Birth of a Thesis

I have recently given birth, and unlike many new mothers I can say unequivocally that I despise my child. Ok, it’s not a child, exactly, but a 170-page 36,000-word document that has caused me to exist on nothing but bananas and green tea for the last several weeks. Yes, I’m talking about my thesis, or as I affectionately call it, Hemorrhoid.

In the early stages of my Hemorrhoid pregnancy, I was excited. Yes, there were the usual bouts of morning sickness that comes with assembling my committee, making my topic as specific as possible, structuring my abstract and review of literature, but I knew it would all pay off in the end. I looked forward to the day little Hemorrhoid was in my arms, beaming up at me with my name in print.

Months passed and I realized this would be a difficult pregnancy. One member of my committee had gone MIA, another forgot all about Hemorrhoid and the committee chair put me on a diet that stretched my baby beyond anything I’d ever imagined. But again, I was excited. Thrilled even. How long is your typical pregnancy? Nine months? More specifically, 40 weeks? I could handle that.

Two years and some change later, I remained face up, legs spread as members of my committee used various instruments to pull, heave and even drag Hemorrhoid from my womb. A portion of Hemorrhoid’s bloody body was extricated in time for me to meet with The Big Man this week. The Big Man has the final say on all things thesis, and if he doesn’t like an aspect of your formatting – don’t come with a ‘…’ when you should come with a ‘. . . ‘—then it’s over. The two members of my committee and I hemmed and hawed over the measurement of page numbers at the bottom, the MIA member told me his middle intial on the signature page was incorrect, etc etc. Like all mothers in labor, I pushed and pushed and I pushed until it came out to the way it was supposed to be. I paid my $200 to have Hemorrhoid bound and copyrighted (a copy for me and a copy for the school) and I was on my way to the Big Man.

Well, what can I say about my meeting with The Big Man? A LOT, but I’ll keep it brief. The first thing he says is that my committee and I have been working off of an out of date checklist, which means that I didn’t have all the materials he needed and that my formatting was again, incorrect. And since said out of date checklist was created, the fees for the thesis have gone down, so in the amount I paid, I actually bought THREE copies of the thesis (Happy birthday, Mom) instead of my desired two. So I had to go back to work on my day off to do some hasty reformatting (took me six hours), switching to pdf, signing and faxing before I could send dear Hemorrhoid away.

But you know how they say never look back? Well I do, often. My dear pdf version of Hemorrhoid has blank pages in the file, a wrong completion date and page numbers with issues. I can’t make any corrections now, I just have to wait for the grad school to come back with their revisions and/or instructions for me to go straight to hell because Hemorrhoid is such a mess. It’s only fitting that everytime I turn on the radio, Cee Lo is screaming for me to … uh…. ‘forget’ everyone who has made my life a mess.

So I’ve been trying to listen to Cee Lo as I make mani/pedi plans for next week. World Tuberculosis Day is coming up and I hope to spend it with a tiara on my head, Hill Harper in my bed and Chaka Khan’s ‘I’m Every Woman’ in my soul. And no Hemorrhoid is getting in the way of that.

Photo from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ60QyfWxZitR9zhyph4KPSv_1lDQ23kfNjwNE9sjo4UKEMuxI4lizkUmW8Ra0khlvVAVW-d35pUrZy6hqxniHB6RxFqeaF7JyPu4DL-XwzeHgQjzWjmHdPoHfGyK0TruiKrRmdw/s400/thesis+draft.jpeg

My Turquoise Chain

I'm the type of person who gets obsessed with the obscure**. Years ago, I read a novel that had a slight reference to Little Jimmie Scott, so I went on a googling frenzy. And I mentioned here before that I read another novel that led me to do the same with singer Phoebe Snow.

Well, my new obsession is Betty Davis. I didn't get her from reading, I actually got her from peaking around in the infamous Bianca Laureano's Amazon wishlist. I saw a cd from the 1970s featuring a beautiful sista with the largest fro I had ever seen. Then I started to listen, and I was blown away by this woman who sang -- sometimes growled -- about infidelity, sex, men, sex, love, sex ... and, well, sex.

