Movies

I'm a movie buff like nobody's business. I've been going to movies for as long as I can remember and I'm not stopping anytime soon. When a movie comes out, I run to the theater to check it out and usually I'm not disappointed. Of the rare occasion(s) that I see a horrible flick, I make a point not to run out to every movie that drops in theaters. If it's a movie I HAVE to see, I see it immediately. If it's a mediocre movie that has the potential to be good, I'll wait a week after it's released. This weekend I went to see Contraband with Mark Wahlberg and it's a must-see. It's good to see Wahlberg back on the screen because I've been wondering where he's been hiding out lately. I have hundreds of DVDs and that list will only continue to grow. When I don't want to see a movie in theaters, I'll sit home and pop in a DVD; have my own movie night with some popcorn. The first movie theater I started going to was this discount theater in Tallahassee called Movies 8. Back then, movies were $.50 Tuesdays and $1.00 during the week. I still go to Movies 8 from time to time but when megatheaters started popping up in my city, they offered specials so I shifted my business there. There's nothing like going to a movie on Friday night, after you've put in a full day at work and got something to eat. I will return to Friday night movies very shortly but now...I catch flicks during the week because of the weekly discount specials that my two favorite mega theaters offer.

Debt Freedom

I don't know about anybody else but I am happy for everyone who is debt-free. There's nothing like not owing ANYBODY, being able to spend as you wish because after all, you are debt-free. Most people had to make sacrifices to be debt free such as get a 2nd job, budget and cut back on frivolous expenses. If you have a 15-year mortgage on your home and you're paying $650 a month at 4% interest, you can pay off your home in one of two ways: You can pay lump-sum payments. This way, you save on interest and you repay the balance faster (What I mean is you budget $650 each month until the bill is due and you make one big payment). Or, you can pay twice the amount each month and you'll pay the mortgage faster & save on interest. Either way, you'll be debt free before you know it. This strategy has helped me big-time and I'm thankful. Think about it, when you're debt free and you get paid...YOU get paid, not the collectors. You're able to allocate your money towards your 401K and/or mutual fund, Roth IRA or any other choice portfolio you have. You can travel, put money aside for your children's college education, etc. Being debt free allows you to do so much more with your money. Nobody should want to owe anybody for life; I don't. That's why it's important to keep your finances in order so you won't have any worries. Finances are one of the top, if not the top reason most couples get divorced. One person is a saver, the other is a spender. If the federal government used sound financial judgment, the national debt wouldn't be in the 10 trillion range. America would be debt free so we can truly do what needs to be done to get this economy back in order. It's a wonderful feeling to make good money AND be debt free. Most debt-free people are paying for life insurance, putting money into their 401K/Roth IRA/mutual fund, eating out and going shopping everyday. They're living life to the fullest and by right they should, because they're debt-free.

Garbage Music

Today's music has no substance. All you have to do is listen to some of these artists in order to come to that conclusion. Today's music artists are all saying the same thing: The stuff I'm smoking, the stuff I'm drinking, my house, my car, I ball out in the club, drop $50K in the mall, etc. That's not life! Many old-school rappers talked about real life; they spoke on the condition of their neighborhoods, what they've seen and experienced. Many people could relate to what they were saying because they also went through hard times. Because I got sick of the constant thuggery and materialistic nature of some artists, I've found myself reverting back to old-school soul and R&B. What happened to good music? Back in the day, you had artists like Bobby Womack, Curtis Mayfield, Teddy Pendergrass, Four Tops, Temptations, Smokey Robinson, etc. who put out GOOD music. You felt the passion in their music. Old school funk with a church groove, you can't beat that. Why do you think many of today's artists are sampling old-school joints? They know that without the legends, they wouldn't have gotten into the music business. Today's artists will tell you that they were influenced by those who came before them. Old-school music has a way of taking you back to what life was like growing up in the 50's to early to mid/late 70's. The best musical decade was from the 50's to 70's because people were sporting afros, bell bottoms, men were looking fresh with their suits and hats. The elders have a point when they say "today's young people don't know nothing about good music" And from what I can see, they are absolutely right. You have to go back 40-50 years to capture the essence of what good music is/was. How many of us are going to remember most of these artists 20-50 years from now? This song is for grown folks, y'all don't know about this old-school funk jam.

