Your questions answered!!

Thank you guys for showing an interest and asking questions about my African excursion. The questions I got were oddly close to some of my biggest take aways from this deployment. All three of these questions are experiences that will forever stay with me long after this deployment ends.

How many of you earned diving certifications?

- There were quite a few of us that got their SCUBA diving certificate. I am very proud to mention that I am a certified advanced open water diver!!! I can dive to something around 120 feet below the waves and flourish in the aqua blue yonder. I am VERY happy that I had the opportunity to dive and dive often while I was here. The ocean really is amazing! I was blessed to live next to a beautiful beach with an amazing coral reef and crystal clear waters. I saw octopuses, sting rays, star fish, sea cucumbers and incalculable varieties of fish! A group of us even saw a maco shark... Thank god I didn't see that, I probably would have soiled myself.
   SCUBA diving was really an eye opening experience for me. I honestly think that if I had been exposed to this as a child I would have studied marine biology in college! However, I will warn you that the ocean is a HORRIFYING place to be after dark. Biolumesicent organisms are pretty cool, but the rest of the ocean feels like a death trap!!!! Oh and try not to have a panic attack under water because your ears aren't equalizing and the pressure is getting to you, and you forget which way is up, and you forget to breathe.... Not that anything like that has ever happened to me of course.

What are your thoughts on payday PT with the new Battalion?

- Now you know that I would never criticize or speak ill of our leadership. They are doing the best they can to not be completely, wholeheartedly, mind numbing retarded. I think they are fighting the good fight.

How does it feel emotionally and spiritually to be there overall? Being the motherland and all.

- Emotionally, it has been such a beautiful feeling. Being around the original people, the genesis for all mankind. When I saw this I am not using hyperbole, I have looked upon the bones of the earliest human "Lucy" that we know existed. Further than that seeing so many people who look just like me (ESPECIALLY IN ZAMUNDA!!!) being so successful and doing such amazing things. I really feel as if I met kindred spirits in Zamunda, who look out for their communities and sought to elevate their people just like I want to do. Emotionally, it made me feel so much better about my people both members of the diaspora and not.

Spiritually, Africa affected me much more. I think I am going to wear the lessons that I learned in my heart long after the memories of the deployment has faded. The largest spiritual effect that I take away from this is how I view African Americans. First off, I no longer say "nigga". When I got to Africa and I saw how our brothers and sisters acted and carried themselves, from the beggars to the businessmen, I did not see niggas. I saw black people striving for success. This will stay in my heart of hearts. I saw a group of people who were never colonized and the PRIDE that they took in themselves and their actions. I intend to take these lessons back to America. Their ancestors were not slaves, or second class citizens and I saw people that carried themselves as such. We aren't niggas, we should not even think it much less use it to address or describe each other. I encourage you to stop saying it. If you don't want to , I encourage you to come to Africa and ask yourself if you see niggas walking around. Don't worry, I won't be one of the Dr. Cornell West type brothers who chastise you for saying it, this is a decision I made for myself based off of what I have seen.

Introspection.

"What I want to do to you... nah, really it's for you, is open my mental window, hoping that you will climb in, or if not, at least look in. I want to take you to places that I have been and to the places that I want to go. I mean this blog, it ain't all that I got, but it does mean a lot to me, I injected my whole being into it, and I've been doing it for a while, it's like my whole life has become a style. I want to get into it... yeah."

- Common 

   Of course Common wasn't talking about a blog here, he was talking about music but whatever, the rest of it mostly fits. It's from a song "Introspection" which is the intro to one of my favorite albums, "One Day it Will All Make Sense". Great album if you've never heard listened to it.... Anyway, I have spent an awful lot of time over the past few months being very introspective about myself and who I am for the better and more often than not for the worse. I've learned quite a few things and I thought that I should share a part of my travels from a personal standpoint.

   First and foremost I want to apologize to someone who I KNOW will never read this 1. He doesn't speak english and 2. I doubt he has internet access. That is our former gate guard, I won't put his name out, even though he has literally the most popular name on the planet. We treated him like ish and he really didn't deserve it. Well, we treated him like ish by OUR standards but for a local he had it decently well. Anyway, through him I noticed that I definitely do look down on some people and regard them as lesser. About halfway through my time with him I thought about how he might one day use our toilet and I was disgusted about it. Afterwards I immediately thought about that movie "The Help" and how that same scenario played out. I am not proud that I think this way and now that I am aware of it I'm sure I will notice other ways in which I look down on other people. This probably makes me a bad person. I both hope and do not hope that I'm the only one who does this.

   Secondly, I've noticed that I require a woman to like me way too much. I think I noticed this after I broke up with the Ginger and decided to be celibate for awhile. Anyway, I did not like the person I became after the Monkey and I broke up AT ALL. The emotions that I felt and furthermore, the reasons behind the emotions that I was feeling were not the emotions of someone who has a healthy view of relationships. I really took that breakup  and the subsequent trials and tribulations as some kind of referendum of who I was. I get that everyone goes through something like this after every breakup, but I never hear men say things the way I felt. For some, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, <~~~ I cannot stress those really's enough strange reason I roll not being wanted by a woman with my mom dying. Does that make ANY logical sense? Nope WTF BRAIN???????

   Not to end this on a negative note (this could easily be a thesis length  work on my person shortcomings) I have learned that I do have a genuine desire to see people do well. There was a time when I would tell people that "I'm all about positivity" and encourage people to be and do positive things but not really believe it. Now, I've noticed that I really do believe that. It's not just talk to me. I genuinely want to see people be and do awesome, even when I would get zero benefit out of it. I get legitimately excited when people are progressing and big things for themselves and I know that I say it with ZERO hate. I know there is that maxim that "they want to see you do good, but never more than that" but I really don't think that applies to me. I love to see people do good, but seeing them do great is even better! I suppose lots of people think that they think this way but I don't think there would exist the whole Haters and you post if people really wanted to see you do well.

