The Life and Times Of Dai'th Lee

How I feel today and most times of my life...

2011-05-26T10:50:00.000-07:00

She walked by the ocean,
And waited for a star,
To carry her away.

Feelin' so small,
At the bottom of the world,
Lookin' up to God.

She tries to take deep breaths,
To smell the salty sea,
As it moves over her feet.

The water pulls so strong,
And no-one is around,
And the moon is looking down.

Sayin',
Rosie - come with me,
Close your eyes - and dream.

The big ships are rollin',
And lightin' up the night,
And she calls out, but they just her pass by.

The waves are crashin',
But not making a sound,
Just mouthing along.

Sayin',
Rosie - come with me,
Close your eyes and dream,
Close your eyes and dream,
Close your eyes and dream

To my First Born Child

2011-05-11T10:54:00.000-07:00

I don't know you yet but I can honestly say, I've been waiting for you for all of my adult life. I've had dreams, visions, thoughts and ideas on who you would be. I've spent days and nights wondering about you. Just last week thursday, May 5th, 2011 at around 7:30-8:00 AM, I find out that you were on your way here and my heart stopped. It was too good to be true. Had this actually be for real? Something that I though was so far out of my reach was happening. I stood still and nodded to Caitlin. "Well," I said, "Looks like finally coming about." I stay cool. I didn't want to let on what my heart so desperately longed for. I had to play it that way because its my nature not to get excited about things so good that it may not be true. Caitlin was crazy happy. She hugged me, smiled and left to drop Kiya, our puppy, at her moms and to also inform her of the good news. When she left. I stopped again and I prayed to God. I thanked Him for this gift and then I prayed that we would see you. I asked that He keep you safe and bring you to us. I could in my hardness take it but I feared Caitlin would not fare as well. I prayed that she would see you. I thank the Lord everyday for you and I smile every time I think of you. Its amazing to me that I haven't met you yet nor do I know you but I love you so much already. I want to be such a great father to you. To help you grow and become a strong person in the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to raise you in His will and ways. I pray that I will be up to the task of showing you this world and help you find your path. I hope that the times where you think I'm being mean or not understanding are very few and far inbetween. I want so much to show you it all. To teach you right from wrong, to watch you grow and be secure in God and yourself. I want you to know you. I want you to know that before you were a thought in my head, I knew you would be great. I want you to know that even if the world falls down around you and things don't go how you want them too, you will always be the world to me. I wish all the best things for you. I want you to be kind and loving. Unselfish to others and always quick to reach out and help whomever no matter whatever. Caitlin has all of these things and I want so much for you to have those qualities. I want you to have that. I'm not, at times, the greatest person. I mess up quite a bit but when I fall, I don't stay down long. My stubbornness is sometimes my greatest weakness and my biggest strength. Sometimes I can move and no matter what, I refuse to be moved. My will and my determination to overcome are a great asset but I pray that you can do what I can't and find the balance between it. Be Strong, Be Faithful, Be Kind, Be Thoughtful, Be Honest, Be Loving, BE TRUE...be all those things and more. You and I, we are going to have our times. You are I are going to be mad at each other. You're going to keep me up at nights and I'm going to make you not want to speak to me. I know this and I understand. I want you to understand that through all of that, through anything that life throws at us. I will never cease to love you. You may do things I don't like but I will always be your daddy and I will never stop loving you. I will always want to hug you and embarrass you and make you feel awkward with your friends when I brag about you to others. When those days come, when you don't particularly like me that time, I hope you will still always love me too. You are the hope and dream that I have always had. You make everything in my world complete. You are the first brick towards Caitlin and I having a home. With you, we finally have our own little family. I want time to speed up so I can see you. So I can see a gift so wonderful, it could only come from heaven. I can't wait for you to see our friends, your grandparents, your family, your world. We are going to love you so much and one day, when you are older and you look at me, I hope you know that everything I ever did was for you and your mother. I hope I can make you as happy as just the mere thought of you makes me. The world is not the best of places but it has plenty of good in it and I hope that you will let me hold you hands and show it to you even after the point when you don't need to hold my hand anymore. I love you kid. More than you could possibly begin to fathom. I know you need to take your time and get ready before you are ready to come out but when you do, I 'll be waiting for you with a ball and a glove ready to play catch with you...

