Life and Times of a Nigga Called Da Muhs

Not much going on so I'll reminisce. In my freshman high school Spanish class one assignment was to do a report on a foreign country. I'm not sure if it was just to report facts about the country or create a fictional visit there. Either way it was obviously to be written in Spanish, but we also were to draw the flag of that country on a poster board as part of the presentation. Well I chose Scotland since I was a fan of them in the FIFA video games. For the flag I colored it purple instead of blue only because the soccer team wore purple. I think I knew it was supposed to be blue and wanted to make it blue, but went ahead with purple anyway since I guess I convinced myself that the uniforms were the correct color for the flag. This was before easy access to internet for us ('98), so I couldn't just do a quick google search (or Ask Jeeves as it were at the time) to look it up. But I'm pretty sure I used our old encyclopedias we had for research for this project, so ...

When I was buying our house in 2019, I was using my gmail to communicate with the realtor. At the time I recently switched my Google name to "Moz H", so that's what showed up as my name in the email. So when we spoke on the phone he says "Hey Moz" (pronounced like it rhymes with Oz, which I suppose is how it appears). It sounded too weird so I changed my Google name back to my real name. He was a cool guy...a bit hyper, but he was good. Thanks, guy, but call me by my actual name.

Well I've bought a car through Carvana. My old vehicle was having too many troubles over the last few months, but especially the last few weeks. We started a new rotation at my job where I'll be in the field for the next three months at least, but likely more in the next rotation also. So I have to do a lot more driving going to different job sites which are usually around 15-20 minutes from the office. My vehicle continued to overheat and I was adding coolant about everyday. When it overheats it shifts into a different gear and drives much slower and grinds a little bit. When I come to a stop after driving for a bit in that mode it will usually cut off. Thankfully it'll start up right away (unlike before when it was cutting off randomly and took 15-20 seconds to restart), but it could shut right back off. I had to time the lights right by quickly restarting the car and shifting to drive as traffic starts moving since it'll cut right back off if I don't start moving...

Earlier this week I was sent out to train with someone who reminded me of someone I worked with in South Carolina. His look and mannerisms were exactly the same. That got me thinking about doppelgangers. It's so weird how you can meet someone who looks exactly like someone you met somewhere else. A few people told me they know someone who looked like me when I was in the Greenville area. I even saw someone in the store who looked exactly like Mumina. It was so weird. That's why we had to move. There just can't be versions of us in the same area. We haven't seen us in Vegas yet so I think we're good now....hold on...actually someone at my job did say I looked like someone here. Nevermind...maybe we don't belong here. I joke with Mumina everytime she says 'that person looks just like my cousin' or something like that and I immediately say 'yeah a lot of black people do look alike'. She doesn't like that. It just seems like theres just a finite ...

There's a white curly guy at my job who works the shift immediately after my shift, so as I'm about to leave I usually see him come in. Today when I saw him I started saying in my head "Well Curly Boy is just being so curly..." in MC Hammer's voice. I wasn't sure where I remembered that from so I looked it up when I got home and found out it was from the short-lived cartoon "Hammerman". Hammer would give live-action intros and outros and there was a curly boy there. We used to imitate Hammer while saying stupid things about curly boy like what popped into my head. I searched for it on Youtube and sure enough it's on there. Sweet. I don't remember the actual cartoon very well but I definitely remember making fun of curly boy. Man, the 90s were so great. So many memories of stupid things we used to do. I can't believe that popped into my head. Sweet nostalgia.

When I was a freshman in high school, we had a sort of "fun" assignment in English class where we can pick a song and present the lyrics and play the song to the class. I don't remember exactly what the point of it was. (Of note this was one of the classes me and Shahadah shared since we were placed in the same grade for some reason). We had to submit the lyrics to the teacher along with the CD (or cassette in my case). Well at the time I think the only music I had was a Kenny G "best of" cassette that I would listen to sometimes that I got from Mom. For no particular reason I chose the song "By The Time This Night is Over" (song with Peabo Bryson, I don't know who that is). I guess I liked the song and it was one of the few songs on there that actually had lyrics. Well I wrote the lyrics down from listening to it (I don't remember having internet back then to just look up lyrics), so I remember listening to it over and over and writing the lyr...

