Suffering is Repeated Until The Lesson is Learned

By Courtney Matthews Roberts

Another tragedy on a grand scale. Is this the first? No. Is this the greatest number? No. Will this be the last? No. We have applied a flawed logic system to these events and linking gun control to the problem whereas mental health has caused the vast majority of all our mass shootings.

 Gun control does not work as someone with a criminal mindset will just procure one illegally. Look at the crime rates in Australia as a result of removing all guns. Home invasions with a firearm and while the home owner is present jumped 300%. That means they quadrupled! If someone is willing to rob a bank they will buy a gun in order to do it. If they are deranged enough to look at a screaming, crying 5 year old child and shoot them they will have no problem buying an illegal weapon to do it. Look to Australia and their, nearly doubled, crime rate after making guns illegal. In 2007 the total number of homicides by guns was right at 9000 but the total number of suicides was almost 33000. With over half of those coming from firearms. Did anyone lose their shit over this? No. Did you hear even ONE politician on mainstream media point out how big a deal this is? No. Instead we talk about gadgets, money, and war. This disgusts me to no end.

This is not meant to detract from the tragedies that have occurred via mass shootings over the years but it does point to a greater problem. Our mental health-care needs some drastic improvement and that doesn't mean just handing out more drugs. Real help for real people. We are going to get more coverage for people as the health-care laws go into effect but that doesn't mean the quality of care will improve. It needs to on all levels. Nearly every mass shooting has been committed by a person with mental issues requiring much more than Kleenex Tissues.

 As far as gun control goes look at the studies done on violent crime rate compared to the percentage of gun owners and you will see the countries with higher gun ownership have less crime committed with guns. Understood there are numerous social and economical differences that can't be accounted for numerically, like Sweden's mandatory service laws, but you would be surprised how much of a difference it makes when the criminal element knows most people are carrying a firearm. Removing guns does not equate to removing crime. How any thinking person can somehow come to that conclusion is mind boggling. In our very own state this was proven.

 For some Georgia news in 1982, Atlanta suburb Kennesaw required all households to have a gun. The residential burglary rate subsequently dropped 89 percent in Kennesaw, compared to the modest 10.4 percent drop in Georgia as a whole. Ten years later the residential burglary rate in Kennesaw was still 72 percent lower than when the ordinance was passed. I am NOT advocating this as a solution (I think it was actually fairly irresponsible to force people to have a gun in the home) merely using it to point the flawed thinking that removing guns will somehow make us safer.

 Researcher Gary Kleck found that 92 percent of criminal attacks are deterred when a gun is merely shown (or, rarely, a warning shot fired). By inference, this means that open carry would have the effect of deterring crime in the same way that a thief might choose another restaurant when he sees police eating at his intended target. A 1985 Department of Justice survey of incarcerated felons reported that 57 percent of the felons polled agreed that "criminals are more worried about meeting an armed victim than they are about running into the police." (I would love to quote a more recent source but we don't poll inmates that often, this is probably something we should do more of)

 There are 135 million gun owners in this country and over 300 million people in it. That means only 43% of the country owns guns and those that do own an average 2 firearms. We have nearly made them a taboo in some states and thankfully the supreme court turns over the no handgun laws. When open carry laws were passed each and every state saw reduced crime rates for everything from theft and rape to murder and grand larceny. If we make firearms a taboo we shouldn't be surprised when the criminal or mentally distressed persons make exclusive use of them. We are the most violent and destructive race on the planet, violence is almost second nature to us.

 I think we are moving in the right direction with the decriminalization of naturally existing drugs, nearly universal health-care, and allowing medical research that was once banned. I think that we should educate people more, teach better ways of dealing with life from a young age, advance people's personal liberties, ensure basic needs are met, and show true concern for our neighbors that we had only a few generations ago. If we can even just start a few of these things in the coming year this country will change drastically. I believe for the better.

 There are a lot of financial, medical, environmental, social, and governmental reforms that need to happen in this country but we can do it over time. For the sake of our fellow countrymen and children we must. This was made painfully evident to me when traveling overseas with the Navy. I learned why a lot of cultures do not like the way we do things and I saw other ways to live, love, and learn. Some of these things are on a federal level but a lot of things can be done on the local level. Our society has lost sight of a lot of hard learned lessons. We almost love to hate one another and it is tragic.

 We need to stop forcing l people into cliques and alienating the different groups from one another. Compassion and mutual respect comes through understanding; but, fear, hate, and violence comes from alienation. Nowhere is that more evident than our political system and it spreads like a disease to all aspects of our society. This is not some hippy-dippy call for peace and tree hugging. This is meant to be a wake-up call for our country and the world as a whole. Let it be known that all the statements above are not reasons why anyone is wrong but rather things I believe to be true. If you think your ideas are true and mine are false then explain them. I have been wrong many times before and am not afraid to admit it. Healthy debate has been lost in our everyday society, let's change that. Also I apologize for the painful mental image afforded in the first paragraph but it was necessary to convey the point. It disgusts me to even think about it for a moment btw it is something we all must do. Thanks for listening to my stream of consciousness. Some sites you may want to look at as a food for thought are below. Both sides of the fence are supported below.

http://www.fraserinstitute.org/publicationdisplay.aspx?id=13506

http://timelines.latimes.com/deadliest-shooting-rampages/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/14/statistics-firearms-industry_n_2303336.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/its-guns-we-all-know-its-not-really-guns

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20110209-mexicos-gun-supply-and-90-percent-myth

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/08/133505880/at-end-of-the-line-prison-an-unlikely-escape

http://www.policyalmanac.org/crime/archive/firearms_and_crime.shtml

Giving the Game Away: Continuing Education, Watch For The Hook!!!

