Bad Breath : What Are My Rights?

From the unquiet mind of C.S. Lyrics,

What's good friends! It's your boy once again at the keyboard. I have my headphones on right now, listening to a beat that I am supposed to record to this weekend. I can't wait, it's gonna be so nice. I'm working on a project with a very different concept and it's coming together very quickly ( thank God LOL ) and very nicely, so be on the lookout for more on that.

Today I want to talk for a few minutes about bad breath. This past Sunday, I was over my Mom and Dad's house to celebrate Mother's Day with my Mom and the rest of my family. Well, a person, who shall remain nameless, took it upon themselves to seat themselves beside me on the couch not 2 feet from me. They proceeded to aim their mouth (this was after dinner mind you) right at my nose and mouth area. The result was me trying to keep from gagging, while trying to keep from offending the person who was offending my olfactory senses. My question is, when it comes to bad breath, and people who brandish it carelessly, what are my rights? Does their right to remain oblivious to the fact that they offend, overrule my right to keep my dinner ( or whatever meal preceded the meeting ) down? Listen, it's never my intention to hurt feelings, if a subtle hint will do the trick, then that's the approach I try to use. However the people with the worst breath, seem to be the people who will reject your gum or mints when offered. WHAT?? No thanks??? If someone is that oblivious or flat out could care less, shouldn't I have the right to be more direct then? Would I be out of line to say," Hey friend, I don't mean to offend but....... your breath is unbearable." ? No? Too direct? Okay, how about," I don't know if my sense of smell is too strong, or if your mouth is unpleasant. Let's split the difference, you take a piece of gum and I will try not to inhale so deeply." LOL LOL . Seriously though, I would use the least offensive approach depending on who it was, and what would work best. I once had a friend who I worked with, we were very close, but he could not, or would not, take a hint about his breath. The following is as close as I can remember to a conversation we had one day at work when he was determined to talk into my face:

Friend: Blah blah blah the buckeyes.....blah blah..... Shaq..etc. etc.

Ty: Whew........can I offer you a piece of gum man?

Friend: No thanks. Blah blah....... the lakers.... my foot's been feeling funny.....etc.

Ty: Yeah.......yep...... oh, okay. Man you must have had a spicy breakfast.

Friend: No, I just had some cream of wheat. Blah blah....... got a call last night..etc.

Ty: (Having lost patience): Well what did you do, break up chunks of meatloaf and put it in your cream of wheat? My Goodness!

Must it come to that friends? Shouldn't we, that go out of our way not to offend with our mouths ( those of us that brush, gargle, carry sugarfree gum and mints to use and to share) have the right to expect....no.... demand, the same? So tell me friends what are my....our.. rights? Do we have to spare feelings at the expense of nose hair? I love my friend from the above conversation dearly, but at a certain point you lose the ability to be tactful. Shouldn't we nip it in the bud before it gets to that point? Most of all, shouldn't they want to know their breath is offensive so they can take action? This topic is very necessary because the trend of having bad breath and either not caring or being oblivious to it, is spreading rapidly. All feedback is welcome, and in the meanwhile, be mindful of your mouth, and exercise what I feel is your right to breathe clean air. Happy breathing 'til next time.

