ZOOM

"I'd like to fly far away from here. Where my mind can be fresh and clear....." Commodores

          Hello, WORLD!!! Happy 2013 to all of y'all. I haven't said too much in the blog universe & I feel like maybe an explanation is due. Maybe not but any excuse to blog is a good one, right. I had all kinda good excuses to blog last year but last year was probably my quietest year, blog-wise. 


         Why is that, you ask? Last year was probably one the best years I've had in a long time. I reconnected with my family on my maternal side who I never should have lost contact with. I caught up with a lot of my cousins in July for a family barbecue and then again at my first Thanksgiving with my family in 10+ years. Some of whom met my some of my children for the first time ever while I met some of my newest cousins who I didn't know existed either. I can try to explain why I felt I didn't want to be bothered with them but I'd be lying my ass off. It was only after I reconciled that I realized the reason I stayed away from them so long is that I felt like I didn't want them to see me when I wasn't a success. Pride is a mother.... So, I stayed away until I felt like I was good enough to come back home. Of course, using that logic, I guess I feel like a success now. When I think about it, I realize I'm not but I am right there though. I'm so close, so so close though. And even if I do become the success that I want to be, it will still be 10 years to late for reasons I'll get into real soon. 

My children (from left to right) Peyton 3, Nathan 4, Adria 6, & Thonequea 21 (taken at my Aunt Betty's house, July 2012).

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Thanksgiving 2012 with my cousin's April (clockwise from top), Vanessa, Cindy, and Aunt Darlene.

         Going back to the biz of this post, another thing about 2012 that made it so great for me is it also was the year a lot of things just clicked for me. While I already knew what I wanted to do, it didn't really sink in til last year how I could go about get everything accomplished. The blogs have been my main focus over the past few years but I never wanted to be identified as just a blogger. Couple that fact with the fact that my blogs weren't going in the direction that I wanted them to plus the fact that I was happily doing other projects and bam, there's the reason for the long absence. I'm re-energized again and ready to guide my blogs into the right direction. Which means changes, of course. And there's one (or maybe I should say 12) big changes in store for the SWBs that I didn't even realize I had to make.


        The blogs themselves have been more therapeutic than profitable up to this point and while I'm grateful for that too, I've always had much more in mind for them and myself than just that. For instance, I'd also love to be recognized as an author as well. My book of short stories, IS THERE A THIRD OPTION has also been a long time coming and in all honesty is nowhere near completion. I have only three of the 13 stories I want to put out with this book complete so far and have not started working on the others as of yet. I was busy compiling information for my first non fiction book, THEY SAY CHI CITY. What is this book about? It's a history of my beloved city's rise, fall, and rise again in one of the most misunderstood businesses out there. That's about all of the info I'm willing to give up on that subhect for now but trust when I say I'll give you the full scoop on this within the next few months, maybe this one. 


              Now that I think about it, I do have a lot more to fill you guys in on so I can't spend too much time dwelling on 2012, can I? Not while 2013 is in full swing plus if you read the last post, you already know I got a deadline to beat and why I'm racing to beat it. In fact, my next SWP post is aptly titled "Deadline' & I promise it will shed a light on why some of the stuff I'm doing now is so important and why I the success that I become really doesn't even mean as much as it could. Since time keeps zooming, I need to be too. Later, WORLD!


         

Happiness

"All I really want is to be happy....." Mary J Blige

    Hello, WORLD!!! Smokkee here again FINALLY because it feels like its been ages since I last posted anything. I must got something to say again, huh? It ain't like that. I haven't been slacking at all but this ain't the post to get into all that. If you're curious about what's been happening with me, I'll start getting into it in my next post, 'Zoom', basically a run down of how 2012 was for me. Then you're gonna wanna read about why December 1st, 2013 is a very, very important date for me on my 'Work To Do (Deadline)' post. And I should mention the BIIIIIIIG changes in store for all my blogs as well for my online presence in general that I'll detail in 'Where Do We Go From Here' and 'Public Service Announcement".
        
                 So why this post? I just wanted everybody to know that I'm not only still alive and kickin, I've never been so focused in my life. I'm also happy with my life. I've always been that but I feel that maybe I was TOO happy over the course of 2012. I did the one thing I said I would never do: I felt content. Happiness does that to you every time if you let it.  Happiness is a funny thing, WORLD.
                 The funniest thing I hear about happiness is that it is supposed to be a secret to it. I don't know any secret to it, personally, but I find that phrase too funny. Seriously. If there was a secret to happiness, wouldn't everybody know it anyway? Who can really keep a secret?
                 But happiness ain't always a good thing. Like I said, I got content with my life and the way things were going, the way everything that I've been planning is finally falling into place and whatnot. Bottom line: I stopped doing what has put me right at the doorstep of where I wanna be and just started to enjoy the view on the other side from there. Ain't nobody got time for that. We all have our deadlines and I'm one of the lucky few to know when mine is and 12-01-13 isn't as far off as it seems. So lemme get back to grinding right now. I'm more than happy to do so. Later, WORLD.