Hey folks, Imma talk to you on some real live shit right here. See I have given the game away see here, here, and here, so read that shit if you ain’t up on game. Now in the mean time I have been away from the computer you know living life. Cause I mean in order to bring it to you, I got to get it myself ya dig.

You know what I have found?

hands down, chin out, BOOM!!!

I found that no matter how much knowledge you gain on the opposite sex, women will ALWAYS have the upper hand. They make the best liars, cheaters, and all things evil in this world. The only thing we(men)can do is to arm ourselves the best we can. So on that note, if there is anything men need to do is  WATCH FOR THE HOOK

See, men get hooked a couple of different ways, but no one and I mean no one ever gets up in the morning and say’s, “You know what, I want some chick to have me all wide open and shit to where I can’t make a good decision to save my mammy life” So when a guy gets hooked it is just like in Boxing, the hook comes after a well placed set up. Ain’t no chick out there throw’in haymakers hoping for the best and being successful at it. Shit that is what they want you to think.

God said the meek shall inherit the earth, but cold pimpin is only for the strong. Can you dig that?

So let’s get to it, what kind of hooks are we talkin bout Ken?

Calm down, we gonna get into that. First you have to understand how you end up on the hook in the first place. The most common way of being hooked is to disregard the idea of being hooked in the first place. When you think you are above it, you are open for it. Miyamoto Musashi said, “the only sword you see is the one that kills you” But some real pimps said this: 

What that has to do with one another, everything. If you don’t keep your situation in control you are going to wake up one day and realized that every decision you made is based on some sort of hook that got you fucked all the way up.

Everyone gets the hook,

The short hook.

Before we get into this tool used by women, lets talk about how it looks. Imagine yourself at the bar, the club, hell even a covered dish dinner. Now peep that one chick that just has this guy circling around her like a damn satellite infiltrating on all conversations watching the movements of everything happening around and what not? You want to know something about satellites; no one gives a fuck about satellites. So when a chick has that short hook in you, you are pretty much following her around the spot hoping that she gives you a little bit of attention, but really you are just there floating around Hooked…looking like a bitch.

Next on the list is another type of hook that sometimes works in conjunction with the aforementioned hook. I call it the “Fish Hook”, the fish hook just like the actual fish hook used in fishing is a sneaky sum bitch INDEED.

You ever watch fishing on ESPN, me either, but that’s beside the point. The point it, these fish were minding they muthafuckin business when some shit looked good too them, then BLAM!!! They asses got jacked from doing whatever the fuck they was doing and thrown in a cooler with some other BITCH ass fish. This is sad, because the fish actually thought he was coming up on something, but in reality he got HOOKED.

Is this you?

How this works in real life is when chicks that YOU hit up trying to see what’s up ain’t got nothing for ya. I am not saying that playing you like a 10 cent fiddle. Just whenever it is YOUR idea to do something, whether simple or extravagant, bitch is ghost. Now check it, you fuck round and get a call or a text message, and yo ass is jumping like G fo O.

LAME

The worst is that you sit around telling yourself that it’s ok, you weren’t doing anything to begin with so it’s not like you are going out cause she is making you do it. I mean, hell I was just gonna sit back and see what some other chicks that might actually be down to get it in, but I been trying to get at this one for a minute so you know Imma fucks with her, you know…So here you are scrambling to get to the spot so you can stand in line to talk to this chick…and every other dude that she has texted to meet her at the spot, lookin like a REAL BITCH, that’s you. You make me sick.

I told you, women got this shit in their DNA. Now don’t do anything stupid like try to tell a chick this is what she doing, cause you fucking up on two fronts. 1. You trying to tell a chick what to do, and that never works out in your favor unless your pimpin is on the STRONGEST level. 2. This is instinctual; she can no more control this than a dog can control the urge to lick his nuts. You know, like trying to tell a dude not to eye fuck that chick in the sundress walking around campus. We gonna do it cause the option is that we have no options.

See right about now, I got some readers out there saying, “Ken, you on some other shit. I got plenty of girls that are just my friends”. My response would be, “Yeah one time I slapped the shit out of chuck Norris” then you would say, “What does that have to do what I just said”, and I would say, “Oh, I thought we were just sitting around talking about shit that ain’t true.

the best of the worst situation

But the whole concept of male/female platonic relationships I will tackle another day, but for right now; if you one of those people that believe the women that you call friends are friends. You have been Grappling hooked.

Now a grappling hook is an awesome invention. Ninjas, to Vikings, to cat-burglars all utilize this to get where they need to go or drag what they want to them. Either way, the grappling hook makes everything “At Arms Length” Can you dig it? See, cats playing that position have it in their minds that all they got to do wait and sooner or later they are going to get theirs…and they are right.

Here’s the thing, I have seen a lot of shit in my short time on this earth, but I ain’t never seen anyone cook a meal, one dish at a time. So to be honest being on that grappling hook isn’t the worse situation to be in as long as you got other things going on. Otherwise you are going to be that guy showing up to the spot with a chick that everyone thinks you are with  for about the length it takes for you to walk from the car to the bar and order one drink and after that, you look’in like a real BITCH. Mainly cause she gonna let everybody know passively, unless she on some real disrespectful shit, that yall ain’t nothing. Now if you actually got some business about yourself you are going to find another female to strike up a conversation with, cause posting up at the bar waiting to talk to a chick that is not trying to talk to you is not the move. Nowhere on this earth is that the move, even in togo.

prison(cough)I mean home

The last hook, and probably the most dangerous of them all is a sky hook.

This shit right here, metaphorically speaking, is the worst shit in existence. I mean, in real life the sky hook can lift any problem and take them somewhere else. Seriously, got to move a house but you not trying to drive, get a sky hook. Got some tanks that need to get over this mountain, get a sky hook. Hey guys, you want to find a way to never be able to make a decision without having to text, call, finesse, the wife/girlfriend? Go and get yourself sky hooked.

