Time Waits For No Man

Recently, I went out to enjoy an evening of listening to music from my favorite jazz band. it was one of those events that you could bring an armchair. I had to stand out in the crowd so I brought my armchair with the footrest. Just about the time that I had gotten comfortable, I turned to my right and I locked eyes with this fine natural beauty. I gave her the " What's up" nod. She nodded back. After that I began to wait for an opening, if one at all, to speak with her. 

At the end of the night, the Disk Jockey played the hit song " Wobble" by VC. Why did he do that ?
My opportunity presented itself. The mystery lady came out and joined me and the rest of the crowd. We danced next to one another without saying a word.
A couple of minutes had gone by. Right as I turned to speak to her, I noticed that she was being lead away from what looked to be her friend.
My inner voice screamed out, "Noooo ! Wait ! "
She disappeared into the crowd and never to be seen again.
At that moment, I really wanted to curse. I had not felt this devastated since my early 20's !
I learned a value lesson in that moment. If you ever feel as if you have something to say to someone, don't waste time. Say what you have to say, because time waits for no one.
Never miss a golden opportunity to speak up.

Old Porch Conversations

When I was younger I used to love to visit Sister Carter. Sister Carter was a woman from my old neighborhood that used to do my mother's hair. What I loved about her is that she was so on fire for Christ. I used to spend countless hours on my visits with her listening to her speak. She always seemed to be impressed with me because she loved the way that I dressed and carried myself. She always told me that when she saw me that I looked like what a young man was supposed look like. She loved that I believed in wearing belts and such.
At the end of our visits she would always give me a hug and say " Stay with the Lord !"
She went to be with the Lord a few years after I had graduated from college. I miss her dearly. Every now and then I will drive by her old house as a reminder of the conversations that I used to have with her on her porch.

Funny Lessons Learned From Mary Jayne:

When I was around the age of 22 my sister had just turned 18. it was during these times that we began to hang out with one another as young adults. She was finally able to get into the nightclubs with me. It was then that she started to share her men stories with me. She once said to me, " Rickey, sometimes I wish that I wasn't so attractive, because I always get these men with stank breath in my face that always seem to want to use "H" and " P" words !" It was at that moment that I started to be a little more sympathetic to women. It also caused me to come more correct on my approach as well. 
I am so thankful that I was blessed with sisters.

Taxi Cab Nightmare

Recently, my car blew a head gasket. Therefore, I had to become dependent on the local cab companies for transportation. 
I had plans to go to a funeral for a friend of the family. First, I needed to go to Wal-Mart for a few items for the house.
I called the cab company. I waited for about 20 minutes before they showed up. When they arrived, they did so in an unmarked gray Hyundai. When I opened the rear passenger door, it had stains on the back seat, the floor had not been vacuumed, and it smelled like a wet dog. 
I asked the driver why the car had no signs on it. She said that recently cab drivers had been robbed and they didn't want to be identified as cabs. 
I then proceeded to ask them about the ungodly stench of the vehicle. She said that sometimes that a lot of their passengers don't shower, hence the smell. I didn't believe them because the driver themselves did not look sanitary.
I talked about them until I reached my destination. I was just that upset. 
When I tried to call them back, they did not answer. So I was forced to walk home, in my suit, in the rain. 
I ended up missing the funeral. 
The moral of this story is this:  
Whenever you are at the mercy of needing a ride from someone, sometimes it is best that you suffer through your discomfort in silence.
If not, you might end up stranded and forced to hoof it in an inclement weather situation. 

Cutting Corners

Recently, I went to get a haircut at a beauty school because my favorite barber was unavailable. The student that they stuck with me was cutting my hair for the first time. The instructor told them what to do and then she left them alone. The student totally forgot what the instructor had said, but commenced to cutting on me. I told them to STOP. I said, that if you don't know what to do ,then stop and ask for assistance. They got another person to help them finish the job. Even though they totally screwed up my haircut, I told them that they did just fine. I knew that if I had went off on them that they would not get over their fear of cutting another person's hair for a while.
After I left the shop, I caught up to my friend and they edged me back up to normal.
The moral of this story is this:
If you want a quality job done right, do not go cutting corners. It may end up costing you more to fix what you want to have done right in the first place.

