12.29.2004
Running list of objectives for 2005
By this time in 2005, here's where I want to have done.
1. Pay off my credit card debt
1.1. Keep up with readings, do well teaching this history course(s).
1.2. Organize, prepare, and execute the beginnings of some sort of long term financial plan.
2. Travel for leisure, preferably outside of the continental U.S.
2.1. Vacation in South America or Asia (I’m thinking Japan).
2.2. Possibly plan and execute a coup de tat at one of my places of employment.
2.3. Visit friends in Salt Lake City, New York. Albequerque
3. surround myself with more black people that look less like wonderbread and more like multigrain.
4. Help my nephew come up with a plan for his life.
5. Write at least two papers .. working towards getting published again.
6. Maybe start spinning out again… possibly just a monthly residency or something. I already have the name for the party – “Curt’s Ephemeral House Party of Interplanetary Unity, Peace, Harmony, & Love”
7. Pay off that debt.
8. Have a better idea of where I'm going to live for the next 2-5 years.
9. Have a better idea of how I'm going to live for the next 2-5 years.
10. Have researched in depth at least 1 more language I haven't already tackled, to the point where I'm familiar with it both in and out, structure and environment…. And increase my Spanish speaking skills (looks like I’ll have to hang out with more Puerto Rican chicks…. damn….)
11. Have a better system of not procrastinating so I'm more disciplined and have more control over my productivity and ultimately my ability to accomplish good work and goals.
12. To keep in mind always my priorities, and to make sure that the choices I'm making line up with them, even if it makes me uncomfortable in the short term.
holiday vacation wrap up..
Aaahhh, the end of the year… time for reflection, overeating, and slacking off at work…
First of all, my Christmas was pretty good after I finally made it home. Since I’m starting the new j.o.B. I wasn’t sure how much time I would have off or how liberal the leave policy would be so I had to wait until the last minute to buy my plane ticket… At this point, there were no direct tickets available, so I was stuck with a three leg trip into Springfield from Baltimore… Baltimore – Pittsburgh – Chicago – Springfield….. My flights from Baltimore and Pittsburgh were so delayed by the time I got into Chicago around midnight, I had of course missed my connection…
To top it all off, my bag never showed up so I spent the night in Chicago with the same things I had on…. Luckily, I’ve got hoes in Chicago, so it actually was a blessing. The first two flights were sold out, so I didn’t get out of Chicago until around 11 the next day.
Going home at the age of 30 doesn’t allow you the opportunity to just show up and sit on your ass. No matter how hard you try, you end up working and dealing with all of your parents idiosyncrasies that you have some how inherited… although you deny it completely.
For example, on Christmas day I thought I’d go back out to the airport to see if my bag ever showed up (it didn’t), but my dad directed me to get a newspaper on the way back… but he also directed me to the exact gas station he wanted me to buy the newspaper?? As if this gas station gets an extra article or two in THEIR newspapers…
Then there are the bad gifts. I see my parents a few times a year, the rest of my family even less than that. For all they know, I still wear Cross Colours and Z. Cavaricci (don’t front, those tapered MC Hammer jeans w/ 9000 belt buckles were the shit back in the day and you know it!). I told my mother all I really needed was socks and underwear. I didn’t want her to try to buy my clothes or anything so I thought I would be safe.
My mother can’t pick out underwear. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I didn’t think she would mess this one up. 3 of the cotton pairs were cool. But then she also got my 3 pairs of silk boxers. …. That’s right, silk boxers…. I haven’t worn silk boxers since…. High school maybe?? They just allow too much movement, not to mention, the only place you would expect to see them is in the love scene of a 70’s blacksploitation movie. BUT, to make it even worse, one of them had a camouflage print…….. and last but not least, the other pair were royal blue and had a red and yellow superman S on the leg….
Mom…. Where in the hell am I going to wear these??? I don’t know if this is my mother’s way to latch on to some sort of childhood idea of buying me underoos… if she thought she was being funny… or if she genuinely thought I might like them…
My mother also purchased me a laser leveler thingy for hanging pictures. It came in this big ole case and shit. I hang pictures maybe once every 2 years or so?? Did she REALLY think that if I had to hang a picture I would pull out my laser lever and shine some red line all around the room before I start banging holes in the wall? I just don’t get it.
But as crazy as my dad can be, I can always count on him to come through with the best gift. This year, he paid my car insurance…… Big ups to pops on the Christmas gift.
