The Game of Life

Tamara had her baby early Wednesday morning. As soon as I wrote my last post I got a text message from her that read, “Water broke…”

I jumped up in excitement and texted all of my other friends with the good news.

Then…

I couldn’t go to sleep.

Until after 3am!

Yeah..I was sitting up talking to God and wondering what was happening with her.

I was so upset. Mainly because I felt like I should be there for her. I keep having to remind myself that she has a man who loves her and he takes good care of her.

She has a man who loves her and takes good care of her.

She has a man who loves her and takes good care of her.

Ok. I got it now.

I don’t give a damn if he is 6’4″, I’ll break his neck if he doesn’t act right. And he knows it.

This morning I woke up and her man had sent me this picture.

Here he is!

8lbs. 8 ounces. 21 inches long.

I fell in love immediately! I have to get back to Atlanta soon so I can cuddle him up and kiss his tiny feet and teach him how to accomplish all that his little heart wants to achieve.

Work went so well today even though I didn’t meet my production deadline. I could have…but last night I thought that I could run out and pick up something to eat so that I could come back to my office and transcribe my interviews but when I got back to the building it was locked.

So this morning I had to do all of the transcribing and the organize the story and then write it. Guess what? I think I’m getting it.

As I organized my story I kept hearing my publisher’s voice in my ear asking me questions. “What’s the point here?” “Where are you going with this?” “Did you include all of the important information?” “This is not a novel. Tighten it up.”

So as I wrote I made sure to address each of those issues. I know she thinks my writing is flowery so I made sure to be stingy with the adjectives and start with a summary lede.

I was so nervous when I finished it. I handed it to her and she handed me a story she had written so that I could proof it.

She handed back my story before I could finish reading hers and when I looked at it I almost cried. There were very little corrections.

“It reads well,” she said and smiled.

“I’m getting it,” I grinned.

“I think you already got it,” she replied.

~singing~

Don’t stop! Pop that pu**y! Let me see you DOO DOO BROWN!

Go head! Go head! Go head! Go head!

One leg up! One leg up! One leg up! One leg up!

Jump around! Jump around! Jump around! Jump around!

Shake that thang, pop that thang!

Man…

So after work I was so tired that I went right to bed. And I woke up feeling refreshed and happy.

Then I frowned when I looked at my cell phone and realized; It’s 2:00 in the morning.

Damn…

My schedule is off.

But guess what? I have so much to share with you. My publisher gave me a book called The Game of Life and How to Play it.

Oh my gosh! I think this is going to be the book that I start giving away because it has totally transformed my thinking. EVERYBODY GO OUT AND GET IT or I will feel personally responsible for giving it to you and you all know I haven’t gotten my first paycheck yet.

As I read I type up all of the key principles that move me, print them out and tack them up on the board at my office. Here are just a few life changing principles that I read today.

If one asks for success and prepares for failure, he will get what he has prepared for.

Damn…Damn…Damn..James! I do this all the time! I believe that God has great things for me but I’m always preparing to receive the worst, just so I won’t be dissappointed in the end. I gotta change that. I will prepare for success!

Man must prepare for the thing he has asked for, when there isn’t the slightest sign of it in sight.

Lord! I know I be doing just the opposite. Just the other day I was saying to my friend, “I’m not looking at apartments because I don’t have any money right now. Why would I look?”

Hello! Why not? Why wouldn’t God give me a great place to live where I won’t have to be locked up under someone else’s control? I have high standards of living and I am certain He will meet them. I’m going to start looking tomorrow.

You can control any situation if you first control yourself.

Can I just crawl under a house and die?!!

Actually, I have been learning to control myself a lot more lately and I see the evidence of that principle at work in my life. The other night when I went to FashionWeek the coordinator was being a bitch to me and my photographer. But I knew it was because she was stressed so when she rolled her eyes at me and gave my photographer a dirty look, I didn’t say, “Hey you white bitch! Gimme my credentials!” Instead I smiled and told her, “I’m sure everything is going to go well tonight. Everything looks great so far.”

I’m glad I did that because my publisher called her the next day, right in front of me, and asked her about my performance. Whoa!

She said, “She was so understanding. She did a great job.” I was hoping she didn’t mention that my photographer and I were both sipping wine that night. LOL!

What a man says of others will be said of him, and what he wishes for another, he is wishing for himself.

Ha ha! Check your heart!

I know there are some people out there reading this secretly hoping that I will fail. They are afraid of me. They think that I will accomplish more than them because they see my tenacity. They pretend to be cool with me but secretly they want the light to shine on them so they try to present themselves in a way that should yield praise and admiration and they hope with all their heart that I will fail. They think my failure will justify their misery.

Get this…I don’t really care. What you are doing in your life has no direct affect on me. I don’t compare myself to others around me because…fuck it..they aren’t me. I see God in everyone therefore I can be genuinely happy when others are happy though sometimes it makes me want more too. But I NEVER wish bad on anyone. NEVER. I don’t have to work on that principle because its simply a part of who I am.

I can shine on my own because I am the star of my own little world. ~smile~

That’s enough for tonight..err… this morning. I hope I’m not lazy at work tomorrow.