Rickey Gee's First Local Artist Album Review

A Cedric Armstrong Deacon Ordination 6 25 2017

So You Think You Can Dance? C'mon then

Once upon on a time on a Saturday Evening at Club Elevations I got up the nerve to ask the hottest woman in the room to dance. At first she declined my request because she said that she was married. I asked her if her husband was there and she said, " No, he's back home in San Diego."
So I got bold and said, " Listen, tomorrow, you can get on a plane and go back to being Mrs. Whomever, but tonight I just want to dance with you."
She got up out of her seat and said," So you think you can dance, then c'mon and let me see what you've got then!"
We did every line dance imaginable such as The Chinese Checker, The Chicago Bus Stop, The Bunny Hop and much more. She even came out of her heels to dance with me.
We stayed on the floor until one of us tapped out.
It was me that ended up tapping out.
She told me at the end of the night that her name was Nikki and I never saw her again.
I learned a valuable lesson that night.
I learned that to never under estimate anyone when it comes to a challenge.
You might receive a little more than you were prepared to handle.

5 Lessons Learned from Old J.C.

On July 20, 1982 in Russellville, Arkansas , my mother re-married an older gentleman by the name of J.C. Clemons Sr. I was turning 5 years old the year that this happened.
A couple of years later we would move into our new home located  at 66 Goldmine Springs Road. 
From the time of my elementary years until the time that I became an adult, I lived in this home under the guidance of this man. 
I won't lie. Not every day was a sunny day in that house. In fact, there were more days of chaos than were necessary. Regardless of how chaotic is was, I managed to learn a lot of valuable information from him concerning women. 

Lesson 1: Always pay attention to your woman's eyes when you are speaking to her. There are of one two things that are going on when she is not looking at you. 1. She could not be very interested in what you have to say. 2. She could be hiding very valuable information from you. You'd better hope that it is not the latter. 
Lesson 2: Always make sure that you if you have a woman at home raising your kids that you do what you can to separate her from that chaos from time to time. It does wonders for your love life and it helps her to maintain her sanity. 

Lesson 3: When it comes to your woman, you have to listen, but you don't have to agree with her. 
During odd hours of the day, your woman will want to talk to you. The topics may not be something that generally interest you, but you have to give her your undivided at all times. 
This is highly important because if she has to feel as if she has to confide in other men about her problems, it could give old Jody a window of opportunity to try and steal her from you. 
Also know that no woman can be stolen from a man unless she was already thinking about leaving.

Lesson 4: Make date night a mandatory night at least 3 times a month. Do it so that you can keep Jody away from your door. Enough said.

Lesson 5: If you get a woman that acts as if she is a human calculator, she will be good at saving you money. Also don't get into arguments over her collections of coupons. You may save more money than you realize. 

All of the lessons that I learned from my stepfather proved to be bulletproof. 

Sadly, On April 8th of 2010, our family said goodbye to him as he lost his battle with lung cancer. 
Our family has not been the same since his absence.  I wanted to share his lessons with the world in order to insure that his legacy lives on. 
I hope that these lessons are as helpful to you as they were to me.

The Smoking Jacket Chronicles

Kids: Payback for your mistakes as a child

Whenever I hear about the things that my young nieces have done, it reminds me of the familiar phrase that I once heard as a child, " What on earth were you thinking?" That phrase was always uttered by my mom whenever we had done things that completely made no sense.
Even though I end up having to be the bad guy when I talk to them, inside I am cracking up laughing because my sister is getting back all of the grief that she put our mom through.
Mom used to always say, "Wait until you have kids.......! "
I only hope that when I am married with kids that my payback doesn't come back as hard.

Ouch that Hurt:

I grew up in a household with two younger sisters. We were always at each others throats whenever the time permitted. However, there were times that I did have mercy for them. Those times were when they were getting their hair combed by my mother. Whenever the comb would be thrust back across their scalp they would always scream as if they were getting killed. Their screams for mercy didn't matter to my mom. They would just get accused of being tender headed.

After all of their suffering, they would usually end up in pigtails and barrets.

As an adult, the horrified screaming of little girls getting their hair combed still haunts me. I just pray that if you are a parent that is raising young women please go easy on them when you comb their hair. Their pain and suffering is real !