   This is by no means all of the things that I discovered about myself. Like I said earlier, I could drone on and on about my shortcomings. I could also extol some of my virtues, but my mind doesn't work that way, it always focuses on what I am currently not doing well at. All that said, I think noticing one's failings and attempting to correct them, while balancing that with some positivity is very important for growth as a person.

Or, I'm just a bad person, I'm going to go with the former.

The worst person in the world

   Can we sit down and have a grown up conversation like adults? Is that cool? If not it's my blog so I'm doing it anyway.

    If you are a gown man and enter a bathroom where urinals and stalls are available and you pee on the seat, your life is not worth living and AT THE ABSOLUTE VERY LEAST you should be painfully sterilized. I think we should replace those automatic flushing robots will death machines and if you are caught pissing on the seat in a bathroom that has urinals available you would just be terminated with extreme prejudice. I am not joking here, you should be killed. You have no purpose in society! You are worst than the person who switches lanes in heavy traffic with no turn signals or the person doing the speed limit in the left lane.

   
    Now, you might be saying "Whoa, Token! Isn't this a little extreme"? My response is...... BOLLOCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you do this you really are one of the worst human beings ever to be placed on the planet you worthless savage. The only way that you can redeem yourself is if you clean it up. But if you commit THE ULTIMATE SIN and force another adult to clean up your lazy ass piss then I fully believe that those aforementioned death machines should kill you AND your entire immediate family. Humanity has reached the point where we don't need more people and I'm not 100% certain that we should allow you or any of your genetic line to keep breeding.






Seriously tho, if you do this you should Chris Benoit yourself at my earliest connivence. If you need a hint my earliest connivence is as soon as absolutely possible and preferably in the most painful way readily available. 

What to expect when you're away.

   I have taken two long trips in my life. In those two trips I have learned less than I should but more than I care to know about how people act towards you when you're removed from them. My second trip either reinforced and changed some of the conclusions that I drew from the first trip. I write this so that you, you nebulous person who theoretically is reading this blog, might be a little prepared for what to expect when you're gone.

1. You will randomly acquire SO MUCH random stuff that you don't need/ want.
   
   You won't realize that you got all of this nonsense either until it's time to leave and you're mailing stuff home. You will go through your belongings and be at a complete and utter loss for words as to how you came to acquire so much..... Stuff! During the tail end of my Iraq trip I discovered that I had picked up so much extraneous that I had no clue what to do with it. Markers, flashlights, boxes up boxes of pens, batteries, trinkets, shirts and I even picked up a mouse (that tore through my chemical suit and flew out of one of my bags) all of this was the random things that I just kinda picked up along the way.

2. You will not pack enough stuff.

    You will forget things, probably important things. Why would you do this? Because you're packing for a long trip and you will not remember everything. This time, I left a hat! How did I forget something so base as a hat? Clearly I'm retarded, but I did it. I don't remember what I forgot last trip but I'm sure it was something important! I really don't think it's possible for you to reasonably pack for every contingency, especially when you don't really know what you'll be doing.

3. You will pack too much stuff.
    So you're going to a warm weather environment and you want to bring cold weather gear "just in case"? You want to bring a suit just in case you get to suit up and go somewhere special? You're not going to need it but bring it! A nice pair of shoes? Like basketball shoes? Eff it, bring em you'll use em like 4 times so why not! Look, bottom line you're bringing entirely too much nonsense and there really isn't much you can do it.

4. You will feel left out.

    The Grunt and I were having a conversation the other day about pop culture and how we miss so much pop culture related things while on a trip. The last time I COMPLETELY missed out of the cupid shuffle, I came back and everybody was doing this dance that I had zero clue about. To again put it in prospective I heard Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" for the first time a week ago when I downloaded his newest album. Popular culture seems to move at sub 12 parsec speeds while you're gone. But the feeling of being left out by pop culture pales in comparison to other things.

5. Your loved ones will make you feel left out.

   So while you're gone you think pop culture is going to make you feel left you? Wait until the people that you love and love you completely ignore you. You'll leave messages and get no responses, you'l see other people getting the love you want from people and you'll get none of it. Laughing at people for having a loving and supportive group around them quickly isn't funny anymore when you start to realize you don't have that. You will hear "oh what do you want I'll get it together" of some for more times than you want to hear and you will cease to expect anything.

6. The people that hold you down will forever be in your heart.

   Two people who immediately come to mind who held me down my entire first trip are Jewbacca and my grandma. Those two people sent me letters and packages and Jewbacca was always there to talk to and bounce ideas off of and everything like that. For this deployment, I'll always hold Butters in high regard. He was the very berry first person to send me anything this trip. We haven't spoken a whole lot but it really doesn't take much to make a person feel good. Jewbacca has always been there for me. She was the second person to send something and she's the only person to consistently have the decency to respond to messages! The coolest thing about these two people is that I've never asked for anything, they just knew what was up and decided to act like a friend. There are others that have certainly been pretty awesome this deployment. A special shootout goes to my brother who constantly held me down back at home and with forwarding things to me that I need. Without him looking out for my interests at home and here I'd be sunk!

7. Jodie will get to your girl. Yes, your girl.

   The American military has a grand tradition of singing about the not at all mythical person named Jodie who has sex with your girl while you're at the supermarket getting eggs on a deployment. With phrases like "ain't no use in calling home, Jodie's on your telephone" from basic training on young military members are confronted with the fact that someone (probably that they know) is having sex with their sweethearts while they toil away. So, before you leave on your trip just know that your sweet wonderful sweetheart who PROMISED that she can be with you through your trip and SWORE that she wouldn't bang Jodie? Well, she's banging Jodie. When your trips starts you'll hear less and less from her till she lets you know what's going on or you find out. But don't you worry, she still loves and really loves you and really this is your fault because well, people can't just be owning up to their personal failings can they?

