Weekend Experience (sharing laughs)

This weekend I got the opportunity to go see the Florida State/Maryland football game Saturday night and it was an experience like none other I have had. The tickets to the game were compliments of one of my best friends (Jeff) thanks to his job in Gaithersburg Maryland.

Anyone who caught the game knows that it was a great game between the two teams and that Maryland won by blocking a last minute Florida State field goal, attempting to send the game into overtime. Doesn't get much better than that one, especially when both teams put up some points. So it's pretty obviously I enjoyed the game. The interesting part was all the elements surrounding the game and prior to the game.

Let's start with the tailgate....my boy Jeff is in the corporate world (as most of my friends are) and therefore he works with a lot of caucasians (that sounds so funny right now for some reason....LOL). And the causcasians in my office have gotten used to my appearance but for those that don't know me a 6 foot 228 lb black man with dreadlocks may make them feel a little uncomfortable....who am I kidding, they probably think the worst about me just because of my hair (ask me if I give a f*ck! LOL). So when I got there I found it interesting that not one of the six white folks I met got my name right. Go figure right? LOL. It's was even funnier to me cause I was just telling my friend about a month ago that the white folks at my job have renamed me Dan Haskins (my name is Dane and I'll keep my last to myself). So when I meet all these folks what do they call me.....yep! Dan....LMAO!!! And the whole time I'm telling my boy about my white name...LOL.

Question: Is it just me or is it just there lack of interest to figure out what I am really saying? I mean they were probably looking at me like "why the hell does this little black dude keep pronouncing Dan like that" LMAO!

So after that experience we get to the game and like I said before....excellent game. Only problem is that night there were winds with speeds up to 60 miles an hour. So I spent the next 3 hours getting smacked in my face by some seriously COLD wind. I mean it got to the point like in the winter where your face is no longer cold because you can't feel it. Jeff was freaking crying (LMAO). Really he just kept tearing up from the cold in his eyes but I had to ask when I first saw it. So at halftime he and I were dying to get out of that wind and went and bought some overpriced chicken tenders that neither of us really wanted...I just love realizing that I wasted money after the fact. Don't you? LOL. Then we go back to fighting the COLD again. After about another 10 minutes back I had to go to the bathroom and came upon the greatest discovery of the night ( yes in the bathroom...no johnny murphy's!). The bathrooms at the stadium where equipped with the largest space heaters I have ever seen in life. LOL. So after I walked into the empty bathroom, 3 minutes later it was filled to capacity with grown a$$ men trying to get out of the cold...there was even a one legged man with his good leg kicked up on the wall to get some heat on it (I couldn't make that one up if I wanted too).

So eventually it got to the point where Jeff and I were taking bathroom breaks every fifteen mintutes which would be incredibly suspect under normal circumstances (LMMFAO!!!) but it had to be done this night. And I basically wanted to share this story just to get to the part where one of the trips to the bathroom (I sound like a victim of IBS...LOL) lead to everyone crowding around the heater (LOL). It was mostly white gentlemen and most of them were older and then this young white guy comes in with shorts on and tries to fight his way to the front. Just as he makes it in front of the heaters this older man in his late 50's early 60's yells out. "Your ass doesn't deserve to get in front of the heater! The cold should be your punishment for having them damn shorts on!" Man me and Jeff were crying after my man said that one. Hilarious! You had to hear the disgust in his voice and the way he looked at him. I'm laughing as I type this joint. LMAO!

A Reneg is Three Books!!!

Okay so after I wrote that long blog about being realizing that I had an addiction because I didn't plan on going to my college homecoming this year I went ahead and changed my mind at the last minute and went on down to Aggieland.










