Because I said so

First of all who says Soda? I grew up saying pop until I got older and realized that it was very remedial and made no sense, so when I am aware of my words I try to say soda.  My boyfriend was in the grocery store last night buying "soda" and ice-cream for a root-beer float (which is country might I add) and he just randomly said "Soda, isle 16" and it had me cracking up because it was the most random.    So if you haven't caught on yet, this entry will be about senseless topics and things that have been on my mind lately. Vibe with me... Do you remember when Crayola crayons came in a big 64 box with the sharpener in the back? Boy my sister and I used to be geeked until one of us broke a crayon in the sharpener and we could use it no longer.  Don't you hate when you ask someone to do something and they do something else? Never seeming to carry out the task at hand, i.e. never doing what you asked them to do. Well it's as if I surround myself with people ...

So my girlfriend Meagan hates when rappers win awards and the first "person" they thank is God. She equates them saying "Without God nothing is possible" to them saying "Thank God for girls licking me like a lollipop" or "Thank God for Bust-it-Babies" when I equate their saying more to "Without God I wouldn't be alive, I wouldn't be me and I wouldn't be winning this award." It's always funny how people interpret things differently but maybe Meagan is on to something. Can hard core rappers... or rappers in general for that matter because no rapper in the game right now is talking anything positive, but can rappers be true to thine selves AND be true to God? Yesterday I was "reunited" with one of my old rappers friends who didn't break my heart, because we weren't those kind of friends but he did hurt my feelings once upon a time and so I hadn't talked to him in about three years until last night. One...

So I celebrated my bday this past week and did a lot of exciting big girl stuff. Even though I have officially celebrated my big girl bday years ago, I am just not living the big girl life.  My girlfriends drove five hours to celebrate with me, we went to an outside concert and a July bday party on Thursday, drove two hours away on Friday to spend money at this new Casino is StL, cat napped at a hotel for four hours then went to the St. Louis Zoo Saturday afternoon, drove back two hours for a get together with my Phrat Brothers then had a big yummy breakfast Sunday morning before their departure Sunday evening.  It was so fun and adult-like that I'm putting this years bday celebration on my top three list. I have been having way too much fun with my life so I have been neglecting my blog and I honestly did not want to write about my daily going-ons so I opted to wait for an important event to discuss.  This was my first real experience at a Casino because the first time I went, I w...

Oh Blog World how I've missed you so... I have been deprived of my free loading as I used to steal other people's Internet because I have a wireless connection but now it seems as if I can freeload from the comfort of my own home no longer, which in turn means there will be entry updates once a week from now on :( Anyway how have you been? I miss you all.  There has definitely been a lot going on in my world and to that I say: things are always going good... until they go bad. So to sum up my two week hiatus I would like to snippet my experiences and I welcome your interpretation.  Why and how do you think Judge's make so much money?  Not because they are doing such a great justice to society putting the bad guys behind bars and not getting great pay from the ever appreciating  government. Instead they are getting paid to scare us into saying "yes your honor" and making us take days off of work to come to court in the middle of the work week to plead guilty to a ...

This   Today is triflin's day!  For all of you new comers, triflin ' is my name for my Father, whom I love even when I am forced to hate him.  I texted triflin ' asking for his address to send him a Father's Day Card and he texted back with his new address and orders not to give it to the police or child support.   Tisk Tisk  That   Anyway, I rented two movies that I have been wanting to see for a while and I was pleasantly refreshed. 27 Dresses was a typical, but good movie. I really enjoyed Kevin's cuteness, the blunt best friend and the sister's " Bridezilla " moment. But I'm a girly girl so sappy movies always get me.  Juno, on the other hand, I knew would be good because of all the awards and positive reviews but seeing it was such a different experience. The movie was not at all what I thought it would be. It was hilarious and there was no Black cast in sight, Juno killed that part and I didn't expect the movie to end like it did but I...

Wow to R. Kelly being cleared of all child pornography charges! Wow to the jury for having hard facts: evidence, witnesses and testimonies, yet still acquitting him of 14... not one two three four but 14 charges of child pornography. You know people say I'm a "chester" which is the old name for a molester, because my current boyfriend is two years younger than me, but Kells is 41! He has been on trial, in and out of court for five years from having sexual interactions with his 13-year-old god daughter (and hundreds of other people's teenage daughters.) Tisk tisk to the justice system and them squares on the jury bench because even Ray Charles could see that man was guilty. Come on... think back, way back to Aaliyah. Wasn't she just 15 when they got married? Had her singing "Age ain't nothing but a number" and what not. He was 26 then but still old habits die hard. This makes me think of my constant arguments with my 12-year-old sister who snaps me up...

