Growing Up Fast

Antoine is in pre-school and right now I have to prepare to spend money. He is like a sponge.....just soak up everything. He's learning very fast. Sometimes he is trying to teach me, lol. He is my sunshine on a dark and dreary day. How can someone hurt a child. They are so adorable.

Sometimes I wish he will just grow up so that he can understand what I say to him. But....then again I wish he will stay the way he is....adorable and cunning. Yeah..you don't have to say it....I am confuse so what I'm a mother. But on the real think about, don't you think our parents had wish we stayed a kid. Then they wouldn't have to deal with mood swings of a rebellious teenagers. Well if you didn't, think again, lol. Don't even bother say you were a good behaving kid. I know better....you were probable the best behaving child when mom and dad is about but when they not there all hell break loose. It don't matter though kids will always be kids. As long as you don't get too loose.....lol. As for Antoine he thinks he's a big boy acting all grown up. Imagine a 2 years old want to bathe, brush his teeth and dress himself. It's funny, but I don't want him to grow up too fast....don't worry I will allow him to grow up.....just not too soon.

Music

Bob Marley did say "one good thing about music wen it hits yu feel no pain". That is so true music vitalize me. Whenever I am feeling down, upset, bored, discourage, happy, whatever, I listen to music. There is always that one song that explains how you are feeling. It's like the songwriters knows exactly what we are feeling or going through. You ever notice sometimes you are going through an emotion and you just hear that one song that relate to exactly what you are feeling? I have that is why I love music and I am always singing or humming a song that express how I am feeling.

Music speaks what we cannot express, soothes the mind and give it rest, heals the heart and makes it whole and flows from heaven to the souls. I love all kind of music from Reggae to Rock n' Roll, from Jazz to R&B, from Oldies to Western you names it I will listen to it. To me music is love in search of a word and the universal language of humanity. I think Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche said it best "Without music life would be a mistake".

All-Stars Fever

This is my favorite time of the NBA season....All-Stars. I love All-stars weekend because I get to see the stars in action. But my favorite is the Slam Dunk competition. I am always at the end of seat waiting to see what skills will be displayed. In all my years of watching the Slam Dunk I always say that 2000 was my favorite the year Vince Carter won. But last year became my favorite when Dwight Howard break out his superman stunt.....that was incredible. I can't wait to see what he have in store for the year, but I am sure it will be explosive and mind bubbling. I am also a fan of the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge cause I get to see the Rookies and Sophomores strut their stuff without the veterans. Then the big day All-star game.....what can I say who wouldn't want to see the top players in the league on one team. I can't wait plus Nene the Brazilian superstar for the Denver Nuggets will get married on All-star weekend....how cool is that. Chris Webber on NBA TV Fan Night said that it would be great to have him kiss the bride at the Slam Dunk competition while Dwight Howard dunk over them......ummmm.....that's far fetch but think about it.....that will be taking slam dunk to higher heights. Rudy Fernandez join defending champion Dwight Howard, 2006 champion Nate Robinson and Rudy Gay becoming the first international player to compete in the contest. I wonder what they have plan for us this year......will they be able to top last year's performance......we'll have to wait and see.

Here are the 2009 All-stars Game starter and a just a few reasons why they are All-stars. These guys get it done season after seasons. They are also the go to guys on their respected teams and are known as some of the greatest players to ever play the game of basketball. Some are coming to the end of their careers while some are just getting started.

Eastern Conference Starters

Detroit Pistons Allen Iverson 13th season in the league with his 10th All-star appearance and 2 times All-star MVP (2001, 2005), 1997 rookie of the year, 4 time scoring champion, led the league in scoring and steal 2 straight season (2000-01, 2001-02) the only player since Micheal Jordan to do so, 2001 League MVP (becoming the lightest and shortest player to win an NBA MVP)


Miami Heat Dwyane Wade 6th season with his 5th All-star appearance, 2008 Olympics gold medalist, 2006 NBA champion, 2006 NBA Finals MVP, 2006 sportsman of the year, NBA All-star Skill Challenge champion (2006, 2007)


