A Journey To Know Me Better

This week at my job, I had some time to think about my life and how I see things. I thought about my life in the past, right now, and my future. I'm the type of person who is private and don't let a lot of people in. However, I'm feeling generous and woke up on the right side of the bed today. This here is going to be way for some folks to know me a little better. Let's get it poppin'.

1. What is my occupation? Rent One. I'm also a semi hermit. I'm not full blown because I do get out enough. I go to the gym, Kroger and Wal-Mart. That's why I'm only semi.


2. Assumption some people have about my personality: Moody, funny, sometimes mean, quite, confusing


3. The truth about my personality: Moody, funny, sometimes mean, quite, confusing


4. Favorite teacher in high school: My English teacher of 2 years Mrs. Melanie Poole. I played around in her class all the time. I was always late, didn't do homework, didn't study. You probably see this and think that I hated her. Not at all. However, she didn't cut me NO slack. She seen something in me I guess. She never quit on me. When she left to go work at the junior high school, I felt bad because I didn't give it my all when she was there. She was one of the few teachers who cared about my future and my life. Thankfully, she came back my senior year and I visited her almost everyday in the morning. To this day, we are still friends. If you are reading this Mrs. Poole, I wanna say 'Thank You', for everything and I won't let you down.


5. Funniest high school moment: It's my senior year and I have a novel class taught by Mrs. Lockwood. I was always late for that(you'll learn eventually that I move at MY speed) class. Anyway I got there as the bell rang. I sit down and we start discussing the book One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I'm reading the book and see this girl just staring at me. I try to ignore her, but I don't like people lookin' at me like that. I mean, she was a nice girl, but I hardly talked in that class. It wasn't just her, ya know? Out of the blue, the girl says that I'm sexy! At this point, I'm shocked. I've been called many things. Strange. Unpredictable. Smart. But sexy?! Naaaaa man!! But I tell her thanks really quietly as her friends giggle like crazy. That was the last word I spoke to that girl.


6. Favorite Athletes: Michael Vick. I know he's in the pen for doing something stupid, but he is still my favorite. Allen Iverson. Pound for pound, he's one of the all time greats to play in the NBA. Kobe Bryant. Haters can stop hatin' because he's been the best player in the NBA for the last 5 years now. Lebron James. He's not the future. He's right now! Tom Brady. 3 Super Bowls in this decade. It's hard in today's NFL to have dynasties, mainly because of free agency. He's been in the middle of all of their championships.


7. Favorite musicians: 50 Cent, T.I, Eminem, Robin Thicke, Ne-Yo, Keyshia Cole, Joss Stone, Rick James (R.I.P), Michael Jackson


