Shhhhh.....

Today's entry is a poem I wanted to share with my blog team. My journal collection consist of poems I've written over the years, this one was completed on April 23, 2006. What do you think?

Shhhhh.....

Shhhh you tell me,
There's no time to talk,
There's no time to hug,
There's not even time for a walk.

No time to know,
What I'm all about,
No time to know,
If we can work it out.

Life's moving fast,
There's a lot to do,
A lot to fix,
You had to save fuel.

You couldn't be bothered,
Enough to drop by,
To understand what was happening,
It caused me to cry.

To know that you don't care,
Not even for me,
Causes me to wonder,
What will it be.

What will it be like for you one day,
When you come back to talk,
And you cry,
When I say Shhhhh.....?


Andy Bryant
April 23, 2006

LeBron James is an Alien

All my life I’ve loved basketball. Whether I was watching it played on the court down the street from the house, in the Boys’ Club (we used to do some hot crafts there too), at school, or watching on television basketball was life. Give me the b-ball and I was flying high. So high that people often watched me from the ground and measured my jumps to prove what I had done

When I was 2-years-old my Momma gave me a basketball. Family members tell me that when that ball came into the house I was immediately weaned from breast milk. I was trying blind passes from behind my back before my arms were long enough to reach behind my back and passing the ball through my legs by jumping flatfooted so the ball could bounce between my legs. By the time I was 8-years-old there was no kid 12-years-old that could stop me on the court.

When I was sixteen I saw my first pro game and I’ve had the chance to watch players like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Reggie Miller, and Shaquille O’Neil play in person. There’s nothing like watching a game in person, the smells permeating the environment, the banners hanging from the ceiling and the cheerleaders leading fans only hype the experience even more.

Being part of 80,000 people watching a game is something that you don’t soon forget.

Let me tell you about a special game, I call it the LeBron James game.

If you’ve never heard of LeBron James let me clue you in on what makes this player unique. Lebron (Bron) is recognized by many people as one of the best, while others say the best that has ever played, or will ever play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Bron’s family history reveals that a lot like my life, his Mother raised him as a single parent and gave him a small basketball hoop when he was 3-years-old. Of course this meant that, a lot like me Bron was missing a steady, solid male figure for guidance. In his sophomore year of high school discussions began to circulate that it was only a matter of time before he would turn pro and join the NBA.

His skills continued to improve and he left high school after his junior year. It seemed that a majority of pro teams were interested in the “LeBron Lottery”. The Cleveland Cavaliers won the draft and LeBron started his rookie season playing in that city.

During the 2008-2009 season I had the chance to see Bron play the Orlando Magic. The Magic team has its own star Dwight Howard who can play like a dream player, but he has things to learn which will make him a more complete player and future hall-of-fame member. When my friend Byron got the tickets and asked if I would like to go, I was practically at the car before he stopped talking; excited like a puppy waiting for someone to throw a ball. (“Please, please, please! Throw the ball!!!”)

I was ready to go; it felt like I had won the lottery. The chance to see Dwight and Bron in the same game would be special.

Game day arrived and Byron came by to pick me up, then we headed to the arena. Traffic was not good, but it was not bad – it was NBA traffic. We walked across the parking lot after leaving the car and started up the arena steps. The crowd was growing, music was blaring through the speakers and the cheerleaders had already started their routines. The smell of popcorn, hot dogs, nachos, and cotton candy was in the air.

May people were dressed up for the event, but we were in out shorts and team colors. Our date with destiny of super basketball was more than being dressed in our finest. Dwight and Bron wouldn’t care what we had on, in 4 minutes and 36 seconds they would be going at it like ‘cats and dogs’.

We bought our sodas, water and popcorn, then immediately headed up to our seats to watch a little pre-game warm-up. Little did we know what was going to happen in approximately half and hour.

The game started and things were going well. Byron & me were both for the Orlando team. The two main players raced up and down the floor with ease. All of the others were just bit characters in the game. Dwight would drive to the basket and dunk, Bron would cut through the defensive efforts of the Magic with no problem.

In fact, Bron was so smooth it almost seemed unnatural. He would dribble a couple times, jump and turn to run back down the court. The opposite happened for the Magic, scoring was a lot more laborious. Other players would shoot a long shot, trying to score 3-pointers; on occasion lucky - most times not so lucky.

