Diagnosis E Squared

It's day 13 (yeah I'm over an hour late...*LOL*) of Ms. Holiday's thirty day challenge. It's amazing how time flies when you're having fun. Chicago weather proved to be sucky as usual. But I did get the opportunity to meet fellow bloggers Wade, Tim, and Marlon. It was an interesting afternoon where I learned some spades tips that I previously didn't learn. I may be ready for next time.

So Hemingway, how have I been doing with the goals I set. Let's review.

Goal #1: Finish two chapters of my elusive novel. This goal is a work in progress. However, I do have some of it done. I'll give my readers an exclusive taste of some of it. It is a rough draft so I know it's rough around the edges. All advice is definitely welcome.

Preface: My novel focuses on the lives of four late teens/early 20's black men living in the mid-90's and their life experiences thus far with each other and away from each other. A basic coming of age novel. The four main characters are Maurice, Sidney, Hakeem, and Thomas. The excerpt I'm giving below is Maurice's.

Chapter 1 - Untitled

Maurice Johnson was currently content. He was spending this Saturday at Fairlane Mall with his girlfriend Ginger. He started daydreaming as he held Ginger's hand. Could life get any better than this, he wondered.

Maurice had on baggy Pelle Pelle gray jeans, a white football jersey, and some gray Nikes. He kept his hair tapered short.

"So where to next?" Maurice asked. He felt Ginger pulling him in a different direction.

"Here," Ginger answered as they walked inside a designer shoe store place.

"Why am I not surprised?"

Maurice chuckled as Ginger shot him a dirty look. He started thinking back to when they first met three years ago. Maurice had transferred to a new high school his sophomore year. His parents felt that his old school was riddled with too much gang activity and would be a bad influence on him. He remembered being resentful since he lost contact with a lot of his friends.

Holy Redeemer High School proved to be a good choice in time. Maurice quickly joined the football and basketball teams. It didn't take him long to make friends, including making his acquientance with cheerleader Ginger.

The two of them hit it off instantly. They were chatting after one of the tournament basketball games. What attracted him to her was that she seemed to be watching his every move on the field.

"I loved the way you blocked #17's 3 point attempt," she said.

"Really? That was nothing." Maurice bragged back.

"Don't let it go to your head. You still have some things that need improving."

Maurice was dumbfounded. "Hey. Why don't we get back to what you like about me?"

"Sure, well I do..." Ginger started before turning around.

Maurice watched as a couple girls came up towards them.

"Hey Ginger, you need to go now if you want a ride with my folks," one of the girls said.

Ginger gave her girls a dirty look. "Give me a couple seconds okay." She quickly smiled at Maurice as she pulled out a piece of paper in her purse. "You got a pen?"

Maurice was still in his uniform and didn't have one. It didn't take him long to find someone that did. "Ok give me your number."

"How about you write your number on here and I'll call you," Ginger replied as she handed him her slip of paper.

Maurice smiled as he took her paper and wrote his information. He quickly handed it back to her. "Here you go."

"Thanks."

"So are you going to call me?"

"Yeah I'll call you tomorrow night," Ginger said. "Well I have to go. See you around."

"That I will," Maurice said as he watched her run off with her girls.

About a month after that meeting, the two became an item. They were instant high school sweethearts. It was a rare moment when they were apart from each other. There were some rough patches but they managed to stick it out.

It was two hours later when the couple finally left Fairlane and was walking towards the parking lot. They were still holding hands as they walked.

"Hey girl," Maurice heard a female voice shout behind them.

Maurice turned around and took note of the voluptuous young siren that was greeting Ginger. He instantly recognized the girl as Aurora, an on and off again girlfriend of Ginger's. Ginger returned Aurora's greeting.

Maurice remembered that Aurora was also a member of the cheerleading squad. Rumor had it she slept with half the football squad because in her words, 'you never knew who would be making it to the NFL'. Aurora and Ginger were friends by default due to the AKA affiliation of their mothers.

"So you're still with this fine piece of chocolate," Aurora said as she seductively sized Maurice up with her eyes. "Where have you been hiding him?"

Ginger sassed back. "Wouldn't you like to know? Look Aurora, we've had a long day and the two of us were just about to head out to dinner."

"It was, umm, nice seeing you again," Maurice added. He grabbed Ginger's hand and started walking away.

"Hey. We all have to get together and hang out sometime," Aurora shouted out.

Maurice noted Ginger's sour look as they continued down the lot. He knew whenever Ginger got into her moods that it was best to let the mood take its course and not intervene.

"You know she borrowed my favorite red pumps and never gave them back to me," Ginger said as they finally reached Maurice's Pontiac Grand AM.

"Oh yeah. You were, umm, missing those."

Ginger laughed suddenly. "I had to get away from her because I was afraid she'd want to borrow something else from me."

Or someone else, Maurice thought to himself. He remembered...

That's all I got so far.

Goal #2: Try and jog at a minimum of 15 minutes every morning God graces me to wake. Let's just say this has been a bad week working out wise...*LOL*.

Goal #3. Understand one or two basic tools to choosing better investments. I'm still working on this one. So all's good.

Goal #4. Clean up at least two rooms in my house. I actually cleaned practically the whole house minus one room. Now you know why #2 was neglected...*LOL*.

Until Day 18..