NOT WHAT IT SEEMS!!!

The barbershop has always been one of my favorite places to visit..although its been quite less as iv'e aged!!i used to go once a week on fridays and carried this tradition on for many many years!!!Anyhow i drift when i blog....so if i appear sparatic in my stories or writings as many call blogging..i however prefer to just say im talking..or telling stories of the past..depends on my frame of thoughts at the time!!so anyways when i write here i scattered....i jump from stories of my prision years to the present day..i at times fill my stories with a hatred directed at the person and life i embraced!!!or at times i may seem cocky and as if i glorify the past??those are just demons i fight is all!!!its easy for me to root for the badguys sometimes because ive seen the actions of the so called goodguys in living type situations..definition..the years of living in the system..getting to know figures of authority...building almost friendships with guards opposing lawyers and even some of the very officers that put me where i was ..however as i lived i realized it was me who put me there!!!i met decent men and evil men...its just very distorted when the goodguys are worse then the badguys and youv'e witnessed some things up close!!so yes at times my writing jumps from not wanting to talk more about prison stories to telling more in blogs of that world!!so mornings like this i feel more of a story mode in writing so i want to share a brief story...its actually things i lived and i remember them well so hopefully if you read this you'l be amused..hahaha i kid i kid..but seriously i started this blog talking about the barber shop and how the weekly ritual is something i enjoyed....So okay then it was a friday..its always Fridays when the barbershop is one appointment you don't miss for anything..i used to plan my day around it..see the weekends starting its nice to start it with something new like a haircut..and shave if you go that route??i personaly love the whole hot towel thing..its missed these days..not just by me but i think lots of the old ways are missed..i still know where they exist but thats a different time n life for me...so anyway it was friday and i had to manuver the day perfect..but my priority was hittn the barbershop before 4 and i'l get into that later..so i went to see if my clothes were done being laundered and starched n pressed??i had close friend who seperated my laundry from other public wash cycles cuz he put my stuff in a special soap that was very easy and non irritating on my skin...so i checked with him at 7am and he said my laundred clothes would be delivered at 11am..i love deleveries..il tell ya why later..so next i thanked my friend and went to see how my finances looked for the week..i used to count everything or pay to have it done..and id monitor it peridically as id be in between friday rituals...next id go see if i could get someone actually pay someone to sign my name on the roll call in the class i was enrolled in on fridays..that way id get credit still n could make my friday more of a stress free day then gettn all worked up over things that fridays can present..so i'd next make sure id stuck my head in the barbershop to see if my barber was there and hadnt called in sick or anything dramatic that day....id say hey ronald il be in around 3 is that cool doggie???he'd sometimes be in a goodmood or sometimes he'd wanna negotiate...id end the negotiations quick by letting him know i was gonna tip him above n beyond whatever bullshit customer he was placing in his friday debacle...i alwayz knew he was just hurting for cash but i liked him and even did a few other things with him outside the workplace..we made a few bucks together but il tell ya more about that later..so this day he was in a good mood n said ya i'l see ya at 3..i gotta light day so far so tell ur cousin and a few of your boyz i can fit em in if they need a trim?? i said cool id bring some of my troops to get cuts cuz it makes the shop more fun when you dont have to worry abt sensoring your conversations...wed often fill the whole shop by 12 noon and everyone else was turned away!!so we parted with pleasantries n i was off.....i went by jasons and said hey i got you in the shop with me before 3..you down??he always counted on this so he'd be like ya you know the deal il see ya before then a few times right??he too took or had his weekly laundry done at the same place..well we all did but only jason used my friend to use the soft laundry soap on his stuff because its a little pricier but i figured its worht it just on knowing your laundries seperate from everyone elses right???makes sense dont it??hhaah just seeing if you paying attention cuz this is gonna get good..real good...so next id shake hands with jason and stop next at a few spots where i had some financial interests and we'd discuss money profits and need and demand...at that time demand was at a high because a new building opened and money was to be made before the boring routines and militant patterns formed...well then..id conversate with guys i was in buisness with and sometimes id let one or two know theres empty seats at the barbershop n i could get em in!!!then id say bye and try to make it to the place where i got fresh vegatables for fridays dinner and u'd think we'd go out being friday but i never did ...but il tell ya why later...so id get an assortment of tomatoes onions bellpeppers and a few other things depending on deleviries...id have someone deliver them to my house later and id be happy all was going accordingly on my weekend start..so next id make a few calls and see if i could either workout before lunch or was there buisness to attend??friday lunches were more of meeting then eatings cuz you wanna save your appetite for the friday nite dinner..trust me you do!!so this day i slid thru lunch and sat with a few of my friends and buisness associates and id nibble on a sandwich but mostly be looking at my watch beacause after friday lunch while a chunk of the rat race world would go back to work or even in my world guys would go back to work or school id be thinking of making that barbershop appointment with no outside interference....it was high on my priority list...i think you know???haha okay so next id say later to the fellas and basically make a quick route some might call a b-line for the barbershop!!!id anticipate the whole event...as id approach the huge window with the barbershop stencil