Today when I got home from Pathology I felt exactly like Stimpson J. Cat. I saw a note on my door indicating that Federal Express had been by to deliver my computer and it was waiting on me in the office. I opened the box and at first I was nervous, as there were no recovery disks of any sort, then I read the instructions and you actually BURN the recovery disks onto DVD-R’s! How great is that?

So yeah, I’m feeling pretty good. I want to wish a happy belated birthday to the homie Tasha. As I told her yesterday, she doesn’t look a day over 19. I hope she recovered okay from her first ever tequila shot last night.

This weekend I’m going to clean up! No excuses. No more delaying. It has to happen now or never!

Anyway here are the Friday Five….the best in awhile….

You have just won one million dollars:

1. Who do you call first? My mother and/or my sisters….

2. What is the first thing you buy for yourself? (after immediately paying off my student loans and any future Meharry money) A BMW 528i.

3. What is the first thing you buy for someone else? I’ll buy my mom a new car so Che can get the Explorer.

4. Do you give any away? If yes, to whom? Yes, I’d give some money to Morehouse and to my childhood church and I’d put aside money for my godson P.J.’s college education.

5. Do you invest any? If so, how? Whatever’s left after the above expenditures I would invest in some nice safe mutual funds. Nowadays, a million dollars isn’t NEARLY enough money to stop working or anything like that.

I don’t know about anyone else, but there are some movies out there that are good, I mean really enjoyable, that I just cannot make it through in one sitting. I might hit a slow part and get lulled to sleep although I was really enjoying it to that point. Or maybe I will just catch it too late, or right before a planned nap (yes I plan to take naps during the day, and nothing short of an emergency can keep me from it).

At any rate, From Dusk Til’ Dawn was one of those types of movies for me. The first time I watched it I made it to when they got to the hotel room and Seth (George Clooney…in the best role I’ve seen him play….better than Danny Ocean in Ocean’s Eleven) left Richie (Quentin Tarantino….who didn’t overact!!!) in the hotel room with the lady. The next time I tried to watch it, I got to where they meet up with Jacob (Harvey Keitel) and his family.

This morning I couldn’t sleep so I turned to HBO to see if I could maybe catch a good movie or at least Biker Boyz and lo and behold it’s on the part IMMEDIATELY after the last part i could remember from my last viewing.

So I ended up catching the whole thing. For awhile I was wondering, okay, when are the vampires coming. And I heard the classic monologue about the different types of pussy for sale. The dialogue was good, but not what I have come to expect from Tarantino films.

Overall I say the movie lived up to much of the hype, but it wasn’t all that. Perhaps if I had seen it in the theater I’d have a different opinion of it, but for what it’s worth now i’d give it three stars out of five.

First of all I want to send a big birthday shout out to Nexy!!! She’s one of the nicest people I’ve managed to run across on this vast internet. I hope she’s having a great day today!

I must admit, I must have had a brain fart leaving Thandie Newton off the list. I have been in love with her for a minute. She even got me to watch a couple episodes of E.R.. She’s great. As for Nia Long, I have never really been that big a fan of hers. She was at her best to me in Friday and in Love Jones, but in the pantheon?….nah…..at least not MY pantheon. Which leads me to another point. Every man will have his own pantheon which may have some common members, but will probably have some unique ladies. Another honorable mention would be Amerie, but she didn’t last like I thought she would. Last, but not least, my mentioning of Keisha’s awkward phase wasn’t meant to be a swipe at her. Merely a reasoning for distinguishing between her and Tatyana. It could be argued that my whole life is one big “awkard phase” at least she finished hers.

I’ve been meaning to write about one of my latest internet time wasting addictions that my boy Nile put me on to, Hobowars! The format is along the lines of the old game “Pimpwars”. For those unfamiliat basically you try to build experience and power by doing things that a hobo would do. You find cans, you beg for money, and (most importantly) you beat up other bums. You also have to go through different levels of training at Primary School, High School, and University. My hobo’s name is Mangy McMurtry. If you have some time to waste you should sign up, by clicking the link at the top of the paragraph.

To those who have chatted with me on AIM you may have noticed the Ninja Turls! Yes I spelled it right. You can catch up with the adventures of the Ninja Turls at www.omgninjaturtles.tk. Then you can find out why Raf is invisible, why Mike has an eye patch, and why there is a yellow dude instead of Leonardo!

