plates. This place actually looked pretty nice and I was out of there in a short amount of time.

So, in the end, Torrie and I are now Tennessee residents! What do we get? I’m not sure, even though my Georgia license and license plate looked cooler. The stuff in Tennessee looks too plain. I’ll have to get some flavor for my license plate.

The DMV treated me well and didn’t fit into the reputation for being jerks. I’ve never had a bad experience at a DMV, even though I’ve never had to go to three different places to get something done. I’m just happy I finally got it done.

A song about a fallen friend

Memorial Day is a time when you look back to those who have passed away and you reflect on their life. Well, here's a song by the Mars Volta about a friend who commits suicide, via a drug overdose. Its depressing if you know the backstory and the video gives me chills everytime I watch it. I've teared up once or twice listening to this song because its such a departure from what these guys normally produce.

This will be THE SUMMER of Marcel!

What’s going on people?

Today was an unusual day because it was the first day since mid-February that I didn’t do anything with the Belmont baseball team. It was weird having a day off from them.

Actually, I woke up at around 8 a.m. this morning and was bored out of my mind. So, I headed over to the office and actually some of the baseball players turning in their equipment. I then went to the office and uploaded some information on my computer. Then I realized something.

I’ve become addicted to my work.

Here I was on Memorial Day, a national holiday, coming into the office to do work when my graduate assistantship officially ended when the baseball season ended. I’m not supposed to come back to work until August and yet I was sitting in that office about to do some work.

I couldn’t take a day off and not think about my job.

The cliché thing would be for me to say that I have extreme dedication to my job and that I live my life for my work and these would be good things. But that’s not a good thing.

I do need to find a job for the next few months to offset some expenses until I return to work on August. However, I’m tempted to just do nothing and relax for a bit. I need to get back to working out several days a week, improve my diet, and take care of my physical health. I need to meditate more and read some more, improve my mental state.

Most importantly, I need to take this time to truly find out what I want in my life professionally. I think that this past year has helped me learn more about myself personally but I still have some answers to answer professionally.

When I graduate from school next spring, do I want to stay in media relations? Do I want to stay in college athletics or do I want to transition to professional sports? Do I want to stay in Nashville? I need to answer these questions now because the last thing that I want to have happen is for me to be sitting here typing to you now without a job. I would be truly pissed if that happened.

So, this summer, I’ll just reflect, hang out, write some more posts, finally start playing my bass guitar again, catch up on my daytime television (General Hospital, I’m looking right at ya!) work out some more, make lists and continue to develop my friendship with Joan.

BTW, I had a text conversation with Joan today after the NCAA baseball tournament announcements, our teams got screwed by either not getting into the tournament, hello Belmont and College of Charleston, or getting a bad seed like our Commodores. I mean, Tempe to face Arizona State, really. Well, it was a good season for our Dores.

Anyway, it’s still odd having a friendship with a girl like Joan, who I’m definitely interested in dating but valuing the friendship more. Plus, she has the boyfriend and I’m respecting that. She has to know that I’m interested in her, because I’m not super smooth and she reads this blog, so she knows what’s up. The funny thing is I wrote about her a few posts ago, the one with the coffee picture, so I won’t go into more details about it. She needs to stop coming up in my posts, but it is what it is. The point is that Joan is new territory for me.

This summer will also allow me to see my family in Atlanta, hopefully spend time with Lisa and just enjoy life in general, because in August, I’ll be back to the crazy schedule and loving every minute of it. But I have to love my alone time before I can enjoy my busy time.

Tool doing what Tool does

This may be one of my favorite five songs ever from a top-ten band. Tool changed my life and I cam across this version of Pushit that I hadn't heard before and was blown away. I hope you dig it too.

Another video for your viewing pleasure

Here's an interesting video of two of my favorite singers, Tori Amos and Maynard from Tool doing a song together. Enjoy!

More Volta

I know that I'm uploading a lot of videos right now, becasue I finally learned how to do this on my blog. Expect more of this in the future.

Here's another video from the Mars Volta, this time at Lowlands, an European music festival, in 2003. This video is what I listen to every night before I go to sleep because it is relaxing and inspirational at the same time. Enjoy!

B.J. Penn reaches his potential, I need to do the same

I was unable to see the latest UFC pay-per-view event because I was in Florida, however, my boy, B.J. Penn won his lightweight title fight against steroid boy Sean Shrek and rightfully claimed his title as the best lightweight in the world and arguably the top pound-for-pound MMA fighter in the world. Actually, B.J., GSP, Anderson Silva or Uriah Faber can make this claim, but that’s another post for another day.

For those not familiar with B.J., he’s considered the most talented MMA fighter in the world, maybe ever. When he’s focused and in top condition, there isn’t anyone who can beat him. He was the youngest and fastest guy to ever earn a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. To put that in prospective, it takes guys close to 10 years or more to achieve what B.J. did in only a few years. He’s been the first American to win international jiu-jitsu tournaments, including the Mundials in Brazil, which is like the Super Bowl of the sport. That’s why his nickname is the Prodigy, which is the most apt nickname for any fighter I know. He’s the only guy besides Couture to hold a UFC belt in two separate weight classes, welterweight and now lightweight. He also has wins over Gomi, Renzo Gracie, Matt Hughes and many others. He was just a beast in every weight class.

The problem with B.J. in the past was that he knew he was talented and didn’t have to train as hard as other guys to achieve his goals. He would get lazy and not come into fights in shape and lose focus. This caused him to lose a lot of fights he shouldn’t have and even balloon himself up to fight in the heavyweight division, which is not his natural weight class.

The key to B.J.’s new focus was two things. Actually it was one thing merged into two. Penn was fighting as a welterweight and just getting by until Dana White and the UFC told him that he had to move to lightweight to stay relevant. Furthermore, he was given the chance to become a coach on the Ultimate Fighter, a reality show that trains future MMA fighters in a competition to gain a contract with the UFC. The coach on the opposite team was Jen Pulver, someone that Penn lost to earlier in his career and the two didn’t like each other.

So, Penn was forced to move out of the 170-pound division and train hard to make lightweight, which is 155 pounds. He would have to watch his diet, stay in peak condition longer and become a more mature fighter.

Penn becomes an excellent coach, beats Jens in their fight, defeats Joe Stevenson for the interim lightweight title and finally beats Shrek for the true lightweight title.

It’s just happy to see someone finally realize his talent and focus on becoming the best fighter that he could. Even though it took him being in his late-20’s to have the light come of and focus, at least he found it.