The Sea of Life

From the unquiet mind of C.S. Lyrics,

Hello my friends, it's good to be sitting at the keyboard again after a long busy weekend. My son (The fly young gentleman in the profile picture of this very blog) had a birthday, and of course Mother's day was Sunday. As the events of the weekend unfolded, I was just swept away by the changes that are constantly taking place in our lives. An infant child is "suddenly" 4 years old. A younger sibling, who it seems like only yesterday, would meet you at the television set in the morning for the daily dose of cartoons, without a care beyond not being late to school, is now a father and the husband of the woman you're kissing on the cheek and wishing a happy Mother's day. Time flies, and life is funny. Very rarely ha ha funny, more like the funny in funny bone...... . People change, and situations change constantly. A lot of times people change for the better, and a lot of times people change for the worse and a lot of changes can't be measured in terms of better or worse. I truly believe that is why, the longer you walk with God, the more you appreciate Him for his staying the same. All of life is fluid and malleable, constantly ebbing and flowing. Sometimes calm and peaceful, and sometimes raging and stormy. When I think of life and this temporal world as a huge body of water, it makes the thought of Jesus walking on the water even more powerful and poignant. This ever changing, fluid stream, that every living being is born into, and therefore constantly subject to, wether they want to be or not, is not only tamed by Jesus ( "Peace, be still." ) , but is actually walked on top of by Him. He makes it very clear that whatever "rules" bind us to working within the fluid ever changing stream (time, in this analogy) , do not apply to Him. He shows us that He can calm it for you, and He shows that He operates outside of it's boundaries. It's almost as if He's saying,"I'm in this world with you, but it can't toss or drive me anywhere. I can change it, but it can never change Me.". How wonderful to know that we have a savior that "... changeth not.". Once enough people have told you something and then changed their mind on you, gained or lost status then changed their whole personality, gotten married, gone away to college, passed away, and so on, you start to appreciate the One Who never changes, a lot more. The One who is the same, today, tomorrow, and ever more. Maybe that's what the songwriter meant when they said, ".... my soul is anchored in Jesus.". When you're on a stormy sea, being tossed and driven all around, buffeted on every side, you need something to anchor to that is unchanging and unmoving. I guess I'm saying that I see what the older saints meant when they told me I'd love God more and more as time went by. Everything in this life changes so much that it makes you cling to the One thing that doesn't! The saddest part, is that it's not just everyone else that changes. Situations transpire in our own lives that can't help but change us, be it positively or negatively. As we grow and change, our own responsibilities hinder us from doing all the things we'd like to do, and from spending as much time with certain people as we would like to. It is truly as if everyone is a ship on the sea, and sometimes you head the same way for a while, and suddenly the sea dictates that you navigate in different directions. That's the funny bone part, what an odd sort of pain it is. Oh how I long for the day, when he bids us, "Come.", like Peter. When he tells us it's time to operate outside of the rules of the stream of time. When we can actually walk on it, instead of being tossed and driven by it. Every now and again we may get a taste of that, in prayer, or in a vision, seeing things from outside of the boundaries of the stream, some of us believing what we are shown, and others sinking from thinking, "This can't be real.". God's gonna transition us from the temporal to the eternal permanently one day. I hope we've learned to walk on water by then, because both boats and swimming will be obsolete.

Freestyle From My Soul

From the unquiet mind of C.S. Lyrics,

Today, I just feel like freestyling from the soul my friends.

"Lord send a Word, my heart is open to receive it,

if You would speak a Word, my spirit would just believe it,

wouldn't ask how or why, tryna conceive it,

I'd nurture it, and be nurtured by it when I'm tested,

and use it to build strength again in times when I am bested,

every Word you speak excites me from the moment you've expressed it,

because I know that in due time that Word will be manifested,

got my substance and my evidence, Lord I'm ready to build and prove,

I'm not in to just bystanding, I wanna more than "feel" the move,

Bless me now O' Lord with comfort that direction brings,

save me from the wilderness that my requests rejection means,

my heart is troubled, burdened by realities of life,

I need not imagine, for I know, the realities of strife,

but I believe that just a Word from you can bring me sweet relief,

just as I believe you'll cause my troubled feelings to be brief,

You have always saved me Lord, my help, my friend in time of need,

no matter how entangled I am in cares, you see to it I am freed,

so once again I'm in transition and feel the pain of just not knowing,

but I trust you too much to ever stop and say that I'm not going,

I ask though for a Word to guide me as I journey forth,

and I will let it lead me to You like the star they called the north,

give me strength and give me courage, give me grit and ears to hear,

give me grace and give me mercy, joy when I am near to tears,

I Love you Jesus and believe that all your plans for me are best,

send a Word right to my tempest, then the storms will be at rest.

On my way to hoop! That felt great! God bless the eyes that read this and the heart that can feel it's meaning. See you next post.

