I promise that I won't write a 20 page dissertation on what love is. I'll leave that to philosophers, semantic scientist, poets. Though I may be all of the above at one time or the other I won't be that now. My journey on the water allowed me to realize that I had to travel light. I had to let a lot of things go. In doing that I was offered a greater clarity than I had in the past. What is interesting is that a lot of epic journies happen because of Love. While I was taking my journey I started to see why the Bible states that God is Love. That statement is often made without a context. It appears only twice in the Bible. One of the verses is:
"Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love." [1 John 4:8 ]
ALLAH is recorded as saying at one point that he loves those that love him. I had enough time to realize what was the thing bothering me that I had to deal with. I had equated my capacity to love with the success or non success of a particular relationship. My capacity to love though is infinite. Those who don't tap into that won't know me. I can't make a person know me. If you don't do what is necessary to know me you can't love me.
While on the sea a wise Queen made Knowledge Born to me that Love is love. It is one's birthrite. It isn't something that you should have to work for. While contemplating that I realized that love is right here. So on that journey I did come upf with a few jewels.
Love detects and manifests beauty. In that Hebrew (not Greek) acronym for God (Gomer Oz Dubar) the principle that is said to stand for beauty, Dubar, etymologically is rooted in perfection. It is beautiful because it is perfect. I am beautiful because of my perfection ie my ability to correct error.
Love is dynamic and not static.
I found a few beautiful things that I was loving on this journey
*Uprocking on the pier with the taino twins Alicia and Alexandro
*Performing poetry at the Blue Parrot open mic and getting that poetry bug back in my life
*Listening to Cuban Jazz on the top deck at midnight
*Rolling up in that sea side joint and getting to play stand up bass with the house band
*Running to Shelter so to get in one hour
All good stuff.
Peace
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Monday, April 9, 2007
Sea Shack
Peace,
The jewel is shelter.
I grew up in single room apartments when little. When we moved to New Haven we graduated to a beautiful rented house that we lived in on the 'other sides of the tracks'. You know..back when you didn't realize that you were growing up in the ghetto. I than saw the science of how my parents were able to plan and move from that point to another part of town where they than became owners of a house.
When I got on the boat one of the things that I resolved was to get that credit right so that I could become a home owner. I owe a lot of my reflections on credit to Daanish Allah and Allah Jihad. Ironically it was while on the boat that I was revealing in the whole notion of non attachment. I have always traveled a lot while growing up. The church we were in caused us to spend weekends and several months during the summer in different states all of the time. I actually enjoyed it. While on the boat I started to see how, though I grew up rooted in one place, maybe I was meant to be a world traveler. I lived in a boat shack and was okay with that.
There is really nothing except the feeling of Freedom when you are moving on the ocean and feeling your boat shift, the wind, new ports of call. It is incredible. When I got back home I started to cut out a lot of my material attachments because frankly, I didn't really need them.
I haven't come to a decision as to exactly if I will get rooted in one spot yet I do know now that I will have to have the capacity to travel.
Peace
The jewel is shelter.
I grew up in single room apartments when little. When we moved to New Haven we graduated to a beautiful rented house that we lived in on the 'other sides of the tracks'. You know..back when you didn't realize that you were growing up in the ghetto. I than saw the science of how my parents were able to plan and move from that point to another part of town where they than became owners of a house.
When I got on the boat one of the things that I resolved was to get that credit right so that I could become a home owner. I owe a lot of my reflections on credit to Daanish Allah and Allah Jihad. Ironically it was while on the boat that I was revealing in the whole notion of non attachment. I have always traveled a lot while growing up. The church we were in caused us to spend weekends and several months during the summer in different states all of the time. I actually enjoyed it. While on the boat I started to see how, though I grew up rooted in one place, maybe I was meant to be a world traveler. I lived in a boat shack and was okay with that.
There is really nothing except the feeling of Freedom when you are moving on the ocean and feeling your boat shift, the wind, new ports of call. It is incredible. When I got back home I started to cut out a lot of my material attachments because frankly, I didn't really need them.
I haven't come to a decision as to exactly if I will get rooted in one spot yet I do know now that I will have to have the capacity to travel.
Peace
Monday, March 26, 2007
Zoot Suit Riot
Peace,
The jewel is clothing.
Clothing is how you cover yourself up. Traditionally it was done with an eye on the elements, an eye on cultural standards, and an eye on style. I say traditionally cause nowadays a lot of people got it all mixed up. They wear shorts in the winter and fur coats in the summer. I wrote about it in an essay that I wrote entitled “Regal Garments.”:
Clothing historically was first a means to protect one’s physical body against the elements. The functionality of the clothing was in keeping one cool, war, dry, etc… In time we also realized that it was a means of adornment and a means to communicate various concepts and ideas. The marriage of both concepts took hold in most ancient societies. When you examine the TRADITIONAL garb of aboriginal people worldwide you will see that it meets both criteria.
