So yes, I started my new job today, but I will get to that later. Thanksgiving break was very much needed! For one, I was dying to eat my mom’s food. It had been way too long. Second, I hadn’t seen the fam since 4th of July weekend, which is probably the longest I’ve went without seeing my fam ever. So I was overdue for some quality time with them.

Our Thanksgiving was a little odd this year because it was first one without my grandfather. So my grandma was a little sad about that, but whenever there is that bit of sadness around, it’s always awesome to have kids bring that energy level up. They just never seem to run out of energy. I wish I would have taken pictures, but I tend to forget that I have a digi cam sometimes. Oh well.

So the big meal was all that! Like every year, I stuffed myself until exhaustion and then found it difficult to remove myself from the couch. And that’s it for the turkey day! Not much else to say other than me maxing and being too full to do anything else. Me, my sis, and dad discussed getting up at 4:30 a.m. to hit the stores to see what kind of sales they had for Black Friday. But for a minute I thought it was all talk.

Sure enough, 4:30 rolls around, and my sister is knocking on my door telling me that it’s game time. I somehow managed to get out of bed and get ready. So we pulled up to Best Buy at about 4:55, and you would think that you were at an amusement park with a new ride opening, because that line was extra. “Fuck this” was the direct quote from papa Philly, for obvious reasons. I agreed.

So we drove over to Circuit City and was a serious mad house in there. I couldn’t believe that so many people were up so early. But they had tons of sales and good deals on limited supplies of good products. All of which I was either too late for, or couldn’t afford still. So we were out for awhile and made it back home around 8:30 a.m. empty handed because lines were just too long to wait in to buy something.

So I went out for a round 2 to hit the mall a few minutes after we got home. This time I was solo, and just wanted to hit the Apple store, Macy’s, and Express. This was a more focused missions. I had the playbook ready! I bought a few things but didn’t go crazy or anything. Then after the last store, I just didn’t even have the energy to keep going, I was exhausted. Nap time was on the horizon, for a long time!

Friday night me, JJ, and Steve went out to tackle the city in a trio formation. We were able to hit three bars up, of course one of them being Zentra! As always, Zentra didn’t disappoint, good music, strong cocktails, and no cover. Can’t ask for much more than that. It was really good going out with them again on the rare occasion that we can do it, since JJ is in NY and Steve in Chi town. Of course, since we ended our night at Zentra, I didn’t get home until fresh after 4. Good times with the fellas.

Much of Saturday was spent shaking off a little head throbbing, and watching Florida beat up on FSU! I was supposed to go out with E-Dogg that night but I just wasn’t feeling it. I was tired all damn day and decided to spend the night watching USC fuck up Notre Dame with the fam. And yes, I’m glad everyone got to see how over rated Notre Dame is!!!

So that was my break, and it was just the break I needed before starting the new job today. So how was the first day? Cool as hell. I love the place already. There seem to be some nice perks to working there, like getting a discount on my phone bill, and discounts on vacation packages……just to name a few. The people seem real cool, and it was just the environment I was looking for: young, creative, and non-corporate. So I already like the place alot, and have alot better feeling about it than my last job.

I love this time of year, but December is going to be busy, between getting settled in this new job, getting my own company up and running by 07, and the normal holiday madness. The good thing is, we get a week off (paid) for Christmas, which is hella tight for me! But I am going to have alot to get done that week. I have a website to put up and video editing to do, so that can easily spend my free time up.

That’s all I got for now……lots going on, lots to do, and lots to look forward to. So stay up to date! I hope you alls breaks were as good as mine.

peace

I went to meet them up at the hotel right after work on Friday and we went to eat at this place called Magnolia’s. It’s like this soul food place that was quite mediocre. I got the salmon and the shit sucked. It looked like 5 chicken fingers that they put on my plate. Now I can’t say that it tasted bad, but it was easily the worst salmon I ever ate. So I think it’s fair to say that I’ll never be eating there again, they lost my business.

Saturday morning didn’t exactly start off the way I wanted to. I woke up so that I could go work out and stroll over to Meijer, so I walk out the door only to realize that I don’t have my keys. I was not happy about this. It was like 9 a.m., my phone battery was low, and the front office of my apartment complex doesn’t open until 10. The gym was too far to walk to, so I just walked to Meijer. Luckily it isn’t that far, maybe a 15/20 minute walk. So I go there to kill some time, buy something for breakfast, and then walk back. I was a little behind the schedule I had for my morning, so I didn’t get back into my apartment until almost 11. Then I grabbed my keys and sped to the gym to blow off steam because I was a little frustrated at this point.