Oh, I found my bag on my way back home. Since I had a layover, I decided to go check on it and in the sea of bags laying out with the other hundreds of bags, there it was… who knows when I would’ve received it if I hadn’t gone and checked for it.
~C
CD of the moment: After Dark NYC – mixed by Jon Cutler & Osunlade
First of all, my Christmas was pretty good after I finally made it home. Since I’m starting the new j.o.B. I wasn’t sure how much time I would have off or how liberal the leave policy would be so I had to wait until the last minute to buy my plane ticket… At this point, there were no direct tickets available, so I was stuck with a three leg trip into Springfield from Baltimore… Baltimore – Pittsburgh – Chicago – Springfield….. My flights from Baltimore and Pittsburgh were so delayed by the time I got into Chicago around midnight, I had of course missed my connection…
To top it all off, my bag never showed up so I spent the night in Chicago with the same things I had on…. Luckily, I’ve got hoes in Chicago, so it actually was a blessing. The first two flights were sold out, so I didn’t get out of Chicago until around 11 the next day.
Going home at the age of 30 doesn’t allow you the opportunity to just show up and sit on your ass. No matter how hard you try, you end up working and dealing with all of your parents idiosyncrasies that you have some how inherited… although you deny it completely.
For example, on Christmas day I thought I’d go back out to the airport to see if my bag ever showed up (it didn’t), but my dad directed me to get a newspaper on the way back… but he also directed me to the exact gas station he wanted me to buy the newspaper?? As if this gas station gets an extra article or two in THEIR newspapers…
Then there are the bad gifts. I see my parents a few times a year, the rest of my family even less than that. For all they know, I still wear Cross Colours and Z. Cavaricci (don’t front, those tapered MC Hammer jeans w/ 9000 belt buckles were the shit back in the day and you know it!). I told my mother all I really needed was socks and underwear. I didn’t want her to try to buy my clothes or anything so I thought I would be safe.
My mother can’t pick out underwear. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I didn’t think she would mess this one up. 3 of the cotton pairs were cool. But then she also got my 3 pairs of silk boxers. …. That’s right, silk boxers…. I haven’t worn silk boxers since…. High school maybe?? They just allow too much movement, not to mention, the only place you would expect to see them is in the love scene of a 70’s blacksploitation movie. BUT, to make it even worse, one of them had a camouflage print…….. and last but not least, the other pair were royal blue and had a red and yellow superman S on the leg….
Mom…. Where in the hell am I going to wear these??? I don’t know if this is my mother’s way to latch on to some sort of childhood idea of buying me underoos… if she thought she was being funny… or if she genuinely thought I might like them…
My mother also purchased me a laser leveler thingy for hanging pictures. It came in this big ole case and shit. I hang pictures maybe once every 2 years or so?? Did she REALLY think that if I had to hang a picture I would pull out my laser lever and shine some red line all around the room before I start banging holes in the wall? I just don’t get it.
But as crazy as my dad can be, I can always count on him to come through with the best gift. This year, he paid my car insurance…… Big ups to pops on the Christmas gift.
Oh, I found my bag on my way back home. Since I had a layover, I decided to go check on it and in the sea of bags laying out with the other hundreds of bags, there it was… who knows when I would’ve received it if I hadn’t gone and checked for it.
~C
CD of the moment: After Dark NYC – mixed by Jon Cutler & Osunlade
12.14.2004
Coolness is being ruined by the machine
So I went to mail a few ‘holiday’ cards today.
First of all, why can’t I say Christmas cards anymore? All this politically correct shit has got to stop… anyway, me being the forward thinking, always have to have the cool shit kinda guy that I am, I find these cool little square Christmas cards that are about 4” X 4”. I also had a few that were regular grocery store sized cards.
As I go to buy stamps for my various sized cards, the post office woman informs me that my cool little 4x4 cards will require an additional 12 cents, thus costing 49 cents instead of the standard 37 cents. I couldn’t believe it! I said, these are half the size and half the weight of these other cards so how can it cost me 12 cents MORE???
She says, “those won’t go through the machine, so they’ll have to be stamped by hand. Therefore, they cost more to send.”
This really pissed me off for so many reasons. As more and more people discover that if you decide to deviate from the ‘norm’ than you shall be punished financially is a terrible, terrible way to have anything in this world operate. It speaks to the warnings in ‘1984’ of the machine age and the monotony that would proliferate society ending in people not even having names, only numbers… no personalities at all, at the very extreme in, not even a persons gender would matter.