Welp that’s all for now. I think I’m going to head home and eat something.

First things first, after dealing with disappointment and such on ubid.com last night, falling in love with a computer only to be outbid for it. I finally won an auction later this afternoon. I will be getting a new Sony VAIO in the next week or so. Flaco will be taken off of the breathing apparatus shortly after I get the new machine squared away. Tentatively my new computer will be named O-Ren Ishii.

Okay so Bill Simmons a.k.a the Boston Sports Guy is my favorite sportswriter on the face of the Earth. I say this without my usual hyperbole or any sort of exaggeration. I love the way he weaves pop culture into his columns at the drop of a hat. He finds humor/irony in almost the exact same things that I do.

For Super Bowl Week he is writing “blog” style. He is going to update several times a day for the next week. This is the second best news I’ve heard today!

One of his updates was his official “pantheon” of women. Based on the criteria he outlined (check out the column for his rules) here is my “pantheon of Black Women” (a word of note…this doesn’t include video women such as the woman in the Big Boi video or internet models, although it should be noted that many of these women surpass the onces on my list for beauty):

1) Halle Berry - Disregard her spotty relationship record. She might be the most beautiful woman in all of entertainment. She is generally one of the few women that both men and women can agree on as beautiful and sexy.

2) Pam Grier - Since the days of blacksploitation, she’s been holding it down. She came back some 20 years later to play the hell out of Jackie Brown. She even seduced The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

3) Naomi Campbell - With apologies to Tyra Banks, Naomi is the World’s Top Model. She has the looks, the walk, and the attitude to match both. She’s been doing it for years and judging from Jigga’s “Change Clothes” video, she’ll be doing it for years to come.

4) Sade - She does her thing quietly. Even her singing voice is low-key. But Helen Folesade Adu is a BAD woman. She doesn’t come to mind right away in most “beautiful women” discussions. But once she’s mentioned you get alot of, “I know that’s right” and “she’s a winner” type comments.

5) Beyonce - She might be the most controversial on my list, but let’s look at the facts. She has a VERY nice body. She has hips, ass, breasts, a pretty face. She carries herself like a diva. She may be somewhat hypocritical in dissing Lil Kim for what she wears, then appearing semi nude in her own videos, but that is not what this list is about.

6) Stacey Dash - This is an old school pick. For all I know she hasn’t done a movie since Illegal in Blue. But for a brief moment she was doing her thing unparalleled. Go back and watch Clueless or the old Richard Pryor joint, Moving.

7) Tatyana Ali - Good old Ashley Banks! The thing that sets her apart from Chingy’s latest co-star (Keisha Knight Pulliam) is that, as gorgeous as Keisha is now, she went through an awkward phase. That awkward phase takes her out of the pantheon. Tatyana was never in doubt for a second (well I am actually still kind of bitter about the Tevin Campbell and the late Jonathan Brandis things…but she’s still in the pantheon).
The late, great Aaliyah - Let the record state that waaaaaaay back in my freshman year of high school I loved Aaliyah. When Back and Forth was still on Video Vibrations (not Video Soul yet), I was on the team. The homie Nicole T. can vouch for that! She got better as we aged, and I’m convinced she would be a certified sex symbol had she lived.

That’s it for now….Meagan Good is not eligible yet, she only has Biker Boyz and a 50 Cent video in her adult career. Raven Simone isn’t eligible for the pantheon yet either, although she is now legal! No Lisa Raye won’t ever make it, although I will acknowledge that her acting has improved. Tamala Jones and Sanaa Lathan are beautiful women, but not pantheon worthy as of yet.

Anyway, that’s my Pantheon and I’m sticking with it. Questions, comments? Hit me up!

Yesterday I said everything I had to say in respect to my mood. Lately OJ has been somehow saying everything I’ve been feeling as well, so check out his “rant” on moods because as I noted in my comment I agree 100%. Yesterday I didn’t see anyone and I talked on the phone to maybe 3 people total.

Today is a different day. I accomplished a great deal in one area of my life that has been bothering me somewhat. I washed some dishes. I’m going to wash some clothes. I’m moving on.

