Why does BET suck?

I was sitting around watching TV today and happened to run across BET. For those of you not in the know BET stands for, Black Entertainment Television. I now know why the world thinks we blacks are crazy. It's because of some of the garbage that they spout on this excuse for a channel. They have a show that is solely about beefs that black stars have with each other. Pathetic is all I can say. It's a sad state of black affairs. I think it's time to guide us from the rampant commericialism and get us back on the road to living right.

Well I've gotten four of my pictures published in a travel guide. This has actually motivated me to improve my photography skills. I plan on attending a photo school and hopefully it will be money well spent. Well I have to run will talk to you later.

Welcome home

Well I've been back in Atlanta for a little while. Not much has really changed. But I'm so glad to be home. It's been awhile since I've been in the ATL during the summer. I've been taking lots of pics, which you can probably tell from my flickr badge, and having lots of fun. It's crazy to think that I'll soon be out of the Army and complete master of my own domain. Don't have to take shit off no one. LOL. I'm still pretty amazed by how my gay black guys will be cruising Piedmont Park and act so damn girly it's not even funny. A great story was when I was at Starbucks one Sunday taking pictures of everything. This dude kept staring at me, which I guess was his way of trying to flirt, and was not afraid to hide it. So once I left and started walking down the street, talking on my cellphone, I hear someone saying, "hey". It was this guy trying to get my attention. I didn't have the time or the patience to tell this guy that he was barking up the wrong tree. So I kept walking. I think he got pissed and ended up taking off the other way. All I have to say is oh well. LOL

Incongruities

These are just some things that I've noticed.

Bill O'Reilly says he is the "No Spin" factor, yet everytime he talks about something he says, "I believe". Isn't he then just adding his own spin to the topic?

How come when we have a G.I. party there is no party stuff? Usually it's mops, brooms, and other cleaning supplies. Where the hell is the party at?


Well it's been a wild week. I'm getting ready to pack my stuff up and head home. It'll be great to get home and ride my new moped, drink some beer, and see my family. It seems like just yesterday I was in Atlanta enjoying the warm sun. I plan to take as many cityscape pictures in Atlanta as I can. I've joined an Atlanta Flickr group and look forward to getting some feedback.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

So close I can taste it

Well I'm almost done. I'm so close to going home that I can already taste the beer and real burgers. Man. Ok sorry for the short post but I have to jet. Laters.

Happy Father's Day

Well today is that great day called Father's Day. I never had a good rapport with my father before I joined the military. I'm not sure why. I think sometimes I blame him and my mom for their divorce, though it was probably something that was neccessary for them. I haven't really spoken with my dad in a long time and haven't seen him in person even longer. The last time I saw my day, I was at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii about to go out on the town with Jaewest. The CQ (sort of like RA's in a dorm) called me and told me he was there. It was kind of an embarrasing moment. I didn't know what to say and neither did he. He had brought his girlfriend out there and he couldn't seem to find her. After that I didn't hear or speak to him.

Well the Public Affairs Office was going around soliciting for soldiers who wanted to submit a Father's Day greeting back to the US. I decided this is a step to repairing our relationship. So I decided to send one out. I never got to see the final cut of the greeting and I hope it turned out well. I hope my dad actually got to see it. And......deep down I just want to wish you a Happy Father's Day dad and I apologize for my selfishness. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.

Well I have to go. I hope you guys are doing well on this day and remember go out and spend that time with your father or father figure. I don't care if your parents are homosexuals, your the child of a single parent, or whatever. Celebrate them. You'll never know when you'll get to do it again.

Countdown to home

Well ladies and gentlemen, my time here in the Middle East is winding down. It's been a great time and pretty rewarding. I picked up new DJ skills, I've become a better leader, and I think I'm much more alive. By the way feel free to access my flickr page by clicking on my pictures. I hope to add more in the next couple of days and weeks.

An Arifjan Memorial Day Weekend

How's it going once again everyone? Memorial Day Weekend has come to our camp and with it has come a cornucopia of events. We have Operation Hardwood, a basketball tournament coached by NCAA Division 1 coaches, which just got done today. I never was able to go the first one but this one was very cool. I got to meet all of the coaches and even Leann Tweeden. I was able to talk with Coach Kelvin Sampson, he used to be the former coach at Washington State University, and we talked about where I grew up back in Washington. I met Dave Odom, coach for University of South Carolina, and we talked about the Strom Thurmond Gym on the campus and how I use to play with some of the guys off the team.

Saturday night saw me DJing to a packed house. And yes ladies and gentlemen I had that place rocking. Thanks DJ Hypnotic for letting me play. There were a couple of bad spots in the night. The first being a little scuffle that broke out. With Operation Hardwood going on, there was a lot of unused testosterone left over and I think I just played a tad bit too much crunk music. The other bad spot was when I played Lil Wayne's "Fireman" the first word to come out was "f*ck" and than shortly after that was butt crack. These obviously violated the policy that I had signed with the MWR. So I changed it up real quick. But it ended up well.