Well, that's about it. Stay turned for the part 2 to this series "What to expect when you get home" coming as soon as I get home and feel like writing.

GUESS WHOS BIZZACK???

    Its been a long time, I shouldn't have left you without a strong rhyme to step to without a dope blog or two to read. I do offer you my sincerest apologies but sometimes during a Token's travels the man restricts what websites he can visit. BUT IT IS NO MORE!!! I am back in the lab spittin hot fiya for the streets giving you new and cooler insights to the mind of a token.

    As an update in my life since all 6 of you that read this undoubtedly care about me, my time in the motherland is drawing to a close. I've learned a lot about myself, other people, other cultures and I think the world in general. My time here has really opened my eyes to some things that I find positive and very negative about life. I had a few heartaches, few more successes and more failures than I like to admit but c'est la guerre, I'm sure some of these will find a place in my musings from time to time. Anyway, I stopped blogging because I moved to a place where I only had the man's internet and blogs are blocked on the man's internet (boo!!! hiss!!!!!) but don't you worry, even tho you didn't get to read about my travels I still have some gems! In the near future I have a few more travels lined up that you should keep posted to hear about. To name a few, I have a tentative Vegas trip lined up, a definite Euro trip that's happening and a trip to Canada. All should be excellent times.

   So, in summation, stay tuned the Token has some new content for ya, and tell a friend or 7 about Token travels! Why you ask? I'm awesome, my life is interesting and people should read about it!

Traveling Wins (If you're from 'Merica)

   I'm going to paraphrase someone famous whose name and exact quote I don't feel like googling but with the appalingly low* amounts of Americans with a passport a group of American's discussing the world is like a bunch of virgins discussing a porno flick starring Gianna Micheals. I doubt any of my esteemed, well traveled, intellectual readers has any of these problems but I shall still impart to you some of the traveling wins that I have experienced. I can only write about this from the prosepective of someone from ' Merica and as such I have noticed SO MUCH WIN!!! So here we are, a few traveling wins when you're from 'Merica even when you're not exporting democracy.
    I cannot underestimate how amazing it is that wherever you go, people speak English. Not that everybody everywhere speaks English but enough people speak enough English that you can be understood. This is a perk that CANNOT be understated. Want to find a place to eat/drink/party dart show ask a few people. Someone close to you will speak some English. If you're in a touristy spot you'll find either other Americans or white people Europeans that speak English and they can help you out! This doesn't always work. When I was in Thailand I found myself, inexplicably, in a Russian club. There I met this guy named Nicholai. He spoke very broken English and I speak no Russian but we were able to have a struggling conversation in French. That only barely has to do with this post but it's a cool story I wanted to share. Another win is the American dollar.
   
    Yes, yes, yes I hear you. The American dollar isn't what it used to be since Obama ruined the economy. Sure, the greenback might not have the buying power that it used to but you know what it does have? Acceptance. I swear a good old fashioned American dollar is taken neigh anywhere in the world. From seedy Thai "establishments" to backwoods restaurants in the desert, people WILL take American currency. Now, I suppose this might also be the case for other foreign currencies (Euro, Pound, etc) but I'm out for Presidents to represent me (Shoutouts to Nas). To be fair you only really need to carry dollars on your person if you are in an emergency or neglected to exchange money at the airport/ nearest bank to your hotel. For me, speaking and money aren't the best part about 'Merican traveling wins.

    Despite all the messed up stuff that America has given the world in the past few years people still LOVE AMERICANS!!! This might be the limited scope of travel that I've done but no matter the country people love us. I'm not really sure why. What I do know is that as soon as people find out that you're from America they get so happy and say things like "America number one!" it is pretty random. For most of the world I'm willing to bet that it's a combination of the exportation of our TV shows and our culture. Maybe the old phrase that the black American man is the most copied person on the planet rings true. I've only been to 4 continents so I can't speak for the other ones but it seems true to me. You know to know something really random (That again only barely relates to this post) African kids LOVE JOHN CENA. It is one of the most random things I have ever seen.

    So there you go, the three greatest traveling wins (If you're from 'MURICA). From our culture, to our money, to the  language (shoutouts to the Limeys for starting it) we should feel very comfortable traveling more. After traveling so much I'm semi baffeled why more American's don't travel more often, I'm telling you it's AWESOME!


** Please note: I just got my blue passport 2 months ago but I still got around.
   

Don't Chase the Night

  
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away an older man (whose name escapes me) told me "Don't chase the night". I'm sure you have heard some older person say "nothing good happens after midnight" and that person has never been more wrong and right at the same time. That said, they are old and by nature risk averse and conservative. The night kicks into high gear after midnight, all my legendary stories probably have happened after midnight. HOWEVER!!!!!!!!! The night will also abruptly leave you after midnight too. Before we get into why you should never chase the night, let's discuss the elusive night.

   The night is an almost magical entity that fuels our pursuit of weekends. Quoth the philosopher, "club life's part of the reason I love life". There will always be excellent nights and nights that will HORRIBLE. There is almost no way to predict how the night will go other than some invisible hand (word to Adam Smith) that guides us when we are out. The political "Black Eyed Peas" party once coined a statement that they had a feeling that tonight was going to be a good night. They legit felt it. Sometimes the night, in its infinite wisdom, decides to bless us with a feeling that it will be good to us and indeed its bounty is unrivaled. Other times, the night will snatch defeat from the very jaws of victory. My purpose is to aid all of you in avoiding defeat.

   Just as the night will give you a feeling that it is going to be a good good night, it lets you know when its bountiful blessings have expired. If you are in tune with the night it will let you know. Often times it lets us know OBVIOUSLY, like the excellent club you were at is closed and there are more clubs open just a short 30 min drive away from here. You could even get in another 2 hours of drinking/ clubbing. NO! The night obviously just told you that it is done. You are now venturing into uncharted territory where you are no longer under the protections of the night!!! A more subtle way the night lets us know that it's over is when you get that shot from the bar. It's in front of you and you're just looking at it. You might even pick it up and just look at it and you KNOW that if you take that shot, it's all downhill from here. This is the night letting you know that it will be all downhill from here.... But still, take that shot and just be mindful about what the night just told you. If you don't listen to the night and when its protection leaves, woe to you.