So anyways, my sister and mom were scheduled to look at this apartment in Canton at 2:30, and I was supposed to meet them there. I got back home from the gym around 1, and I had to scramble to make a breakfast, shower, and then meet them there at 2:30. This also failed pretty damn badly. I didn’t leave til about 2:15, and ended up getting lost because the bullshit directions that Google gave me screwed me over. They basically put an extra street in there, that didn’t need to be in there, which of course was the one I took. At this point, it’s like almost 3, and my sister calls and says to just meet them at the new Ikea.

This is where the day gets better. First off, Ikea is a sweet ass store. They have everything, and I am pretty certain that the next time I get a new apartment/condo, I am going to bend Ikea over backwards and spend major coin in there. They have everything you could possibly want for where ever it is that you live. And it was pure madness in there too, people everywhere, and I can’t imagine the amount of money they bring in on any given weekend. We spent about 3 hours in there looking at stuff, and that’s not from backtracking, that was a nice brisk walkthrough looking at any and everything. So if you haven’t been to that Ikea yet, go there, it’s worth it even if you just look around.

After Ikea, we drove back to the RO so that my mom could see my apartment. So of course I had it extra clean and smelling like a fresh spring morning……………..maybe not that good, but it was clean, and my mom liked my place a lot. We had easily worked up an appetite, so we headed over to the mall. But before we ate, we stopped by the Apple store. You’re probably wondering what the hell I got huh? Well I jumped on the bandwagon and got an iPod nano, courtesy of momma Philly. Yes I know I’m spoiled, it’s no secret, get over it. I didn’t get the super expensive one though because I really don’t need a billion songs on my iPod just for the gym. I finally have a reason to use one though, so it will accompany me on when I’m at the gym. I conveniently named it “iPhilly.” My name is just so versitile!

After the Apple store we went to P.F. Chang’s, but we had to get carry out because I don’t know what sane person would want to wait an hour and 45 minutes to eat. So we went back to my place to eat, and we watched Hitch. It was more of me watching Hitch, because my mom and sister both fell asleep.

This morning, I woke up early to meet them at the hotel downtown, so that we could go to breakfast and then church. Yes, I went to church, which I usually do when I have time and I’m with my mom and sister. It was good to go again though because I haven’t been in forever, and I was long overdue for a visit. The pastor was a guy that used to go to the church I went to growing up so he’s an old friend of the fam. This guy is also a baller. To give a quick idea, his wife had this 5 kt. diamond on her finger. Now, I’m not a ring person, and diamonds don’t really move me, but I couldn’t stop looking at the size of this thing. It was huge.

So anyways after church we were invited, from the pastor, to go to dinner at P.F. Changs once again. I didn’t mind at all though for two reasons: for one, the food is damn good and I could always order something different; and two, I wasn’t going to have to pay for yet another meal for the weekend, so who am I to care where the hell we eat. The only thing that bothered me was the day was that I felt like I was being pressured into going to church, and I felt guilty for not going more. So that got under my skin a bit, but I won’t go into all fo that.

After dinner we came back here to relax for a last few moments that my mom was going to spend on this visit. Then iPhilly and I scrambled to the gym to get in a power workout before it closed! It was a very good weekend, yet very busy and tiring, and I’m hella sick of driving right now. I’ve been driving so much this weekend that I am thrilled to just sit for awhile. So I’ll be spending the rest of my evening eating, watching Entourage, and sitting on my ass. Hope you all had a good weekend, I’ll catch you on the flip side.

peace

We eventually made it, although it seemed like we spent the whole day driving. Of course we had to get our grub on when we got in town. There’s no need for me to even say what was eaten first, because it’s the same everytime I go home, and if you don’t know, you either just started reading this blog or you don’t know me…………sad. After food, we just relaxed and layed around all day until my brother and his wife came over with the kids. That was alot of fun, and my niece is the shit. She doesn’t cry much and she’s just real chill, so we spent some quality time hanging out!