Well I have to go now. Look for the pictures from my trip to Kuwait City and the ones that I took of Operation Hardwood to be up on here soon. TTFN

Comings and goings

Well I know it's been awhile, since I've last posted, and I apologize for that. I've been so busy with work and DJing that I think I'm getting burnout (NOT!!). Other than that though things have been okay here. My only peeve is a rumored ban on two piece bikini's at the local pool.

Once again the leadership has decided that instead of punishing the one, they will punish everyone. Me personally I think it's ridiculous. People here are such pussies that I'm surprised that anything ever gets done. I don't know what is worse a retirement home or being here. Either way it's the same result old folks making much ado about nothing.

Today we got to visit Kuwait City's City Centre Mall and Science Center. The City Centre Mall was very depressing. Even though it's pretty big, there wasn't much of anything in there. I was able to find some cool shirts from Giordano. I use to shop at Girodano while I was in Qatar and was surprised to find one here in Kuwait. Unfortunately, I won't have the opportunity to shop there as much as I like. I got some pretty nice pictures of some of the sights of Kuwait.

We went to the science center and some local Kuwaiti schoolgirls wanted to have their pictures taken with us. Being the gracious folks we hooked them up. It was funny though. Because at first they surrounded us but didn't say anything. Than one girl in the group got the courage to ask and the ice was broken.

One weird thing I noticed about our trip to the City Centre, was that it was in close proximity to a slaughter house. And boy did the air in the area stink. I'm not sure if it was from the trash that was in the area or the slaughter house. All I know is that it stank bad.

Well I've gotten the word that I'll be heading back to Atlanta within the next month or so. So I will be getting ready for my move back to Toronto and being with my family. It will be great but I know that a lot has changed. Expectations, personalities, and whatever else has changed either for better or for worse.

By the way I made a big purchase the other day. I bought a Nikon D50 SLR camera. All I have to say is that this thing kicks major ass. I will show you the pics I took of KC with it. Much better color and everything. Now I just need to figure out how to use it to it's fullest. So if anyone knows hit me up. Any info is greatly appreciated. Well it's time for me to go to bed. I stink, not from the slaughter house, and need to jump in the shower and get ready to DJ tomorrow. See ya and Peace in the Middle East!!!!!

Greetings from Kuwait

Well I've been in Kuwait for quite a while now and I have to say it's changed. For better or for worse, I can't say at this time, but once I find out I'll let you know. It's been pretty hot around here, around 105 to 111 degrees, yet it doesn't feel uncomfortable at all. I wonder if this is a bad thing or not?

I'm now DJing once again at the Oasis. Now I host the Old School Night. I figured with old school night it would be easy to appease people's musical hunger, boy was I wrong. Even when I played good joints these guys wanted to hear some stuff that they thought everyone would like. Than playing hip hop night, every now and then, I've come to realize how indoctrinated people are to radio hits. You try to play something new and they act stupid, but play something off the radio and they get out on the dancefloor. Oh well.

Well I've been working on my round the world travel plan and hopefully by August I'll be able to do it. Yes I said August. I've tried to get an extension for the military and was told that it's not possible. So I expect to be back in Atlanta soon to start packing my stuff and getting ready to move back to Toronto. My destinations are kind of ambitious. I plan to hit up Europe, SE Asia, maybe SW Asia (some parts), and from there I'll just go where ever the wind blows me to. Well got to go and tan at the pool (yeah a black guy tanning LOL). Will see you guys later.

Long Time coming

I know it's been awhile since I've last posted and I apologize. I've been pretty busy..........living it up and enjoying Atlanta before I leave on Sunday. Yes, once again I must go to the Middle East. I'm looking forward to it since my buddy from South Carolina is over there. So we'll get to hang out and kick some ass at football, basketball, and whatever else. Soon as I get done with this tour I will be leaving the Army to become a normal person again LOL.

I've been working on my trip around the world and it's been pretty interesting I found one great site which I'll probably add to my links later on it's www.travellerspoint.com they actually have a tool that allows you to create Round the World tickets. So while I'm overseas I'm going to play around with that. All I've been doing is reading books about travelling and it's really got my juices flowing. I know that in this day and age it's crazier and everything with the War on Terror. But I figure this is the only time that I'll actually be able to enjoy myself prior to going back to school.

I will be traveling with a companion, but if you would like to join hit me up and let me know. I'm planning on visiting Europe at the least. If I can make it back to Honolulu, SW Asia, and the South Pacific than that would kick ass.

