Night comes and my light's still killed
Phone rings and I don't care I
Find it difficult not watching the clock
Gawking at red dots blinking between red digits

2 feet on my carpet yet
Feeling like i got 6 legs its
Not a riddle i'm not trying to kid you
It's just me in my chair where my hunger left us

24 going 35
now where was it I
Left my passion behind?
Throw me back to my throwback
More luck Less wise
All the better for me.
If I fall let me brush it off
Let the burden all
Fall back down on me
Let me be the cause of my own fault and glory

Cause I don't know...

Makes me believe that my heart belongs to Jersey, but my soul probably rents.

Here's to hoping Music is my Metrocard.

Justin Bua...

Act 24, Scene 7-- At a Cracker Barrel in South Jersey.

Amidst the kitch of forgotten, assumably better (dare I say, Pepperidge Farmian) times, I sat in the solid presumably oak of a Cracker Barrel chair, grasping a menu freshly crayoned with adult hand but child-like joy and wit.

The fare at such a restaurant is the type to be analyzed by anthropologists and ethnographers alike--seemingly American, but what exactly made it American? And furthermore, why does it make me feel more American to eat such food? I neither had a Granny Smith, nor an Aunt Jemima to serve me such things in my little niche of Jersey suburbia, and yet something about it screams that Uncle Sam is approving of this meal with a smile as bright as the streets of gold promised the tired and weak that touch these shores. I am brothers with the crowd next to me, if only for the fact that we were all going to order Fried Okra and Dumplins as our sides to go alongside our meal.

But this post, dear reader, is not about the food's significance in the creation of a national identity. It's simply about the food and it's significance to both me and kuya.

Lord knows why I took the time to really read the menu, because if you're going to one of these Old American Country places, there are only two questions that need to be answered:

1. Do they have any form of meat "Country Fried" or "Chicken Fried"?

2. If they do, why haven't you ordered it yet?

(On a tangent: This is a mantra that I have lived by all my life, and it's gotten me through many tough times. I often use it for situations that it doesn't apply to. For example, I was once told that I needed to pay a car payment today. When i posed the above question to the creditor, they smiled and told me i still needed to pay. I didn't say it did anything... I just said i live by it).

But yes, imagine my surprise when the menu had 2 __________ Fried things on the menu-- Chicken Fried Chicken, described as, "A generous portion of our chicken breast fillet fried to a golden brown then topped with our Sawmill Gravy" and Country Fried Steak, which had the same description with the word steak instead of chicken breast. The choice was too difficult for me. I called Kuya. Here's how that went:

"Hey Kuy what are you doing"
"Just studying for the BAR. What's up?"
"I'm at a Cracker Barrel"
"What? Where are you? South Jersey"
"That's neither here nor there... i need your help"
"Sure"
"Do I get the Country Fried Steak or Chicken Fried Chicken"
"(laughs) What are the descriptions?"
"The Chicken Fried Chicken is 'A generous portion of our chicken breast fillet fried to a golden brown then topped with our Sawmill Gravy...'"

Here's where he drops the bomb on me:

"So... that Chicken Fried Chicken... it's Fried Chicken..."
"Yea but..."
"Get the steak man..."
"Alright"

My Brother is a genius. The steak was delicious.

Given the level of sentimentality this entry might reach, I thought it might be a good idea to, at the very least, keep the title of the entry light hearted.

I could go on and on about how I've met so many great people that represent this year like a Brooklyn suburb...and like said Brooklynites, these people represent some of the most creative, most put together people I've met in my life. People that make me feel like i'm in the class of '10 with their insight. Folk that in reality have the mental capacity that comes from years of experience and acquisition.

With their amount of wisdom, these folk might as well have been from the class of 1907...but you know... with segregation and gender laws, many of them would not have been in college.

And honestly, I really could go on and on about the greatness of these people... but in reality, read the paragraphs above... I just did.

Now I might be only 3 years ahead of the game, and some people I dedicate this to have are probably older than me or graduated college the same year as I... but guess what... you guys are finally going to have a taste of the Real REAL world (Bitches).

I just wanted to say that I'm very very proud of all of you. From the people I tagged to the people I forgot to, and down to my brother (congrats Kuy) and Cindy (YEAH CHEFDOM)...I;ve seen you all growm and I'm very proud of you.

Please believe that I hope nothing but the best for all of you. And that I have a faith in all your abilities. And I'll hold on to that belief with a tenacity only equalled by a Born-Again being tested for the first time.

Please believe that there will always be a pang in my heart when I visit places you used to haunt with me, knowing that your expiring college ids and accruing college loans have forcefully exorcised you from your original contexts in my heart.

But please also believe that your lives are dynamic, and I read you all like series of books with cliffhangers etched confidently in the last pages of each volume, knowing Damn well I'll be around to read what happens next. Hold that simile dear, for you must believe in my mind, no Lord of Rings, no Nerdy Wizards, not even a pair of strapping lads by the name of Hardy, could hold my attention in the way you guys will when you come hollering at me with new stories of what newfangled technology you guys will invent.

I bellieve amongst the saddest things, is that I won't be able to play for you as often, because in all honesty, Music is the only thing I have to give to you that I think is actually worth your time. And you guys have often been the ones that have been so kind to bring me to your schools.

But hopefully you'll grow up with me too, and I'll see you at shows right? Smile

More importantly though, I just wanted to congratulate you all for working your assess off and your fingers down to the bone for all that hard work. I can't stress how proud I am of you all.

To conclude this boring but heartfelt entry, I'd like to draw your attention back to the title, becuse nothing rings so true.

The worlds got a gigantic pair of brass balls. And it has a confidence that can break even the strongest of people. Just remember though you all have had some pretty big shoes to fill... and you done filled them good...and big shoes pack a mighty wallop.

... And when the World comes crashing to it's knees grabbing its coin purse like a busted pinata, I hope you remember that you were destined to do that..

And also because if there's anything your life experiences AND America's Funniest Home Videos has taught us, it's that anyone who struggles in life deserves to take their shot... and that crotch shots are really fucking funny.

Congrats Lawyers, Nurses, Masters, and Bachelors of 2007.

PS To High School kids-- Welcome to the next fun four years!

I'm really proud of you all!!!

This might be a good time to shout out my all my FAMS-- cause i got bored tagging.

BIG UP WHOLLADEM MASSIVE FI GRADUATE! RRRRAA! GWAN!
Cornell, Brooklyn Law, L'Ecole, Fordham Law, NYU, NJIT, Columbia, MIT, JHU, Bing, Buffalo, UMCP, Albany, Pitzer, Scripps, Drexel, CMSV, SHU, SJU, and everyone i might have missed!

She laughs her silly drunken laugh...
Ignores my tip and tips her glass
To sip the last droplet of
What she needs...
To leave here tipsy...
And she pokes my cheek...
...to signal me