HAPPY and SAD

"In everything we do, our thoughts can help us succeed, or they can help us fail. Maintain a positive attitude!"

I've been a little bit restless over the past week or two as I try to figure out just exactly what to do with myself, my summer and my time. For the past 15 years, I have gotten up in the morning and headed to the track and done everything that I know how to push myself beyond the limits of my physical and mental capacity. And I've loved every single minute of it, the highs and the lows. Every minute.

Fast forward to 6 weeks ago, and my life as I've known it, came to a sudden and unexpected halt. And while I've made steady progress and my Achilles continues to get better each day as I do my physio, I still can't bear all of my weight on the ball of my foot and so I'm a ways away form returning to any sort of mobile exercise. For the time being, I have to be content with stepping up and down on a box, static lunges, leg raises, eccentric calf raises and trying to walk down a flight of stairs without putting both feet on each step. Exciting, I know!!

Add to that, the fact is that the track season is in full swing as can be evidenced by all the track meets on TV, my friends who are traveling the world, the fast times, the far jumps and the eyes that are all set on Berlin in August for the World Championships. I've qualified for and competed in the World Championships 9 consecutive times going all the way back to when I was a junior at Stanford and made my first Worlds team and ended up making my first finals, finishing 10th.

I would give my right arm right now to just have the chance of making it, but that's not an option. So that makes me sad. In the past couple of weeks, Puma has continued to send my usual shipment of equipment



included in which is the SWEETEST pair of long jump spikes I've EVER had.



Alas, I won't be wearing them any time soon. And that makes me sad:-(

All of this being said, I cannot deny the fact that my career has been so fulfilling and beautiful and exciting and thrilling and awesome and if I never stepped foot on another track competitively, I could live with that . That makes me happy. I have some of the BEST people in my life who, no matter what ANYONE tries to do, remain constant and special and I love them and that makes me happy:-) The Truth remains, and I think my injury has really revealed just how important my friends and family are as they have all been here for me in every way.

So, I'm not sure if I will be heading to Eugene to watch my people do their thing at the US Trials for the upcoming World Champs, but if I can't, my heart and thoughts and good wishes will most definitely be there with everyone. Some opportunities that I'm pursuing might preclude me from making it there, but time and schedule permitting, I'll wish my good lucks in person very soon anyway;-) Everything happens for a reason and for as much as I would love to be contending for wins and records and personal bests, I'm doing my best to make peace with the fact that I can do that off the track too, just in a different way. And that makes me happy!

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!

EMINEM VS. BRUNO

I'm sitting here watching the MTV Music Awards and I just saw something that made be say "Oh no he didn't!!!" Without saying anything else, all I'm gonna say is watch this clip and tell me whether you think it was staged or real. I'm still not sure but if it was real, then Eminem's people are probably on the hunt for Bruno's (Sasha Baren Cohen of Borat fame) people and there will be trouble......



Really though? He put his behind in Eminem's face!!!!!! And so close too! Ewwwww!!!!

HEARD ON THE RADIO....

A couple days ago, I was listening to the Michael Baisden Talk Radio Show in the afternoon as I do most afternoons and he had a segment on Stupid Cheaters. I thoroughly enjoy listening to this show and usually find his commentary both enlightening and entertaining. Well this afternoon turned out to be no different as he had people calling in who had either been caught cheating themselves or were the persons who had caught someone else.

This lady called in and said that she had come home early one day after telling her husband that she wouldn't be home until 5pm. Her silly husband, thinking the coast was clear, had the indecency to bring a lady home and take her up to his bedroom that he sleeps in with his wife!

Suffice to say, she came home, caught him "mid activity" lol, so there was no denying it and this fool proceeded to pull the front of his t-shirt, that he still had on, over his head and pretend it wasn't him???!!!! She said he jumped up and ran around and left the poor other woman just lying there in the bed on her back. And if he couldn't be any dumber, she said as he was running away, she yelled out his name and he turned back around towards her in response to his name.

What an idiot, lol??!!! I could envision the whole thing in my head and I laughed SO hard as I pictured this mostly naked guy running around with his t-shirt over his head, trying to pretend he was someone else. LOL!!!!! Michael Baisden said that the difference between men and women cheaters is that men are messy and usually get caught because they slip up but women don't usually get caught until they are tired of the situation they're in and just don't care one way or the other so they just do whatever. Interesting....


*****GO LAKERS!!!!!! Last night, my Lakers won again and now the score in the series is Lakers 3, Nuggets 2. One more to go! Let's wrap this up in Denver!! Sorry Dave, I don't think you're gonna get your dream match-up of Magic/Nuggets, lol but u can go to the Lakers/Magic series and give me the play by play:-) I'm just playin' DO, just playin'........

FUN-FILLED NIGHT

Yesterday turned out to be a pretty great day all around. First of all my LAKERS won!!! Way to go!!!! Let's make this series short and sweet....I know, I know, easier said than done but a girl can wish right??

I've been toying around with the idea of wearing bangs again. It's a "luxury" I can't usually indulge in, simple as it may sound, because I'm usually training and sweating and those two things don't go well with a black woman's hair and bangs. They end up getting sweated out from day one and just sticking onto your forehead...not a good look. Now that I have some time off, albeit involuntary, and sweat isn't oozing from my pores on a daily basis, I decided to try it again. I soon found out that my bangs had grown a little too long for me to see properly

and so I had to kinda part them in the middle and sweep them to the sides. The decisions us girls have to make, lol.


Anyway, so last night, my boy Chris Spencer (who I'm sure without him I'd have NO social life) shot me a text and invited me to meet him and his good friend Boris Kodjoe at this club in Studio City. Now for those of you who don't know, Mr. Kodjoe is an actor and he's pretty darned easy on the eyes:-)
Plus since I don't know the last time I actually went to a real club that wasn't a comedy club and since I figured I'd enjoy the "view" lol, I said I'm in. I called up my girls from Great Britain, Joice's homies Tasha D. and Emma and asked them to join me.


