My Cousin Tyane

So my cousin caught the blogging bug and saw fit to write the following post. Do know that she's writing from my perspective lol. Enjoy!

Today I am relaxing with my little cousin.I live with her in New York as I previously said in other blogs.She usually bugs me but is hilarious.My cousin's name is Tyane. Tyane tells me she is a drama queen.She won the spelling bee in her school but went to a different one and sadly lost on the word hammock which she spelled h-a-m-i-c.
Tyane is a cool 10 year old who loves to be a creeper. She calls me "Dave the simple going guy" and believes I am a young grasshopper. I call Tyane"Tyane the cool creeper and I think she is a young grasshopper as well.She loves a boy band named one direction. Whenever I do conference calls for work and I tell Tyane it's with U.K men she immediately asks if I can ask them for tickets to one direction concerts. Tyane and her best friend make funny faces to creep me out. Tyane and her best friend make items out of duct tape.
Tyane and I love to bake cookies and I like to tease her and eat it on her old Dora the explorer plate and use her old matching cup. Also I help her with her homework, mostly her projects. She claims she doesn't like one her classmates because his projects come out better than hers and his parents do most of the work.
In conclusion, Tyane is spectacular and makes me smile everyday.She makes my stay here better every day and she is the best cousin ever.Like A Boss!!!!!😃😃😝😝😛😝😜😜😃😃😉😉☺️☺️😊😊✌️✌️👍👍


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First Day Anxiety

Tomorrow I start my first day officially employed as an analyst at KQ Freeman Run. (You didn't really think I would name my firm now would you?). Grant it, I've been working at KQFR since March of last year and only recently transferred to the NJ office but as a temp. While my role and responsibilities won't change significantly (if at all), my life has changed dramatically. Firstly I've left my parents' home, left my home church of 23 years, and left the best group of friends ever for the big city, New York City that is. Currently, I reside with my uncle, his wife and daughter and having left my family it sure helps to be in a family setting as I transition into independence.

In the next couple of months, I hope to have secured my "bachelor pad." I've been scouring Craigslist to see what my money could get me--needless to say that even with the new salary I'll still be living modestly lol. I'm vacillating between a studio or a one bedroom apartment but we'll see. It's a stressful process but I'm going to trust God in that my steps are ordered and that even includes where I lay my head at night.

Again, this new job has pulled me from Philly to NYC, out of my old church and now into a new one. I can truly say I'm blessed there and enjoy the teachings and inspirations it receive on a weekly basis. I'm learning so much and it's been but 6 weeks!!! To Him be all glory, honor, and praise. Amen.

With the new role comes new money and the ability to do new things in an amazing city. There are so many things I want to do--martial arts, French lessons, attend concerts and other forms of the arts. The list is endless! I just got to find folk to join me lol. The job also comes with 3 weeks of paid time off so I look forward to traveling this year. My prior roles were all temporary/contracts. In the event I didn't work, I didn't get paid so taking time off wasn't much of an option.

Equally important with this new role is the ability to begin planning for family life. On previous salaries I couldn't possibly consider getting married, let alone having a girlfriend (they cost money! Lol).

The list can go on and on but I'll stop it there. While some folks may be led to see a job as merely a paycheck, mine affords me so much more. I'm grateful for the opportunities granted to me by God. I'm sure that He'll continue blessing me!

Off to bed I go--I've got a big first day tomorrow!

-Dave aka General Maximus


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"Sometimes being alone....Ain't always wrong"

Can I be frank?

I'm lonely. I'm alone. I'm uncertain as to which of those statements sounds less desperate but I'm definitely not that! I just find myself in an interesting point in life where I'm not surrounded by the slew of friends and familiar (root word being family) faces that make it that I never feel alone (or lonely). I guess it's part of growing up. Folks who truly know me know me (that sounds weird saying know me 2x) to always be around friends or communicating with them via cellular device and/or social media. Having left the city of brotherly love for the city that never sleeps, I'm quite a way's travel to my friends, the best group of friends a young man could ask for might I add! Couple that with the fact that I'm no longer the social butterfly whose wings fluttered so elegantly, I think I've transitioned out of that phase of life. Who would've thought? My parents occasionally voiced their concerns that I was too involved with friends and would miss out on great life opportunities for the sake of my social life. I can't comment on their concerns but I certainly attest to the sheer social exhaustion that occasionally overtakes me now and the problems that it dealt me, particularly with members of the opposite sex. I'm certainly not the kid I was a few years back, I can bet you that much.