Hurt People Hurt People

 We've all heard this phrase uttered throughout our lives. Whether we've hurt someone, have been hurt or are hurting now, this statement always comes to light. The premise behind the phrase is simple: When someone has been hurt, they hurt others. Unless you're rotten to the core (which I believe many people are), a very small percentage of humans take pride in hurting others. Just because someone's been hurt, doesn't give them the green light to hurt somebody else. If anything, the wounded person should know how it feels to be hurt. I was having a conversation on this subject when someone shed valuable light on this subject: The world is full of damaged people, some so severely wounded because of the hurt they've experienced that they feel like inflicting pain on others will bring joy to their miserable existence. It's quite the contrary because you reap what you sow. If you sow drama and misery, you will reap it & in most cases 10x worse.

Dreams Don't Work, You Do

It's one thing to have a dream, it's another to put that dream into action. A vision is the 1st step in being successful. It shows a burning desire to see something come to pass in your life. In order to accomplish your dreams, you have to get off your butt and make it happen. Nothing in life is handed to you. So if nothing in life is handed to you, why do people talk all this rah-rah about how they're going to do this, that and the third and don't make any moves towards accomplishing their goals? People think success is going to fall in their laps. If that was the case, all of us would be successful. God has blessed me with a hustler mindset and right now, I've taken that ball and am running with it. You can run with me or get ran over, period. Setting up this blog website was a big step of faith because as stated before, I used to write blogs everyday for years on MySpace and when I left MySpace to join FB, blogging fell by the wayside. Now that I've picked up blogging again, I have a boatload of material to work with. Much of my blogs will be written from my perspective: stuff I've seen & been through, stuff my loved ones have seen or been through, etc. Writing has been a talent of mine for a while and with my vision, I'm looking to make big money as a writer someday, while having a successful career in the business world. I said all that to say this: If you want a better life, you have to make it happen by any means necessary (within reason, of course). Success is yours, go out and get it. That's what I intend to do.

Content With Mediocrity

My contentment level is different than most people's. For me, contentment comes from having achieved all I set out to accomplish. Many others would share this contentment level. Mediocrity should never be an option for ANYONE, it's definitely not an option for me and why should it be? Why should I or anyone settle for less than what they deserve or are capable of? "It's better than nothing" No, if it's not what I want then I will hold out until I get what I want, even if it may take a little longer. That's the problem I have with many people, a lot of people are content with mediocrity and that's sad. These same people are jealous of your ambition because unlike them, you want to get all life has to offer. You have the "come hell or high water, I will make it" mentality. I equate being content with mediocrity as being lazy; you do just the bare minimum and say "that's enough". There are times where the bare minimum will suffice and there are times where you have to go above and beyond. You never know how much you have in you until you are pushed/stretched to and beyond your limit. People that live life to the fullest end up with fewer regrets because they came, saw and conquered. People that are content with mediocrity are regretful because they didn't take risks; they were scared to step out on faith because of the risk of failure. I've been developing the mindset that mediocrity is not an option, success is my only choice. I distance myself from mediocre folks not because I'm too good for them, but because I don't want anyone holding me back from going after all I want in life.

I'm So Tired Of Being Alone

All of us desire to find love, whether we want to admit it or not. This is because humans were created for companionship. Relationships are at the essence of human existence. Relationships can be wonderful if you find Mr. or Ms.Right, but they can suck if you are with Mr. or Ms.Wrong. When you're single, you can do what, when and how you want with no one to answer to. Most people like the freedom that singleness brings, others are on the fence; they like being solo but they want someone to share their life with. I venture to think most of us are a mixture of being on the fence and contentment with being solo. I'm more of a mixture because while I hope to find Ms.Right someday, I also appreciate having the freedom to do what I want without having to consider another person's thoughts or feelings. At the same time, I've always said that if God sees fit for me to be in a relationship, he will send Ms.Right my way and it will be a love story far better than I can imagine. If he doesn't, it wasn't meant to be and I'm ok with that. Many single people are so lonely that they are willing to take any and everyone at their word without REALLY getting to know someone. They haven't learned how to be alone because if they have, they would realize that in order to be happy with someone, you must learn how to be alone. If you can't be happy by yourself, you cannot expect to be happy with another person. Besides, as long as you have a good support system (friends & family, your ambition) then you're good. A relationship should compliment your life, not be a crutch. It's easy to understand why many people are lonely because there's so much emphasis on getting married and having a family that if someone deviates from the norm, it's like they have something wrong with them. It boils down to self-esteem because many people are dependent on another for happiness when that shouldn't be the case. You shouldn't need another person to make you happy, you should be happy within yourself. Once you are happy within, being happy with another person will surely follow. This is like people who say "you complete me." So you're saying you were incomplete in some way before you met him/her? People should already be complete within themselves. It's when you're complete within yourself, that another person can truly...truly compliment your life.

You know I have to do it....