Where the rubber...

25JAN2021; 0035, MON

Pardon the wordplay, but I've been pretty much just jamming out to the living legend, J. Cole for the past couple days. I knew that he had an extensive catalog, and I'm really glad that I chose him to accompany me on the past couple adventures.

Speaking of phenomenal "urban" music artists, sitting here celebrating Alicia Keys's Born Day, I realized that it's been "a New York minute" since I did an After Action Review (AAR) on one of my road trips. Come to think of it, I've never really written immediately after touching down, to the best of my knowledge.

As I type this, I'm not sure if I'll try and get this post approved in the "America" tag of the Wander community or rather the "Travel" tag of the Wheel one. "Such is life"!

The only key points that I remember from our AARs back when I was in, a decade ago, are "Sustained's and Improved's". Granted, I retired with an Noncommissioned Officer (NCO)'s rank, and even filled a couple of NCO positions here and there; I never really had more than minimal input in the aforementioned recaps.

So, I'll begin with the Improved's and "shoot from the hip", as per usual.

Firstly, I sincerely regret not being more present and mindful, as cliche as it sounds for these new age times. There were at least a couple of major mishaps that could've been avoided altogether had I simply stuck to my New Year's resolution of using the Headspace app, as well as my early mornings, to "create more headspace" for my blessings and such that I have more or less been attempting to "speak into existence".

For example, one of the guys that I was rolling with earlier needed some special equipment as a bare minimum to make the trip; no two ways about it. Despite a couple of decent opportunities for me to recollect and realize that the crew was absentmindedly leaving it behind, it wasn't until just before our "mission" was set to begin that he realized we were essentially paddling up the extremely murky Anacostia River, with our bare hands.

Nevermind that I, for all intents and purposes, forgot the very same equipment just before our three hour ride back home! "It was at this moment that [Darrius] knew, he had [messed] up."

Secondly, I completely neglected to ask for at least half my compensation upfront, as essentially recommended by The Supervillain, aka MF DOOM (RIP). It was a minor matter; tho, could have made a world of difference for my peace of mind and what have you.

Just to piggyback on the bottom line: I really regret not requesting extra duckets in regards to the extenuating circumstances that made the project significantly less pleasant and were not mentioned when I was "recruited". A couple of quick convos that might could have been X-factors, in a sense.

Thirdly, I didn't snap not a single pic for this here blog post, nor get any other sort of mementos for that matter. As the fam would say, I "didn't think it thru!"

Fourth and final Improved, I left my hand sanitizer in my pocket the whole entire time, despite "munching up on a lil' something" and completely neglecting my gloves all day. "Don't be like me!"

That last inside joke put me at almost exactly 556 words and I can't help but wonder how many times I came "danger close" to five-o pointing their 5.56mm shooting carbines and whatnot at me and my ugly self this (past) weekend. Existential dread notwithstanding, I will finally shift gears now to a more positive light.

"Follow the light. The light is your guide."- King Geedorah (aka MF DOOM)'s intro to '03's classic Take Me To Your Leader. Granted I'm a smidge over my baseline that I normally aim for, as far as word counts go; I have to include at least one silver lining in this cloud of a 50th or so piece by me.

Alas, I met a new "biz partner" in addition to rebuilding a bridge that I more or less doused in kerosene with my relative social ineptitude. And that twofer put me at just about precisely a lucky 700 words.

Here's to hoping, praying, and manifesting that one of my peeps hits for about $700 mil or so before the whole house of cards crashes. "Either which way, they not ready for the lightning show"- also King Geedorah; tho, on the outro to that particular alter ego's first and only album.

Well, it's a smidge past my bedtime and I'm aiming to continue to make this week much more productive than the previous ones, when I was recovering from a wounded shoulder and all that good jazz. With any luck, the next few "jobs" won't require me to go anywhere near The Big Apple again anytime soon, nor put an extensive amount of miles on my new truck.

Traveling mercies and peaceful tidings!