I'm back from my epic 3 week adventure in my homeland, America. I'd been gone about 1 1/2 years, which is probably the longest I've been away from home continuously in my life. (shouts out to my military friends who do this all the time while putting their lives on the line BTW)
I went back home with pride in my heart and a "mission accomplished" sign around my neck. I'd set off to JapanLand in October 2008 to live my dreams, and had nothing except 2 suitcases, and a junior high school teaching job. I came back with RAN Magazine, Lion 会話, and StreetSideMedia日本.
But home has this funny way of not really caring where you've been or what you've done; you're still J7 with the big ears, funny teeth and goofy laugh that you've always been. You're still cousin J with a drivers license and free time, so can you please take me to my basketball tryouts 'cause no one else feels like it. You're still bro-ham, and I need to get $5 for the bus and a KFC snacker. You're still lil J, so come to the store and help me with the groceries.
I'm still my mama's son--so I rolled the dumpster to the curb on trash day and I ran all sorts of errands. My brother works his ass off doing lots of double shifts so I took his wife to her doctor appointments. My other brother does lots of business traveling so I could only hook up with him after 11pm in Waffle House or Taco Mac. And we still some broke @$$ Negroes, so I had to give some of them some loot to make ends meet.
My Scinergy car club brothers and sisters are still building rides you wish you owned, and even though I'm gone over here, Im never forgotten. Thanx for that guys-- you all are the reason I never totally went insane when I was there. I knew David, Christy, lil Steve, Rabid, Geoff and the Slays would always have some shenanigans planned to take my mind off my worries.
My brothers-- Tony, Logan and Brian. I wouldn't be this far without y'all. I know I give y'all hell but it's only 'cause I love y'all. I want ALL of us to shine. Being poor and black from St Louis is not an excuse, and staying that way is not an option. Know that. Let's get it, but let's get it together.
Of course my Mama, Pop, Granny, Grandad... I miss yall the most. I want y'all to come over here and see why I love this place. And I especially want y'all to know that i'd never have contemplated having the ability to be here without the constant pushing and prodding when I was a kid. I love y'all
To my lil ones behind me: Brannon, LeAsia, Devan, Nganda, and Waithera... Use me as an example. Know that nothing is impossible without a lot of hard work and a little luck. Fight for your beliefs. Even if you're the only person that believes, then it's worth it. Find your passion and embrace it.
Bottom line-- ain't $#¡+ really changed. I moved a few thousand miles away, but when I come back, I'm still J7, and that's how it's s'posed to be--good and bad. That's how home has got to be. Never-changing and Always-changing at the same time.
Location:Nagoya City,Japan
This is an experiment of sorts to try to tie together my online identity and my offline personality. I've made plenty of business oriented sites, but I have never actually put together one for myself personally... With the advent of social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace along with blog sites like Blogger and Twitter, I find that I have cut a wide swath here in the internet, in terms of being actively online, but there isn't one place to really tie that information together. So this will be an attempt at doing so.