T Diddy :: Your Friendly Black Dentist

Whenever you put your blood, sweat and tears into, you want some kind of reward. Whether it comes in the form of recognition, validation, or a simple "Thank you" is a matter of personal taste. For example, if Mark creates a masterpiece of an ad, without a doubt of my mind, he would not only want to be nominated for an advertising award, but also, he would want to win it. The award would validate his hard work a level of self assurance of his passion would be realized. After all, we all work for more than just money. At least I would like to think so.

My recent validation comes with a class. The past 5 1/2 months, I took the most demanding class any medical school could offer - Pathology. Pathology is the study of diseases. Well, because I am a dentist, I not only have to learn about general and systemic issues with the body, I also have to learn about oral complications and presentations with their correlations to the overall body. Needless to say, the class was very demanding. However, just because it was demanding does not meant that it was not interesting. Pathology, by a landslide, was the best class I have ever taken. It was very interesting as each lecture captivated the mind with abnormalities with photos to offer proof.

I worked hard. My head was down. I did not really speak to anybody. I did not see my wife until about 10 pm every night. These months were demanding.

The past 2 months, my focus has always been to learn the material. I did not want to focus on grades. One, grades are not important at this stage of my career. Two, if I know that if I take care of business and learn the material, the grade will follow. This class was different. Although I just wanted to pass the class because I did not want to be held back 1 year, this time, I wanted that "A". I took the class as a challenge and made that my goal.

Just yesterday, I learned my fate. I am hear to proclaim that I am the man, the new "Slaven" if you will, on this block. It is time for this school to recognize that they have a true player and somebody who knows how to rock it. They are not dealing with any man, black man, or fool for Paso. They are dealing with a man on a mission. They have a man who does not stress out like 95% of the other students when it comes to learning material. They have this man, who marked that "A" on that transcript. This is the kind of man they are dealing with. Yes, I am happy.

Today we are going back to Lancaster. Tracy's sister is coming over from Princeton, NJ with my little niece and nephew. We will take this short drive in order to enjoy the shopping, farmers market and the food. The farmers market is one of the best that I have ever seen. This will be a great day. Not only will I have great company, but my mind will not be full of school work like the last time.

We are also babysitting my nephew Christopher. Well, I should say Tracy is. He is about 5 months and I do not know what to do. This is all Tracy. She is really good with kids as she helped raise a few of her sisters kids. It will be fun. He is a good kid and does not seem to cry that much. It will be only for one night because after church tomorrow, we will take him back to grandma.

Overall, I am getting my grove back. I am starting to enjoy this thing called life.

I recently incorporated yoga into my training program. One reason is that my body cannot take running 3 miles 4 times per week. Second, running 4 times per week is boring even if I throw 30 minutes of swimming on top. Third, I told my wife I would do it with her. Well, yoga is hard. I moan, I groan, and complain through the whole session. I do not have the strength or flexibility to successfully complete a 45 minute workout. The movements take a lot out you. I will stick with it and see my body improve. After 2 workouts, I am a believer. The new program is 2 days of running and swimming and then 2 days of yoga. This should keep me healthy.

I am tired of everybody having events that require a gift. When is it a rule that gifts are given for house warming. Or when somebody graduates or buys a new home. For every event in life, we are invited to give a gift. I lost count of the number of gifts that I have to give in the next few months. I have graduations, house warming, kids, birthdays, father day, and an anniversary. I still owe Noah and Katie a wedding gift. I really want to say no more gifts from the Haynes family. However, from the depth of my heart, I do enjoy being a grateful and cheerful giver.

Thank God I did not watch the NBA finals. It sounds worse than I could have even imagined. The media is tearing it apart and the fans even stopped watching. The Finals received the lowest ratings in its history. I am not surprised. In fact, it is good riddance. The NBA product is terrible. They have overpaid players that lack the integrity, dedication, and professionalism to go with their supreme athletic ability. And that is exactly the issue. It is all athletic ability. These players have no skill. What they do have is the ability to wiggle their shoulders in the camera lens (during a game) after they do a dunk that only scores 2 points. This act is tiring. The NBA caused this themselves and deserves the low ratings. The have a little dictator for a commish, the rules are ridiculous and tailored for misfits, there are too many teams, and the players are young and immature. The NBA is terrible. Oh how I wish we can turn it back to the 80s when basketball was basketball.

Speaking of sports. They need to end pregame, halftime, and post-game interviews. The questions are all the same and the athletes give the same typical answer. And when they do not, the media jumps down their back with dispariging remarks and analysis. Moreover, who cares what a 22 year old punk has to say about their sport. They act like basketball or football is so important. I know that if you pull aside 95% of the players and try to have a intelligent conversation about the political debates, you would be disappointed because outside of their sport, they are dumb as door nails. If you think I am lying, call up Eddie George and try. I say that fool on my honeymoon and all that fool can do is talk about football. It is sad that he is a bed of rocks. Tracy and I were laughing.