I quickly added some of her songs to my iPod. I play her as I'm driving to work, and I've gotten many a strange stare when I belt out "He Was A Big Freak":



But 'Git In There' always makes me want to jump out of my seat and dance:


And there is also the love ballad, "The Anti Love Song"


But I do believe the first song I heard by her was the mansharing song, "Your Man, My Man."


The woman formerly known as Betty Mabry was also Miles Davis second wife, and he wrote a song about her, like to hear it? Here it go:


I've tried to get others, like my mother, to discover the joy of Betty Davis. But not everyone is ready. You should've seen the look on my mom's face when I played "He Was A Big Freak." She thinks I've truly lost my mind. Ah well, I'm just enjoying the 70s these days. Alot of good things came out of that decade, namely me. =)

**these artists aren't necessarily obscure, but they were obscure to me**

Shucking & Jiving ('**The Moral of the Story Is, You Never Know Who You Steppin to ...*)

We had a going away party for a colleague recently. It was a potluck, and, gourmet chef that I am, I volunteered to bring the drinks. And, astute planner that I am, I waited until the last minute to do so. So I moseyed on over to my local ____ Store, so I could get the proper items. And here is what happened to me:

(Note: The following interaction has been severely dramatized to reflect how I felt and names have been changed to reflect the innocent. You have been warned)

I fill my cart with some soda and fruit punch and go over to aisle #3, where a man in front of me has a cart filled with a big ole box of Draino. The man is white, the cashier is black.
Cashier: Why, Sir, what you got there?? Twelve bottles of Draino??
Him: Look Darky, I’m in a rush, so don’t give me no lip. Just ring up my stuff.
Cashier: I suuuuuuure will, Sir! Don’t you worry about a blessed thing. Let’s see, 12 bottles of Draino …
Him: Just ring it up! Can’t you see I got shit to tend to?
Cashier: Yes sir, I’m on it. Let’s see, one bottle of Draino * scan *, two bottles of Draino * scan * …
(She proceeds to ring each single bottle up, one at a time, as the man’s patience seems to dwindle, finally, she’s finished and he gives her the money)
Cashier: Thank you so much, Sir!!! You have a very pleasant day!! You have a very pleasant day! And after you have that pleasant day, I want you to go back and enjoy it extra hard for me, hear?
Him: Yeah yeah, they need to send all ya’ll back to Africa.
(He leaves. I put my items on the conveyer belt, expecting the same cheerful treatment. In case you haven’t noticed, I am black, and again, so is the Cashier)
Me: Hello!
Cashier: (rolling eyes) My register is closed.
Me: Really? Your light is on and I only have three things.
Cashier: Fine, whatever. I’ll ring you up. Is this all you have?
Me: Yep, that’s it. No Draino today!
(I laugh, she does not. She proceeds to avoid my eyes as she tosses all of my stuff in the bag and then she gives me my total)
Me: Thank you
Cashier: (she ignores me and goes on to the next customer, which is odd, since her register was supposedly closed just a minute ago)
Me: (louder this time) I said, ‘THANK YOU.’
Cashier: What, nigga?? You want a thank you? Fine, THANK YOU. DAMN!

I went back to work and told a couple of people about the incident. Several black people told me that they’ve been in similar situations, where a black worker goes out of their way for the white person and then treats the black person like dirt. Then someone else got me to thinking that maybe ole girl didn’t like my dreadlocks, and developed some bias against me based off of that.

Well, the more I thought about it, the more enraged I felt. So I whipped out my receipt, found out the cashier’s name was Kim (again, not her name), I accessed the ____ Store website and fired off a complaint. I told them what happened and summed it up like this:
This treatment was hurtful because I have no idea what made Kim treat me so poorly, especially since we are both African American women. I was on a break from work, so I was dressed professionally, and as I stated earlier, I was kind to her. I have shopped at this location several times in the past and I’ve never been disrespected before. This was a humiliating experience, especially considering the fact that Kim does not treat ALL customers this way, just the ones who look like her, or perhaps those in which she has developed preconceived notions.

