Gone Fishin!!

So about 17rs ago, my father and godfather decided that I was old enough to go with them on their annual fishing trip to Florida.

I was 11yrs old at the time and was really unsure as to what to expect. Back then all I had heard were old fishing tales that they would tell me about after their 4 day trip.

Stories from how great or bad the fishing was, the weather, the food, the living arrangements etc.....

I remember the first time like it was yesterday. The hotel we stayed at was basically a one level hotel with cinder block being the main building material...The first night I remember the lights being off and i could see light coming through the cracks in the wall from the next room over...but it didnt really matter, because its what fishing is all about.....

I remember the first fish I caught on the first day out...It was a flounder and the biggest fish that i have ever caught at that point in time. From that point on ive been hooked......

This year will be the 17th year in a row that I have gone and it has basically been the last week of october or the next to last week every year....

We goto Suwannee, FL aka middle of nowhere....Cell phones dont work, no gas station, no grocery store....But ive come to love it....

Ive had several experiences that have been sort of right of passages into man hood....Being 16 and driving the SUV through Atlanta on the way back from the trip was an experience, or being 21 and my god father asking me to have a beer with him on the boat one day, or talking about business things with my dad or godfather as I get older.....These are the things that I will never forget....

The times have changed over the years....When i was younger I was ok at fishing, my dad is not good at all (but loves to go) and my godfather was really good....Now at age 28 the captain (same guy since the first time i went down there) looks forward to seeing me walk up his drive way, cause im damn good at fishing now....Its a competition you see, the captain doesnt wanna lose to me, and i dont wanna lose to anyone, so we work hard to catch all we can....So im damn good, my dad still isnt good at all lol and my godfather can still do his thing as well....The hotel with cracks in the walls are now replaced with 3/4 bedrooms houses we rent...Still no cell phone service, no gas stations, no grocery stores....But thats what I love about it, time to get away and tell people ive gone fishin.....

Disconnect between hype and the real world

For those of you that dont know, I coach high school girls basketball at my former high school (A&S). I am around high school kids almost everyday during the school year, and usually once or twice a week during the summer.

I have noticed that kids these days are fixated on money aka "guap" as they call it. When i was in high school i didnt want to have a job. I really didnt care about having money in my pocket like these kids do. When you have basketball players saying they are gonna work during the summer instead of coming to basketball camp, then i know something is going on....I guess money equals power, and to many adults im sure they would agree...whether its the 250k house, or the 5series bmw or whatever it may be.

The sad part is these kids are starting to do whatever it takes to get this money. There was a local story in the news where three guys decided to go and try to rob a known drug dealer out in a "country" area of chattanooga. The drug dealer lived in a trailer on a farm basically. These three guys went to this trailer, but what they didnt realize that is this drug dealer heard them approaching and watched them through his window as they prepared their guns and mask to enter the trailer.

The door opens and the three guys rush into the trailer to only be met by the drug dealer with a shotgun firing rounds. First round strikes the first guy through the door, drops him dead in his tracks.....Second round hits the second guy, he is in critical condition at the hospital, the third guy didnt make it through the door, he turned and ran off....

The first guy through the door, was a 16yr old high school student......

I talked to one of my players dad, who happens to be a lieutenant with the police dept. and is in charge of major crimes. and the told me the details above, because he talked to the drug dealer the next day after the fled from chattanooga, to north GA. The father told me, that the 16yr old was sent through the door first because he was the youngest and most gulable.

Lately I have noticed on facebook, all of these RIP videos being made, and comments getting left by friends of the kid that was killed. They post pictures of the kid holding all this money, putting up gang signs, wearing his gang colors and all....and the comments are like " i dont understand why this happened...etc..etc..etc.."

It makes me sad that these kids dont really put two and two together....I am all for getting money, but you need to understand they ways to go about getting money....Now adays you dont really have to work that hard to make money, you just gotta use your brain a little bit.....

The hype is that if you got a lot of money then you are living the good life and everything is easy, and i use to think the same thing....

The real world is that having "alot of money" sometimes makes people greedy, and will do anything to get more of it...Money becomes a drug that some people cant live without, but like any other drug, money can kill someone or can get you killed....

Like Biggie said, "More money, more problems"

Class Reunion vs. Homecoming

So everynow and then I have my own personal debates in my head, they are way cooler then the presidential debates by the way.....

