connecting*the*dots

Last night I got to check out one of my all-time favorite hip-hop acts, Black Sheep, as they rocked the Knitting Factory with The Jungle Brothers.

I’ve been waiting for another Sheep album to drop since Non-Fiction and apparently one is on it’s way called 8WM. I haven’t seen these guys live since a ‘91 show with Tribe and Naughty at the Newark Symphony Hall… and they didn’t disappoint.

Dres is one of the coolest MCs in the industry, with a tight ass flow and a lounge stage presence. As the night began, he was a bit pissed that the mostly 30+ white crowd didn’t know any of their old, obscure tunes and weren’t getting into the act, but after some straight up cuts on the audience and a few timely dropped hits, the entire crowd was all over the Engine, Engine #9 chant.

Constantly sipping from a brew, Dres got more and more sentimental and couldn’t stop expressing his love for the JB’s (who were out of control), and after Mr 9.5 performed a spoken word love fest to a lady in the crowd (as only he could ;), the show wrapped with the entire cast doing De La’s Buddy.

Man… college was a blast.

i think a lot of what once was.
i mean thought…
i shoulda, woulda, coulda… ought.
too many thoughts.
but that’s cool.
i’m strong enough to know i once played the fool,
souped up on self found in the back of my top shelf.
humble hearth is hard to swallow,
filling up a deep soul, yet hollow.
it burns going down.
but that’s cool…
if today wasn’t today
and i couldn’t go on
trying
i guess that burn would kill
make me feel like i’m dying
to shed
the wait of my world
i once stopped on a dime,
pump faked and twirled
dropped one off glass,
jaws dropped
how could i be stopped?
it happened
but that’s cool.
have you ever watched a cut heal?
like time was a tender hand.
nightengale.
the opposite of bread going stale.
clouds roll in and out.
it’s gods clout.
day by day life becomes a route
to follow
eyes wide shut.
except when you have to stop
make an alteration to the deal
replace
conceal
improve
heal…
but that’s cool.

I haven’t posted in a while and there’s no real reason, but here’s an uplifting update:

My specialist (cardiologist) sent me to a super specialist (another cardiologist) and he finally shed some light on my fainting/strange EKG situation.

It didn’t sound too good.

Ever hear of Reggie Lewis? Lewis played for the Celtics and died on the court after numerous fainting spells AND after his doctor (the head doctor of the NBA) gave him the green light to return to the court. The first thing my new doctor mentioned when I walked in the door was Lewis.

Now, that sounds bad, and it very well could be, but at least I can now take some precautions. One is to make sure i have the right mineral supplements in my diet (I’m getting in touch with a nutritionist this week). The second is to potentially have minor surgery to monitor the activity of my heart. Check out these details:

Five years ago, Medtronic released its first implantable monitor for people with mysterious fainting spells. Though a niche product for the giant maker of pacemakers and defibrillators, it was a breakthrough, giving doctors far more data about effects on a fainting person’s heart. Two product generations later, Medtronic has sold more than 25,000 of the 2-inch-long monitors, which weigh just a few grams. They’re placed in a person’s pectoral muscle, sometimes for just a few days, and track heart activity in a 42-minute loop. When a person recovers from a fainting incident, he or she stops the monitor. A doctor or nurse can then retrieve the data with a special radio receiver, and restart the loop.

My fainting spells have been few and far between, so I may have this implant for a while until the next one, but it sounds like it’s worth it. The last time I passed out… I really think I might have passed over. Coming to was like trying to turn over a car in the middle of winter. Gha gha gha… gha gha gha… gha gha gha… I was either going to “flood” my engine and stay out for good, or come to and get back to the living. It was some fucking scary shit.

Okay, gotta go and contemplate world hunger and terrorist bombings. Eh.