On an unrelated note, did you know another new Tupac album came out today??? Yeah, I couldn’t believe it either. Once he becomes completely irrelevant, THAT is when he will return from the ‘dead’.
Something as small as trying to send an innovative shaped card is a big deal. People are very used to receiving the ‘normal shaped’ cards on any number of Hallmark’s numerous created holidays. However, the odd shaped card, with a personal note inside means so much more for so many reasons today, especially because people know that you took the effort to find this particular shape and write something inside…
But that’s not all. NOW, since I have to add an additional 12 cents to each card, that means that I have to add an additional stamp on the front of a card that has no room for an additional stamp. And to make things even worse, there is no 12 cent stamp, so she had me purchase a 10 cent stamp and a 2 cent stamp in addition to the 37 cent stamp that would go on each card!!! I’m looking at her as she’s doing this and I’m looking at my little 4 x 4 cards thinking…. “don’t you see there isn’t room for all these stamps on the front of this card woman??!!!”
I’m looking at her thinking to myself, are you serious??? So now, my whole idea of having these cool little cards with a single cool stamp in the corner is ruined by this haberdash of stamp styles and colors and sizes that clearly don’t look like they belong, clearly are way too many stamps to have on the front of this card, and clearly make me look like a damn idiot for trying to cram 3 stamps onto the front of this tiny ass envelope!!!
Would it be so naïve to think that people that will receive this card from me will have the foresight to look at this, see half of my return address covered in stamps and think to themselves, “Hmm, Curtis clearly did not intend on having to place 3 odd shaped stamps on the front of this envelope when he decided to buy these” OR will they think (most likely) “Why in the fuck does Curtis have so many damn stamps on the front of this tiny ass envelope???!!!”
It’s not my fault man…. It’s not my fault.
~C
CD of the moment: Plant Life - "Return of Jack Splash"
12.03.2004
Questions and Answers from that e-mail forward you all get twice a month
1. What is your full name? Curtis Cleetis Clarence Jenkins Clay III
2. What color pants are you wearing now? I'm wearing hot pants... gotta getin the water..
3. What are you listening to right now? Rainer Truby Trio
live from the BetaLounge.com archives
4. What was the last thing you ate? pussy... I'm always eating pussy.. or if I'm not, I'm thinking about eating it... I dream about eating pussy, sometimes I can see a phat booty and just taste what I think the pussy might taste like.. it's a gift..
5. If you were a crayon what color would you be? If I were a crayon, I'd be pissed off. Living a life being fondled by snotty nosed 4-6 year old kids, and 8-10 year old black kids who got held back because they couldn't color in the damn lines... fuck that..
6. How is the weather right now? surprisingly cold out here in DC.. I hate all this, "oh you're from Chicago, you're not wearing shorts?" man, cold is cold.. I don't give a damn where you're at.
7. Last person you talked to on the phone: no one you know so don't worry about it
8. The first thing you notice about a guy/girl? I'm an ankle guy. I love me some sexy ankle loving. That is that next level ish... I know most people aren't ready... the ankles is where it's at.
9. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Absolutely. Anyone who can appreciate Kobe Beef, House Music, and a good cigar is a-okay in my book.
10. Are you happy today? I'm always happy. Even when I act upset, half ofthe time it is just an act to get what I want... attention or to be left the fuck alone, but I'm generally a happy guy as long as I have good music, good food and sleep.
11. What is your favorite drink? This is a trick question. Just because something is your favorite drink doesn't mean that you drink it all thetime. The key is to understand HOW you define favorite. For example, there was a bottled drink in Jamaica I drank non-stop that is a mix of beer and Kola Champagne (sort of a bubble-gum soda). That shit is loverly, probably my favorite drink, but I haven't had it in like 10 years, but I can still taste it if I try hard enough.
13. Favorite Sports: College Basketball is where it's at. But I'd like to say Jai-Alai just to fuck with niggas to add to that "damn he's so cultural" tag people use when they don't know what in the fuck you're talking about.
14. Hair color: I'd love to see blonde pubes. Even when I dated a blond, the pubes weren't blonde... I don't get it... oh, did this mean my haircolor? yeah, um... black.
15. Eye color: Hazel.. y'all know I got dem dere pretty eyes..
16. Do you wear contacts? No, although a woman made me bang the back of my head 10 times because she was convinced contacts would pop out of my eyes.