The good news is that you will never have to worry about anything cause she got you, the bad news is that she got you, and there is nothing you can do about it. It’s like you still living in the house, but if the house you living in was underneath a helicopter 20,000 feet in the air, you aren’t living. You are now TRAPPED.

Ok, maybe it ain’t exactly like that, but I know too many guys out there secretly suffering in their relationships. Sure they aren’t exactly unhappy, but at the same time, they aren’t getting exactly everything they want. Now, men never claimed to be complicated. There is only a few things a woman needs to do in order to keep her man happy. Laugh at his jokes, have a suggestion if what he suggested isn’t yo thang, and give us a blow job without us having to ask for it. Seriously, you want to see an immediate change in your mans behavior, give’em some head out of no where.

But that’s the thing about being sky hooked, you have to ask for everything. If you not asking for whatever it is you want to do, you are doing it with the knowledge that you are going to have to pay for this down the road.

In my personal experience having fun without your lady present is the most expensive tax that can be levied on an individual.  Sky hooked folks know what I am talking about, you got to work twice as hard to get out the house half as much, just to get a little time with the bro’s and your phone best be charged and text messages best be returned promptly, and that is if you get to go in the first place.

Remember guys, whatever situation you are in, it’s YOUR FAULT. Don’t let my words be mistaken for me placing blame on women for being women; I am placing blame on you because walked into this head first.

So now you know, and what you do with the situation is entirely up to you(don’t be a bitch).

Oh and follow ya boy on Instagram @KenNitro I think I'm loving that more than twitter

KenNitro Vs The Facility: I Lied To Myself

Last year, I can't really even say when but a friend of mine by the name of Jimmy James Jordan made a suicide pact. The deal was that if we were working at the Facility by the end of the summer we were going to kill ourselves. The best part was that the big homie Furious George overheard the conversation and was like, "Dude can I get in on that?"

I know, joking about suicide is never the right thing to do, but If you work were I work at the seriously inappropriate, becomes seriously funny. Truth is, work wasn't fun anymore.

And here is why.

See working on the island, a name that I came up with in order to talk about work without the haters finding out, We brought order to chaos and brought civility to the savages. For almost 2 years we kept it in check without a leader or supervisor or any of those things that sometimes ruin a good time.

Now, this is going to go all over the place but in the end, it is going to all make sense.

One day, in a side conversation I am told that an individual who is considered "Strong Staff"(basically someone that is able and capable) was making a move to another department and that I should keep that to myself because "them folks"(quite possibly the people in charge of the department that they were moving from) were unaware of the head fake. At the same time rumors of a team leader position opening up on the island, thunderdome, and the berry. See, them folks had already removed one of the island's best and moved him over there as the team leader, the person that they wanted to be on the berry actually turned it down, and the island chosen leader had an issue with a background check so they were back to square one.

At this point everyone on this island, decided to apply for this job, considering the fact that we all have been working solidly together, and that no one(including the kids)wanted to have to deal with an outsider coming in trying to take over. The crazy part was that no one got an interview.

STOP

You mean to say, that a whole department of people, who them folks would point out that we have more experience collectively on campus than any other real, no one got an interview?

Ok, so they hire this guy, nice guy. Really good friends with the person that I mentioned earlier that gave me the low down on about that strong staff moving to a different department. I basically trained him to be my boss, I say basically cause for a hot second no one wanted to work with him period.

Ken's a team player

While all of this was going on, yours truly was trying to get in as a CSI(community support individual)because it paid more, gave me more control of my hours, and I would get to work with kids individually. To be honest, everyone I know that knows me was soooo supportive of that move, but for the longest time I could not get that interview. I had all the main parts, two years working direct care, psych/soci degree(I have a minor), but the fact was I had all the puzzle pieces. So what was the deal?

Apparently, Eric Banks, the gentlemen that was my boss, allegedly would purposely ask CSI not hire people from direct care, due to the long process of hiring, training, and cultivating "Strong Staff". He didn't want them leaving the units for a job that paid more, less hours, more control of your life. And somehow all of this was suppose to be a testament as to how good I was on the unit, that I can't leave cause I am sooooooo good at my job.

BITCH PLEASE

So I finally got an interview for the CSI gig, and if you ask me I killed it. Hell, that is the only info I know cause afterwards I didn't hear anything else about it, NO FEEDBACK, positive or negative. It is like I just sat in this chicks office and shot the shit about how awesome I am, how I have a positive rapport with all of the kids, and how that because I live close in the community I am available and capable of showing kids alternative and positive ways of dealing with society.

The best part is that the person doing the hiring sees me in the hallway weeks later with shit to say to me. That's fine, I know what it is. One of the people that I trust the most at work advised me to follow up with her and see what's going on, but I can't do that.

I already have a job here.

If I was trying to get in then me calling and following up would be a top priority, but I am already on the payroll. It takes all of 10 minutes out of the day to say, "Ken, kick rocks" or "Ken, you in" and get dat thang moving, but instead you want to look me in the eye and act as if I never interviewed for the shit.

"Ken, you are entirely to brilliant to work here"- Brother Swanson
"Ken, I never did half the shit you did, but I have gotten twice the credit for it"- Coach
"Ken, the problem is that you do stuff that gets you respect from your coworkers, but not the people in the front office" Todd da bodd

Not my words, but the words of people I work with.

We haven't even gotten to the GOOD SHIT yet.