It makes me realize that I need to fulfill my potential in all aspects of my life, professionally, personally, physically and everything in between. I have to improve every aspect of my life if I want reach my goals.

I have a lot of God-given abilities that I must utilize and not waste. Sometimes I feel that I don’t do that, but after seeing B.J. do his thing, its time for me to do mine.

My boys, the Mars Volta, rocking it out

I often talk about the Mars Volta, my favorite current band. Well, here they are in action at a recent live concert. Good stuff.

So the Bruins are done, so sad

So, the Belmont baseball team fell today to Gardner-Webb and its season is over.

I feel bad for the players and coaches and the support staff that puts a lot of effort towards making the team a success. It’s been fun traveling with them and having the chance to interact with them. I’m not happy or sad that the guys lost the game. I’m not disappointed in them and proud of them more than anything.

The thing about it is that if they lost two straight games here at the Tournament or won the entire thing, I would have had the same emotions I have now.

The main reason for this is that I had no control over what happens. My biggest and I mean biggest pet peeve is when fans or people who work for a team use “we.” When someone asks me a question about the Belmont baseball team, it’s always “they.” Do I throw any pitches? No. Do I hit any balls? Absolutely not.

I hate when people say that we need to win some games when you’re sitting in the stands. You’re not a part of the team. That goes for everyone. Unless you’re a coach of the team or actually playing on the team, don’t use “we.”

This also ties into the times that people come to me and say who my favorite player is on Belmont? The answer, everyone. Who do I want to pitch in a tough situation? Anyone.

Do I have a favorite player? Of course I do. Do I think that some pitchers are better than others? Definitely. You can’t watch a team for an entire season and not develop opinions. However, trying to get that out of me isn’t happening.

I do love each guy on the team, but as a knowledgeable sports fan, I know who’s good and isn’t.

Some may think that I’m cold with my emotions when it comes to the teams that I cover. Some think that I don’t care whether they win or lose. In some ways that’s true, because I’m the same after a win or a loss.

My job entails as an SID that I practice neutrality even though I work for an athletic department. I must be a statistician for the games and show no favoritism to anybody. I must operate press boxes and press rows where cheering isn’t allowed because we have to be respectful of representatives from the visiting school at the games.

The funny thing is that I’ve always been this way, even as a kid. I always had my favorite teams like the NY Giants, Knicks, NY Rangers, the Mets and I still care for those teams. However, the one type of fan I hated was the ignorant fans. I hated those people who would only follow the local teams and know nothing about the rest of the league. Yeah, I love the Giants, but what about the Broncos or the Rams. The Knicks are cool, but I want to learn more about the Nuggets or Clippers.

That’s why I hate watching ESPN and all they talk about are the Red Sox, Yankees and Mets for baseball. I like the Mets, but tell me more about the Orioles, Rays, Pirates and Rockies, seriously.

So as a kid, with the advice of my mother, I made sure that I knew everything about every sport. Hockey game, I’m watching. Tennis match, I’m looking. Soccer, I’m all over it. That’s the way that I operated and became a fan of the game just as much as the teams.

Long story short, I learned to detach myself from being an ignorant and narrow-minded fan of my teams and became a studier of the sport. That’s why I could and still can tell you just as much about the Tigers just as much as a Met, or break down the Giants just as well as the Dolphins. That’s how I roll and challenge anybody to take me on.

How does this relate to being an SID? In my current position, I will always cheer for Belmont teams to win because I like the coaches, the players and honestly, it’s easier to write a story about a win than a loss. However, the tasks and responsibilities of my job force me to be neutral, an arbiter if you will, for the operation of my events. I think growing up following sports like I did made me prepared for this job.

I think that’s why I do my job well.

However, I sometimes miss being a fan of a team and living and dying with every one of the games they play. The Mets are losing a lot of games now and my reaction is whatever. The Giants won the Super Bowl and I smiled for a little bit and went to bed and went to work the next day like nothing happened.

I have to stay detached from Belmont sports and even my favorite teams for that matter because they will lose and I have to be a professional. I have to be a professional and do my job just as well if Belmont loses a game in the last minute or if they win the national title. That’s what a good SID does.

So, when Belmont lost to Gardner-Webb today, I wrote my story, posted the stats and moved about my day as if they won a chance to play in the College World Series. It’s just the way that I’m trained.

I will miss traveling with the guys though, but life is full of disappointment and random happy moments that you have to embrace. Working with the baseball team was one of those happy moments.

NBA and general sports musings

Some quick thoughts on the Conference Finals of the NBA and other sports musings on a Saturday afternoon:

Lakers/Spurs: This series has gone how I thought it would. The Spurs are finally starting to look old and a team is taking advantage of it. New Orleans had a chance to do it, but they weren’t ready. The Lakers have a good mix of veterans and a young bench that is ready to step up.

I’m not going to say that this series is going to be a sweep; I have too much respect for the Spurs. However, as Barkley said last night, Horry and Finley are done and that’s going to be the downfall of the team. Duncan and Parker are going to give you a good effort and Ginobili is a talented player, but it’s over for them being a championship caliber team. They just can’t score.

Celtics/Pistons: Now Boston, you are in a world of crap. I picked Detroit in this series before it even started and I’m even more confident in my pick now. The Pistons are just too grimey, too grumpy and too smart to get intimidated on the road. If Boston thought that they could just keep winning all of their home games that was foolish.

Now the series goes to Detroit, which will be problems for the Celtics. The only way that Boston has a chance is if the Pistons do their usual cruising and lose focus for game 3. This can happen. However, I actually think the Pistons realize that they are close to finally returning to the Finals.

On to other sports:

-The Mets are going through a rough stretch right now, losing a lot of games and people want Randolph or Minaya to get fired. I think it’s too early to push the panic button and fire the manager or GM. Who are you going to replace those guys with? Also, I think the problems are more with the players then the front office. Is it Willie’s fault that the pitching has been sub par or that the guys aren’t hustling and making routine plays?

I’m not saying that Willie is completely innocent. I disliked how at the end of last season when the Mets were losing their lead in the standings Randolph has a lax attitude about it and acted like nothing was wrong with losing games. That may work in the Joe Torre, Yankees school of thought, where Willie was a coach for a long time, but the Yanks had a veteran crew that knew to stay focused and take care of business. Unfortunately, the Mets don’t have those types of guys.

Also, it’s May. Do I really care about May MLB baseball? Not really. If the Mets are still playing like this in July, then changes need to be made.

-I love college baseball conference tournament season. I’ve been following the SEC Tournament for Vandy, the ACC Tournament for Georgia Tech, the SoCon Tournament for College of Charleston and of course the A-Sun Tournament, because its my job and I’m here with Belmont. It’s just good seeing all of these games taking place at the same time.