8. Favorite Book : 48 Laws of Power, From Pieces to Weight, The Art of War, Queens Reign Supreme


9. Favorite TV show: South Park and Aqua Teen Hunger Force


10. You May Not Know, but: I like Family Guy. It can go overboard, but it's really funny.


11. My Peoples: Justin Lannom, Joe Craig, my barber Danny, the McConnels, the "Chris Boys" Chris Palmer and Chris Williams, my homie Cedric in Ten-A-Key(Tenessee), Kristie Anson
12. Moment In Time That Made Me Say Whoa!: I would have to say the end of 2006. The entire year I had been riding high. I was making money. I was doing really good at my job. My love life was going well. I was happy. The last two months, however, turned bad. I had so called "friends" stab me in the back and did things I didn't expect. I was so vulnerable. For a person who is takes pride on planning ahead and being prepared for anything, I was exposed. Alone. Confused. Most of all, ANGRY. The last week of December helped me a lot. I went with my co workers to Show Me's to watch the UFC's last pay per view of '06. There's nothing like violence, mayhem, and hot ladies parading around to ease the pain! The next day (New Year's Eve) I went to my 2nd set of parents (The McConnels) to enjoy some great company. I put things in proper perspective. I dropped those so called friends really quick. I didn't want anything to do with them. Like the 10th Law in the 48 Laws of Power says: Misery is contagious. Cut yourself completely loose from the unhappy and miserable.
13. Friends Personality traits I admire: My friend Joe's honesty, Chris Williams and Chris Palmer's sense of humor, Brittney Ross's kindness, Dave Margani's intelligence, The McConnel's caring attitude.
14. Things That Make Me Mad: Friends who befriend my enemies. I see it like this. If you know me and so and so ain't cool and you're my friend and you choose to be cool with them, that's just not cool. Lazy and unmotivated people. Adults who dress up for Halloween. Unless you a hot girl, you just can't do this. Come on, man! It's a kid's holiday! People who say "No Offense" or the ever popular, " I'm not a racist, but....." Like my homie Jim Rome would say,"If some one says 'No Offense', some one is about to get offended. If you say 'I'm not a racist, but...', some one's about to get hit with a racial blast." You ain't lyin', Jimmie!
15. I voted for: Neither.I just wanna say that in no way I'm political, so please don't bash me. It's cool that Obama is the first Black president and all that. For people like my father who grow up in a time when the South was still segregated and racial tension was at an all time high, this was historical. He would tell you. He'd never thought he'd live to see this happen. With that being said, I don't think he's ready. He's a good talker, but let's see what's really good!!! As for McCain, I definitely don't think that a guy who's one heartbeat away from having Sara Palin being president is right either. Who knows where Obama will lead us. Do any of you guys out there think Palin is fine as hell? It maybe just me who thinks this(right........). Something about women in a powerful position that does it for me...........
16. Ideal Vacation: Any place as long as nobody knows me or can't find me. I love my privacy.
17. Place You'd Least Expect to See Me, But I Am: The Library.
18. Favorite Shoe: Either a pair of Jordans or Timberland Boots.
19. I Spend A Lot of My Dough On: New Era baseball hats. I have about 14 hats. They run about $30 a pop. The specialty hats like the black on black or the white on white is $35. I will not wear any other brand. My favorites are the New York Yankee regular colors, Chicago White Sox regular and black on black, L.A Dodgers Crip blue hat, Boston Red Sox regular colors. I hate baseball, but most of the hats match my clothes. Gotta look good........
20. Super Bowl Predictions: The Giants will repeat. I'm not a fan at all, but I see that they are the best team right now. I think that Eli Manning is a dope, but he's a good QB.

The Mitchell Report My Thoughts One Year Later

For the last two decades, baseball has had the shadow of steroids and human growth hormone (HGH) luming over head. After the debacle on Capitol Hill where Mark McGwire "didn't want to talk about the past", Sammy Sosa forgetting how to speak the English language, Rafael Palmerio famously wagging his finger, and big time rat Jose Consaco was looked at as "courageous", our US senetors put the heat on baseball commissioner Bud Selig and the players association president Don Fehr to clean up baseball. MLB was embarrassed on a national level, as Selig's incompetence was exposed. Mr. Selig had to find a way to kill a monster he helped create(more on that later).
Thus, Senator George Mitchell was brought in to investigate. Selig felt if Mitchell could run a successful investigation, he could save face and put MLB back on top. I'm going to tell you my opinion on this witch hunt....... I mean, investigation.





