Tuesday, July 23, 2013

suit & tie... kinda.

There's a handsome devil...
greetings and salutations! the young man is back, giving you the 411 on what will (hopefully) be the first of a long series of positive updates.

this post is entitled "suit & tie", because it is introducing you to the young man's professional side, the yin to this blog's yang. the new website is http://wrfranklin.wix.com/waynefranklin, and it showcases who i am and what i have done. please check it out, and leave comments. you know how the young man enjoys getting e-mail. every day is Christmas, and every night is new years eve...

thanks for your time.

-tym

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Dr. youngman, Or: How I Learned to Stop Being Mediocre and Love Jill Scott (Again)

oh, jill...
I've always had a big crush on Jill Scott. I used to listen to Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds, Volume 1 night and day. Yet after a while, I started to feel guilty, like I was doing something wrong. Then it became something like porn. It was like I had to sneak to listen to WIJS in order to enjoy it, and it never ever made any sense (until recently that is). I felt like whenever I listened to it I was cheating on my wife and I never questioned it, I just knew it was wrong (unfortunately, I do know exactly what it feels like to cheat on your significant other. It's not something I'm proud of, but I do know what it feels like, and that combination of guilt, desire and shame would cloak me whenever I played that album). I likened her album to the Marilyn Manson album with The Beautiful People on it. The production on that album is phenomenal, but being a good Christian kid, I could never, in good conscience own an album called Antichrist Superstar.

Finally, I decided to figure out why this was an issue for me, why I felt the way I felt about Jill Scott, a seemingly innocent R&B singer whom I happen to think is beautiful. Here's what I came up with:

1. Jill Scott is quite attractive to me. Ilikebiggirlsandicannotlie. Kind of like being a fan of... Pamela Anderson Lee. For some, Pamela Anderson Lee is at the top of the food chain, as far as superstars go, not my cup of tea though. I believe Ms. Lee’s fans strictly focus on her body and her beauty, while for me and Jill; it would be beauty and brains. But I digress...

2. Jill Scott is a creative, reason enough for me to feel the way I feel towards her. I am attracted to the things that she actually says. Her words mean a lot to me, seeing as how I am a word person (I'm a writer - sue me). The way she describes love and the feeling of love, the way she makes me feel without ever having met her… these things draw me in. She made me long to have those words spoken directly to me. Her songs are filled with things I would love to hear somebody say to me which is why her music works. She says things that I not only would like to hear, but I honestly felt like I deserved to hear. And I know that's a bold statement, to say I deserve anything like that. But here's the deal: after being on this planet nearly 45 years, it's time for me to start demanding certain things. And I feel like I deserve to have that s*** in my life. At the time, Jill was meeting a need that was not previously being met, and that's why I felt so bad for listening to her. Ah, freedom...

The thing is, this new knowledge carries over into other parts of my life, and addresses other issues. Like mediocrity. For years I have settled for whatever. And that's just wrong. While mediocrity is unnecessary and it sucks ass, years of passivity have allowed me to be mediocre. It's kind of like if Michael Jordan, knowing how good he is at basketball, decided “no, I'm just going to work at Baskin Robbins.”

When people settle for the b******* that they are handed, and accept it, that is making mediocrity the norm. And it is not normal. It’s wrong. “My talent is real yet I'm going to pretend that it’s just... Some kind of a hobby, or a f****** past time…” Wrong. “I know that the way you feel about me is real, and every single thing you do for me is from the heart, yet in order to keep up appearances, I'm going to pretend that I feel the exact same way around you until it's too much for me then I'll treat you like you have the f****** plague.” Wrong. “I know I have an anxiety problem, and my doctor prescribed medicine for me to help combat that anxiety problem, and in order to keep up appearances I will let everyone know I've been prescribed this medicine and I'm taking it. However, I will only take it when I feel like I need it. Not when the doctor says, because I know better than the doctor.” Wrong.

Why do we continually settle for mediocrity? Being mediocre is a choice. I know this, because I settle for it too. But it's time to stop, folks. God doesn't even want us to be mediocre. He wants us to be the best we can be. The Bible says that He wants us to have life and have it more abundantly. That means not settling for scraps. Yet some of us go through life, saying well this is the hand that I've been dealt so this is all I can do. No more. It's time to have a new hand dealt to us. We need a new dealer. Or maybe a new game. Mediocrity is the debble, people. Be yourself. Be great. Do what you were put here to do. I know I’m going to. I’m also putting Jill Scott’s album back on my iPod.

-tym