I really need a new computer, which reminds me, I’ve never officially told the story of my computer. It was probably because I didn’t want to offend anyone. But I offend more people by accident than I do on purpose, so I apologize in advance if you are offended.

Anyway, sometime in 2003 I joined the kthxbi forums and one of the first people I got to know was this girl named Liz from Las Vegas. She was telling me about one of her friends at school whose name was Flaco. According to her, Flaco was flamboyantly homosexual. Well my computer tends to shut down on me randomly, and to me that is flamboyantly homosexual behavior for a computer. So I said to myself, “Flaco is a good name for this computer.” Thus was born the name Flaco for my computer.

Then one day I was having an AIM convo with the homie Dwayne (I had OJ here at first!!…my bad Killa Weezy!) and Flaco started to act up. So I told him the story above. He made a good point, by saying Flaco needed a fitting last name, so we came up with Finestra. So my computer thus became known as Flaco Finestra. Even later I was chatting with OJ and we determined that Flaco was probably republican since he seemed so determined to make my life harder than it had to be.

Well now it appears Flaco is at the end of his rope. Everytime I am in an AOL chat he will shut down. He stalls for no reason while I’m surfing the web. In short he’s showing all the signs of a dying computer.

So I need a new computer. All I need is a tower, as I purchased a flat screen monitor in 2002. Any suggestions are welcome.

Reading OJ’s entry about Saturday’s at home, and what his dad would do, really made me kind of sad.

I really miss the way things used to be, that’s all there is to it. I know all of the blah, blah, blah about how “things happen for a reason” and I know I’m blessed to “still have my dad around”, but I still miss the way things used to be. I used to complain all the time about how my dad used to call me at 6 in the morning to talk, now I’d give ANYTHING for him to do that. I want my dad to be able to get back on the radio. I want him to be able to go to an event and be THE MAIN MAN. And with each passing day, I know it gets less and less likely that he’ll ever be completely back and it kills me. This is the first time I’ve been completely honest about this fact.

Two years ago at this time I returned to Nashville for school, having missed two weeks of school. Even when I got back, I barely went to class. The only class I enjoyed was Physical Diagnosis, primarily because I wasn’t surrounded by everyone else in my class. For a while I was considering not finishing school. I wasn’t thinking rationally. Hell, I was barely thinking at all. I dreaded getting out of my bed most days because I didn’t want to see anyone. I feared for the worst everyday, wondering what bad news I would get. I got through that thanks, in large part, to some good friends.

Now, just as I think I am almost completely back to my “old self” I’m starting to regress, because I am still holding on to the past. It seems paradoxical for me to return to normal when things have changed irrevocably. I have to find the new “normal” for me. I guess I’m in the process of doing that now. I don’t think I’ll ever really know when it happens, it’ll just happen. Maybe I’m there now and just don’t know it.

It feels good, in a very strange way, to finally get this out. Cathartic is probably the best way to describe it (not the definition relating to bodily function….look down the page!!).

Anyway, I think I’m going to take this weekend to try and get my head together and sort some things out. I’ve pushed everyone away so finding alone time shouldn’t be too hard.

Yeah….lately I’ve been feeling like shit….and I hate the fact that I wear my emotions on my sleeve, because everyone is like, “fuck is wrong with you??”….”awww smile…is there anything I can do?”….nah there isn’t anything anyone can do….that’s just how it’s gonna be for awhile….deal with it or don’t….

Anyway….here’s the Friday Five where I talk about some things I actually like (which ain’t much right now to be honest):

At this moment, what is your favorite…

1. …song? Trillville and Lil Scrappy - Get On My Level

2. …food? Dungeoness Crab cooked in Old Bay Seasoning from Joe’s

3. …tv show? Curb Your Enthusiasm

4. …scent? Clinique Happy for Men (ironic)

5. …quote? From Homer Simpson - “To be loved you have to be nice and stuff, but to be hated you don’t have to do squat!”

….but by the time I got back home from eating I was too drained. I need to get my iron levels checked. There is no reason a 24 year old man should be as tired as I am. I get up in the morning and get right back into the bed. A great deal of it is laziness and a lack of urgency. Plus as small as it is, and surrounded by as much mess as it is, my bed is mighty, mighty comfortable. At any rate, I’ll be at school before 10 AM (and a likely Pathology quiz).