The other day was pretty interesting. I got an email on my myspace account from an old friend from back in Hawaii. Jenn is her name. We were real good friends and if I remember correctly we went out for a little while and we broke up but still hung out. I remember she use to wear this dress uniform, from Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays, and it was so colorful. She looked very cute in it. Man now that I think about it my heart begins to beat faster LOL. Well anyways I digress.

As I stated before, she found my myspace account and sent me a message. And once again it was like old times. We connected and I hope to stay in contact with her once I get out.

This Friday and Saturday my intinerary looks to be like this: Drink all day and party all night. Sunday fly out with a nice hangover and be ready to work soon as I get in theater.

Geez Louise

I just don't understand the weather out here in Atlanta. One day it will be cold as hell, the next day it's warm. Go figure. Yesterday morning it was about 29 degrees F (yes no longer celsius LOL) and today it's been in the mid to high 60's.

Yesterday I had the misfortune of riding the MARTA (rail) and got to ride in the car that had a loud, yet obnoxious, homeless minister. It seemed that his speech was geared towards people giving money to the homeless. Hmmm, I don't think there were any self serving goals in that sermon LOL. The sad part is that the gentleman soon had some young kid, who I guess thought he was a comedian, start heckling him in his sermon and this did nothing but make the man get louder. My stop couldn't come soon enough.

I haven't really been able to get in the gym to start my new training. I'm actually looking forward to it, which is kind of scary. Because the trainer gave me a sample workout and it was very intense and painful (in a good way). Right now I'm carrying about 19% body fat. The trainer's goal is to have me cut down to 13%. We'll see how this goes but I'm still excited to be going through this. I will take pictures weekly to see if there is any significant changes or not.

Well it's getting late. So I'm about to take off. Everyone have a good night, day, or whatever the hell it is in your neck of the woods.

Ho-hum

How's it going everyone? Well unfortunately for me the past couple of weeks has been pretty slow and tame. I've been so busy once again trying to upgrade my apartment that I don't even recognize it anymore. It actually looks civil. Which was a big surprise to me. When I got back my place looked like someone who had left in a hurry and forgot to put everything away.

I think I'm now ready to become a homeowner instead of a renter. I see all these people about as young as me already moving forward in their lives. Me on the other hand I'm stuck in a continuous circle of nothing. My goals are to ensure that my credit is good to go and that I have enough money saved for a down payment. I know that I need to study up more on mortgage's and the like. So I know what the hell I'm getting myself into. I know that being in the military qualifies me for a VA loan, so I'll see how helpful that is.

Well my party life in Atlanta has been pretty good. I've been out to Club Europe, Vision's, and many of the clubs in the Buckhead area. It's funny though, when I got back it only took me a couple of drinks to get piss drunk. Now I actually have to spend some money to get drunk LOL. The other night I was so drunk at Club Europe that I think I actually tried to hit on a big chick and she actually shot me down. Now that is hilarious. I will make sure not to get that drunk again though, because bad things tend to happen.

I've been tempted to buy the new video Ipod. The only problem though is that I have six other Ipods and with my luck, soon as I buy this one, Apple will have a new one. I will be extremely pissed if this happens. When I bought my first Ipod they introduced a new one 5 days later and reduced the price on the one I had bought. I probably could have gone in to get a price difference, but I wasn't too consumer savvy at the time. Well I have to go but I look forward to writing in here the next chance I get. By the way let me know if you want to see a new video. I'll see what I can do.

Valentine's Day

Well Valentine's Day is fast approaching and I think I'm actually repulsed by the idea or fact that it is near. I was never a big fan of the holiday because for me it seemed to result in embarrasing gift giving moments, neurotic girlfriends, and just a sense of emptiness when it was all over with. It really sucks when you are just going out with someone and they think they are entitled to a gift over $20.00. All I can do is look and laugh when all I got them was a simple box of chocolates and a card.

I think the best Valentine Day gift I ever gave was in high school. I had been going out with a girl for probably about 2 weeks before it and she got all hyped because she had heard that I was asking my folks to borrow $1,000.00. Well I needed this money to get a car that I had been wanting to get for the longest time. Well needless to say, the word got back to my girlfiend and she thought I was buying something major. The look on her face when I gave her a card on Valentine's Day was priceless. All of a sudden she started bawling and swearing at me and I then realized it was time to dump the "gold digger".

I think I'm slowly getting addicted to working out, which is kind of sad in it's own way, I can't seem to go a day without thinking about what I'm going to do once I get to the gym. I had missed going on Wednesday and I ended up going last night and working overtime. The only thing I hate about my gym is that I think the gay guys try to cruise me and chicks sit and gawk at my calves. I'm sorry folks but I'm one of the few who is actually there to get a workout. I can actually see the results of working out and I think, in some narcisstic fashion, this is what keeps me going thus causing my addiction. LOL. Well this weekend will be very hectic but I will see you guys back on Monday. Have a good one and TTFN.

