Life In Minneapolis

Wow it's been a few months since I've blogged I know that's pretty sad right? I've been extra busy been clocking some decent hours at Banana Republic and it feels like I'm finally finding my group of friends and getting accustomed to life here. I'd be lying if I said that I knew things would move this fast here for me but they have. I feel like I have grown a lot just in the short amount of time here and everyone has been great to me I really couldn't ask for more. I just want everyone to know that I appreciate them welcoming me here with open arms because I know it could easily have gone the other way. Everything has been fun for me here I don't really club as much as I thought I would but that's a really good thing. I've actually been trying to get to the other side of life I only drank once this week so that's good for me things are slowly changing for the better. If there's anyway that I can improve in life believe me I'll do my best to change my behaviors. Minneapolis is truly a beautiful city and the people here are even more beautiful I really love the atmosphere and I feel like it's a truly a blessing to even be in this position but I have worked hard all of my life and made a lot of sacrifices for these times. Life is still moving at an insane pace for me but I'm catching up to it and I know there's still a lot ahead. One more thing about this city is that the women are great here they actually seem like people you can date here which is something that I haven't felt for a few years. I think people understand me better here than anywhere else so far which is what I expected and that's why I moved here. I love the skyway system it's unlike anything I've seen and I've been around the world and lived in a few other states. I'm really hoping to make a good life here and stay here for a while since I've spent a lot of my life moving I think I owe it to myself to find a nice woman out here and settle down for a while but honestly all I'm focused on is work and school because they are both very time consuming. It's kind of a short post but I plan on blogging a lot more so expect to read more from me soon! One Love!

Air McNair

Good day everyone.... It's your boy again on the check in. What a week huh? First MJ and then Steve McNair. First off RIP to the both of them they were incredibily talented human beings and both pioneers in their own rights. McNair lead the way by exceeding expectations being that he was the last Black QB that was drafted from a Historically Black college. He was truly ahead of his time and he will be missed. I could go on and on about what Michael Jackson has done for humanity but I believe that speaks for itself. I'm going to write two blogs today after reflecting on everything. First my thoughts on Steve McNair and how he came to his untimely meeting with the maker. Secondly I will write about Michael Jackson and how he also left us far too soon. Some of my opinions you may agree with and some you may not but that's what makes me Ian Jordan Mayes because I don't care about the response I just want to put thoughts out there that I feel are my version of the truth.

So we'll start with Steve McNair. RIP to the soldier it was an event in life that happened far too soon and far too strange. Today it was finally ruled by medical examiners that it was a Murder-Suicide. What a sad ending for the two of them one 20 years old and an independent woman at that who could blame McNair for wanting a woman like that right? Oops did I say woman? I meant girl but she was turning into a woman it sounds like since she was managing her own money I'll give her that hell I'd like that myself but let's get back to the point. No it's not right for McNair to have those desires sure we're all men and we have our hidden desires but I believe that changes when you have 4 sons to take care of that are probably looking for guidance still plus what's even worse was that now they are saying that his wife didn't know about the affair that had been going on for what some believe to be 7 months.(I find that hard to believe)

It looks like Steve McNair's childish ways lead to his demise if you look at the pictures on TMZ.com you can see the boyish grin all over his face as the two are parasailing. I'm not here to bash McNair keep that in mind because I surely believe that there were problems at home but I'm more interested in his behavior as a man and his responsibility being a father and as a man that is much older than his counter part was. Him wanting to show the girl that eventually murdered him the finer things in life lead to his life being cut short and it sounds like he strongarmed her away from her boyfriend whom she was said to be dating until McNair came around and wooed her away with several vacations around the finer spots in America. One thing that will never be solved in all of this is not so much the murder because that seems obvious to me.... The part that wont ever be solved is how much Mechelle McNair really knew of this affair that had been going on. We do know that the house was on the market for 3 million but that isnt enough to really tell whether or not there was a divorce pending which close friends and family say that there wasnt one in place at all. In the end hopefully men take a big lesson in this sad sad story in which two lives came to an end far too soon.