This past weekend I replaced the garbage disposal. It was the first time I ever delved into that territory. The previous one stopped working about a week or so prior and leaked a bit, so I decided to replace it after not being able to figure out how to get it to work. It was a bit challenging but really wasn't that difficult. I did end up spending a few hours on it though. When I first put it together it leaked, but I was able to seal it eventually. It was very satisfying to complete it without many problems. That's one nice thing about owning a home (even though I don't really "own" the house since I have a mortgage on it and I will never really own it as long as big government charges me property taxes for existing within "their" territory...but I won't get into that). Rather than calling for a maintenance person when renting, you're responsible for fixing things around the house. That's actually good to learn certain things, but also can b...

While I was in college I was in a long-distance email-only relationship. We tried talking on the phone once and that was so awkward that we went back to strictly emails. Maybe that's why it didn't work even though we emailed for a few years. Really. We were both super shy and weird. Having the same personality does not work in a relationship. As the saying goes, opposites attract. You need someone to complement you. End of Relationship Advice Lesson 1.  Anyways, that's not what this post is about. Well, in one of our email exchanges we talked about where we'd like to travel some day. Well, idiot me mentioned that I wanted to go to Italy to see the Eiffel Tower. Now, the Eiffel Tower is in France, not Italy, idiot. My stupid reasoning was that I was into the group Eiffel 65, and they're from Italy, so I associated the Eiffel Tower with Italy. What makes me extra stupid is that in one of my basic civil engineering classes the professor talked about the Eiffel Tower as...

Yesterday at work there was a young black guy being shown around the building. That has meant the person was just hired and getting their orientation of sorts. The guy that shows the new employees around doesn't really introduce them to other EI's (Engineering Interns is what they call us, although our official title is 'Staff Professional'). They normally just get introduced to the project managers, so I wasn't introduced to him. I could have introduced myself while they had him doing busy work near where I was working. Working in the lab I start a much earlier shift (4am) than office staff (8am). So I was getting off while he was still working and I thought about introducing myself, but decided to just leave. I'm sure we'll have a chance to talk soon. Anyways, that's great! We got another black guy in the office! Yay! Now we'll see how long he lasts. He looks like he just got out of college (which most of the EI's have, so most people I work ar...

I had a dream where I got shot in my head and died. The weird part was that I didn't wake up right away. Usually when I die in my dreams I wake up right away. This time it took a minute for me to wake up. So I was with a group of black people. I'm not sure who they were. I think it was family but I don't remember anyone in particular. Some cops confronted us (I don't know what we were doing). I yelled out that "we don't have any weapons and we are unarmed." A cop yelled repeating what I said to let everyone know that we didn't have any weapons and we were unarmed. (Although I do remember seeing some people with guns but the cops apparently didn't see them.) We were standing up but I don't know if we had our hands up or not. Suddenly one of the guys just started running (I'm pretty sure he didn't have a gun or anything). Nobody was doing anything illegal so there really wasn't any reason to run. A cop shoots him in the head and he go...

Last night some queer came to my door trying to get me to buy subscriptions to some magazines so he can earn points to win a trip to Italy. Maybe he wasn't gay but he was hyped up trying to convince me to help him out. He was like "Guess how much points I need", "Guess how much points I have", "Guess what place I'm in". I'm like "I don't know". He tells me he's in first place. Good for you. He handed me this brochure with a list of titles. I told him I'm not interested and hand it back to him. He tells me I'm messing with my points or something like that and hands it back to me. He started putting me down for some subscriptions because he asked if I like sports and I guess he put me down for a sports one then told me to pick another title. I kept telling him I'm not interested, but he kept insisting I sign up. He kept trying to guilt me by saying things like "You don't want me to go to Italy?". Well, ...

The check engine light in my car finally went off after being on for a while. I don't think I'm out of the woods yet because I don't feel like I quite addressed what's really going on with the car. Well, I thought I was good once I added coolant, but I did think it was strange that I had to add the whole bottle and it still didn't quite fill to the line it's supposed to. I suspected I may have a leak but I decided to just keep going and see what happens. Well, the car was behaving better for a little bit but the check engine light was still coming on. The car wouldn't overheat anymore and act up like it was doing before I added the coolant. But sure enough after a week or two the overheating light started coming on again. I went to the auto store and got some more coolant and added it. I'm not sure if the coolant was lower or if I just didn't add enough coolant before. Well, not too long afterwards the car started going crazy again. This time it deci...