The 20 month long investigation was launched. George Mitchell is a former Senator Majority Leader, federal prosecutor and ex chairman of Walt Disney Company. He was called on by Selig to lead an investigation into drug use on March 30 of 2006. From the start, the investigation was really fishy. First off, the investigation was primarily focused on the players, not ownership or management. I really believe EVERYBODY was the blame for this, not just players or ownership. Hell, even the reporters are guilty as well. I see it this way, MLB after the strike season in 1994 was hurting. Fans had lost hope and faith. They went else where. The NFL had taken over as the top sport in America and has a hold on it since. Baseball was desperate. They had to bring the fans back home. So, in my opinion, everybody turned a blind eye to the steroid issues happening. Owners were probably thinking, 'I don't care if so and so is shooting a needle in his ass and is breaking the law, the money is rolling in!!!!!' Writers had something good to write about baseball for a change. Nobody was complaining when McGwire and Sosa was going back and forth in their chase for Roger Maris' single season homer record. It seems all was well in the baseball world. However, things started to change. Barry Bonds broke McGwire's record when he smashed 73 home runs in 2001. People started to get curious about Bonds as he was approaching hallowed numbers such as 745. I can understand why the scrutiny would be there. Let's be real, Bonds is a dick to almost everybody. It's easy to HATE him, even though I'm a fan. You also can't deny this, Bonds is one of, if not the best,baseball player in history. If you haters can't see that, then you all are in denial, blind, or just hate him that much. With that said, baseball is known for the records. Bonds came outta no where to get these records. The tide turned. MLB had to get this controlled. Anyhow, the investigation was one sided it seems. The report finally came out December 13, 2007. Everybody was anxious to see who was or wasn't on the list. I was at the gym working out while this was happening. The first thing that Mitchell says is " Major League Baseball has a steroid issue." Wow. What are you gonna tell me next, Clay Aiken is gay? We paid this fool $20 million to tell me that they have an issue? Man, I coulda told you that for $20!!! Anyhow, the names start flowing. Miguel Tejada, Paul Lo Duca, Eric Gagne, Andy Petitte, and Roger Clemens were just a few of the stars on the list. Most of the players on the list were tied into 3 entities. Kirk Radomski, who was a Met club house employee,was a key witness. Brian McNamee was a trainer who provided roids and HGH to Clemens and Petitte. The 3rd was the pharmacy BALCO. More questions were raised. There were NO Boston Red Sox players on the list. Mitchell is connected with the Sox. There were several current and former Yankees on the list. That's strange... actually, no it ain't. Also, the timing of the report was really questioned. It was leaked that Dennis Byrd, who was a pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, was on the list. At the time of the "leak", the Indians were locked in a battle with the Red Sox for a trip to the World Series. Another thing I had a problem with was not all the players were named. You are a fool if you think your favorite player ain't on the juice. A-Rod wasn't on the list, neither was Albert Pujols, David Ortiz. Just because they weren't on there, doesn't mean they are clean. They just didn't associate with Radomski, McNamee, or BALCO. Besides, chemist are always one step ahead of the system. There will be new drugs that will go under the eye of the system. Things seem to be heading in the right direction for baseball. The game seems to be cleaned up. I just think the whole Mitchell Report was a waste of time. I feel it was witch hunt against Bonds. It seems that Bonds was the scapegoat during the "steroid era". He wasn't the only one, but he was the main one, along with Clemens. I also had a problem about the 1st reaction when Clemens was named. People were quick to make excuses for Roger. The minute that Bonds was even connected with 'roids, everybody was like, ' yeah he did it!' , or I knew it!! What made Clemens better than Bonds? Why were people quick to defend Roger (at first, because you know what happened next with Roger) and chastised Barry? Race? Maybe. Public perception? Could be. I think they are one in the same. Both are the best at what they did. You won't get no argument from me about Clemens. He is the most dominant right handed pitcher in this era, or any era. You already read what I had to say about Bonds. They are also arrogant, cocky, thought they was above the law. Now you know how it could end for both. Both are facing serious time behind bars if their charges stick. Funny, two of the best ball players in history might be behind bars in the near future.

I'm International Now! Part One

I want to take you guys back to the summer of 2004. This was the summer I went to Bulgaria for a mission trip. I'll keep it real and let you see things through my eyes. The events leading up to it and the time spent will be documented. I know you're ready, so let's get into it, ya heard?