Ok, so after I came back from vacay out there in San Francisco with the big home Mean Gene Lantern, I came back to find my schedule looking like this: 7am-10am Monday-Friday with an 7-3 shift on saturday and sunday off. I was originally like, "Oh yall trying to set a nigga up fo the okey doke" See, I've seen this before. The supervisor on the island before the shift in reality once took me off the schedule for two weeks and then was trying to fill out "job abandonment" paperwork cause I took the time off to go out of town for a LOOONNNGGG MINUTE. So when I see this, I start thinking geometrically. No one at the facility ever gets fired for one particular thing. What happens is that they make the decision to fire you over an issue, and then six or so months later they have The Good King come and do the dirty work, and that is if they at least respect you. The other option is that they wait for you to mess up just enough, and then they over play their hand and the only way they can clean it up is to hit you with the "You've been late to work" program.

So you know what I did?

I acted on the situation, but did not react to it.

And this is what happened.

I endeared myself to the people around me. Everyone was happy that there was a person that was able and capable(at the same damn time), the kids were upset to have a second shift GOD OF WAR live and in color early in the morning, but they learned to love it. There is a difference between "The staff" and "THE STAFF". So I would work these punk ass three hour shifts to death, and with very little clock riding...I mean cause I still had the rest of the day to do whatever I wanted. Granted, I had shift a few priorities, but I bought my TV and Xbox knowing a day would come where the only entertainment I could afford would be netflix and video games.
So I rode this out until I got an answer to the question about this totally crazy shift. As it turned out, they were needing a 5th person and they didn't want to put anyone new in that slot and the GOOD KING knew that if  I didn't like it I would tell him, but you know what happened.

I loved it.

Then my co-worker whom for the most part never had much to say to me started to get along and it was good, then she got fired.

So this threw my strange 7am-10am shift, that I was able to totally hang with the TRUTH CREW during got turned into a 7-3 monday through friday. So I am working this job that I have now been thrown into and when it finally came up to apply for I really didn't feel any sort of way about it, until one of the nurses stopped me in the hallway and told me how she felt like I was doing a great job and that I should definitely apply for the position. So I did, I figured if someone actually went out of their way to give me a compliment, I must be doing something right.

So I apply for it

Like I tend to do with any opportunity. I feel like I am a shoe in due to the fact that I am already working the job, I have great relationships with the people that are already in that position, the unit itself has improved with my added presence, and I would finally get a schedule that would allow me to get back to what I love, doing the MARTIAL ARTS. So while all this is happening, word on the street is that they already have who they want chose, and the fix was in! Now, I love honesty, and if that is what it is, let me know, there is no point in fighting a battle if there is ABSOLUTE ZERO chance of winning, unless you want your feelings hurt.

So I asked the Good King what the deal was, and he assured me that to the best of his knowledge the fix was not in and if it was in, he would tell me. That's what I love about that man, no homo.

I turn in all the necessary paperwork, and now I wait, and this is where the fuckery came into play.

The downside to this job was a pay cut, which didn't bother me, because I get paid in peanut shells anyway. So the idea of half of my peanut shells being small rocks was not a big deal to me. However, this was a deal breaker for another candidate...See, there is absolutely no way I can write the next paragraph without me feeling like I am actually hurting someones feelings. I know, I know, I can write what I want and they probably won't see it, but how people feel about the stuff I do has never really concerned me. How I feel about how I do things on the other hand is a big percentage of what I do, so I am going to skip to the interview part of the story.

So on the day of the interview, I brought my favorite purple button down, I normally roll the sleeves up and wear my favorite black cuff, in my rapture jeans and square toes, I am nothing short of unstoppable. I came dressed in the Strength Based Uniform, black shirt, jeans, and sneakers. See I come to work to work, not impress, and if I wear it to work, that means I am okay with it being ripped, spit, bleed, etc. The funny part is that every time I was about to go suit up, I ended up having to hold some kid cause of some issue. I am looking at the clock and I have 10 minutes to get up the hallway, but right now I got this kid held and he refuses to utilize some coping skills so I can go attempt to do something with MY LIFE...breathe out.

So after I get this kid right, I show up to the interview still rockin the Strength Based Uniform, and I explain that I had planned to dress up for this interview, but I just got out of my second hold this morning. We shared a polite laugh at the lunacy of actually trying to plan anything if you work in mental health and we got right into the interview.  Now, if there is one thing in this world I am good at, is the interview. I have legit answers, shared experience, and a personality that compliments any work environment. I felt as though no of the questions were pertinent to the job, my favorite was, "Why do you want to be a CCWI" (don't worry about what that means), and my response was simple but profound. I didn't know I wanted to be one until I was put in that position when my coworker was fired, and all the positive feedback I was getting got me thinking that this was a good move for me to make. Now, the inevitable question came early,


 "You are flex(part-time), and you have had chances to go full time before, why now?"

Hell, aside from the fact that the hours are awesome and I would be able to live some semblance of a life I am accustomed too, I actually create a positive environment on any unit I work on, who do you think named the island the island? Who was the go to guy for the thunderdome way back when? Me, that's who. That and the fact that as a part time employee I can dictate my own vacation, without having to go through the red tape because in theory I am only suppose to work as needed, but the twist is that mental health has such a high turnover rate, and strong staff(capable and able)are so hard to cultivate, the smart move is to always keep me on the squad, otherwise you risk chaos on the shift.

Now apparently during one of their meetings about this whole situation my dedication to the job came into question, see even though I work, 40 hrs a week, outlasted around 12-15 other "full time" people working in the thunderdome, and done some amazing things single handidly, is not enough to prove my worthiness for a position that would ultimately make me happy.

FUCK OUTTA HERE

So I finish the interview and go on about my day.

A week later the lady that interviews me comes while I am doing the job that I just recently applied for and tells me that they went with the other candidate due to seniority. What? I can't even begin to articulate how I felt when I was given this bowl of bullshit, but I just remembered a lesson I learned as a kid which was,"If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all". So I just responded with, "Oh, okay". So now when the guy that got the job that everyone applied for, that no one got interviewed for came into work, I casually told him who the new CCW1 was and why they were chosen over me. He looked at me and said,"Well she has been here a while". I very calmly looked at him and said, "If seniority really meant anything around here, I would have YOUR job". He looked at me sighed and said, "yeah that's true".  I left early that day. I was real life upset, and if you know me, you know that I don't apologize for anything I say, because I meant it when I said it, and I was in a real truth telling mood.

Now, let me say this, I do not in any way hold the individual that got the job over me responsible for any of this. After all, they applied for a job, just like me.  What I am upset is the fact that I lied to myself was about the fix being in. I lied to myself thinking that hard work, being reliable, a team player, and all of that jazz would pay off in the end. Remember how earlier I mentioned how I was just patient enough to find out what was up with such a weird ass schedule in the first place. Well, I found out how I became collateral damage on an even bigger fix, but I can't write about what will happen, just what already has.

So what does this mean to you, the reader, if you actually got this far?

I don't know. I personally just want to work at a job where I can be creative and not have to fall victim to the political bullshit at a job. I want a job where a manager or leader or whoever is not afraid of my desire to make things better, because of how threatened they feel.  I do know this though, I am done applying for Jobs at the facility. Hell, I am done with working past my potential there, I am actually done with that place all together.

And thus my journey begins again.

An EPIC poem: By KenNitro

The Constantly Burning Building

There was once a man, and like most men he aspired to be many things, but above all he simply wished to create and be a part of something magical. One day, the man, like others before him made a decision. He decided to build a tower that all could see.  Many people supported, discouraged, and were sometimes indifferent to his pursuit, but as these people’s feelings changed about his quest to build this tower, his resolve did not.

One day, on a day like most, but different from others, this man, this would be architect met someone. Someone so different but undertaking a similar endeavor as he. “Oh how the GODS favor me”, he exclaimed! “You wish to create, and be a part of something magical, surely we were placed on our paths at a time when we would meet at this precise moment”. “We are meant to create”

“And so we shall” she said, four words said with the warmth of the sun shining on your face. This man, captured in this moment went to work, and he constructed a tower. A rather simple tower, but a tower none the less. He was pleased, while he knew in his heart of hearts that this tower, a rather simple tower but a creation that he created none the less was not what he imagined, his resolve did not falter.  He turned to his partner, this celestial being whose words were physically warm and said, “This tower for now, will suffice, but I assure you, we will build upon this and it will become more grand than the grandest of all things”

She smiled, This smile, that was strong enough to quell the frustrations of monetary inequalities, the smile that assured this man that he was more than capable, the very same smile that kept him focused when it seemed as though the universe itself meant to divide his attention.

And with that assurance, he went to sleep.

The next day approached as was expected, like any other day, and this man woke, like most others. As went to where his tower, the rather simple structure, stood, he found nothing but ashes.  His tower had been burned down. He lay in the ashes for the entire day, reflecting on where he went wrong, speculating on who would commit such an affront. Wondering where his muse was.  He found his resolve, shocked that what he thought was days gone by were simply hours.

Acquiesced that the tower’s apparent destruction was due to his own imprudence and not the desires of others, he began anew. Before rebuilding the tower, not the rather simple structure that it was, this man decided to venture out into the world and see the towers that have built around him. He traveled far, and saw many towers that were constructed during his travels. He learned from their builders, for they all have had a tower burn. Some knew that they were the cause of the destruction of their previous towers, and they somehow continued to make the same mistakes this was evident by the rock piles surrounding the current edifice.

Others whom had the misfortune of their towers being burned, struck by lightning, swallowed by earthquakes or an infinite combinations of calamity’s took the time to learn from their blunders and their towers were strong, so strong that this man stood in awe. He said to himself, “Yes! YES!!!, this is what a proper tower looks like” This new tower of mine will be just as this one, and he set out to return to his homeland with this new vision. As the time went by he laughed to himself at how proud he was of the first tower, a rather simple structure, but one that he created none the less, and he remembered the warmth he felt from the celestial being that was present at the inception and at moments throughout his endeavor he wondered where she was.

One day he took a break, while he had yet to break a sweat, this day like any other day, was just a too beautiful to spend it working. This day reminded him of her, how her mere presence made everyday feel just like this exact moment. He looked to the sun and covered his eyes, and while tearing from looking directly in the sun’s rays, he said to himself, “We were suppose to create” and as he began to go back to work he heard a voice behind him say, “And so we shall”.

And there she was, and as elated as he was to see her return, he was equally vexed by her abrupt exodus and her subsequent reappearance. He wanted to verbalize his frustrations at the destruction of the first tower, as well as his travels, and he wanted to know why she took herself away from him. He was so happy to be angry.

Then she smiled, she smiled that reassuring smile, and his anger faded away, the way the fog swallows up a person as they walk deeper into it. She asked, “How did you do this without me? I thought we were going to create something magical”. The man, stopped and said, every day has been for you, every day I hoped for you’re returned. With all things in place, he set a pace and produced a tower even grander than the one he originally emulated. This tower, much more complex than the previous one was in fact something to be proud of.

And this man was captivated, not so much because of the tower, he was just as proud of the first tower, he was happy that she was happy, and it seemed as the world itself was in agreement with him.  Every day was just as warm as the day this celestial muse returned to him, They spent many days in the tower feasting one’s eyes on the landscape and each other. After a long day, like many others before, he went to sleep, and slept the sleep of gods. All things in place where they should, surely he is favored.