I love going to the hair salon, I am always enlightened by my beautician and I always catch up on celebrity news and gossip with all her magazines. She tends to speak of when she was younger, thinner and cuter and how the boys in St. Louis would act and treat her because she lived in East St. Louis. In case you didn't know, as many do not, East St. Louis is in Illinois and across the bridge or water as they say, is St. Louis the city, and according to my beautician the two stayed in rivalry. She also recaps her college years, as we graduated from the same school, was interested in the same sorority and led pretty similar lives. She would tell me how the kids would dress for class, in suits and dresses, as if they were going to an interview. Fraternities always had business suits on and the only time they had on "perry" was at a party or in their down time. Oh how I wish that I could have grown up in a time where people actually cared about their appearance and men owned m...

I stole this quote from SHOEGAL, as I will steal a few more in the future, simply because it was so funny yet so true. You know how you see someone and you be like "yuck who would date him" or as my cousin would say "he look like his breath stank" but hopefully all of those assumptions or pre-judgments dissolve when you finally get to know the person. But how about when you have great expectations about someone and they totally spin your positivity and you feel stupid for ever giving them the benefit of the doubt? You would prefer to have NOT met them because your how you envisioned is so not how they turned out, so you just gotta be real and say "I will always cherish the initial misconceptions I had about you." Point in case, Black American Studies was my minor in college, anyone who knows me know that I love Black people, so when I see Black men in a Black American Studies class, or in any class for that matter, it makes my heart smile. This is until th...

Barack Obama, the junior United States Senator from Illinois, announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States in Springfield, Illinois, on February 10, 2007. On June 3, 2008, Sen. Barack Obama became the first black candidate to claim a major party’s presidential nomination in U.S. history. That same week, a male friend of mine got into it with a white boy who called him "the n word", then my girlfriend told me that her guy has a cast on his arm because he broke his wrist on a white boy's face because he called him "the n word." What in "the h word" is going on? I mean have people really lost their minds? Obama's victory must have gotten a few people riled up and now Black men are under siege and I have a feeling things will only get worse from here. With every good thing there comes two bad things and as happy as I am for Obama's presidential nomination, I fear for his safety and the safety of people that look like him because ...

I ♥ my new hair. So I did it, I got a bun today! Yay me, I think it's a decent start but it's not that great so when I am more comfortable with it I can rock it a lot better but here is a dark picture of a side view. And its all mine... well except for the stuffing to make the bun of course but big ups to my hair for growing back. I ♥ Tylenol Cool tablets, especially this week because work has been very hectic and my temples have been POUNDING and I have been taking deep breaths and long eye rolls. Try Tylenol Cool tablets when you get a chance, they have a sweet taste and it leaves a cool trail as it goes down your throat. I ♥ Apple iChat. With my boyfriend being in Chicago and me not, I get to see his beautiful face and his stylish apparel on my computer screen, that is whenever his lazy butt feels like sitting in his computer room and talking to me. I definitely recommend it for long distance relationships that is if you are fortunate to have Macs like us, lol. Lastly I ♥ th...

Excuse my improper english but Kids is bad! I recently saw footage of a school brawl between a 10th grader and her 52 year old substitute teacher on the last day of school. The Police report says that the teacher started the altercation by kicking the student but the student had been pushing the teachers buttons all day by cursing her out and saying she would snatch off her wig. So the teacher took her own wig off and when the bell rang for dismissal, they began to fight. Of course all the other students immediately pull of their cell phone and began to tape the nonsense but many are laughing. Mind you that all of these students are bad because they are in some sort of detention class. But anyway, folks are getting on this teacher saying she was wrong but a teenager is grown these days so man to man the teacher should stand not adult to child... the student is bigger than the teacher anyway. I have had my run ins with teachers and I admit, my smart mouth got me into a lot of trouble bu...

After an elongated weekend with my boyfriend, family and girlfriends who I have grown to miss, I have came to the conclusion that there will soon be a time where my girls will no longer be my girls. I mean everyone knows the "boys come and go but girlfriends are forever" saying but the saying that trumps that one is "you are the company you keep."  I love my girls, don't get me wrong but when we all met in high school, we were one in the same. But now, eight years later, I am one of three actually doing something with their life, one of two to move out of Chicago and the only one to graduate college. It seems like the more we age, the more change.  Without saying their names, which I rarely refer to anymore anyway, I would like to introduce you to them: the youngest is "the beauty" for she is the cutest little thing, next is the darker of us all, "the booty" because even if you think she's cute, the first thing you see is her butt so her ...

I have this friend who broke his neck to get an expensive tickets to attend the Kanye West "Glow in the Dark" Concert last weekend. And as a result of such a wonderful concert, I rode four and a half hours with him only to get a scene by scene play list, a guest list of other entertainers who performed, a monologue of the two white boys sitting next to him and multiple references to this little book that Kanye wrote.  So if you are not getting my drift, the man is obsessed with Kanye! I mean he said he was a huge fan before but now he is his biggest fan and nothing else can grace his brain now that he has witnessed the best performance "in the world."  But even beyond my eye rolling and constant temptation to jump out the window I began to appreciate what my friend was saying about Kanye and as I was instructed to read the little book written by Kanye, I began to appreciate music and life as Kanye sees it and it is honestly a beautiful thing.  To be that in love wit...