It was interesting not being focused on clothing while on the boat to a ridiculous degree. We were working practically sun up to sun down and we had uniforms. So this is how we related to each other on the daily. There was one (uni) standard (form). It was interesting to see how the passengers also related to those employees.
I had these funky min checkered black and white pants that I had to wear. I swear I was going to remix them, bring them back to New Haven, and start a post 2000 new Zoot suit craze. That might result though in a Zoot suit riot and another Battle of Chavez Ravine
When on shore leave in Chelsea New York I got up with a few Gods. It was amazing. We were all just in 'normal' gear compared to most of the people in Chelsea yet it was definitely a case of us being the piece of steel with magnetic in it. It was hilarious because 'wealthy' guys were working to holla at original women while we would just ask for the time and than ask them to step into a spot for a slice of pizza with them while they were drinking a Tartini. Guess who they rolled with. Clothes aren't necessarily magnetic, the man is.
Peace
The jewel is clothing.
Clothing is how you cover yourself up. Traditionally it was done with an eye on the elements, an eye on cultural standards, and an eye on style. I say traditionally cause nowadays a lot of people got it all mixed up. They wear shorts in the winter and fur coats in the summer. I wrote about it in an essay that I wrote entitled “Regal Garments.”:
Clothing historically was first a means to protect one’s physical body against the elements. The functionality of the clothing was in keeping one cool, war, dry, etc… In time we also realized that it was a means of adornment and a means to communicate various concepts and ideas. The marriage of both concepts took hold in most ancient societies. When you examine the TRADITIONAL garb of aboriginal people worldwide you will see that it meets both criteria.
It was interesting not being focused on clothing while on the boat to a ridiculous degree. We were working practically sun up to sun down and we had uniforms. So this is how we related to each other on the daily. There was one (uni) standard (form). It was interesting to see how the passengers also related to those employees.
I had these funky min checkered black and white pants that I had to wear. I swear I was going to remix them, bring them back to New Haven, and start a post 2000 new Zoot suit craze. That might result though in a Zoot suit riot and another Battle of Chavez Ravine
When on shore leave in Chelsea New York I got up with a few Gods. It was amazing. We were all just in 'normal' gear compared to most of the people in Chelsea yet it was definitely a case of us being the piece of steel with magnetic in it. It was hilarious because 'wealthy' guys were working to holla at original women while we would just ask for the time and than ask them to step into a spot for a slice of pizza with them while they were drinking a Tartini. Guess who they rolled with. Clothes aren't necessarily magnetic, the man is.
Peace
Monday, March 5, 2007
Sea Gumbo
Peace,
The jewel is Food.
Food is basically concentrated solar energy that one intakes to power the body. Some of us get it direct via vegetables and fruits. Others of us get it as it is encased in animal meats. I was working in a kitchen on the high seas. Of course I was going to learn a lot of stuff about food.
First off, what was fresh was that the head cook was a vegetarian so I always got a good meal. Even though the passengers wanted their buttered sea scavengers and deep fried meats I was guaranteed that I was going to have a nutritious meal each and every day. He was a gourmet chef so I had the pleasure of trying some ill vegetarian dishes that I never even thought of. The second chef was muslim so he had some ill halal dishes also without meat. I learned a lot back there.
I already knew the science on sea scavengers/bottom feeders yet working in that kitchen just reinforced it. I mean the cooks had to clean shit off shrimp, soak clams and mussels in bleach water, shuck those damn lobsters, etc. That stuff is just the pork of the sea and if you don’t eat pork yet try to explain away those sea scavengers then you are just shamin.
While traveling up and down the coast I soaked in a lot of the culinary science that the cooks had to offer. It was ill because they didn’t just cook food. As part of their training they had to know the history of food, the cultures that certain dishes arose in, culinary customs, etc.
I learned that along with the colonial expansion of Europe into New England there was a Victorian fascination with China that was going on. Therefore a lot of the dishes that are still served aboard nautical cruises up and down the east coast are mixtures of Chinese food with native nation food. I learned about preparation of using various squashes, corns, beans, bamboo hearts, mandarin oranges, etc
Also, I realized something that should’ve been common sense to recognize. Cooks and drug dealers run in the same circles a lot of times due to the fact that a lot of drugs come from plant foundations. I also learned how to make a lot of foods like ‘those’ such as bhang, cannabutter, and green dragon. It was definitely an experience.
On this one spot down the Hudson river we ran across a Ginseng festival (no lie). It was ill. I learned about the complexity of botanical medicine, the history of the ginseng trade, etc. And had a host of ginseng in various forms and types available to me. I also just got into the habit of chewing mint. Fresh mint is just right. Pick some up instead of that gum.
The jewel is Food.
Food is basically concentrated solar energy that one intakes to power the body. Some of us get it direct via vegetables and fruits. Others of us get it as it is encased in animal meats. I was working in a kitchen on the high seas. Of course I was going to learn a lot of stuff about food.
First off, what was fresh was that the head cook was a vegetarian so I always got a good meal. Even though the passengers wanted their buttered sea scavengers and deep fried meats I was guaranteed that I was going to have a nutritious meal each and every day. He was a gourmet chef so I had the pleasure of trying some ill vegetarian dishes that I never even thought of. The second chef was muslim so he had some ill halal dishes also without meat. I learned a lot back there.
I already knew the science on sea scavengers/bottom feeders yet working in that kitchen just reinforced it. I mean the cooks had to clean shit off shrimp, soak clams and mussels in bleach water, shuck those damn lobsters, etc. That stuff is just the pork of the sea and if you don’t eat pork yet try to explain away those sea scavengers then you are just shamin.
While traveling up and down the coast I soaked in a lot of the culinary science that the cooks had to offer. It was ill because they didn’t just cook food. As part of their training they had to know the history of food, the cultures that certain dishes arose in, culinary customs, etc.
I learned that along with the colonial expansion of Europe into New England there was a Victorian fascination with China that was going on. Therefore a lot of the dishes that are still served aboard nautical cruises up and down the east coast are mixtures of Chinese food with native nation food. I learned about preparation of using various squashes, corns, beans, bamboo hearts, mandarin oranges, etc
Also, I realized something that should’ve been common sense to recognize. Cooks and drug dealers run in the same circles a lot of times due to the fact that a lot of drugs come from plant foundations. I also learned how to make a lot of foods like ‘those’ such as bhang, cannabutter, and green dragon. It was definitely an experience.
On this one spot down the Hudson river we ran across a Ginseng festival (no lie). It was ill. I learned about the complexity of botanical medicine, the history of the ginseng trade, etc. And had a host of ginseng in various forms and types available to me. I also just got into the habit of chewing mint. Fresh mint is just right. Pick some up instead of that gum.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Keeping your cookies down, learning how to walk tightropes....
This jewel is Equality.
Equilibrium is a crazy thing. Sea sickness is all about your equilibrium being off. It makes you dizzy, sick to the stomach, unable to focus. Now if your physical equilibrium can being off can mess you up like that imagine what your emotional, mental, social, etc equilibirium being off will do to you. It will kcuf you up that’s what it’ll do. When you mental equilibrium is off you are likely to get physically sick and depressed. When your physical equilibrium is off you are likely to be sluggish in your thinking and making a lot of wrong choices.
Working on the boat you can’t help but to think of balance. You are on a craft rocking back and forth on water, cutting waves, and breezing past the surf. Mentally you want to be on the Middle Path, Golden Path, Middle Pillar. Physically you want to be on rocking a
proper food pyramid , physically sound tone for frame, etc.
Being on the ship made me think of moderation and my own father a lot. He’s in his 80’s, gets around, and is physically/mentally sharp. I notice that he keeps a nice center in terms of emotional, mental and physical extremes. He also does what he needs to do in order to upkeep all of those 3 points. It’s all about not overextending oneself. I had to learn the lesson on the boat because it is a mistake that I had made a lot on land. Over extension will sap your resources without renewal. It will weaken you. It also sets many to take advantage of you where they never develop their own strengths. We want for others what we want for our self yet the proper way to bring this about is to teach them to fish instead of giving up the whole fish reserves.
Being thrown into a whole new environment I was learning how to function. I also observed my whole learning process so that when I returned to the land I could learn it all over again. The environment on the boat was challenging at times. I got bleach burns from the chemicals, I found out that racism was on the down low all over the boat, I craved the sunlight at all times being that my quarters had no natural light.
BTW….if you when you don’t have Equality in your life you end up as a candidate for Iniquity (in-equality). Don’t die in your own iniquity.
After developing the crazy hardness on my hands from cleaning I came across this article.
What I Like in a Man: Sandpaper Hands
By Erica Beeney
November 2006, Volume 146, Issue 5
Esquire
Maybe my bias from growing up in Colorado. One late spring, my friend Dave took me up into the mountains on a road I was never able to find again. We stood on the riverbank and blew up the patched gray raft together. We climbed on, and the world sped up and closed in—nothing but trout-colored water, white spray, and my heart beating in my mouth. Then we hit the rock. I got dumped over the side and lost a fingernail while fighting to shore. My teeth chattered as I blubbered and sucked my blood. Dave knew just what to do. He struck a match on his palm to start a fire. His hands were as rough as sandpaper, hardened by calluses—the kind of hands that could save you.
A smooth hand is nothing to be proud of. Calluses tell a story: a weekend spent repairing fence posts, replacing the oil filter on the Triumph, tacking across the harbor in a hard wind. Calluses are the proof of doing something that was hard enough to do that it made scars. And unlike tans and white teeth, calluses can't be faked. A free climb up the face of El Capitan leaves blisters; watching someone else do it on the Discovery Channel doesn't.
