Observations from Oakland...

Langston showing me his "Hulk" face...You don't want to make him angry...

Flew all day from Minneapolis and landed just in time to meet the wife and son at his parent/teacher conference. I'm VERY cognizant of how important it is for me to be at my son's events. There will be no therapy sessions for Langston because Dad never cared enough to be there. No siree. Not the kid. Also, no one will ever say that Langston's dad wasn't around. It's especially important for little black boys to understand that it is the norm and not the unusual for his father to be at every event and involved. And I'm happy to say that tons of fathers were at St. B's last night.

So I chilled at the crib for about twelve hours before having to head out to LAX for a trip to Oakland. Southwest, which never really lets me down, was an hour late. So that meant I was about thirty minutes late for my meeting with Donna, the head of the AA unit at Iconoculture. The crackberry was decharged, so a warning call was out, which just makes a bad sit even worse. But Donna was MAD cool. We had a great convo and I think this brother and that sister can make a great partnership because we know what the hell we're doing. And NEVER let black folks who are experts get the opportunity to shine. We'll break records kid.

So right now, I'm chilling in the Oakland Airport Holiday Inn Express, and you know, I really do feel a bit smarter. I'm a "Gold Priority Club" member, which just means I spend way too much time on the road, and so they gave me one of their newer rooms. At first, I thought, whoopee. But when I rolled into the room, it looked like a legit suite. Two flat screen televisions, one over the bed and another at the "living room". Just the perfect place for me to write. And write I will do tonight and tomorrow.

On the immediate agenda is to finish my NBC Showcase scenes. They're due on September 20th, and after having received notes from a few folks, I'm ready to make some changes. I'll do that tomorrow during the day. I have an interview for the book later Saturday night. Speaking of books...

Had a bit of conflict with Kensington that I initiated. Can't really go into it, but there needed to be some bell ringing at the publishing house and I'm not sure anyone was listening before I took a hammer and started banging that bell. Anyway, Manie did a good job repping me in this, which makes me respect him even more. He may not have agreed with my strategy (which he didn't) but he still did his job. But at the end, I feel a LOT better about the control I have as it pertains to writing books.

One last observation...Mike Epps just ain't funny. Seriously. He just ain't. And sometimes I think the divide in the black community can be determined by those who think he's hilarious and those who thinks he's a hack who relies on saying "nigga" to get a laugh. Maybe it's just me...

Takin' it back to the '80s...I'm Audi 5000!