The store sent me an apology today and told me that kind of behavior is not tolerated, and that a manager would take care of that matter. The whole thing still ticks me off, and makes me wonder how many Kims there are in this world.

(Photo from http://www.sonofthesouth.net/slavery/african-american-art/uncle-tom.jpg )

(*Reference to Arrested Development's 'Everyday People)

On being catty. With some Method Man mixed in

There is nothing worse than a catty woman. I try my darndest not to be catty, and not to be bitter, to just live and let live. But if I were to be catty, I might mention a few things like:

-How I ran into my ex at the store the other day, and got my first closeup view of him and his homely wife

-After all I've heard about her, I thought that she'd at least be beautiful on the outside. But hey, she is not.

-How he and I nodded a hello, but he was breaking his neck trying to look at me

-How I couldn't help but feel like I was living that infamous Old Spice commercial: "Look at your wife, now look at me. Look at your wife, now look at me. Now, she is NOT me."

-How I looked at myself in the mirror the next morning and shouted "She's ugly!!!" and then laughed and danced my way through the rest of the day

-How I got a text from him and I thought about all the ways I could blow up his spot, but instead I just blocked his number

-How I thought about his new found girth as I weighed myself at the gym, and realized that I am just four pounds away from my goal

I'd say all those things, if I were a catty broad. Thank goodness I'm not.

Now, about Method Man. He is on my LIST. He's that guy that could point to me in a crowd, shout "COME HERE!" and I would go running. Of course, if he yelled something ignant, like "YO BITCH COME HERE!", I would roll my eyes. Yeah, I'd still run to him, but not real fast. (jokes) I used to love this song back in the day and they played it on the radio recently, so I thought I'd share here. Enjoy!

Choosing A Road of Passion & Pain (with apologies to Lauryn Hill)

We talk about a lot of interesting things at my job, and most recently the topic turned to passion marks. If I recall correctly, we were talking about the Twilight craze and how there were kids being faux vampires who ran around biting each other to show their love. Kids these days don’t even know how to give a proper passion mark.

Back in the day, I was quite naïve, if you could believe that. I once thought a hickey was a bruise you got after hitting your head really hard. So that caused some confusion when a classmate tried to describe a ‘Who’s The Boss’ episode to me, the one where Samantha’s boyfriend gives her a hickey. I just couldn’t understand why Sam’s boyfriend wanted to beat her up. He seemed like such a nice guy. Duh.

Fast forward a few years and hickeys/passion marks were still a mystery. I’d gotten a few, but I still hadn’t gotten the logistics down of how to give them. I have fond memories of when I first met mother’s boyfriend, now husband, and he ratted on me for having a hickey. (Why does no one ever believe that it’s a bug bite??) Then there was my job at the bagel shop. I was talking to a coworker when a customer loudly referred to “that big ass hickey on her neck” in front of a line filled with customers. Fun times.

The first and only hickey I gave was to an old boyfriend. We were both teenagers, so it took a bit of strategic planning to get us to spend the weekend together, but it was accomplished. I was determined to leave my mark and I guess I did, in the tackiest way possible. That hickey was so huge, it was nasty. It looked like someone beat him in the neck repeatedly with a baseball bat. For weeks, folks were either teasing him about it, or asking if he’d been in a fight.

From then on, I decided to use my mouth for good and not evil.

It's My 4th Blog Day!

Today marks the fourth anniversary of the day I started this blog. And what a coincidence, Sade's latest album made its debut today as well, almost as a blog day gift to myself. Hooray!

So aside from listening to the Soldier of Love cd constantly (get it, it's worth it! she kills me with every track), I'm sitting here watching the snow fall. Yes, I'm still in blizzard territory and yes, the white stuff is putting a hurting on all of us mere minions. It started snowing after work and it has let up a little bit now, but it's supposed to get worse in the morning. I've already decided that I'm working from home tomorrow, if I even work at all. Of course, my car made that decision for me, since it's stuck in it's spot. Fun. And right now, all I can see is the driver side mirror of the car parked next to mine, since that one is almost totally covered in snow.

