Let's try this font. Or maybe I already used this font before. Hmmm...that's neither here nor there.
Greetings and Salutations to my Epic Reflections audience!
I am Thee Epic One, The Exception To The Rules of Man, The Everlasting Phoenix Pharaoh!!! But you already knew that. (Yeah I just ripped off Alberto Del Rio's catchphrase. It isn't all that creative but it kinda rolls off the tongue, you know?) I am sure anyone who has the pleasure of reading the thoughts that run through my mind must wonder why I use these "Over The Top" titles for myself. Well, I will enlighten you and reveal my logic. But first off let me say, the main reason I do is because, quite frankly, I can and I like to do it.
In a world where I have to go by the name my parents gave me just like we all do, or the majority of the population that is not some kind of celebrity or otherwise, I REFUSE to exist in the online world with the same name I have no choice in using in my everyday life. It's just dull, uncreative, and boring. But that's just me. Different strokes for different folks, you know? It's just like on Myspace how you can register under any name you choose. It has always befuddled me why anyone would choose their real name. Although, I tend to agree with Magneto in the X2 movie where he asks Pyro what his name is and he replies, "John." Then, with a pause, Magneto looks into his eyes and says to him, "Your REAL name." Norman Osbourne said it best in the first Spider-man flick, "We are who we choose to be. NOW CHOOSE!" That is what I've done essentially when I proclaim these titles for myself. Every one of them has meaning and specific insight into who I am and, more importantly, what seperates me every other living being in this universe. (Why restrict myself to this world because I believe we're just a small crumb in a banquet of existence in this universe) It really doesn't help I'm a comic book geek and pro wrestling loyalist. While both are exaggerated reflections of reality, in my case, they tend to be my preference to the reality of the cold, harsh, cruel world we try to survive in everyday. It is a constant struggle to now ignorant the current events of the world around and not get lost in exaggerated reflection of the very same world I, sometimes, wish was the world I read about in my favorite DC/Marvel titles. (Yeah, I know I need to expand my comic book horizons. I'm working on it...)
I sometimes ponder what our world would be like with individuals with superhuman abilities amongst other forms of higher existence you can read about in the DC/Marvel universes. I feel, as crazy as it may seem, that in an alternate reality what I believe is impossible and not real is the foundation of reality for those living in it. Reading comics opens up one's mind to that kind of thing....but anyway, back on topic. Those reasons are just some that might explain why I use those titles. In future Blogs I will explain, in detail, what those titles mean and stand for in reference to me.
Now...the title of this Blog is called Friendships and beyond. In my life, I have never really had a best friend until...well...I met my best friend. My entire life I have always been an "Eyeball" as we used to say back in the day. I never fit in anywhere. I lived right around the corner from projects but when to Catholic school my entire life. So I would come home from Catholic school to kids who were straight out of the projects with that hood lifestyle, attitude, etc. It was during those years I struggled internally to find myself. I didn't like the same kind of things most of the kids liked around my way, I didn't believe the same things, I didn't think the same way. At the same time when I went to school I didn't fit in with the white kids (my school was mostly white) either. I was stuck between two worlds. I wasn't completely accepted by my own kind or the white kids. Many people don't know this, but the group that caused me more pain and grief as a child was black girls which is probably why I find 99.5% of the completely unattractive. To this day I'll never know why I was such a target for them but they made me who I am today so I'd like to thank them for being the ignorant, disgusting, narrow-minded, hood rats they were.
I never will forget my last year in elementary school. I was a cool kid and had an awesome reputation...UNTIL I dated this white girl who cheated on me with my best friend. I'll never ever forget that. I still remember every single song that came on the radio that summer and during that entire period to be honest. I had no best friend and no girlfriend that summer. I really didn't have anyone else. I stayed in my room all summer. That was the prelude to going on to meet my best friend since 1996. I remember we instantly clicked because we were comic book fans. We drew covers of issues when other guys would snicker and laugh...that is until comic movies starting to change the face of modern day pop culture. Without it being gay I vowed to never let a female come between us like my previous best friend. The rest is history.
ETR (Exception To The Rule) and been just another "stereotypically correct" young black male.
My best friend's family, after a period of "feeling out" embraced me as one of their own and I'll never be able to thank them for that. As a result, I met my fiance (That Wonderous Daughter of Poseidon who has made me so much more of a man that I could have been on my own and who honestly I am really blessed to have in my life as the mother of my child) who is actually apart of his family and had my daughter. If it had not been for his family I would have never met her, I would have never had the chance to go to the Disney parks in Florida, and I would not be the man I am today. Do I have alot of growing to do? INDEED! The most important thing to remember is that I know who I am and what I stand for and because of my best friend and the positivity him and his family exposed me to I would be someone else other than what I believe I was meant to be.
I think our friendship is definitely a landmark of positivity in my life. Life goes on and inevitably people get older and things around us change but we still can get together and continue to enjoy life just like we were still in high school. Now while the dynamic of our personalities remains to intrigue me with him being a guy that it's damn there impossible to hate or dislike and me being that kind of "Bad Cop" in the "Good Cop/Bad Cop" analogy we have managed to surpass the title of best friends and received the point of being brothers. So if I were a comic book character and I had to do an origin story him and his family would be pivotal in me finding my calling to be whatever hero I would become. So to this great man and his awesome family, I say thank you for contributing to me becoming the person I am today and I will do everything in my power to reach my potential in being the best ETR I can be.
Let it be known that my favorite motto/catchphrase was verified in having an awesome best friend and surrogate family like I have. (I'm not knocking my own family, but we'll save that for another Blog)
So yeah, enough with the sentimental crap. I just think that just like Ryu and Ken, Batman and Superman, even or Captain America and Iron Man some friendships should be celebrated and while we are not super heroes in the DC/Marvel universes I'd like to think we bring some of those values that those characters have to the table in our reality.
Signing off,
The Phoenix Pharaoh
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