Saturday, October 29, 2011

A Bouquet of Flowers

'Love Letter' by Frank Morrison

A Bouquet of Flowers

Like that of a beautiful bouquet of flowers...
When you planted your seed
In my garden of thought..
You planted the need
To see love grow.

Like that of a beautiful bouquet of flowers..
Through the love and tender care
Of it's gardener
You watered and nourish
My soul with food for thought..

Like that of a beautiful bouquet of flowers..
The sweet rayz of sunlight

Brought it to life..
It is your smile,
Those sweet rayz of joy
That brings my world of thought to life!

Like that of a beautiful bouquet of flowers
My garden of thought has..

Blossomed into a beautiful bed of roses. 


Terry Reese Jr (c)

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When I'm thinking of that sweet dream of mine, 
I easily lose myself in song...





Tuesday, October 25, 2011

'I've had time to reflect on feelings I truly can't neglect'







"I remember this feeling...
Wait! I still feel this way
My heart has already taken flight
It's just in a holding pattern
Waiting patiently to land
safely in the hands
of that deserving queen."


Lock and Key (male) by Wak

------------------------------------
Matters of the Heart
-----------------------------------
'I've had time to reflect on feelings I truly can't neglect'


I've had time to reflect
On feelings I truly can't neglect,
I love me some you...

There's not a moment in my day,
A minute in my thought
With each tick tock
Of the clock
That I don't think of you...

I've had time to reflect
On feelings I truly can't neglect,
I love me some you…

With each day
That I spend with you,
Each night that I lay
My head on a pillow next to you,
I have to pinch myself
To make sure it's not all a dream.

I've had time to reflect
On feelings I truly can't neglect,
I love me some you...

Today,
I get down on bending knee to say
'Thanks' to God for blessing the world
With your sweet presence
And sending you my way... 

For...

I've had time to reflect
On feelings I truly can't neglect,
I love me some you,
For being that dream come true!

 Terry Reese Jr. (c)

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Yes, I'm that guy... A Manly Man



Piggy backing off the quote from the t-shirt above, that's exactly how I was feeling on Friday, October 14, 2011 as I took matters into my own hands to get my car back on the road. After mentioning my car problems to a few 'manly men'. They thought as I thought... that it was my thermostat that needed to be replaced. Laughing my butt off at myself, Okay I didn't have a clue for why my car was overheating after about 5 minutes. The temperature gauge would hop, skip, No! Shoot straight up to HOT and if the needle of the temperature gauge was on a centerpiece it would have done a three-sixty spin from how fast it got hot. 

Well, I didn't immediately do a thing about it. I parked it and borrowed the second vehicle of a friend until I found a place that wouldn't charge me an arm and leg to check for the issue and fix it for cheap. About a week and half later, after an awesome night on the rink floor at my favorite rink 'THE SKATING PLACE' <~ if you're in Raleigh, you need to come out and support a place that do it's part to see that all who walk through the doors have a good timeOkay, back to my story! After the skate session, a couple of my friends (DJ Kdigga and Fluid aka Junior Bounce) <~ two of my skate family brothers noticed I hadn't driven my car in awhile so they asked what was the problem. I did my best to describe what was going wrong, I think I did a better job of describing the car issue than those numerous occasions I'd hit both of them up on facebook about a song I heard in the rink the night(s) before so I can look it up and download it to my music collection. In other words, I'm terrible about describing beats and/ or the few lyrics I could remember. 

Looking under the hood of a car, I'm CLUELESS beyond the basics.
Kdigga and Fluid were almost in unison in saying what might be the problem. I thought about it, and the following day I looked under the hood.. CLUELESS! I didn't see what I needed so I dropped the hood and kept driving the loaner. Yep, just that quick I gave up on it and didn't do what I was suppose to be doing, finding someone who would look at and fix the problem for a reasonable (cheap) price.