Anyway, such a wild and crazy way to celebrate being four years old! I know I haven't blogged much this past year, but I'm slowly trying to change. Thanks for sticking in with me for these last four years. Something tells me that 2010 is gonna be a great one!

The MJ Coma Continues

So yes, I've been listening to my MJ tunes at a constant rate. I'm singing at the top of my lungs at home and in the car. And don't let 'Dirty Diana' come on. Cuz that is when I completely LOSE IT. I loved all of Michael's music, but if I had to pick a couple of favorites -- notice I said 'couple', cuz I can't pick just one -- 'Dirty Diana' would easily make my top four list.

I started thinking about Michael's music videos and how amazing they were. Nobody did music videos like Michael did. Folks always talk about how he changed the game with the vids for 'Smooth Criminal', 'Remember the Time', 'Scream,' 'Black or White' and with 'Thriller', which I count as a movie. But the video for 'The Way You Make Me Feel' is one that I also appreciate. It's so raw, so real. I mean, it's MJ seriously flexing his mack daddy vibe. It is also a stalker's wet dream. I can't even count the number of aggressive pelvic thrusts he did in this video. Let's take a look, shall we:

Michael Jackson - New Music - More Music Videos

If this were to happen in real life, can you imagine the 911 call that came afterward? Or how ole girl described the situation to the cops? I can!

Girl: I was coming home from the club, and these guys started yelling at me. This one guy was really aggressive and he shouted out, 'HEY!'
Cop: Yeah? So what'd you do?
Girl: I was shocked. Scared to death. So I just stood there and he said something about me knocking him off his feet. Then he started screaming.
Cop: Screaming?
Girl: He was screaming, then he was singing. And he and his friends started following me. Umm, why are you looking at me like that?
Cop: I'm sorry, but you look a little like Mariah Carey.
Girl: Who?
Cop: Mariah! You know her. She's got that song, 'Vision of Love'. It was a big hit in the 90s.
Girl: Sir, it's 1987.
Cop: Oh, right. Forgot about that. So he's singing, screaming and chasing you, then what?
Girl: He and his boys corner me at one point, and then ... and then ... and then ...
Cop: WHAT??
Girl: They start humping the ground! The fire hydrant broke and there was water flying everywhere. He ripped off his shirt and the water fell all over his body. And uhh .... You stopped writing.
Cop: It's your hair! That's what makes me think of Mariah. I'm trying to remember the last time I saw it curly. Why do you think she started straightening it?
Girl: Look, I'm trying to report a crime here! Keep up with me.
Cop: Ok, ok. There was humping. There was water. What next?
Girl: The main guy -- the ringleader -- he kept yelling "GO'ON GIRL!! EEEE-HEEE-EEE! OW!" But there was something about him, something so spectacular, that I suddenly felt myself drawn to him. So I let him hug me and he disappeared.
Cop: Did you want him to touch your body?
Girl: WHAT?
Cop: Never mind. I've got to wrap this up. We've got a disturbance at the cemetery, then I have to get to my bodyguard detail.
Girl: You're a bodyguard?
Cop: Somebody's gotta make sure Annie's okay. So did you have anything else to say about your floor humping, screaming, singing attacker?
Girl: No, that's it.
Cop: According to the description you gave our artist, your attacker looks alot like Michael Jackson! Was it him?
Girl: Well, yeah. But I didn't say want to rat him out. He kept saying 'ain't nobody's business.'
Cop: Oh Mariah. I do believe you're a looney tune. I suggest you get your mental illness in check. It can only hurt you down the line.
Girl: I AM NOT THIS MARIAH PERSON!
Cop: Sure thing, honey. How 'bout you sign this autograph and I won't charge you for filing a false police report?
Girl: (sighs) Fine.

He's Out of My Life

This was going to be a post about all the other cds I stumbled across while searching for Michael Jackson’s HIStory Book 1 cd. I have a ton of cds and there are some that I haven’t played in years. I flipped through the entire Jodeci collection, Boyz II Men, Shai, SWV and a copy of Xscape (fyi, this group includes Tiny of Tiny & Toya fame). I thought about writing about my thoughts on each of these groups and muse about 90s music in particular.

