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Shooting in San Diego! Can’t wait to get back to the sun and shoot some more! I miss it!! Hopefully after the move I’ll be able to get some plans set in stone!!

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Finally scanned some photos from back in the day!!  High school era – humorous &  slightly terrifying to look back on.

I wish I could write individual captions on each photo and since it’d take up too much space here, look for it in the comments section!

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Have fun shooting some snapshots in San Diego. Hope you liked them and hope you enjoy the video!! It was a beautiful morning!!

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So I thought I posted this on Friday as Friday’s update, although it appears I didn’t because it never posted. I apologize for the tardiness!

So lately, I’ve had the urge to go somewhere and be alone. I  enjoy writing and I always do my best writing when I am alone and give myself some time to think, time to breath and relax. Moments of reflection are sometimes moments of realization to me – when I realize what I should be doing or what I could do in different situations. Those moments are the ones the drive me forward and keep me going – they are the moments in which I see who I want to be. Do you ever take time out and think about who you are, who you’ve been and where you’re going?

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It’s been obvious – the injuries to our players are apparent. Our most consistent player, Luol Deng, suffered from a sprained wrist that will probably linger not only for the rest of his career but the rest of his life. Recently he’s also had some injury to his ribs. Rip Hamilton sat for (with the exception of 6/7 games) most of the regular season. Jokim Noah (I refer to him as ‘grandma’) had an ankle injury. Tajy-Woo (Taj Gibson) also had an ankle injury, Little Baby Lucas (John Lucas III) had a groin injury and Derrick suffered from foot, ankle, groin, back, toe and now with what is possibly the worst injury for a basketball player to have, a torn ACL.

First, let me go on record by declaring, I love this Bulls team. I do. I don’t always love everything, sometimes Boozer gets a bit on my nervous, he’s terrible defensively. Little Baby Lucas can be a ball hog, the way he stands at half court and dribbles too much can be maddening. But I do, LOVE this team. I love the chemistry they have, I love them as individuals. I love that we don’t have a player that is a sensitive head case like Chris Bosh or an ignorant and arrogant guy like Lebron James or indecisive boy like Dwight Howard. Our team is made up of some well rounded people but the kind of people that us, Chicagoan’s hold so dearly to our hearts. They believe in hard work – they put the time and training in. When any member of our team is out on the floor, they play as hard as they can, they do their best – they play with heart, they play for the love and the win.

As in all recipes that make our eyes light up and our mouths fall open, there is always that special ingredient, that special touch that turns something good into something great – for the Bulls, for Chicago, that special something is Derrick Rose. Rose isn’t someone that we choose to love because I don’t believe that Chicagoan’s had a choice – It was his fate to play here, for his home town and for the Bulls.  Yes, he is one of “us.” Born and raised on the south side – he is proud & strong. He has a love for the city that only other Chicagon’s understand. And watching Rose stirs old, deep seeded feelings of Champions. It’s hard to take your eyes off of him when he plays, there is something special about him – you want to watch what he’s going to do because it may be something you’ve never seen before. Watching Rose play is exciting, watching him play is like watching Raphael paint or listening to Andrea Bocelli sing – watching Rose play is watching greatness.

Though I was at the game, I didn’t see Rose’s injury right away. I was busy, trying to take a photo (insert photo b80683d2). If you look closely in the background, you can see Rose on the floor with a guy kneeling over him, with Boozer and Grandma (Noah) standing near by. And yes, injuries can take place at anytime and anywhere but Rose’s didn’t, Rose injured himself with 1:10 left in the first game of the playoffs, the Bulls were up 99-87.

If you don’t follow basketball, Rose signed a 5 year $95 million dollar contract. If you remember the year started with the lock out, in the collective bargaining agreements there was a clause added for players (which there are just a handful) who get paid an exceptional amount of money for being, exceptional. The clause is referred to as the “Derrick Rose Rule” – the player must meet certain qualifications in order for a certain salary (up to 30% of a team’s salary cap). The player who is qualifying must be finishing their rookie contract and has to be voted an All-Star starter, twice been voted All-NBA or have won an MVP award.

Considering all the injuries that Rose has had through the year, in a game we were going to win anyway, why didn’t our coach, Tom Thibodeau (Thibs) sit Rose? Which forces me to ask, does Thibs see the big picture? Does Thibs want the championship or he just so focused on wining at every moment that he is grinding our players into the ground? Into unnecessary injuries? Thibs has to realize as a coach, that his starting lineup, has taken a lot of potential career changing injuries (in regards to Rose and Deng) but he still plays them, 35/40 minutes a game – why? The Chicago Bulls have undoubtedly the best bench in the league, who have been doing well all year (considering Rose has missed 27 games) and we still finished with the best record in the NBA. I don’t think that Rose had enough time to heal. He didn’t have a good  chance to recover between all his injuries – he’d come back for a game or a few games and than he’d be injured again. Than he’d miss the next few games and it’d be the same story every time. So why leave him for the last 3 minutes of a game that we were going to win? He is a $95 million dollar player. The best and the most expensive player on the team, the MVP – who has been injured all year long, why leave in for the last minutes of a game that you know CJ Watson is totally capable of finishing?

The worst part about the injury isn’t that we probably wont win the Championship this year – it isn’t that we probably wont win next year (Rose will probably miss the majority of the season next year as well). It isn’t that his injury could eventually cost the Bulls millions – it’s what the injury could do to Rose personally.

When you read any article about Rose, when you listen to any segment about Rose, there is one word you hear over and over, that word is “explosive.” Another is “speed.” Rose has put the time, the dedication, the passion, the love into perfecting his craft. When Rose drives to the hoop, he speeds and explodes. He’s like a bolt of electricity coming down the floor and when he jumps, he’s explodes towards the rim and finishes strong. He protects the ball like a football, he has incredible control and incredible strength – to think that Derrick Rose might not ever really be Derrick Rose again is heart breaking, is gut wrenching. To think that all the art, all the magic in his plays, may be gone makes me sick to my stomach. Not only because it’s something I love watching but because it’s something he loves. One of the things that makes Rose great is his heart – is his love for the game. That every time he’s on the court, he’s giving you all he’s got – which is something that can’t be said for a lot of players. It’s sad to think that his greatness might only survive in replays, flashbacks and youtube. That the Derrick Rose fire work might of gone out – that the thrill and excitement is over, that the electric explosiveness is gone.

My heart breaks for Rose because if I were him, I know how I’d feel – Heartbroken. Lost. That what I’ve worked for my whole life was lost in the last two minutes of a game I didn’t need to play in.

Last year, Derrick Rose proved to us, Chicagoan’s that he was our leader, our hero. He lifted our team up and carried them til the end. This year, Rose has proved to us that he is human. It is up to us to keep hope, to keep faith during his recovery. It is up to us to encourage and stay determined til his return.
Derrick Rose isn’t only an inspiration to his teammates, to the NBA, or to the city of Chicago, he is an inspiration to anyone who has ever had the pleasure to watch him. I will patiently await his return.

Please watch:

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