Play Your Card Right

"Don't Be fooled by the Baby Face." - Lil' Cease "Crush On You"

If you've seen me in person or in pictures there is no question that I do not look my age. In fact, I look considerably younger than I actually am. My brother at times refers to me as "The Baby Face Bandit." LoL. But it's true I can admit that I do look very young. I Definitely don't look as if I'm less than 2 years away from 30! {!Gasp!} Therefore, I don't mind using it to my advantage at times. Don't ask don't tell. LoL.

Although I constantly get teased by my family and friends, I take it all in stride. I don't get upset when I'm carded to buy alcohol anymore. I come with I.D. in hand ready for the cashier. Whenever I visit Las Vegas I constantly think about making a name tag with my I.D. to display as I walked through the casinos. Either that or put it on a shirt like the guy in the picture so the left. LoL. But when I do get carded I love the suspect looks I usually get. They look closely at the picture and the I.D. as if it's fake. I have never owned a fake I.D. when I was younger and damn sho have no reason to now. Then there are the rare times that I do not get carded (which is not too often), I don't know why but I feel like I got away with something. Then I think to myself I hope this cashier hasn't slipped up and sold alcohol to a minor before. Because if they're letting me slide without carding me they clearly don't care.

Now I've attempted to figure out what is the factor that causes me to get carded and at times not get carded. I thought back upon some of the times I got carded and my theory was maybe it was based on how I was dressed. On average I dress very urban or hood as some would call it. Therefore, I could definitely be considered to look young not only in the face, but also some may assume my age based on how I'm dressed. However, there are other times when I do dress up with more casual and sometimes dressy attire.

So, below I am going to display some pictures of me dressed normally (hood) and some of me more dressed up. The results of me being carded or not are listed below each picture. But I want you to tell me how old do you honestly think I look in each picture. And would you card me or even be willing to serve me alcohol at all? LoL!

1. I wore this to go to the movies with a friend a few months ago. I was carded for an R rated movie. SMH! Damn shame. We then went to grab a drink and the waitress didn't card me at first. Wow what a surprise considering minutes before I didn't even look 17. But soon after the drinks arrived she came back said her boss said she needed to card us. LoL.

2. I wore this out to a bowling alley with my brother, best friend, and some of her girls. I Got carded for drinks there. From there we went to a hood bar where my cousin was partying at and didn't get carded.

3. I wore this out to kick it with the bff about 4-5 months ago to have some margaritas at this Mexican spot. Funny thing about this is my bff forgot her wallet/I.D. at home and the drive is at least 25 minutes. My mom happened to be over and I told her to borrow my mom's I.D. She was reluctant and didn't think it would work or that she would get caught. LoL. We get there she's scared to death when we ask for drinks and they carded us. I handed mines and she handed hers. But we didn't even look at each other, for I knew she would fold under the pressure if we made eye contact. LoL.

4. I wore this out on a date on Christmas Eve to a restaurant. We ordered drinks and I was of course carded. Then my date playfully asked to see my I.D. as well. She claimed that since the first time we went out she didn't believe my age either. LoL.

5. I wore this out on election night to an event being held by Jesse Jackson Jr. I was actually not carded, but you had to purchase drink tickets. I immediately took my ticket and I tipped the bar tender nicely. She never asked for my ticket. So I kept coming back and doing the same thing. I swear I got about 6 or more drinks off the same 1 ticket. LoL.

6. I wore this out to my best friend's graduation/dinner. They gave us complimentary champagne to toast with. And yes they carded me.

7. I wore this out on my birthday last year [2008], we first hit up a comedy club. Then afterwards we went to a restaurant to have some drinks and food. I ordered my drink and the waitress immediately carded me. She didn't believe it was my birthday nor my age. She said she had a 16 year old son that looked as old as me. LoL.

8. I wore this during my first visit to Las Vegas a couple of years ago for my Birthday [2006]. Here me and my bro were at the champagne Brunch at the Rio Casino (Best Brunch Anywhere). Although this was the first of many drinks that day, if memory serves me best I'm quite sure I got carded here as well.


Well based on those results I don't think the way I dress has anything to do with being carded at all. I just look young. LoL. But I look forward to seeing your answers. Nonetheless, it's cool I don't mind looking young. I'm completely comfortable with it. I figure if I can still probably pass for 20 when I'm 30 that means when I'm 40 I'll look about 30. And I'll take that all day.