A few days passed and I ran into another good friend of mine, Chris 'the man knows his Jumps' Coleman, a college track and field coaching peer, and he too noticed I wasn't driving my car and asked the question... I go on to tell him my issue and he immediately hopped, stepped and Jumped straight to.. "it's your thermostat", and I replied, "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing" ~> "Dude! Be honest with yourself and tell Chris you're clueless!"... "Yo Chris, a couple of my skate buddies said the same thing, I don't have the first clue, where to find the thermostat in my car." Chris replies, "It should be easy to replace, go online and find out where it's located in your car, get a price, purchase it and I'll help you put it on." <~ Why didn't I think to do that??? Go online and look it up!

Well, I do just that, I look up my car model online, found where it goes, checked Advance Auto online site and found the piece I needed and sent the link to Chris so he could get a look at it. He replied to my note that it would be EASY! to put in. Now why did he go and say that in a tone, "Oh, that's easy!" <~ yes, I read a tone in his email reply that CHALLENGED the 'I'm a man, a manly man' in me to say to self, "self, we're going to the store tomorrow and buying the piece needed and we're getting it done!"

I'm equipped with more than enough tools to get the "I'm a man' job done.
It's Friday, I make my way over to Advance Auto and I walked up to the counter and gave the knowledge-filled manly man behind the counter my car make/ model/ year and what I needed. He looked it up, saw what I needed. He goes to get the piece and comes back, pulls it out the box to confirm all is there and HE TOO! Made the comment, "Oh man, they made this easy for you.. all you got to do is disconnect the hoses, unscrew the housing for your old thermostat and simply slide the hoses onto the new one and BAM! you're in business." The whole time he's talking, I'm standing in my manly man stance and nodding my head like I KNOW THIS, ring me up so I can go knock it out before the sun sets. Yeah right! I'm thinking to myself I might need to wait on Chris, who am I fooling?! 

After purchasing the thermostat, I make it home and I go find my 'manly man' t-shirt to get some manly man's work done. That's right, I'm feeling the manly man in me, so we're going to do this! Why? Just as Chris said, the manly man behind the Advance Auto counter said.. it was a piece of cake too! The toughest part of my job came when I had to use a wire clothes hanger to fish out the battery terminal screw that fell off the connector in a area near the radiator out of arm/ hand reach. Shaking my head! That smile you see in the picture of 'a job well done came before I finished putting the battery back in it's place. I had to go fishing for a battery screw and it was a challenge! I successfully maneuvered the hanger to hook and pop the screw out and was finally able to reconnect the battery. That's right, I got too happy too early, I forgot I had to remove battery from it's housing to get to the screws in the thermostat housing. 
The new housing/thermostat is in place
The old housing/thermostat.
Look at that manly man hand
Finally! I can test drive my car with it's new thermostat THAT I, TERRY REESE JR., a manly man installed all by himself! Beats chest and yells "YES!" I turn the car on and let it run for a few minutes.. Sounding good, looking good as I look over at the temperature gauge. I take off for a drive and after about 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 minutes.. BLAST OFF!!! (Temperature gauge is trying to do another three-sixty). The car is running hot... Darn it! I was so ready to write my 'I'm a man, a manly man doing manly things' blog post. But I had to pump the brakes because in my narrow minded, tunnel vision focus on replacing the one piece... I TOTALLY FORGOT to refill the water tank with coolant and water. STOP LAUGHING SO HARD!!! I immediately parked it and didn't drive it again until Monday to do just that... get more coolant and try to see if that be the problem, but first! I got to get my run on, so I stopped by the track to do a workout.
Christopher Coleman

After I completed my workout, once again, it was WHO!?! Christopher Coleman to the rescue, he saw me at the track with the hood up on my car. I was about to put water/ coolant in the tank but I had more water than coolant which is why I needed to go buy more. At this time, I'm still not 100% in my thinking until he came over and asked when I was planning on putting in the new thermostat. I told him I did and it didn't do the job. Chris proceeded to look up under the hood as he verbally did a check list of possible issues, then stopped and asked, "did you refill your tank with coolant and water?" I reluctantly replied, "Nope!".. "That's what it is dude!" Chris replied. And yes, I heard him chuckling under his breath when I told him I didn't put coolant in the tank. HEY! I was too consumed with my one accomplishment people!