Who has two thumbs and is now 27? Etienne Marcel Pourtout, I thought we met!

This will be the first and last post that I feature a picture of only me, but hey, its my birthday, so why not.

Also, my mother always taught me to always wear a tie on photo IDs and smile. So that cheesy smile you see, that’s for the mother. I do look extra happy in that picture. Good stuff.

First, I feel blessed to have made it this far. I thank the parents, Barbara and even the original Marcel, my dad for raising me.

OK, Kenisha told me about my passive-aggressive nature and that last statement sounded like that. I thank both of my parents equally for raising me.

I feel happiness that my family has been able to see me have successes in my life even though I feel like I have so much more to accomplish. I’ve always been fortunate to have the unconditional support of my family and not everyone has that.

I’m grateful to my brothers, Troy and Denny, my sister, Aline, who I’m trying to get to know better, and my sister-in-law only in term, Angie. She’s been my big sister since she married my brother and none of that in-law crap. Each of them has been a tremendous influence and I’m grateful that they’re in my life.

I’m also grateful for my countless cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews that have been amazing to me. If any of you are reading this, thanks for everything.

I have so many friends here in Nashville from Belmont to Vandy and everywhere in between. I’m happy that I’ve been able to find a place of happiness at Belmont. I don’t think my co-workers or people in my Belmont family realize how much I was struggling with stuff in my life before I came back to Nashville in August. But through their acceptance of me, I’m in a better place.

I still have my friends in Charleston, Atlanta and the NYC. I’m happy to have lived in all of these places and met great people along the way.

I’m happy to work in sports. I get paid to watch games and work with athletes, can’t complain about that.

I’m happy to have good health. I’ve woken up every day for 27 years and can walk and talk and be fully functional by myself. That’s not guaranteed in any of our lives.

This has been one of my harder posts to write because I’m focusing exclusively on myself. Yes, every other post I’ve written has included me in it, but I feel that when I’m telling each of you about events in my life, I’m telling you stories. Everything I write here is completely true, because I just have to keep it honest with you if I’m going to keep it honest with myself.

Usually, when my birthday approaches, Mr. Grumpy emerges and makes me seem miserable to others around me. Some may think that I’m unhappy that my birthday is approaching and honestly, there were some years that I was. The reason that I was is that I compared myself with the traditional rites of passage that each age represents.

From birthdays three through 18, I was expecting a traditional birthday party with balloons, friends, family and some awesome cake. Scratch that, pie and sweet punch, sweet, sweet punch. However, I never had a birthday party.

When I turned 21, I was expecting to have had a girlfriend by then and a car, but I ended up spending the day alone at my brother’s house with no friends. When I turned 25, I was expecting to be married, celebrating the day with a wife, friends and family, but I was alone once again.

What I’ve realized is that I can’t compare my life to others. I have to live my own life. If I judged myself against some of my friends, I’m a failure. While people are starting families, buying homes and have traditional jobs with security, I’m where I’m at now. I’m a 27-year old graduate student actually taking on more debt, live on an air mattress (which is very comfortable by the way), and literally live check to check, work long, isolated hours for not much money and live hours away from the nearest family member. But I’m happy.

I’m happy to go to a place where I like working. I’m happy to be involved in sports. I’m happy to be in a city like Nashville. I’m happy to have friends like each of you.

I’m happy to the Tennessee Tornado, Josh, BK, Meggie, Sean, Gerard, Jared, Liz, George D., Sarah T., Joel, Erica C., Bari and many others for reading this blog consistently. I also have to thank Kenisha for encouraging me to start this blog from my initial ‘Pancakes’ e-mails.

Another thing that a birthday makes me do is reflect on the many good times of my life, but the biggest thing that I have to be happy for is that I was raised in a Christian household because it has been the basis for the guy that each of you know now.

I can be a better Christian just like I can be a better employee, a better physical being, a better writer. However, growing up the way that I did made me humble and content with seeking internal happiness.

There have been low moments in my life for sure, but the ones that I look back on now and are grateful that they happened. Like when I applied to law schools for three straight years and didn’t get accepted to any one of them. Or taking the LSAT three times and not improving my score. Or almost getting kicked out of Vandy after first semester of freshman year for grades. Or barely graduating college in general. Or graduating college and not having a job and having to take an unpaid internship at a magazine. Or at times not having a girlfriend all of these years.

All of those events made me realize what I wanted and needed in my life. It has taught me to be grateful to have my needs filled and to have the ability to seek my wants.

Needs and wants is what it comes down to. My needs like a home, a job, health are all filled. My wants like a nice car, girlfriends, money will all come if I stay on a positive path.

If I had no struggles in my life, I wouldn’t be the determined person that I am today. The worst people to me are the ones that act cocky, are full of themselves and are constantly reminding you of what they’ve done to try to impress you.

I believe in internal confidence and being content with yourself. I also believe in being nice and in karma. If you act like an ass to others, it will come back to you.

Sorry that I’ve started rambling but I’ll end it with this.

My main reason for living is to bring positivism to each of you and to the world in general. I don’t want to disappoint my family with my actions. I want to be a good son, a good brother, a good uncle, a good cousin, a good nephew, a good friend. I want to be a good person for my friends to talk to and interact with, I want to be a good family member. Funny thing is that all of those wants are needs as well.

The main reason that I write this blog is two-folded. I feel that I need to write this blog for my personal growth as a man. Some of my stories and events that I write about may seem lame. You may not like my NBA articles, why I don’t trust animals or why I’m so worried about the women I interact with. However, each of those events makes me reflect on myself and makes me work on being a better person.

The second reason is that I want you to read my posts and maybe relate it to something in your life and help you become a better person. Maybe you read one of my posts and it reminds you of a positive or negative time of your life and it can make you work on being a better person. That’s the goal because we don’t have as much time on this earth as we think.

I’m 27, but honestly, I really only expect to have about 25-30 more years in my life. I know people are living longer and things like that and that’s great. However, I’m reaching the midpoint of my life and I realize this. This doesn’t mean that I should stop living. I just know that this can all end tomorrow.

So if you’re reading this post, first thanks for making it this far. But more importantly, take stock of your life. Are you where you want to be? Do you have your needs and wants in order? Have you been a good person and been a positive force in someone’s life? If the answer to any of these are no, that’s OK. In fact, its more than OK, its normal.

I’m not perfect, far from it. I don’t deserve everything that I’ve gotten, both good and bad in my life. But we’re dealt the cards of life and we have to accept it. And as I celebrate this glorious day, I like my hand and putting my chips all in for the rest of my life.

