The last couple of weeks I’ve been really busy. It’s all a breeze. I could try to remember exactly what I did last week, but it's easier to just type. I did get a promotion! Or should I say, had a change of position with an increase in workload (no raise as of yet) this month. I'm a 'Grant Writer." I can officially call myself a writer, because it’s in my title! People will be reading my shit like they get paid to do it (and they will). Hundreds of thousands of dollars will depend on my shit. I wish karma were more black and white, more quick... I wish and came around quick like a bommerang (remember how cool those used to be). That way if I made a million dollars writing for the cause, there would be no doubt that shit was coming back around to my pockets.

Everyone says Grant Writing is a really good skill to have. They call it lucrative, but of course there's a catch. I have to wait for the return (story of my life). I'm trying to look at it as a blessing in disguise. The position was literally handed to me. I have absolutely no experience and they're willing to train me from scratch. It's weak on the green but heavy on the 'E' (experience).

I've had 'assistant' attached to my title for almost five years. Before this promotion change of position shit was looking pretty bad yo. I'm looking at two more years in the bing school. The way things were going I would have graduated at 28-29 with a creative writing degree and still been working as an assistant. Now when I graduate, if I haven't already started eating up trees like Stephen King, I’ll at least have something in the tool kit. It’s what they call insurance, but even better because I'm paying the premiums to myself.

Transitioning from assistant to 'do this by (insert date here), has been a challenge. I went from Hotmail, to Allhiphop.com, to Myspace.com, to DaveyD.com, to Okayplayer.com, to Ebay and back again, to checking my email two to three times a day. I couldn't do homework on job time if I wanted to. And even if I did have the time, now I sit in a cubicle where my back is to an open door. If I'd ever been to prison the shit might not work! It's like someone’s holding a gun to my head, like 'get to work!' And I do.

I work in 90 to 120 minute spurts. I don't struggle to stay in my seat anymore. I get so consumed in the work I just don't think about getting up. Music keeps me conscience of the time. If I listen to an album straight through I feel like I’ve made some progress. It's weird though; I've never been into listening to music while I write. I’ve always thought of it as a distraction. But at work, it helps me focus... it drowns out the silence and kills the restlessness. I can't do rap though; it's got to be something soft. The past couple of weeks I've been bouncing back and forth between Amy Winehouse and John Legend. I tried to do some Sean Price, but I get to nodding and shit, pretty soon I'm singing alone, and then I'm wasting time rewinding and skipping to specific tracks.

The writing is pretty dry, but it's not bad- just a different. I can't say it feels good or it's fun, but I am trying to be patient with it. The lack of monetary compensation is feeding my half cynic half shit (I can be 100% of both on any given day) talking side. I heard this today and I’ll try to keep it in mind: “A cynic knows the cost of everything, and the value of nothing.” In due time… I’ll take it one day at a time and be patient. I must admit, it does feel good to actually use my brain. I don't input shit into a database anymore- I look up shit for research purposes.

I finished a draft for my first assignment today. It's a report for a grant we received to support our Environmental Justice Fund (EJF). Environmental justice is an extremely important issue. People developing cancer and asthma, women suffering from miscarriages, all impacted by the transfer of goods. That's not all it is, but in LA the transfer of goods is a major factor. Anyway, until now I've always found the shit boring to read about it. I'll read a headline, maybe read the first couple of paragraphs in an article, and that's it. Boring is a strong word though (I don't want to dissuade anyone from checking it out), I should say it's just not something that floats my boat. So the last five years, I've avoided the topic. But over the last two weeks I've been immersed in it (I didn't drown). It's actually pretty interesting. LA is in a unique position, our mayor is dedicated to "Greening LA." That is developing ways to keep the goods moving, but doing it in a way that doesn't hurt the citizens or the environment (arrrghhhh- must not let work take over blog).

That’s it! Three more weeks of SMC and I'm OUT!

p.s. I’m listening to southernplayalisticadillacmuzik . And if I had some money I’d cop these: