I am siced young. I finally completed all of my continuing education
(CE) requirements for my insurance license, which means all I have to
deal with now are fees and what not. Instead of fighting to get into
work, travelling down slippery back roads, I opted to stay home and take
care of this thing that had been weighing me down. I can now look to
get back into the creative mindset that I had been building the weeks
prior to having to switch gears to handle my CE requirements. I don't
know what I was thinking getting licensed for both mortgage origination
and life insurance so close together, but the drain on the pockets is no
joke, man, trust. Don't necessarily plan to write a bunch of insurance
as of right now, but I do want the license ready and active should the
opportunity arrive.

Anyway, my hope is to get back to the screenplay I had picked back up
before the end of last year, and fiddle with that a bit. Hopefully, if
my tax return is nice enough (fingers crossed), I can cop a G5 Mac Pro
and start the graphic novel I finally decided I was going to dedicate
the majority of my time to. I have four in different phases (all
relatively early), and three are directly related to each other. I
decided to go with one over the others because I can see the story from
the ground and an aerial view the best, which should make it the easiest
to tackle. But, if the tax return ain't right, I will use the money
pretty much to offset different expenses I incur(red). Either way, it's
a win-win scenario for me. Busy weekend coming up for the kid, what are
you getting into?

This weekend looks like it's going to be busy work galore...bbut if I handle it accordingly/properly, I'll be able to get back to the art. Need to lock up this license situation (insurance). I almost regret not taking the easy way out, but I really did want to learn something totally new, so now I have to tough it out, which is cool. Good info to store away in the grey matter, but good Lord it's boring. Also, looks like I may have a couple f small freelance jawns to work on. Small, so those are ironically the ones you kinda have to psyche yurself up for, because they can feel trivial at times and/or they typically pay little. Oh, if you haven't heard, Circuit City started liquidating all of their inventory last Saturday, so head on over and see if you can get a good deal on something you've been holding out for. Most likely, the good stuff (if they ever had it; the one nearest me is pretty lame) is already gone...but you might find a gem. Who knows, right? I'ma check up on box sets and software, stuff like that. Anywho...ya'll be blessed.
One!

Man, I am really trying to stay ahead of things as much as possible.
Not always so easy, but I am trying. I already took care of my mortgage
license issues, so I'm good on that. However, I am kinda pushing the
envelope when it comes to my insurance license. I did this online
course that was 8 credit hours...so, I'm thinking it shouldn't take more
than 8 hours, right? Wrong! That bad boy had like 200 hundred
different screens. I started Friday (I think), and I didn't knock it
out until Tuesday. Granted I wasn't doing it all at once, that's
ridiculous. I passed the online exam, though. Problem is, I was ji'
fried after the first course, so I didn't fare as well on the second
continuing education exam. The course wasn't nearly as long, but the
way it was broken up kinda sucked. Where the first one was broken up
too much and repetitious, the second one wasn't broken up enough. I
could have taken the easy route and done what I already knew, but I
wanted to learn something new, so I'll arrange to retake the exam...I'll
just need to take two or three hours to really comb through the course
again first. I finished the first test in like 10 minutes or less, too.
I just wasn't mentally focused on the second.

Aside from that, I got tot kick it with a couple folks I hadn't really
kicked it with in a minute, one being oh, I don't know, 8 years. High
school friend, lost contact, facebook, reconnected, hooked back up,
everything's copasetic. I didn't get a lot of sleep this weekend, so
I'm dog tired right now. But, I am happy as I don't know what about
yesterday's inauguration and subsequent festivities. Which raises the
question, would it have been all of that fan fare had McCain won? I
mean, I highly doubt BET would have been holding any events.

I watched from like 8 something in the morning until like 4 something
when one of my homegirl's came through for a sec with her cousin.
Chopped it up with them for a second, then I got right back into the
inaugural events. Don't know why FAMU got to march so early and
Howard's Showtime band had to wait so long. Can't hate on the Showtime
band like that, that's bad form. Anyway, I'm happy it's official, and I
look forward to seeing what our new president aka "That Guy" brings to
the table. I know he has a whole lot of expectation heaped on his
shoulders, but I also think that the way he carries himself will give
him a better opportunity and higher likelihood that he'll fulfill more
promises than his predecessors. It still feels a bit surreal, but I'm
feeling how people are genuinely enthused.

Hopefully I'll get some sleep, been up way too late the last few days,
and it's finally caught up with me.

I will holla later, back to the j-o
1ne.
sLeepy

Cough drops and hot tea
Feels like this cold wants to stay
Praying it will pass

Haven't been sick in well over three years. Can't even remember the last time I was sick. Messed around and didn't set my thermostat at the right temperature (so it would come on every so often to keep the pad warm), which meant I was knocked out sweating underneath a hot comforter in a butt-ass cold room...completely unaware. I could have slept the entire night like that, had I night had I not gotten up to call my homie (who I thought was on the west coast) to wish her a happy birthday. I was all wrong with her birthday, too...but it's good I was. I was flirting with pneumonia the way I was sweating...just have a bit of throat and a runny nose. Hopefully that's as far as it goes.

----------------
Now playing: Walter Hawkins - Be Grateful

Well, today marks the first entry of 2009 and the first time this journal has gone by a new name other than "Soliloquies of the Socially Retarded...".

So ant way, Christmas break was cool. It allowed me to get some things in perspective and let some things go. Christmas day sucked actually, but it was cool to see ma dukes and papa step the following day. Even cooler still (dare I say) was getting back to the creative side of myself. It's been like 3 years since I've really felt a creative vibe. Not trying to get over excited, but I think this is going to be a tremedously positive year.

I caught some bad breaks last year, but those same bad breaks allowed me to realize that I'm blessed and help me reacquire focus. On top of that, most of what was lost can be regained over time, I'm at peace with it either way.

Saw this flick I had read or heard about (can't really remember) a while back with Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson. Was a good flick. It was good because it was well executed, but also because it made me uncomfortable because I didn't know which way the movie was going. As someone who tends to figure out the plot twist before it's delivered, that's a good look.

Overall, I got a chance to rest, create and spend time with family. Great way to end the year an start the next. So, although I really don't get into resolutions*, mine is implementation. That simply means that I need to not sit around and rest on my laurels while I have a good idea and do nothing with it. Nope. I will be writing more (pro)actively, drawing out concepts and pushing to be heard and seen. I've been in neutral for three years, now is the time to start making moves. Quite frankly I'm tired of the 9- 5 lifestyle. I'm thankful for a job (especially in this market), but I need to better leverage my personal time. Less distractions and more productivity, y'dig?

*Now as far as resolutions, I don't really get into them because I feel if someone is really serious about making a change, they shouldn't wait for January 1st to do so. If you want to quit smoking, why wait to New Years when New Years is X months and X days away? My thing is: change what you can as soon as you can, and let God handle the rest.