--C-Recks--

The First Should Be Last?!?! Part 1

Alcohol is a part of the Williams way of life. I grew up with a Grandfather who was a serious alcoholic. I mean, the absolute worst. My Grandfather was known for actually staying drunk for 2 weeks at a time, sometimes longer. (And when I say 2 weeks, I mean 24 hours a day for two weeks straight). Growing up watching this, it was more a spectacle than anything. My Grandfather was a gentle drunk. Well, that is to everyone other than my Grandmother. So my impression of alcohol wasn't terribly jaded.

So it didn't take me long before I became curious of alcohol and its effects.


Date: Fall 1993


Location: Canoga Park, California


The first part of this story that you have to understand is that in my freshman and sophomore years of high school, I missed a lot of school. Probably at least a third of the time. This day was no exception. My guy Edwin and I did our usual that day. Leave for school around 7:30. Hit the local donut shop for several games of Streetfighter II. After wandering around the west valley, we found out that there was a ditch party at the house of one of Edwin's friends. We didn't have anywhere else to go, so we walked the couple of miles to dude's crib.

When we got there, it turned out to be a bunch of white people there. Now the school that we went to was mostly white and latino, so it really didn't bother me the crowd that we would be hanging out with. About an hour after our arrival, someone started going around and asking people what they wanted from the liquor store. At this point, I had only drank the occasional wine cooler, and one time I drank some of my Aunt's brandy. (With orange juice no less, yuck). But people kept placing their orders, so when it came my turn to order, all I could get out was "Get me a 40". Pay attention to the year this occured. At that time, all I knew was that they drank 40s in Boyz N The Hood, so I said screw it. Well, that elicited this response from the Beer Man "What kind of 40"? Damn, I'm stuck now. I thought that 40 was the brand name. Goes to show what I knew then. Just so I didn't blow my cover, I replied "it doesn't matter". I hit my man with a $5, and he was gone.

About, oh, 30 minutes later he returned with a box holding everyone's drink orders. He passes everyone their drinks, and when he gets to me, he hands me a 40. of MICKEY'S! (Goddamn white boys). So I open it, and start to drinking. It couldn't have taken me but about 20 minutes to drink that whole 40. And back then, I was relatively skinny. (15 years old, 5'9" 130lbs.). So all the liquor rushed to my head. As I now know, I was buzzed at that point. In my mind though, I needed more alcohol.


There were some people who were doing shots of KAHLUA! (Again, Goddamn white boys). I decided to join them. I had probably 3 shots. It didn't taste like much to me. By this point, some of the black people from our school showed up. And that's when the fun really began. They brought, wait for it......... 40 ounces of, wait for it.......... OLD ENGLISH 800! Ah yes, what I now know is the real deal. One of the brothas handed me a half a 40 of Old E, and dared me to take it to the head. Again not wanting to be considered a punk, I downed it.

Well, that was more than enough for me. I had reached my limit. Feeling good at that point, I was ready to get back to school. (I needed to get back for 5th period because if I was absent, the teacher was under specific instructions from my father to call him). Edwin was able to secure a ride from one of the brothas for us back to school. This was a serious mistake. My man couldn't drive. We took all back streets to the school, and I swear dude was taking turns like a Nascar driver. 5 minutes later we arrived at the school. At this time, I'm really feeling the alcohol. Dude tossed me around something awful. So we walk to our cafeteria, and meet up with these two girls Julie and Cindy. (I had a serious thing for Julie at the time, which is ironic because Edwin wound up marrying her. Ain't life funny?).



Not two minutes into the conversation, I had to excue myself. I began to stumble to the restroom. I didn't make it. I got into the restroom, but I couldn't get to the stall. I threw up all over the restroom floor. The nerd kids used to hang out in there, so luckily for me my reputation wasn't harmed by me losing my cookies in public. I went back to the cafeteria and finished hanging out with Edwin, Julie, and Cindy. Even though Edwin wasn't in the restroom, he knew I had called Earl. (Or called for short). And he put me on blast like NASA. I was the joke for the rest of the day. I don't know how I made it through the rest of the day. I went to 5th and 6th period, and took my ass straight home after school. I had a serious hangover.

I swear after that day, I said what everyone always says: "I'm never drinking again"! And to be honest, I didn't really drink much until I was 23. That's when I moved in with a bartender, and I've been good friends with alcohol ever since. But not Mickey. 15 years later, I'm still holding a grudge!

-DrizaDre-

Disclaimer: When I say "Goddamn White Boys", I don't say it to be offensive. The video explains how I mean it.