That night we headed into the city to one of Kell’s friends place to sip on some juices and hang out with everyone. That was good times as well, although we didn’t get crazy or anything. Everyone was extra faded when we got there so we basically had to play a little catch-up. JJ met us there too and stayed for a few drinks, but then went to go meet some other people. After a few hours there, people just started to get more and more faded, so we didn’t think they were going to go out, so me and Kell just bounced and went to this place Union Station in Lincoln Park. If, at that point, I wasn’t so damn exhausted, I would have felt the place a little more, but I basically felt like dead weight holding a beer. We were only there for a little bit before we went back and passed out at the place we started at. Luckily one of the girls that brough this air mattress ended up leaving, so we didn’t have to sleep on a bogus floor.

Sunday was spent laying around. I helped papa Philly prepare some of his signature bbq, and damn did we max. The food hit the spot like no other, although my stomach thought otherwise. My stomach did not take a liking to the bbq at all, which sucks, but a small price to pay for the good food. I hadn’t eaten my dads bbq since last 4th of July, which is easily the longest I’ve went without it.

After the grub, we just let the food simmer and watched a few movies, one of which I was shocked that it was going to be a good movie. And that movie is called Running Scared, starring Paul Walker, hahaha. No joke, this movie was extra hot. It was intense the whole time, had hella twists and turns, and the best part, mad action. If you know me, you know that I love mass amounts of action. My dad had bought the movie, so of course I stole it, with his permission, and added it to my small movie collection.

We didn’t do anything Sunday night, due to the mix of being tired from lack of good sleep, and full from eating. So we kept it chill and just watched movies and tv. Monday, we had wanted to go to the Taste of Chicago to grub, but it was raining in the morning, and the forecast said it was supposed to be thunderstorms all day, so we just went out to the mall to ensure that we would stay dry for the day. The mall, well, was the mall. Bought a few articles of clothing, nothing big. Of course when we leave the mall, it’s all sunny out like there wasn’t a hint of rain at all so we actually could have gone down there…….oh well.

After the mall we went to max on leftover bbq, and while looking through old family picture books, I found my motivation! There was a picture of me and my brother in my backyard, and I was kinda swole looking! No lie, my chest looked quite bigger than it does now, not that that’s saying much, but I looked quite in shape. I think the picture was the spring of Haslett Arms because that is when I worked out 4-5 times a week. Well my friends, that was all I needed to see to motivate me, because on the next paycheck I will be paying Powerhouse a visit because I need to get back in shape and back to swole status. It’s simple as that. I liked the way I looked in that pic, and I am jealous of myself a few years ago! So it’s time to get back in the gym. My eating habits are well and on track, so once I get back into working out, maybe I can finally gain some frickin weight.

So anyways, that Monday night, me and Kell went onto Northwesterns campus right on the lake front to watch Chicago and Wilmette’s fireworks. We couldn’t see Chicago’s that great, but we had a great view of Wilmette’s, which is the neighboring city north of Evanston. They were pretty good too. After fireworks, we decided to hit up Prairie Moon in the downtown E. We didn’t want to head into the city because we had to leave early the next day and we didn’t want to deal with the hassle of coming back to the E on the late night. So we had a few drinks at Prairie Moon, and later on Steve met up with us and some other random ass people came with him. It was good to catch up with Steve though, who seems to be doing well, always good to know the homies are doing good.

Unfortunately, even though I brought my camera, I took not one picture. Why? I have no idea, or any excuse, I just didn’t take any pictures. Oh well. So that was the mini vacation in the Chi. It was much needed, and I’m glad that I got Monday off so that I could go home. It was very good to see the fam as well. I still love Chicago.

This coming Saturday come over and kick it at the pool all day and make use of this summer weather. The only definites I have right now are Paulie, Darko, and Jenn. If you are interested, hit me up, because if you aren’t doing anything, then you should come chill. We need more of those times where a bunch of us hang out because before you know it, summer will be over. So I’m looking forward to it, then the next weekend is Sarah’s up north somewhere, which I’m really looking forward to. So there’s a possibility of 3 bomb ass weekends in a row. We’ll see though.

I will be spending the remainder of this week and if needed, some of the weekend, working on Paulie D’s blog. We’re going to try and put it up next week sometime so you will be notified when that is done. Looking forward to it though.

Ok I’m outro……

peace