Educational Excellence

Happy Friday, Y’all!  Dang, we got here again! So, TGIF!!

Life is quite interesting as we each try to choose our course of action when faced with a challenge.  First, I try to decide if I can live with MYSELF after taking a decisive action.  I ask myself, “Is this who I really am?”  “Am I and my ‘loved ones’ proud of my actions?”  Keep in mind, some folks don’t have “loved ones” … like I do … so they make stupid decisions and take even worse actions!  I always “say” this … “Be the BEST that you can be!”  I also strongly suggest as does EE, “Be yourself because you are YOU!”  Now I have been “blessed” to be a “role model” for so many people.  How do I know?!?  They TELL me!  I love that!!

If you recall a few messages and blog posts back, I had moved from where I was living because I refused to pay money to a “property manager” who not ONLY tries to look into my bedroom, but is also jealous of ME!  Each time I had someone visit me, this “grimy-assed” mofo would come up to the dwelling that I paid for and “pretend” he knows the person!  (Once, I was having a massage done and he wanted to WATCH!!)   He also showed his jealousy when I told him that I was getting some dental work done!  His comment was, “Oh, I was doing that, too, but I ran out of money!”  When people tell you who they are … believe them!  This “character” was telling me who he “is” … and I tried to help until I sensed some “sexual interest”.  When I asked about this “character” – Augusto Polo – one of my friends said, “Oh, he’s gay!”  I don’t mind!  But respect ME!  Yesterday, I went to talk with a “local attorney” who not only knows this “character”, but had been propositioned by the “character” to help him set up some “bs business”!  Clearly, the character is struggling with multiple issues … like most of us!!  I actually paid this “moron” the rent EARLY a few times, trying to help his stupid ass!!  Then like most parasites do, he tried to burrow into MY LIFE since he saw how “well” I took care of myself through the resources provided me by “the universe”.  He had/has no such resources, so he “helped himself” to mine!!  The character told the attorney: “I won’t return the security because he (me … John I. Cook) broke the lease.”  Imagine that!!  A sexual pervert claiming that “I” broke the lease after asking me to leave the NEXT month so he could get another month’s rent before NOT returning the “security deposit” which he clearly doesn’t have!!  What a “monster”!!

Now, I am NOT perfect and I am far from it! But, at this stage of the game, I like who I’ve become and I am NOT lowering my frequency to catch more problems than blessings! I don’t need to get involved in a “downward spiral” after the “universe” and my Creator whom I choose to call “God”, have “lifted” me so high!! I will let the forces of “good” conquer the less competent forces of “morons” and their evil!

Have a great day … and remember … “You don’t have to be perfect to be good!”

Peace,

John I. Cook, Director

Happy Friday, Y’all!

You already know my drill this time of the week … TGIF with me unless you’ve got something “bigger than life itself” to complain about!  I know you don’t, so … TGIF, then!

Needless to say, I am on another frequency this week.  Do you readers remember last month or so how disappointed I was about getting a FULL refund for the “non-services” of the previous publishing company?  Then you probably remember the challenges I had with my living situation and the “peeping Tom” character of a property manager that I had been paying while he showed the lowest class that I’ve seen in a person in a long time?!  Well, it seems that … “POOF!” … just like that, they BOTH have been resolved!!  Now, I am living near the top of “Tucan Road” in a really cozy two-bedroom “log cabin” house.  And now, the book that I came “here” to write, though I didn’t know where “here” was going to be as I traveled places seeking a peaceful abode to retire and finish my third book dedicated to my Mother – Marietta Dolores Cook, is LIVE on Kindle!  So, in case you thought “you” could hamper, deter, or stop my efforts, you’ve got another thought coming!  It’s amazing how many people DO NOT want to see “you” succeed!  Well, get in line “chumps”, there are a lot of people still wondering how “I” do it!!  It’s not me … I am “no body” … I have transcended “me” or the great “I” that many of us think we are!  “I” am a part of the “universe” better known as “we” kindred spirits!  Enlightened thinking …

Now, when have you ever heard of someone NOT liking “love” or “goodness”; or NOT like someone who advocates “love”, peace, and harmony?  Unfortunately, there are “bodies” like that!!  These people are so “unfamiliar” with true “love” (not sex!), real peace, and their own happiness that whenever they see “it”, they doubt and cringe at “it” and look for ways to mess things up!  I remember in Alcoholics Anonymous we learned to “Let go and let God” (Good Orderly Direction) when “things” seemed unbearable … out of control, even!  I go back to that “lesson” whenever my fledgling ego wants to “ease God out”!  Sounds simple, right?!  It’s then that you discover “who” you are – No Body!!  Just get “back to basics” with humanity and acknowledge that “we” are ALL more alike than we are different.  It’s just that intellectualizing “this” concept doesn’t work.  It must be viewed through spiritual lenses.  THIS is enlightened thinking when we go beyond the physical as one does in meditation!  This is the type of thinking that frightens people who need their physical props to “illustrate” who they want you to think they are!  Back in my “hippy” days, we called that “mind games”!  Some “folks” … and I use that term loosely … actually thrive on those “mind games” and become EXTREMELY susceptible to “disinformation” commonly called “lies”.  Are you one of those “creatures”?!?  Check yourself, ’cause if you come around me with “unenlightened thinking”, I will be looking for a way to help “you” … or depart from “your” negative-energized presence!!  

In closing, I would like to thank the readers who somewhat understand where I am coming from as well as the many many people (close to 500 now!) who commented on the “release” of “Cooking With Life!”.  Tomorrow, I have a video call planned with my old schoolmate, Larry T. Woody, so I can continue editing the e-book to achieve the desired results – a comfortable reading experience!