   You know what's out here for you after the night's protections have left you? TROUBLE. The crazier place that you are the more trouble awaits you. I swear that the police have a monopoly on the protections of the night and as soon as they realize that more than 75% of the nights protections have left they set up checkpoints and strangely follow you for 3 turns. In no way am I encouraging drinking and driving BUT recognize that the cops are real out here!! Especially when the bar closes and the police are watching to see who stumbles back to their cars.

Check back in for stories of chasing the night
.

Token thoughts: Women and masculinity

           I don’t know if anybody else has noticed this or if it’s just me (probably just me) but I have seen an awful lot of advice about being a man/ masculinity floating around the Internet. What I find odd is that the VAST majority of this advice is coming directly from women. Why are women, overwhelmingly, telling men about how to be a man/ masculine? What are the reasons for this? Could this be beneficial or detrimental to a generation that is already growing up soft as hell? The most important question is WHERE ARE THE MEN? My first assumption into why women are the ones waving the flag of advice for young men is fatherlessness.

 I was blessed to have a father in my home growing up, as did most of my friend group so I cannot comment first hand on the effects of fatherlessness. That said, I did get to see the effects of fatherlessness in my community and how negatively it affected the various communities that I grew up in. Let me be CLEAR this is no slight on the phenomenal women who are raising and have raised male children on their own, just that there are some things that a man is best suited to teach a boy. I think that we have a generation, more aptly generations, of men who have not stepped up to the plate to father their children. Women have been so used to being both parents at once that giving advice on how to be a man is becoming neigh second nature. Maybe, just maybe if men stepped up to the plate and raise our sons we wouldn’t have this problem.

The issue of fatherlessness brings up a point that bears mentioning. Since we have a generation of men who were raised by women, do they even know how to be men? MY answer is an overwhelming yes. My father did not have a father growing up in the home yet he was able to teach me many valuable lessons as much as I hated it at the time. Outside of my father I was blessed to have many men around me who taught me the same, Mr. Williams, Mr. Jones, Mr. Naeher being a few names that pop most readily in my mind as men who taught me how to be a man. Is it that I was blessed growing up? Sure not everybody got to grow up under such great men but I’m sure there are great men out there molding young men into excellence. These men, while explicitly teaching me things about being a man did much more for me than teach, it was the example that they set.

Leading by example is the most important quality in a leader. You don’t have to tell people what they should be doing when you are living it. THAT is what men need to do. If we are living the right way we are teaching our sons, nephews, brothers and peers the correct way to live. We might not be intentionally teaching a generation of young men how to grow up and be a man but we are doing it nonetheless. When we lay our hands on a woman it sends a message to the next generation that it’s OK to lay hands on a woman. When we are strung out on drugs it sends a message to the next generation that it is OK to be strung out on drugs. If we want women to stop teaching our sons how to be a man then we need to become the teachers.

This new generation is soft as hell. Kids are growing up with no concept of what makes a man. I don’t know the reason and if I did this blog would get way more traffic and I’d be rich. What I do know is that we need men to start stepping up and setting an example about what is OK and what’s not OK. Have a discussion, set an example do something because we cannot allow women to be the sole voice in how the next generation of men will be raised. Don’t just preach what being a man is about, live it.

High Thinking!!

   I am sure that I'm not the only person that probably thinks of themselves a little higher than I accurately am. I'm probably a little more ugly, unsuccessful, stupid, ignorant and unathletic than I give myself credit for. I like to think of myself and doing pretty well with respects to all of those things listed but I'm pretty sure I'm not close to reaching that standard. The question that I ask myself all the time "Is that a bad thing"?

   Seriously, is it really a bad thing that people think that they are a little better than they really are? If you step on a basketball, football, tennis, soccer if you're a woman, golf playing surface and you don't know in your mind that you can win you've already lost the first battle. you're probably about to get dominated and you don't even know it yet. In your mind you NEED to know that you can win. I don't care who I play, I'm going to think I could win (with some obvious exceptions). Maybe there are some things that I know I do better than the other person and I should focus on that, or I will take away something that my opponent does well to increase my chances of winning. My psychology of knowing I can win allows me a way to win. This doesn't just apply to sports, it's applications are WAY more important and prevalent in your regular everyday life.

   The main thing of thinking of yourself a little more highly than you ought is that you'll have more confidence!!! When you're walking into that job interview you will not only have to explain how they need you but you'll fully believe why this company needs your intellect and skill set. When you approach that nice young lady/man ladyboy if you're into that kinda stuff at the bar you will do so with confidence. Of course she/ he whatever it was when it was born will like you and enjoy your company because you are attractive and interesting and witty and whateverelse people look for in a person I'm to attractive to have to actually be likable. Everybody knows confidence is sexy and more than sexy, confidence projects an air that you know what you're doing and can get done whatever needs to.

   I do caution that people are not going to like it. I've already discussed haters and what that means. People don't like people doing positive things that they themselves are not prepared to do. They will offer to give you a more accurate assessment of what they think you can do and who you think you are. Pay no attention to the vast majority of this criticism. Asses yourself and your talents and put them into application. You're the only person that can live your life and you certainly do not need people trying to bring you down in your circle. It's neigh impossible to get an accurate assessment of yourself from you or others so you might as well think you're better than you really are than perpetually underestimating yourself. I live you with the question "Would you rather be underpaid or overrated"?



Did that Title rope you in? I hope it did!

Token Religion pt2.

