So I can't even begin to describe my week. Well here I go.
Monday:
Enter birthday celebration.
So the Louder Arts Project suprise me with a Happy Birthday song and a dope ass gift certificate for a one hour massage at a spa in East Harlem.
It was the begining of a beautiful week.

Tuesday: Acentos B-Day
Acentos was pretty cool with a song and a Cake. A very good cake that I didn't get to devour completely because of my tummy issues.

Wednesday:
The big day is among us.
So the day begins in a little bind that I had to talk my way out of. And I did successfully, which allowed me to be ready for all that lay ahead.
At about mid-day I went to Jane LeCroy's class and had my run with her kids. I don't know if I can call them kids because they are about my age. I just turned 24, they must be all about my age or a year or two younger, and I was invited to their class as a guest. That was a pretty dope ass concept. It made me very happy. I went up, introduced myself and gave them four poems. I spoke about what the whole scene and poetry education meant to me, my take on slam and the entire writing process in general. The editing and such. A few students seemed really eager to ask a few questions, which totally made me feel good. It was a very good thing. After I went up Mathew did his thing and gave them three poems. After the questions were answered and comments were made, I had so much fun watching them perform their poems. Jane's class was weird to me because they arent allowed to use paper at all. Not for writing or performing. That isn't a concept that I can fully grasp but I still try to understand that phenomenom. The ccolest thing is that they must perform everything twice. No make shit up as you go, unless you going to remember everything. It was a great time. Some of the students really amazed me. One girl who I see a bright future for, said that she wasn't so good at performing so she was going to attempt to distract her nerves by doing water color painting on the ground. Not that she was a painter or anything (as she said right before she began), but from that ground, with those paints, she told a story, with a sweet raspy voice that commanded everyones attention. She made me feel like I was in a coffee shop or something, listening to a friend tell me about something very bitter sweet. Something worth every ounce of attention. I need to get this girl on a stage. The quality of her work was also amazing. A few other people really impressed me, whether it be with performance, or words, but it was an all together amazing experience. Last night at the building, Jane told me that I spoke with total command, and looked like a professor. She said that I spoke with so much conviction and the facade of extreme experience. You have to look like you know what your talking about to be able to educate. I only pass along what others have taught me, and what I have learned via extreme observation. Even if ya don't think I am observing, please note that I am.
After the class the students left and some asked me for an evaluation of their performances. That just made me feel special. I made sure I paid extra attention to them just in case and I was able to break it down for him.
Enough with that.

After I go to the Edison Hotel to meet Roger for Def Jam where I would be getting someone's hotel room for the night. I ended up getting two whole rooms to myself. WOW. Anyway I take in the show from the VIP room and schmoozed with a bunch of poets from around the US. I enjoyed the experiences and a few performers weren't that bad. One girl who I thought was going to be a letter bomb, amazed me with words and performance. Caroline Harvey rocked out. When she began I looked at Marty and whispered "letter bomb" thinking that it wasn't a term that was used by everyone in the room. It was so funny because she giggled and Geoff Trenchard jumps up and says "No dude, you can't say that about my girl, give her a chance, listen to the second poem she is dope", and since I trust Geoff, I followed his instructions and payed close attention, and found myself moved by what I had to hear. The funniest thing is that I caught her latter on that evening and told her the entire story, and she reminded me that I'd already met her in St Louis. It was funny telling her that I thought she was a letter bomb. We then shared stories of poet ADD. She even introduced me to the term Left/Right or Left/Write. Meaning "I left her when I found out that she couldn't write". Those bay folk are pretty cool.

So getting back to the timeline, I waited for Roger's performance and I left the def jam immediately to go to Brooklyn's Spoken Word Cafe. Oh and uh Rich, in the VIP room there is an elevator that leads directly to the lobby, just for future reference.
So I get to Brookly where the poetry was thick as hell, (one loose screw but I ignored that) and a bunch of great friends awaited my coming to give me Birthday love. And I recieved a lot of unexpected love. You guys are really the best.

Raj hung out with me and when the show ended we headed back to the Edison where we hung out at the bar, Willie Perdomo bought me a Makers, , Raj Bought me a rum and coke, Zork bought everyone Buds and for some reason people weren't really into that beer so I consumed as much as I could. I had good times, good laughs and great conversations.

I went up to my room at god knows what time, and slept enough to make it to work on time. Hell it was a 15 minute walk to the office. That was just dope ass coolness. What can I say, as much as I talk bad about it, Life is good. Hell it is down right Great. I mean after you struggle a bit there is always a silver linning. Or at least that is what I tell myself. It helps me get by, what can I say?