Love, Now Always and Forever...Your Dad.

Finished on June 1, 2011

PS...I love you.

Understanding

2010-12-03T14:05:00.000-08:00

Understanding…

It’s a hard thing to come by. Sometimes it can happen in second…maybe even a minute. You grasp at the idea of something else and it gives pause. But sometimes, it takes days, months or even years to really understand a person. It is understanding that allows you to connect to someone on a level past the surface. It’s deeper than a nominal glance. It’s a bond. It binds you to whomever, however, whenever. You and that person or thing has now come to terms and whatever happens, you now understand why. It is one of the few things that drive me. Understanding... To understand how things are and why they are. To understand people and why they do the things that they do. Or better yet, in my case…to be understood. For years and still now, its one of my top two things I want in my life. To be understood. Some people may get me, but they don’t understand me. There are maybe a handful of these people. And I do mean a handful. Use a baby hand for that measurement and you’ll be dead on. They have known me for years. They get that when I do something, there is a reason. They may not know what it is, but they know there is a cause for my action. This is where understanding would come into play. You would understand that my actions are not just the reaction of an event but also to prevent whatever negative situation that may have caused it. You would know the reason why I acted in whatever manner. I act not for the moment but for many moments to come. I move so that I can be better tomorrow or the day after. I adjust myself so that I can fit into the shape that the future might bring. But I do this because I understand it. I know that through my life things can and will happen. People will say something on the surface and hide the true intentions right behind it and a lot of people won’t see it. The problem is, I do. I’ve been in the military, overseas and back. Saw a lot of things, did a lot of things. Some good and some bad. But in all of it, I was learning. I was coming to terms with things. How people act, how they move. Why they do this and why they do that. I don’t quite grasp how I can get it. Maybe because I’m an artist. To draw something from sight means I had to have studied it intensely enough to understand it. I can do this. I can also pull ideas from my head and put it on paper because I understand how it works. Sometimes I wonder if it’s something God decided to add on. If that’s the case then I’ll be the first to tell you I don’t want it. I love you Lord, but I can’t handle it. It’s something that makes me analyze things and 90% it’s dead on but sometimes I find things that I never wanted to know or things there were never there to begin with. But I understand it’s me. I understand that it’s something that I have to figure out. And to be honest, I do. But the problem is this with me. I understand them but they don’t understand me. Sometimes it’s so alone in my life. I have people around me that say they do, but I can see in their eyes it’s only something said to help get me past my depression. They will never understand me. They won’t even try. They can’t remember they last thing they said to a person let alone remember me. And it’s painful cause I see it and they don’t. I realize it and they won’t. They deny it. They say they do and turn around and do the same thing again. There is no understanding then. One of the things I hate is repeating something that someone and I agreed on. If you agree then you understand. But if you don’t agree, you probably understand or don’t want to agree. Now can you understand and not agree? Sure…” I see where you are coming from but…”. That’s it right there. Can you not understand and yet agree? You could but you would be a fool to submit to something you don’t understand. So when someone says to me, I agree, I imagine that you understand what I said and its good. When you do this but go back on it, trust begins to chip and break away. All because of one tiny, supposedly insignificant, lie. Had we chosen to be honest at the beginning, none of this would be an issue. But just to get it out of the way for now, we lie. This does not set well with me. You can lie about a few things and some people are willing to look over it because on some level, they understand. But to lie ABOUT understanding someone will tear down a friendship brick by brick. I could be wrong about this. But this is about me so I’m saying I’m not. It’s the way I work. It’s my blueprint. You want me to care? Understand me first. I walk around all day with people. I sit and work with people all day. I live with people but I’m all alone in the midst of them. To be understood is to be accepted. To accept me, means you understand me. I look people in the eye that I’ve known for years and they don’t get me. Everything thing they do, is almost always for self gain .Small little motivators to position people in the spot that they want. To control things. I’ve found that when people who are used to the control, whether it’s to control or being controlled, are taken out of that situation, its almost as if they don’t know how to act. Everything becomes volatile. The littlest spark becomes a wild fire. And they don’t understand why. If you spent your years doing something and adjusting to it, when it changes you’re not sure on what to do. Prison inmates are a chief example. They call it to be “institutionalized”. Where the situation you are in becomes all that you know and you accept it and become comfortable with it and any change in it will cause moderate discomfort. I don’t think you have to be in prison to be that way. Certain aspects of life can be that way. Some are due to fear and pain but others can hide in the guise of love. And the minute you question it, you are contradicting this so called love. You are made to feel like you are the bad guy. You are the villain. And then you are forced to submit for the sake of the feelings of another forsaking yours altogether to satisfy other person’s selfish acts. I see it and I admit, it would bother me but I understand it now so it doesn’t anymore. I understand people now. I get why they do certain things. I’m not expert. I can only talk about what’s been true to me. But in my immediate area, I know that no one really understands me and they don’t care to try long. I’m okay with this fact. Its not going to destroy me because I am bigger than that. I know it means nothing in the long run. I have adapted to being alone. I have become “institutionalized” by it. I have accepted the fact that it will never change. I just wished that people would understand themselves…then maybe they could understand me…