Better Results

From the unquiet mind of C.S. Lyrics,

What's good friends! It's pretty nasty out there today. Too bad, I wanted to go to the hoop not far from my house and shoot some J's. For those that don't know, me and my dudes hoop every Thursday. It's good exercise and we enjoy each others company. We are all very competitive by nature, so the talk can get a little greasy, but everyone there knows it's all in fun and takes it as such. Last week I didn't quite play up to my standards. I didn't play too bad, but I just wasn't pleased with my performance. So throughout this week, when the weather permitted, I've been down to the court near my house to make sure my shot is properly polished for this weeks meeting. While most of the people I play with were kicking back with their feet up Sunday evening, I was shooting J's. Turnarounds from the elbows., jab step then raise up 3 pointers, pump fakes and slash to the cup floaters, the whole 9. But as you may have guessed, there is a reason I start every blog with "From the unquiet mind of C.S. Lyrics". My mind will not be quiet! As I was shooting Sunday, really getting in a rhythm and getting my shot clicking, my mind focused on a point other than the actual act of shooting. My mind's focus was on the fact that I didn't like the results of my last game, so I decided to take action on my own behalf,to increase the likelihood of better results this week. My thoughts didn't stop there ( they never do... sigh) . My mind began to wonder why I don't act as fast in other areas of my life to increase the possibility of a more positive outcome. When I fail to measure up to other kinds of standards, do I make sacrifices of habit or comfort and make time to prepare differently? I'm honest man, I can't front. There are areas of my life both spiritually and naturally where I fall short. My unquiet mind (or the spirit in it) kinda called me on my lack of proactively doing extra work (physical, mental, or spiritual) to strengthen the weak points in me, that let me down in the game of life. I obviously know that a little extra sacrifice makes a difference (I got myself to the court alone, fast) . So I guess that leaves me without excuse in other areas. If my mind would just learn.... to .... be...QUIET, I could probably get away with a lot more LOL LOL.

I Can Take It!

From the unquiet mind of C.S. Lyrics,

"Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." - 2 Timothy 2:3

What's good friends! I'm just getting in from work and I just wanted to drop a few thoughts that were on my heart. I clown a lot, laugh a lot, and I am a pretty free flowing type of dude. When push comes to shove however, I want to be a good soldier for Jesus Christ. Paul says in his second letter to Timothy, that Timothy must, "... endure hardness as a good soldier......". I'm experiencing hardness in my life right now. My task is not only to endure it, but to endure it as a good soldier. Nowadays the word soldier is thrown around fairly nonchalantly and has lost some of it's true meaning just by it's overuse. Unfortunately, soldier is a term that has been applied to every dude who has put in work in the street, every athlete that plays a little injured, every rapper that considers himself a thug, etc. I feel for the true men and women in uniform who have to endure sharing a title with some who deserve it so little. But even among the people in uniform, there are good soldiers, and there are bad soldiers. Those, that follow instruction from Headquarters, and those that don't. Those that stay on the battlefield even when things look bleak, and those that desert their comrades. Those that endure the hardness that a true soldier's life is bound to bring, and those that go AWOL. Those that risk their lives and comfort for the sake of others (be it ally or civilian) , and those that put their own survival and comfort first.

There are several things that make up a good soldier. But today is just today. I can only fight today's battle, today. Today I'm dealing with uncomfortable circumstances in my life, in other words, hardness. If you aren't there today, that's fine....... you don't have to be there to feel this. Chances are you've been there, or soon will be. I'm not whining or complaining, I'm just being honest about my situation. Yeah Mr. Hardness is staying at my crib for a little while LOL, I tried to show him the door, but he refused to go. So since he's here, I can leave where I'm supposed to be, and set up camp somewhere easier to exist, or, I can endure his visit like a good soldier. A good soldier would not abandon his mission, because things have gotten a little rough. Constantly ducking and dodging, and rerouting to avoid hardness is not the good soldiers way. Paul said to endure it. I'm not running from the mission God gave me, just to escape some hardness, 'cause that's the enemies plan. He wants to make the battlefield so discouraging, so depressing, so intimidating, so hard, that you forsake your mission, to find a less hard road. But where would that road lead? I'm going to give thanks, hum some tunes that encourage me, let the Lord do what he does (which is take me over and through, and endure my little season of hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

Soothe or ...............?

From the unquiet mind of C.S. Lyrics,

"Music has charms to soothe the savage beast." - Playwright/Poet William Congreve "The Mourning Bride", 1697.

What's good, friends? Just taking a moment to check in with a few brief thoughts this morning. I hope that those of you who visit the blog, are enjoying the posts. Your suggestions for future posts, compliments, and criticisms are also welcome. Any comment you'd like to leave will be read and either taken to heart, or very swiftly dismissed and forgotten..... LOL (I promised to be honest, remember).

