Friday, November 29, 2013

Just Because...

You may or may not have read any of my previous blogs when I talked about my good friend Christina. If you haven't read them, go back and find them. She's a pretty great person. Anyway, I wanted to do something nice for her for the coming Christmas season, but, the original plan kinda fell through. So, I am thinking of just celebrating her for her thoughtfulness, insight, and just sheer awesomeness through blog and something a little more me and her (like dinner or something). 2013 has been pretty great communicating with her over the year, and I am so grateful and blessed to call her my friend.

We met around this time last year at a going away party for a mutual friend of ours. We didn't have the deepest conversation, but the little talk that we did have had me intrigued to befriend such wisdom. It wasn't until later in that year or earlier this year when we finally decided to actually hang out. Another mutual friend of ours was moving to San Francisco, and we talked in that loud bar, and laughed and discussed, and I left there happy to know that there is someone who was willing to just listen to my side of things... Someone there who would listen to my ramblings about life, music, sports, politics, whatever. Sometimes, we all just need someone to listen to our bullshit, ya know? :) So, maybe a month or so after the party, I got a hold of her, and asked if she wanted to meet for dinner or coffee or something. We ended up meeting for coffee, and we just sat there and ran the gambit of topics, going from current events, all the way to future plans. We just sat there for hours just talking and going on, and it was enlightening. The thing that I learned in that whole first conversation is that I am not wrong for what I think, as long as I am willing to hear the other side of the story. The little things we learn, right?

So, throughout the rest of the year, we have gotten together and talked and shared life's little joys and horrors, and laughed and talked, and even squeezed in a dinner, a movie AND a listening "party" for the new Janelle Monae album that was soon to release at the time. And in all of that, I have gotten the pleasure of getting to know such a beautiful, intelligent, amazing, and quiet soul. Christina has been so awesome to me over the year or so we have known each other, and the 9 or so months that we have been friends, that, I am just content in just letting the world know that people like her exists... We all need friends out there that has nothing to do with our personal lives. We all just need someone who is there and ready for a conversation or two, just whenever, and because. Now, with that said, I do hope and pray that our friendship will develop more and more, but, in due time, that will happen. But for right now, I will say this in closing:

Christina, thank you, from the bottom of my soul, for simply being there. Thanks for taking me and all my small annoyances, and passions. I have learned how to be more patient, and be a better listener by simply sitting across the table from you. I am blessed to have people like you in my world, and I am beyond thankful for the color you bring to the canvas that makes up me. Not sure if you know this or not, but, I look forward to our gatherings, and I hope that we can continue this long after we find our special someones and marry them, and have kids, and move on from here, to one day we find time just to catch up. :) You are a treasure to me, and this blog doesn't even scratch the surface of what would be appropriate as a proper thank you to you. But this will have to do for now.

Thank you, just because,

Your friend.

Jarrett Hayes a.k.a. Jolly Green

Friday, November 15, 2013

energy wasted poorly

Outside of everything that is happening in Miami with the whole "hazing/bullying" thing in sports, the next big story comes with the term and the name of a proud and historic franchise in Washington D.C. Apparently, their NAME is so racist, that the media, from your high school copier to your AJC and every newspaper in between, Saying "Redskin" is so so wrong... Even if it is wrong, why bring up this argument now? Why, all of a sudden should I be up in arms about a word that I associate with a football team? When I hear the word "Redskins, " I think about Doug Williams, George Rogers, The Hogettes, just simple football stuff, like the black man in full Indian headgear! Nothing screams racism when I hear the word "Redskins." But APPARENTLY its SO offensive that even Bob Costas himself will no longer refer to Washing as the mascot. To each his own. But, all of a sudden, this word is SO BAD! I mean, it is just wretched!!!And yet, ALL around suburbia, in every 12-32 year old white persons car, has your ::put name of your favorite bullshit rapper of today, including Kanye West::  CD, and NO ONE has any qualms about the word "nigger." Makes since...