“If you understand the nature of a thing, you know what it’s capable of.”

Skateboards anyone

2010-10-27T12:45:00.000-07:00

Meh...what to do, what to do....Kat Von D...heard she is coming into town this weekend and I really want to meet her...thought about giving her my boxing gloves to sign along with her book....anyhoo...heard she has a wall skateboards she likes...Thank God she doesn't do this with snowboards....Hopefully one of these will be done by sunday...wish me luck....

Well, hey, HEEEEEEY!

2010-10-25T09:19:00.000-07:00

In my never-ending quest to vanquish the foul foe known as the "Mess of Ages" in my guest room, I found various ancient and archaic artifacts that I had drawn over a course of time ranging from early 2000 to now and maybe some even older than that from the looks of it...anyway, my past failures are now your pleasures....enjoy...

An early attempt on my logo...not saying which one I settled on...

Yeah...I drew this one late one night and lost interest in it 3/4 through it...

Ask anyone....I love Beowulf....so much in fact that I wanted to do a comic on it.

I drew it and then I laid down some definition and shadows on it...

Mom asked me to draw a simple cartoony face....this is what I came up with..i dunno.

Well, one day I just drew random sketches from the Hulk in the back right, a devil in the center, some guy on the bottom right and another random dude, top left, lifting up some rubble...

The Barbarian Horde Part Deux

2009-03-02T10:39:00.000-08:00

Well,
Once upon a time, there was a contest of art where the finest artist in all the land would come together and compete...it was called, The Art Contest....Over the halloween "holiday" it began and a topic was pulled to draw and that topic was Zombies...The fabled Dai'th Lee did not participate in this event due to the constraints of drawing an engagement gift for his fiance'. Now that the restraints are off, Dai'th was able to somewhat concentrate on the new topic which was chosen to be, Barbarians...he focused and concentrated a fraction of his skills to produce what you now see before you...enjoy...

No, no...just because I drew him doesn't mean I like him..

2009-02-23T12:14:00.000-08:00

I love mythical creatures...dragons, griffins, manticores...all types. I like reading about the "history" of these things and occassionally I'll Wiki it and read about this and that and all sorts of things....The cool thing ( and scary) thing about the Bible is that it has things in there whether it be Giants, Leviathan or the super scary things that come out at the end of times...And whats scary is that these are REAL or may have been at one time. I think the giants were wiped out. Anyhoo...as bad as he is, he's story captivates me. I wonder at time what he must have looked like considering that he was the most handsome and well made Angels of them all. And with that I mean, the infamous satan himself. Now at one time, the guy had a good head on his shoulders but then he got all cocky and lost himself in his own image. We all know the story but I like drawing things like that. So one day I sat down and drew what I thought he could have looked like back in the day...this drawing I'll say is about 3-4 years old...

