Uh, lemme get a one-way ticket, haven’t picked a destination
I’m just tryna catch the train before it has to leave the station
Packin’ no bags, nothin’ but the clothes on my back
With a Cognac, let me sip it, tryna to relax
Red wine up in my glass plus Filet Mignon
~ Mac Miller, Thoughts From A Balcony
Coconut rum, pineapple juice with a touch of water to my right. Two friends laughing to my left. The jazz infused sounds of Blu fills the forty degree air. Coconut trees and passersby in my eye line. I recline on my sofa bed and just relax.
This is life.
The thought continuously replays in my head. This moment can’t be duplicated and I don’t remember feeling this content. When the constant distraction of technology is removed from the equation, your mind becomes the space inside the value zero. A vacation, well overdue and a vacation that almost never happened (I’ll get to that later).
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the beautiful bride, my tattoo artist and one of my oldest friends. This is the occasion why I had the opportunity to soak up some vitamin D. Kell Bee is one of the most genuine people in my world. I didn’t have the chance to say this at the venue, so I’ll use this format. My friend KB has a contagious laugh and an open mind. Two attributes lacking in most people these days. This woman has become something extraordinary right before my eyes. From the reserved artist to the successful, creative businesswoman she is today. I love her dearly. I wish her and my boy, Ty, the best. They’re two sides of the same coin.
…and now for some hijinks, this trip wouldn’t be complete without some foolishness and foibles. There were hits and misses, all of which made this trip amazing.
1) When travelling, it’s always wise to remember that a valid passport is needed. Yes, this happened. Shortly after being checked in, I was almost checked out due to a monumentally foolish oversight on my part. It’s okay to laugh, I’ve come to grips with it already. Lucky for me, repeating mistakes isn’t a habit I participate in.
2) Shopping for a bathing suit should be done during the months when suits are still in season. I’ve worn my share of borrowed trunks to know that I don’t enjoy rocking nut-huggers. Board shorts are also pretty lame. After watching 007′s ‘Casino Royale’, I figured if a man with a licence to kill can rock Speedos, than so can I (…and I did).
3) Invisible ticks are no joke. If you could see my roommates legs and back after a week, you’d swear she was auditioning for a new horror film. The little bastards are called sandflies and they specialize in piercing your skin.
4) Take the plunge. There are so many opportunities to be a coward, disrupt that cycle. ”Be a man! Do the right thing!” (Russell Peters voice).
5) There is such a thing as too many joints.
6) One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.
7) The best roommate is the one that is blunt about their bowel movements prior to using the facilities.
8) Tea time isn’t only an English and Asian ceremony. I wish I had the picture to accompany this, my friend Kasey would testify to my love for teas. On this particular night, 9 or 10 people crowded the bar and drank copious amounts of tea. Pure bliss.
9) Football is bigger than life in every part of the world other than North America. To sing Chelsea sing songs with resort staff put a giant smile on my face.
10) Jamaican Viagra is one helluva drink.
11) Frank Ocean knocks everywhere.
12) $170 USD is the going rate for a 20 min ride to and from the local club. Keep in mind, I went to the middle of island from the West coast for the same price. Things to make you go hmmmm…, perhaps we got hustled.
13) During a heated discussion at the bathroom stall, my friend proved to me and the stranger, that he has a full comprehension of Patois. Who would have known that the guy who introduced me to Bush X, Limp Bizkit, Prodigy and Korn was a closet Jamaican.
14) ”We’re going to skate to one song and one song only”. ’Juicy’ is hands down the best hip hop karaoke song, that’s right Sir Mix-a-lot. I don’t care how big her butt is.
“I don’t even know what that means… but It gets the people going!”
15) I am of Jamaican decent and I’ve been to the island twice, but I can say with absolute assurance that I have never heard anyone say, “CHUCK-IT-DOWN!” This phrase was on the lips of almost everyone in our party and I have to admit, it got the people going.
16) The lines from ‘Friday’ can be quoted by Canadian and Jamaican alike. ”…and you know this mannnnnn…” (Chris Tucker voice) P.S. If you haven’t seen ‘Friday’, STOP! Do not pass GO and definitely don’t collect the 2oo beans. This is a comedic staple, get yourself to your locale electronic superstore and cop it. (Man, I miss video stores)
17) Siesta’s are a must when you’re away on vaca. They should also be instituted here in Canada, perhaps people wouldn’t be so uptight.
18) Saying “Ya mon” never gets old, even on foreign lips it sounds strangely natural. My boy, Ty (the groom), is an honorary Jamaican. This guy was all about the culture prior to even boarding the plane.
19) All Sunday Funday’s should be spent with unlimited free beers in 40 degree weather. There’s nothing like the camaraderie of 15 dudes enjoying the NFL on Sunday.