Last night’s American Idol Idiots episode was pretty funny. I remarked to Drea and Jamila that there hasn’t been a single contestant to impress me yet. There was no one that really stood out to me as really talented, except maybe LaQuita (or whatever spelling variation her parents decided on to make her “unique”).

After A.I., Drea tried to get me to watch the latest edition of America’s Next Top Model. Despite the fact that I thought Camille, the black girl who everyone hated, was SUPER DOPE, I just couldn’t watch it. It was just way too much estrogen going on. It was like, even though they are showing these fine girls I couldn’t make myself stomach any more of it. The only thing that would have kept me watching would have been a catfight between Camille and her apparent arch enemy Yoanna.

On a completely different note. I was grooming myself in the mirror yesterday (yes, I actually take SOME interest in how I look before I leave the house) and I noticed that I had NOT JUST one, but a small flock of grey hairs on my scalp. I almost cried ya’ll. Even if my mind has decided not to join it, my body is DEFINITELY aging.

At any rate, let me find some motivation!

…and alot of funny stuff happened….but for the benefit of certain people, for all intents and purposes it NEVER HAPPENED….

…in the past 3 years i’ve been involved in a few “nights that never happened”….the kind of night where shit just goes awry…..like the O’Charley’s incident which never officially happened….or the Outback incident that never really happened….well now there is a Beer Seller incident that never happened….

So today is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. day….as a Morehouse Alum and Atlanta native I am ashamed of myself….I did absolutely nothing to invoke his spirit today other than watch some move called Boycott on HBO and told some MLK related Coming To America jokes on kthxbi (where they’ve reopened registration!!….so come join and watch me be mean to people for no reason!)….it’s just not the same when you can’t watch “Little Boy King” or the service at Ebeneezer Baptist Church which always pre-empts The Price Is Right….speaking of Little Boy King I am now going to have the theme music from that in my head all night long….and only people from Atlanta can relate to that….the best made for TV movie EVAR!!!!!

Sung by Deniece Williams of Silly and Free and Let’s Here It For The Boy fame…”Little Boy Kiiiiiiing….keep to our dreaaaaaam….and don’t you ever, ever, ever let it goooooo…..”….there were more words but I forgot them….

Anyway let me watch people make asses of themselves YET again trying out for American Idol….

So last night, my intentions were to stay here, play on the internet, and basically chill. Things were going smoothly until I got the phone call I knew was coming. I looked at the caller ID and it said Geoff. I picked up the phone and the homie Jonathan also known as Johnson was on the other end telling me how he was only in town til Sunday, and he needed me to come make some of those great drinks I make. After a minute or so of persuasion I was taking a shower and getting ready to head out to Bellevue.

I’m a sucker for peer pressure. If there is an event going on and I’m not passed out or something, it doesn’t take much convincing to get me on board. I should have paid more attention to those ABC Afterschool specials about peer pressure and such. I think this is all of my middle school repression coming out.

Anyway, we got to the party that was our primary destination at about 11:30. There was a HUGE gathering outside of the door. It wasn’t a line in any way, shape, or form. We deebo’d our way up to the front in short order though. The rumor out in the “line” was that the fire marshall decreed that the spot was at capacity. From the outside looking in, it didn’t seem that way, but once we were inside we saw that it was.

There were alot of people there, and it wasn’t the usual suspects. There were many, many beautiful ladies there. As is usually the case, I had a chance to talk to a couple of them. Did I? Of course not. I was talking to a friend this morning seeking her advice on the situation. The biggest thing is that I don’t have any “game”. I fucntion better in an “we’ve known each other for awhile and blah blah blah” situation than in a club spontaneous “lemme see what she’s talking bout” situation. In one of the situations in particular, I really think if given the right opening, “it goes down” to borrow from the O.

Anyway, can’t worry about that right now. I just grilled up a turkey and cheese sammich on my Foreman Grill and poured up a glass of minute maid fruit punch. It’s almost kickoff time! For the record I am going against my week 12 pick of New England and Philly in the Super Bowl. I think New England can beat Peyton and the Colts, but something tells me that Carolina is going to sneak out of Philly with a win. Time will tell.