Bron would get the ball at half court; the ball would touch the floor and – SCORE!!! Occasionally he would pass the ball to a teammate and like most skilled players the ball would come back to Bron and SCORE!!!

It was almost inhuman, as if he was from another planet. When he took the ball nothing seemed to matter. One thing I noticed was that he didn’t seem to sweat. When there was a timeout or injury Bron never seemed to be breathing hard. It was not natural and he was destroying his opponent with little effort.

Characteristically, as he ran down the court he was all business but when a pause in the game he jutted his chin out and held his mouthpiece in his teeth. This really bothered us as the game developed and became even harder to watch as the Cavaliers improved on the score, making it obvious that the Magic would not win.

And all the time LeBron continued to grin.

At half time we went out to the concession stands for something to eat. While on queue everyone was talking about how well LeBron was playing. Someone commented that it was as-if he was from another planet. Everyone laughed and agreed that might really be possible.

What happened next was eerily concerning and is something we’ll never forget. As we headed back to our seats Byron commented that we should stand over the tunnel that leads to the locker-rooms and see if we could get some sort of souvenir from a player, maybe a towel. I gave him a look of disbelief that anything would happen, but we stood there for awhile.

Shaquille O’Neil and Mo Williams walked through the tunnel, dismissing us as non-factors in the day by not looking in our direction. Bron was the last player to walk through the tunnel and Byron yelled in his direction to throw-up a towel. Bron looked-up, and both of us saw the same thing, his left eye glared RED and then twinkled YELLOW. Both of us stopped dead in our tracks, towels no longer matter.

Byron looked at me and asked if I saw the eye change colors. I nodded and yelled out, “Bron” and he turned and looked up at us again. This time he grinned, turned and ran onto the court, bouncing the ball while he took a couple practice shoots. Just before the second half started he walked down to our end of the court, looked directly at us (I am telling you the truth), and grinned.

From that point forward we did nothing but watch his eyes. He cut through the defensive schemes of the Magic with little effort. He dunked the ball with ease and Byron swears that he saw the glimmer of red in Bron’s eyes several times.

All through this he never created a drop of sweat or seemed to be breath hard. I noticed that he drank some water a couple time, but laughing the entire time while the rest of his teammates were wiping their foreheads, sucking down Gatorade and gasping for oxygen.

It was the most unnatural thing I’ve ever seen.

LeBron James is an ALIEN!!!

There is no other way to explain what we saw that night. No sweat, no hard breathing, easy play, while exceeding all the Human efforts. But as I consider it now it is possible that he may never be the greatest person to ever play the game.

He is living on our planet in a human body. Human bodies break down and lose efficiencies over time. Recently Bron changed teams and will be playing for the Miami Heat in the 2010-2011 season and he should be concerned about how long it takes to put a great team together. To describe it in scientific terms, time is ticking and his human body will be breaking down soon.

Even an ALIEN who lives in a human body has to hurry if he wants to play in the NBA.

***

Like all of my other stories, much of this one is fiction (at least the red and yellow eyes, and none of the information dealing with my parents is true). I have seen LeBron play in-person and he does play like he could be an Alien (he’s that good). If you have any comments or thoughts on another story post a comment and I will email you back ASAP.

Oil Rig and the President (Part 3)

This is part 3, please read Part I & II before reading this installment.

Moments of suspense ticked away while the occupants of the room waited for the door to be closed. Agent #1 reached the door and started to pull it closed, but arms stretched through the opening and pulled him outside the room.

The President screamed, “Close the door”.

Agent #2 closed the door and locked it while moaning continued to emanate from the other side of the door. Several sets of female eyes widened as President Obama turned to look at the oil soaked body on the floor. After a short moment he stumbled back against the wall, rubbing his face uncontrollably as if something was covering it.

It was at that moment he realized what had happened and who was under the oil that covered the body. Placing an index finger against his forehead the President rubbed slowly while he sat with an amazed look on his face.

Someone asked, “Are you ok sir?”