I can't make this stuff up if I wanted to. I'm dying laughing at myself. I want to Shout out a true manly man, Christopher Coleman for once again helping your brother from another mother out. And when you showed up, I didn't want you to know that I had already replaced the thermostat and it wasn't working. Why? Because I didn't refill the coolant/ water tank. I felt that was the issue but I wasn't sure but you came along and confirmed it. And yes, I had to let you know I screwed up... ~holds head down~ no water/ coolant in the tank might be a problem.... that was a bit embarrassing to have to tell you I forgot something that simple. Still laughing at myself.

Well, my car is back on the road and I drove all over Raleigh(wood) and Cary with no issues. The chest is out! 

Feeling rather 'manly' the job is done!
"I'm a man, a manly man doing manly things."
-----------------------------
S/O (shout out) to my skate fam brothers, 'Fluid' aka Junior Bounce 
and DJ K digga for being right about my car issue too! 
DJ Kdigga
Fluid 





Monday, October 17, 2011

I simply love the sound of 'Us'...


------------------------------------
Reflections of my heart,
I know this feeling... thought the song would
work nicely with the share of my thought to follow
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'Us'

Sweet lady,
I simply love the sound of 'Us'...

To read it written from your pen to pad,
'Love Letter' by Arnold Hinton
 Is to etch it, into my heart…


To hear you say it...
Whew! Molds it into my very being…

To think it,
Is to feel the very essence of,
‘We as one' take root in my soul.

'We As One' by Gilbert Young
I simply love the sound of 'Us'...
'Us' defined as...
'We as one' can and will overcome

All our 'trials and tribulations
By working together as we move forward
Bound by a love that is unconditional.

I simply love the sound of 'Us'... 
Because when I now take
 A dreamer's stroll to that wondrous place,
 It allows me to see 
A future that has 'Us' living the dream
We've both wrote about with hopes
'Love Letter II' by Arnold Hinton
Of it becoming our 'Realities'.

Sweet l
ady, 
I simply love the sound of... 'Us'

'Good Night' by Andrew Nichols

Terry Reese Jr.
(c) 2007

Saturday, October 8, 2011

'Moments Made Precious'


“You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have really lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.” ~Henry Drummond~



'Always and Forever' by Henry Lee Battle

Moments, I personally cherish those moments that continue to captivate the romantic or the fool for love in me. Tonight, Friday October 7, 2011 at 10:37 pm I'm etching a moment in time that I, along with talking my best friend into being in two places hundreds of miles apart within a 36 hour window some 4 years ago to this day. 
My best friend Anthony Robinson and I
I laugh and think of numerous times my best friend and I can laugh at the things we've both done for 'LOVE' and this occasion is definitely high on the list of 'What were you thinking when it made perfect sense you can make this a reality? That is, drive through the night from Raleigh, NC to Indianapolis, IN to get there by 7 am Saturday to set up his tent (vendor's space) in downtown Indianapolis for the 2007 Circle City Classic, an annual event that is one of America's top football classics and favorite weekend celebrations.
Circle City Classic Parade

The vendor sight was located in an open plaza area outside of the Lucas Oil Stadium, the home of the Indianapolis Colts and opens for business around 10/11 am and runs through midnight. Once we breakdown, we planned on loading up and hitting the road immediately to our second destination, Richmond, VA. Why? So that I could meet up with the lovely lady that had set my heart afire for the final day/hours of the 2nd Street Festival, another one of those annual events that we've actually worked together, but this time I'm going as a romantic outing. The picture above of my best friend and I is from that event the year prior to this trip. 

If you haven't already started thinking through what I've shared, the insanity that made perfect sense to me yeah blinded by LOVE, with 2 drivers it'll be manageable by simply taking turns driving. Never mind the facts - We drove 11 hours through the night, set up for vending all of Saturday, breakdown and hit the road some time after 1am to drive for another 10 plus hours, the only rest we had in the passed 24 plus hours was in a passenger seat of an uncomfortable cargo van. In spite of all that, we made it a mission possible... We decided on me starting the journey, to knockout a hour and he'll take over for a bit. Well, I put in a little over a hour and it felt brutal towards the end goal point I had in mind, to make it to Cincy before I traded places to rest. I couldn't hand the wheel over to him fast enough when I pulled over into a gas station. I'm feeling pretty comfortable that he's experienced at being on the road with his business, with a lot of his road trips done by himself, I quickly faded as he drove me closer to my destiny.. so to speak.. love is in the air and all I can think about is that when I'm awaken to drive we will be much closer to where my heart is... in Richmond, VA!