Busy Bee

I've been so busy the past couple of weeks, that I can't even keep up with the days anymore. I'm so busy working out at LA Fitness, partying, working, reading, studying, and whatever else. I am in the process of getting a scooter, so I can start riding around town much quicker, and still not worry about polluting too bad.

Yesterday was the Coretta Scott King funeral and I think you could tell how much of an effect she had on people, by the number of people who showed up at her funeral. It was a packed house and yet everyone still found time to pay their respects. Well not much has been going on. I will see you guys later.

Great to be back!!!!!

Well I've made it back to Atlanta. I actually got back on Sunday, but I've been on a party binge since I've been back. I forgot how good liquor could taste sometimes. And how lovely the women not in burqas or uniforms could be. I became an IKEA whore once I got back. I have so much stuff from there it's not even funny. I now have a bed, sofa bed, laundry bag, and soon will have a record rack from them. It's been great to be back. I was reunited with my two rugrats Lika and Lilo. I sure did miss them. I've been having fun. Even going into the office has been interesting and fun. Well have to run but will hit everyone up with more later.

So close yet so far away!

I'm just a few hours away from boarding that big iron bird, back to Atlanta. I'm very anxious now. I had to drop off my bags early so they could load them on the plane early. Now I'm just sitting and waiting to get my ride up to the airbase to get on "da plane, boss, da plane". It's weird. About 9 months ago, on my birthday to make it worse, I was sent over here. I didn't know what to expect, what I would see, and what I would do. And now the end results are awesome. I received an Army Commendation Medal. I went to the promotion board and smoked it, scoring a 148 out of 150. I have the opportunity to expand on my military career or go the civilian route and follow my educational dreams. Well I'm going to the Oasis to tell the DJ to kiss my ass and get some skills and drink my last 3 token beers. 24 pack of beer, eleven50, and Atlanta here I come.

Transitions

Holy cow, my departure date is coming up real quick. I've been looking forward to this day for the longest time and it seems kind of weird that it's so close. So as I get pushed to the way side by the incoming personnel and gear up for my inevitable return back to the States, I've began to reflect upon my time here in the Middle East.

Having never been to the Middle East before, many of the customs, traditions, and practices were new to me. I'm glad I came though because it's opened up my world perspective just a little bit more. I've picked up my Gulf Arabic, Hindi, and basic Arabic language skills. I have a greater affection for some parts of the cuisine in this region. I look forward to trying to get hummus and kufta back in the States. I also appreciate the superior customer service that was provided out here compared to the States. I would suggest that American customer service driven businesses come out here and learn a thing or two. Especially restaurants. I also got the chance to see how idiotic, brave, and different people from all over can be as well. From up north all the way down here to Qatar, everyone's taught me a thing or two about life.

Well when I get back I'm probably going to take some time off, go back home to Toronto, play with my pets, and just unwind. Till then TTFN.

Dumb Coconut=Stupid Porchmonkey?

How's it going ladies and gentlemen. You may notice the title of my post today and be kind of puzzled by it, unless you reside in New York. This is referring to comments made by the resident idiot DJ Miss Jones. I was reading a Village Voice article about her latest shenanigans. Now you may be asking yourself, "That name sounds familiar, wasn't she in the news for something else?" DING DING, you are right. She gained fame for the Tsunami song, which so "elegantly" shed light on the plight of the Tsunami victims.

Now everyone is probably familiar with the transportation union workers strike that occured in New York. Well Mr. Roger Touissant, from the Carribean, is the head of the TWU and so Ms. Jones decided to direct her anger against him. She called Touissant a "dumb coconut who probably don't have a green card". As I viewed all of this I couldn't comprehend how someone could make a dumb comment like this. But then again one only has to look at her track record and see where she's coming from. This was one of those times that I'm glad that, she doesn't live by me or is even related to me. But it got me to wondering. Do you think she would take offense if someone called her a porchmonkey? Or maybe even a nigger. Because that is basically what she is doing and has done in the past. I mean if she can address Asian people as chinks then everyone has the right to address her as nigger. Seems only fair. (No, I don't condone these actions, cause this has a tendency of making a peson seem infantile and downright stupid.)

Rumor has it she may be one of the individuals who attended Spelman. If you don't know what I'm talking about just reference my post about Morehouse.

Well it's time for me to go. And expect a recap of my New Years in a future post. It wasn't too exciting but it was still priceless.

You my boy, Blue!

Ladies and gentlemen one of the actors out of my favorite movie, "Old School", has passed away. I hope he died happy like he did in the movie. If you don't know who it is I suggest you get out of your cave and go rent "Old School".



I'm still getting over New Years, so I will write more later. Thanks and ciao.