17. Siblings: Siblings will fuck your life up. See previous chronicles for proof. The thing is that you can't do anything about them. Getting mad don't do you shit. Telling them what you think don't do shit, so you end up just not giving a fuck and letting them do whatever the hell they want to do because you realize after a period of time that there is no other alternative.
18. Favorite month: Who has time to hate on the other 11 months? I love all the months... now give me gifts.
19. Favorite food: I love seafood... all kinds, even Red Lobster
20. Last movie you watched: Underworld, which although good, wasn't as good as the person who made me watch it claimed it was going to be. You would've thought I'd be jumping up and down screaming "Hercules! Hercules!" but it didn't quite go down like that. It was tight though.
21. Favorite day(s) of the year: payday
22. Are you too shy to ask someone out: I used to have game, but not anymore. I'm convinced the ex put some mumbo jumbo voo doo on me or something because I just don't have it anymore. I was out the other night talking to these two girls, everything is going well and then at the first pause in the conversation I was like, "okay, I'll see you two later!"......... I walked away like, "wtf was that Curtis??" but I got ass, so it's not a problem.
23. Summer or Winter: I prefer the 4-5 month period that occurs between thecurrent 1 month summers and winters.
24. Hugs or Kisses: hugs.... cuz you know Imma grab that booty!
25. Chocolate or Vanilla: vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup
26. Do you want your friends to write back: not really... I can't even believe I did this shit.
27. Who is most likely to respond: My cousin who has probably already forwarded this to me twice already but I no longer look at her e-mails because they're all say the same thing. "God is great, be thankful you have all your arms unlike this poor kid in zimbabwe with an alcoholic mother. nowforward this to 10 people OR YOU'RE GONNA DIE!!!! GONNA DIE I SAY!!!!"
28. Who is least likely to respond: If you don't YOU'RE GONNA DIE!!!! GONNADIE!!!! If you don't forward to 314 people within the next 15 minutes YOU'RE GONNA DIE!!!! GONNA DIE A SLOW AND PAINFUL DEATH!!!
29. What's under your bed? since I'm in transition right now and am sleeping on an air mattress, I have carpet under my plastic bed right now, under that is probaby a 1/2" layer of carpet padding and under that is probably a 3/4" layer of plywood
30. Favorite Board Game: I hate board games, I hate that I like playing board games too. It makes me feel so... so...honey-find-something-to-keep-the-guests-and-their-kids-happy-ish
31. What did you do last night? it would be impossible to sum this up into a quick witty response because I did so much that could easily go unnoticed throughout the course of the night. for example, I was looking at the moon and I was trying to figure out where the sun was in relationship to the earth and it really troubled me... so I just kept smoking cigarettes, sitting outside until I could figure it out.... stupid shit... that's the kind of shit you do when you're high, and I don't even smoke like that..
32. Favorite Smells: Hyacinth
33. Can you touch your nose with your tongue? why the hell would I want to? Who knows where in the hell my nose has been.
34. What inspires you? innovative music, great buildings, great bodies, great head, you know, stuff like that.
35. Favorite flower: Flowers huh? Orchids are pretty much the shit, but stargazer lillies would have to be a close second... the hoes love the stargazers.
36. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up in the morning?"Whew! My breath is kicking!"
2. What color pants are you wearing now? I'm wearing hot pants... gotta getin the water..
3. What are you listening to right now? Rainer Truby Trio
live from the BetaLounge.com archives
4. What was the last thing you ate? pussy... I'm always eating pussy.. or if I'm not, I'm thinking about eating it... I dream about eating pussy, sometimes I can see a phat booty and just taste what I think the pussy might taste like.. it's a gift..
5. If you were a crayon what color would you be? If I were a crayon, I'd be pissed off. Living a life being fondled by snotty nosed 4-6 year old kids, and 8-10 year old black kids who got held back because they couldn't color in the damn lines... fuck that..
6. How is the weather right now? surprisingly cold out here in DC.. I hate all this, "oh you're from Chicago, you're not wearing shorts?" man, cold is cold.. I don't give a damn where you're at.
7. Last person you talked to on the phone: no one you know so don't worry about it
8. The first thing you notice about a guy/girl? I'm an ankle guy. I love me some sexy ankle loving. That is that next level ish... I know most people aren't ready... the ankles is where it's at.
9. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Absolutely. Anyone who can appreciate Kobe Beef, House Music, and a good cigar is a-okay in my book.
