T Diddy :: Your Friendly Black Dentist

I understand what a crack junky goes through on a daily basis. To no fault of there own, except for the day they put the pipe to there lips, there actions are under complete control of the sweet calling of the substance. Crack calls the sucker no matter what they are doing, speaking with, or if they are sleeping. The calling is strong enough to make the best crack the 2nd best crack. I have a similiar addiction. My problem is baseball stats. Every minute from the first game of the day, I look at box scores to see how my boys are doing. I get upset when my stud is 2-2 and then does not get a hit to go 3-3. It is a sickness where you always want more than you got. I tried my best to fight the feeling of playing fantasy baseball, but the calling was too strong. It sucked me in. Last year, I had an escape and I did not have to do it as I was away from the source. This year, I was roped into playing by so called friend. Reyes, put the pipe to my lips and everyday he tempted me with fantasy talk. Knowing that I could resist, he continued until I cracked, puckered my lips, and inhaled. Now, I sit here on the most boring of days satisfied and high as a kite. If all friend were as good as Reyes and crack was as good as fantasy baseball, then life would be grand.

Do you remember what the whistles do?

Woo Woo!!

Living in New York is unlike any experience. Living here is not easy, but it is one of the best things I have done as a person to continue to grow. Besides the mental and spiritual benefits of such an experience are the simple benefits that you really do not think of. A major one is that you do not have to own a car in the city. With a car you have maintenance worries, worries of people denting your, gas and insurance payments, and the annoyance of washing it every week or two. I will be the first to tell you that this is a great thing. However, there is one downside. This is the simple fact that the road trips are limited. Dating to the times I was a toddler, I remember road trips my family used to take. At the end of a road trip is usually something good. For instance, normally you go on vacation, go to see family, or go celebrate the holidays with loved ones. A road trip almost always leads to good times.

I do not want to overlook the road trip itself. This is where most of the fun and good times are had. While jamming to CDs in the small confines of the compartment, you easily engage in conversation about all sorts of issues and topics. Also, easy quietness can be heard which is not unsettling to say the least. In fact, it may be some of the most comforting silence in the world. Of course, there are times when you blast the CD, bob your head to the beats as you sing your worst rendition of Mary J. Blige. Then when things get to a whole other level, you begin to make your own rhymes to the beat of the intro of that one jam that puts a kink in you neck. This is only half the fun of the road trip. There is more fun as you make planed and unplanned stops or variances from the path. Along they way, you may choose to stop off in a city to see a friend for while or go to the burger joint that you know is good. One great road trip that stands out is a trip I took with Katie, Amanda, and Dez down to San Diego for Memorial Day 1999. The total trip was about 12 hours as we drove down the California Coast, stopping off to see my family and Amanda's. It was what defines road trips. Surprisingly, I survived the trip with 3 women. Although, I learned my lesson to never let a woman give me directions again (just messing Katie). Great, but an annoying feature of a road trip is that one person who has to stop and pee every hour. It is so annoying, but when you step back and look at it, all you can do is shake your head and laugh. It also serves as a great excuse to get snacks and Carl's Jr. Onion rings. I can go on for days about great road trips. There are the multiple trips to Tahoe, San Diego, and Phoenix that makes me smile.

Yes, having a car in NYC is great, but it also means that I am missing out on one of the best experiences of life that I really enjoy. When I an finished in NYC, you can bet that I will be living in a place where I will be able to own a car and take road trips. Only then, I will be sure that it is not in the 2 door Rabbit.

An amazing phenomenon happens to a 270 pound black man when he can only eat smoothies, mashed potatoes, oatmeal, and yogurt for 2 months. This is that he loses weight faster than Carl Lewis can finish the 100 m dash. The past 2 months this has been my diet because I cannot eat solid foods. When I feel like gourmet and to fix my taste of Mexican food, I warm up refried beans, add some Tostito nacho cheese and add some grated yellow cheese. I am able to tongue mash this into my system. After 3 weeks, people I know started to make comments about how much weight I have lost. I thought okay, what ever, this is normal and at least I still have my "Big Man" intimidation factor. However, the tone has completely changed the past week. I now am hearing, "Taj is sure looking slender!". "Wow, you lost a lot of weight. I can tell in your face." I am not sure that I like this. I really am losing my edge as a big guy. Now people are looking at me as some skinny black guy. This is not cool. I need my edge as I walk down the street. This is now gone as I now where size 36 waist pants for the first time since probably I was a freshman in college. If I wanted to, I could squeeze into size 34. The only good thing out of this is that I can now save money and wash my cloths at home on the washboard abs. These will be even more defined because I have another 4 weeks of this diet. I think I will write a book about how to diet. "A big bald black mans guide to losing 30 pounds in 6 weeks."