Yesterday's words are a thing of the past. Kids today make up their own sayings or put a spin on old terminology to make it custom to today's scheme of things. What was "fresh" is now "raw."  Instead of saying "that's dope" we say "that's what's up." "Crack Heads" are now "Cluckers." And what was "played out" to them is "definitely not whats up" to us. So why is there one word that sticks around? One word that no matter what the circumstances, mean the same negative thing? When will we stop trying to turn something so bad into something good? When will we pay attention in history class to when people who don't look like us call us something that we now call ourselves? When will yesterday's word finally be old news and instead of calling me something that Nas thinks is so smart to throw around, you will call me something that kings call their wives or what the Gods called their wo...

How is your happiness defined? Happiness to me is seeing my baby brother with his nappy head and buck teeth, hearing his outrageous chuckle and his elongated stories about the bad little baybay kids at his school. Happiness to me is a peaceful day without arguing with my ex boyfriend about things that are now beyond my control... things that I would rather not be wasting my precious breath on. Happiness to me is making hard earned money and saving it in order have enough to move out of this state that holds me back from growing... Well how have I been able to maintain my happiness if none of these things have been happening? Simply on the basis that things could be so much worse than they are now! If you are having a bad day, week, month. Take a minute to think about just how worse things could be. What if you one of those people who are having a bad year? Lets be grateful people, because one man's trash is truly another man's treasure. So how is your happiness defined?

I imagine my future, as a grand one. One with no snot nose kids or ruthless neighbors. When I see myself, I am prancing down the street in a business skirt and some BAD pumps. And when I say BAD I mean BAD meaning good not BAD meaning bad. Sometimes I am on a cell phone and other times I am crossing the street and all I can see is a side profile of my black rimmed glasses and my hair in a bun. I envision being in a busy city, work related to journalism and pay being similar to now... livable . I never see rich and famous but definitely radiant and fabulous. I see me then, very similar to the way I see me now, except I am much more confident and humorously inches taller. (I gasp as I realize this) I am my mother! In my dreams I am my mother, a beautiful light skinned, (even though I am more on the caramel side) working women with long legs and a look of determination. Funny how I used to hate her, and now I wanna be her. This could've been a belated mother's day attribute but m...

Last week a fellow journalist died in a car accident. A lot of people at my job knew him as a kid from SIUC who died in that terrible accident the other day but I actually knew that kid, Ryan Rendleman. I went to school with him, I worked with him at the school newspaper and most times I talked about him on the phone with my girlfriend because that Rendleman was truly a trip.  His passing made me realize how quickly our lives can be taken away from us and how I really haven't done much to contribute to society, or to my obituary if I were to die today.  When I hear about someone my age or younger being pregnant, getting married or doing something that I would consider a grown up act, I gawk at how advanced they are, in a negative way, when I should really be getting just like them because life is so short!  I am in my early 20's, just graduated from college, have never lived out of Illinois, have never smoked, don't have any tattoos, interesting piercings or children.  This...

I need to get my power back. The lack of power that had me creeping out of the dorms, walking six blocks to my car at six o'clock in the morning. I have lost my power. Me! Of all people.  Earlier that day in fear of my power, or lack thereof, I reacted out of weakness, out of the unknown. Let me fill yall in to the whole story. My boyfriend's a business major, I'm a journalist. He asked for my help on a paper he had due the next day... (procrastinators), so I go and help him to the best of my ability without erasing everything he'd previously written and making the paper my own. Now it's time for him to go to work, and I stay behind to finish enhancing his paper. Some hour or so later, I get bored, take some pictures of myself and my new hair do with his computer camera. After looking at them later with a fresh eye, I no longer liked them, so I delete them and to make sure they were gone for good I went to the trash bin. Now I usually don't do this, but for some...

So I went to the Goodwill yesterday to buy a black belt because someone stole mine a couple of months ago and I came to a few conclusions about people and I have one question in response... what the health is going on? Why are there underwear, bathing suits and pacifiers for sale at a Goodwill? YUCK! I would never think to buy such a thing and I didn't think Black people would either but I was behind someone who was buying their child a used bathing suit and contemplating the purchase only because she thought the child already had one. "Are you sure can't fit the blue one no moe," the mother asked the child who responded with a nod, "cuz I could swear I just bought that one." There are just some things you don't do people, and buying a used anything that a persons personals have been on or in is one of them. Used draws would never grace my baby's bottom and a used "pasie" would never be sucked on by any child of mine. So really what the he...

As I said in my last post, last week was Alpha Week and since I am the Alpha girl of the Beta Eta chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, I most definitely have a million pictures to share. I will start off with a few from Panorama which is a Casino night, where I was one of about 15 beautiful Dealers and end with a few snapshots of the after party. Enjoy!