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Showing posts from February, 2022

The Bills of the Bay

Bills owed 2016-2019 September 2016 Food $50 - You just moved into your auntie's house in 2016 with an unfair day's notice to her and your uncle. You need to pay for your own food cause the rent is free so go out and get a job so you can afford to feed yourself. October 2016 Medical insurance $150 - You finally got a job, congrats. Now use that money to set up a $40 doctor's appointment (which is 4 hours worth of pay) for all the aches and pains you experience in your back. The doctor tells you nothing is wrong and seems to rush you out of his doctor's office so he can finally take his lunch break. Note to self, don't schedule future appointments near a doctor's lunch time.  Travel $20 - You moved to the Bay Area from SoCal to help out with a startup church in San Francisco. You are currently living in Hercules and the BART doesn't start until later in the day on Sunday's. What could be a 30 minute car ride turns into a weekly 2 hour public transportatio

The Best Chance I Ever Took

His words shattered the windshield of everything I thought I knew to be real and time ceased to exist. The truth formed a sentence in my head's terminal as the damage was being repaired but another sentence low on fuel with no thoughts of an end goal, just to leave ASAP, sped out the runway and out of my mouth within record time. "Sure I've got nothing else going on at the moment." But I did, why did I lie? Let's backup and see how I got here. I lived in Oceanside, California for the first 10 years of my life proceeded by another 10 years in Vista, California. Hardly anyone knows about these cities in SoCal so anytime people would ask where I’m from I’d always say San Diego. Not cause I’m ashamed of where I came from, I just didn’t like having to create a map in folks’ minds then to have to pinpoint exactly on the grid of Califronia just to show where I’m from. San Diego will do. The world seemed so big probably because I had never explored it, local w

The Fear of Asking Out a Girl

She was pretty, but not just any pretty, the most beautiful girl I knew. Her smile could stop a storm dead in its tracks, her gentleness could calm a rabid dog into a house pet, and her beauty was so great that it intimidated the strongest of men to their core. Yet I couldn't resist her. I did everything I could to try to get closer to her. Have a conversation, assist her with her work, all the while trying to maintain an authentic relationship. There's no perfect time to ask out someone but when I tried the only words I could muster up were, "Have a great day." I immediately regretted my cowardice. I can't go on my whole life being afraid of what I've never experienced. I'm 26 years old and still have never been in a long term relationship. I've been on dates, liked girls before in the past, and even have gotten phone numbers without asking. I was too afraid to call them though. Always dealing with this deep fear that I would disappoint whoever I star

Pulled Over.

  On my way home from summer school blinded by the sunlight I don't see that I'm being followed. I continue to ride my bike slowly on the sidewalk before a car pulls up to me and tells me to pull over. The figure reveals itself. Its a lone white cop and I realize I'm on a deserted street. I have nowhere to go. "What's in your backpack he asks?" I've been taught to not disobey authorities so I hand it over. Almost to his dismay the cop looks disappointed as he searches through my backpack to find only school supplies. "Do you have any drugs on you?" "No." I reply almost silently. Embarrassed, disempowered, and unsure of where this encounter will take me I fall into my thoughts.   Has it been hours? I need to get home, my parents will be wondering where I am. I don't have a cell phone just a map in my head of where I need to go and how long it will take me to get there. To my surprise as these thoughts ran through my head, I see a han