When did we start believing that life wasn't supposed to leave marks? I don't want my man's hands to remind me of my little brother's. I want them to be strong and maybe even a little bit scary. I want them to be the kind of hands you don't say no to. If your hand makes me picture you sweating, I picture sweating with you. (I'm blushing now; a pause as I fan myself gently.) So spit on those palms, rub them together, and get to work. Leave some skin behind on an ax handle. Make your fingers bleed on that guitar you haven't picked up since college. Then grab a girl. You'll have her at the first touch.
Equilibrium is a crazy thing. Sea sickness is all about your equilibrium being off. It makes you dizzy, sick to the stomach, unable to focus. Now if your physical equilibrium can being off can mess you up like that imagine what your emotional, mental, social, etc equilibirium being off will do to you. It will kcuf you up that’s what it’ll do. When you mental equilibrium is off you are likely to get physically sick and depressed. When your physical equilibrium is off you are likely to be sluggish in your thinking and making a lot of wrong choices.
Working on the boat you can’t help but to think of balance. You are on a craft rocking back and forth on water, cutting waves, and breezing past the surf. Mentally you want to be on the Middle Path, Golden Path, Middle Pillar. Physically you want to be on rocking a
proper food pyramid , physically sound tone for frame, etc.
Being on the ship made me think of moderation and my own father a lot. He’s in his 80’s, gets around, and is physically/mentally sharp. I notice that he keeps a nice center in terms of emotional, mental and physical extremes. He also does what he needs to do in order to upkeep all of those 3 points. It’s all about not overextending oneself. I had to learn the lesson on the boat because it is a mistake that I had made a lot on land. Over extension will sap your resources without renewal. It will weaken you. It also sets many to take advantage of you where they never develop their own strengths. We want for others what we want for our self yet the proper way to bring this about is to teach them to fish instead of giving up the whole fish reserves.
Being thrown into a whole new environment I was learning how to function. I also observed my whole learning process so that when I returned to the land I could learn it all over again. The environment on the boat was challenging at times. I got bleach burns from the chemicals, I found out that racism was on the down low all over the boat, I craved the sunlight at all times being that my quarters had no natural light.
BTW….if you when you don’t have Equality in your life you end up as a candidate for Iniquity (in-equality). Don’t die in your own iniquity.
After developing the crazy hardness on my hands from cleaning I came across this article.
What I Like in a Man: Sandpaper Hands
By Erica Beeney
November 2006, Volume 146, Issue 5
Esquire
Maybe my bias from growing up in Colorado. One late spring, my friend Dave took me up into the mountains on a road I was never able to find again. We stood on the riverbank and blew up the patched gray raft together. We climbed on, and the world sped up and closed in—nothing but trout-colored water, white spray, and my heart beating in my mouth. Then we hit the rock. I got dumped over the side and lost a fingernail while fighting to shore. My teeth chattered as I blubbered and sucked my blood. Dave knew just what to do. He struck a match on his palm to start a fire. His hands were as rough as sandpaper, hardened by calluses—the kind of hands that could save you.
A smooth hand is nothing to be proud of. Calluses tell a story: a weekend spent repairing fence posts, replacing the oil filter on the Triumph, tacking across the harbor in a hard wind. Calluses are the proof of doing something that was hard enough to do that it made scars. And unlike tans and white teeth, calluses can't be faked. A free climb up the face of El Capitan leaves blisters; watching someone else do it on the Discovery Channel doesn't.
When did we start believing that life wasn't supposed to leave marks? I don't want my man's hands to remind me of my little brother's. I want them to be strong and maybe even a little bit scary. I want them to be the kind of hands you don't say no to. If your hand makes me picture you sweating, I picture sweating with you. (I'm blushing now; a pause as I fan myself gently.) So spit on those palms, rub them together, and get to work. Leave some skin behind on an ax handle. Make your fingers bleed on that guitar you haven't picked up since college. Then grab a girl. You'll have her at the first touch.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Smack me and I'll smack you back
The Jewel is Justice
I have been in club fights yet a bar fight at an old dock saloon is another thing.
And most muthjumpers out there just don’t have any hand skills. I’ll get to that later
though.
Most time we hear the word ‘justice’ in the context of a criminal being sentenced. If they get the type of punishment that we thought was appropriate then ‘justice’ was served. So we are often only seeing ‘justice’ as a punishment. Justice though is not just a penalty. It is also a reward. It is a measurement on how well you paid attention to your surroundings. Each penalty or reward will not be the same for each person. If my son went and took some money out of my wallet trust, he will get punished. Yet his punishment will be NOTHING compared to the unrelenting ass whooping that I will give an adult that dips in my stash! Being aware of my situation, weighing what I want out of life, and tallying up my resources I resolved on the boat to get the reward out there that had been waiting for me for so long.
Judge not, that ye be not judged.