    TWO RELIGION POSTS IN A ROW???? I hope you don't think I'm trying to preach at you but if you think that too frickin bad!! It's my blog!!!! I just felt there was a little unsaid in my previous post.

    If you didn't ask me about religion or really know me pretty well you would never know that I'm religious. I currently have 3 sets of "dog tags". One set says "jedi knight" another "Buddhism" and the set that I keep in my wallet and boot says "protestant" (I think, it's a little worn). Anyway, I normally live a life of complete ridicullum that is noticeably "unchristian". I've probably committed ALL of the sins repeatedly by now outside of murder and adultery (one of my few morals is "no married chicks"). Even the advice I give is so very rarely christian advice.
 
    I'm pretty sure I'm not much different than my peers in this respect. There is a certain person group of people I would go to if I wanted advice tinged with a christian response. I normally check with her them to make sure I'm not about to engage in something that's otherworldly foul.

That's it really... Hope this made sense. 

Token Religion

   I believe in GOD the Father, Son and Holy spirit and that Jesus is my savior. He died on Calvary and rose again 3 days later. I also believe that all religious worship some form of the same being and/ or call Him different things. Muslims call my god Allah, Jews call my GOD Yaweah. Other religious (like Hinduism) worship different aspects of the being I call GOD. A little backstory here, I was raised in the church pretty much my whole life, I got baptized really young. I'm the son of a pastor and I am the only boy who could ever teach you.
   Over the last few years I have been passionately disinterested in religion. That isn't to say uninterested, just disinterested. If you asked me about my religious views I would have no qualms in tell you about it, sometimes neigh witnessing to you (I hope I've never broached into that annoying witnessing). I haven't really prayed unless I was in some kind of dire straits and needed some kind of help. I've ventured so far as to call myself an agnostic but whenever I pray I always knew I praying to, at the very least, the GOD of Abraham, Issac and Jacob.
    This kinda changed yesterday. I'm not really sure why, or what happened but as I was sitting down for dinner I felt the urge to pray over my food. Again, there was no impetus for this. I'm not doing bad by any measure. I just simply felt the need to pray. I again prayed last night before I went to bed and this morning when I woke up. It mostly seemed to be just a conversation with GOD, I suppose bordering on praise and thanksgiving. I'm not entirely sure because it's not something that I am used to doing at all, things like non worship praise have always been things that other religious people talk about that I've just learned how to join in on the conversation. I suppose it's close to someone using a word you don't know and you figuring it out from context clues.
   I've also sung gospel songs to myself. Sometimes out loud and sometimes just to myself, all of this at random times... Now that I think about it I did go TO a church to move books and we were jokingly quoting scriptures, that's the closest thing to a reason that I have for this new found feeling.
    You've probably guessed by now that there really isn't a theme to this post. I figure it's about my spiritual journey and since the blog is Token Travels I figure it fits! But yea, normally I don't pray unless I need something or something serious is going on in my life, this time it's different. I suppose I could just be talking to the voices in my head and not some divine entity but I'm willing to be it's GOD.  

Haters and you

You got a phD (Playa hater degree)
-Puff

    Just in case you don't know what a hater is, you should probably stop reading my blog... Clearly you're not in my target demographic Just kidding I'll take all the readers I can get. Anyway, it seems that all the time over the last 10ish years people have been talking about "Haters" or people "Hating on them". This post doesn't concern either of them. What I am more concerned about is the motive behind the haters. Not the fact that you got crazy paper or a fly car or some nonsense. We must go deeper blogception.
 
    I don't know if you've ever noticed but..... Nobody hates on people they are doing better than. If they do then you just might be measuring "success" wrong. Whenever people are hating on someone they are almost exclusively hating on someone or something that is doing better than them. It's almost a form of jealous. I don't think it is strictly because they want what you have, more than they want to bring out down so that they feel better about their lot in life. Whenever I feel people hating on me I ask myself, what's going on in their life that makes them want to bring me down? Seems easy enough right? Sometimes it sucks.How you ask? I have the perfect example, sit down and pop a molly open a bag of chips cause I'm about to tell a story.
 
   So the other day I had just got finished praying for death in a workout that involved doing "double unders" with a jump rope. At the conclusion on the workout there was a person who was casualy doing all sorts of silly moves with a jump rope which I had, 30 mins before, failed miserably at. I found myself making fun of this person who was contentedly jump roping with no regard for my feelings. Furthermore, he was doing well at it! Sill I was clowning him and questioning his manhood, saying that it takes a big man to practice jump roping in the gym. This is neigh IMMEDIATELY after struggling and knowing how difficult it is.

   My whole theory of haters came full circle to me that day. It occurred to me that the SOLE reason that I was hating on this man was because I couldn't do what he was doing. He was doing better than me and I needed to make myself feel better by bringing him down a couple pegs. Meanwhile, I'm sure he was paying me absolute zero mind while I was failing at the jumprope and praying for death during the workout. I really had to look at myself and figure out my own deficiencies. Lately, I've been noticing when I hate on people that I need to check myself and figure out what my particular deficiency is.

   I hope my thoughts and personal struggles help you out a little bit. Next time you feel yourself about to hate on someone, stop and think "What is deficient in my life that is causing me to want to hate on this person". I know I will be.

FINISH HER!!!

    Have you ever played "Mortal Kombat"? If you have you know that after you beat your opponent and they are helpless the game implores you to "Finish Him". When this part of the game comes up you can simply wait it out, hit the person or lastly, and most gratifying, you can perform a fatality. Fatalities are a complicated series of button presses that caused your character to perform a awesome killing move to "finish" your opponent. Now, if you apply this concept to the sexy time!!! (yes) then you can also, in your everyday life, perform a fatality and "finish her" properly.

     Let me set the stage for you.... You have been giving your lady friend the business for awhile now. She's sweating, her skin is flushed, hair is everywhere. Maybe she's already reached the climax word to Usher and you are still going. You know it's building up to another REMIX!!!! when you realize it's time. She can't fight anymore, she's dazed. You know what should be flashing through your mind? FINISH HER.... 