So "brothers" don't watch Seinfeld?!?

So “brothers” don’t do Seinfeld?

I was watching “Pardon the Interruption,” one of my favorite shows yesterday and they were talking about the UEFA Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea coming up. BTW, I hate both teams equally as an Arsenal fan, but if I had to see one win, I would pick United. Of course, Kornheiser and Wilbom don’t know shit about soccer so they start naming players that make no sense. At the end, Wilbolm says that “brothers don’t do Seinfeld and soccer!”

Oh really!?!

I’m glad he made this statement because it’s going to launch my multi-part series about what’s perceived as what’s reality of what people watch based on hidden racist undertones. I’ll focus how people say that they don’t watch certain sports because of race like hockey, how idiots like Torii Hunter talk about how there’s a crisis in MLB because there are “no black players,” how black people will say that they don’t like rock music because its white music even though rock is based on gospel and blues music played mostly by black people back in the day. I can go on for days about these because they’re personal issues for me. I’ll focus on music, sports and other things. For now, we’ll focus on television.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m black for those of you who have read this and never actually seen my picture.

Seinfeld is one, if not, my favorite show of all-time. Millions of people have talked about how great it is and I’ll save some of your reading time and just tell you that it’s an incredible show. I’ve always liked the show because it’s funny. Did they have a prominent black cast member? No. Honestly accept for Jackie Styles, Kramer’s lawyer, the owner of Monk’s, the coffee shop they always go to or George’s co-worker with the Yankees, I can’t think of many instances that black people appear on the show. Does that make it not funny? Of course not. However, you’ll have jackasses like Wilbolm making these statements and I know the bullshit he’s coming with. He doesn’t like it because it’s probably considered to unhip because they’re aren’t any “brothers” on the show. Therefore, if he doesn’t think it’s cool, then that means all black people don’t like the show.

It’s like when a famous black person makes a statement; it’s considered the belief of all black people. I’ll save that for another time as well. Writing these posts are going to be fun.

Now, I know that the worst thing to ever happen to ESPN and the epitome of trying to cater to the "brothers” in a fake way, including speaking in slang on a national sports broadcast, Stuart Scott, used to make the joke that “brothers” weren’t watching Seinfeld, they were watching Martin in the 1990’s, so this isn’t a foreign concept and Wilbolm isn’t the main culprit of this issue.

Um, what about watching both and enjoying both equally. I knew plenty of white people who watched both Seinfeld and Martin and enjoyed both equally. However, it seems if I would ask my black friends if they liked Seinfeld, it was an insult to their race that they would admit to liking the show.

Now, I’m not saying Seinfeld isn’t for everybody and everyone must find it as funny as I do. However, when people don’t give it a chance because of the racial makeup of the show, that’s sad.

I’m just tired of people looking to their skin color to qualify for what they should like and don’t like.

This issue even springs into an interesting lightening rod of “black” television shows, the Cosby Show. All races watched the show and loved it because it was just a great show. However, I’ve spoken with black people and actually studies articles in college discussing how the show was unrealistic because it was a black family with a doctor father and lawyer mother living in Brooklyn with money. How is that unrealistic? Does every show with a majority black cast have to be based on living in the lower class in urban settings? Think about it. How is it that shows with a white cast can pretty much have any plot imaginable, yet when black people are portrayed in a successful setting, its impossible?

That’s just not right and I don’t like it.

I honestly don’t care what the racial makeup of the cast is, if the shit’s funny, it’s funny. Just like I don’t need to see black players in a sport to watch it or black musicians in a band to listen to their music. Those posts will come up later, but that’s all for now.

Dreaming Away

I had a weird dream last night.

I was a reserve for the Belmont men’s soccer team and we were playing a road team. I remember us even getting new red road uniforms. As with all dreams, the information is murky because you can’t remember. I do remember speaking with somebody about being a defensive stopper and being able to mark the best offensive player and flashing back to a good game I had.

I bring this up because I think Wiley or L. Simmons asked me last night at the A-Sun awards banquet if I played sports in high school. I played some football, basketball and baseball. Unfortunately, I never played soccer because I wasn’t good and our high school team was excellent. On every one of those teams, I was a back-up because I wasn’t a good athlete. However, I always played hard, smart, knew where I should be and even served as a captain of some of the teams because of my leadership skills.

Being at the Tournament here has made me remember those days when I was a player. It’s been such a long time since I played on an organized team but those were some of the most fun times of my life.

The upperclassmen of the team, Diaz, Manning, BK and Josh made a video spoof of their teammates and we all saw it last night. It was so funny because a lot of the stuff they were making fun of was inside jokes that unless you were with the team a lot, you wouldn’t get. I was fortunate to get all of the jokes because I hang around these guys for so long.

That’s the thing that retired athletes always say they miss about the game. It’s not the playing, the money, the perks of fame; it’s the comradely they have with their teammates.

It’s just hanging out in a hotel room for three hours without even thinking about it. It’s about just walking to the gas station across the street on the road to have a five-minute chat with someone. It’s about going to the same Cracker Barrel or Golden Corral on road trips and knowing what guys are going to order before the waiter even gets there. It’s about the predictability of how guys are going to react when a cute girl walks by. It’s about watching the game from the press box and predicting what play the coach is going to call.

The baseball team’s season will eventually end and some will graduate, transfer or even leave the program completely. New guys will come in and make their contributions to the team. However, the makeup of this team and the dynamics they have will never be the same and they will never all be at the same place at the same time again.

It’s like my RA staff from only a few years ago back at Vandy. We were a tight group and some of us still keep in touch, but now we’re in graduate schools across the country, some are still in Nashville and some have even started families. The same people that I would go on beer runs with and just chat with for hours at a time in a dorm room are now getting married and having babies. It’s the progression of life and for that, I’m happy. But once in a while, I think back to those days and smile.

I’ll do the same with this team just like I do with my old high-school teams. However, hopefully I can dream of being a better player than a reserve. Even in my own dreams, I can’t be a superstar. However, if I was an all-star in my dreams, that wouldn’t be the same as what happened in my real life and being a reserve made me realize the importance of everyone’s contributions to a goal.

Being a backup and still being a leader on the team made me the determined man that I am today and for that, I’m grateful.

Mr. Cranky

I write this from DeLand, Fla. at around 1 a.m. my time, so this post will probably be shorter than most.

I’m currently listening to some chill music and wondering why Mr. Cranky wants to come out.

