Had An Itch To Scratch

Lemme tell you about my first day of school.

You remember how you felt every year on the first day of school. You know how you walk into a new classroom, and you can tell whether it is going to be good or bad? Yeah, me too. Yesterday, was my first day of class at the Scratch Academy. Here's the rundown:

6:13am: 

Woke up, and actually went right to the shower! I didn't lay around for 30 more mins or nothing! I did my hair (kind of) the day before in these HORRIBLE two strand twists. I made my own "pomade" lol, so, the twists were kinda greasy. I untwisted them to wear like a crinkly fro type joint, but nope. Didn't work out the way I envisioned. But I worked with what I had, and it came off aight. 

7:22: 

Left out of the house. Mind you, the bus stop is about 0.2 miles from my house (about a 7 minute walk), so I was PUSHING it because the bus comes at 7:29 or whenever the hell it wants to. So I was power walking, slightly. Once I was about halfway from the corner, something told me to start jogging a little bit, so I jogged about 4 paces, then I started to walk up the corner to the stop and as soon as I hit the corner, and looked down the street, the bus was coming full speed ahead. So I asserted myself QUICKLY at the bus stop so he could see me. Now had the good Lord above not told me to jog a little bit...

8:00am: 

I arrive downtown. Now, I have to take another bus to the train station. According to my directions from the LA Transtar Trip Planner thing, the next bus is coming at 8:22am, and will get me to the train station by 8:31 am. My train leaves at 8:46am. So that would leave me enough time to get my ticket and stuff. HOW-EVER, my bus didn't come until 8:33. I got to the train station at about 8:39. SO, I had what, 7 minutes to make my train? Well, I get off and there are a lot of people out there (for a Saturday morning). I ask this man where to buy the tickets and he points like 100 yards down from where I was standing. I look at the clock on the lamppost and it's like 8:41. So I walk QUICKLY down to the ticket machine, and as I'm walking, I'm noticing this large crowd of people around the machines. I'm thinking they just got off of a train or are waiting for a charter bus or something. I walk up to the machines and they are all out of order. So I ask this lady how to get a ticket, and she points down to this line of people that were standing where I came from. I was like F-U-C-K! It's like 8:43 now, so I walk all the way back down there and people are moving quickly, so I tell a security guard I have to be on the train, and he told me to go back down to terminal 6, and I tell him I DONT HAVE A TICKET! He tells me to just get on because the machines are broken. He told me the train is boarding now, so I have to hurry. I jog, then I start to run to the train. Mind you, I am running back toward the ticket machines. As I'm running, I closed my eyes for a second, and I wanted to stop running so bad because I am VERY tankish, and I hate running, but the good Lord told me that if I stopped running, not only would I miss the train, but I would miss an opportunity that I would regret. So I kept it pushing, and I got on a train, and I didn't know what train it was, but I got on it anyway. I asked someone if this was the Union Station train, and they said yup. And then like 40 secs after I sat down, the doors closed and the conductor announced that we were heading to L.A/Union Station. So, had the good Lord not told me to run....

The Train Ride:

Very Dwele. I turned on my iPod, and stared out the window. I have never listened to my iPod non-stop (no skipping), but I did on the train, and it was incredible. It's so simple, but it's so me. 

About 10:15 Or So: 

I get to Union Station and I was low-key, in awe of it.

I have been here a couple times before, but today it was different. I asked a security guard where Alameda & Los Angeles street was, like how far was it from Union Station, and it was right across the street. So I go and wait for the bus out there

. 

There were these two kids out there. You know when you go to school, and (well maybe not you cool ass people, but I know my wallflowerish, nerdish folks can identify) you feel like people are talking about you because they look at you and laugh? Yeah, me too. I thought this young girl and boy were talking about me, because I walk up to the bus stop and they look real quick, then they turn away grinning. I had my headphones on so I wasn't really paying them no nevermind. Anyway, just a side note from that situation, if you ever feel like people are judging you or talking about you, do this: think about what they might have going on in their own lives that would make them want to spend time observing yours. You'll get over it. I am usually ashamed when I think people are talking bad about me (my appearance, my smile, whatever), but now I'm like, maybe they have some insecurities of their own, so I'm not gonna worry about what they say. If they don't like me for silly reasons, God bless them anyway. ANY-WAY...

10:30am or So: Get on the #010 Santa Monica bus. 