The President nodded in the affirmative, stood up and gazed around the room as he approached the body. He had been relatively quiet during the morning events and his face communicated intently what his voice had failed to do, he was scared and concerned. He opened his mouth and said, “Is that……”, but he was interrupted by one of the ladies standing next to him.

“It’s the Republican from Texas.” A hushed mumbling from several of the ladies suddenly grew louder as the moaning outside the door increased in volume. The lady continued, “I bet he could have helped us.”

“But how could we have known who it was?” agent #2 asked. “He was covered with oil.”

Nikki, standing in the middle of the room screamed, “What, you killed a man? Why?”

Everyone in the room seemed to freeze. It was as if they did not know how to respond to the young girl. The lack of reaction continued, seconds seemed to equal an eternity. The President walked away from the body and ordered agent #2 to join him as he moved toward the door. “Get ready, we have got to see what’s happening out at the beach.” The agent pulled a pistol out of the holster hanging around his shoulder, ensured a bullet was in the chamber, wrapped his fingers around the door knob and pulled a fistful of metal towards his body.

Shining directly in the agent’s face was the bright Florida morning sunshine. Seagulls were in the air squawking at one another. Several people were standing along the shoreline, gazing toward the ocean.

The agent shouted toward the group of bystanders, “What did you see”?

A short, 20-something female who was wearing a brightly colored bathing suit ran across the sand, looked directly in the agent’s face and said, “There was a man wearing scuba gear that came up out of the water. He was covered in oil and as he walked past me that black sludge dripped off his body. It left a black strip of something behind his body; you know, like a snail leaves behind as it slides across the ground. I yelled at him but he just walked past me.”

While imitating a walking stride with a lurch she continued, “Like I mentioned – he was walking zombie-style.”

Another voice from the crowd said, “She’s right. He just walked past us and went directly into that building”, gesturing to the building the President and agent had been inside only a few minutes earlier.

“So” the agent asked, “He just walked past you without asking a question or telling you what he was going to do, right?”

“You are correct” the young female said as she shook her head. “Who was he?”

“That was the ex-President of the United States” the agent commented. “He was invited to the meeting at the request of the President so he could offer his thoughts and advice as to how the oil rig disaster could be managed.”

As the agent completed his last comment he turned and found the President down on his hands and knees prostrate on the ground.

Someone added, "And then he left the building screaming and went back into the ocean."

"But that's impossible...", the agent said. "He's dead in the building."

"Not if that was him that we saw at the building door. He moaned like he was in pain, then turned and ran back to the water", someone called out.

“But that's impossible. Mr. President, we have to get back inside and figure out what actually happened and if the oil rig leak caused this.” The President looked at the agent and mumbled, “Give me a break. The Texan had to have been temporarily insane, or maybe he inhaled some of the oil and couldn’t think straight.”

As the agent helped the President up from the ground a helicopter could be heard approaching and the two men caught a glimpse of 40-50 troops approaching the immediate area. As the troops reached the President and the other people standing with him, the look on most of the faces was one of amazement as they all seemed to realize that the soldiers had their weapons drawn – and pointed directly at the group.

Instinctively each person on the beach reacted to the military show-of-force and raised their hands into the air. Meanwhile the soldiers continued across the beach in a sprint while the helicopter circled the vicinity. The President, taking a moment to consider what should be done, gazed across the group of citizens and realized that there were several small children clinging to Mothers’ pant legs and adult couples holding hands, now many displaying an expression of disbelief on their faces.

A few moments later the soldiers stepped within a couple meters of the most powerful man in the free world. All the soldiers were obviously winded and took a moment to catch a quick breath of oxygen. Then the captain leading the soldiers stepped forward and saluted the President.

President Obama acknowledged the leader and said, “Captain, catch your breath and then give me a status report of what is happening.”

The captain nodded and pursed his lips, took a couple short deep breaths, inhaled one more long controlled breath and then said, “Mr. President, you are in danger. Please follow me away from the shoreline before the thing comes back out of the ocean.”

This comment caught the country’s leader off guard. Now he found himself trying to control his own breath and said, “What do you mean the thing?”

