A Change Gonna Come

One of my favorite artists is Sam Cooke. Even though he recorded albums long before my arrival on earth, I like the way the songs he sang seem to just have been tailor made for him. Today I've been listening to his greatest hits cd. That's where the inspiration came from for the title.

The job: One of the persons who works with me will not be returning this year. Of course this is not the only person who will not be returning, but this person holds a pretty high position in the school. Now that she will not be returning, I'm curious as to who will be found to replace her and what things they can bring to the position. The person who is currently in the position does a good job, but she is overworked and underpaid. There just isn't enough time in the day for her to do everything. Well actually, there would be enough time if she did only the things that were in her job description instead of being given administrative tasks to do all the time. Without out the extra work she would be in a better position to focus on what she should be doing--helping teachers.

I haven't checked in much on the home front lately. One of the main reasons is that I just don't want too much to do with that down there. I disagree with the decision that my mother made, but I do respect it. We each have to live our own lives and people need to do what they feel is best for them. Because I disagree and I don't have very much nice to say to or about him*, I just don't call very much because I'm just not feeling it at all. I'm not bitter. I'm just not feeling it, if that makes any sense. some might argue that I must be bitter, but that isn't the case. When I turn your page, then it's over. Come hell or high water, it's over!

I did learn that the doctors were recommending amputation one of his* toes or either one of his* feet. This may seem harsh, but I really only want my brothers and sisters to call me about his* situation when it is near death. Call me when we he's* on life support and we need to make a decision. Of course, I'm voting to pull the plug. My argument, should that time arise, will be that we must "...accept what God allows."

Lord if there is any hatred in my heart, please remove it. I can honestly say that there is no hatred that I perceive. But, if there is, I would like it moved because I know that I can't make it in that way. (If you don't know what I'm referring to by make it in, I mean Heaven.) One of the truest sayings on earth is that time heals all wounds. I'm still healing. It's still gonna take a while.

FYI, one of the things that I need to add to my list of dislikes is a hypocrite. I absolutely cannot stand a hypocrite! That is one of the non profane words that I can use to describe him*. He absolutely embodies the term.

I'm not going to expend energy though being upset. I'm going to find ways to heal so that I will not repeat the mistakes of the past and be the best man that I can be. At the end of the day, that's all I want. I want to be the type of man of whom God and my mother can be proud. The realism is, I'm learning a little more about becoming that man each day. I constantly learn more things about myself.

Off the subject, my back is still hurting a little bit. I presume it's from that fall that I had a few weeks back.

The African Children's Choir

So, I've slacked off on the posting. What else is new? Today I graded some papers, keyed in the grades and tomorrow I'm going to distribute progress reports to anyone in my AFM class who is failing. We don't want to have any drama toward the end of the nine weeks. I had a filling meal today of not tender enough roast, macaroni and cheese, okra, rice and gravy.

Yesterday a colleague invited me to attend a performance at a sister/partner church of theirs in Durham. Me and some others went down and the performance was unlike anything I had ever seen. It was the African Children's Choir in concert. If you aren't familiar with the ACC, every 15 months a new choir is commissioned with new children. Typically the childrens' ages range from 10 - 12. In this year's cohort there are 9 males and 12 females. The children hail from Uganda, Rwanda and various other countries in Africa. The inaugural choir first performed in 1984. The children travel around the US singing and raising money to send back to African to fund research into stopping the spread of AIDS and to helping find a cure. While the children stay here in the US they study, pray, rehearse their songs and are involved in academic pursuits.

Because the children are of African origin, the children donned intricate stage clothes and their songs were accompanied by dance that I assume is real "African" dance--definitely no Americanized.

Blow by blow

Monday: Went to drop off my W-2 forms to an old coworker of mine. Her mate does taxes and had agreed to prepare mine. Dropped clothes off at the cleaners, which by the way is no longer the $1.50 cleaners but is now the $1.60 cleaners. I had never been to this cleaners before, but I had seen it. When I got inside the first thing I saw was a large sign that said payment must be made when you put the clothes in to be cleaned. I thought it odd that I had to pay before I received the service.

Tuesday: Chilled at home. Cooked me some salmon patties, rice and corn. It was banging. Procrastinated about some work that I had to turn in, then finally got started on it. I knew I had to at least start it today if I wanted to finish it by tomorrow. Got the code to compile and run.

Wednesday: Went to the job because my printer is out of toner. It has been out of toner for like 8 months so I've just been using the school's stuff. Every now and then I might shake the toner cartridge, but most of the time I just go to the school. When I got to the building I saw Mrs. W in the front office. I estimate that she's about 65 or so, but she looks really good for her age(or at least the age I think she might be based on how she speaks). She works in another area of the school but was filling in because the front office staff is on spring break. This lady has such presence. I can hardly leave once she starts talking because she's so animated and so entertaining. She knows everything that is going on in the building, in the town and on the news. I finally managed to pry myself away from her so that I could go to my classroom and get the rest of my work done. I finished my work and said my goodbyes and was on my way.

Thursday: I got a call (message) from my old coworker letting me know that she didn't see my W-2 forms. She wanted to know if I changed my mind and picked them back up because she said she saw the note I left, but didn't see the forms themselves. Well when I heard the message after I left the barber shop I promptly raced over to her job to give her copies of my W-2 forms, all the while kicking myself for leaving my information out without securing it properly. I placed it in her chair under her sweater. In my mind I was thinking that would be okay because the placed looked quiet and I didn't really see a lot of people standing around outside the room. So I left them there and just closed the door. Well my mind started running and made me imagine someone sneaking in the room and rifling through her things, finding my information in some diabolic scheme to steal my identity/or do some unsavory things to adversely affect my credit history.

Prior to me leaving to go to the barbershop and over to her job, I returned a missed call to my brother. He needed to borrow some money. Why was it just a little bit more than the same amount that I had budgeted for my trip to the atl? Plans CANCELLED! I had planned to leave after leaving the barbershop, but I changed my mind and decided to just stay here. Since I only get paid once a month I have to spend money according to the day. When I spend I have to check the calendar. I don't like to spend hundred of dollars on shopping or whatever and it's only the 5th of the month. That needs to wait until the 15th or so. The closer I get to pay day the easier it is for me to spend.

Friday: Woke up thinking about how I said I was gonna blog more. The realism is that I haven't. To make up for not blogging as much I decided to do a run down of what I could remember from this week. I hope I can forgive me. I said 'me' because I'm the only person who really reads the blog.