Now some of you might be thinking "but token, you don't HAVE to do a fatality when she's about to be done anyway". If you do think that, stop reading my blog! You can have all the pedestrian sexy time (yes) that you want. This here is for those trying to take it to another level, but I digress.... 

You could just wait it out, you could just press "X" and hit them to end it OR, in the ultimate display of skill you can unleash a fatality that will bring her to her end in spectacular fashion. There are many ways to achieve this but you gotta have a favorite one, don't have one? Well you're in luck my boy!!! Pick her up.

    Now don't fireman carry her, make her wrap those legs around your waist and arms around your neck press down, back, forward, square, circle, back lift her up like the man you are and perform a fatality!!!! From here you have all you need to finish her properly in a way she's not going to soon forget. For an added level, hook your arms around those legs my boy! I mean the under the knee area. This way you have more movement possibilities. You can move her up and down and side to side, all the while not compromising the throxing! If you happen to get tired, rest her on your thigh area.

    Just so you know, there is more to this but what do I look like being out here giving away all of my secrets!!! Some of this stuff you need to just find out for yourself! Go to practice mode and experiment with different ways to make this the best fatality. Who knows, in a few weeks I might come back and bless y'all with some fatalities.

*** Please note: This fatality is suitable only for those strong enough to perform it. If you're not very strong or haven't hit the gym in the last decade or so do this with caution. If you drop your woman cause you're not strong enough she will never be able to look you in the eye ever again.... I don't blame her.

This phone

   Yo... I have arguably the most powerful phone ever heretofore unleashed onto the the human race. I know some of ya'll have the Iphone 4.3 5 or WhatEverTheHeckTheyTryingToPassOffAsNewTheseDays. Let me just put out right the eff now... Token doesn't give, half a frack, about what phone you have, as long as that device makes your feel supoerior to everone else  helps you call and dial. The reason that I'm writing this post is that, as I stated earlier, I have arguably the most powerful phone on the planet Earth and they gave me this non sense phone to use. I do believe that I'm going to pretty much do a retroactive review of this phone, whilst I have a phone that does, roughly, 1million times the thing that this current phone does.
   To start off, I have no idea what kind of phone this is... I would give you great American (and other nationalities) heroes a picture of this overpaid paperweight, but I don't know the kind... Hold on, I'm going to try and find a pic on google right now. It's just like this phone... Not quite, but madd close. This phone has SOOOOOO many buttons on it that I honestly can't keep track of. I don't know how I used to text madd people without looking at the screen because now navigating a simple menu baffles me, like I wasn't doing this 9 years ago... Where is technology going to go that merely a decade ago I had a device that fit in my hand that could almost literally reach ANYBODY ON THE PLANET, providing they also hand a hand held device and it's now obsolete.



    I'm telling you. I currently use a phone that has accesss to the ENTIRE STORE OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE ALMOST UP TO THIS POINT IN HUMANITY. Do you know how serious that is? Really though, do you know what Einstien, Gallieo, Capernicus, Tomas Aquanias, Edison, Telsa, LITERALY ANY OTHER GENIOUS, would have done with a phone that has access to the ENTIRE STORE OF HUMAN information would have done with device like I have? And what do I use it for? Mothersucking angry birds and whatnot. **bit of a digression, If you haven't noticed yet, I think I'm pretty fracking brilliant. Not like, species defining brilliant (but if I was that brilliant you would def hear about that too) but pretty smart. Sure I recognize my intellectual betters (semi often at that) but yea... Back to the lecture at hand** This device has 3 total buttons and a touch screen!!! WHAT IS THE AQUA BLUE HECK DID WE DO BEFORE TOUCH SCREENES. This might be because I've had an iphone or no phone since 2007. Just for added emphasis.... I currently have a phone that has pretty much ON DEMAND ACCESSES OF EVERY BIT AND PIECE OF SIGNIFICANT KNOWLEDGE THAT WE HUMAN BEINGS HAVE COME TO UNDERSTAND OVER OUR ENTIRE HISTORY OF THIS PLANET, and I find THAT easier to navigate than something that, pretty much, just calls and texts.

Just so ya'll know, I am hanging with the servant semi so hard right now that I'm in the hot tub when Prince Hakeem comes home to with the hot chick from McDowells**.



**Note: I am not at McDowells tonight. Neither have I been at McDowells.

**I am in no way, shape, or form dissing the phone that was given to me... This is simply critique of a technology that I have no used since I was a teenager against a technology that I use today. I'm that big ass Zack Morris phone wouldn't hold a candle to the Nokia phone that they gave me.... Just incase someone's panties went into a bunch.

Token's food misadventures

   Let me start this off by saying that the VAST majority of food that I've had here has been nothing short of AMAZING!!! From here on out I will STRAIGHT UP DOMINATE some dry tibbs or lamb anything. As we were sitting on the shores of the lake we had the realization that we eat organic, pretty much everyday. That sounds really bougie and normally, I can't stand people who tout the fact that they eat organic but I don't really have a choice!! Neigh everything I eat is fresh here and sometimes you can see the meat that you're about to eat alive before you eat it (on very rare occasions).

   Now that I have told you guys how awesome the food here is, there are some...... Downsides. As with any new country or group of foods that you might try it will take some, uhhh, getting used to in the stomach. That part about the food here always and consistently sucks. It doesn't suck for very long, couple days and you get over it*. The other downside is the food is not always tasty, especially some of the more favorite local dishes.

 That ladies and Gentlemen is Kitfo, at least I think that's how it's spelled. What you are looking at is (from the top clockwise): raw beef, bread, cheese, oregano and finally anjera. What you do is you take the cheese/ oregano and mix it in with the raw beef. You then take the bread or anjera, break off a piece and pick up some of the meat and eat it.

