I piss excellence.

Self praise isn’t something I’m too unfamiliar with; I mean, for the most part I praise myself for almost everything I do well and that I’m sorta proud of. It’s not easy doing great things in a day, and it’s not easy being good at what you do when you’re doing it; or is it?

You see, I’ve come to learn that some of the things I’m so proud of aren’t really as great as I would like to think. I realize achievements are worthy of praise, but what kind of achievements should a person be reward for accomplishing; short-term goals, long-term goals, writing a book, what exactly? I have to wonder at times if my narcissism is another obstacle in my path of achieving great things.

I had to go back in the mind when I was younger and remember all of the negative things people said about me and how they would constantly compare someone they considered better then myself or suggesting I should be more like that person. Even as a child I knew better then to let those suggestions bother me all that much, however it was the illusion that made me the most upset. I knew what excellence was, and that person was not a good example of it at all.

Excellence is the highest degree of good, and if you’re doing slightly better then the people you know, that’s good. However, you should always keep in mind that comparing yourself to others who aren’t on your level will always make you look good. To ensure that you are as magnificent a person as you believe yourself to be, then you should surround yourself with people who feel the same way you do. Even better, surround yourself with individuals who have proven their excellence and put it to test against others of the same caliber.

I believe it very true that you can announce yourself as the best, a great person, and an excellent human being only when you are tested. I say brag about how smart you are when you win top of the class at a university know for its intelligent students. I say brag about how gorgeous you are after winning a Miss America contest. I say you talk about how hood you are or tough you are after winning a championship boxing match. I say claim the position as King of your city only after you have proven no other King is worthy of it.

I have excellence to spare, and it has been tested ever since the age of three. I’ve got throwbacks; I’m a renaissance man so to speak, what about you?

-streetPoet007

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Reading Glasses

I remember when I was an angry and confused little boy; women didn’t make sense to me. They would say one thing and do something else, claim they wanted “this” and later end up with “that”. Talk bad about guys like dogs, and then go and date a dog; all kinda strange woman stuff I just didn’t get. I was irritated because I wanted to be a close part of their world, but I just couldn’t speak their language.

One day, while I was feeling especially sorry for myself, I ran across a revelation like no other I had ever experienced. I realized I had cracked the code to lady-lingo. I had to sit still for a while to make sure I wasn’t fooling myself, or that I hadn’t lost my mind. The obvious thing to do was test my theory, see if I really knew what kind of power I had. I went out for my first field test, and I failed pretty badly.

I wasn’t sad I had failed, I was actually quite happy. You see, I had failed for reasons much different then I had in the past. The key I managed to take with me on that journey was the unlocked door of progression. My ability to speak the language had improved. Failure after failure I began to quickly understand why I was so confused when it came to the fairer sex. The problem wasn’t that “girls are weird”, the problem was that I wasn’t “listening”.

The problem areas I noticed in my approach began with “me”. It was me who had to change; hoping women would change or even expecting it was not only impossibly impractical but ridiculous. I got so very good at listening, that I was sometimes able to finish a ladies thought before she spoke them. When little things like this impressed them, I started to ponder over other little extra tidbits I could add to my new-found talent, and that’s when I began to embellish everything I did.

You can see with you ears, feel with your mind, touch with your voice and listen with your heart. This makes perfect sense to a rare few, but it is a true spiritual science that is instinctive in most all women. I couldn’t truly understand this philosophy until I became a man of sincerity, which I found through the power of a wineglass. I drank and drank until there where no lies in me; only then could I tell a past love how I really felt for her, how I saw the world, how I thought the world saw me.

I remembered that day well; every sound, every smell and visual observation. Looking through that wineglass, could see the world for what it really was. The secret was not that the world was hidden away from me; I just wasn’t reading the signs that where right in front of my face. Those once strange implications that these lovely ladies gave off where now neon billboards to me; now when she tells me “no” and the stamp on her forehead says “oh god yes”, I know which order to obey.

The trick is to keep the “eyes” but put down the glass, but that’s just the beginning. Let’s toast to enlightenment!