Emma, me - wearing flat shoes:-(, and Tash

Tasha D. is the Olympic bronze medalist from Beijing in the women's 400m hurdles and Emma runs on Great Britain's 4X100m relay team. My ladies showed up and we headed out. We got to the club and not that much was happening but I'm a glass half full kinda girl so I knew we'd have fun regardless. Chris and Boris showed up shortly after us and Chris took us over to the VIP area. Trust me, that status was not reserved for us ladies lol but for Boris. We soon found out why because we had a first hand view of exactly how CRAZY, WILD and DESPERATE some chicks can be when it comes to a good looking male celebrity. All I can say is OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!! Between the one girl who sneaked into the area and started doing some dirty dirty dancing and some of the things he told us some of the women who were approaching him when he briefly ventured out into the general area were saying and trying to do, I was in shock and awe. I was appalled really! I would write what they were saying but since this is a 'G' rated blog, I'll let you let your minds run wild and I'm sure it still won't top some of the things these women and I use that word loosely, were bold enough to say. Now I'm accustomed to being around a good looking guy:-) but this was just outta control!!!

We ended up having a really good time though and laughed the night away and apparently there are a whole lotta dances u can do as long as u have one good leg, lol. Also, turns out Boris went to see the same Dr in Toronto that I saw when he injured his leg playing basketball a few years ago. At closing time, we all headed to Jerry's Deli and sat there and chopped it up for another hour or so. The conversation with the boys was REALLY spicy and interesting, lol but mum's the word:-) By the time we were done, it was about 3am and we decided that we should finally head home. I think I laughed so much, my stomach and head hurt but I had such an awesome evening, I made a new friend and I really just enjoyed myself.


OK Chris....so what are you gonna invite me to next and how are you gonna top this????

A WHOLE LOTTA LOVE:-)

RECIPE FOR TWO LOVERS

Take happiness and laughter
mix thoroughly with romance.
Add hugs, pecks,
and sprinkle with kisses.
Bind with pleasure
and bake with faith.
Serve with endless love.

-Jephthah Adotey -


THAT IS LOVE

Love is a strange and beautiful thing,
It spans time and space, distance is no object to love.
You will wait forever for the one you love,
Travel wherever you need to be with them.
When you are in the arms of the one you love,
That love can make a moment last a lifetime,
Yet make a lifetime seem no more than a moment.
When love is distant it grows strong,
When it returns it flowers.
People crave it, strive for it, fight for it, and die for it,
And when they find it, they know they are complete.
For in the arms of the one we love is wholeness,
Belief, completeness, passion, and security.
The one we love is someone for whom we would do anything,
And never ask for anything in return.
It produces a love of all that person is and will ever be,
Regardless of what that may mean to me.
Love knows that when you are away,
That you are still loved, cherished, thought after, and missed
By the one you love,
And they know that you love them back.
That is Love.

- Nicolas Blackmore -


I WAIT

I wait for you,
anxious to see your face.

I stand and watch,
looking for the first sign of your arrival.

I finally see you,
I take a second look to make sure you're really there.

My pulse races and I crack a smile,
this is what I've been waiting for.

You begin to approach,
you say, "Sorry, I'm late."

I say, "No problem."
But I think to myself, 'I'd have waited forever.'

- Jordan Jones-


LOVE COUNTS

One look
One smile
One touch
One embrace
One kiss
One love
Two people
Two minds
Two souls
Two destinies
One road
One journey
One ending
Together.

- Melissa Higgins -

A NOTE TO GOD

On Monday, I was fortunate enough to be at home to catch the episode of Oprah that day. There was a young girl named Charice Pempengco on there singing a song written by Diane Warren called A Note To God. She's Filipino and she's only 17 years old. I really don't have adequate words to describe how absolutely AWESOME this girl's voice is so I won't say anything else except....enjoy!!

EARTHQUAKE!!!!!

So last night at about 8:45pm, I was sitting upstairs watching TV with my roommate Erica when all of a sudden the entire room started shaking and trembling and if you live in LA, you know right away what is going on....and I thought "here we go again!!!!" EARTHQUAKE!!!! I've heard different reports about the magnitude of it - some say 4.7, some say 5.0. Either way, it wasn't any fun.

I grabbed on to the arms of the love seat I was sitting on and just prayed that the rattling would stop quickly and that nothing would fall on me. All I kept thinking, was great, if I need to run somewhere for cover or outside or something, I'm plum outta luck cause there's no running happening with this bum leg of mine:-(

Thankfully it lasted less than 10 seconds I think and I tried to regain my composure. No matter how many times you go through it, it's a little bit terrifying. The biggest one I've been in was 7.1 and TRUST ME when I say, I really thought I was gonna die or something, lol because, of course it was my very first earthquake experience! I thought a train was passing by, then I thought, ok the world is ending. I was "fresh of the boat" so to speak from The Bahamas, so I had no idea what the heck was going on and in retrospect, it was pretty funny because I just ran outside and just kept on running - I'm still not sure where I was headed, but I was gonna get there as fast as I could.

Anyway, alls well here in LA. There wasn't too much damage done apart from the windows shattering in several buildings. In the meantime, we resume our normal lives and hope and pray that THE BIG ONE, doesn't happen any time soon!


****On another note, my LAKERS handled their business last night!!!!!!Woohoo!!!!! Next up, the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals. Now, don't get me wrong, I know that Denver is a formidable opponent, but I think we're up for the challenge. Sorry D.O......the Nuggets are going DOWN, lol!!!!