That was what I planned. But as luck would have it, I found HIStory Book one placed in a pile of cds that I looked through the previous day. MJ released HIStory years ago and it’s a two-disc set that includes old and new music. On disc 1, there are hits like She’s Out of My Life, I Just Can’t Stop Loving You and Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’. Disc 2 has newer (well, they were new then) tracks like Scream, They Don’t Care About Us, Come Together (John Lennon’s tune) and Money. Good stuff.

I’m happy to also have the cd booklet, which contains lots of valuable information. For instance, did you know R. Kelly wrote You Are Not Alone? Or that Teddy Riley wrote Remember the Time for an old girlfriend? There’s tons of information in there, including lots of pictures of MJ performing or posing with other celebrities. There’s also a scan of a 1994 letter from 7-year-old Dominic to the president that reads: ‘Dear President Clinton – Please make guns against the law. Make there be no pollution. Make countries stop fighting. Make there be lower taxes. Stop the reporters from bothering Michael Jackson. Make there be more laws. Sincerely, Dominic.’

Now that I’ve located my HIStory music, as well as MJ’s Invincible cd, I’m going to go into an MJ music coma for who knows how long. I can only hope that my neighbors will complain. Then I can point out that I hear the sounds of their love(?)making several times a week, so they can at least cope with my constant playing of Dirty Diana and Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough.

Fervor (!!!!MAXWELL!!!!)

Michael Jackson's death came as a shock to me. This was a man whose music I loved and I'd been a fan of his throughout my entire life. But when he die, as upset as I was, I didn't go into an emotional frenzy like some other people did. I mean, some dedicated fans went to the ends of the earth to go to his funeral. Men, women and children took to moonwalking in the streets as they dissolved into tears. My mom had to call my aunt -- a diehard fan -- to make sure she was okay. My stepfather purposely avoided any contact with his sister, who is a tad bit on the emotional side and has always loved herself some MJ.

All of this fervor about the man got me to thinking about what celebrity (or celebrities) could turn me into a knee-wobbling shell of a human being. A coworker mentioned Bruce Springsteen, but she said she didn't think she'd reach the level of the MJ mourners. She'd probably mark his death with a few beers and a gathering of other like-minded fans. The death of another MJ -- Michael Jordan -- would probably be hard for me to take. For years, I've had an illicit, passionate ... okay, imaginary ... affair with this man. We've broken up, but I still have mad love for the man. My close friends know it and call to check in on my mental state whenever he does something of note, i.e. gets divorced, leaves the Bulls, is seen with another woman that is NOT me, etc.

But I don't want to talk about the MJs in my life, I want to talk about another person on my Fervor List. I want to talk about Maxwell.

Yes, I've mentioned before that I'm quite devoted to Mighty Max. I'm so devoted, that I had July 7 in the back of my mind for weeks. That is the day that my dear Max was putting out his first cd in eight years. An ordinary person would wait until July 7 to buy the cd or download it from iTunes. But I'm no ordinary person, I'm a fan. I have fervor! So on July 6, I waited until after midnight to log onto iTunes and purchase BLACK Summer's Night.

But because my life tends to act a bit like Murphy's Law, there were a few glitches. My computer froze and I blame that on the fact that I've been trying to download season one of Burn Notice. I stopped the download and fiddled with the machine again before going to bed. The idea was that I'd wake up the next morning with the new music in my iPod and it could accompany me on my drive to work.

Well, when I woke up the next day, the download still hadn't finished. GRRRR. So I had to go to work without it. And because it was a day of working at both jobs, I didn't get home until 10 o'clock to finish my download. That being said, I know have Maxwell's latest release and I haven't stopped playing it.

Overall, I have my favorites on the cd ('Bad Habit' & 'Pretty Wings' -- CONSTANT ROTATION), but I'm not completely blown away. I also wish there were more than nine songs available.

But in the end, it doesn't matter, because I am a fan. And Maxwell gives me Fervor.