-streetPoet007
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You betta’ shop around! (Part II)

I can’t say this is the first time I've ever left the grocery store with more then just the things I came to pay for, but it was certainly the most interesting. Just as I was about to check out, I had remember I wanted some seafood salad and herbed scooper chips to eat it with. In all this last minute running around, trying to get out before the rush, I just went ahead and ordered cheese as well. Waiting on my order, I turned around to see how the lines where looking, and there she was…

A rather short girl, with pretty glowing skin, rosé pink lips, a perfect smile and the most sparkly-deep eyes I’ve ever seen. It was like she was looking right back at me at the same time. The funny part was when I tried to look away like she was just part of the whole picture, but damn she stole the show, and I just couldn’t move my neck, like she was drawing me in with a magnetic force. I simply had to look down and away to break her spell, but I kept trying to peek out the corner of my eye.

The last thing I needed was a new girl in my life to complicate an already rocky situation. Plus, she was kind of short and WAY too cute to be a “nice girl”; I could smell her mischief from where I was standing. I guess this is the part where I make a comparison of her being a nice, juicy, well-stacked cheese burger staring me in the face, when I am supposed to be dieting. In all my strength I simply said to myself, “you know what, I know what you’re thinking, but just let it go; there will be another time, but just not today”.

I felt this calm after talking to my inner self, and opening my eyes to gather my thoughts, but there she was, standing right next to me, trying to decide what she wanted to grab from the lunchmeat section. I could see some older guy she came in with peeking around the corner, checkin’ up on her an' $#!t; It kinda’ made me mad, I wasn’t planning on messin’ with this girl, so why are you grillin’ me. It was really self guilt, as when I think about it now, I was only resisting her charms, I wasn’t necessarily immune.

Now was the time to move, but my feet had cement in them, and when I heard her speakin’ out loud to herself like she was having just the hardest time making up her mind, I suckered myself into just wanting to hear her voice, and when I finally did, it was a “hey”. All I could do was clumsily returning the sneaky hello that turned into shady conversation, as if we both had something to hide. I seemed to catch on to her clever plan to side-talk and browse, how I knew how to play this game is beyond me.

It finally ended with the guy having to physically come get her before she would leave, but not before slipping me a crumbled-up receipt. “Wow… I wonder what this is” I thought. Just when I get out of the f**king frying pan, I jump into the gawd-damn fire. This isn’t going to end well, I just know it, but everything in my id is telling me to play along.

Just when I was going to toss that paper ball into the cracks of the cooler, a vision of her bare navel popped in my mind… and how much I just wanted to kiss it… just once, maybe… Just when I think I have it all figured out, here I go again. F**k my life...

-Shaum

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40/40 Club.

I was sittin’ on the curb noddin’ ma’ head to that new “###-#” album flowin’ from the I-pod; the pavement was under ma feet, I could feel it quake when I tapped it to solid foundation. The music seemed to get louder without the volume button, and I started to zone out. I was lookin’ to the blackness of the streets until it started to fade away, and I could see through everything. $#!t started to make sense now, all the questions I used to ask before all started to come back to me. “I got this” I said.

I had to take a walk to get wind of the times, it was the perfect day. Minus the music player, I could still hear the words from the Professor of vocal dexterity; he was beastin’ on the mic tellin’ his life story. I understood; he was on another level all together. You gotta choose, or let your life choose for you. I wasn’t mad, but I had to get serious now, cuz he was droppin’ jewels I heard before, but I didn’t listen to. I was listenin’ now. “I need answers “###”, what are you tryin’ to tell me?”

I had to keep walkin’, I had to take off ma shirt cuz it was getting’ hot out there, but then I finally heard, no I listened. I stood in the middle of the street and really started to look around. “Nobody else gets it” I thought, and people honk their horns. I moved out of the way, and when they pass by and go to curse me, the energy knocks them off balance; they feel it too but don’t understand it. I was liberated when my eye opened up, I was tempted to throw up a diamond, but I knew what it really was…

I looked down to study who I really was, and it was just a costume, the real me was the one who finally saw the truth. This costume wasn’t enough, it might have seemed like it, but that was an illusion. “It’s a gateway” I said aloud. “It’s like the same thing when you’re tipsy”, I was just high on ma’self for a while. This was a crash course and I just so happened to hit the brakes before I slammed into a brick wall. I felt relieved, almost as if I almost stepped into an open manhole but stopped to tie ma shoes.

“I’m starting to see what I need to do” I though to myself, it’s a challenge on two ends of the spectrum, and conquering just one isn’t enough. I can’t call myself anything close to elite until I achieve such greatness; only then can I comfortably dwell among the greats who did it before me. I wish I could feel this way all the time, but that is much too difficult for me. After I absorb it all, I turn around to head home and set things in order.

“Damn, I hope they reserved me a seat; I just need a little more time.”

-Shaum

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