10. Are you happy today? I'm always happy. Even when I act upset, half ofthe time it is just an act to get what I want... attention or to be left the fuck alone, but I'm generally a happy guy as long as I have good music, good food and sleep.
11. What is your favorite drink? This is a trick question. Just because something is your favorite drink doesn't mean that you drink it all thetime. The key is to understand HOW you define favorite. For example, there was a bottled drink in Jamaica I drank non-stop that is a mix of beer and Kola Champagne (sort of a bubble-gum soda). That shit is loverly, probably my favorite drink, but I haven't had it in like 10 years, but I can still taste it if I try hard enough.
13. Favorite Sports: College Basketball is where it's at. But I'd like to say Jai-Alai just to fuck with niggas to add to that "damn he's so cultural" tag people use when they don't know what in the fuck you're talking about.
14. Hair color: I'd love to see blonde pubes. Even when I dated a blond, the pubes weren't blonde... I don't get it... oh, did this mean my haircolor? yeah, um... black.
15. Eye color: Hazel.. y'all know I got dem dere pretty eyes..
16. Do you wear contacts? No, although a woman made me bang the back of my head 10 times because she was convinced contacts would pop out of my eyes.
17. Siblings: Siblings will fuck your life up. See previous chronicles for proof. The thing is that you can't do anything about them. Getting mad don't do you shit. Telling them what you think don't do shit, so you end up just not giving a fuck and letting them do whatever the hell they want to do because you realize after a period of time that there is no other alternative.
18. Favorite month: Who has time to hate on the other 11 months? I love all the months... now give me gifts.
19. Favorite food: I love seafood... all kinds, even Red Lobster
20. Last movie you watched: Underworld, which although good, wasn't as good as the person who made me watch it claimed it was going to be. You would've thought I'd be jumping up and down screaming "Hercules! Hercules!" but it didn't quite go down like that. It was tight though.
21. Favorite day(s) of the year: payday
22. Are you too shy to ask someone out: I used to have game, but not anymore. I'm convinced the ex put some mumbo jumbo voo doo on me or something because I just don't have it anymore. I was out the other night talking to these two girls, everything is going well and then at the first pause in the conversation I was like, "okay, I'll see you two later!"......... I walked away like, "wtf was that Curtis??" but I got ass, so it's not a problem.
23. Summer or Winter: I prefer the 4-5 month period that occurs between thecurrent 1 month summers and winters.
24. Hugs or Kisses: hugs.... cuz you know Imma grab that booty!
25. Chocolate or Vanilla: vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup
26. Do you want your friends to write back: not really... I can't even believe I did this shit.
27. Who is most likely to respond: My cousin who has probably already forwarded this to me twice already but I no longer look at her e-mails because they're all say the same thing. "God is great, be thankful you have all your arms unlike this poor kid in zimbabwe with an alcoholic mother. nowforward this to 10 people OR YOU'RE GONNA DIE!!!! GONNA DIE I SAY!!!!"
28. Who is least likely to respond: If you don't YOU'RE GONNA DIE!!!! GONNADIE!!!! If you don't forward to 314 people within the next 15 minutes YOU'RE GONNA DIE!!!! GONNA DIE A SLOW AND PAINFUL DEATH!!!
29. What's under your bed? since I'm in transition right now and am sleeping on an air mattress, I have carpet under my plastic bed right now, under that is probaby a 1/2" layer of carpet padding and under that is probably a 3/4" layer of plywood
30. Favorite Board Game: I hate board games, I hate that I like playing board games too. It makes me feel so... so...honey-find-something-to-keep-the-guests-and-their-kids-happy-ish
31. What did you do last night? it would be impossible to sum this up into a quick witty response because I did so much that could easily go unnoticed throughout the course of the night. for example, I was looking at the moon and I was trying to figure out where the sun was in relationship to the earth and it really troubled me... so I just kept smoking cigarettes, sitting outside until I could figure it out.... stupid shit... that's the kind of shit you do when you're high, and I don't even smoke like that..
32. Favorite Smells: Hyacinth
33. Can you touch your nose with your tongue? why the hell would I want to? Who knows where in the hell my nose has been.
34. What inspires you? innovative music, great buildings, great bodies, great head, you know, stuff like that.
35. Favorite flower: Flowers huh? Orchids are pretty much the shit, but stargazer lillies would have to be a close second... the hoes love the stargazers.
36. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up in the morning?"Whew! My breath is kicking!"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)