My thoughts today center around music, and it's effect on people. The statement, "Music has charms to soothe a savage beast.", is a true statement, but it only tells of one aspect of music's power. Somewhere along the line, someone realized that if music could be used to soothe, then perhaps it could be used for other things as well. Here is a very sobering thought, I believe that if certain music had never been made, millions of people would still be alive today. Many have been the drive by shootings, the murders, overdoses, and suicides instigated and perpetuated by certain music. Not to mention the slow steady lessening of the value of one's own life in general by the promising of a heaven for G's, thugs, and misfits who just don't "fit in" down here. How many rapes have been urged on by the spirit of lust that rode the sonic waves in certain songs, right into the hearts and minds of listeners? I could go on and on with the negative effects I believe music can have if mishandled. I think the gift of musicianship is much the same as any other God given gift. Couldn't a preacher with a way with words just as easily have become a pimp? Couldn't a trustee with a mind for figures, have put that mind to work in a different way? Perhaps in drugs, or illegal gambling endeavors? The point being, I, you...... we ALL have power. The power that is in our God given gift. The Bible clearly states, "The gifts of God are without repentance.". This means you can use your gift in the wrong way, and it won't just magically disappear. My prayer for my gifts (Music being one of them) is for God to constantly remind me of why he GAVE me the gift in the first place. If that is on my mind and in my heart and spirit when I create something, I don't think I will get too far away from the purpose he has for my gifts, and my life over all. Are your gifts going towards the purpose that God gave them to you for in the first place? Don't let a God given blessing be used to hurt, impair, or possibly even help to end the life of someone it was meant to bless. I am especially speaking to my fellow musicians, rappers, singers, producers, instrumentalists, writers, etc. When you have a musical gift, your music WILL have an effect on people. What kind of an effect is it having though? Should we get excited because someone moves to our sounds, or should we save our excitement until we see them move.... to love someone more, or better, or move closer to God, or move through a tough day a little easier? Musical gifts have been misused for years. Let us take our musical gifts (and every other kind of gift) and use them to soothe troubled souls, not provoke them, or steer them in a negative direction.

Old Fool

From the unquiet mind of C.S. Lyrics,

I had a great time at a family function yesterday. The company was good, the food was good, and we were celebrating a worthy event (my cousin Drea, graduated from college). When my brothers, cousins, and I get together, to be honest....... SOMEBODY is going to get laughed at! Not in a mean spirited way, but we are just some dudes that can find humor in just about any situation. The ladies of the family, when they are not laughing with us, just walk by shaking their heads when we get started. They already know what's going on. Yesterday, one of the funniest moments centered around an older family membet of mine, who shall remain nameless. When he was a younger man, he was a renowned skirt chaser, everyone knew it, and found humor in the fact that his interest could be piqued towards someone of the fairer sex in a matter of moments. Unfortunately, the gentleman is now 80 plus, and he hasn't really changed that much........ mentally that is. Like many other 80 plus people he labors to get around a little bit. Not in itself very funny..... but... stick with me. The event was held in a party room at a senior citizens complex..... yeah you see where I'm going. Eventually, an older lady who knew one of my Aunts, walkered her way into the party, with or without oxygen mask, I can't recall. She made the mistake of speaking to the older gentleman I referred to earlier. He began his peacock strut around the party room, mostly in her vicinity. Now when I say peacock strut, I am speaking of HIS intention. Our perception of his strut, was a mix between Fred Sanford and a person who has on shoes 3 sizes too small (his shoes fit perfectly). I am really close to the older gentleman, and when I met him in the hallway at one point, he said to me, "Hey buddy, I'm out here in the hallway trying to keep from getting into trouble in there. Lord have mercy boy, these women just stay after you." At which I WANTED to reply, "If trouble came and sat on your lap, I think you would probably have to ask it to get up so you could breathe." But I did not say this. Like eveyone else I humored him and helped him believe a woman, who hardly ever looked his way after making his acquaintance briefly, was actually paying him some attention. It was a very funny moment. The gentleman is funny anyhow. I truly believe he could've been a comedian, and prospered in the industry. Also it was kind of sad. I will be honest. I love women, and women love me. Sometimes if the right person enters a room, I similarly take immediate notice. Wouldn't it be sad if I didn't age gracefully enough mentally to know when it's over? Older people with filthy mouths and minds are naturally funny to me. But if we really think about it couldn't it be an eye opener? A reminder that age itself does'nt change us, but we must change ourselves. We should get older and more wise. Sharing that wisdom with younger people, not sharing filthy stories, or strutting to their amusement. God help me realize when the cool breeze that follows me into a room, has turned into a room full of lukewarm sighs of irritation. Because after all, the only thing worse than a fool, is an old fool.