20) If you do anything in life, travel, travel, travel!!!
I gained an uncanny degree of prospective on my journey away. Through the ups and downs, trials, tribulations, etcetera, you’ll always learn more from the “do it now” mentality of it all. Life cannot be lived in a book or analyzed endlessly in discussion. You have to just make moves, take the plunge and laugh about the things that make you happy.
Carpe Diem Que
Too Deep for an Intro
8 FebWell, yes, ma’am, I do… I mean, I got everything I need right here with me. I got air in my lungs, a few blank sheets of paper. I mean, I love waking up in the morning not knowing what’s gonna happen or, who I’m gonna meet, where I’m gonna wind up. Just the other night I was sleeping under a bridge and now here I am on the grandest ship in the world having champagne with you fine people. I figure life’s a gift and I don’t intend on wasting it. You don’t know what hand you’re gonna get dealt next. You learn to take life as it comes at you… to make each day count.
~ Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCarpio), Titantic (1997)
We recognize the world, although now–not only because we have emerged from a dream–we look on it with new eyes. We are offered a new style that is thoroughly of this world, that celebrates the mundane. This new world of objects is still alien to the current idea of Realism. It employs various techniques that endow all things with a deeper meaning and reveal mysteries that always threaten the secure tranquility of simple and ingenuous things. This [art offers a] calm admiration of the magic of being, of the discovery that things already have their own faces, [this] means that the ground in which the most diverse ideas in the world can take root has been reconquered–albeit in new ways. For the new art it is a question of representing before our eyes, in an intuitive way, the fact, the interior figure, of the exterior world. (Franz Roh, Magic Realism: Post-Expressionism (1925).Magical Realism. Ed. L. P. Zamora and W. B. Faris. Durham: Duke UP, 1995. p. 15-32.)
I have a propensity to pull the trigger when something is presented. Decisive movements in the face of options is what luck is all about. Luck being defined as opportunity meeting preparedness. I believe a person makes their own luck. With this said, I decided to pull the trigger and move out on my own. The actions needed to execute the list was in the balance. This has been the reason for my sudden absence on the blogisphere. If last year was a year to strengthen my psyche and become more dominant within my skin. This year is the year for breaking down the walls. January, my journey went public. February, I’m out in the world (…once again!), for good this time.
I’ve been playing a tug-of-war battle in my mind with how I want to proceed with the blog. Sometimes I believe this is more preachy and relationship based than I intended. In the days since my last post, I’ve come to grips with the fact this is a lifestyle blog and more importantly than that, it’s about my lifestyle. After all, I can only speak for myself, right?
I don’t know if I wholly believe in the first quote. Waking up and planning your day by the seam of your pants is a great experience… for vacation. Planning for the future and preparing yourself thoroughly for whatever opportunity arrives must be viewed as the Right Bauer (yes, I’m an excellent euchre player). I have two friends whom I consult with on almost all my meteoric life events and the day-to-day mundane. These men are more like brothers than friends. I have been in concert with both frequently over the last two weeks. Our lives are chaotic and stapling time down for a life conference is difficult, but we do what we can. I can always count my adopted brothers to splash water on my ideas or at least temper them with a dose of the opposite side. I respect this because most people are either stewing in sour grapes or complete “yes men”. It takes a certain type of person to listen to criticize, let it marinate and devise a plan. I’ve often been credited with seeing the end, but the journey throughout is opaque with mist.
Two Roads diverged…
Between the both of them, stern lessons in the ’48 Laws of Power’ I’ve carefully mapped out how I want to attack this year. It’s a path, it may change, but the important thing is that it’s put down. If ever you question what your path for a given task will be, pen it on paper so it’s tangible and then plot accordingly.
Magical realism, I heard this term for the first time last week and it’s curious how I’ve watched many films under this subheading, but have never known the term. This term to me is the equivalent of a protagonist being yanked from the ordinary world and dropped into a new experience where they’re faced with choices. This is the exact mission I’m on. I’m dreamed about my first day in my apartment, just sitting there like “what now?”. I don’t dwell on it, but I understand one thing, things will change. In meshing with my beliefs, I believe it will change for the better. So, I attack it.
So. What now?
Well, I said I’ve made a concerted effort to not speak before something was accomplished and I’m going to continue along that path. I can say that when I move in, I will not be sitting around and basking in my independence. It’s an exciting time, yes, but not a time for lollygagging. I’m here to make waves and so should you. While most of the “resolution tourists” have long since given up on their statements (allowing me more freedom at the gym), you and I still continue to mush on. Find a path, if the end is what you envision, plot the way to make it there. Make it count, the hands of time don’t go in reverse.
Carpe Diem Que