[ ]This cracked me up. I'm not a big emoji guy and for years I refused to use even one. There's a reason I won't go into here but also they seemed a little too "cute" for my taste. It's not just because I'm a cynical old fuck, and don't get me wrong...I like beauty, Nature, smiley faces, Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain just as much as the next guy, but sometimes, except in the case of a girl or a dog or a kitty cat or whatever, excess "cute" doesn't do it for me. Hey, we all have our issues.
[ ]My friend Beck used to give me a lot of grief for not joining the emoji crowd. She couldn't understand what I had against them. She's the emoji queen. She'd send me emails and texts with emojis out the Wazoo, just to prove a point. Gradually though my anti-emoji stance softened. I saw where it might be nice to drop a heart into a text to a loved-one or use a simple thumbs-up as a reply, which does work great. Finally I gave in, although I stuck with the old-school sideways smiley face that you make with a colon and half a paragraph symbol. I wouldn't use any storebought emojis for another year or so. When I finally did I figured it only right that it should be in a message to Beck, so I added a colon smiley to the end of a text. She got a huge kick out of it and texted me back. "Congratulations! I see you've finally joined the dark side." Beck has a wicked sense of humor, and that's one of the many reasons I love her (❤).
[ ]Almost three years ago I met a young black kid named Kent. I mention he's black for purposes of this post, and also to maybe help negate some of the black-vs-white bullshit going on right now. It was a trip...one day I was sitting outside and I heard someone nearby playing a horn. I didn't know what it was...it wasn't brash enough to be a trombone or mellow enough to be a French Horn, but it was one of the sweetest horn tones I've ever heard in my life, and I've heard my share, live and on record. I was floored, and for a second I apparently thought I was in a loud Jazz bar with a couple of scotches under my belt, and completely without thinking I blurted out "HORN PLAYER!" It stopped, and a few seconds later this sheepish-looking kid stepped out onto the next deck over.
[ ]He probably thought I was yelling at him for bothering me but I looked at him for a second and said "That was you?" "Yes" he replied. "Dude, that's one of the sweetest tones I've ever heard." "Thanks man. I really appreciate that" he replied. "What kind of horn is that?" I asked. "It's a Baritone" he replied. "Oh, yeah" I said. I hadn't heard a Baritone Horn since high school, which is why I didn't recognize it. We immediately bonded over music. He'd come over and we'd talk about music, life, marching band, the hot sisters downstairs from him and such. When he opened up about himself and his life it was amazing how much his life parallelled mine up until the age he is now, which is 23. Everything from our first loves to working our way up to section-leader in band, our love of R&B, our taste in women to our general outlook on life, not to mention the way we tried to treat people and want to be treated. It's uncanny and it freaked us both out.
[ ]Sadly his roommate joined the Navy and moved out. Kent stayed for a while but couldn't find another roomie and had to leave. He was the one bright spot about living here, but at least we still keep in touch and he's over this way a lot and he still stops by. My mom loves him, and always says she wishes she could hear him play. He's always genuinely kind and respectful to her, and that means a lot to me coming from a young person these days. He hasn't had many white friends, although it wasn't by choice. He'd just never gone to school or hung out with many. I was the same way until high school. I lived in Crackerville and didn't hang out with many black people until I got into playing music more, and getting to know and play with black musicians. Neither of us is racist in the least, but we've talked a lot about it. He actually agrees with me (really) that it's not normal or what most of us want, but it's been stirred-up ON PURPOSE by those in power. It's great that a 23 year-old black dude and a crusty old white dude three times his age can hang, without a trace of an age or color thing. We're all God's chil'en.
[ ]I got an iPhone and I'm still learning to drive it after driving Androids for so long, and there's way more features and Easter Eggs and shit than I'm used to. The other day I texted Happy Birthday to someone and it jizzed out all these huge, lifelike balloons that came out of nowhere and quickly filled the screen. I had no idea it did that and it startled me. I thought my phone had been hit by a solar flare or something, and was frying like a mood ring in a microwave. Kent's going to Las Vegas for a week with some buddies, just to go. He's leaving Friday morning so I called him today to tell him to have fun and send me a postcard and put $5 on 11 for me. He was right up the road doing his laundry at his grandmother's house, so he stopped by to say hi to mom and my dog. He was so excited he was lit-up and he could hardly keep the grin off his face. He said the only thing was that he'd never flown before and he was a little nervous.
[ ]He'd told me that his grandmother had a script for Xanax but never took more than half of them and threw the rest away. I told him I bet she'd give him one for the road and he said she probably would. I told him I loved to fly and I'd flown in every kind of plane except a fighter jet, and that it'd definitely give his stomach a ride, but if he liked roller coasters he'd love it. I told him if he couldn't get a "Lil' Xan" from his grandmother, to just relax, order a drink and a bag of peanuts and he'd be fine. He laughed and maybe relaxed a bit about it. I texted him later to say that God had his back, and to text me some photos when he's in the middle of cutting-up with his buds. He thanked me and said he'd text me some pics and he'd see me when he got back.
[ ]I'd already said everything so I figured I'd shoot him a thumbs-up. As soon as I hit the smiley button the emoji screen popped up. The thumbs-up icon came up first, and to the side was a line of more thumbs-up emojis that went from light through different shades to brown. It said I could custom-tailor it to match the situation. I laughed and cranked it as dark as it would go and hit send. He'll crack up. I wonder if anyone's ever sent him an African-American thumbs-up before. That's funny. And equal. I give it a Caucasion thumbs-up. 👍
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