Cleveland Cavaliers Lebron James 6th season in his 5th All-star appearance, 2 times All-star MVP (2006, 2008), 2008 Olympics gold medalist, 2003-04 rookie of the year, youngest player in NBA history to reach the 5,000-point plateau, the second player in NBA history (Oscar Robertson the first) to post 4 consecutive season of 27 points, 6 rebound and 6 assist, he is also 1 of 3 players in the last 20 season to lead the league in scoring and average 7 or more assist (Micheal Jordan 1988-89, Allen Iverson 2004-05), 2008 scoring champion


Boston Celtics Kevin Garnett 14th season 12th All-star appearance, 1st All-star starter in Minnesota Timberwolves franchise history, also the Timberwolves all-time leader in points, rebounds, assist, steals and blocks, 2003 All-star MVP, League MVP (2003-04) the second player drafted out of high school since Moses Malone (1979) to win, 2007-08 NBA champion with the Boston Celtics and he also joins Larry Bird as only players in NBA history with six consecutive seasons averaging 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists


Orlando Magic Dwight Howard 5th season 3rd appearance, this year leading vote getter he became the 1st player to crack the 3 million-vote ceiling (passing Yao Ming 2,558,278 in 2005), 2008 Slam dunk champion, 2008 Olympics gold medalist, also 3rd high school senior selected with the first overall pick (Kwame Brown, Lebron James), youngest player in NBA history to reach 4000 rebounds, youngest player in NBA history to average a double-double, youngest player in NBA history to record 20 rebounds in 1 game, youngest player in NBA history to lead the league in rebounding (2007-08), hold the highest percentage in field goal in All-star Game history (.810 - 17 field goals made from 21 attempts)

Western Conference Starters

Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant 13th season 11th All-star appearance, 2008 Olympics gold medalist, 2 times All-star MVP (2002, 2007), 3 times NBA champion, 2007-08 League's MVP, the youngest player in NBA history to reach 20,000 points barrier (12/23/07 vs Knicks), 1 of 3 active players with at least 20,000 points (Shaquille Oneal, Allen Iverson), hold the record for the 2nd highest total points in NBA history (81 points vs Raptors 1/22/06), also the youngest All-star in NBA history to post a team high 18 points and 6 rebounds in 1998 All-stars Game


New Orleans Hornets Chris Paul 4th season 2nd All-star appearance, 2008 Olympics gold medalist, 2007-08 ranked 1st in assist and steals (first player since John Stockton 1991-92 to lead league in those categories), 2005-06 rookie of the year, 1st player in the last 15 seasons to average 20+ points and 10+ assists per game, 4th player in All-star Game history to reach 14+ points and 14+ assists, hold the league's record with 108 consecutive games with a least 1 steal (12/23/08)


San Antonio Spurs Tim Duncan 12th season 11th All-star appearance, 4 times NBA champion, 3 times NBA Finals MVP ( 1999, 2003, 2005) joining Magic Johnson, Micheal Jordan and Shaquille Oneal as the only players to do so, 2 times League's MVP (2002, 2003), 1998 rookie of the year


Phoenix Suns Amare Stoudamire 6th season 3rd All-star appearance, 2003 rookie of the year, 2004 2004 Rookie Challenge MVP, 2007 All-NBA 1st team


Houston Rockets Yao Ming 7th season 6th All-star appearance, the 14th rookie selected to start in the All-star game and the first since Grant Hill (1995), 1st No. 1 pick to come from an international basketball league (2002), currently the tallest player in the NBA at 7 feet 6 inches

HEAR WHAT OPRAH WINFREY HAD TO SAY ABOUT MEN

If a man wants you, nothing can keep him away.

If he doesn't want you, nothing can make him stay.

Stop making excuses for a man and his behaviour.

Allow your intuition (or spirit) to save you from heartache.

Stop trying to change yourself for a relationship that's not meant to be.

Slower is better.

Never live your life for a man before you find what makes you truly happy.

If a relationship ends because the man was not treating you as you deserve then heck no, you can't "be friends". A friend wouldn't mistreat a friend.

Don't settle.

