Morning Mail - 3.11.11

A.J.: Hi, what're you doing up here?
[Corey pushes A.J so he falls]
Corey: You listen to me! You're so special and you're so talented and you have everything it takes! You have MORE than everything it takes and you're REALLY stupid because you don't know that. And I know you don't love me anymore, and I know that I blew it but at least I know that, and if you don't go to art school and if you don't understand how special you are then you know nothing!
A.J.: Corey, I...
Corey: And I did love you, and I still... only I didn't realise that it really was love because it was more than love and it wasn't just some stupid feeling in my stomach like everything else and I'll never love anybody as much as you and I hate you! I hate you!
A.J.: Corey, I quit. I quit!
[pause]
A.J.: I'm going to art school, in Boston. So I can be near you.
(Source: Empire Records)

It’s a shame that sometimes you have to be told something that you should already know. Most people with enormous amounts of talent don’t know they have that talent. They will have to be told that they have this talent, but there’s a chance they may never realize it. That’s because they have bad friends. Bad friends are those friends who never do anything to encourage their other friends. They may not constantly tear you down, but they’ll never tell you, “You know what, you do a good job at…” They just don’t have it in them, they think it shows some type of weakness. If you can show weakness to your friends, then I don’t know who you can show weakness to.

Thank God it’s Friday, we are officially one week away from a potential government shutdown. It doesn’t seem like the sides are anywhere near reaching a deal. We’ll continue to watch this situation closely, but what bothers me is that it’s now March and we have not passed the 2011 Fiscal year budget. For those of you who do not live in Washington, DC. The fiscal year starts in October. Problem here is, the 2012 budget has already been drafted and is ready to go to Congress. Do you know when that budget will get passed? I’m not sure, there’s a good chance the world ends in 2012.

Pray for all those in Japan. That’s a crazy magnitude of an earthquake.

I want to show you guys something:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/year/eqstats.php

The world isn’t coming to an end. We’ve just never had the ability to report as fast and as accurate as we do now. The numbers have been the same over the past few years. And you can actually go back to the 1940s and you won’t see much of a change. Yes, I actually sat down one day and looked at this chart because people are suckers and will believe anything they can put together from the Today show and few movies. I can’t wait for Hollywood to suck people dry with End of the World movies over the next two years.

Say it with your chest!

I have a tendency to put "s" on the end of words when it doesn't need to be there. Does that make me Mexican? I kid, I kid. But you know what's really funny? How many of you laughed at that because it's so true.

Today is an importantly special day for without today I wouldn’t have been here. Today is the real Dr. J’s birthday. My mother. I gotta thank whatever gods may be that she was born. She’s an awesome woman. I’m happy I got stuck with her. Today will be the only day I do not complain about her incessant questions about what I plan to do with my future. Apparently, becoming a best-selling writer and running for President are not viable options for a man like me. I think I can win the election with my name alone. It’s got that type of recognition that people dream of. Anyway, Happy Birthday.

I remember as a child I was about 8 years old and I came into my mother’s room and she was doing something with a bunch of paper and calculators. I asked her what she was doing and she said, “I’m trying to buy a house.” And I said, “Well let’s figure this out. $20 is a lot of money, so how much did the car cost?” And she said, “The car cost $10,000.” And I paused because I was sure she was going to say something like $100. But whatever. I replied, “OK, so if the car costs $10,000 then a house must cost …” And I started to count on my fingers and in my head. And mind you, I’m very good with math, but at this time in my life I just didn’t understand the value of money. “Well, if a car costs $10,000 then a house must cost … A WHOLE LOT MORE THAN $10,000.” She laughed and said, “Yes, a house costs a whole lot more than $10,000.”

Eddie: Can I ask you something? Do you know where Harvard is?
A.J.: It's near Boston.
Eddie: No I mean, do you really know where Harvard is? It's another planet man- another universe. Totally unlike the one we know. Filled with big blond guys who eat ivy and row boats. What I'm trying to say is, you and Corey just aren't made for each other. She's different from you.
(Source: Empire Records)

I couldn’t help but have one last joke about Harvard this week. I’m done, I’m done. I’m probably going to apply to HBS and eat these words. It’s so funny, I’m seriously only applying to Georgetown and HBS for business school. As a Syracuse grad, that’s just freaking hilarious. Oh AND my mentor thinks I should apply to Fuqua. Yes, the business school at Duke.

Life is good. God is good.

It’s fantastic to have great GMAT scores and options as a Black man in America.

Let’s go Orange! I don’t know why we think about the damn Huskies, they can’t see us. We are going to blow them out. Kemba Walker can’t penetrate our zone.

Don’t make me eat those words. Shoutout to all the Seton Hall and St. John’s fans who are now cheering for UConn because, “My family lives in Connecticut!” I hope you get those eggs, Benedict.