   I know some of you are saying "I'm not eating raw beef from a third world country" and that's allowable. I find it untenable to go to a foreign country and not sample the local faire. Kitfo is pretty good once you get past the raw meat part. You might be sick for a day or two after eating it but once your stomach adjusts, it's pretty awesome!!! My advice? Don't eat the anjera! Just order extra Dabwo (that's bread, assuming I spelled it correctly).

   I don't currently have a picture of Anjera but I'll do my best to explain it. First, people from Zamunda love this stuff, it's served with everything (even my beloved dry tibs). It normally comes in tight rolls (like the far left in the picture above). It's a sourdough, spongy, pita type bread and you kinda use it like a tortilla. If you have a piece of anjera you really don't need any other silverware as any and everything can get wrapped up in it!

  

     So I just gave you the good, now I'm giving you the bad. What you see there are "special" tibs. I don't know what special is, but since I tried that I am automatically assuming "special" means gross. What you are looking at is lamb in some other gross sauce, with gross toppings surrounding the grossness. You also are looking at some anjera, back when I was trying to force myself to like anjera despite itself. I would not recommend this at all.

   To sum this up, based off of the two weeks that I've been trying my damndest to eat the habishaw food here in Zamunda, this is what I've found (and taken pictures of). A few members of my team have found my quest to eat the most habishaw food that I can to be foolish. I don't really understand why though! It makes zero sense to go to a foreign country and immediately seek out the most American food that you can find. Now, I will offer a word of warning!

Should you find yourself feeling adventurous, know what you are getting yourself into. Make sure that you are near your hotel, or American style toilet. If you are not and you have an extended trip, this is what you have to look forward to. That my friends is a hole in the concrete, I'm not sure what you're supposed to do with those blocks on either side of the hole but I'm not sitting on them.

 

BTW... The servant Semi says hello!

Where in the World is Token???

   Ello all 5 of you who read this!!! At some point whilst I was derping around the American embassy I decided to stop alluding to where I am. Henceforth, I am in Zamunda, home of Prince Akeem and King Joffe Jofer. I would make up a bunch of fake cities and whatnot here but.... I'm with the servant Semi.

Token no more?????

   I would like to welcome everybody who is reading this post to these words of wisdom from the home of the original, asiatic man, AFRICA! For an African-American such as I ,who sometimes feels like an outsider among the groups of Americans in which I interact with on a day to day basis, Africa has been nothing short of amazing!! As a member of the diaspora, returning to the motherland (although I'm kinda sure I'm "from" the other side of the continent) has been a great experience of coming back to my roots. This is in a very real sense
   I really feel accepted by the people here**. I truly been accepted and wherever I go people say that I am "Habishaw" which means an indigenous person. The rest of my team are "ferendie" which means foreigner (I am quite sure that I am butchering these words as I try and spell them). No matter where I go people take one look at me and tell me that I am habishaw. At the airport when I first got here someone walked up to me and asked if I spoke Amharic and I said no. Then my team's interpreter said that I could pass for Habishaw. At first I thought that people were just messing with me and trying to make me feel good but literally everywhere I go, from major city to mudhut village, people refer to me as Habishaw. In fact, last night while I was out someone walked up to me and spoke to me completely in Amharic and walked away. He had no idea that I was from America. As I am told, this will come with a great many benefits, most notably not having to pay any "skin tax" that the rest of my team will have to pay.
   I really can't underscore how amazing it is that I'm accepted here. I don't feel like I have to speak a certain way to put people at ease that I "belong" here. I am simply just accepted as a member of the community. There will be no daily reminders that I'm some kind of other, too black for some white folks and too white for some black folks. I mean, I've only been here a week but I figure the more Amharic that I learn to speak the more I will be able to seemlessly integrate with the community.
   Since I know some are thinking this, this is not some great slight to Americans or the way I am treated in America. To be honest, it's not as bad as it seems. It's kinda life. The jokes and whatnot that I get roll off my shoulders as what they are, jokes. I love America and Americans. We are the greatest nation on the planet and I would bleed on the flag to make sure the stripes stay red.


**Note: "Here" will be a nebulous place, at least officially. If you manage to put two and two together and figure out where I am, I'm not mad at 'cha I just don't want to make it easy for the terrorists to find me.

Token Word of the Day: Coon

I wanted to do a post entitled "Can you not be a coon for one day of your life?" But I realized that I should probably make a definition for coon, considering many of my readers (All 4 of you) might not know what that word means.

*Coon: (n) A black person who is basically a stereotypic caricature of themselves. They exhibit their coonery in profoundly numerous ways. You typical everyday coon will be one of those black people that make other black people cringe and face palm. You know the everyday person you might see on the news after a murder or other tragic events happens in the "hood"? There is a decent chance that the reporter found the worst person imaginable person is a coon. However!!!!!! Don't think that coons are relegated to poverty! They can be found in the uppereschelons of society and be quite famous.**

You want some examples of a coon so incase you run into one you can recognize what exactly you are dealing with?

When I first saw this ignorant, ignorant coon on the internet I was like cotdamnit! Who let this fool ass reggin within 100ft of a camera. It's ok to have someone like this in your family or neighborhood but under no circumstances this cartoon of a person be famous... Ever.

WHAT IN THE AQUA BLUE HELL ARE YOU DOING WITH A VIKING HORN ON? Who let this crack addict coon have his own TV show??? You know he once made a song called "She Watch Channel Zero" which extolled the pitfalls of too much TV? All said, you know at the end of the day <---- That guy is a musical genious who plays ALL of the instruments. But... Don't do drugs kids.

If you've never seen this woman good for you. A small significant piece of your soul is still pure and virtuous. For the rest of us.... COTDAMNIT THIS IS WORSE THAN ANDRE DODSON AND I THOUGHT THAT WAS THE LIMIT!!!!!!! Just stop using words you don't understand coons. It's just, ugh.

