keeping up with jones

first & foremost: forgive me for the randomness of this blog.

@chocolatedawl facebook status: It's amazing how someone can break your heart, but you still love them with all the little pieces.

and i guess she couldn't be any more real. though most of my life has been about being the suspect & not the victim - i have been broken once & those pieces still managed to act out without my permission. feel me? RIGHT ON, @chocolatedawl.

and so i'm building right now.
i figure we should treat relationships like homes we're building from the ground up.
it's all about a solid foundation & great support.
(i mean really - we need to apply this to ourselves as well. build a solid foundation for self, and don't worry about the doors until the whole house is built perfectly - or close)
LET OTHERS IN.
feel me?

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side note: black folks need to go to the theater more. the real theater - not the minstrel shows they tend to call theater from time to time. something with real acting. cooning is NOT acting.

and i was thinking of buying my first p-coat. "look at his p-coat - tell me he broke" -kanye.

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H.L Mencken wrote: every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats.

what did he mean by that? as a writer/poet/etc... i've learned not to take shxt for face value. but i think i will here.
every so often, we (the extraordinary) need to be ready to put in the work that makes us sweat. the work that requires casualties. Not literally - but the loss of a friend or a loved on. (in my case - my friends & loved ones are hard to tell apart).

so i'm spiiting in my hands, Mencken & i'm planting the flag into the concrete. this throat slitting part will prove difficult. not because i'm afraid to kill but because i have too many people on the list. (not physically killing anyone, snitches)


the list:

-my 9th grade english teacher: fxck you for attempting to put a limit on my writing.
-The skinny male guidance counselor for keeping most of my friends in our hometown by telling them they'd have a better chance applying to a vocational school.
-my friends who can't figure out that their thoughts control their actions and their situations will always be the same as long as their thoughts are what they are.
-those who wake up every morning to the sound of an alarm clock so they can focus on nothing except another man's dreams.

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and the birthday is over. the work must begin. the hustle i speak of often.
-yesterday i was hired on as a freelance writer with LA's Splash Magazine.
-saturday i have an audition for a film.
all days between are filled with lunches, brunches oscar-nominated short film viewings, wine tastings, liquor tours, kardashians, lees and hopefully a bit of sun.


a month ago i signed my first author - daven oglesby (@soulcypher) & today his first book of poetry hit the streets hard.
get your copy today.
by the way: i'm signing 2-5 more authors by may. get on board and be heard!


today a girl said it pisses her off when people work 2 or more jobs HARD and are barely getting by. living paycheck to paycheck - but she sees people who barely do anything traveling the world, buying expensive things....
naw - she wasn't talking about me - but i did want to respond with the cliche:

you can do anything you put your mind to.

spring is around the corner & my inbox & blackberry calendar reminds me of my grandmother's purse: full & heavy.

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side note: talking to my little brother @thekaptainkirk - it may be a safe move for drake to disappear from young money and beg jay to pick him up. he'll be ruined by 2011.5 (yes, .5)

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and i wanted to take a picture similar to bob's. i'm working on it though:



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dear heartbroken people:

use those shattered pieces of heart you've pushed under your bed to make a weapon and stab the shxt outta whoever made you as foolish as you've become. then cry a rive - build a bridge and get over it.

and while i'm on the subject: stop putting down the opposite sex because YOU made the decision to date some fool.

follow: @mswoods03

(and please learn from my photo above how to do the "n-word please" expression.

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take these words to heart:

"It has been said, 'time heals all wounds.' I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone."
— Rose Kennedy

i've had this strange relationship with life for the last 25+ years & we're finally coming to an understanding. i keep the bullshxt out of her way & she keeps her bullshxt to a minimum. and i'm fine with that.

fact: diagnosed with ataraxia in 2003. (google)

the me i am not is the best me i can be. right? yes. and yesterday i had an epiphany (is that the word i'm looking for? yeah, why not) about friendship - and it went something like: we need to learn the character of our friends - that way their actions and thoughts never surprise or disappoint us - unless they step outside of that character

that make sense?
"i play dumb, homie. but never been a fool." - plies.

so - those who keep up with jones know that my birthday was two days ago. and what a great day that way.
the last few hours of the 16th found me in a mexican restaurant drinking pitchers of margaritas and talking to tyleesa(our waitress from the bronx) about what hood name she'd be giving her baby. don't worry, i tipped her well for the insults.

the 17th (actual birthday) i found myself country hopping - chasing the sun west to gain three extra hours of celebration. and i finally landed in los angeles. i was nervous for a second because it seemed the land of beautiful people had become the land of muffin tops & too-small shirts. but beyond the airport - everything seemed to work out.

and after the $.25cent wings and rum buckets at big wangs & the 10oz prime rib, british pudding, mashed potatoes and gravy and creme brulee at lawry's steak house - i decided to make the rest of black history month my birthday. so i cruised through beverly hills, spoke to a few models who remembered my name from my last stint here & decided to get in touch with all the old gang.

my days and nights look like brunches - lunches and lounges.
although life moves slow here - it's kinda close to COOL.






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real quick: i just wanna say GOOD MORNING/AFTERNOON to the 3 people who are determined to make it when the millions before them didn't.

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and yesterday I got a great haircut that i paid $30 for. and it would have been worth it had he actually cut a lot off. he only lined me up and talked about the basketball game. but it's cool. i mean - i look good.
well, in real life i could grow a wolfman and wear a trash bag and still look good - but this haircut did something for me.

a haircut can take a man's self esteem from 1 to 12 in 35 minutes.

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does the need for HBCU's still exist?
being a graduate of the ONLY HBCU founded by a black woman - it saddens me to say the need doesn't exist.
however, i deeply believe the purpose does, therefore i push for them. i would love to sit and discuss this with both sides.

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side note: hate is not the opposite of love. indifference is.

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and right now, it's 11:00am and I'm sitting on the couch, listening to the construction taking place in the world outside this window & thinking about hitting the gym.


and i know you love reading my blog and shxt but i feel i must bring it to an end. okay? that cool? cool!
but how should i end this.

oh wait:

happy birthday to nancy smiziff (@sunyblack) - with her old, punk a**. (i can say that, you cannot)

now i can end this and get this day started.

follow me on twitter so you can keep up with my life: @skinnyjeanius

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damn - before i pressed 'publish now' to publish the blog, @jefro5 hit me up and asked if i wanted to go to denny's. so of course i went. and i'm not sure if i blogged about it or not - but i was supposed to be giving up beef for good. but damnit, the last few weeks have served me so much steak - and i just got in from denny's and i had the tbone and egg meal.

"t-bone steak - cheese eggs & welch's grape" - biggie.

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side note: i need tickets to the image awards and oscar after party invitations NOW.
if you have some - or wanna get on the grind with me to search for them, get at me asap.

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so i end this blog with this:

"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.
This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." - frederick douglass (1857)