LEO THE LION aka ME

In preparation for my approaching birthday which is August 7,I have co-written a very detailed description of myself and my kind-The Leo. It describes me and my lifestyle to a T (where that means, you know old people say it, so it sounds right).. But yea, it pretty much speaks for itself. So enjoy..Leave a comment and tell me what you think..

The zodiac sign of Leo has the symbol of 'The Lion' and just like a lion; a Leo believes that he rules everyone else. Don't tell him he doesn't, it will break his big, loving, proud heart. Leos can easily go from being vigorously outgoing to plain lazy. If you want to find a Leo, go to the most dazzling places in the town. You will find him there, surrounded by people and playing his role in the limelight beautifully. He likes to live in style and hates boredom. There are hardly any introvert Leos, only those who pretend to be introverts.

They are in love with their pride and ego and fiercely protect what they believe to be theirs. The lion loves to give advice on how you should manage your life and feels himself to be superior to others. However, his ego is very vulnerable and he will get deeply hurt if you don't respect his wisdom. It is difficult to ignore the lion for too long, he will be the center of attraction sooner or later. The best way to tame him is to flatter him; he will turn into a purring kitten. Praising the intellect will work as much as admiring the appearance will.

He is pretty clever and will never ever bother to waste his energy on something insignificant. Leo holds back nothing, not even his approval and compliments. Infact, he is so generous with compliments that he can make you embarrassed and self-conscious. At the same time, he is equally vocal about the things he does not like. However, one thing you can be sure of - he means what he says. You may or may not like it, but it is his true opinion. Leo plays the perfect host, treating you to the best of everything, right from ambience to the dessert.

He has a forgiving nature and is full of sympathy. Even in his love life, he easily reconciles after a split up. Leos are passionate in every aspect of their life, be it love or career or any other thing. They are rarely without a partner and life without love is a big no-no for them. They practically thrive on romance. A Leo is never the one to be dependent on someone. Rather, he loves to lead and be leaned upon. He may complain every now and then about the responsibilities, but in his heart he loves to have them. He dislikes taking help, especially of a financial nature.

On the other hand, he will gives loan to almost everyone. A Leo may run out of cash easily, since he is anything but cautious with it. However, he will always be the best-dressed person at the party. His behavior always borders on the extreme. A Leo will either be extremely careless and sloppy or meticulously neat and orderly. He is also extremely fixed with his ideas and it is very hard to convince him against his opinions. He likes to do one thing at a time. When he is working, you can be sure, he will forget to have his lunch too.

When he's partying, he will put the dance floor on fire. Leos turn out to be the bravest ones in a group, especially in the face of an emergency. They are very loyal, extremely possessive and highly jealous. The lion fiercely defends what he believes to be his. He is a powerful enemy, but one with morals. Creativity and originality are his fortes. Even though he has an ego, is arrogant and overflows with pride, he is extremely good at heart. Being with a Leo will mean that you always have someone to care for, though you may have to flatter him every now and then.

Oh YEAH!

LOS ANGLES LAKERS are the WORLD CHAMPIONS!

I'm crazzy pumped for my favorite player BLACK MAMBA aka KB24 aka Bean! Another CHAMPIONSHIP! That makes FOUR..for NOW. How crazy is that though? Must be NICE! It was definitely a collective effort though and I must say we are more than worthy this year. The crown fits US well. And YES I said US.. I am a Laker! Have always been a Laker and will continue to be a Laker. Even if we never win another 'SHIP again! (which is NOT likely)...

But anyways shout out to my bros TA and LO (Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom for the non basketball fans).. Rock yall rings proudly, cause without the 2 of you Kobe might still be at 3. No disrespect Bean, but the League is looking tougher and tougher. But yo TA, you should have Kob' give you the Ferrari or something! Lol..

Shout out to the whole roster! God bless, congrats and lets do it it again next year! Everybody be safe at the parade tomorrow. I won't be able to attend, I'll be too busy trying to get paid like above mentioned. Definitely there in spirit though. Peeeeaaaaccceee!

Where To Now

I woke up in a cold sweat, that was the 1st sign. Thoughts of the time we share always found a way to disturb my sleep. Things were good, I'll even go as far to say it was great. We were the perfect blend, similar personalities, kind hearts and true love birds. We were more than friends, more than lovers, more than our pasts. Together, we were better than the others. I liked to believe we were soul mates, as corny as it sounds. I could tell her anything, and Lord knows my ear would bleed at times from the reoccurrence of her words, but I always listened, even if I had already heard the story 5 or 6 times, which was often. I believed she was unlike all the rest, she was an old soul, mixed with morals and loyalty, mixed in with a small pinch of gangsta... And I loved her. Everything about her. But still through all of this, neither one of us could predict what was next to take place. And for that reason alone, the story ends here because what's next to happen hasn't happened yet.


.........on my Blackberry.