With a jawbone of a donkey, I have slain a thousand men...

2008-12-01T11:22:00.000-08:00

Samson…By far my second favorite person in the Bible…right after him there’s Job, and then Malachi…Yes, Jesus is the top bracket….but I while back I was just randomly sketching here at work like I usually do on my lunch break when I’m broke and I decided to crave out a picture or two of good ole, Samson…The pictures here are of course after and during his slaying of the philistines with the jawbone of a donkey…I mean really…dude killed heaps and heaps of armed soldiers with a donkeys lower jaw…that’s banana’s As much as I love myself some Wolverine, Logan would get his “ass” handed to him, lol…PUN INTENDED. And yeah...none of these are done and they probably won't be...but there is potential.

The Wandering Cape-Man

2008-11-20T11:49:00.000-08:00

I was going hrough some files I had here at my desk at work to kinda clean up a bit for memory purposes and I came across some old sketches that I did on my break for a few days. If the picture looks grainy, its probably due to the flintstone like scanner we have here...either way, enjoy...this well probably be it until I'm done with the barbarian drawing...

The Barbarian Horde...

2008-11-05T10:45:00.000-08:00

Move it along folks...nothing to see here. Actually nothing really good to read here also...but I will tell you this...apparently my good friends are doing art contests to see who does what...Well...I never have been one to finish anything. I do have awesome ideas but I never really put them to paper. I'm just merely content on writing instead of drawing as of late. I guess this time around they are doing Barbarians and it seems to be somewhere up my alley..blood guts and pillaging...Mmmmmm..gets my juices going. Anyways...I thought I have been stretched or pushed before but this time ..i dunno...I may or may not be able to do this. I mean lets look at the people in this...Adam...he works all day at his computer doing graphic design at his HOUSE in front of his drawing table...Tad...don't know much about him...Torrance...unfortunately he's got a lot of time on his hands but he spent the last 7 years drawing consistantly. Mike..well Mike paints and works in his own framing and art gallery. Me? I sit at a desk all do doing anything but draw, lol. And man, when I get home...all these temptations...the Xbox 360. Fall Out 3. Call Of Duty 4 and soon to be Gears of War 2?! Geez...whats a guy to do? But I'll tell you this..if I do this...if I even draw and get out what I want to do, I'll never have to draw again...my ideas gold and like gold, are always in demand, lol...::::::I wish::::.

It all started with a sketch....

2008-07-18T11:36:00.000-07:00

In a quest to re-invent myself and push my skill and pencil to the proverbial limit, I decided to do something that I never did before...Anime. I love the stuff but nevere really wanted to do thatr style. I'd infuse a bit here and there but never really do I go all the way...I left that to the "Judas" known as Tanto ( Torrance). So I started drawing the usual for me. And angry man witha ball cap. Its kinda my shtick if you will. Well I looked around for a refernce of style and eventually found it in some manga video still. The style of coloring was dramatic and I didn't really want to bring that much into it. I mean, yes I wanted to do an anime style piece but it was hard for me to fully commit to it. I started drawing and kept drawing till I came up with a rough sketch that I liked. I took that sketch and placed it on a light table and re-drew it to clean it up a bit. It didn't need to be to clean because I really wasn't going to use the pencil drawing but for a guide. Here's is what that came out to be...Check side bar. So that was done and know I had to figure out HOW exactly I was going to color this piece. I was pretty decent in Illustrator so I felt confident I could pull something of in there. I can't tell you how long it took because I pretty much busted my butt on it and kept at it till my base was set. I don't even know what time it was when I started...All I know is that I was finished. Well....sort of. So there was that and

I have to admit, I was pretty proud of that. I showed around and flashed it about, receiving mulitple compliments on it. I even had a guy wanting to put it on a shirt. I don't think he did though although that would be awesome. So for the final test, I showed the art to my good and best friend in the world, Adam Meyer a.k.a Shard. I send it in an e-mail he looks at it and within 5mins, I revised version somewhere along the lines of this... He took it and defined it in a matter of minutes. And here I thought I was done with the whole piece. Just when you think you got it all said and done, someone comes and and pulls the rug from underneath you. Since then, I've tried this layer method and with decent results. Some of which are not as good the first but the people who I do them of seem to like 'em so I call it "Done." Now I'm on to the next sheet paper...c-ya, folks!

