Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Morning Edition - 10/17/06

My Ride or Die is Taking a Ride
A little over a year ago I met one of those people who I knew would be one of my friends for life. She is together professionally, keeps it “street” real and can drink a grown man under the table. When it comes down to it, she has my back – both in my face and when I’m not around. It wasn’t long before she proved that her loyalty, respect and love would be the cornerstone of our inseparable friendship. In January, she and I began working out together and our daily lunchtime sports club regimen yielded great results – our summer bodies were hot. Now, after a quick job search, my ride or die friend has found a wonderful position at one of our competitors. Whatever will I do without her around on a daily basis? Congratulations to Evelyn Maldonado… my ride or die friend who’s taking that wonderful ride to an incredible new opportunity. I’m so very proud! Before she screeches away into the sunset, join us as we give Evelyn an official sendoff…

Date: Friday, October 27, 2006
Time: 5:30 p.m. – until
Place: LQs; Between 47th and 48th Street and Lexington Avenue
Ladies: Free with flyer
Men: $5 with flyer
Cocktails: 2-for-1 until 7 p.m.


A Family Reunion
It’s become a sick and elaborate prediction game of sorts…. Who will die following this family reunion? It seems that each year in the days following our family reunion one of our family members kicks the bucket. In 2000 after a gathering of my mom and her 14 siblings, a neighbor raced to my car to tell me that my aunt had passed. When I inquired which one, she mentioned, the one that was here at the family reunion last night. It turns out that 11 sisters and 4 brothers had attended the reunion and there was no way of knowing which direction to go in. The year after that, another aunt passed away. One year later and we lost a cousin. And so on and so on… It has now become a wager of sorts. My cousins and I call each other in the days before meeting in Puerto Rico for our reunion and decide who we’ve determined will be making their departure this year. We all pray that no one mentions our name in the raffle of death and tally our votes before gathering at the reunion location. This year there’s a tie between aunt Hena and aunt Catana. I’ll hold my vote until I land in Puerto Rico…lest I have a bumpy ride. This year’s reunion takes place Sunday, November 26. I will be in Puerto Rico November 17 through November 28. Keep me in your prayers.

I Want To Be Alone
Maybe it’s fall personified... Just as the leaves are turning and will soon fall from the trees, so are my “friends” falling off my life branches. Whether I can attribute the “dropping” to a heightened sensitivity or my recent intolerance for bullshit, I have been slowly, but surely, releasing my bonds with some of my running buddies. It started with feeling I was being taken for granted – it’s a free ride Boo, not a chauffeur service. Then it was the realization that I don’t like you. Yes, there comes a time when you have to admit that some of the folks you run with don’t have the same values that you do. Finally, it was the feeling that maybe I just need to hang on my own for a while and reconnect with me. I am a different person when I hang out alone. I’m much more introverted, mysterious and yes, even uninhibited. So maybe it’s just a break or I’m just hitting the proverbial “shuffle” button on my ace-boon-coon iPod, but for now, it’s all about me.

On Blast
We all have the “friend” that gets under our skin. They’re cool overall and we have a good time most of the time, but they do this one “thing” that gets on your very last nerve. Who is that friend and what is it that they do that makes you really dislike them at that moment?

Keep passin’ the open windows…

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think there comes a time in everyone's adult life when they have to go thru the "do me" period and you do realize that while you may love certain people in your life, you honestly do not like them or things they have done during your friendship. The maturity comes into play when you make the decision to cut them out of your life and whether they accept it gracefully and reflect on what they might have done to cause the separation or they catch a 'tude either way, most times its just a refreshing relief to be done with them.

Unknown said...

My big pet peeve with friends is loyalty and respect. If I don’t get these the chances of the friendship not working is very probable. Of late my friends have either 1) set out to prove that I will not dominate my friendship group and in attempting to do so have set out to publicly disrespect me or 2) taken my kindness for “punkness” which is a friendship-fatal mistake with me. All said, I have no problems with cutting folks back and giving them a time-out. In some instances those time outs are prolonged to indefinite periods. In the end, if we’re meant to be friends we will be and if we’re not we’ll just let the situation (and the friendship) just die a natural death. For the record, this “ain’t my first time at the rodeo.”

Unknown said...

I know we all have that friend that you love but that gets the hell on your nerves. He is definately my boy but he is always trying to figure out weather he is coming or going. Hopefully one day he will learn what he wants stop trying to go after it and make what he wants a reality.