And when he arrived the next day, he once again saw his tower, burned to the ground. This time, there was more of it left than the complete engulfment of the first tower, that rather simple structure. This one was much more complex, and he was happy that there were remains for him to inspect. As he sifted through the remains he found parts that had little damage, that could be salvaged, and some that could not be saved. The parts of the tower that could not be saved puzzled him the most, some parts he was willing to admit he rushed in the procurement of the best materials, but what he had used was by no means cheap! The parts that he could not use appeared to have been burning on the outside, where as the more salvageable parts seemed to have been burning from the inside.

Where was she? Surely she has not left me again, taken away from me her warmth, her passion, and left me with the cold. The cold air, the cold ground, this cold heart. With those three things he started a new journey, in an effort to find a clear path. He wore his heaviest coat, to protect him from all things. As the wind blew he clutched his coat so that no part of his flesh would be in contact with the elements, the same ones that he felt showed him so much favor, now he felt as though they shunned him.

As he traveled this cold, cold, path, he came to a tower that was as magnificent as it was menacing. The tower reached high into the night sky and stretched far into the horizon.  This man, whom had built two towers, one very simple, and the other quite complex, was in awe.  So he called up to the man, hoping that he would come down off his tower and converse with him. Oh, how this man wanting to speak with the creator of this tower. By looking at it, he knew that this structure was high enough to withstand the most terrible floods, sturdy enough to endure the most awesome of earthquakes, and strong enough to withstand the vilest of fires.

No one answered. This man, waited. He waited, and while the angry wind tried to blow him away, he waited. The coldest of rain attempted to drown him, he endured. He called several times and while he thought only a short time had passed as he waited he was quite surprised to feel the warm sun under his heavy coat. This man, frustrated to no end threw his coat and said, “The hell with it then”

With that, he made his journey home. This time, with the heat bearing down upon him, He set out to build another tower, and this would be the last one.  With a passion that bordered on madness, he excavated the largest amount of earth that one man could do on his one, and built his foundation of the hardest most durable materials. This endeavor took him as long as building the first tower, that rather simple structure, all together. He was happy with that, at this point that tower, the one that he was so proud of, he held in such disgust. How can you have a tower without a strong foundation, he cursed himself for not thinking of this, the first, and second time around.

. The material, the hardest and most durable that he could find, was also the smoothest. There was no way a fire would dance on this terra firma. He then built the first floor, which the walls were there to really hold up the door, which upon viewing it up close or from afar begged the question, “Is he keeping someone out or in”. The massive lock on it assured him that it knew its purpose, and would not fail him. From there, he built a monstrous winding staircase and every three hundred or so stairs there was a smaller massive door with a smaller massive lock, and they all knew their purpose.

At the top sat his sanctuary, from there he was able to see all things in all directions. His tower or more correctly his obelisks was complete, and this man, like most men, still felt as if he was lacking, but this man, like others did not let this visibly effect him. Then one day he grasped the image that had been eluding him for so long. The fence was built in practically no time.

The fence, which was rather simple in design, but practical none the less, was bizarre to anyone that looked upon it. What could this fence do, that the massive door with the huge lock could not already do?  Either way, this man was satisfied with what he has created.

Then she came back, again. What she came back too was far beyond what she imagined. She stood outside of the fence and looked up at this obelisk. She shouted for the man, the one that had felt so loved by the world, but felt so shunned by it. She entered through the fence and stood in front of the door, but it did not budge. She cried out, but it was as if no one heard her. She continued to do so for a short time that felt as if it was a lifetime. As she cried, her tears formed a puddle on the smooth foundation that was what she was standing on. As she wept, the lock, the lock that knew its purpose opened.

Giving The Game Away part 3: Staying In the Winners Circle

So gentlemen, here we are at part three of The Epic Series Giving the Game Away, if you are new to my blog or just want to be caught up you can check out parts one and two at your leisure. Now, I hope that everyone has been having a successful time applying the lessons to your personal life, and I am going to assume that while we are still in the first quarter of 2012 everyone has seen an increase in positive interactions with whomever it is you are trying to get it in with. So while we are on the upside of things I am going to hit you with some continuing education.   See, the whole purpose is to win and winning just demonstrates that you are better than everyone else on this day and after you become the king of the hill, you got to keep everyone else down there at the bottom looking up at you and saying, “there goes the man right there”

In my short time on this earth, I have heard countless women talk about how they want more spontaneity and excitement in their relationships, when you translate it into real English what women are saying is that they want something different.  Now if you have been in a relationship for a hot minute, things tend to go like clockwork and that isn’t a bad thing, but if you already have your lady on a schedule of some type then you have done half the work. All you need to do now is just need to throw something different in there every now and again and BOOM!

there goes the man right there

You are Just the COCK Of The WALK!(in my Ric Flair voice)

What to do different? See this is where men will fail, in an effort to be different you will end up doing the same thing or quite possibly falling into an argument with your lady over the subject because while they can tell you what they don’t want to do, but not offer up any suggestions themselves about what they do want to do, the frustrations will send you back into the comfort zone that they always say they want to shake up.

First off, let’s talk about spontaneity which comes from the word spontaneous which basically means unpremeditated. Now that is what they say, but under that definition when a woman says they want something spontaneous you could just yell at their face for 15 minutes and call it a night. 

True Story.

In reality, they want something different and the easiest thing a guy can do is do something that they are already into and that you aren't.  Seriously, if your girl is into yoga go check out a class, if she is into art find a paint and sip jump off and surprise her with that. Hell all you have to do is whatever it is she does when you are not around with her once or twice every now and again.


EASY!

this is where we are going

Psych!!! Get you some Soft Serve!