Just 5min ago this idea popped in my head; I have noticed on facebook lately how excited people are about attending their college homecoming. I see pics from parties, fresh gear, tight sunglasses, tight tees and much more...I also see people talking about how they cant wait until this years homecoming....keyword: this years......

I just experienced my highschool 10yr reunion and to say the least there wasnt that much buzz about it. It was put together pretty bush league style, but i cant complain because i didnt want any part in putting it together, but i digress......The one common theme for the reunion was alcohol though.....That seemed to be what people were interested in doing....Pre-party at my house....alcohol everywhere, people had a great time...formal event, cash bar, event was a waste of time to me, but people were drinking........i digress again....

In my mental debate, i wondered if that once we enter college, where everyone seems to be drinking and the experiences had during those times are what keeps people wanting to come back every year to their homecoming......Is it those memories that make people want to keep coming back....Did the alcohol play apart of this? Would a reunion or homecoming be fun without alcohol?

I am beginning to have another debate in my mind as i write this actually, did i actually want to write this blog about reunion/homecoming experiences or about alcohol?


Im starting to think alcohol....alcohol is a very powerful thing......I drink ( and by drink i mean, not just a beer or glass of wine, drink means make a night out of it) maybe 4-5times a year at most.....The last time i had a beer was the monday after my highschool reunion weekend...i had a beer on my new deck, because my deck is bad ass and i had to enjoy it by myself after everyone was gone.......I have watched alcohol take people and screw their lives up so bad, it makes me scared to have a drink on a daily basis, because i dont want it to grab ahold of me....You see i think "alcoholism" runs in my family....but i dont want to see if it runs in me.......

I

When I fall, I fall hard........

Lets make no bones about it, when i fall i fall hard....

My thing is, if I'm going to pursue someone, and i really mean pursue.....(side note....pursue to me, means that i wanna be your man, I'm not just looking for some booty) then I'm going to pull out all the stops to try (keyword try) to obtain the goal.....Case in point:

1. Lets call this girl "White".....this is basically the only white girl, that i have ever pursued, you see there was something about this girl that i just couldn't get out of my mind....it was junior year of high school, and it was her first year there, we had a class together and i looked forward to that class every day....long story short, we would flirt on the daily, hang together, all that crap you do in high school....well she worked at a pool during the summer, and one of my best friends at the time worked there, so i would go to the pool basically everyday to see her........

long story short, that winter on Christmas eve i sent roses to her house which officially meant i had fallen hard for her....lets not even talk about how much those roses costs, for delivery on Xmas eve, lets talk about how she didn't even say thank-you, thus ending my pursuit of "white"


2. Next is "switch-hitter"...switch hitter is basically the first blk girl i fell in love with,(stuckey told me it was a bad idea) ill keep this one short, i basically did anything she needed, and was just hung up on her for to long of a time and at the end of the day, it turns out she liked girls....moving on


3. Finally is "arch". Arch just appeared in my life one day at my boy Stucks college graduation party. Party at uncle bruces house, me and the boys were first ones there, Heineken was flowing early and often...basically intoxicated before the party really began...Arch appeared with her friend mills, and Arch caught my eye...Normally the drunkenness would allow macking to begin at this moment, but i couldn't make my move.....the night goes one and days pass...i call stuck and say, i wanna talk to arch, he says don't do it, i say hook it up......

phone calls and emails start to exchange, me living in Jacksonville, her in Atlanta and so it begins.....i go to Atlanta, to see arch after about a month of talking, i remember it like it was yesterday.....we go to the restaurant with a big ass fish outside of it in buckhead for our first awkward date....after that dinner, the falling began.....i knew i wanted to be with this girl....many miles driven, many flights taken, vacations in Florida, birthday gifts, Xmas gifts, gifts just because, trips to the city she lived in for me to look for a place to move, because i was ready to be with her.....then a phone call...." i don't want to be with you anymore, and i don't think we should talk anymore......its nothing you did, but its what it needs to be" i remember that phone call like it was yesterday as well...i was driving on kings rd. going to my parents i was by the next to last house on the right when she called.....

My thoughts are this....If your not going to put your all into it, then whats the point? If you do anything half-ass, then that's all the results your going to get...I am sure that I have been taken advantage of, but at the end of the day, that would be something that that person has to live with....I feel someone is going to be lucky to be with me, because when i fall, i fall hard.....