Overall the weekend was a good one. I am really glad I changed my mind and made that trip. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it the only part I didn't enjoy was the ride back in the rain. I even had fun on the ride down with my boy getting me to finally come out of my shell and freestyle (yeah you heard me right Mike I actually freestyled...and more than once. LOL).
Another thing I didn't think of before was how many of my boys I don't get to see anymore that were down there this weekend. My 3-4 closest friends from college couldnt' make it but I see them from time to time, my others boys see me once maybe twice a year so it was real cool to catch up with them. I got to go get that good fish sandwich at the tailgate, got to see all the lovely ladies, got to see A&T take that ritualistic homecoming a$$ whooping that we do so well EVERY year (LOL), and of course....

I GOT MY COMICS!!!!! (the books I got for my reneg...get it. LOL)

Truth or.....

Some fellow bloggers have been conducting there own version of Truth or Dare through blogger. Since the game was pretty soft I jumped out there and decided to take part by asking what I felt was a more interesting question than the ones I had already heard. Well the question I asked was answered and thanks to my inquisitive mind I now have to do the same and answer a truth or take a dare. Naturally I took the truth. JAC said....

Tell the world what qualities you would take from each of your past girls to make the woman of your dreams.

Well this one is kinda hard for me and took quite a bit of thought (which is why it has taken so long to respond to it). I havent' had a lot of girlfriends so it is very possible that there may be some things I haven't seen yet that I may like in a mate and it is also possible that I could end up with one of them in the future (anything can happen) and that one wouldn't encompass everything I would take from them all....??? Needless to say I was probably overthinking this one so I am just gonna wing it.

From my first girlfriend it's pretty simple...she was probably the nicest person I have ever met. One of those people that is genuinely just kind to everyone. I know it's a simple thing but something like that really makes a difference in a person. Other than that there isn't much else that stands out in my mind about her since it was such a long time ago. Well at least nothing that isn't superficial. LOL.

From my second girlfriend I would take her maternal instincts and her cooking skills. Keeping it real, she was my first love and I am one of them dudes where food really is the key to my heart....LOL. And during our relationship I always admired the fact that she seemed to be the motherly type and really good with kids (specifically her 10 year old sister). Now if everthing else would have been in order the relationship may not have ended so badly....LMAO!

From my third girl I would take her confidence. When we met she was in a class with me and she had this way about her that made you take notice and it wasn't just her style but it was in the classroom also. She was one of the top students in that class and she had a style that was killa....you know I had to go at her!!! LOL. I swear there is nothing like a woman who knows how to carry herself properly.

From my fourth girlfriend I would take her sense of humor and her accepting/understanding qualities. First and foremost I love to make people laugh and she and I shared a very similar sense of humor so when I opened my mouth she laughed....LOL. I know it sounds like it would seem fake but it really wasn't. The part about being so understanding and accepting is huge also because I have never met a woman (friend or family) that had the ability to just let someone be themselves and not feel ANY kind of apprehensions about it. It was almost refreshing to have....for real.

And last but not least my fifth relationship. Well this one is actually someone that's already previously listed but the second shot at "us" was so different than the first (due to growth on our parts) that it is worth naming what I would take from this woman also. I think the things that I would take from her are her heart and her beauty. She is easily the prettiest woman I have ever dated and it is a natural beauty (although I don't mean the fact that she rocks a natural...LOL). Type of woman that has on no makeup and everyone still says she is pretty but when she dresses up she can be breath taking (I'm sounding real soft on this one...maybe she needs to read this since I'm kissing so much a$$...LOL). And when it comes to her heart I have found that she has grown into a woman that will love you hard and strong. So much that I don't even understand it sometimes. And at the same time she can seem so soft and make you just want to protect her. Ladies it may seem weird to put it that way but every man wants to feel like you need him that way even if it's not all the time. What man wants a chick who is as hard as he is...we are the providers and protectors by nature.


JAC that's about it....I hope I covered all you were expecting in that question.

Hello, my name is Dane and I'm an addict.....

No, I'm not a member of Narcotics Anonymous or Alcholics Anonymous so please don't get it twisted. But I am beginning to realize (even though I honestly already knew...LOL) just how bad my one true addiction is.....

