GROTHE

A bried history of everything

Writing is my religion. I discovered my passion for writing after completing a bachelors of arts in psychology and a masters in human resources and organizational development. I would like to pursue writing as a full-time career. I have applied to numerous on-line magazines and print newspapers. No luck. I may have a future in a resume rewriting though. Mine has morphed into a literary monster.

Californication

In Ann Arbor there are two realities extreme weather and boring people. Day after day.  I had to leave the city for Los Angeles to discover that location changes do not summon interesting people. Interesting people are everywhere.  Traveling to Los Angeles changes me into another person. I am witty, insightful and charming. It's hard to believe but yes I can even hold a conversation without insulting someone under the spell of ocean air and smog.  But I never really change. I discover parts of myself that are unopened, unexplored, new to me. I can become myself.

Quarter Life Crisis

I have two dollars, a deck of cards and an exclamation point at the end of sentence for anyone who can help me find a freelance writing job. I know two women, a homeless man name Sam and question mark that lingers into the laughable.  Where is my paparazzi?

pass the crucifix on the left hand side

My week remixed:

I spend Sunday on a studying spree. Accounting is killing me softly. I try and try but it gets costly. I get hungry and buy to many groceries. Monday comes around and class gets crazy. After two hours of lecture, I get spacey. Like Kevin, I'm ready to bounce. Tuesday I finish up homework for Wednesday's class. I get a call from the IRS. I mean DSLS (direct student loan services). Even though I'm a part-time student I have an overdue bill that is deliquent. How can that be? It just is cause life is sh*ttie. I freak out, don't know what to do. So I rob a liquor store, what what.

Today I am bout ready to pass out. Just left class and I'm azzed out. The test is one week away and I don't know the difference between an asset and equity yet. I know this much is true. This could happen out of blue. If I fail this class, the world won't end. I'll just become a rapper like that guy from West End.

holla
   

Variations of the Theme of a Nervous Breakdown

What happens when you document the activities of a food starved graduate student/freelance writer in a cramped studio apartment (where he maintains the entire building) and find out what happens when his undergraduate party monster tenants stop being polite (they never were) and start getting real imbecilic. 

Someone pinch me.

Take a seat and enter my life.

So I am walking to the trash disposal area of my building on Wednesday night; its pitch black outside.  The trash disposal area is located towards the anterior of the building, there is a cemented path that connects the back-door to the disposal area.  Four bags of trash greeted me as I stepped outside the door and one raccoon-ravaged bag by the disposal door.

Undergrads can be extremely disgusting and wasteful.  I peer inside the area to find a mountain of recyclable material pizza boxes, beer bottles and soda cans galore as well as UPS, USPS, and FedEx boxes.

I was shocked to see each canister overflowing with debris.  I emptied all ten of the 8 gallon cans on Sunday night.  So from Sunday night to Wednesday night they were over-filled with trash. I decided to take care of it in the morning.

This morning, I walk to the shed and two maintenance guys are hovering over the trash. Bad sign.

I walk back into my apartment and check my voice mail. I received a
message from the head maintenance supervisor. He wanted a report about how often I remove the trash from the shed. Unbelievable.

There are no recycling bins in the trash area yet it is a mystery that (at the end of the semester) the trash area is filled with school paper, pizza boxes and television sets.

I spent an hour removing trash from the shed and was almost late for my other glamorous day job.

The life of a on-line reality blogstar.  This is it!

When Winter Finds Us

There is a certain unexplainable calmness about ending.  The ending of an educational experience, the ending of a season of regret, the ending of literary accomplishment.  Now that classes are over for the semester, I find myself bursting with opportunities. Ready to read the books that I have yet to read.  Writing the essays that I have yet to write.  Ending the winter solstice of laughter. Where will you find me? Leapfrogging off words and squirreling fallen leaves. 

to file or not to file

The end of tax season swiftly approaches yet I have not filed.  I plan run home and file as soon as I get off of work but I am starting to feel a power nap looming in the distance like a 5:30 pm dream lunch date with an "Apprentice" reject.  The wows and waves of idleness is a splendid lure to catch.

To file or not to file is the better question.

Jesus, Mary and Da Vinci

When my mother phoned today, I expected  the usual how are yous and hows the weather questions. Halfway through the conversation, she asked me if I believed in Jesus.