Mr. Cranky is the persona that likes to come out sometimes in my life when times are going well. Tonight was a good night. Went to the Atlantic Sun award banquet, saw Matt, Nate and Carlo receive awards and ate a great meal. The seniors on the team made a video making fun of each other and it was a great view and everyone had a good time. Finally, I hung out with the guys the rest of the night, played some cards, played some music and generally had a good time.

However, Mr. Cranky just wants to come out and make me snappy with people and makes me want to have some alone time.

That’s the weird thing about me at times. I like to be social and friendly, but I also like my space and when I’m traveling with the team, I’m always around somebody. I love all of these guys greatly, but there are times that I would like a few minutes to just be alone. If I don’t get that alone time, Mr. Cranky comes out and makes me seem meaner then I am.

I don’t like that aspect of my personality and I need to work on improving that.

See, I told you that this post would be shorter than normal. I’ll have something for you after our first game against Gardner-Webb tomorrow night. Until then, go Bruins!

NBA Conference Finals Predictions

Well, the final four for the NBA playoffs are set. Here are my thoughts

Boston/Detroit: This should be a good series. Boston barely survived Cleveland while Detroit handled Orlando with ease. I really want Boston to win this series. I hate Detroit. Everyone talks bad about San Antonio and how boring they are. I actually don’t mind watching the Spurs play. The team I hate to watch is Detroit. They’re just bland and they have a bunch of guys who seem grumpy at the world like Billiups and Rip. However, the worst offender is Rasheed. Charles Barkley was correct in stating that Wallace should be averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds a game. The problem with Wallace is that he’s not motivated to be the best player he can be and he’s not focused. He also takes too many damn three-pointers. His ass needs to be in the post.

Boston really isn’t much better because they act like they’ve won the championship already. Win a frickin road game, please. They seem to have this attitude that all is well because they will just win at home. That worked against Atlanta, because the Hawks are pathetic. It almost cost them against Cleveland, but Mike Brown and the Cavs management is pathetic. However, as much as I don’t like Detroit, the Pistons do bring consistency.

Prediction: Detroit in six, even though I hoping the Celtics pull it off.

Los Angeles/San Antonio: New Orleans just wasn’t ready. San Antonio does it again, those bastards. I swear if the Finals are Detroit/San Antonio, I’m not watching it. I’m telling you now. So we have the Spurs and Lakers going at it again. I think the Lakers have the better team, but I worry about Kobe’s back. Its all good now, but that can flare up again and cause problems.

The only advantage that the Spurs have is at point guard and Derek Fisher is underrated. If this was anybody but the Spurs, I would have the Lakers in five, but its San Antonio so I’ll give them some more credit.

Prediction: Los Angeles in seven…please let it be the Lakers.

The Beach

We had a good day here at DeLand for our baseball conference tournament. I took care of some work in the office, went to lunch at Arby’s, saw my first full-practice of the season and we went to the beach.

I’m usually not a fan of the beach because of the sand. However, when in DeLand, do like the locals to and head over to Daytona to the beach.

On the way there, we saw Daytona Speedway and as a gear head, that was cool. I may not be as big of a fan of auto racing as when I was a little kid, but come on, it’s Daytona. It’s a huge speedway.

So we head over to the beach and I’m wading in the water with the rest of the guys and they’re having a blast, doing goofy guy stuff that I’ve gotten used to.

It was so beautiful and peaceful there. I was able to just look out over the horizon and feel the cool waters of the Atlantic Ocean flow between my toes and marvel and the natural beauty of this earth.

I’m not a very religious man, I do believe in God and everything, but today was one of those moments when you just look out and just feel happy to be alive and able to witness everything.

On our way back, we saw a full moon cast above water while we were driving over a bridge. It was incredible and I mentioned that it looked like a postcard.

I know that I may sound like I complain about a lot of things on this blog. There are some moments where I make statements that make it seem like I’m unhappy with my life.

Honestly, there are always things in my life that I would like to improve on. However, I never take for granted the fact that I’m alive and functioning healthy.

At the beach, I saw these two people with someone that was mentally-challenged and confined to a wheelchair. I don’t know if the rest of the team saw them, I hope they did because maybe they realized how fortunate they were to be in Florida and get to play baseball while there are millions of others who don’t have that chance and aren’t as fortunate as us.

If Belmont wins the conference tournament or loses in two games, it matters little to me in comparison to the gift of life. All of us get wrapped up in wanting to be the best and winning everything and trust me; I want the guys to win their games. However, walking on the beach made me think about life.

It’s like when I was speaking to one of our coaches after a tough set of games. He was talking about how the wins and losses don’t matter in comparison to him being able to play with his two little kids every morning.

I forget this often but going to the beach made me remember that and for that, I’m thankful.

Let's get a cup of coffee "or something"

On our way to Florida, the baseball team and I watched some Seinfeld episodes and that was good times. One of the episodes was about the time that George asked out a waitress at their coffee shop. So they are out on their date and they are just walking and talking in Central Park when George starts talking about horse manure. She then mentions something about her boyfriend. George then talks to Jerry about how he was duped. George says that he told her that they should go out or something. Anyway, the “or something” part was decided to declare the event a date.

I turned to Ross, aka the Tennessee Tornado, and the Tornado and I shook our head and acknowledged that this has happened to us in the past.

The last time that I misinterpreted interaction with a girl happened earlier this year. For the sake of this post, we’ll call her Joan, because I know that she reads this blog often and some of you may know her.

So I met Joan in January and I immediately thought she was cute and had a cool attitude. We had to go to an event off-campus one day and after it was over, we spoke near her car and I was actually getting a positive vibe from her. I asked her if she wanted to go out to coffee or something. Sound familiar?

Joan said that she would like to and I sealed it with one of my patented bear hugs. One advantage to being a big man is that I give good hugs. The ladies love hugs, just don’t hold them too long because they start to get creeped out. If you want advice on hugs, just ask me.

Anyway, Joan and I start exchanging e-mails and even start making lists together, including the top-five albums that was the focus of a post I made last month. Go ahead, check out the post. Just come back.

So, throughout all of this, there is no mention of a boyfriend.

I mention something to Joan about her Facebook profile because she mentions that she likes a sports website I visit often as well.

I send Joan an e-mail telling her that I like the web site too. Joan responds that her boyfriend recommended it to her.

Really, a boyfriend!?!

I tried to play it off cool and when we saw each other later, I actually apologized to her for hitting on her and wanting to go out with her. Joan said that she just forgot to mention the boyfriend in our previous interactions.