Peace,

John I. Cook, Director

Yeah, yeah, yeah … TGIF again, y’all!  I am feeling exceptional so I’ve got this TGIF for us, okay! TGIF!!

“Some days I feel like a nut … some days I am a nut!”  No shame in my game ’cause I NEVER try to hurt anyone just because I can.  I just don’t! I’m not wired that way, thank God!  I enjoy more blessings that way!!  It was hard for me to understand and almost harder to accept!  Yet, I know that I am a “good” person so I am always functioning from a “high self-esteem” frequency, always looking to “be charitable” and caring!  I “trust” that relationship that I have with “the cosmos” or “the universe” or God … whatever works for you!  When I “stay the course” … even if I hit some rough “waters”, it ALWAYS works out!

A couple of examples follow, the first one “The iUniverse Scandal” where these publishing company people tried to “confiscate” $1,500.00 from me!  I was all worked up … ready to take a flight to their corporate office in the States.  Of course, it wouldn’t have worked out, so I continued to call the Bank of America “claims department” like a “girlfriend”!  That means I hit them up sometimes twice a week for three months.  They were professional and promised to stay on the “case”!  I was requesting a FULL refund while iUniverse’s accountant offered all except $400.00!!  The cancellation policy, which I was within, requires one to cancel services within 90 days for a refund minus $150.00!!  So, Bank of America sweated them out and came to the same conclusion that I did – unprofessional, dishonest, disrespectful thieves … all four of them that I had contact with!!  Thanks, “bank”!

Of course, the most recent example that I can provide of the “follow the universe/stay the course” attitude yielding good results involves my living situation!  I really wasn’t sure how to handle the former “creepy” property manager other than to call him out on his “sh@t” hard EACH and EVERY TIME … if that’s what it would take.  I knew he couldn’t handle it and was hoping to just leave since he said he wouldn’t renew my 3-month lease in April via a hand-delivered letter because “it wasn’t working out”! WTF!!  So, when I tried to address him he walked away from me, his tenant who was paying $500.00/month saying that he doesn’t have to talk to me!!  So, as he continued walking away, I asked if he was going to return my $500.00 security deposit to me.  He responded, not even looking back to address me in a most disrespectful insincere manner, “Sure!”, he said.  I was like “BITCH”!  And that was the last word I promised myself that I would say to this ungrateful phony!  There would be NO more payments to this grimy character either.  The “universe” kicked in.  I found three different places and I had several friends promise to help me move … which they did.  I selected the best and most expensive of the three!  “Stayin’ the course” worked out again.

A couple of weeks ago, I reached out to an old boarding school brother from Baltimore, Larry T. Woody, author of “In Black In White”.  Me and Woody were roommates our senior year at SPS with Robert Aurelius Hipp, another brother from “The Projects” … same apartment building as me … “They say them cats Hipp, Woody, and Cook are some bad mother … SHUT yo’ mouth!”  Me, Woody and Hipp (RIP) played varsity basketball at St. Paul’s School (NH), ran track and cross country together … ‘nough said.  So, “Woody” self-published HIS book with Amazon/Kindle (KDP) and provided me with his knowledge and encouragement!  Thanks, Man!

Now, with a “new” spot to write from, to heal from, and to just enjoy my life from, I am feeling like the “universe” had been guiding me all the time.  I just have to “stay the course”!  YOU can do it, too!

Peace,

John I. Cook, Director

Happy Friday, Y’all!

I’m flying on this week!  So, let me do it first!! TGIF!

If you “know” me, you know that I’ve met a lot of folks after having been a teacher in the public schools in White Plains, private secondary schools and universities in Cali, Colombia, South America, and much of the same in Ft. Lauderdale for 20 plus years! This week, I learned that ANOTHER one of my former students from White Plains High School passed away.  Rest in Peace, Giraud Hope …

I’ve just experienced one of those episodes in which I was “wronged” or disrespected regarding a business encounter where I lived for 5 months until Wednesday!  I had to “make a move” in order to physically move my residence.  Not only did the property manager lie to me about what was in the lease while I entertained dinner guests (and did NOT apologize once discovered), he spent the best part of my first three months trying to “hit” on me, giving me papayas that I don’t eat so much, and saying disrespectful “things” to me and peering over the low wall into my bedroom too many mornings!  While flattered, it really hampered my opportunity to learn how to “self-publish” my third book with Amazon’s Kindle e-book platform.  So, when I told him that his behavior had to stop, he got angry and started making jokes about my “then” missing tooth as well as the “work” I was doing on my cane from Spain!  It was THEN that I realized this person’s true character … and I moved unexpectedly with “a little help from my friends”!  If you could see the place that I am writing this from, you might realize how kind “the universe” has been to me in this episode along my journey!  THIS is why I came to retire outside of the States.

Along my “people-centered” journey, I have come into contact with a wide variety of humans … including some “real characters”, as we had often called those “unorthodox” people in our lives who gave us a “hand full” to deal with!!  Here in Costa Rica … Talamanca to be exact … there are a lot of “characters”, if you will, seeking something …  So, since I came to write and “relax” (heal through yoga and meditation), I have to stay clear of “the characters” who would like to treat me however THEY wish!  It often involves some “high-level energy” to steer clear of such types, but I have to do it …. or ELSE!!  So, here, again is where I try to be “the best that I can be” without getting trodden upon!  It’s a “tall order” but this is how I roll when I’m representing “the boy from The Projects” who has had substantial opportunities to be “the best that I can be”!  Those people who try to “compete” with me on one level or another usually fall short and end up being “disrespectfully jealous”!!  “Exit!  Stage left!” and I’m out of there …”

So, I can share with you that along MY journey, my character and personal development have always been a keen focus for me!  What kind of “character” do you portray along your journey?!?  Make it a good one!!

Peace,

John I. Cook, Director