Peep game ya'll. These LA busses nickel-and-dime the HELL outta you if you don't know exactly what you wanna do. I'm an out of towner, so I'm already ignorant. I didn't have any quarters, just dollar bills. The bus is like $1.75 or $0.75, I dunno. I ended up paying $2.25 for that bus and I have no idea why. I had to transfer (I know 'transfer' is that old school term) to the #07 bus down on Pico & Bundy. Now when I got on that bus, I didn't pay anything, but I put my little bus pass thing in the slot and it stamped it as 'expired'. It's weird. Bus transfers only last like 2 hours at a time....Oh yeah, they were shooting a movie in downtown L.A. too. 

11:05am: 

I get off the bus and walk to the Scratch Academy. Thank GOD for Google Maps on my phone. It has GPS, so I was on that thing like white on rice on a paper plate in a snowstorm! (Shout out to 'Major Payne' for the line). I walk up Pico to Cotner, and I'm walking up this industrial looking street. I'm expecting to see this Dwele ass building with a big R.E.H.A.B logo on it or something, but I see an old ass ambulance parked outside of this little hole in the wall building. By then, I'm like "Hell no." So I walk up closer, and on the door was a J-Dilla flyer, and I was like "Hell yea." So I walk in, and I can't even put the feelings into words. It's like everything I have ever liked/like was inside of this place. There were flyers for everything everywhere, there were RECORDS on the walls from all of my favorite artists (past and present), there was graffiti everywhere, there was a Street Fighter II Champion Edition arcade style game in there (NOBODY can see me on Street Fighter II). It was incredible. I couldn't think of anything to do except say "Thank you Lord." It was amazing. I hadn't even TOUCHED a turntable yet. I was the first one there (since class didn't start until 12), and there were two other DJ's there; "Paperboy" and "Ver5e"(pronounced 'verse). They were super nice. Ver5e was like "Damn, you took the bus all the way from San Bernardino!?", and I told him I took the train too. Paperboy is like a child prodigy. I thought he was much older than he is. He's a mixtape DJ for G-Unit/Shadyville and them. He is really cute!! He was a hottie before I found out he was only 17! I was like "Damn." I like 'em young, but I'm trying to stay out of jail. Then this reporter from World Press News or something came in. He was doing a story on the Scratch Academy. He was talking to me for a second. Then the director of the academy, and my instructor, Hapa, came in. HE IS SICK. He's so official. He's actually the DJ on the KTLA morning news. He's been everywhere man. Soon after that, more and more people (classmates) came in. Another DJ came, "Elsewhere" to help instruct us. So in all Hapa, Ver5e, Paperboy, and Elsewhere are our instructors. We all went around and introduced ourselves. There are about 14 people or so in the class, and like 4 of them (including myself) are females. The other ladies are like professionals (one works for a designer, one works in a plastic surgeons office, and the other buys prostate cancer equipment for a hospitals...they have WAY more money than me, basically). The dudes have like crazy, well-paying professions too. The guy sitting next to me is a physician intern for Cedar Sinai! Hapa asked us to tell like what kinds of music we liked and he was like "I have to know your DJ name!" I didn't say mine ("This-That") because I think people will laugh at it like "WHAT THE F.."We learned a lot. I learned TOO much! It was so exciting to do this. And I'll be doing it for the next six Saturdays!!! All I gotta say is:

If it wasn't for God, I wouldn't have made it to DJ school. A lot of random stuff has been going on lately. This school is costing $300 to go to, and Lord knows my family could use that in other ways besides this. Not to mention the money it takes to get there. It's been really hard at home with having no money and stuff, and it's taking a toll on my family. I really wanted to do this, and I told God my worries about not being able to pay for it. I have just enough money in my account to cover the $150 deposit for school, but I had to borrow against that to pay for necessities at home. I prayed that I would still be able to go. I went down there not knowing if they were gonna tell me "Yeah, um, your payment was declined because of non-sufficient funds, so you can't stay." The exact opposite happened. My name was on the roster and everything. I even got a snazzy Scratch Academy notebook with my course info in it. 

I've been worried for the last 2 weeks because the money for the deposit hadn't came out yet, and I paid it on the 12th. But the Lord said "Give me your worries, and leave it alone." I did, and it paid off. I was almost sure to miss my busses and trains today, but I didn't. I was early when it counted, and on time when it mattered. God wouldn't let me fail....Thank you Lord. 

"There is a waaaaaaay-aaaa, no matter what they say..."-Mos Def