It was a normal Sunday at my church when Bob Crews came up to me and asked me if I was interested in doing mission work. My first thought was, yeah I could do it. However, he told me that we would be going across the pond(that's what I call the Atlantic Ocean) to Europe. I'm like, are you for real? I most definitely had to be a part of it!! This was probably 3 months before the trip happened, so Justin, Bob, and myself had to go to an orientation discussing to events that lie ahead. They broke down the language that the people spoke, the shots we had to take to avoid disease, and other things. The guy said somethin' about how things were opposite. For example, if I was to nod my head yes, that means no! Say what?! They also talked about mafias over there. They say you can tell them from everybody else because they wore jewelry and rode around in Benzs. Well, that meant I had to leave my jewelry in the States. Really don't wanna cause trouble(even though I did... tell ya little later). With all this going on, I still had to request time off from my job. Honestly, I was worried. I had only been there for 5 months. How was I gonna ask for time off like that? I wasn't for sure that I was gonna be able to go. I guess my prayer was answered because my boss said I could go. I was pleasantly shocked. With that taken care of, I had to get my shots. I know this is hard to believe, considering I have tattoos, but I don't care for needles. I ain't gonna freak out, it's different when the needle is on the skin, where as the needle was going in. I'm not a veiny person, so they had to search for a vein. Really fun. About as fun your wisdom teeth getting yanked on. After that, all that was left was waiting for the trip. I had my doubts, I ain't gonna lie. I never been on an airplane. After the 9/11 stuff happened, I REALLY wasn't likin' airplanes. I never been outside the United States. Lookin' back now, I believe I was nervous about being taken outta my comfort zone. It's natural. Humans are creatures of habit. Talking to Justin about it eased my fears. Other than that, I was ready to roll. July came quick. Before you know it, I was telling my parents good-bye. I met Bob and Justin about 6 a.m so we could ride to Chicago to catch our flight. We got there about noon or 1 p.m. We were gonna take 2 flights. The first flight was from Chi-town to Germany. That was an over night flight. Let me tell you, airplanes are uncomfortable. I couldn't really relax like I wanted to. It didn't matter. I was really excited to be flying and I wasn't trippin'! The ladies who worked on the plane were very sexy! There's somethin' about women it uniform. They do it for me! Alright, I gettin' sidetracked. Back to the story(this ain't the last time I'm gonna talk about the ladies! Believe that!). The plane ride was an over night flight. They were showing movies on the flight. I remember watching Sherk 2. I love that movie. Pinnoco and Ginger Bread Man killed me! I was liking flying more and more!! Then they showed Dirty Dancing Havana Nights. One word: Lame. I think I fell asleep in the first 30 minutes of it. I couldn't change the channel like I could if I seen a lame movie like this. Eventually, we made it to Germany. I'm not an easy person to intimidate, but the guards were VERY scary. I knew security would be souped up, due to 9/11. These dudes had guns. I don't think they were AKs, but they had the long clip. But still, they had guns! I've shot little guns like 9 millies and 357s, but I never shot guns like they had. Anyway, we took the flight from Germany to Sophia, the capital of Bulgaria. Before that, I wanna tell a story. While we was on the plane, a little girl was an isle to my right. Just by looking at her, she was about to get sick. I pay her no mind and put my music on. All of the sudden: RRRFFFFFFF! The poor little girl is puking her guts out. You all know how puke smells really stanky? Yeah, it smelled really stanky!!!! We are all in a small area, so you can't get away from the funk! Anyway, we finally touch down on Friday afternoon. I'm jet lagged like a motha, but we gotta switch out our money. We meet up this dude named Skip. He told us that the people may try to rob us, so we needed to be careful. I remember telling him if somebody tries to rob me, that person is getting their ass kicked and I gettin' my money back! He looked at me awkwardly after I said that. I wasn't playin'! Ain't nobody gonna rob me and get away with my dough. I don't care where we at!!!! After we changed out out money, we walked around Sophia. Even though I was worn out, that wasn't gonna stop me from checkin' out the local ladies. I remember the guy at the orientation said they weren't hot. Who's he tryin' to lie to? These women was fine as they wanna be. Of course, I'm gettin' alot of stares. At first, I was getting mad. They was lookin' at me like they wanna do somethin' Where I'm from, that's grounds for fightin'. It's considered dissin'. You just don't do that, man. Then I looked at like this: I'm a stranger in a strange land. Just like a woman in L.A who has natural breast and can move her face because she hasn't been Bo toxed, or a New York Yankee fan who wasn't annoying, I was an oddity. I guess they don't see alot of Black people. Especially a 6'3 280 Black guy. It's just like Benton, just only over seas!!!! We made our rounds through the city and met up with our interpreter at that moment. Her name was Deniese. She's a really nice lady and answered all of our concerns. This is gonna be it for awhile. I will be comin' up with a part 2 eventually. The next segment will be on the actual activities at our work site. So until next time............