Joan and I have actually become friends over the past few months, still do lists together, even though she owes me one, and actually keep in touch with each other more now then when we first started talking to each other. I’ve actually met the boyfriend and it was an interesting meeting to say the least.

Out of respect to him, I’ve kept it friendly with Joan because I don’t pursue someone else’s woman, even though I think very highly of her. Actually, since I haven’t been trying to date Joan, we’ve gotten to know each other better because I care about how she’s doing.

Every few days, I send Joan a text message to ask about her and make sure she’s feeling good. I do this because I really care about her as a friend.

So, in the end, getting swerved by Joan was a good thing because I made a good friend in the process. However, if she ever broke up with her boyfriend, I would like to finally have that cup of coffee or something.

Music I'm Feeling Right Now

A few months ago, a friend of mine named Mandy introduced me to Pandora, an online music program that allows you to sample full songs from various artists. For example, I’m a big fan of Mars Volta. I just make a Mars Volta station and I will hear that group’s songs along with other artists who have music similar to theirs.

This has allowed me to find about some other bands that I wasn’t familiar with and are now in my music rotation. I wanted to share some of these with you and encourage you to check them out or even mention some lesser-known groups that you like that I and others should check out.

The Rum Diary: These guys are a band that I’ve recently got into. They play some chill music that makes me relax. I just found that they are no longer a group, which makes me sad. They’re described as “dream rock” and “post-rock” which is a great description of them. I recommend their album “We’re Afraid of Heights Tonight.” Here’s some videos from them: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6725544983680535614&q=the+rum+diary&ei=HrkxSNuvN5GErgLlgtiKCg and http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6725544983680535614&q=the+rum+diary&ei=HrkxSNuvN5GErgLlgtiKCg

Minus the Bear: I was listening to Bloc Party and the music from this band came on and I was intrigued. I’ve enjoyed every one of their songs, even though they have some odd titles to their songs. I was afraid that I wouldn’t like their stuff because they sounded poppy like some bands such as Death Cab for Cutie, who I’m not a big fan of. However, like Bloc Party, these guys rock out solidly. They’re described as a “math rock” or “experimental rock” group, which is fair I guess. I recommend their album, Planet of Ice. Here are some videos from them: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8541991425406585658&q=minus+the+bear&ei=GLcxSK7AK6X2rAK0nsiACg and http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8541991425406585658&q=minus+the+bear&ei=GLcxSK7AK6X2rAK0nsiACg

Yes and Genesis- My old roommate had Yes music blasting at 3 a.m. one night and it was the only time that I wasn’t mad that he was blasting loud music late at night. I love these guys. Its funny that I’m into some progressive music like Mars Volta, yet I find myself coming back to these guys. They were the old school prog band that made it cool to play a song for 20 minutes without any apologies. Also, they would bust out with three and four-part harmonies vocally. Genesis is a different story. They kinda reinvented themselves throughout their career. There were the early years with Peter Gabriel, where they were the kinds of Prog Rock. Gabriel leaves and Phil Collins takes over the vocals and they stay true to their prog roots for a while before progressing into the most popular form of Genesis we know of today. I kinda like the band from 1976-83. This is when they blended all of their stuff. Mama is a good song, Home by the Sea and Second Home by the Sea are solid tracks. Even Supper’s Ready is good. There’s plenty of videos from these guys that you can check out.

Does this make me look like a wuss?

Well, I’m writing this from the bus as our Bruins baseball team heads over to DeLand, Fla. to participate in the Atlantic Sun Tournament. I think our guys have a good shot of making a run here, but I’ll have some posts throughout the week about that.

This post is about things that us guys tend to like but don’t want to admit.

This started with my statement that when I type the posts for this blog, I’m usually sitting on my bed and reflecting on things, similar to Carrie Bradshaw on the show, Sex and the City. I actually enjoyed that show very much and when I would tell people that, I would get looks and mocked for liking a show about four upper-class women in New York City.

The main reason that I like the show was that it was based in my hometown. Second, I was a big fan of Charlotte, if you know what I’m saying. Also, Mr. Big was my boy.

So that got me thinking about what other things do guys like but fail to admit?

Today, I tried a new product from Gillette that is a body and facial wash. I used it for the first time and my face has never felt fresher. It was like a flash of sunshine on my skin and my face feels so nice right now. I plan to use this product more in the future.

It seems like a lot of guys don’t admit to liking creams, facials, spas and other things of that nature because it makes them sound soft. I’ve personally never gotten any treatment at a spa, but my mother used to place these fruit, peel-off wraps on my face when I was a kid and those were OK I guess.

However, the one thing that I’m into that gets the most reaction is my enjoyment of soap operas, particularly General Hospital. I got into soap operas at an early age because my mother is such a fan of them, especially General Hospital.

Over the years, I’ve enjoyed the exploits of Sonny Corinthos, Carly, Luke Spencer, Laura, Jason Morgan, Alexis, Lucky, Elizabeth, Nicholas, Robin, Dylan and countless others. I can write a whole new post about my love for the show, which will probably come sooner rather than later.

The reasons that I like these shows is one, there are no repeats. Every episode is new and runs throughout the entire year, including the summer. So there is never a time when you turn on the show and you see something old.

Second, the plot lines are ridiculous. Everyone has sex with each other, everyone becomes a friend one minute than an enemy next, no one is safe from being killed and coming back to life (happens all the time), everyone has a potential twin and my personal favorite, when someone “dies,” yet will come back as a whole new character and its accepted as normal.

Third, it only takes about two weeks of watching the soap opera everyday to catch up on six months. I haven’t watched General Hospital in months, yet I know that if I dedicate a week to checking it out, I will be caught up.

Finally, have I mentioned the women. The chicks on these shows are game. Even the ones who are supposed to be homely or ugly are beautiful. I’ve had major crushes on some of these women for years and if you ask a male GH fan about Brenda, aka Vanessa Marcil, they’ll acknowledge the hotness she brought to the table.

So those are some of the things that I like that most guys seem to not want to admit too. There are probably some more. Until next time…

No Female Roommate for Me

So I won’t have a female roommate and what I learned from the experience.

A few weeks ago, my former roommate informed me that he was moving out to another place. It was fine and it meant that I had to find a new roommate.

I placed an ad in various listings and I spoke of being a male Belmont grad student looking for a non-smoker, etc. What I failed to list in the ad is if I preferred a male or female roommate.

I started to get inquiries about the place and the split was about 50/50 men and women. I saw some guys come over and even thought I had a solid commitment from one, but he backed out and I was out to search again.

I starting polling some friends about if I should consider a female roommate. It was funny how many guys said I should consider it while every woman I spoke to said to not do it. I decided to keep my options open.