id at times feel queezy in my stomach and id crane my neck over the stencil and see the scene!!! yep..jason was there mike was there paul would be sittn across the chairs already telling stories and everyones laughing..the line outside is already going around the corner..and in it i see alotta friendly faces too...no waiting for me though so i walk in n say wat up peoples?? and everyone either says wat up or says a funny putdown as we all slap hands or hug depending on whos who...i always hugged jason to let everyone know we r dear friends and in this im also saying to them ..hes like family and if you have ill intentions towards this man i wont tread lightly....ya see alotta old ways are practiced here from the hot towels i descibed to the shady deals that go on either in the back behind the curtain or right out in frony cuz everyone knows everyone 99 percent of the time here..these barbers are trusted and probably have heard stories worthy of detremental outcomes for those divulging their buisness here..but its a family thing mostly so like i said its an event..so id wait for ronald to brush up his chair wipe of his clippers n and ask what number guard i wanted this week>>are you gettn a shave too??he'd ask???you already know id say!!!id sit back n get my hair trimmed up and listen to stories for the next hour and id imput my own affiliations to some stories and others id just listen too...some of my friends would already have a bottle of alchohol under the barberchair??? 1in the afternoon n their already sippin sum act right..i called it act right cuz some tempers are dampened by alcohol while others are fueled by it!!!either way have a sip of act right is what id say if thats how they got by?? so anyhow id listen laugh tell stories maybe take a hit of a joint someone passed and id listen to the music vibrate...thats the thing every barbershop has a 63 year old owner who has the same am fm piece of shit radio with either a hanger or tinfoil wrapped around the broken antenna for better reception...>but on fridays reception seemed better then most days...to me anyway!!!so next id see what everyone was doing later that night??whos place was everyone going to??reds? our spot? where?? then id check my haircut out n say ron was the man.. id hand him his payment with a little extra if i really liked the haircut and he'd usually say he needed to come by my place later n id say you know your welcome see ya then and id walk.....id move past chairs and look at my friends haicuts and id make jokes about how fucked up their haircut looks and id say stuff about how the ricky martin look was really working or watever putdown i could muster..then id whisper something to jason.shake his hand and begin my departure knowing the outside line awaited..id look back to the barbers and say bye and ask if everyone was good and id depart....as i opened the door id have a couple guys already motioning me and id either say i was busy or id approach...the conversation ranged from them wanting to borrow money or to complain about someone or to just bullshit...id always hope it wasnt drama..i hated when drama messed with my friday release...so i said later to the guys in line and went to check on the plans for the night...everything was lovely after the haircut..i felt new after a haircut...i felt as if my friday routine was just that..ROUTINE...there was times in my life i prayed for routine because drama could mean you wouldnt be seeing tommorow..the thing is this!!! friday barbershop rituals were beacause at 5pm on fridays are visiting days times for family friends and loved ones to see you..for you to see them...i always wanted to walk out to visits looking new..sometimes itd be a visit from my dad who flew out to see me and made it a mini vacation by staying a few days in town and adding to the friday ritual excitement...so yes as i wrote this i wondered if my brother would put two n two together early and realize the barbershop was a prison barbershop!!jason is a dear friend we call snoopy and the vegatable run and laundered clothes were prison kitchen hustles and prison laundry faciliteis..i was an inmate at a new facility which im sure now is 90 percent more militant and regulated facility then it was..but we were the first..we molded the place..we molded guards and visiting and basically it was our playground..i wasnt who i am now and thats why i had suck a cushioned lifestyle in there...everyone i chose to interact with on a personal level was because we we running the place and everyone was in line and for the time i loved it there...i had homies who would protect me and knew id return the favor...my barber would sell large quantaties of tabacco for me and my crew and those were some of the whispers i detailed earlier in the writing..the rest well..use your imagination..it takes alotta of energy and wits not to mention heart to live above poverty outside can you imagine trying it inside???that was the goal...to grab whatever you could of the outside world and bring pieces of it inside..it made you feel more real..like u had some extra freedoms even if they sound microscopic to you..beleive me when you cant see over that wall sometimes a deep drag of a smuggled cigarette somehow takes you over the wall temporarily...i dont try to glorify these past paths i walked down but thats because i moved on and dont i live that way or taint my life with any aspect of my past years...i have got some feedback that people wanna know about it so i'l tell about it!!!!it could be months before im in a place to write about the years i was gone but i'l more then likely tell again another day...today however im good....im not only working for a stable company but iv'e just accepted a new job that is a place iv'e worked hard to be in...theres pros and cons...but there always is...frankly im just happy to have a job..n blessed to be moving on to something better..don't think in saying that i mean blessed in a religious way...if you have a GOD it might not be someone elses GOD so i choose not to go there..i believe family n friends bless you as much as our gods do...anyway i hadnt talked here in a while and stress can sometimes distort opinions of writings so i blog more when times are successful...or at least lately i guess...well im gonna go but im glad mjs working and my weddings in July....I WILL SEE SOME OF YOU AT MY BACHELOR PARTY RIGHT GUYS???HAHAHHA LET ME KNOW IF THIS BLOG SUCKED MUCH?? i just say what i say!!!PEACE