Religious oriented questions like political and racial questions, for me anyway, are hard to swallow.  It shouldn't be since I was speaking to my mother but I was rendered speechless by the question. 

I think she asked because the "Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown is one of my favorite books and spiraled an tawdry interest into religious literature.  Right now I am reading the "Holy Bible" in DVD format (I don't have time to flip through endless pages).

I brushed it off and said yes. She did not believe me, of course. That's a mother's job to scrutinize everything that their children don't say in one-line answers.

Improvosational Living

As a graduate student furthering his education, I am finding it less than impossible to balance work life, school life and family life.  Family life is the staple component of Black community and sometimes my family members do not get that I just cannot afford to check-in everyday or weekly. I have deadlines, assignments due, email to be checked and bills to pay (not necessarily in that order). 

I have three jobs. Freelance writer for two newspapers, I am the Resident Manager of a student-centered apartment (students can be rather disgusting tenants) and I work at the public library.  When I am not working, I am studying. When I am not studying I am working-out (Hydroxy abs here I come). When I am not working-out, I am sleeping.

I once heard that in order to be successful, one must challenge themselves to find the silver lining in the cloud.

The median income in Ann Arbor is $60,000, the average citizen either is employed by or affiliated with the University of Michigan, Borders, or the UM Health System. The median price for a one-bedroom apartment is $600-900, leaving many denizens living with multiple roommates in cramped conditions or homeless.

A homeless man once told me that it is more economical to be homeless in Ann Arbor rather than have a job and pay rent here.

The homeless population in Ann Arbor is staggering.  One only has to walk a few blocks downtown to see individuals in need of assistance. 

When I fail to see the beauty in my non-reality show existence, I remember that reality is so much more inviting and true beauty is rearranging what life drapes you in.  

Getting Rich From The Inside Out - As Seen On Good Morning America - Young Farrah Gray Is The "Reallionaire"

Deerfield Beach, FL - Even though he's just 20, Farrah Gray has achieved more than many will experience in their entire careers. A remarkable young African-American who was determined to achieve his dreams against the odds, Gray is a successful entrepreneur on a mission to inspire.

In his new book, Reallionaire: Nine Steps to Becoming Rich form the Inside Out, Gray shares the essential lessons that took him from public assistance to a millionaire by the age of 14. Growing up in struggle as the youngest in a single-parent household, Gray made his first decision to help provide for his family when his mother became seriously ill. The first fifty dollars he made paid for a real sit-down dinner. He was six.

"My story, though unique, is not unlike others who began with nothing more than a dream fueled by sheer determination," Gray says. "Even if you've never walked the streets of a housing project or seen food stamps up close, I believe my story will remind you of the kid in all of us who knows no limits and believes anything - and everything - is possible."

Entrepreneurship began at age six for Gray, when he peddled body lotion for $1.50 door to door. In Chicago, at eight years old, he started UNEEC (Urban Neighborhood Economic Enterprise Club. Gray reached millions of listeners every Saturday night as co-host of radio show "Backstage Live" in Las Vegas. He was 10.

At 13, he founded NE2W U.S. A. (New Early Entrepreneur Wonders University Student & Alumni) Capital Search Fund headquartered on Wall Street. Gray officially became a millionaire after hitting sales of $1.5 million for his company, Farr-Out Foods. At 15, he served as the youngest member of the Board of Advisors for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. At 15, Farrah was sent a special invitation to consult and oversee an entrepreneurial institute for The Minority Business Development Agency of the U.S. Department of Congress. Gray believes that "action, as always, counts for more than mere words: founded the Farrah Gray Foundation.

From age 15 to 18, Gray served on the Board of Directors of United Way as the youngest director ever to sit on their board nationwide. When he was16, he acquired INNERCITY Magazine from Inner City Broadcasting Corporation, the largest privately-held radio broadcasting company in the U.S. that primarily targets African-Americans.

In Reallionaire, with the help of writer Fran Harris, Gray takes us from the projects in Chicago to his digs in Las Vegas where he now runs INNERCity magazine, and as a real estate investor he sits on the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, Inc., Region 15.

The book has been endorsed by Bill Clinton, Stedman Graham, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, and includes color pictures from Gray's world. It captivates us through storytelling and then equips us with practical steps that we can apply in our own lives to achieve our goals.

PRESS CONTACT: Kim Weiss, HCI Books, (800) 851-9100 x212, kimw@hcibooks.com, www.hcibooks.com