Now all of that leads you right into the whole excitement part. That’s just more of that daytime tv, articles written by women to modify mens behavior, jive that at the end of it all means nothing. The only thing you need to do to create this “excitement” is to do something that you all wouldn’t do in the first place. Better yet, changing plans on the fly to some degree to demonstrate that you are willing to go with the flow. Now when I say to some degree, I don’t mean telling her we are going to Pappadeaux and then take them to Zesto, but something along the lines of on the way to where ever we are going, let’s stop here and have a drink or something like that. See, when you start adding variables to an evening that you have already planned it can turn in to a full on ADVENTURE, and what makes an adventure and adventure is the fact that you don’t have a plan.

Remember, you have already won if you think about it; you just have to defend your title and maintain that “Champion” status, and that’s the game right there.

Valentine’s Day Massacre: GETDAFUCKOUTTAHERESON!!!!

I mean this from the bottom of my heart

Seriously, this is by far the worse holiday. You don’t get paid for it, you spend entirely too much on it, and the magnitude of not participating is…well you will never hear the end of it for the rest of the year.  Let’s be honest, this holiday is a lot like diamonds, it only means something if you give it value. Seriously why are diamonds worth anything outside of any industrial value?

Diamonds are not rare, they are not difficult to procure as it relates to other minerals, they aren’t unbreakable…they break, they are just the hardest naturally occurring substance, which is cool, but seriously we have put a man on the moon, before the smartphone was invented. We have turned grown men into hobbits, and host of other innovations that make us way smarter than the people that originally banged some rocks together to make fire (I guess…).  The fact of the matter of is man has created substances that are harder than diamonds, and that diamonds, valentine’s day, and the people that place value on these rocks, are all dumb.

DUMB.

B*tch, Can You Just Be Happy?

Just like women that get pissed when their men don’t come correct on this one particular day want to piss and moan about it for the next 365 days as if this one day is enough to cover that spread. I mean for real, if a guy can treat a woman like a doormat, punching bag, or even a dumb, deaf, and blind woman that owns a liquor store for 364 days and then on one day VIOLA!!! All is forgiven?

COMEONGETTHEFUCKOUTOFHERE!!!!!!!

Women, I need you to understand this, men are constantly skating the fine line of happiness and insanity when it comes to their personal relationships. I mean, let’s be honest, we want you to be happy even if you are bat shit crazy, we want you to be happy, and I have to say that if all you want is one night of appreciation and dedication in excess in lieu of all the other stuff, just say so.

Whatever IT is...Get It Done Already

Did you know in Korea there is a day called white day, it’s like valentine’s day in reverse, where the woman is suppose to get the man a present, but it ends up being another opportunity to capitalize on the desire of men to get a few days or weeks, whatever comes first, of peace and serenity in their personal household. That’s another thing, why is this particular day so dependent on the dude? Seriously, women are making their own money, playing their own games, why not project manage these particular days? Think of the leverage you would get ladies!!!!

Best Holiday EVA!!!!

Men in the end only want a few things , the biggest being a blowjob that we don't have to ask for, but second to that would be to have their ego stroked just a little bit.  It’s not hard, just say we something we did was awesome. 

Anyway

You know valentines day, like everything is rooted in a pagan celebration, just like christmas(for all you Christians out there). This particular day, the one where all you ladies are getting ready to get pampered or get mean, is dedicated to “lupa-the She Wolf”, can you dig that? Now there would be a huge party, like always, and men would run around wearing bloody goat skins, hitting women with goat skins to promote fertility or in modern terms, getting it in.

And Baby, Baby, Baby the Romans knew how to throw a party.

This is Where Your V-days Cards Should Go

See on the 15 of February(the 14 is actually kinda boring), all the names of single ladies were thrown in a box and all the men’s names were thrown into another one, they got matched up and they had to kick it with each other for the entire year! Talk about no man left behind!!!

Wait now, you know Valentine’s Day has a little something for everybody now…take Cupid for instance. Cupid is accepted world wide as a symbol for V-day cause he flies around and shoot people with an arrow then they get all ready for business with whoever they look at.

CHOMO's Delight

Cupid is derived from the latin word cupido which means desire, so when you boil it down this kid is supposed to “raise desire” in grown folks…wait for it

Did you know that Nimrod, the grandson of Noah(you know, the guy that built the ark), was also called cupid, and his mother loved her baby boy. It is said, that Nimrod’s mom desired her son so much she married him, and on inscriptions of statues in Egypt it is said, “Husband of his own mother”…wait for it

Nimrod had them women eating out of his hand, being referred to as the “desire of women” a child. So many women got all “heated” any idol of him was called the  very image of jealousy. So you mean to tell me that a grown folk was all about a kid way back then…wait for it

GETTHEFUCKOUTTAHERESON!!!!

Cupid and all depictions of him are nothing more than child pornography.

I'm just like the one
on the left

I'm just like the one
on the right

Yeah, Yeah, I know, that was then this is now, but as its original purpose was one of porn.  I mean, if you are saying that given enough time anything can be considered art, then by the time I am 80 years old there will be no real difference between the Iliad and the adventures of Pluto Nash? 

GETTHEFUCKOUTTAHERESON!!!!

Ok, let’s move forward to something else, namely the valentine’s day cards that we all get from coworkers, children, family members and what not…they have that story about that guy whose last name was valentine and he got put in jail for holding wedding ceremonies cause there was a ban on them because the men were getting married to avoid military service, and he started crushing on the jailors wife and sending her kites that said, “From your Valentine”

That is the Catholic version of the box game that the Romans use to do!!! And by catholic version I mean the version with all the fun taken out of it.

Seriously people, this day along with Christmas is filled with so many pagan traditions that the church remixed to fit in with what their agenda was it is not even funny.  The catholic church actually dropped the holiday from their calendars in the 60’s(just like the rest of us should), and it is really just another commercial holiday…

The good news about the church dropping it from the calendar is that the world can get back to brass tax about what this day is really about,  SPENDING MONEY AND HAVING SEX!!!!!

