I’m calling it an early night tonight, because I’ve been bushed lately. This week has been particularly hard because of all the commitments I’ve made with my time. Seems like for the past couple of days I’ve been leaving home at 8 in the morning and getting back 13 hours or later. I also worked all day Sunday. This kind of schedule can become a real grind after a while.

Fortunately, I am in control of these things. I could drop my participation in the city basketball league, freeing up two nights a week, for instance. The games usually start at 9PM, making me get home at 10 or later – completely wired and unable to sleep.

I also volunteer for the N.C. Museum Of Art as well as Garner Crimestoppers. Neither one puts a big dent in my time, so they’re pretty safe.

Yet, part of the joy (or curse) of running your own business is that you can work practically any time you want to. And when there is business to be done, it’s hard to turn it down. My clients depend on me to help them out. It’s a duty I don’t take lightly. Even though I may have more fun things lined up to do, I will drop everything to keep them happy.

The days of work being the top priority in my life may be nearing a close as I approach the prospect of fatherhood. Zoinks!

(And I can hear you now, Mom and Dad: “If you think you’re tired now….”)

This weekend I was driving behind a car full of young black men. Even though they were driving safely, I wondered about where they were going. Then I felt guilty about it.

Further down the road, I realized that I probably would’ve wondered about a car full of young white men, only without the guilt.

It was then that I realized that it doesn’t matter what race strangers are – I simply don’t like strangers.

I remember a sketch Eddie Murphy once did on Saturday Night Live. His character wondered what it would be like to be white, so he had himself made up to look white. His experience was a parody, of course, with shopkeepers urging him to “just take” store merchandise and other such incidents. It was good for some laughs, but the underlying question is tantalizing: what would it be like to be another race?

That’s a question that can only be answered in another lifetime.

The Bambina’s pictures are sprawled all over the Internet now. We got the first glimpse of her on Monday. I rushed the ultrasound pictures home so I could post them to family.

While K and I love looking at them, I’m sure that a lot of folks probably grimaced when they got them. I mean, some parents are so proud of their kids that they pull out dozens of pictures of them and talk incessantly about them. The Bambina’s not even born yet, and already she’s a celebrity.

Guess I’d better get a grip on things before I become of those parents who dote too much on their children. Then again, what’s really wrong with that? 🙂

I made a stupid change to my PHP server back at the beginning of the month, which caused me to not be able to post. It sucks when you discover you’re your own censor.