Reeg Speak

122707- a mini year recap and a look forward...

Woohoo its my last working day of the calendar year today! Here's a preliminary list of my new years resolutions. Let's revisit them on -010109- and see what was accomplished.

- lose weight, gain muscle [but if you've seen me recently, you can tell that process already started!]

- have the see pee aye sufffix after my name [oh yeah I'm retaking the first part again eeeks]

- upgrade the whip [I had my last straw today as I had to tetris my golf travel bag into my trunk]

- downsize the kicks [since I only wear sneaks on wknds, I rotate about 40-50 pairs, so that's like 100+ pairs that remain untouched]

- stack chips [I've collected cards, starting line-ups, cds, shoes all pretty thoroughly – now I just want to get my paper chase on]

- become a better golfer [it has been determined it's the sport I suck at the least]

- become a better boyfriend/brother/son/friend/coworker [not that anyone has any complaints, but there's always room for improvement]

- become a better photographer [but that would entail getting a camera]

- launch http://ww.reegsta.com [which should just contain my amusing musings, like a more mature reegspeak]

- get out of the country [I haven't been international since '04, since canada doesn't count]

Okay so these are 10 things I would like to do for 2008. Funny thing is that it mirrors my 2007 list!

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Music: The Year in Review

I used to be way more thorough and critical of my music tastes. Since I'm not a backpacker or thug anymore, I'll listen to whatever nowadays. Hip-hop has been disappointing me every year since I don't know when, but I still support my fav artists. So I categorized the albums I've bought here:

Exceeded expectations:

Met expectations: Kanye's Graduation, Jay's American Gangster, Lupe Fiasco's The Cool

Below expectations: Common's Finding Forever, Consequence's Don't Quit your Day Job, Talib Kweli's Eardrum

I haven't listen to yet but plan on it: Blu & Exile's Below the Heavens, Little Brother's Getback, Hi-Tek's Hi-Teknology 3 [was tempted to just iTune these albums, but for my rap, I like to have the tangible CD]. I guess there was nothing that exceeded my expectations! Basically to me, hip-hop albums and kicks have parallel lives. Like I just wear kicks that I've bought 3-5 years ago, and what I listen to primarily is stuff like pre-2004. Maybe I just really like to lag. As I was perusing lists to inspire my list, I noticed dudes had like top 50 albums of 2007 and such. I didn't even know there were 50 albums to choose from! I'm sure there were, but in '07 I was primarily listening to '06 ish [Roots, Nas, J-Dilla, Gym Class Heroes, Sound Providers]. I think these lists should be made in arrears by like 2 years for albums to settle and stand the test of time, but it would be kinda funny to see like "Top Albums of 2005" at the end of 2007.

5 non-hip-hop songs of 2007 that really lowers my street cred, but I felt them anyway: Ne-Yo's and Kanye's Because of You Remix, Maroon 5's Nothing last Forever, Colbie Caillat's Bubbly, Alicia Keys' No One, and Pink's Who Knew.

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Confessions of a Sneakerhead, the 2007 edition

I used to have posts that gave a lil story about every sneaker I've purchased. For 2007 though, we can consolidate this to one entry. The number of kicks I bought can I counted on one hand: a pair of grey/purple Dunk SBs, a pair of skull pack Air Max 1s, some brown/yellow Air Stabs and some Air Max 360s to run in. That's right – this is probably the first year that I did not purchase one single Air Jordan [but there's 4 days left in the year still, so I can continue the streak hehe]. For someone who says he stopped caring about kicks, he surely talks about them a lot! Oh yeah, like 8 years ago I bought my brother Arvin some black/grey Humaras for Christmas, which I regretted since I wanted them for myself. Then on Christmas I was in his garage and noticed them, all beat and stuff, so I inquired about these semi-grails. And he's like "yeah I was gonna throw those away" and my blood started to race. And so now they're in my possession. I guess there's part of being a sneakerhead that never dies.

I'm off to TX in a few. Have a wonderful and safe New Years all 4 of you! See yall in "oh-sideways-infinity" ['08]
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