The worst type of coon is the type of coon who should certainly know better but exploits his coonery for this own advantage. I could hear an argument that the previous people didn't know any better and were products of their environment. I can't possibly see what would make Tyler Perry want to dress up as mammy and parade around as a woman. Also, make tv shows and HORRIBLE movies that set people back at least 30 years. It's a sad, sad, sad, horrible day that this man is more rich and famous that Spike Lee.









**Note: The token does the count the older black actors and actresses who are generally labeled coons... They had to do what they had to do to get paid. By mandate I am not allowed to knock the hustle.
* White people, don't call a black person a coon... It won't go well. Unless it's Tyler Perry, you can call him whatever you want.

Token is Traveling!!!!!!

   So check, check, chcheck it out wh wh wh what's it all about! For the 3 of you that probably read this blog you already know but (Hopefully) I'll have some new readers one day. The token is traveling!!! I bet you didn't see this coming with the name of the blog and what not. But yea, I'm going to a far away land to have a kick ass time and get paid for it protect America and her interests. I'll be somewhere in East Africa doing all sorts of awesome things and laying the righteous hand of god down leaving my own personal indelible imprint on East Africans. I suspect this journey will be fraught with lots of adversity and opening up my eyes to new cultures and ways of thinking. I really wonder what Africa is all about and what the people are like. Yes, I know Africa is by no means a monolith and it's huge so there will be numerous different perspectives that I have to account for.
    I remember being a kid and reading my favorite book of all time, The Autobiography of Malcolm X. I remember how when Malcolm got to Africa he was so surprised at the worldlyness of African's and their awareness of the (Im paraphrasing here) "plight of the negro in America". Not specifically pertaining to black people in America but what do they think about America and her people in general? I'm willing to bet they echo some of the same sentiments that I see on the interwebs. Will they think that know that things have changed? Will the recognize the ways that the changes have occurred? I wonder how they regard Obama and what he means for their lives verses how some black people in America feel. I'm VERY interested in how Africans regard me as a black American and what I'm all about. Will I experience a new found brotherhood that I've never experienced before? Will I be regarded as an "other" too dark for mainstream white acceptance but too light for mainstream African acceptance? Will attitudes change once they find out what it is I do there? These are all questions that I truly look forward to having answered and if not answered then experiencing.
    So many questions that I sincerely look forward to having answered! So many new experiences to drink in! I can't wait for this opportunity. Hopefully, nothing but positivity will come out of this.

All that said..... MURICA!!!!

Shunned the Eff out of Society

   I don't know about you but I have a deep seated hatred for lots and lots of people who do dumb stuff. Since murder is generally frowned upon illegal we obviously can't kill people to put an end to their foolery. My solution? Shun people! Shun people all the way out of society. If we do not shun these out of society they stand a dangerous chance of breeding and ushering in a new generation of people who are somewhere between completely mindnumbingly retarded and just plain stupid.

1. PEOPLE WHO DON'T USE TURN SIGNALS. If you don't use your turn signals when you turn you should get the eff out of society. Why in the name of everything that is sweet, merciful and holy would you drive a vehicle equipped with turn signals and not use them. Especially knowing that other people can't instinctively tell what you're going to do with your multiple thousand pound death wagon. The worse people in this terrible group of people are those who don't use turn signals and EGREGIOUSLY cut people off... IF YOU'RE GOING TO CAUSE MY IMMINENT DEMISE YOU SHOULD AT LEAST WARN ME SO I HAVE TIME TO MAKE PEACE WITH MY GOD. Even worse than these people are number 2.

2. PEOPLE WHO USE TURN SIGNALS IMPROPERLY. OK so here is the situation. You are driving along your merry way trying to gain access to some major thoroughfare and someone who is coming your way has their turn signal on. Of course you think that person is a standup, air breathing,  rationally thinking person deserving all rights and privileges afforded to such persons. You go to turn (because obviously this person is turning) and BAM!!!!!!! THEY JUST KEEP GOING STRAIGHT!! Now you have to pull some kind of crazy Jason Stratham type of driving to avoid certain death and talkery with Jesus. Why, in the name of everything that is right and holy would you keep a turn signal on whilst on a straightaway? Everyone else assumes that you're going to turn when you indicate so.

3. PRETTY MUCH ANYBODY WHO USES TURN SIGNALS WRONG. I think I've proven my point.

4. URINAL TALKERS. Now I realize that some of you are women and this doesn't apply to you... If it does apply to you and you're a woman that's gross and stop reading my blog immediately  society tells me that's socially acceptable... I guess. Anyway, THAT IS AWKWARD! Why oh why would you want to have a conversation with another man while your penis is in your hand. Is it just me? Am I alone in this??? CAUSE I SEEM TO BE!!! It seems that all the time people are talking to me whilst my winky is in my hand. Non sexy time (with at least 2 other women) I don't want to have any kind of conversation with a man wile I'm touching myself (not really in that way). We could be butt naked in the locker room and have a conversation and it is less awkward than you flapping your worthless gums to me while I'm taking care of business.

5. WOMEN WHO FAKE ORGASMS. Now I don't know if you're doing this or not. I don't even know if the Monkey does this but I'm going to go in anyway, ride with me. You "ladies" do realize that you're messing the WHOLE game up for everyone right? First of all, you aren't getting any satisfaction out of the current Thronxing that you're receiving so why encourage it? Makes less than absolute zero sense and that's not even scientifically possible. Second, you are releasing all of this bad winky into the general female population! If you don't care about your own "moment" have some thought for your fellow ladies and stop letting these non thronxing dudes think they are winning!!! Third, as a man, I want to know if I'm not putting it down properly so I change... Well, I have nothing to change because no girl has ever admitted to faking. -_-

Well, that's it. I just got my tail whipped in chess so I'm no longer filled with the raging fury of 10,000 dying suns.