If you feel like he is stringing you along, then he probably is

Don't stay because you think "it will get better" You'll be mad at yourself a year later for staying when things are not better.

The only person you can control in a relationship is you.
Avoid men who've got a bunch of children by a bunch of different women. He didn't marry them when he got them pregnant, why would he treat you any differently?

Always have your own set of friends separate from his.

Maintain boundaries in how a guy treats you. If something bothers you, speak up.

Never let a man know everything.* He will use it against you later.

You cannot change a man's behaviour.* Change comes from within.

Don't EVER make him feel he is more important than you are...even if he has more education or in a better job. Do not make him into a quasi-god.

He is a man, nothing more nothing less.

Never let a man define who you are.

Never borrow someone else's man.

A man will only treat you the way you ALLOW him to treat you.

All men are NOT dogs.

You should not be the one doing all the bending...compromise is two way street.

You need time to heal between relationships. There is nothing cute about baggage...deal with your issues before pursuing a new relationship

You should never look for someone to COMPLETE you.A relationship consists of two WHOLE individuals.

Look for someone complimentary. ..not supplementary.

Dating is fun...even if he doesn't turn out to be Mr. Right.

Make him miss you sometimes...when a man always know where you are, and you're always readily available to him - he takes it for granted

Never move into his mother's house. Never co-sign for a man.

Don't fully commit to a man who doesn't give you everything that you need.*

Keep him in your radar but get to know others.

Scared of being alone is what makes a lot of women stay in relationships that are abusive or hurtful: Dr. Phil

You should know that: You're the best thing that could ever happen to anyone and if a man mistreats you, he'll miss out on a good thing. If he was attracted to you in the 1st place, just know that he's not the only one.
They're all watching you, so you have a lot of choices. Make the right one.

Ladies take care of your own hearts....

The Dream is finally a reality.

Slavery is nothing new and will never be old. It can be dated as far back to 1760 BC to the earliest records such as the Code of Hammurabi which refers to slavery as an establish institution. Even today we are living in mental slavery. Whenever I am down and feel discourage I look back to the past. I look back on slavery for inspiration and a way to move forward. I look to God for wisdom and understanding. I often wonder why did we have to suffer the way we did. Why was my race considered the worst? I always ask those question and history always provide the answer. Sometimes the answer is not the one I am looking for but with the grace of God I always seems to get the understanding I seek. You see to me nothing happens by chance, but for a reason. Would we be as strong a race that we are if we were not bound in bondage? Maybe we would, maybe we wouldn't we'll never know. What I do know is that I am proud of who I am. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream, Marcus Mosiah Garvey had a vision and Nelson Mandela had hope. For years and centuries we have been fighting the same fight for equal rights and justice. On January 20, 2009 the United States Of America one of the world's most powerful Nations swore in their first Black President. If I have never believed in prophecy I do now. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream when all he could do was dream that this day would come. That was 46 years ago and my mother was only 1 years old. Now I am 25 years old and I can stand boldly and say that I have witness the dream of Martin Luther King Jr. come through. I look back on the past with sadness in my heart to know that my forefathers have to endure such cruelty and abominable treatment. But I always hold my head high cause I know that they have fought and gave their lives so that I can be free. They have given me hope to be a strong black woman. So that I have a voice to stand up for what I believe in. When I look back on history I am proud because it's a guide to navigate the perilous times. History is who I am and why I am the way I am.

My views on LIFE

Most people just simply say life is just for living, while some say live for today. Our life is like a piece of paper on which every passerby leaves a mark. Life can be found only in the present moment. The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life. We have to live each moment as it's the last in order to fully understand and enjoy life to it fullest. Mainly, because our lives are like sewers. What we get out of it depends on what we put into it.

Over the years I have developed a picture of what a human being living humanely is like. That picture is a person who is real and willing to take risks, to be creative, to manifest competence, to change when the situation calls for it, and to find ways to accommodate to what is new and different. Now I understand that life is a progress and not a station, and that it's a succession of lessons that we must live to understand and realize that life should be lived and not controlled.