When my best friend took over, we were in Cincinnati  so I felt pretty good about the time it took me to get there from Indianapolis. I drifted off to sleep to only be abruptly awaken by him exiting the highway. So I'm thinking, "it's my turn to drive already?" So my initial question was, "Is everything alright, you need me to drive now?" He replied, "Yeah man, I need another hour, I'm beat." I replied, "Okay cool, so where are we?" And when that dude! My best friend replied, "Cincinnati." I bout lost my mind, "WHAT?!! CINCINNATI??? Dude I gave you the wheel in Cincinnati... look at the time,  you mean to tell me we've been driving in a circle for over a hour and half!?!" He was babbling, making no sense to how we ended up back in Cincinnati. 

I can laugh now but at that MOMENT my best friend was not my friend! We lost over a hour and half and we still have 9 hours of driving to do! Well, the one good thing about that incident, it had me fired up and I drove the remainder of the night until the break of dawn.  I counted down the miles to when I'll get to that Lovely Lady who had my heart singing, and now that I'm reflecting, this a precious moment in time that has me singing to the tune of Cee lo Green ft. Melanie Fiona - 'Fool for you'. Love this song.

Well, we made it safely to my destination, the Downtown Marriott, which would be my overnight stay and within walking distance of the festival. My lovely lady greeted me downstairs, we hugged and kiss and carried on the it's good to see you, I missed you conversation in the hotel room in a cuddle position. Bad move! As I snuggled up behind her all I can remember, being awaken by my slobbering on her shoulder. Laughing too hard, but HEY! What you expect was going to happen after that kind of travel? Too funny! Well, we did make it out to the festival, enjoyed a wonderful dinner and evening.

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Moments made precious is how I like to reflect on moments that stay with me long after it has passed. And on that note, I like share another piece of my mind, titled 'Moments Made Precious'.

Midnight Snack by Henry Lee Battle

‘Moments made precious'

As I rewind
in my mind to a time
when I could lay claims to you
being mine
I smile and think of how...
Precious were the moments spent…

The 'hand in hand' strolls…
The loving gaze into your eyes…
The outburst of laughter...
The uncontrollable perkin'
of my cheeks to smile…
The soft passionate kisses...

Now that I got your attention...
Let us both rewind
in our minds to a time
we both have laid claims to knowing
thine hearts.
I smile and think of how...
Precious were the moments given

The selfless acts of givin'
with no strings attached…
The heart warming embraces
in times of need…
The comfort of knowing
our love is 'unconditional'…
The willingness to undress
our thoughts,
our fears
knowing it's okay
to shed a tear...

Now that we're both smiling and thinkin'...
Let us both not just rewind
in our minds to a time
we both have lay claims
to what a treasure find
our love has been.
But make it a conscious decision to
allow our hearts
to embrace the moments
of our past...
And lace those moments with renewed...

'Moments made precious'.

Terry Reese
(c) January 2009

Monday, October 3, 2011

The First Time...

"After Glow" by Alonzo Adams
'The First Time...'

The first time I laid eyes on you...
I couldn't take them off you,
because you are so damn Gorgeous!

The first time I spoke to you...
I couldn't stop ramblin'
because I felt drawn to your 
Choo choo train of thought.

The first time I heard your voice... 
I couldn't contain the excitement
you brought to my mind, body and soul.

The first time I met you... I knew right off
I wouldn't be able to walk away from you
because it felt like 'love at first sight'.

The first time I kissed and held you in my arms...
I knew there was no turning back,
because the desires I felt, I needed them fulfilled by you.

The first time we made love...
I couldn't stop myself from whispering in your ear...
'I Love You...'

The first time I can really say
I fell totally 'In love' was…
The day our paths crossed and I fell for you!

Terry Reese Jr.
(c) 2007

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I'm feeling this song (see video below), so it's my musical share along with this piece of writing I've shared from the vault of my wondrous thoughts.