The last point I want to make about this McNair situation is more directed to the NFL or professional athletes in general. If you pay attention to what the coaches and players are saying about Steve McNair its been mostly "Let's not focus on the negativity and let's celebrate his career". That can be understandable to a degree but I think it gives off the wrong idea as it has for a while people think that it's acceptable for athletes to cheat on their wives and it isnt acceptable. If you want to have multiple women in your life so be it... Women are doing the same things but I think when you get married it crosses that line plus its ridiculously expensive to get a divorce when you're living that life just ask MJ and Paul McCartney it gets out of hand. Yes there are vixens out there waiting to take down a man that looks successful and has tons of money but its up to the man to take a deeper look at a woman than maybe her looks maybe its time to take a look at who the woman is connected to and check on her behaviors before diving in head first (no pun intended.) What ended up happening on ESPN was a lot of guys spoke out about what a great man Steve McNair was and he was a great man on the field.... But his personal life had way too many secrets that were dying to be exposed and they eventually were exposed and now his football career and his own life went down in vain in some ways. If the people in the NFL don't eat their words and stop saying he's a great man then does that mean that the NFL condones this type of behavior? It may be important for them to back away from the story and move forward. I think you give the man his just due and appreciate the fact that he was a warrior on the field which he definitely was but it'd be stupid to say that he wasnt already heading down that path near the end of his career he was dodging charges left and right and he was lucky to get away with most of what he got away with. When you let someone continously get away with their poor actions you arent doing them a favor you are doing more harm to them than anything else because they dont get the opportunity to reflect on their behaviors so that they can improve and live to see a better tomorrow and also become a better contributer/role model to society. Just because people don't do the right things in life doesnt mean its a bad thing everyone is human and we all make mistakes. It only becomes the wrong thing when officials start letting things slide based on someones stature in society. Maybe if McNair wouldve been reprimanded correctly a long time ago he would be teaching us life lessons with his words rather than his death.

Hello World

What's good my people? As you can see my name is Ian Jordan Mayes. In this blog I will touch on topics that range from current events in the world to sports to maybe even what I might wear for the day or night. I decided to start my own blog to stay in touch more personally with the people that I don't get a chance to stay in touch with on a day to day basis and I also felt it was far more personal for me than being on facebook any longer. I do have a twitter so you can follow some of my short thoughts on there as well at IanJordanMayes/twitter.com. So here's a list of things that maybe some people knew about me and others didnt?

I'm a die hard Lions fan..... a lot of times I get questions like did you live in Detroit and how could a disaster like that ever happen? Well the answer is I used to play runningback and I tried to pattern my game after Barry Sanders who on my terms retired far too soon but who could blame him right?

Did you know that Music was my first love? In 4th grade I used to play the violin and then I had to move away from Peoria so I started to take up the Tuba in which I played from 6th grade until my senior year in highschool. I'm deeply rooted within the Hip Hop community and I'm a huge promoter of the art but I am no rap artist myself..... just an aspiring model :)

I don't eat pork....... Sorry I know a lot of people love it but I can't eat it since I practice Muslim beliefs. My biggest influences that lead me from one move to another is the Nation Of Islam I practice 5 percenter beliefs.... If you dont know what that is you should probably go on Wikipedia.org.... See look I'm already advertising on my blog!

How did you go from football to modeling and even more crazy how did you get into Fashion Marketing!? Well I didn't leave football by choice.... It kind of had to leave me it seems that my body wouldnt allow me to play anymore after severely breaking my left leg and having two surgeries... and to even prove to people and to myself how much I loved the game I came back and played for my hometown college University-Wisconsin Oshkosh and then yep... I broke my right leg. So I said its game over for me I got move on. As far as the modeling goes I kind of knew that it was something I could do after I got my senior pictures back I received quite a bit of compliments so thats the direction I moved towards plus I had worked on my body so hard for football that I figured I would be in shape for a while.

So....How'd you get to Madison..... You look like a football player... but you arent one right? No. However I did have aspirations to play the school before I got hurt the first time in highschool but after that I figured that opportunity was thrown out the window and I was right. My boy DC who some of you know as Darrin Charles went to the same highschool as me. We werent always close though even though we knew of each other but it wasnt until my sophomore year in highschool and his senior year in highschool that we kind of became real cool with each other. We had some amazing achievements that year as far as winning the state title and we also exceeded expectations in track when we were on the same 4x1 relay team we were able to finish 3rd in the state. He gave me an opportunity to move here and I ran with it basically I worked tons of odd jobs to get by I figured I'd be able to get into school right away but that wasnt the case at all. So I had to go the long route of bouncing at various bars like Wando's, Paul's Club, Madison's and even had a short stint at the Orpheum. I ran into fashion marketing while taking a year off of school by learning I had a talent for it during the time I worked at Banana Republic and the rest really became history.

What's next for me? That is in the man above's hand but I will continue to work hard everyday and share more and more of my story with the world through my blog. Let's enjoy the ride that has become my life.... then again I suppose it always has been a ride.

-Ian Jordan Mayes