Nowadays I find myself marching to the drum of my own beat and I love its sounds if I do say so myself!!! As I march, I'm finding that I'm transitioning out from Social Dave, everybody's BFF Dave to just Dave and at the appropriate time, relationship Dave to Married Dave and then Married...with Children! Lol. Honestly, I'm welcoming those new titles with open arms, trusting it's the will of God. I think I've transitioned quite well from the young lad who once was insecure, uncertain of himself and incapable of committing to anything or anyone. While that was certainly a painful time for myself and other parties, I think that it was necessary for growth and achievement and I'm loving the man I'm becoming more and more!

As I continue to transition from the former Dave, I humbly await her arrival. Who is she? I cannot say. I can speculate but what purpose would that serve? And because I wait for her, I cannot remain the as the former Dave, the socialite. I received a lot of criticism for having too many lady friends regardless of how innocent they were. I'm also finding that women in my age bracket are waiting for "him" and nobody's really interested in "just chillin" or being friends. Those things are officially overrated to me lol. With that said, I seldom reach out to my single friends of the opposite sex. Don't take it personal but I don't want to "test" or casually date. My few attempts failed miserably and God keeps reminding me (whether in my spirit man or through His messengers) that I'm not cut for the dating game so I'll humbly bow out, sit tight and wait for her. In the interim, I'll embrace my singleness in ministry, professional endeavors and other self-cultivating activities (i.e. attaining financial stability, hobbies, learning to cook, etc.)

I'll be fine. God is with me, molding me as He sees fit. And when He thinks that I'm lonely, He'll send her, that I'm certain. Until then, "sometimes being alone ain't always wrong."

-DJL


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On the Cusp of Turning 27

I turn 27 tomorrow God willing. While I'm doubtful that I'll experience something dramatic overnight that'll make me feel or know that I've turned 27, I'm excited nonetheless at what the new year will bring. I tell most folk that after turning 25 life took a steady pace, one in which I was more cognizant of my environment and gauge my maturity from my youthful ways and thought. My 26th year was quite eventful as well (see blog "This is a New Year for love, Love in the Future"). The wonderful thing about having a birthday so close to the new year is that rather than joining the rest of the world in declaring a New Years resolution, I can simply make declarations in my 27th year. So this year I've got a few things on my agenda and I figured I'd mention them here to keep me honest and you informed as well. Do understand that these are in no particular order. I had originally intended to try and amass 27 goals but that's a far stretch lol.

• Get my own place. 
• Learn to cook meals other than breakfast lol.
• Join a gym or fitness center of some sort out here in NYC. The kid has put on a few pounds smh. 
• Be consistent in my tithes and offerings to God. 
• Open a 401K and make the highest contribution possible.
  Go to professional sports game. I've never done that in my 26 years. 
• Become a better Bible student. 
• Learn to really play bass. Yes I know this has been on my list forever lol. 
• Visit Haiti. 
• Visit another country. 
• Attend an opera or show on Broadway. 
• Walk across one of NY's bridges. 
• Be baptized in the Holy Spirit with the manifestation of speaking in heavenly tongues. 
• Visit a few museums. 
• Step up my wardrobe (once the pounds are shed of course). 
• Enter in a relationship with the woman who's to be my wife. Yea that's a big one y'all lol. 
• Visit my bro in Cali. 
• Read and blog more. I've been taught since grade school that in order to be a better writer one must be well read. 

That's all I've got for now folks! Gotta brace myself to undertake these things with the understanding that I can only do so by God's grace as I'm not guaranteed tomorrow. To Him be all glory, honor and praise forever. Amen.

-General Maximus

"Measure Twice. Cut Once."