Soo....you say you wanna serve?

2008-07-13T16:24:00.000-07:00

Samurai, Samurai is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. The word samurai is derived from the archaic Japanese verb samorau, changed to saburau, meaning "to serve"; thus, a samurai is a servant, i.e. the servant of a lord. The samurai was dedicated to the wills of his master and the code of honor called Bushido, in which he lived by. He would never stray nor leave his master. To the ends of everything a samurai would go for his master. If his master deemed it, he would take his own life. A samurai could not live with the disgrace of failing his master for anything and thus many a samurai would commit Seppuku. Seppuku has been used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies, as a form of capital punishment for samurai who have committed serious offenses, and for reasons that shamed them. The practice of committing seppuku at the death of one's master, known as oibara ( I don't know how to pronounce it either). Now I'm not suggesting anyone of us do that. It's a little too extreme but the point is, A samurai is a powerful and great historical person. He lived for his master and in all things he did to the fullest for his master. And as great and powerful a samurai was, his title meant "servant" and that's food for thought.

Irony -A literary style employing such contrasts for humorous or rhetorical effect. Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs: "Lee adores and loves the samurai customs and nature but yet, hasn't really served his Lord. How ironic…"

July 13, 2008 finds me getting out and getting ready for a church that I had almost seemed to lose hope in. I get up, wash my face, brush me teeth and get my clothes in a rush just to be 30mins late for church like I always am. I can't really say why but if society has taught me anything, the reason why would be hereditary and thus clearing me off all charges. Luckily, as late as I am, I almost ALWAYS get there just in time for PT to preach so that should count for something. Every Sunday I think, I should leave…I'm not doing anything and no one would know the difference. Every time I think that, I hear something that keeps me there. I get in and find a place to sit just as PT begins to do exactly the opposite. He gets up and the next thing I know, a baseball comes flying, excuse my cliché, "out of left field". Literally. He begins to talk about baseball and how it relates to the church. The short and sweet version is this, some people come to play and get in the game to win. Others just sit and watch the team they are one win. I thought for a minute and said to myself, "well maybe the players just suck." Maybe the team they are on doesn't work for them. Now when I say that, I mean, team equals church and work for them equals the involvement with the church. Maybe they aren't a catcher or a pitcher or a shortstop. Maybe they can't be a lead hitter or bat clean up. Some people may in fact be bat boys. Now I'm not giving and excuse not to serve, I'm just saying. Maybe the things they can do are not what the game requires. Those people could quite possibly be excellent backgammon players. Who know? But that's exactly the right question. Who DOES know? Yeah…that's rhetorical but if you don't get that joke or know what rhetorical is, the answer is God. I for one, love baseball, and can play pretty good. I love the out field but I hate right field. I can do second base but for some reason, suck at shortstop. I Love the Cubs( who at this very moment is 1 in the MLB leading by one game. Red Soxs are turds, I mean third and the Yankees….well…what about them?) That last statement is placed for comedic value. But I digress, Some people seriously want to serve and serve well but don't know where and how. Sometimes is a personal reason like some people have been burned by others using them. Maybe they feel like they can't fit in with the already pre-established team of players already playing and they feel awkward towards that group that to them seems "clique-ish." They may have all the reasons in the world for not serving and quite legit ones at that but it still doesn't refute that fact that servitude is a necessity. Matthew 20:25-28 goes like this…

"Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

If I was to read into this black people would be the on the apex of that mountain of greatness but I'm not and that was another joke. Serving the church is serving the Lord. I know its kinda hypocritical of me to say and not always do but if I was a broke clock, I'd eventually get it right twice a day. I'll say to myself, well, I did try once or twice. I tried to play the drums and somehow that slipped from me. I was approached to help with the kids. I do funny but I can't do crazy so I backed down from that. I tried my hand at drawing but I don't think it was noticed. But maybe I was doing it for the wrong reason. Maybe I was doing it to hear someone acknowledge me and give me my pat on the back not realizing that God was doing that and I never even noticed. I think I was doing it for earthly rewards…MAYBE. Hah! That's harsh of me to say that about myself but maybe there is truth to that. Again, its very hard for me to write and say this considering who I am and what I have done but I'm a writer. It's what I like to do outside of art…Albeit not a good one but I do okay. So maybe, if I can be that honest about myself, then maybe, there is still hope for me to change. Maybe I can do something what the sweet skills I have. Maybe I can draw for the church or design things. Maybe I can write up stuff for them…I dunno. I do know that there is no use for an African-american-japanese swordsman in training unless there is some underground network of Gideons that are really responsible for placing bibles on the desktops by stealthy sneaking into hotels and hospital cause that would be awesome.

Ye Ole' Hitman...

2008-07-11T09:26:00.000-07:00

I get story ideas all the time...my mind is filled with crazy and eccentric story that to me seem awesome. I always say, Man...I've gonna do a comic of that. If you know me at all, then you know it'll never happen. I think I'd be content doing cover art and that would be that. So I got a call from a friend of mine in Cali and he's obsessed with the hitman theme. Loves it...he asked me to do a shirt for him of a hit man. I told him I would and once again, I finished something else. For at least a day, something was in the water cause I couldn't believe that I finished another piece...

But then I got to thinking and remembered that I did a story or a mock-up of a hit man a while ago that was forced to do things because if he didn't "fill in the blank" would happen. Looked around in old boxes and folders and I found the sketch that was done a good few years ago on a plane ride too or from London, England...

I looked at that and thought...maybe NOW I'll give photoshop and chance and see what I can do. I kinda figured a little bit how Torrance colored the first one so I just sat down, took a crack at it and this is what I came up with...

A finished drawing from me? Amazing...

2008-07-11T07:42:00.000-07:00

Now this was something that, oddly enough, took years to do. I think I started this like two years ago and decided to stop on it due to my uncanny ability to never finish anything. I came back to it a year ago and added some depth and shadows to it. I wish I would've straigten out that arrrow...lol.

A few months ago I wanted to start my hand at coloring through photoshop and before I could do anything, a friend of mine got his hands on it and did his version of it...Not bad, Torrance...

Me and My Dad

2008-03-24T11:15:00.000-07:00

There are days when I go out and walk about the area I live in and I just want to break out and run. Not the run where one tries to escape the everyday trappings of life but a run to see just how fast I really am. When I played baseball, I loved the outfield. The chance to show just how fast I could be. The ball is hit high, barreling into the air and just when the crowd thinks it's a base hit, I show up to rob them of that run or a point. I lived for that. It was my world where I felt like I had no equal. When I was about ten they started an end of season field day events. I waited for those days. I looked at every game as a footstep closer to the tournaments. One event in particular stands out to me throughout all the years past. Even today it still holds up to be one of my greatest moments. One in where I defined what I could do and who I could be. The one time in my life where I knew my dad was proud of me.

It was a bright and early morning and here I am standing at Edgewater Baseball park getting ready to compete in the end of season field day events. The park was located on the edge of a lake that I never knew the name of. Surrounding the park was a YMCA and campgrounds that held occasional fishing competitions every couple of months. It was a clean crisp fall morning and you could almost taste the misty dew in the air evaporating from the sun's heat. My father and I thought it would be best to sign up for the race considering how fast I am compared to the other kids. I was always fast even for a kid my size. For as longas I can remember I have always enjoyed running. Listening to the wind in my ears as it moves past me getting louder and louder as I run faster and faster hoping one day that I would hear the wind no more. As a child it seems as an achievable goal. My father walked up to me and put his hands on my shoulder. He looked at me with a smile that I had not seen in years and told me to just run. No matter what I do just run and I'll win. He then told me that he knew I'd win no matter what. He told me that not because he thought that I was faster but because he wanted me to know that no matter the outcome I'd be his winner. With a smile, I told my father that I was faster than everyone here. This is cake. The certainty of my voice made my dad brighter. He then pat me on the back and told me to make sure my cleats were tight and ready to go. I did as my father said and sat down on a set of belchers that had not completely dried from the morning sun. I jumped up as quickly as I could to avoid a wet bottom and ridicule from my teammates that were also here for the events. Luckily, I only had a small spot on my pants according to my dad. I kneeled on the ground and tighten my worn and dirty cleats and got up to walk towards the starting gate.