I kept getting inquiries from one woman, who I will call “Lisa” because I don’t want to use her real name and she may end up reading this at some point, to check out the place and I decided to let her see it. When I told people that I was having her over for a visit, the reactions were typical. The guys were excited about the prospect of me having a hot roommate while the ladies were telling me to be careful.

So, I’m waiting in my house at 5:15 watching the Simpsons as usual and I hear a knock on the door. I go over and I hear, “hey, are you Marcel?” in the cutest southern accent. I tell her its me and at that point, I decide that she’s too cute. She is a petite brunette that looks like Kate Beckinsale, who had been in my top-five (if you don’t know what that means, look at one of my previous posts) for a long time but is now a solid player who comes off the bench in crucial moments. Just the type of girl I usually like. She walks past my TV and tells me that she’s a big Simpsons fan. I’m like please don’t be so friendly.

I show her my house and for those of you who haven’t been there, it’s a nice place but could potentially lack privacy. Also, I only have one bathroom. Apparently this is a big deal when sharing a place with a woman, but I think to make that assumption is sexist and I’m not down with that. Anyway, I show her the place and she really digs it.

We head to my back deck and we chat for a good 20 minutes. We get the general questions out of the way like what do you do, billing stuff, pets, all the basics. Then, we start talking about each other. She works in medicine and is staring med school this fall, stuff like that. The whole time I’m saying to myself, don’t flirt with her. I was proud to say that I didn’t flirt with her like I normally would. But she was smart, funny, very attractive, gave me good body language, wore scrubs well (which is hard to pull off) and was just one of the nicest girls that I’ve met in a long time.

When I tell her that I work in sports, she responds that she isn’t a huge fan but likes soccer! Then she talks about how she likes international soccer in Germany and Italy! I’m telling myself that this isn’t real and I really need to not flirt with her because she is coming with some good things.

We finish our conversation and I once again poll people about what I should do. I get the same answers as before.

In the end, Lisa decided to live somewhere else and I found a guy to move in with who is going to be a good fit as well.

So I guess everything worked out well, especially considering that I’ve kept in touch with Lisa and we plan to have a social outing in the near future.

If anything, I found a new female friend to potentially have a good relationship with.

I guess the moral of the story is that you can’t have potential romantic interests in a roommate because that can cause problems in the future. If I did live with Lisa, we wouldn’t date.

I have a rule to not date co-workers, roommates, athletes in the school I work for and close relatives of friends. There are probably exceptions to that rule but I don’t even bother trying to work around that.

I wouldn’t have dated Lisa and I’m not saying that the two of us are going to have a torrid romance and get married or something like that. I do know that we had some chemistry when we were speaking with each other and that could’ve lead to some bad things.

I, or I should say that we since she told me she was finding another place, took the mature route and I’m happy for it. But if you ask my guy friends, they may have a different answer. But the ladies would be proud of me, so I have that going for me.

Cartoons, Still Love Them

Cartoons

I woke up early one Saturday morning and wanted to watch some old school cartoons like the Flintstones, the Jetsons, Smurfs or even some Looney Tunes. Heck, I would have taken some Disney cartoons with Mickey, Goofy and Donald Duck, which I hated as a kid.

Accept, I loved Duck Tales with Uncle Scrooge and the nephews Huey, Duey and Louie. Scrooge was my man because he was always grumpy. On the same note, Darkwing Duck and Tale Spin, I was all over that. Also, Doug, that was my show.

From non-cartoons, Clarissa Explains It All and All That, I know you old-school Nick fans can respect that. Also, Are You Afraid of the Dark? I’m getting flashbacks right now over these shows. That will deserve its own post. I have to stay focused on this one.

I liked cartoons that had a little cynicism and darkness to them. I hated being talked down to as a little kid and told that everything was great and nothing bad happened. The Disney cartoons treated me that way and I didn’t like it. Now, Looney Tunes were my favorite because of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Daffy was my man. He was angry, didn’t take stuff from anybody and would fight you till the end. I liked how he would always battle Bugs and even though he would always lose, he brought an energy that I liked.

Kenisha wanted me to bring up the fact that the cartoons would depict violence in an unrealistic way, which is true. Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam would shoot Bugs and Daffy and nothing would happen. In real life, they would be dead. This is a fair point, but the idea of these animals waking on their hind legs and grabbing items is unrealistic also.

I was thinking of this also when I was watching Family Guy and my favorite character on TV, Brian, the talking dog on the show. Not only does Brian walk with two legs, he drinks liquor, drives a car, holds a job and even has a human girlfriend at some point in the show. The writers of the show do a good job of making Brian a real dog by making him do things like chase balls, have fleas and wanting to stick his head out of a moving car, however, he’s treated like a human.

This should scare me but it doesn’t.

Another thing about the old school cartoons is that they were pretty simple to understand and were very predictable. Take the Flintstones for example. You knew that Fred would do something sexist or something stereotypically male, Barney would unfortunately be dragged into the plot and eventually Bettie and Wilma would get the best of the boys and we would learn a valuable lesson.

BTW, Bettie Rubble, CGI. That’s all I’ll say.

Anyway, the Jetsons were the same. The Smurfs confused me then and now. How can you have all of those male smurfs and one woman smurf. Back home in Brooklyn, we call that nasty. Also, why were you forced to do only one job. If I’m a locksmith, why can’t I change my job and become a cook? In Smurf world, I couldn’t do that. I believe that’s called Communism and I’m not down with that.

What I’m trying to say is, these kids today can have their Dragon Ball Z and Pokemon and these other crazy shows, accept for the Grim Adventures of Bill and Mandy. That show is the truth if you give it a chance. Also, to make Kenisha and others happy, I do like The Boondocks, but for some reason, I never really watch the show. Its funny when I see it.

So, it’s a sad day when you have to go to a cable network called BAM to catch these old-school cartoons. Networks, bring back old-school cartoons on Saturday mornings and the new-age kids will enjoy them just as much as I did. I’ll even wake up early to catch them.

What's up with children's programming today?

I was preparing for work one day and was flipping channels and happen to come across Sesame Street, the legendary children’s program. Everyone knows about Sesame Street, so no explanation is needed. I was watching an episode where Big Bird was hanging out with Snuffeupagus (yeah, I had to look it up to spell his name properly because he deserves that), the large brown elephant, and Snuffy wanted to fly. So Big Bird and his child friends decide to get some balloons, tie them to Snuffy and let him fly. You can probably figure out what happened next as Snuffy got too high and got lost but eventually found his way back to Sesame Street. In between this story were segments teaching you how to read, count and other stuff.