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again
St. Matthew 7:1-2
People be taking the ‘you shouldn’t judge anybody to heart.’ (and yes NON-religious people this verse is the source of you saying ‘people shouldn’t judge anybody.’). People judge people all of the time. When you choose which of your friends to ‘hang out with’ you have made a JUDGEMENT CALL. When you decide that you aren’t going to go out on a date with a certain person that is a JUDGEMENT CALL. When you say, I don’t agree with x, y, or z that is a JUDGEMENT CALL. It’s the other part of the verse that people don’t digest. I judge people all of the time..so what. If I don’t like something about you I don’t want you around my son..catch feelings if you have to. And often time when people get upset about the people whom I made judgement calls on they come back to me later cause they had to go through a funked up lesson to find out WHAT I TOLD THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE. Take the second part of the verse,”,,,,,,,,,” It just means that what you call someone out on you’ll be called out on if you get caught doing it. So if you are saying don’t eat pork don’t go and get caught with some bacon in your mouth. So yeah I judge AND I accept that people judge me cause I KNOW what the verdict will be.
And my judgement on some of my shipmates is that they were drunken bastards who just didn’t have any hand skills. Yet they would get into fights. You know the type who always use that tired excuse “you should have my back no matter what.” WTF?? No YOU should use your intelligence and not get into f*cked up situations all of the time. Sometimes YOU are the one who is wrong and you need to take that ‘beating’ so that you will start using your damn brain. Take responsibilities for YOUR actions AND take the penalty.
I also see how port cities are just like the ‘other side of the railroad track.’ All of the ‘outcasts of society’ seemed to make their way down to the docks. I had to constantly remind a lot of the crew who went to drink on land that they didn’t want to become a bad episode of Law and Order. The ‘dregs’ of society up in the bar and here I was with some starry eyed kids who just wanted to get drunk.
As another aside a port city is a trading post. It allows a lot of different types of peoples to come together and interact and barter. It allows for lawful exchange and unlawful exchange. Now at one port I saw the BIGGEST rat that I’ve ever seen. I mean, I’ve been to some parts of NYC where they had ‘fat rats’ who definitely needed to be on Jenny Craig. Yet this rat looked like it was walking up in Starbucks and drinking quarts of mocha, loca, frapalapas. Believe me when I say that it looked like a small dog. The sound it made was like a small pony wheezing (yes…I know what that sounds like…another story).
I mostly kept to myself while on board. I was there for different reasons then the majority of the crew. Sometimes though I would journey with them to shore and relax in a pup. Now those whom grew up in the inner city or are familiar on any level with the general ‘art of war’ know that there are somethings that you automatically do when you enter in an unfamiliar place. You do the knowledge to the exits, you position yourself so that you can see the entrance, you position yourself so that no one can sneak up behind you, you don’t get drunk, etc. When we walked into this particular bar I was like…damn. I mean it would be no thing if I was in there with my boys yet this placed smelled like trouble. What was ‘funny’ though was that the crew was just clueless. The only dude whom trusted under these conditions was the 2nd chef whom was this black muslim dude (Kareem PEACE) whom I rolled with. He was near my age and was also from CT. Most importantly he had common sense. Now amongst the others whom we were rolling with was this one dude from some backwater town in Maine who couldn’t hold his liquor, the metro undercover dude that I talked about in my last post, a confused Spanish lush lady, and a dude from FL who we all didn’t like because he was just damn lazy.
Drunk Maine dude started to try to kick it to some dudette in the bar. Dummy didn’t realize that her boyfriend had just went to the bathroom. From there it was on. All I saw was a bottle crack the back of his head and him being stunned that he was bleeding. Before he got cracked by another me and Kareem were working to move them out of the bar…stupid skcuf wanted to stay and fight. So we were literally in the middle of the two groups; pushing one group out the door while trading blows with the other group. Fortunately the dumb shipmates started to run back to the ship because Kareem and myself were nice yet we didn’t know what else that they had. Knives and chains are so ‘out of style’ and I haven’t yet mastered the art of catching a bullet. They were respecting though the steel arms and puppy dog walk techniques. And I am sure that I performed dentist routines on more then one of them. When we got back to the boat I told them that next time I would let justice be served. Needless to say, they watched their steps in regards to bars from then on in.
I have been in club fights yet a bar fight at an old dock saloon is another thing.
And most muthjumpers out there just don’t have any hand skills. I’ll get to that later
though.
Most time we hear the word ‘justice’ in the context of a criminal being sentenced. If they get the type of punishment that we thought was appropriate then ‘justice’ was served. So we are often only seeing ‘justice’ as a punishment. Justice though is not just a penalty. It is also a reward. It is a measurement on how well you paid attention to your surroundings. Each penalty or reward will not be the same for each person. If my son went and took some money out of my wallet trust, he will get punished. Yet his punishment will be NOTHING compared to the unrelenting ass whooping that I will give an adult that dips in my stash! Being aware of my situation, weighing what I want out of life, and tallying up my resources I resolved on the boat to get the reward out there that had been waiting for me for so long.