Random Stuff Floatin' in My Dome

I was reading a magazine last night and came across an article. The person asked if he could have dinner with 5 people, who would they be? I'm like, I gotta do somethin' like that. So here it is. I also have others things like islands, and people I'd punch and other things. Enjoy!!



5 people I'd invite over for dinner:
1. Jesus. I'm not for sure my Savior would like my pork chops, but I would love to rap with Him about the world today. I'm not sure I'd crack jokes, but we would have a good conversation.

2. 50 Cent. I know he wouldn't like my pork chops. He's a bigger gym freak than me. I would pick his brain about everything. This guy is one of the smartest people around. And he's a good rapper too!

3. Martin Luther King Jr. I would love to have him at my house. He definitely can make a speech at my dinner table and we'd all listen. One of the greatest men ever. I would thank him for helping us Blacks realize that we could rise above. I admit, some things are still tough as far as racism, but it ain't nearly as bad like it was in his time. RIP

4. Quinton Rampage Jackson. This MMA star is one of the most coolest. We would definitely get along. We would goof off until Jesus tell's us to chill. Of course we'd listen!!!

5. Kobiyasha. Yeah that Japanese dude who eats like a vacuum. I would challenge this dude. I would ask him(translator on hand) how he can all that much and not have his heart blow up. This cat is awesome!!!!



If I was on an island, what would I bring?

1. Kim Kardashian

2. Jessica Alba, and Biel

3. Halle Berry

4. Alicia Keys

5. Beyonce

I know you are sayin' to yourself: Why all females? I would need to re populate, so I think they would be suitable women to do this, right? Besides, I ain't doin' no work. I'll have the kids do it.


Men who have been an influence (outside of my dad)

1. Ted Scholes

2. John Margani my former Youth minister

3. Mike McConell

4. Jerry Ford my former Pastor

5. Mr. Shonecke the Wood shop teacher in High School


Women who have been an influence (outside Mom)

1. Mrs. Poole. My English teacher in High School

2. Erica Carter. Former boss at my old job the Hideout. My big sister!

3. Ashleigh Beltz. Been cool since forever. Very kind

4. Gail Orr. I used to help her with the nursery in my church.

5. Treca McConnel. My 2nd Mom!





If I could make the world a better place, I'd punch these jabronis in the face:

1. Bill O'Reilly: Self righteous jackass

2. Jose Conseco: Certified rat

3. The chick in the show I Love New York. I don't advocate violence on women, but if you seen her, that ain't no woman!!!!!

4. PETA. Camera whores

5. Those spoiled White girls on Sweet 16. Enough said!

This is why I hate Batman.........