WAR

"There's a war going on inside no man is safe from, it don't matter if you 3 feet or eight one.."

I never understand how treacherous it would be to be in a battle without a shield, that is, until that point in time where I actually was found without mine. The battle, the war I speak of is within all of us, and you'd be surprised at how many are fighting without their shield. The fight has to be fought and no man can avoid or dodge it. Often times we're thrown onto the battlefield and we don't even know it, fighting and swinging blindly, getting nowhere, sometimes even for years. And its a wonder why we haven't been destroyed yet. Well, I take that back, its mercy, God's grace and mercy that saves us.

While I'm writing this blog, I am in the middle of a spiritual cleanse aka fasting. Basically, trying to get my armor up. The devil is known for throwing those continual shots at us, all of US, and I want to have the power to fight them with no question. We always here the statement, "life is short", and its true. Life is way too short to be walking around aimlessly, without purpose and unable to fight off attacks from the enemy. You automatically entered the war when you were born, and you have a choice to fight or lay down. I don't know about everybody else, but I choose to fight, and not only fight, but I choose to win. The Lord says in his word that Victory is His, so I trust that being on his team makes me a winner.

Update, Random, Shout Outs, Whatever.

PTL Everybody ("Praise The Lord" for those of you that's just catching Up)..

I got some stuff to talk about.. First things first, it's summer time. Notice there is no exclamation point. AND, usually when someone speaks of summer you hear some kind of excitement in their voice, but not this time around. This summer is about business and forward progression ALL THE WAY THROUGH. God is blessing and opening doors in my life as well as the people around me, and I'm looking forward to doing some great things in the near future.

So, second, a little update on my trip to the Maryland, DC area enjoying a mini vacation/Wedding and Graduation for my bro Nate and his wifey, Angelique! They both graduated from The US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. They graduated with honors on Friday, got married on Saturday and flew home, to LA on Sunday. So you can just imagine what kind of weekend we had. The graduation was super official, Obama spoke to the people, as me and my boys (JO, AD, DJ, Gav and BWills) enjoyed some chicken tenders in the bleachers trying to stay awake, due to the effects from the night before. The wedding was even more official, I've never been lost for words but the whole ceremony had me speechless. And yea I'll admit it, a small tear dropped from my eye during the commencement, oh well. I was just happy to see my boy marry his love and to be able to be apart of it was just crazy! As for the bachelor party and all the other night time events you get NO details of what happen... Just apply the cliche they use for Vegas, "What happens in DC.....STAYS in DC...!" But yeaa man, Congrats to my FAM for jumping the broom. I truly love you guys and I'm beyond happy for you. May God continue to bless your relationship, and much happiness and success to the both of you. Long live the Clarks! Lol.

Next.. My bro Tristan aka TMula aka Foreign Curren$y aka T$ is back home from Canada for the summer. And boy, have we been getting IT IN. Its sort of a trio though.. A combination of Me, Mula and MJ. And quiet as kept, we're looking for an appearance from Rome soon too. But more importantly look for big things to come from US.. As a trio and as individuals. That's all I'm going to say about that for now, but my advice would be to keep your eyes open, WIDE open.

Another thing... Me and the fam are finally settled in the not so new house and it's like we've lived here for years, I'm more comfortable than I've been a long time and my family feels the same way. We've just been continuing to prosper and be happy. I want to give GOD all the honor and glory on this because it is truly only because of Him, He is the only reason things are the way they are. Every since we've all strengthened are relationship with Christ and picked up leadership roles in our church. I can definitely say the good Lord is a rewarder and is worthy of continual praise.

Lastly.. Shout Outs! Shout out to everybody whose name appeared in the blog already. So that's double shouts, lol. Shout out to Bishop, my First Lady and my church FAMILY, especially Elder Osegura and Min. Mia, extremely annointed women of God, thank you for aiding me in the maturing of my faith. Shout out to my best friend, my little homie, my right hand just because I feel like it. Shout out Ms. Roschoune just because too, not a lot of people grind like you, so I gotta show love for that. Last on the shout out list, my lil bro Vaughn aka VA. Congratulations on closing up your junior year of high school, continue to achieve beyond the stars and keep God as your light. I love you and nothing or no one can every come between us.

That's all for now.. There should be some cool stuff posted on here within the next week, so continue to check, leave a comment if you like..

I'm ouuuut!
Peace, favor and blessings to everybody..
-ALA

Walk Alone

When I stopped listening to other people's opinions and realized I didn't need counterpart for all my endeavors, I got better. Better things started happening for me. And although I was by myself in the world, I wasn't alone.

Sometimes you have to make decisions, and some decisions you make effect the rest of your life. Age becomes irrelevant and productivity and responsibility take over. Tonight I could've been out partying for my brotha's birthday (shout out to him; j5), but I couldn't. I had to make a decision for myself and my future, I had things that needed to get done, thoughts that needed to processed and action that needed to take place. All these things of importance HAD to be done, and they could not wait, not one minute. For if I lost this time, I probably wouldn't have came to certain conclusions, nor would I ha.e the same revelations about my thoughts. So the importance of handling things NOW and not LATER definitely intensifies.