Judge not, that ye be not judged.
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again
St. Matthew 7:1-2
People be taking the ‘you shouldn’t judge anybody to heart.’ (and yes NON-religious people this verse is the source of you saying ‘people shouldn’t judge anybody.’). People judge people all of the time. When you choose which of your friends to ‘hang out with’ you have made a JUDGEMENT CALL. When you decide that you aren’t going to go out on a date with a certain person that is a JUDGEMENT CALL. When you say, I don’t agree with x, y, or z that is a JUDGEMENT CALL. It’s the other part of the verse that people don’t digest. I judge people all of the time..so what. If I don’t like something about you I don’t want you around my son..catch feelings if you have to. And often time when people get upset about the people whom I made judgement calls on they come back to me later cause they had to go through a funked up lesson to find out WHAT I TOLD THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE. Take the second part of the verse,”,,,,,,,,,” It just means that what you call someone out on you’ll be called out on if you get caught doing it. So if you are saying don’t eat pork don’t go and get caught with some bacon in your mouth. So yeah I judge AND I accept that people judge me cause I KNOW what the verdict will be.
And my judgement on some of my shipmates is that they were drunken bastards who just didn’t have any hand skills. Yet they would get into fights. You know the type who always use that tired excuse “you should have my back no matter what.” WTF?? No YOU should use your intelligence and not get into f*cked up situations all of the time. Sometimes YOU are the one who is wrong and you need to take that ‘beating’ so that you will start using your damn brain. Take responsibilities for YOUR actions AND take the penalty.
I also see how port cities are just like the ‘other side of the railroad track.’ All of the ‘outcasts of society’ seemed to make their way down to the docks. I had to constantly remind a lot of the crew who went to drink on land that they didn’t want to become a bad episode of Law and Order. The ‘dregs’ of society up in the bar and here I was with some starry eyed kids who just wanted to get drunk.
As another aside a port city is a trading post. It allows a lot of different types of peoples to come together and interact and barter. It allows for lawful exchange and unlawful exchange. Now at one port I saw the BIGGEST rat that I’ve ever seen. I mean, I’ve been to some parts of NYC where they had ‘fat rats’ who definitely needed to be on Jenny Craig. Yet this rat looked like it was walking up in Starbucks and drinking quarts of mocha, loca, frapalapas. Believe me when I say that it looked like a small dog. The sound it made was like a small pony wheezing (yes…I know what that sounds like…another story).
I mostly kept to myself while on board. I was there for different reasons then the majority of the crew. Sometimes though I would journey with them to shore and relax in a pup. Now those whom grew up in the inner city or are familiar on any level with the general ‘art of war’ know that there are somethings that you automatically do when you enter in an unfamiliar place. You do the knowledge to the exits, you position yourself so that you can see the entrance, you position yourself so that no one can sneak up behind you, you don’t get drunk, etc. When we walked into this particular bar I was like…damn. I mean it would be no thing if I was in there with my boys yet this placed smelled like trouble. What was ‘funny’ though was that the crew was just clueless. The only dude whom trusted under these conditions was the 2nd chef whom was this black muslim dude (Kareem PEACE) whom I rolled with. He was near my age and was also from CT. Most importantly he had common sense. Now amongst the others whom we were rolling with was this one dude from some backwater town in Maine who couldn’t hold his liquor, the metro undercover dude that I talked about in my last post, a confused Spanish lush lady, and a dude from FL who we all didn’t like because he was just damn lazy.
Drunk Maine dude started to try to kick it to some dudette in the bar. Dummy didn’t realize that her boyfriend had just went to the bathroom. From there it was on. All I saw was a bottle crack the back of his head and him being stunned that he was bleeding. Before he got cracked by another me and Kareem were working to move them out of the bar…stupid skcuf wanted to stay and fight. So we were literally in the middle of the two groups; pushing one group out the door while trading blows with the other group. Fortunately the dumb shipmates started to run back to the ship because Kareem and myself were nice yet we didn’t know what else that they had. Knives and chains are so ‘out of style’ and I haven’t yet mastered the art of catching a bullet. They were respecting though the steel arms and puppy dog walk techniques. And I am sure that I performed dentist routines on more then one of them. When we got back to the boat I told them that next time I would let justice be served. Needless to say, they watched their steps in regards to bars from then on in.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Running Away
Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitude.
That’s because people have a messed up view on what freedom is. They ‘think’ that freedom just means that they can do what they want to do outside of rules (standards) and regulations (maintenance routines). That ain’t freedom because half the times they end up just doing what the majority of the society is doing. They ‘think’ they are free yet when you look at their record they end up doing what every one else is doing.