Making An Investment

I heard this tale years ago when I was a teenager:

Once upon a time, a farmer went on a regular routine into town to buy groceries. While he was at the local market store, he came across a homeless man that held a sign that read " Out of Work. Will work for food!"
The farmer thought about the wood at his home that he needed to have chopped so he decided to take the man up on his offer.
After the farmer had left the man to do the work for an hour, he decided to go and check on him.
The farmer became furious because the work was being poorly done.
He said to the man, " Why are you not doing this job well? I thought that you could do the work?"
The man replied, " Feed Me! I have no energy!"
The farmer took the man inside and he fed him.
After the man had finished eating, he went outside to finish the job.
A couple of hours later, the farmer went back to check on the man.
The farmer was so impressed with the job that man had done that he wanted to hire him full time as a ranch hand.
The moral of this story is this: Sometimes the best investment that you can make is not in the stock market, it is making an investment into your fellow man. Not everything that looks good on paper will always pan out.
However, when you learn to look into the eyes of people and really look deep into their character, you may find out that they are worth more than meets the eye.

Who You Gonna Call?

Whenever I go to see my maternal grandmother we get on the phone and just start calling random people that know her. I give her that opportunity because it is a privilege that she does not use while she is in the nursing home. It makes her smile and it moves me up in the ranks of the cool grand kids ! We are starting to run out of numbers to call because a lot of people have either died or have to work.
Nevertheless, there is no price tag that you can put on good quality time spent with the ones that you love. 

The Smoking Jacket Chronicles Episode 7 Dealing With Spoiled Kids

The Smoking Jacket Chronicles Episode 6 Cutting Out The Middle Man

Why I Respect Tom Brady

One of the greatest quarterbacks that I have witnessed play the game of American Football is 
Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr A.K.A. (Tom Brady). 
Here are few of the reasons why I have a lot of respect for him.

 1. He knows how to be an effective leader. He recognizes his role. but he allows and trusts his teammates to play their role as well. Most importantly, motivates them to be better and he believes in them.
 2. He has a great work ethic. Whenever he shows up to practice or to the game, you know for a fact that he is not going to give you less than 100% of what is required of him.
3. He never underestimates his opponent. He is known for studying the habits of his competition just so that he can stay one step ahead of them.
4. He know how to be an effective communicator. Before each every play he makes sure that everyone receives the same message of what is about to go down. 
5. As of 2-3-2019, He has 6 Championship Rings. He is arguably considered to be one of the greatest QBs of all time. Anyone with a greater knowledge knows that he still has to break the records of the great Peyton Manning in order to be truly considered the greatest. 

My favorite President Barack Obama Moment

My favorite President Barack Obama moment was when he came to see the tornado wreckage of the towns of Mayflower and Vilonia Arkansas at the request of then Senator Mark Pryor.
This was the second time within three years that the town of Vilonia had been hit by a tornado. 
At the time of the visit I was working in a distribution warehouse as a volunteer for the American Red Cross. I decided to help the victims of the tornado because I felt that it was my civic duty to do so.
I still remember seeing the 3 Marine 1 helicopters that flew in from the Little Rock Air Force Base to transport him.  It was indeed an amazing sight. 
While President Obama was here, he toured the damaged subdivisions that were hit the hardest and then he stopped to give a speech to the people that first responded to the tornado.  He vowed that the government would send help to restore the area.
This was his first visit to Arkansas as president. I was amazed that he even showed up at all.
He didn't make an appearance in Arkansas while he was on the campaign trail. It was probably due to the fact that he knew that he could not win here. 
Since his visit to the ruined towns of Arkansas, they have been restored. 

Thanks Obama !

Goodbye My Love

 Everyone has that iconic person that introduces them to their definition of the word attractive. It was Mary Tyler Moore who gave me that awakening when I was 8 years old as I watched the re-runs of The Dick Van Dyke Show.
She was a sweetheart and she was absolutely gorgeous.
No matter what show she was in, you'd better believe that I was going to be watching it.
The last television appearance that I saw her in was when she appeared in an episode of Hot In Cleveland. She looked amazing even then.
I was so crushed when I heard that she finally died due to a diabetes ailment. Even though she is gone, she will live forever in my memories. Good Bye Madame. Thanks for the smiles and laughter that you provided the world for decades.