I remember seeing other contenders and feeling a certain uneasiness in my stomach. Some of the other boys were taller . Some of them had legs like stilts and as I look at them all I felt doubt began to sink in. I didn't think I could beat these other kids anymore. All my faith seemed to be sapped out of me. During the others games when I was not playing, I noticed another player stealing bases. I thought he was so quick and wanted to run like he did. Here he was stretching for the race that I was in. There was no way in the world that I could possibly be faster than he is. It was now time to line up on the chalk and race. Cheers began to radiate from the stands to the left of us. I looked over and noticed that my teammates were there standing on the metal seats with my dad alongside them. Other parents, forgetting their adulthood, had joined into the ruckus. They shouted and yelled motivating statements like free pizza and ice cream if I win. I began to regain some of the lost confidence from early and prepared to move on the whistle. We stood on the line each one in own stance.The whistle went off and so were we. Everyone moved off the line as if our lives were at stake. One by one, the runners began to fall back till there was no one there but the nameless runner and I. Slowly he began to pull away from me. The wind began to talk, teasing and taunting me playfully. Telling me to try and keep up. Telling me to move faster. I ran as hard as I could, never giving an inch. The finish line was close now and soon I was past it. I slowed my run to a trot and then to a brisk walk. I turned around and noticed the other runner looked winded. He had both hands on his knees trying to catch his breath. Walking towards the judge, my friends were running over yelling at me. I couldn't hear anything. The only thing I wanted to hear was my name announced as the winner. Instead of elevated screams of joy, I let out a sigh of disgust as the judge proclaimed that it was a tie and the race between the two of us had to be ran again.

Once again I find myself at the starting line but this time instead of multiple enemies there is only one. He looked down at me and told me that I was very fast. I replied back in kind and got ready to move. I did not want lose this race. I didn't want to lose at anything I ever did. Losing just didn't sit well with me and I think my father knew this. But he never knew the reason why and to this day it still eludes him. I now knew what the running had in him and I knew I had more. I could feel it. It was almost when a warrior on the field had met his match in battle. And as the warriors locked eyes, they knew that this was the moment that they waited for. The one time in life when everything they ever done had begin to make sense. Neither side giving an inch and fighting with everything they had inside. But the fight was all that they lived for. Not the chance to kill but the chance to be better than they were when they step on the field.

Now I felt like I could beat this guy. Now I felt empowered. I felt that he was nothing to me in this and I was determined to prove it. All I had to do was get off of that line and not look back. This time we both got down low to the ground at the line and waiting for what seemed like an eternity. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as I looked ahead at the traffic of cars on the road just past the parking lot well beyond the finish line. I could feel my heart inside beginning to beat harder and faster like a jack hammer with anticipation. Once again, the whistle went blaring into the air and the race was once again in progress. I pushed off that line like a bullet out of the chamber of a gun still smoking. Every step I took pushed me closer to the finish line faster and faster. As I ran all I did was concentrate on the run. There was nothing else in my mind. All I had to do was run. The wind began to speak but I could only make out hushed whispers as it began to die down while the race moved on and I moved faster. Everything that I am was in even step that I took. My legs burned and my muscles stretched and reached for every once of energy. My arms were pushing and pumping me forward and soon all I heard was silence. My eyes locked onto the goal and before I knew it, the finish line blurred past me . I slowed down rapidly and fell down. As I tumbled across the wet and freshly mowed green grass, I noticed that I still could not hear anything. I came to my knees only to be dog-piled by my teammates. There were a multitude of words none of which I heard save for one thing. Winner.