COMICS:











Most people who know me for an extended period of time eventually discover my love for comics. The initial reaction that I normally get is that weird look because I don't fit the profile of what a comic geek looks like in their minds (I love that freaking look....LMAO!). Second I get disbelief followed by a line fo questioning (that usually lasts for a few weeks to a month...LOL). And eventually I get acceptance and even some interest at times (depending on how weird it is to that person). Now of course, I am not paying the person much attention because what they think isn't gonna change me but it's just interesting to see people always react acoordingly. LOL.

Back to my addiction.....
The reason that I'm coming to realize just how bad it has gotten is due to the upcoming North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University (AGGIE PRIDE!!!) homecoming. For the first time since my freshman year at the esteemed university it looks like I will not be attending homecoming. This is pretty low for me so I need a moment..... But the crazy thing about it is that I still get my comics from the same shop I went to in NC (just once every 3 months now). So not going to homecoming means not getting my comics either (AAAAAHHHHHHHH!) and that's all I can think about. I'm not missing the ladies I will see (you know they come out for homecoming!!!), not missing the fish sandwich vendors (MMMMMMmmmmmm!), not even thinking about all the friends I won't get to see....yep all I keep thinking is how I wish I could still get my books. To the point where I want to go for the books and not go party just to save money....LMAO (I gotta laugh at myself). I know I sound weird to a lot but I swear it's not my fault. Let me explain....

The History of Dane and Comics (a love story):

I started reading comics when I was 4 or 5. Back then it was all about the pictures and how cool the heroes looked but it was something my father wanted me to get into since he read comics as a kid. So as I got older and my father wasn't around anymore (at 6 years old) I held onto that cause I knew that when I did see him I would have something to talk about with him (as I became a man I realized that love was one of the few things he passed down to me). As I got more and more into it growing up my attention went totally towards X-men comics because I always thought they had the best characters and at 11 when the cartoon came out I WAS DONE (LOL).











Now up to this point my relationship with comics was based strictly on an availability basis. If we went to a 7-11 or any store that carried them and moms had a dollar available she would buy me one...LOL. But after my mom remarried and moved to NC when I was in highschool I got pretty secluded for a while because I basically hated my situation (didn't fool with step pops or NC). Now my house had 4 kids instead of 2 (I have a sister) and every weekend my steppops would drop us off at the mall with $10 and tell us to have fun...great parenting style, I tell ya. Well that's when I discovered my first comic shop located in that very mall directly next to the main entrance (it was meant to be...LOL). And from that point on my $10 went to 5 comics every week and that turned into my regular subscription of all of the X-men titles once I got my first job at 15. See the comics were like the only thing that wasn't changing in my environment so I began to clinge to them more. It's funny how we attach ourselves to things in an effort to feel some kind of security.

Well from that point the love of comics only grew. So when I went off to college into yet another foreign environment what was the first thing I did.....yep you guessed it. Went straight to a phone book and found the nearest comic shop and THEN went and found a job (LMAO...yeah in that order). As I have grown into an adult it's a lot different now. I can appreciate the stories a lot more as well as the art. Since I'm a self proclaimed writer now I respect the craft a lot more plus I'm not cognizant enough to follow specific writers. Most people don't even realize that a lot of the folks who write comics write some of the movies we love to watch...they really are good writers in a lot of cases.

So you see, I have really had a growing relationship with comics and they are something that I hold dear...LOL (I know, it sounds funny to write it too). The problem I have now is that the shop I have been going to for 9 years is in NC. I am truly friends with the dudes in that comic shop in Greensboro NC and they take care of me when it comes to making sure I have all my books and introducing me to new stuff by my favorite writers or even just new stuff in general. You have to build up to that...they know what I like. It's sorta like a relationship with a girl in how well they know me. BUT I HATE LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS!!! So this once every three months thing HURTS and when I miss a visit (like the one for homecoming) it really really hurts....















(yeah I can name everyone in this picture LOL)





Someone please help me! I'm gonna go pray about it. LOL.