What they are really doing is called caprice. Caprice is an impulsive seemingly unmotivated (having no rational foundation) notion or action. It is unpredictable or sudden change or series of changes. To deal with freedom you have to be a freethinker. This means that one is using reason and rational enquiry. If you are ‘scared’ to have your ideas challenged, get emotional when the Truth is pointed out, or for some reason think you have to ‘go through’ something to understand it then you aren’t a freethinker.
You can’t run away from problems. You can’t ignore issues. That is mental debris that one has to, sooner or later, deal with. So let me be clear…..
Getting on the boat wasn’t freedom. Working through problems and issues was the Freedom. In the context of the 12 jewels Freedom is between Understanding and Justice. You have to comprehend what your issues are in order to free your mental dome. When this is done the PROOF is that you will receive a great reward. If you are receiving penalties guess what..you ain’t dealing with Freedom.
Some want a ‘quick rub on the genii bottle’ solution to all of their woes. They neglect to even consider that a lot of their situations came about through years, months, and days of neglect. So instead of changing their bad habits they just keep getting into a pattern of looking after an elusive ‘quick fix.’
In order to clear up debt they look for fast money (fast money->fast life->the ugly side of life) instead of proper planning. In order to deal with their weight issue they get the latest diet book instead of getting off the fast food and eating the right foods.
A big part of Freedom is just letting go of things that weigh you down. I got to do a lot of that on the seas because frankly there wasn’t that much time to be worrying about things that were at a distance. I also got to learn a lot of things to help with providing physical freedom (i.e. stress free living) to my body.
What up Jenny La La..lol. Jenny was an Inuit from Quebec. She was working on the cruise. At first I entered on the boat with an immense amount of stress locked into my body. Also, when learning how to utilize certain machines on the boat I was locking more stress into my body. Jenny showed me an ill acupressure technique that involved utilizing small pebbles to remove stress from key pressure points on the body. At the same time she reminded me of the pranayama techniques that I had ‘put to the side.’ The boat was the perfect spot to reorient myself with these techniques. The routine allowed me to basically ‘program’ them into my daily operations again. That’s freedom of the physical body.
JoeJoe, was another indigenous brother on the boat. By the way we started our tour in Maine. I was surprised by the amount of aboriginal peoples in Maine. By speaking with them during short landings and Building with those on board I found out that a lot of the Native nations just retreated into the wild where the colonizers were afraid to go. They survived until the present day. In fact I was surprised by the number of islands off the coast of Maine and along the routes that we traveled. It was literally like 1000 islands. JoeJoe is Algonquin. I built with him a lot. He taught me a lot about just general wilderness survival. He showed me which flowers were edible, how one could chew on bark to extract water if one couldn’t find a clean source and he taught me how if you boil poison ivy you could eat it (the toxin is in the oily residue). That’s how one can move free on land.
There were also people on the boat that were in mad denial. There was this one ‘dude’ who was massively “metro”. He was trying to be a lady’s man on the boat. It was quite humorous to watch him try to ‘do his thing.’ Anyway, we were docked one night in NYC on the Chelsea side. Everyone basically went out that night. When we all came back we just sat up in the dining room talking. He went on to state how he was followed by a gay guy from a corner store. He couldn’t understand why the guy picked him to follow and hit on. Then he followed that story by telling us that he bought a watch pair from Times Square. It was a man and woman pair. He then said…and I quote..”I don’t care I’ll wear either one.” Dude you ain’t metrosexual you’re just gay…get over it. Free yourself from that lie, dude. You are not a lady’s man.
Regarding the statue of liberty (Freedom)
The black press championed the French-American project; and African Americans contributed to the pedestal fund, participated in the public celebrations for it’s unveiling in New York City and conducted their own. Blacks were among the immigrants whose first sight of the United States was the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. In the early 20th century, African Americans died because of the perverse appropriation of the statue’s symbolism by white racists. They were targeted by and responded to the government’s Liberty bond campaign during World War I.
How many of y’all remember the movies or read 1001 nights and the story of Sinbad the Sailor? It’s about a man finding his way in that world through the freedom of sea voyage.
Our tour took us from north (Maine) to south (FL). Within the 3 months I traveled from Maine to S.C. We were on the Hudson River about a month. When we would finish our week tours during the Hudson River excursions we would dock in NYC and always come by the Statue of Liberty. Coming into NYC during these times was like ‘freedom’ for a lot of the other ship mates who came from ‘small towns.’ I’m like…hey y’all…that’s just caprice. Just like all of those people partying on the Hooters II ( a boat in dock in Martha’s Vineyard) when I came on board during one of our nights off I got to party on that boat. It was a whole host of spoiled rich brats (yeah I said it). They had no clue on how I could have fun and yet still rock a lot of control. It’s because I was free. Not a slave to anything.
That’s because people have a messed up view on what freedom is. They ‘think’ that freedom just means that they can do what they want to do outside of rules (standards) and regulations (maintenance routines). That ain’t freedom because half the times they end up just doing what the majority of the society is doing. They ‘think’ they are free yet when you look at their record they end up doing what every one else is doing.