It reminded me of my childhood, when I was a huge fan of Sesame Street. I liked that show so much, especially Oscar the Grouch and of course, Burt and Ernie. I was on team Ernie because Burt was too uptight. I couldn’t have a roommate like Burt because even though things would be clean, he would be just too anal for me. Ernie would be a little messy but would be a little more laid-back. However, Ernie looked like a partier and would have some loud nights with alcohol, drugs and women at the house all hours of the night. Burt looked like he was in med school and would want to study all the time.

But Oscar was my man because he was so cynical and would tell people off in the most G-rated style possible because it was a kid’s show. People who liked Big Bird were the type of people who were always happy with life and those people are cool to be around but not all the time.

Personally, I think I identified with Snuffy because I was a bigger kid and get picked on and had low-self esteem like Snuffy. I never tied balloons around myself to feel better, but after watching the show as a kid, I would feel better.

As much as I loved Sesame Street, the show that would make me stop what I was doing in a second was Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. I would be a hyper kid at times and the one show that I would just sit and stare at without moving was Mr. Rogers. It’s like stoners who watch a Pink Floyd Laser Show. I would just watch this man take off his shoes and feed his fishes and send his train to Make Believe Land and think that was the best thing ever. I would even take my shoes off like him when I went into my home. The show was also more educational, which I liked because I was a book worm and a major dork even as an elementary school student. I would read all the time and watch the evening news, ABC with Peter Jennings was my choice, even as a first and second grader. So Mr. Rogers was chill for me with a lot less noise than Sesame Street, which I appreciated.

Another show that I recently watched and was mortified by was the Teletubbies. My goodness, the person who made this show must have been high, I’m sorry. I didn’t understand what was going on, none of these creatures talked but made these weird noises to communicate and they worshiped some baby head that was the sun. I was confused and I’m 26. I couldn’t imagine these little kids watching this show and getting any enjoyment out of it.

I liked the shows I watched because they were fun, but I also learned something. I learned nothing from Teletubbies.

I’ll expand on this idea with my views of cartoons from back in the day and now.

Do I Really Want To Know My Future?

I was watching a recent episode of the Montel Williams show, btw, one of the most underrated talk shows and general TV programs ever, and he had Sylvia Brown, his psychic on the show. She was predicting to people if they would find love, if they would have a lot of money, things of that nature. The audience members would get a feeling of fulfillment or disappointment based on what she said. After watching this show, I was wondering to myself, do I want to know my future.

That felt like a Carrie Bradshaw moment from Sex and the City. Every episode, she would have something happen in her life and sit at her laptop and ask the question of that episode just like I did here. Don’t hate, I know all of you reading this watched Sex and the City, men and women. I’m proud to admit it and Mr. Big was my boy. Chris Noth represent!

Anyway, back to the psychic, I don’t think I want to know what happens in my life. Part of the excitement of life is not knowing what’s going to happen next. There’s also the fear of the unknown which is understandable. We may die tomorrow or find a lot of money or find our true love tomorrow and we don’t know it.

If I was told that I would have this job, live in this city, be in a relationship with this person, things like that before they happen, that takes away from the perception that I can control what happens in my life. If I’m told that I’m going to be living in Seattle in two years working for the Mariners, married with a kid on the way that would take the element of surprise away from my life, which would be lame.

There’s also the opposite end of the spectrum. If I was told that I would be poor, deadly ill or even dead in two years that would be terrible news. That’s why I respect people with terminal cancer and things of that nature so much because many of them accept their prognosis and live their last days with such vigor and happiness. I don’t know if I could do that and I hopefully won’t have to answer that question. However, if I did receive that fate, the tattoo and skydiving career would begin and that would have the potential to be epic.

The only benefit of possibly knowing your future in a clear way is that you can prepare for it, but why even bother doing that though. If it was meant to be that something good or bad was happening to you, why would you try?

Sunday Reflections

New segment. Every Sunday night, I usually lie on my bed, watch some repeats and reflect on the week that was. I’ll share this with you now.

-Good week for the Belmont baseball team. Defeated Tennessee, which was huge because anytime you can defeat them, it’s a glorious day for me. The Bruins also won two out of three against Campbell to clinch a spot in the A-Sun Tourney. We’re heading to Florida. Very excited about that.

-The trip to Knoxville wasn’t as bad as I thought. The people at UT treated me well and were very friendly, but it’s all about business. I was very professional at the game and didn’t go into my dislike for the school and didn’t mention that I was an alum of Vanderbilt, it just wouldn’t have been right especially after they got swept by my Commies the previous weekend.

-So Vandy lost two out of three games to Georgia at home. Not a good sign but I’m not concerned. They’re probably not going to host a regional now, but whatever.

-Classes are over for me, which is cool. I got some good grades this semester. I got low-balled in a major way in one class and not too happy about it. I’ll address it in a proper manner.

-I caught a glimpse of Belmont’s graduation yesterday and it was cool. It made me think of my graduation from college and I wrote a fun post about it on the blog.

-Another cool part of the graduation was the day before when the graduating student-athlete photo was taken. I arrived at work on Friday and saw all of them getting ready for the picture that will eventually hang in our academic center. I greeted some of them and was happy to see them happy.

-I graduate next year. That’s great.

-Tabouli’s was cool on Wednesday. It was Scott, Robbie and I. One of Scott’s friends came over and she was super chill. She was a good conversationalist, cute, funny and we even shared some fries. She had an awesome personality and it was just nice to vibe with someone. I’ve made her a friend on Facebook and told her that it was cool meeting her and wanted to know if she was down for a coffee. However, I haven’t heard from her, which is totally cool because I’m definitely taking a break from even trying to date women at this stage.

-Now, if someone wanted to hang out and kick it, that’s cool but I’m not going to force anything. My head just isn’t in it right now.

-Talked to my mother today. She was waiting for her mother’s day call which was cool.

-I’ve been trying to bond with a stray cat named Spankey who I give milk to about one every two days. I want to get closer to him/her but have been approaching it all wrong like yelling at it and making sudden movements. However, through the advice of a co-worker, I was able to make some changes to my approach to Spankey when I fed him today. I stuck my hand out and he started to circle me and smell me, which are good things because usually when I approach, he runs away. He still ran away sometimes but less often. Hopefully he’ll let me touch him next time.

-I listened to some amazing music from Genesis and Yes this weekend. I love those old-school jam bands from the 70’s. The music is in layers and I’m feeling that right now.

That’s all I got for this week. See ya’ll around.