Photo from http://www.aolcdn.com/ch_bv/bmmmaxwell400.jpg

Broadway Bound

My birthday is coming up, so I’m doing what I like to do during that time of year: Get outta town! I’m heading up to New York City to see ‘The Lion King’, which I hear is one of the greatest Broadway plays of all time. The best part of the experience is that I’ll be like 10 rows from the stage!!! That and I’ll be hanging with one of my homegirls from college, the ultra fabulous La Bianca. Can’t wait!


In the meantime, here’s a vid. I spend my mornings flipping between the Today Show and Vh1 videos, which always give me songs/artists to obsess over.

!!!! Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!

I hope everyone enjoys their special day. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I LOVE THIS SONG!! I've seen the video 7458475487 times, but I finally found a version on youtube that I can post. It's not the best quality, though. I'm a bit disturbed that the singers never appear together, but whatever. It's still my jam!

"Lucky"

I like catching up with music videos as I'm preparing for work each morning. Most days, VH1 plays the same stuff, but with this song, I'm not complaining. I LOVE IT!

Video Moment

For whatever reason, this song popped into my head the other day. Check it:

It's Over

It was good while it lasted, but the lovely and exciting 2008 is over. I've had some good times, I've had some bad times and I've had some downright mediocre times. But either way, I'm glad ya'll were with me as I've documented my ride on this thing called life.


Like I've done in past year-end posts, I'm going to lists a few things that have made me happy this year. In no particular order, here they are:


MOVIES: "Slumdog Millionaire" is the best movie I saw all year. Actually, I can't remember the last time I've been on such an emotional roller coaster in a movie theater. I laughed, I cried and sometimes I just said "awwww". EXCELLENT flick. I'm sure there are other movies that I really enjoyed, but I can't think of 'em right now.

TV SHOWS: There are so many I can mention here that it ain't even funny. Ya'll know I'm obsessed. In the past, I've neglected to mention how great the show 'Dexter' is. In short, it's about a serial killer who only murders people who deserve it. I've also become a fan of .... *cough, cough* ... 'Gossip Girl. I like how they use this unnamed narrator to tell the life stories of these rich kids. I also like that they play around a bit with the Madonna/Whore stereotype. There's Blair Waldorf, who can be so evil and conniving that she reduces her freshman followers to tears. She's also a virgin. There's her former best friend Serena, who sunny, bubbly and innocent. But Serena's past shows that she had quite the reputation. The series starts off with the two hating each other and pitting other students against each other. This is only a BRIEF summary of season one. I haven't started watching season 2 yet, so nobody ruin it for me! Last but not least, I need to mention 'True Blood', which is all about a telepath female (Sookie Stackhouse) and her relationship with a vampire. The show is based on a series of books revolving around Sookie. (Yes, I'm also reading the books. Yes, I love the books as well!) I've also discovered 'Mad Men' (Don Draper is hawt) and 'Weeds', to add more dysfunction to my life. I'm also watching some old tv shows on DVD -- shows like "Gilmore Girls" and "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer." (Yes, I see a vampire theme here)

BOOKS: Between going to school and reading for pleasure, I've consumed ALOT of books this past year. Aside from the Sookie books (I'm only on book 2), there are a few standouts like The Brief & Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Sula, Not Without Laughter, Acacia, and Perks of Being A Wallflower, to name a few. This was also the year I gave in to suggestions from my coworkers and started reading graphic novels, but I'll expand on that in later posts. The series I enjoyed most was Y: The Last Man (soon to be a movie starring Shia LaBeouf) and Ex Machina, which isn't finished publishing yet. The best stand alone comic book/graphic novel (I'm still struggling with the terminology) I read this year was 'Blankets'. Yes, I'm a geek. No, I don't care.


MUSIC: Hate it if you want to, but I love Kanye West's '808s & Heartbreak.' Yes, he's pseudo singing and that's what some folks consider blasphemy for a rapper, but whatever, I enjoy it. It's clear through the songs that he is tore up and depressed over a lost relationship. I mean, the chorus of his song with Lil Wayne ('See You in my Nightmares') is literally "I'm telling everyone I know/that I don't love you no more." Dang. But as I've said before, pain makes the best music. Kanye, I remain a fan.