My girls are a bit strange. They love to eat butter. Every time they see me take butter out when I'm cooking they both start saying "I want butter, I want butter". Sometimes I'll just hand one of them the stick and they'll just go at it. It was several months ago when they discovered butter. When I would make dinner I would sit them both on the counter so they can help out. I would let them eat some of the ingredients so one day I let them try butter. They both loved it. I don't know where they get that from. I don't remember ever liking butter like that where I eat it by itself. They're pretty picky about what they eat so I was surprised they liked it like that. Weird kids.

I've been at my job for a year now and I'm like the only black person in the office. There's actually a black field guy that I've never seen but I know he's black because I saw his Facebook when I looked someone else up and saw he was a friend of that person (No, I don't stalk people.........😐). Over the year I did see a black girl getting a tour of the office and later in the year there was a black guy I saw walking around the office for a few days. Maybe they're working upstairs or in another building, but I have not seen them again. We have two two-story buildings but it's not real big. Overall it is a good sized company which has offices in a few other western states (2 in CA, 1 in AZ, and 2 in ID). There's enough people in the Las Vegas office that there should be more black people around. If they are here I should see them at least once in a while, but I highly doubt they are here. Not to be racist, but we have so many Asians working here (and...

Around this time every year we hear about "The Rooney Rule" in the NFL. Basically it requires teams to interview at least one minority coaching candidate. I find this insulting to everyone, especially to black people. Similarly "Affirmative Action" basically requires colleges to accept a certain amount of minority applicants. These types of things are also hypocritical and counterproductive in my opinion. I think it's insulting because it tells us that we need special treatment in order to get to the "white man's" level. I would hate to be the Rooney Candidate if I'm interviewing for a coaching job. Regardless if I'm actually the best qualified candidate, I would feel insulted that I was only interviewed because of my skin color. It's also insulting to owners who conduct the interviews. It tells them that they can't find the best candidate on their own, as if without the rule they wouldn't know the possibilities they could find ...

In high school I was talking with my social studies teacher and he asked if I watch college basketball. It was around March Madness time. I told him I don't really watch it but my 'father-in-law' is really into it. He was like "You mean your father?" and I was like "No my father-in-law". I was so stupid. I was confusing father-in-law with step-father. Foolish Muhs. No wonder you were such a loser in school. Jk Muhs....you were okay, just a little weird.

Where does Da Muhs stand politically? Well, in short I identify as libertarian. I think most people would identify as libertarian if they knew what it meant in the most basic definition. As a way of thinking, my basic definition of libertarianism is a live and let live attitude without imposing on others' personal space. When it comes to politics and role of government, it becomes a lot more complicated. For a long time I never really got into political discussion and still rarely do. However my perspectives have changed over time. Early on as a young adult I thought myself to just be a conservative as a basic political viewpoint. I didn't really know what that was but I thought since growing up Muslim, I thought being a conservative or republican was a more moral ground to stand on. Still, I never really felt like I associated with the party or any group for that matter. I was still indifferent when it came to presidential elections, so I didn't favor John Kerry or George ...

At work I mistakenly poured water in the trash in the restroom. I usually bring a bottle when I use the restroom for 'istinja'. After using the toilet I went to the sink and intending to pour the remaining water into the sink I brain farted and poured it in the trash right next to the sink. Where yo head at Da Muhs! 

Over the last month on the Chevy Equinox I've had to replace the battery, the PCM, add coolant (after finally realizing after a week that was the issue causing the engine light and temp light to come on and the car shifting funky), change the headlights (bought one after it went out then the other going out the same night when I replaced the first one then having to buy another one and change it the next day). Thank goodness for youtube videos showing how to do some of this stuff (they make accessing the battery and headlights so difficult; the Mazda was so much easier). Car runs good now but now I'm just waiting on the next issue to pop up 😬. 

I'm a black man tyrnna make it in America. Live and let live. Respect one another. Be who you be. It is what it is and it be what it be. Don't be a procrastinator, be an anticrastinator. Life's a b and then you d.