A phrase often used by contractors as a guideline for carpentry. It works to minimize risk error when ting sheet rock, piping, wood blocks, etc. I'm no carpenter but I think I need to apply this same philosophy to my own life. Too often have I miscalculated some of my own actions and like a carpenter who improperly cuts material, I'm left with pointless pieces or the need to get more material, incurring further expenses.



I need to think more like a carpenter. While I do believe everything happens for a reason and that God has orchestrated the details of my life, I tend to make careless mistakes that leave me frustrated, borderline depressed and sometimes heartbroken. How much of these could I have spared myself or those around me?!



(Repeats to self) "Measure twice. Cut once. Measure twice. Cut once. Measure twice. Cut once."



By George I think he's got it!!!



(F train whisks into the subterranean abyss.)

"This is a new year, for love, love in the future......" - John Legend

Today marks the first day of 2014. As usual, I bring each year to a close in church only this year I was in Brooklyn and not Philadelphia. As I made the 20 mile commute to my new home in Queens, I thought to myself, why sleep when I could blog? 2013 ended too quickly for me to reminisce the various happenings in my life over the year. What better way to document it and gauge progress in 2014 than this entry? In 2013 I maintained a healthy dosage of ups and downs:

• I swore I was starting in the NYPD academy in January 2013 only to be wait listed for July. That was a serious bummer as I was looking for it to relieve me of my dead-end, pennies-paying job at the Media Courthouse. Not long after I contemplated becoming a pizza delivery man to make ends meet but The Lord came through with the consulting opportunity at JP Morgan. Starting there brought an end to my retails days at Banana Republic. 7 years off and on. That's a long time! 
• I managed to grow a full beard not once but twice in 2013! I also made the switch from glasses to contacts, hopefully I can shed the "Arthur" moniker lol. I was blessed with the chance to walk in my twin's wedding in the Dominican Republic. That was an AWESOME trip! Some time after that I decided to go bald, one of the best decisions of my life apart from the contacts. 
• And then with 2-3 weeks left of the year, I made the leap to NYC. 

Those were the major events but sprawled throughout the year were disappointments like failed possible romances (oxymoron) and losing close friends and severing ties with mere acquaintances. What an interesting year. On the scoreboard of life I'm failing miserably at putting any points up as God is beating me terribly with all the points. I look forward to the ups and downs that 2014 will surely bring. I've tightened my laces and heading back to the court for the next game of pick up with God. 

-Dave aka General Maximus

Too Many Thoughts, Few Means to Release Em

Writing provides an outlet for one who's mind is bombarded with thoughts, ideas, stories, etc. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending how you look at it) I don't have someone to listen to all I have to say, someone to whom I can think aloud so I saw fit to blogging, that way I could keep you (the reader) abreast of what is going on in my mind as I navigate this thing called life in the greatest city on earth, NYC. Yes I know. It's only been 2+ weeks and I've already bought in to the idea that New York is the best city ever. Judge me if you will but if you're of the Caribbean demographic, you know that NYC is too often mentioned synonymously with the US. Yes, the entire United States of America. A bit of a stretch but it happens to be the destination of everyone, from all over the world. So much so that it has become a smorgasbord of ethnicity and often coined as a melting pot of people of various backgrounds and nationalities. Now to address you who's too domesticated to think on the foreign scale, where are many movies and television shows filmed? NYC. For you financiers, the financial capital of the world?  Again, NYC. So to you nay-sayers I urge thee to open your eyes and face the facts. Now that I've proven my case and, should you wish to follow my blogging still, I'll share with you my thoughts and ideas, good times and perhaps some of the bad ones, observations and prayers, and everything else that may come across my mind as I try to make my mark in such a grandiose ville. This city is a beast of its own, far different from anything I've experienced in my 26 years and if I don't tread carefully it'll swallow me whole. I intend to tame this beast to the best of my ability or at the very least live in harmony with it. I'm feeling a bit daring so we'll see what happens. Needless to say I've got the Almighty in my corner so rather than saying the sky is the limit, I'll go a bit further by saying there is no limit! I've said enough--I've got some conquering to do!!!

-Dave aka General Maximus