HOBBIES: I'm still taking guitar lessons and they're going pretty well. I'm a much better swimmer than I was before, thanks to those swim classes I took before. However, I'm thinking about taking some more swim lessons sometime soon. Practice makes perfect, right? But I also want to learn belly dancing and I've seen a few classes that are right up my alley. Hmmm. We'll see.


RANDOM MENTIONS: In a few days, I'll be finished draft 6 of my novel. That means it'll be time to start doing an agent hunt and finding out how people really feel about my writing. It'll be an eye-opening experience, but I'm up for the challenge. I got an A in my literature class this semester. I'm finally done my academic coursework, but I still need to write my thesis (still revising it for approval) and take a test before they hand me my degree. I can't wait!! And in case you haven't heard, BARACK OBAMA IS PRESIDENT!!!! I'm giddy all over again! *CHEESE*

Well, that's all I can think of for the time being folks. I hope everyone has a safe, healthy and prosperous 2009!


Photo from http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v304/gbeast/new-year.jpg

This Crept Up On Me....

but now I can't let it go. I've started watching VH1 videos in the morning and they tend to play the same videos every day. The first time I saw this video, I thought it was weird and utterly depressing. I still feel the same way, but I have greater appreaciation for it now. Maybe it's because I've learned more of what the song is about. But I didn't know that some interpretations of the term 'chasing pavements' caused it to be banned in several countries! Dang, is Urban Dictionary that powerful?


Anyhow, I hope you enjoy this song by Adele. It can be found here.

Back In The Day ...

Ok, I can't help it. My last Soul Train video has me obsessed. Man, I used to love Soul Train! Well, love it probably isn't the right word. As a little girl, I'd stand there and watch the television in awe, surprised that someone's mama would let them out the house in such outrageous outfits. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say my favorite part was the Soul Train line, which was reenacted at practically every wedding I've ever gone to. Of course, the Electric Slide eventually replaced that.

There were always a few common dancers on Soul Train. The most recognizable was probably Cheryl Wong, commonly referred to as "that Chinese girl on Soul Train." Those were the days. Anywho, check out this back in the day vid, particularly the Jheri Curl wearing dude in the blue sweatsuit, and the alleged Obama lookalike at 3:25. Enjoy!

"She said her name was Donnie but her shirt said Marie'

Sometimes, a random song lyric will pop into my head and get stuck there. Well, for about a week I had this old song in my head. Whenever I started the lyric, no one could help me out as to where it came from. I eventually remembered that it was an obscure track on an old Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince album. (For the youngsters: Fresh Prince and Will Smith are the same person)

Anyway, this is a song that was never released on the radio, just on the album. It's a pretty ridiculous song, but it makes me laugh, which was its goal. And of course, I know all the words.

So here is your Obscure Old School Moment of the day:

Let It Whip

There's nothing wrong with an old school moment every now and again. So I'm going to hit you with some OOOOOOOOOOOOLD old school! There's a reason as to why this song has been in my head lately. Perhaps I'll get to that in another post. But for now, check out this video:

Appreciation: Musiq ('So Beautiful')

Have I ever mentioned that I heart Musiq? Well I do. I love Musiq's music (hahahaha! i couldn't resist saying that!) and his overall vibe. If I could summarize my type of guy into one person, it would be him. He's got that quirk factor that is oh so special to me. Anywho, check out one of my favorite songs by him on his new album.

And while we're on that subject ....

I think I'll link to the video of Maxwell's performance on BET. I am distressed that my man cut his hair, but whatever, I still love him. Check out the video here and see if you notice the other thing that pissed me off.





Did you figure it out? Well, I'll just divulge. !!!!!IS THAT A WEDDING BAND I SEE ON YOUR FINGER, MAX???!!!! What about us, huh? I thought we had something? And who is this heffa who seems to think she has the right to be your wife? I'm not above eliminating her from the equation. Hmph!!!