It's funny how many people are always getting ready to live but are never living. As a result many people die with the music still in them and reason for this is that when they are ready to live before you know it time runs out. Many of us fulfill the object of our existence by asking a question we cannot answer and by attempting task we cannot achieve. Too often have we set ourselves up for failure and when we do so we overlooked our true potential. Too many of us are busy thinking about security instead of opportunity. We seems to be more afraid of life than we are of death. We are living in a time when our world is of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. Wars and elections are both too big and too small to matter in the long run. How are we to live a moral and compassionate existence when we are fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in life, when we find darkness not in our own culture but within ourselves? If there is a stage at which our lives becomes truly adult, it must be when we grasps the irony in its unfolding and accepts responsibility for a life lived amidst such paradox. We must live in contradiction, because if all contradiction is to be eliminated our lives will collapse. Certainly there is no simply answer to some of the great pressing questions. We must continue to live them out making our lives a worthy expression of leaning into the light.

Some of us go through life alone thinking that it's better that way. So we withdraw ourselves and stop living the life we are given to live. But what we must understand is that a person who tries to live their lives alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart will wither if it does not answer another heart. His mind will shrink away if the only echoes he hears is of his own thoughts and in that he will find no other inspiration. An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. Most of us use religion negatively when we try to find a way to not live our lives. What we don't know is that life becomes religious whenever we make it so. When some new light is seen, when some deeper appreciation is felt, when some larger outlook is gained, when some nobler purpose is formed and when some task is well done. It is in our lives and not words that our religion should read. True religion is real living, living with one's soul, with all one's goodness and righteousness.

Life is chance for us to grow a soul and in the end it's not the years in our lives that count, it's the life in the years. All of us have sweetness in our hearts and that is what helps us to go on. It is towards that we run when we feel torn and worn out. It is how we spend ours days that reflects how we live our lives. Love life and life will love you back, love people and they will love you back. What everyone wants from life is continuous and genuine happiness. But in order to obtain such happiness we must be grateful. Gratefulness is the key to life's happiness that we hold in our hands. Because if we are not grateful we will not be truly happy, because we will always want to have something more or something else. Happiness is not so much in having as sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we have a life by what we give.

Life is like onion, you peel it layer by layer at a time and sometimes it makes you weep. I think that taking life seriously is that whatever man does on this planet has to be done in the truth of the terror of creation, of the grotesque, of the rumble of panic underneath everything. Otherwise it is false. Whatever must be achieve it to be done with the fullest exercise of passion, vision, pain, fear and sorrow. The irony of man's condition is the deepest need to be free of the anxiety of death and annihilation. Life is what we make of it and we should consider every day lost on which we do not dance at least once. It's faith in and enthusiasm for something that makes life worth living and as Albert Einstein once said "only a life lived others is a life worthwhile".

Have a happy 2009 and I hope everyone will live life to it fullest. All the crime and violence in the world and Jamaica is enough to last a lifetime. So lets not add to the equation, lets take a different approach. When angry count to 10 and if very angry count to 100. "A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger" Proverbs 15:1.

The Celtics Struggling and the Magic on the Rise

Going into Sunday's game the Orlando Magic was the only team in the league to have not won a season series against the San Antonio Spurs. They have now won both meeting which is a sure sign of their growth and maturity. They are playing great basketball and is in second place in the Eastern Conference and 3 overall ahead of the defending champions Boston Celtics. They putted up 14 3-pointers as they were knocking them down and made Tony Parker 31 points looked like he was not in the game. It was a Playoff atmosphere in the AT&T Center as both teams was trading points. There was 29 lead changes and 18 ties but in the end the Magic overcome and beat the Spurs 105-98.

The Lakers beat the Heat by 3 points. In their last meeting a buzzer beater by Dwyane Wade gave the Heat the win over the Western leaders. But on Sunday it was a close game as it was a Bynum tip in off a Kobe miss with 18 seconds to go that sealed the Lakers win.

The Celtics 6 points win over the Toronto Raptors end a 4 games skid for the defending champs. The Celtics kicked off the season with a 19-0 runs which came to an end versus the Lakers on Christmas day, since then they have loss 7 of their last 9 games.