So good luck, protect yourselves at all time, and remember, be sweet!

KenNitro Vs The Haters: Don’t Hate Me Half Way

I decided to take a break from writing about the facility for a hot second, you know I have haters.  What we all know about haters is that they have nothing better to do than to worry about what you are doing, but the worst thing you can do is give haters something legitimate to hate on you about. Let me tell you about the only thing that my haters have to hate on me about.

My luxurious, awesome, wonderful, spectacular, bone shivering, spine tingling, MY SHOES COST MORE THAN YOUR HOUSE WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Hair.

Now, this is nothing new to me.

At work, I have had a few passive and by passive I mean non-official meetings about my hair, and to be honest the only thing I really have to say about these meetings is, “is that all you got?”  I mean, if the only thing you can think to drag me into a office about is how somebody else told you that they don’t like my afro, then to be honest, I guess I am pretty damn good at my job. As a matter of fact, this one kid started growing his hair out, and other kids and folks started referring to him as “Mr. Ken jr”, one day I heard the kids call him that and I stepped in with some REAL(CLAP)TALK(CLAP)

And it goes a little something like this:

REAL(CLAP)TALK(CLAP)

…Being me is not a bad gig, to be perfectly honest. To tell you the truth, it is actually pretty f’n awesome to be one Mr. Ken(Nitro). I mean I have lived in a foreign country, I have jumped out of planes, high jacked parades, I am competent in several different styles of martial arts, I have competed overseas, I have fought in cages, I can tie a tie, I have trained in Thailand, I can break bricks with my bare hands, I have also traveled to several other countries.  So when you call him Mr. Ken jr, all you are doing is letting me know that somebody over here has the since to pick a winner and start acting like it…

REAL(CLAP)TALK(CLAP)

One of my other favorites was when my supervisor, before the triad, told me that some people where talking about my hair in the negative, but none of them were important so I shouldn’t worry about it. I asked him if he would tell me who they were so I could go talk with them personally. HE WOULDN’T DO IT!!!!!!

What is with that?

I had another kid ask me a simple question that I had to give a complicated answer too he said to me, “Mr. Ken, do people fuck with you about your hair?” I told him no, he replied with, “Well folks want to fuck with me about mine” I retorted with, “Well you are at that age where people can”. 

It reminds me how one night at the bar I was telling my friend about how anybody that can look at my resume and decide that they don’t want to hire me based on my hair is the person that has the problem, and while we were on that subject, this mid 40’s-hanging with my wife-viagra chompin-corporate drone jumped into the conversation to interject his point that he works in corporate America and that he wouldn’t hire me at all.  I looked at him, winked at his wife and said, “If you couldn’t get past my hair to see my resume, then I probably wouldn’t want to work for you anyway” he gave me this really sheepish grin and decided to walk off and as he grabbed his wife’s hand she says, “No one ever talks to him like that, you should do it more!!!”.

This past Christmas, my aunt wanted to go in on me about my hair, and she says to me, “…you will one day find your Delilah and just like Sampson you are going to cut your hair”

I was like, WHAT!!!!

C’mon now, that was like the worse decision Sampson ever made.

If you don’t know the story here is the short version:

Aight so back in the day God use to hook folks up as long as you keep it real and kept him close. One of them cats on the receiving end was this dude name Sampson.  Sampson was given super strength for one purpose,  which was to fuck with the philistines. The only thing he had to do was not shave or cut his hair. Easy enough right? Man, this dude is the definition of going in. See on the way to scoop his lady this lion rolled up on him, you know what Sampson did? He ripped that mothafucka in half, and kept it movin. Aight, so when he scooped up his lady and I guess some time later he saw that some bees had made a nest inside of a dead lion, one he prolly killed and forgot about, anyway he took the honey cause well, who gonna stop him?

I am sooo off topic right now but this shit is awesome

Aight , so like I said earlier his whole purpose in life is to fuck with the philistines so my man Sampson starts the beef like this, he tells these folks this riddle and promises them some cool swag if they can solve it. These folks got so butt hurt over not being able to solve it they threatened his wife. So ya boy Sampson killed all of them.  So then the father of his lady is feeling some sort of way about how his countrymen just got done by one guy. So he gives his daughter to the best man in the wedding. Sampson sets fire to the town to let people know how he feels about it. The folks then decide that they gonna get the get back from the father in law, cause if he wouldn’t have done what he did, Sampson wouldn’t have set fire to everything they own (Sound logic if you ask me), so they set fire to him and his daughter that Sampson was suppose to get wit in the first place.

Sampson went all the way in again, this time tricking them into thinking that they captured him, and while all 1000 troops got to him, he grabbed the jawbone of a donkey and just got busy with the stroking of the philistines. Could you imagine, I mean if you gonna die during the bronze age or some shit like that it could at least be by the sword or at the old age of 20, but by a donky’s jawbone

C’MON SON!!!!!

So Sampson is doing all this Gangsta shit and nothing can stop him. Then he meets this chick named Delilah, and that was where he fucked up. We all know what happens next, her skank ass jams him up in a twist and he gets got by the philistines.

So I’m like, “AUNTIE!!!! You want me to get got by philistines????” That ain’t cool at all.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not above cutting my hair, but the list of reasons that I will cut my hair is way shorter than the list of reasons that I won’t! For instance, I am not going to cut my hair for an hourly wage.  I’m not going to cut my hair, cause you don’t like it, and any other subset of reasons that you may think I should think is important.

2012 is here haters, I hope you have been working out, cause keeping up with me is going to be some work!

OH, BT dubs(you know BTW) like me on facebook!!!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/KenNitros-Adventures-In-Every-Day-Life/281243915256627

Oh and the person from Latvia that reads my Blog, WHAT UP PIMPIN!!!!