What they are really doing is called caprice. Caprice is an impulsive seemingly unmotivated (having no rational foundation) notion or action. It is unpredictable or sudden change or series of changes. To deal with freedom you have to be a freethinker. This means that one is using reason and rational enquiry. If you are ‘scared’ to have your ideas challenged, get emotional when the Truth is pointed out, or for some reason think you have to ‘go through’ something to understand it then you aren’t a freethinker.
You can’t run away from problems. You can’t ignore issues. That is mental debris that one has to, sooner or later, deal with. So let me be clear…..
Getting on the boat wasn’t freedom. Working through problems and issues was the Freedom. In the context of the 12 jewels Freedom is between Understanding and Justice. You have to comprehend what your issues are in order to free your mental dome. When this is done the PROOF is that you will receive a great reward. If you are receiving penalties guess what..you ain’t dealing with Freedom.
Some want a ‘quick rub on the genii bottle’ solution to all of their woes. They neglect to even consider that a lot of their situations came about through years, months, and days of neglect. So instead of changing their bad habits they just keep getting into a pattern of looking after an elusive ‘quick fix.’
In order to clear up debt they look for fast money (fast money->fast life->the ugly side of life) instead of proper planning. In order to deal with their weight issue they get the latest diet book instead of getting off the fast food and eating the right foods.
A big part of Freedom is just letting go of things that weigh you down. I got to do a lot of that on the seas because frankly there wasn’t that much time to be worrying about things that were at a distance. I also got to learn a lot of things to help with providing physical freedom (i.e. stress free living) to my body.
What up Jenny La La..lol. Jenny was an Inuit from Quebec. She was working on the cruise. At first I entered on the boat with an immense amount of stress locked into my body. Also, when learning how to utilize certain machines on the boat I was locking more stress into my body. Jenny showed me an ill acupressure technique that involved utilizing small pebbles to remove stress from key pressure points on the body. At the same time she reminded me of the pranayama techniques that I had ‘put to the side.’ The boat was the perfect spot to reorient myself with these techniques. The routine allowed me to basically ‘program’ them into my daily operations again. That’s freedom of the physical body.
JoeJoe, was another indigenous brother on the boat. By the way we started our tour in Maine. I was surprised by the amount of aboriginal peoples in Maine. By speaking with them during short landings and Building with those on board I found out that a lot of the Native nations just retreated into the wild where the colonizers were afraid to go. They survived until the present day. In fact I was surprised by the number of islands off the coast of Maine and along the routes that we traveled. It was literally like 1000 islands. JoeJoe is Algonquin. I built with him a lot. He taught me a lot about just general wilderness survival. He showed me which flowers were edible, how one could chew on bark to extract water if one couldn’t find a clean source and he taught me how if you boil poison ivy you could eat it (the toxin is in the oily residue). That’s how one can move free on land.
There were also people on the boat that were in mad denial. There was this one ‘dude’ who was massively “metro”. He was trying to be a lady’s man on the boat. It was quite humorous to watch him try to ‘do his thing.’ Anyway, we were docked one night in NYC on the Chelsea side. Everyone basically went out that night. When we all came back we just sat up in the dining room talking. He went on to state how he was followed by a gay guy from a corner store. He couldn’t understand why the guy picked him to follow and hit on. Then he followed that story by telling us that he bought a watch pair from Times Square. It was a man and woman pair. He then said…and I quote..”I don’t care I’ll wear either one.” Dude you ain’t metrosexual you’re just gay…get over it. Free yourself from that lie, dude. You are not a lady’s man.
Regarding the statue of liberty (Freedom)
The black press championed the French-American project; and African Americans contributed to the pedestal fund, participated in the public celebrations for it’s unveiling in New York City and conducted their own. Blacks were among the immigrants whose first sight of the United States was the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. In the early 20th century, African Americans died because of the perverse appropriation of the statue’s symbolism by white racists. They were targeted by and responded to the government’s Liberty bond campaign during World War I.
How many of y’all remember the movies or read 1001 nights and the story of Sinbad the Sailor? It’s about a man finding his way in that world through the freedom of sea voyage.
Our tour took us from north (Maine) to south (FL). Within the 3 months I traveled from Maine to S.C. We were on the Hudson River about a month. When we would finish our week tours during the Hudson River excursions we would dock in NYC and always come by the Statue of Liberty. Coming into NYC during these times was like ‘freedom’ for a lot of the other ship mates who came from ‘small towns.’ I’m like…hey y’all…that’s just caprice. Just like all of those people partying on the Hooters II ( a boat in dock in Martha’s Vineyard) when I came on board during one of our nights off I got to party on that boat. It was a whole host of spoiled rich brats (yeah I said it). They had no clue on how I could have fun and yet still rock a lot of control. It’s because I was free. Not a slave to anything.
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