In the last entry, I talked about my brush with Death. Actually, I came close to biting the big one. Three times to be exact, but I will talk about the first time. The first time was when I was in the 5th grade. At that time, I was attending Longfellow Grade School. It was an alright school. Really small classes. Made some friends there. Anyhow, me and my sister got home from school. Of course we did our homework. We did that for a hour before we ate. That day we had pork chops. Now, I ain't gonna lie, my mama can cook her ass off!!! There is a certain way she cooks them that makes it good. To this day, I have no idea how she do it. I've tried, but I can't get it right. Anyhow, we ate around 4pm. At the time Batman the Animated Series was a very cool show to watch. We would watch it on the black and white television every day after school. This day was different. I was supposed to meet up with my homies and play some basketball. I really didn't wanna watch Batman that day. I was in a rush. In my rush, I swallowed a fat part of the pork chop. One thing you have to know about my eating speed is that I can really eat fast. Honestly I can go up against that Japanese cat who always eats those hot dogs at a crazy rate, Kobiyashi I think is his name, and would go toe to toe with homie!!!! Kobiyashi, I wanna challenge you if you reading this............
Just playin!!! Back to the story. I swallowed a fat part of the chop, and it didn't go down my throat. I also couldn't get it up outta my throat. I was stuck. I remember the terror in my sister's eyes as she seen me struggling. I ain't never seen her like that. She starts yelling for Mom, then Mom starts screamin' and trippin'. At this point, I was sweating, trying to gasp for air I couldn't get, and crying because I was afraid. I was really young, but I knew this was about to be it. Thankfully, Pops was there to save me. He opened up my jaw and got the meat out. I remember falling to the floor on all fours, crying, and trying to get my thoughts back. Mama was still crying, my sister was still crying. Of course, Pops didn't cry. My Pops is really hard. He's a great man, but I've never seen him cry. Ever. But I know he was scared. After all that, everything slowed down. Needless to say, I ain't go play that day. I also wanna get Batman back for that near disaster. Damn you Batman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The aftermath of the near death is a reminder I see everyday in the mirror: a scar in the form of a blood spot. It's on my left eye and it was really bad after the incident. I went to school the next day with my left eye all bloody. Thankfully, I could see just fine. It went down eventually, but a little is still there. People ask, "What's wrong with your eye?" It's become a part of me, so I don't notice as much as everyone else. Even though this wasn't the last time I fought with Death, this by far was the most frightening thing I ever encountered. Other than falling in love with a girl, that is. That shit is complicated, homie. Anyway, I wanna shout out my family, my brother Justin Lannom, the McConnels, my homies I grew up with, my two good lookin' friends Brittney Ross and her cousin Amanda Oldeen (Mandy's my "wife". Don't ask, cause it ain't none of your concern!!!), and to the Lord for giving me 9 lives like 50 Cent!!!!!!

Allow me to introduce myself......

Hello everyone out there. My name is Scott Berry. I'm really new to this, even though blogging been around for a minute. I wanna take the opportunity and give you a bio on myself. First off, I'm 26 years old, Black and proud. I'm not for sure how tall I am, could be in the neighborhood of 6'1 to 6'3. I weigh about 280, but when I get back on my diet, I'll probably shrink a little. My interests are the ladies, NFL, NBA, mixed martial arts, working out and getting my health right, reading, writing (obviously if I'm doing this....) and most importantly, SLEEPING. I work 40-50 a week at my job, which I'm not gonna say where I work. I teach Sunday School. However, I speak my mind on everthing and I don't pull punches. I have 2 best friends. Justin Lannom is one. He's really a good dude and has had my back, even when I'm wrong. I consider him my brother. The other dude's name is Joe Craig. He's a real dude. What you see is what you get. He's really funny. He's also the ladies man. Just call him LL Cool J, 'cause the ladies love Joe!!!! My other friends consist of Danny Walker (my barber and good friend), Ted Scholes (the other Sunday School Teacher), my second famliy the McConnells. Speaking of family, I have loving parents and a cool as hell sister. My favorite musicians are 50 Cent, The Game, Robin Thicke, basically rap and R&B. I've had a couple brushes with Death, which in my next entry. For now, I wanna say peace to all my friends, my lovely family, and I'll all you around!!!!


Peace, Love, and Napiness.........