***
Thanks for reading my posts. If you like this and feel its worth more installments post a comment or send me an email then I'll work on it. Take care! ;-)

Misspellings Everywhere

If you've been following me on Twitter you know I've been on vacation and traveling. While venturing around I caught several instances of misspelled words in menus, signs, and even newspapers. Here's one that I caught on the menu board in a local burger joint. The food is hometown good, and although the spelling of chocklate was probably an original error, I have to keep in mind that hometown eateries are hometown goood!!!! The misspelling seems to have just become part of the decor - on the menu board over on other side of the room chocklate is just chocolate.

I didn't catch it on my camera but the refill sign is handwritten, and its been that way for years. But hey its all become part of the business, and the the really important thing is that the food is GOOD!!!! (Click the picture to enlarge it a little.)

New Post Idea & Vacation

Good evening everyone! If you’ve been reading my tweets you know I’ve been out-of-pocket and on vacation. One big sports story that broke while I was out-of-town was LeBron James joining the Miami Heat (I'm thinking about a post on LeBron). So, I’m back and ready to crank out some posts in the next couple days. Please check back to see what I’ve got in mind and be sure to leave a comment on my different posts, you may be the person that gives me the next post idea.

4th of July & Public Reading

What a holiday the 4th of July was this year. I had a chance to visit family, eat a lot of good homecooking, and a chance to watch 'Toy Story 3' with my wife and kids, along with several others. I also had the chance to read my current novel material with my parents. While reading for them I discovered a couple things that will be changed in order to enhance the flow of the material, received a few questions that were appreciated, and there were some kudos too!

I'd never had a chance for my parents and family to hear this material, ask questions and share their thoughts. Everyone's comments and facial expressions provided me the feedback and endorsement needed – I am moving in the right direction with this novel experience!!!

The Attack On Our Country

The United States is under attack! This attack is taking place in front of you every day, yet you do not realize it. Savvy military and government officials know what is happening but can not stop it. In fact, they are put down and fired from long-standing positions for trying to make others aware. Even more important is the fact that newspaper personnel are convinced there is no attack taking place – and it’s newspaper types that discovered it.

It’s hard to believe - the information has become so convoluted that the people who stumbled onto it 8-10 years ago are now convinced that nothing is happening. It’s for that reason that I want to share my information before it’s discovered I'm in on the plan.

Those of us who are aware of the plan know the global economic downfall the government conjured up is actually the true cause of the problem. Our leaders have been blinded by the push to be politically correct, and in-turn provided our enemies the rights of citizens.

Take for instance, when a terrorist tried to ignite an explosive in his shoe, local and federal officials offered him the rights available to citizens, not enemies. It is this belief and action by our government that deflects the attention and scrutiny away from their actions and truth, allowing the enemy to go undetected and free to continue the attack.

The attack was first noted in 2001 when several U.S. citizens became ill and no clear cause was found. More than 200 people developed nausea, throwing-up, chills, and mental fatigue that were never related to any particular cause. A few years later, in 2006 hundreds of Chinese villagers were hospitalized in what was rumored to be lead poisoning. In 2007 it was announced that more than 80 percent of the world’s toys were produced by China and that many contained lead poisoning.

During that same year, on September 11 China announced it would no longer allow lead to be used in toys leaving that country. But yet 2-years later, to the date a small news story came out of China that described villagers taking charge of a smelting plant in China, while destroying materials and equipment as a form of revolt because of unhealthy practices. However, the story did not hit mainstream newscasts or reach the general public in America. The information seems to have been pushed aside in other countries before rounding the globe.

A subversive, sneak attack against the country's health.

So, while your traveling across the United States this year watch for warnings of lead poisoning in things such as action figures (recently Chinese produced action figures were recalled from a fast-food burger chain in the United States). Also watch for warnings and recalls of items such as contaminated food materials, including dog food and building materials.

When you discover a situation ask yourself, why are items allowed into the country with insufficient review before making it into the U.S. supply & demand chain? Why do Americans allow contaminated food products into the country, yet provide millions of dollars to support our enemies?

America is under attack right under our noses. In order to prevent this all countries should be held to the same standards, holding our country to higher standard while holding other countries to a, "look aside" mentality benefits other countries. This is creating an unsafe market standard while allowing our country to be attacked each day.
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For this post my intent was to use a narrative format, with no direct quotes and to present known facts to conjure-up a story. Did you believe the post while reading?