Walk alone for a while and you'll find yourself. And finding yourself is of the utter most importance, its almost at an emergency level. So many of us don't know our true self, going through life imitating others and setting our sights on with others have. Don't be so simple, there's more to life. More than clubs, alcohol, drugs, money, cars and material things. Let's look deeper and take action. The time is now.

Collision

At some point you have to collide with destiny. For those that don't know, destiny is what we choose, all the decisions we make in life, added up. The collision that takes place is inevitable, there is no way around it. Every man comes face to face with his destiny, whether it leads to success or not. Although success is every one's ultimate goal, many never reach it, this doesn't mean you've failed at reaching your destiny, you got there, but it just wasn't a successful end. There are many factors along the way that help us decide when, how and where we'll land in our destiny. Some factors being positive and others bearing a more negative circumstance. One must keep their eyes open and be aware of the traps that have been set. Listening to cliche's is essential, its simple at times, learn from other peoples mistakes. Don't fail to realize we weren't the first ones here, understand that there were people before us who made countless mistakes, colliding with destiny negatively. So just know there is nothing new under the sun. Live right, collide into greatness.

50!

Yo yo yo! PTL everybody... Welcome to the 50th post! I know it's been awhile since I gathered thoughts and let the public take a listen. Sorry to those I've kept waiting. But I've been living! Not only that, my thoughts have just been everywhere lately. With so much going on, I found it hard to just settle down and reflect. God has been blessing in such an abundance, and I just haven't had the time to catch up. Things have been great for the most part though. I got to do some traveling, see some different things and be apart of my bros wedding in DC (I'll post a few pics soon). However, life never ceases to amaze me, I always find myself in aww at the things God puts in front of me. Opening doors you would think could never be opened, implementing confidence and boldness in my heart for EVERY situation, even the tough ones. It just feels good to be on this side of the fence, receiving favor from above and helping others to know the truth also. That's the jest of what's been going on lately. So with the month of June beginning, I'm ready to post new, more informative and creative blogs. So thanks again to everybody who supports the blog. And again, apologies for my absence, but believe me it was definitely worth it. I got some gooooood stuff for yall, soo God bless and keep reading!

-ALA

Wise Thoughts From A Decent Man.

Nothing in the world is permanent, and we're foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we're still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it.

If change is of the essences of existence one would have thought it only sensible to make it the premise of our lives.

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.

If someone decides to lend a helping hand, don't look to see if its green. Just accept it.

God will bless you in this life when you live for the next life.

-ALA

I Lost, But WE Win.

One time I lost. Probably one of the biggest losses in my life to date. I can remember the ill feeling that formed itself inside of me. It was painful and excruciating, the kind I wouldn't wish on my worse enemy. At first it didn't make sense nor did I know what was happening, but after awhile of reflection and prayer things became clear to me. I was being broken down so I could be made tougher. And I needed to be tougher so I could endure more. This toughness that was formed wasn't your average male ego toughness though, definitely not the kind of foolish toughness that believes he'll never lose again, but instead, it was the toughness of bouncing back and bettering myself at the end of each loss, which also now I see, makes my losses few and further in between. Still, this loss hurt like no other, but through the pain I always felt like there was a reason or major explanation for it. And that's why we go back to that word toughness. Surely this toughness that was created through the loss and turmoil was needed, it was a much needed change, it was a much need experience with pain.

Through the pain I allowed God to finesse, groom and teach me. Because of obedience, I was rewarded...

Through this new found self-sufficency, devotion and boldness I acquired gifts. Gifts from God. Many were as simple as understanding situations in my past and seeing how God brought me through, other gifts were larger in part, for example; the gift of helping people come to Christ and just multiplying and spreading the word all for the glory of His kingdom. The gift of wisdom is a magnificent thing, especially at a young age. Wisdom meaning, you understand you don't know everything about this life, or about other peoples lives and their situations, and you even acknowledge the fact that you haven't discovered everything about yourself. You realize there's always room to grow, keeping yourself prepared and remembering devotion equals results.

Having discernment in this world is also a precious gift, just to be able to look through certain situations and avoiding potholes is a blessing, especially because in your past you were accustomed to fall in so many. So avoiding them alongside Christ makes things so much better. There are many gifts, many favors, many blessings God wants to bestow upon us, we just have to be faithful and have continual praise, despite all pain. That is the key way to enter into the door of God's heart, love and abundance in ALL things.

So even in defeat, we win. There's always a light at the end of the tunnel, even if your tunnel is longer than someone elses, you just have to keep moving to get to it, push forward, trample fear, demolish pain, pray often, don't stop!