I am tired of people doing dumb things. Think before you act or speak. Please know that there are ramifications for your actions. Do not complain about what happens or try to blame other when you sowed your own seed. Take the responsibility.

I am tired of this lazy young generation. They have a sense of entitlement without working for anything. Just because you graduate from school or your daddy gave you everything does not mean you are ready be a marketing director immediately. There are lessons and skills that must be learned. Experience is the only way to obtain these skills. Work hard and be patient.

Why do people who are divorced or have bad marriages try to give married couple advice? If I wanted your advice, I would ask. However, I do not because I do not want to end up like you.

Why are the people in Philadelphia not intelligent?

Why do we have less friends as we age than we do growing up? On top of that, even your good close friends, you lose contact with. When you call, they don't return calls (even after 4 months). Or they may text you a message after screening your call. By the way, those types of texts suck. Don't say hello to me after 4 months of silence by a text. The only person I know outside of school is my wife.

When you know the future is bright, but not exactly sure how it will look like is faith. Faith is what keeps us living knowing that tomorrow will bring great things. I am not talking financially.

Finally, why is it now 2:13 am and I am writing this. I should be in bed sleeping. Especially the long day I had. I was tired at 10 and I still could not sleep. So, here I am typing away about nothing.

Tomorrow I have my first real day in the clinic where I begin working with real people. It is a training session, but I still will be practicing impressions and shots with my partner. Finally, the day has come.

One of the things in this world that I emotionally struggle with is the fact that I have not attended weddings that I wanted to. From 2002 to the present, I have missed many of my good friends weddings. This is primarily due to the fact that I am between blessings. The finances did not always agree with my hearts desire to attend. Money was so tight at one point, I could not even buy gifts for my friends. The past 2 years have improved greatly, but the authorities at dental school make it difficult to make plans or even take time off. It is hard to explain since many people do not experience this curriculum, but basically for every day off, you fall behind 4 days. Additionally, going into each school year, my complete schedule is not even known until a day or two before. This of course only accounts for the classes that they plan for. There are a multitude of accessory classes that they add with a few days notice if I am lucky.

Over the past 5 years, I have attended 3 weddings, not including my own, and missed about 10. Of the ten I missed, Kenta's probably hurt the most. Although, it was my proximity to California being the reason verses finances in this instance. I was traveling Europe at the time and just could not make it. This was the only exception. I also missed my cousins wedding, Chad's, Doug's, and many others. All of their weddings were at a time I was truly between blessings. I did not have a full time job and I was in the process of attending CC while applying to dental schools. I was hustling selling imported sneakers on eBay just to survive. Indeed, this was a time of personal sacrifice. However, it hurt me to say I could not accept their invitation. I would have thoroughly enjoyed to share their precious day with them. I pray they understood the reason why I could not make it. Although, I do have a feeling that my cousin has not forgiven me.

This past February, I did not make Katie and Noah's wedding. This one hurt just as much as missing Kenta's. All of my good friends were planning on attending and they even attended my wedding. However, I could not take the time off away from school and miss the most important class of my curriculum to date. Also, I could not afford the trip to Mexico for 3 days. i just could not throw down 1/3 of my loan check. I still owe them a gift, but that will not come until August or September when my student loan refund placed in my bank.

Now, Reyes is getting married. I am trying all that I can to make the wedding. I am waiting for my school schedule and in the meantime trying to manage my finances properly. The issue with attending this wedding is the fact that it is on a Friday in October. This pretty much makes it impossible for me to make it because I would have to miss 2 days of school. This is pretty much impossible to do. With this fact, my focus is on the bachelor party. This is during my off month, but the issue with bachelor parties are the price tag that comes with it. It will cost me about $400 to fly out, $300 for a room for 3 days, and about $500 of entertainment expenses. All my boys are ballers. They throw down cash because they simply can without feeling it in their pockets. They are big shot stock brokers, CEOs of there own companies, Ad execs, and corporate moguls. I will be there in 2 years, but I am not there now. Because of this, I cannot afford a $1200 weekend. I will have to find a way to get around this. This pains me more than anyone could even know. If I were still a working man, my hotel would already be booked for both dates. There will be no questions asked.

My hearts desire conflicts with my current situation. As I am between blessings right now, I hope that once this transition period ends, I can reappear and do what my heart truly desires. With that being said, I command the unmarried friends to not get married until summer 2009. I am not worried about Neal or Kenny. I am more worried about Mark, Bart, and Slaven. I command you three to not do it. If you need me to talk to your woman, then I will do so.

With love,
You know who!

Today I scheduled my first appointments with patients for August. This is a very big step in my learning of becoming that health professional. I have many more slots to fill, but I will make it happen. I cannot wait until I begin practicing dentistry in August. This is very exciting.