ProTools 7.3

IM SICED!!! We have the new studio and as of last night it is fully functional and ready to go. We're about to run a well oiled operation here. So wack Rappers and Singers, get at me...i can even make your $#!T tighter!

Train Harder...Run Slower

...And we're back!
I'm pretty new to this whole track thing, especially the international competition aspect of it. Compared to other people on the circuit i'm a virgin. But who cares? The whole point of training the way i have been is to be able to lay it down and perform well under any circumstance anywhere in the world. Thus far it has not been the case. After last season i knew the 2008 season would be one of historical improvement. I ran world class times with half-assed training (i'd give it a 5.4 on a scale of 10 in terms of difficulty and amount of focus i had) a crazy party life and a couple of jobs on top of it all. Oh, by the way, i didnt go to the weight room once in 2007. So i figured i'd do damage with more intense training (including weights) better supplementation, and no partying and drinking until 6 am and then practicing at 10. With all that going for me i'd surely run a personal best or better yet a 9. I'm a solid 10.40 sprinter every time out. Tailwind, headwind, 103 degrees, freezing cold, it doesnt matter you're going to get a 10.40 out of me. I'm starting to think that maybe my body doesnt respond to the high intensity training and that i need to get rest more than i would have expected. Truth be told, i dont really have a coach, and the coaching i have been getting hasnt put me in a place to be successful. So for the rest of the season i'm just going to write my own workouts, tape myself and study my weaknesses. I did it last year and it worked and they say a broken clock is right twice a day. I just need it to be right once in this year.

I no longer give compliments

Usually before i write something i think about it for a couple of days so i dont come off all emotional like but this one is something else. i´ve been in brazil for what seems like three months but really is only 2.5 weeks. Everybody talks about how brazil got the greatest women and you´re gonna fall in love and not come back and so forth. That aint the case. Dont get me wrong, there are some that i wanna bring back, but just as i suspected some aint gettin it done.
So after each meet to get paid you go down to the secretary´s office and they make a copy of your passport, you sign some paper and they give you cash in exchange. Well at this particular meet there was this FIRE brazilian girl working there who gave me my money and spoke okay english so i figured i´d say something on the way out the door.

"you´re absolutely beautiful."

she replies

"No, thanks"

What? I was confused. It took me a second to even realize what just went on. I´m not even sure what the tone was, it was sorta sheepish but also a little disgusted that i even spoke. It wasnt the 1st time i´ve told a girl that but it was the 1st time i´ve been shot down. I thought it was pretty innocuous. I guess in giving a compliment she thought i was trying to get at her. I cant say that i wasnt trying to, but i certainly didnt give her the full court press. So as every tick of the clock passes i get more and more hot. I walk up to big aubs room and tell him about it and he had the same reaction i had. He turned out to be more hot than i was and he´s still indignant like 3 days later. One bad apple spoils the bunch. From now on, i say nothing. Also, i´m taking the D.O. approach. If you talk to me and i act stuck up or like youre not on my level it´s probably because youre not

TIMES IS HARD!

Something about downtown Atlanta is special. Since i've moved into the new condo about a week and some days ago i've gotten to see a lot more of the actual downtown area as opposed to the midtown area. Unlike midtown, downtown atlanta has yet to be fully gentrified and the result is more crackheads in a concentrated area. I gotta tell you, the atlanta crackhead is unlike any other. They're jive ruthless and overbearing but sometimes they're even comical. But lately it seems like everybody is on that stuff. A while ago a dude in a suit smoking a cigarette asked me for some change, i guess he was the sophisticated bum. Then you got your bum crackheads that always wanna get a quick ride down to the local wal-mart, and this always amazed me. Its happened 3 times this year that i can distinctly remember. I think they figure since they aint got nothing to do that i aint got nothing to do. Then last and most disturbing you have your ol' lady bum. She looked like the church lady in the 1st row with the fruit basket on her head who drives the old cutlass. She was backing out the parking lot yesterday and saw me, stopped and asked "excuse me, can you help me get a gallon of gas?" She really didn't look too safe but for some reason i felt bad for her situation. I'm like damn i know the gas is high but is this how you gotta pay for it? I cant call it but something aint right out here. Obama for prez

Kobe or Lebron (A Debate...)

First thing you should know about me is that i'm 100% a kobe hater. Obviously im proud of that. But you know something, coming in at a close second is LeBron James. I love the wizards (its probably hard for some people to understand) and as usual the wizards play the cavaliers in the 1st round. Somehow fate is just working for this matchup to happen annually. So with that, i've gotten to see a lot of the cavs over the last 3 years and that means "king" james as well. Im not sure if thats blasphemy or what but i guess since him and Jay-Hova are boys he figures thats whats up. If you have watched at all then you've heard about this lil beef or whatever between bron bron and deshawn stevenson. Deshawn called lebron overrated, lebron calls deshawn soulja boy (i'd say deshawn is more rick ross, but thats just me) thus the rivalry begins. Somewhere in the middle of all this soulja boy shows up at a wizards game wearing a deshawn stevenson jersey and then jay-z amazingly takes the time to make a song about deshawn stevenson. Worse yet, some disloyal ass DJ in DC is bumpin this song while caron n nem are there. I hope this was lebrons personal DJ and not some dude who was happy to get an exclusive. Anyway, it got a lil chippy out there on the court and it looked like lebron and deshawn were about to throw punches. Kinda funny seein bron ball up his fists like hes about to fight but whines when he doesnt get a foul called. But the genius Charles Barkley said it best "nba players cant fight, they just wanna look like it." Take Kobe and Chris Childs for instance...Im just sayin

Music

Titled plainly enough, i just thought i'd ramble on about music for a paragraph or two. As i've been on the road for the last month or so i've kind of been off of my musical grind. Actually i've been completely off. I havent called any of my contacts, i havent come up with many melodies or hooks. I have more or less retired from it, for a lack of better words. I think i needed it because when i moved out of the old apartment, i was wild frustrated son! I hated the thought of dealing with the crap for another day, so i just said "im out!" But as usual, i've gotten the itch back to come up with something and i really cant wait to get in the lab. When i take a break from it i usually come back better than when i left. Hopefully the same thing happens again.
Why when i tell most people i know that i like Maroon 5, Kenna, Paramore and other artists that are lesser known to the typical black person am i looked at with a bit of disgust and confusion? I mean cant i like something other than rap? I try to listen to everything and i try to get inspiration from anybody anywhere, and it really helps me with ideas when hearing other genres. Basically i've noticed my taste in music is nothing like the mainstreams tatse in music. Its a bit of a problem when trying to go mainstream with my own work. It IS somewhat possible that i can use my very discriminating ear to my advantage when im in creative mode. Not that im trying to puff my chest out but people who dont make music wont truly understand it even though they may nod their head in agreement.

"The Olympics is Just Another Track Meet"

Every now and then you hear something that you just cant believe and it would take a personal experience to either confirm or deny. The other day me and an olympic athlete were having a discussion about competition abroad and traveling and a whole lot of other track related stuff. Somewhere along the way he pauses and says "dre, honestly, the olympics is just another track meet." I was almost offended. He offered his reasons why, stating that television makes it look all big and glamorous and the most prestigious thing you could ever be a part of. He says its all of the same athletes as any other track meet he goes to; a lot of the people hes competing against are people he lives with, trains with, knew from college etc. Initially it sounded crazy but as im in more and more meets with olympians and world champions and their ilk, it does start becoming the same and i can imagine how it just doesnt have as much luster as you'd expect. So with that said, i need to find out for myself.